What It Feels Like to Freeze on National Television
We&#x27;ve all been there Dr. Habib.<p>&gt; I waited there for about twenty-five minutes, absent-mindedly scanning old newspapers while watching the goings-on about the office and repeating what I wanted to say about the North Korean rocket launch over and over in my head.<p>As someone who is also an introvert struggling to pass as an extrovert at many times (though thankfully not on live TV, thank god), I can offer a little trick that helps to prevent these situations: practice out loud.<p>It&#x27;s simple, but effective. When you encounter one of these &quot;freezes&quot; your natural instinctive response is to fall back on what you&#x27;ve practiced -- physically, not mentally. And what you actually practiced, Dr. Habib, is mutely thumbing through newspapers.<p>What I do when I have a big speech or talk is find some quiet room beforehand and actually practice my speech or talking points out laud, until I have them basically memorized. Then I throw out the notes and give an extemporaneous talk. It always goes different than planned, but when I get stuck my mouth automatically goes to start forming the phrases I had practiced and I get back on track. I get complements and people are super surprised to find out that I&#x27;m actually introverted and dread public speaking...