Brain Freeze Busters: Stop the Freeze Before it Starts (mini-sode)

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Brain freeze doesn’t happen in the moment—it starts long before we step up to the mic. In this mini-sode, Lauri explores how to prevent that icy mental shutdown before it ever takes hold. She dives into the hidden ways we set ourselves up to freeze and how to shift from freeze to flow by setting clear intentions, organizing thoughts effectively, and practicing in a way that builds trust instead of tension. If you’ve ever worried about going blank, this one’s for you.

TAKEAWAYS: 

1. Your focus shapes your reality – If you fixate on forgetting, you’re more likely to freeze. Shift your attention to presence and connection instead for a more flow-filled experience.
2. Intention is everything – Setting a clear intention for the energy you want to create will help guide your words and ease your nerves.
3. Structure and practice build trust – Organizing content in 3s and practicing in a way that builds presence (not rote memorization) helps prevent those “going blank” moments.

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Episode Transcript

Lauri (00:00):
A while back I shared a simple way to cure brain freeze
when we're speaking.
Now I want to go back and addon to that by talking about how
we can prevent that cold brainfreeze speaking thing from
happening in the first place.
So we're going to continue toget to the root and back it up
to before the talking evenbegins, because brain freeze

(00:23):
starts way before the moment inthe speech or the event that it
happens, like the choice to goto the 7-Eleven in the 1970s in
the first place when I was a kid, and get the popsicle, and then
the choice to eat the popsicleso fast that I gave myself brain
freeze Choices.
Preparation If you've got soulsuckers and inner critics and

(00:47):
protector parts focused on whatmight go wrong, I'm afraid I'll
forget.
I'm afraid I'll forget.
I'm afraid I'll forget.
You're setting yourself out onthat course while you're still
preparing, before you even getin the room.
That's that river rafting andtrying not to hit the rocks
thing again, which becomes aself-fulfilling prophecy.

(01:09):
Your mind is on the possibilityof forgetting rather than on
where you are in the presentmoment.
That's that law of attractionthing.
By focusing on the possibilityof forgetting or freezing, we do
it even more.
Notice how it feels in yourbody when you're thinking I hope

(01:32):
I don't forget, I hope I don'tforget, I hope I don't freeze,
just like an um episode a whileback.
Some people say um to cover upthe freeze.
They don't realize it and thenthey start thinking I hope I
don't say as many ums and thenthey say more.
When your attention is on thefreezing and the forgetting, it

(01:53):
creates a tightness that createsa vortex that we can't get out
of.
More tightness equals morefreezing, and we definitely
can't get out of it and speaksoulfully because at least half
our brain is on the possibilityof screwing it up instead of on
connecting to and serving thepeople in the room, instead of

(02:16):
on the transformation that wewant.
When, on the other hand, you setan intention for the vibe you
want to create in your audienceand then even start to use
silences to lead them on thatexperience, that is a whole
different ballgame.
Set an intention, feel, watch,listen for that intention

(02:43):
happening.
As we're in conversation withthem, your inner critic may be
saying I'm worried, I don't knowmy topic.
You actually do.
Your true self knows in eachmoment what you want to say and
how you want to say it.
So it's about building muscles,of trusting yourself.

(03:07):
To help with that, you canorganize your content by threes.
Good friend and colleague,meryl Shaw, used to speak all
the time about the power ofthrees.
The gist is that we areneurologically wired to remember
things in threes.
Threes are sticky beginning,middle and end red, white and

(03:31):
blue.
That is going to help both youremember and your audience
remember, and then practice.
Practicing does not mean thatyou don't know your stuff.
Speaking is very similar totaking a book which is in the
written form and translatinginto a movie, which is a verbal

(03:53):
form.
You're taking some notes andsome lived experience, gathering
it and translating it into aformat which is a talk.
If you practice in this way notby reading, not by burying your
face in your slides so toprevent brain freeze from even

(04:15):
happening in the first place,set an intention, organize your
content in threes and practice.
Practicing in this new waycreates trust, habits of trust,
big guns, muscles of trust.
Eventually, try it out and letme know how it goes.