In May 2022, I was invited to give a TED talk in the Netherlands.
And even though I was super excited because this had been my dream, I was also terrified.
I thought, “What if I black out in front of everyone?”
“What if my head turns completely red?”
“What if the PowerPoint stops working?”
Very quickly I went down this downward spiral.
In my despair, I called my best friend, Damian, to ask him for advice.
After hearing me cry for a little, he asked me, “Philipp, what’s the worst thing that could happen? – like really the worst thing that could happen.”
First, I said, “Forgetting what I wanted to say.”
But then I thought of it a bit more and said, “The worst thing I can imagine is pooping my pants on stage. That’d suck big time.”
Damian: “Perfect. And now imagine how you’d do a presentation with poo in your pants. Imagine yourself, pooing yourself, but also owning the situation, continuing your speech, and delivering an awesome talk.”
That day, Damian helped do a doom visualization – a visualization where you imagine your fears coming true.
After doing that visualization a few times, I realized that yes, it would suck, but I could handle that. Even if the worst scenario happens, I can work with that.
A few days later, I gave a TED talk in front of hundreds of people. My talk was selected as Editor’s pick by the Global TED organization out of a hundred other talks.
None of my fears had come true. But even if they had, I would have known how to handle them.
And you can do the same. The next time you have a presentation or speech coming up, do a doom visualization.
Think about the worst things that could happen and imagine this happening.
But also imagine how you’d overcome that problem and actually crush it at the end. Embrace your fears and use them as your power.