Stage fright can make magicians miserable.
They love what they do, but until the show is over, they're suffering.
The same goes for comedians, singers, and executives giving business presentations.
For most people, the time leading up to the big event is what makes them miserable.
Once they get it over with, they feel elated because it almost always goes better than they imagined.
Honestly, perfectionists tend to suffer with stage fright the most.
They're so worried, they make sure to prepare and have every detail set.
As a result, when they finally perform, all of their hard work pays off and they knock it out of the park.
One way to ease your stage fright is to be well prepared and rehearsed.
Assuming you've done that, what else can you do? Start by reducing the significance of the people in your audience.
We seem to think that every presentation is our last, and if we bomb our careers are over.
This is rarely the case and we often imagine our audience to have much more power than they do.
I don't want to hurt your ego, but people aren't really thinking about you as much as you think.
Even if you don't do your best and you believe everybody is embarrassed for you, realize that they were probably texting during most of your performance.
If members of congress are busy Twittering while our President addresses the huge issues we're currently facing, how much do you think people are paying attention to you? Instead of giving your audience credit for having so much power, look for their vulnerabilities.
Everybody is self-conscious to some extent.
Empower yourself and learn to accept who you are.
You're an awesome person about to do the best performance of your life.
Steal the power away from the audience, take it for yourself, and you'll be one step closer to eliminating stage fright from your life.