Guess what? 

The other day I had my mind blown! 

I was not expecting it at all but there I was, sitting in a coaching session with a brand expert talking about my astrology chart. 

As if that wasn’t already outside my norm, that’s when she hit me with it – the exact steps I should take when needing an energy boost. 

My Vitality Practice, as she called it. 

It turns out I gain energy through breath-work, which I had an inkling about. 

And learning, which I knew. 

But also, talking to people?

What the what?!?

This introvert was stunned. I even face-palmed myself – thwack!

As an introvert, I always believed I re-energized away from people. 

For years, I found myself coming away from certain conversations with seemingly more energy and a bit confused.

Was I actually an extrovert? Or ambivert? 

Nope, neither of those really felt as right as an introvert. 

So for over two decades I thought something was wrong. Maybe I didn’t fit any place. 

But it turns out my energy doesn’t come in simply to talking to anyone about anything. 

I need to discuss new ideas in those conversations. That’s where the activity leans on the learning part. 

The next time I needed to amp up my energy just before a huge event, I followed my Vitality Practice and did a round of breathing through my watch app and made sure I had a “new ideas” conversation beforehand, too. 

What a difference it made in how I showed up and rocked it out. I felt so much more calm and confident.

This newfound self-knowledge also had me wondering – how do other kick-butt business owners ready themselves before a BIG EVENT?

So I asked and the responses took me by surprise. 

Even after the revelation that I should be breathing and conversing, I guess I was still expecting a whole lot of tips on how to do more, prepare more, ready myself more. 

But no.

Here’s a collection of the top tactics these women employ:

• forego reviewing the material the morning, afternoon or evening of
• listen to a song that just makes you feel totally in love with the world, even better if you know the words and sing and dance it out
• carve out specific quality time with family
• don’t eat a big meal; look more for something that sustains and energizes
• give yourself a pep talk in a mirror, which will probably feel weird but just look at yourself while telling yourself how awesome you are
• have a dance session to get the nervous energy flowing if you’re at home, or, if you’re at an in-person event, go in the bathroom stall and wiggle your body around and feel into the sensations of your energy
• practice experiencing the “peak energy” you get when you’re on stage so that it becomes less uncomfortable, which can be done by taking a cold water rinse in the shower — it activates your nervous system in a similar way, so you’re basically turning on the cold water for a few seconds and practicing breathing instead of panicking
• just breathe
• smell some incense
• walk yourself through a grounding exercise 
• do a meditation where you envision yourself being a conduit for whatever message needs to come through
• hit the mat and do some yoga, and if it can be done outside even better
• cut the metaphorical cords to release negative energy
• don’t book the time right before with clients or activities and leave your calendar free from everything for at least 15-30 minutes before you need to leave the house or hop into your virtual meeting room
• say a little prayer or mantra that reminds you to trust that you’ve got this (because you totally do)
• when you get on stage or into the room, take time to “nest”, where you take a moment to ground all that big energy down through your feet and really be in your body. Breathe in deeply and look at a few people in the crowd to get fully present in the room

Use one or two of these right before your next big something, whether a webinar, workshop or difficult conversation. 

Oh and the coach who changed my world and unveiled the actual workings of my inner guide and showed me how to integrate that into my professional space, that’s none other then Laís of Your Captivating Brand. You can get acquainted with her right over here. Tell her I sent you. 

Do you have a pre-event ritual? Share it below – I’d love to hear what works for you.

Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash