240. The myth of OVERPREPARING

Are you guilty of saying you overprepare for your speaking engagements?

In this episode, I break down the myth of overpreparing and reveal what’s really going on when you feel stuck in preparation mode.

It’s not about too much prep - it’s about misplaced prep.

You’ll learn why focusing solely on content (words, slides, scripts) without preparing yourself (your voice, energy, and presence) can hold you back.

Transcript

Hello and welcome back to That Voice Podcast.

I’m recording this after being in Sydney for our Speak Up for Your Business workshop, which was a huge success.

If you want to speak about who you are and what you do with confidence and clarity book in for a workshop. The next one is Brisbane on May 23rd, but I’m always adding new dates and new cities so keep an eye out on the website, or DM me and I can put you on the waitlist.

Something that came up in the Sydney workshop was this idea of OVERPREPARING.

Can you relate? I hear this from a lot of my clients, that the problem is they OVER-PREPARE.

The discussion around this really landed at the workshop so I want to share my take on this topic with you here on the podcast.

Because OVERPREPARING is a myth

Let’s talk about what’s really going on. What you really mean when you say you OVERPREPARE.

Let’s look at the actual word, OVER PREPARE means to prepare excessively or more than necessary for something. Going beyond what is practical or required, sometimes to the point of diminishing returns.

Now there’s nothing wrong with preparing excessively for something. This helps you feel confident and ready. You’ll never hear an Olympic Gold Medallist say they overprepared for their event like it’s a bad thing.

Overpreparing also relates to wasting time on unnecessary details. That’s annoying. Time is precious.

But when clients say they overprepare in the context of speaking it usually doesn’t mean they feel they went well.

Maybe you’ve used it in this context.

The problem is I overprepare.

I was so overprepared I couldn’t deliver it. That’s an oxymoron.

If I don’t overprepare I’m ok.

This is where the myth of overpreparing becomes clear, because preparing excessively should not be a problem.

So what’s going on here.

It’s not overpreparing. It’s misplaced preparing.

It’s putting so much focus on preparing your content – the words, the slides, the script etc that you fail to prepare yourself, your voice, your energy.

It’s preparing the what and not preparing the how.

It’s not overpreparing. It’s putting power outside yourself.

There’s so much focus on external factors that you become blind to your internal magic.

It’s not overpreparing. It’s too much emphasis on the masculine and suffocating the feminine.

Remember, prepare / write in the masculine, deliver in the feminine.

If all your energy is in saying the right words, sticking to the script, keeping on track, you shut off your energetic channel that is your voice and wonder why you struggle to deliver in flow. That feminine energy of flow and emotional connection is stifled.

When you recite words off by heart, you are off your heart.

The words are wooden and disconnected and you wonder why it feels so hard.

It’s not overpreparing. It’s under trusting.

It’s grasping onto the very thing that holds your divine wisdom back.

You have got this. You are the notes. The knowledge flows through your voice.

When you have trust, you have breath, when you have breath you have sound.

It’s not overpreparing. It’s overthinking, it’s overanalysing, it’s blocking your ability to be in your body.

And you need to be in your body to master the instrument of your body, your voice.

So next time you find yourself thinking or saying that your problem is overpreparing.

Stop yourself and ask more helpful questions.

How are you misplacing your energy?

Have you prepared yourself not just your content?

Do you trust yourself?

If you need help with these questions and the practical application of what that looks like, then join Soul Speakers my online group program. The details are in the show notes.

And remember you have everything you need inside.

You are enough. You are divine.

And all the preparation in the world will never change that.