Think Faster, Talk Smarter

Three of the ideas you’ll keep

The Clif summary of Think Faster, Talk Smarter pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.

1. Relabel your nerves as excitement rather than trying to calm down: nervousness and excitement share the same physiology, and Alison Wood Brooks's 'Get Excited' research shows people who said 'I'm excited' outperformed those who told themselves 'I'm calm.'
2. Build an Anxiety Management Plan (AMP), three to five pre-chosen in-the-moment tactics like breathing with longer exhales than inhales, slowing your movements, and greeting your anxiety instead of fighting it.
3. 'Dare to be Dull' / Maximize Mediocrity: perfectionism and originality-seeking freeze you, so giving yourself permission to be merely adequate paradoxically produces more fluent, authentic responses.

The other 4 — and the full 11-minute summary — are in the app.

What’s inside: 8 chapters

The whole summary runs about 11 minutes, read or listened to.

1. The Unrehearsed Majority
2. Step 1: Tame the Anxiety Beast
3. Step 2: Dare to Be Dull
4. Step 3: Mind Your Mindset
5. Step 4: Be Present and Listen
6. Step 5: Structure Your Spontaneity
7. Step 6: Focus the Message
8. Part II: The Six Situations