[Simon S]

A slightly embarassing thing to admit to but, I seem to struggle to keep my voice 'normal' when in nerveracking or confrontational situations. The pitch changes, and gives the game away that I feel under pressure or nervous. Does anyone have any ideas or tips that I can use so that I can reduce or eliminate this?
Thanks.

[SA Chris]

I'm sure it happens to everyone, not just climbers. Common sign of nerves, and not somethnig worth paying much attention to.

Best advice I can give is
a) dont do climbs you get scared on
b) dont speak
c) if you need to communicate, HOLLER!

[Monolith]

A tip I have for you.

Whenever I go to job interviews or other such sites of emotional pressure, I prepare myself way in advance for the event. In my mind, I treat the interview as a meeting. Think about it, a meeting is something that's done fairly informally, whereas if you emphasise the word 'interview' repeatedly in your mind, it acts as a concrete signifier; one that has all sorts of nervous affiliations. Strip away the word 'interview' et voila, the pressure eases off. It worked a treat for my Architecture degree interview.

Also, embarrassment is a flawed concept. Take no notice of it.

[Simon S]

Thanks for the advice guys. Its just annoying when it happens and I cannot stop it.  especially if I am trying to be forceful in making my point.

[Monolith]

If you need a hand making your point, just drop me a line and I'll speak to the offender for you. 

[Simon S]

 

[andy popp]

Not sure I entirely agree with Gruff there. I've been teaching very large groups (e.g. 300+) of undergrads in a big modern auditorium recently and I am always very aware that there is almost necessarilly an element of 'performance' involved in such situations. I'm not sure if in pressured situations its possible or even effective to try and be 'natural'. To take a very different scenario, in a recent job interview I was again aware of performing to suit a particular environment. It might be a way of distancing your 'real' self from the pressure and thus relaxing. Gruff is right about practice making perfect though.

[Pantontino]

You should try out some Neuro Linguistic Programming - sounds like a load of bullshit, but actually works in my experience. It can help with a multitude of things. I used it last year to deal with some of the side affects of CFS. My wife recently used it to overcome her fear of public speaking. She managed to give a presentation to a large symposium after she'd done some NLP exercises.

I thought this was the best book on it (despite the cheesey title):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NLP-Technology-Achievement-Steve-Andreas/dp/1857881222/ref=pd_sxp_grid_i_2_0/026-4279871-3752446

I've also read this; some rate it as being more accessible:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Introducing-Neuro-Linguistic-Programming-Joseph-OConnor/dp/1855383446/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt/026-4279871-3752446

Don't be put off by the vaguely creepy surface image of NLP - when you get down to it, it is just about helping people to deal with life.

[Simon S]

That NLP stuff looks quite interesting-I can feel an amazon order coming on.