Mental Workout for Speakers

We’re taught from a young age how important physical fitness is. If you’ve ever trained for a marathon or worked to build muscle at the gym, you know results don’t happen overnight. They come from consistent reps and dedication to achieving a new outcome.

However, we’re not taught how to train our mind. Think of your brain as another muscle in your body that needs to work out to improve its performance. Just like those other muscles, your mental strength grows when you put in the work.

This is what I call mental fitness—the ability to train your thinking so you can achieve anything you want.

Here’s the problem: Most people set a goal, like becoming a TEDx speaker. They start putting in the work to become a great speaker, believing that effort alone will get them there. But then doubt creeps in and the negative self-talk takes over. Their mind starts listing all the reasons why they’ll never stand on that stage.

What they don’t realize is that effort and action are not enough. If your mindset isn’t aligned with your desired outcome, you’ll sabotage your success by believing those negative thoughts. This happens because most people have never intentionally trained their thinking. They operate on autopilot, guided by an inner dialogue of fear, doubt, and anxiety, and then wonder why, despite all their hard work, their outcomes still fall short.

Why does this happen? Imagine you are driving and come to a fork in the road where you must turn right or left. Your goal and all your efforts point to the right, but your programmed GPS keeps rerouting you left. Your mind is that GPS. It is programmed to tell you all the ways you could fail, to convince you that your goals are out of reach and your efforts will never pay off. That programming undermines your confidence and, over time, can even cause you to give up on your dreams.

But when your mindset is strong and aligned, you believe in your ability to succeed, so you show up with confidence, communicate with clarity, and bounce back quickly when things don’t go as planned.

What Is Mental Fitness?

I’ve been a full-time life coach and an executive coach for over a decade, and I’ve helped clients around the world learn to control their thoughts and thus change their mindset.

I use the term “mental fitness” to describe a workout that trains your thinking, allowing you to get what you want and stop getting what you don’t. Sounds simple, right? The tools to accomplish this kind of mental training are actually not complicated, even though they aren’t always easy.

Just like physical fitness, mental fitness requires a consistent routine, ideally done daily.

Your Mental Fitness Workout

1. Warm-Up: I Am Statements and Power Mottos

Start by telling yourself the outcomes you want. This is how we retrain our mental autopilot. These are what I call “I Am Statements” and “Power Mottos.” I Am Statements emphasize your capabilities, and Power Mottos help you reverse a negative belief.

You can train your mind to believe you can accomplish your goal by telling yourself things like: I am a great speaker and getting better all the time. I always reach my goals. I am capable of anything I set my mind to. I am ready for success. I will be a powerful TEDx speaker.

Think of this practice as “playing offense.” It’s a daily mental workout where you choose the thoughts you want. Start first thing in the morning by running through your list of I Am Statements and Power Mottos as you get ready and say them out loud to the mirror. At first, you won’t believe them, and that’s the point. These statements are creating the next version of you, the one who is already all these things.

Your mental fitness goal: Repeat these statements and mottos as often as possible throughout the day. Record them in a voice memo and listen while you drive or walk the dog. Keep at it until they become the thoughts that auto-populate in your mind.

When you do this consistently, you begin showing up with more confident energy and the negative inner dialogue fades. With this mental training and intentional focus, every talk you give improves, and soon more doors open for you as a speaker.

2. Strength Training: Mental Tennis

Mental Tennis is a term I use to describe how you can quickly flip negative thoughts into empowered, positive ones that focus on your desired outcomes. Imagine your mind as a tennis court, with negative balls being hurled at you all day long. They sound like: You’re not good enough. Other people do it better. You’re not ready yet.

Instead of letting those sabotaging voices land, hit the ball back by telling yourself the opposite: I am good enough! I can do this; I keep getting better! I am ready!

This tool is what’s known as playing defense. It teaches you to protect your I Am Statements and Power Mottos so you can keep building belief in yourself and stay aligned with your goals and actions.

Your mental fitness goal: Each time you notice a negative thought, or one rooted in doubt, fear, stress, or anxiety, hit it back with the opposite. Practice this daily, and you’ll start to see results quickly.

3. Recovery: Daydreaming

Athletes use visualization every day as part of their training and mental focus. They imagine themselves crossing the finish line or scoring the winning goal, and they tap into the feelings that come with those wins. You can use this same tool to manifest your own goals and dreams even faster.

Before your next speech, spend a few minutes daydreaming about the outcome you want: your words flowing smoothly, the audience fully engaged, the applause at the end. Allow yourself to feel the excitement, adrenaline, and achievement of nailing it onstage.

Your brain doesn’t know the difference between imagining success and actually experiencing it, so use this to your advantage. The more vividly you see it in your mind ahead of time, the more natural, easy, and powerful it will feel when you’re onstage.

 

Listen to The Toastmasters Podcast to hear more from Sarah Centrella.

What Sabotages Mental Fitness?

Just as junk food and skipping workouts hurt your physical fitness, there are habits that sabotage your mental strength:

• Negative self-talk (I’m terrible at this.)
• Comparison (They’re so much better than me.)
• Overthinking every mistake
• Inconsistency in your practicing routine

The antidote is awareness and practice. The more you catch yourself in these patterns and use your tools, the stronger your mindset becomes.

Mental fitness isn’t just a false belief or another trending hashtag. It’s a practical, no-nonsense way to retrain your thinking so you can start creating the results you want in every area of your life. It stops the cycle of manifesting what you don’t want and builds the momentum to shift things in your favor.

With consistent practice, these mental workouts strengthen your self-confidence, belief in yourself, and ability to stay focused on what matters most. In today’s world, mental fitness isn’t optional. It’s a survival skill. The ability to recognize, redirect, and strengthen your thoughts will transform everything: your career, your relationships, and your personal goals.

And just like physical fitness, it comes down to reps. The more you practice, the stronger you get. When you are committed to building your mental fitness, everything in your life will begin to positively shift.

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