MY SMART PROBLEM SOLVING LOG

Towards A Life Worth Living

Accounting for all of the challenges of reaching your goals can help you stay on track. Note any challenges that you face in reaching your goals and update this sheet as new challenges arise.

Restate Problem in SMART terms: Specific Measurable Action-oriented Realistic Time-bound

I have trouble with public speaking ____________

# / Components of problem / Solution / Action Plan / Deadline / 
1) My hands start to shake / 1)Hold a clipboard or a relatively heavy object so people to prevent my hands from shaking
2) I'm afraid of being negatively evaluated and looking like a fool / 1) Make sure I prepare and practice the speech for my presentation as much as I can ( a minimum of a week) for each presentation
2) Make sure I know the material very well
3) write down all of the reasons why people will like it.
4) Think about how I have put in my best effort at this point and it is enough for me to be proud of myself regardless of the outcome.
3) I can't remember the words and end up not doing as well as I can / 1) Practice the speech over and over again until the words automatically come to me without much thinking.
2) have a plan B for when I lose my words
Have slides and put on key words and phrases that
  • Get me back on track
  • Have my speech written down so if I REALLY lose myself, at least I know I can read off my material and finish
  • Acknowledge that I just lost my place and don't make it a big deal
  • Use humor in the beginning of the presentation and at different parts to calm my nerves

4) I Panic to the point of sometimes nausea and lose control (I catastrophize the situation) / 1) Make sure I prepare well before the presentation
2) Don’t exhaust myself on the last day. Make sure I don't work on the presentation for the entire evening and before the big day and take care of myself (ex: shower, do my hair, pick out my outfit)
3) Run over the presentation only once the night before the presentation day
4) Use breathing techniques from yoga to calm myself down BEFORE my nerves escalate
5) Smile! And focus my attention on thinking about how well I will do ( instead of focusing my attention on the contrary).
6)Get excited for the material I will present and how interesting, informative and amazing it is.
7) write down all of the reasons why people will like it.
8) Think about how I have put in my best effort at this point and it is enough for me to be proud of myself regardless of the outcome
9) Think about the worst case scenario. So think about the worse things that can happen (99.99% of the time it looks much worse in your head if you actually think about it clearly and concretely). Through doing this, I see how I am catastrophizing the situation and how the consequences are not as terrible as I imagined This allows me to know that I will be OK, even with the worst case scenario, thus reducing my fear.