In many cases where we feel stressed about communicating, to groups or certain individuals, part of the problem is that we are hoping to achieve an end result, like people approving of us or just being finished, rather than enjoying the act of communicating. If you think of examples of when you communicate at your best – say chatting about something that interests you with a friend or family member – you’ll notice that you’re not so much trying to achieve a goal, instead you’re simply enjoying the act of sharing ideas.
Action: Practice, in a day to day sense, expressing ideas and doing so in different ways. When preparing for meetings or presentations, make a conscious decision to shift your attention more to the ideas that you’re sharing and less on achieving an end goal. Goals can be referenced in helping you to prepare any content but ultimately they will automatically be achieved to whatever extent that is possible by the act of bringing your energy back to the act of communicating and learning to enjoy it in and of itself.