I’ve been asked to explain the idea of “staying inside your presentation.” It sounds sort of like a new age thing but it’s actually a concept that is as old as time… It means to stay focused on the present… the here and now. Not allowing your mind to race ahead or to play sideline commentary. It is the most important part of listening, as well as speaking, and probably the hardest for anyone to do, as it takes discipline and concentration.

The reason:

We have what’s called “thought speed” this is where our brains process information about three times faster than we speak. In essence, we have the ability to finish someone’s sentence and drift off into other subjects of greater importance, (such as what we need to pick up from the store,) way before the person actually finishes their idea.

The bottom line:

It makes us lazy listeners. Instead of using that “thought speed” time more productively by controlling our desire to drift and daydream while others our speaking, we usually just spend that time thinking about what we are going to say next.

In public speaking, the same problem occurs. Our brains can finish our thoughts much faster than we speak, allowing us to race ahead or to start engaging in self-talk. The problem is that our brains really can’t be in two places at once, at least not with respect to communication. As soon as any of us leave the present conversation, we have broken our concentration. More than any other reason, this is why people get lost when they are speaking in front of other. Not because they don’t know how to finish ideas but because they allowed their thoughts to race ahead.

A strategy:

Maintain your concentration on the very real here and now. Pay attention to how often you drift and daydream while others are speaking and challenge yourself to come back to the present.