You are backstage, minutes from your presentation. Your heart pounds. Your palms sweat. A well-meaning colleague notices and offers the advice people have given for generations: “Just calm down. Take a deep breath. Relax.”
You try. But the adrenaline is already there. What if the problem is not that you failed to calm down, but that calm was never the most useful goal?
In one randomized public-speaking experiment, people who said “I am excited” immediately before speaking received better performance ratings than people who said “I am calm.”
That does not mean calm is bad or that three words guarantee a good speech. It shows that changing the meaning of arousal can be more useful than trying to suppress it.
What the researchers tested
Alison Wood Brooks studied pre-performance anxiety across karaoke, public speaking, and mathematics. The public-speaking experiment included 140 participants.
Each participant had two minutes to prepare a persuasive speech about why they would make a good work partner. Before speaking for two to three minutes on camera, they were randomly assigned to say either:
- “I am excited.”
- “I am calm.”
Independent raters later evaluated the speeches without knowing which instruction each speaker received.
What happened
Compared with the calm group, the excited group was rated as more persuasive, competent, confident, and persistent. The speakers also talked for longer.
The largest reported difference was speech duration. The differences in the four quality ratings were smaller, but all were statistically significant.
The excited group also described the task more as an opportunity than a threat. However, they did not report significantly less anxiety. That distinction matters: the intervention changed how they approached the arousal, not whether the arousal existed.
Why the reframe may help
Anxiety and excitement are both high-arousal states. A racing heart can accompany either one.
Trying to become calm asks your body to move from high arousal to low arousal. Calling the same energy excitement keeps the arousal but changes its meaning. Brooks describes this as an arousal-congruent reappraisal.
The experiment does not prove that this mechanism works for everyone or every speech. It does provide a simple intervention that outperformed a common alternative under controlled conditions.
How to use it
Name the energy
Before speaking, try saying “I am excited” out loud. Do not wait to feel calm first.
Give the energy a job
Connect the arousal to something useful: projecting your voice, making the opening clear, or showing enthusiasm for the subject.
Rehearse the reframe
Test it during low-stakes practice. A phrase becomes easier to trust when you have used it before a few successful attempts.
Keep other anxiety tools
Preparation, gradual exposure, breathing, and professional support can still matter. This study compared two brief instructions immediately before a task. It did not test a complete anxiety treatment.
The bottom line
“Calm down” sounds sensible. It also asks an activated body to become something it is not. In this experiment, “I am excited” produced stronger speeches than “I am calm.”
Three words do not guarantee a good performance. But they can change the job from fighting your energy to using it. You may not need to eliminate the nerves before you speak. You may need to give them a better name.
Put this into practice
Use impromptu speaking practice to rehearse a short answer after saying “I am excited.” Compare it with a second attempt and listen for changes in energy, clarity, and persistence.