How to be remembered for the right reasons #1: Focus on your message

Checklist: What do you focus on?

The more you worry about how you’re being perceived, the more your finite mental energy is consumed by anxiety, leaving less for what truly matters: your message. Ask yourself the following questions to see where you need to adjust your focus:

1. “When presenting, my primary focus is typically on…”

• How the audience perceives me.
• Ensuring that my core message is understood.
• Getting through all my slides correctly.

2. “When I feel a wave of speaking anxiety, my instinct is to…”

• Focus inward on managing my breathing and calming down.
• Think about what the audience needs to hear next.
• Look for a friendly face to feel more comfortable.

3. “When I communicate, my core message is framed around…”

• The actions we need to take and the features of our plan.
• The tangible benefits and direct value for the audience.
• A detailed overview of the situation.

A framework for moving from anxious to authoritative

Crystallize your core message

Before any high-stakes communication, give yourself a simple, powerful anchor. Most speakers prepare by amassing details, but effective leaders do the opposite: they distil. Your goal is to summarize your entire purpose into a single, declarative sentence.

What is the one idea you must land? Write it down on a Post-it note. Frame it as a headline. This is not your whole presentation, but its soul. An anchor like “This decision will save every team 10 hours a week” is clear and easy to return to. When you have absolute clarity on your core message, it becomes your North Star, guiding your words and calming your nerves.

Reframe your focus in real time

Anxiety is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be debilitating. When you feel that familiar pressure building, it’s because your focus has shifted inward to self-preservation. The most powerful antidote is to force it outward again with one simple question: “What is most useful for my audience right now?”

Asking this question immediately changes your mental state from one of defensiveness to one of service. It redirects your brain from “How am I doing?” to “How can I help them?” This shift not only diminishes your anxiety but also makes your communication instantly more relevant and valuable to your listeners.

Speak in benefits, not features

A message is only compelling if it connects to the audience’s world. Leaders often make the mistake of communicating their own operational priorities. I once saw a major proposal fail because the presenter focused on the technical elegance of the solution, not the £2m it would save. Compare these two board-level statements:

• Weak message (feature-focused): “We are requesting a £1.5m capital expenditure to overhaul our legacy data infrastructure.”
• Strong message (benefit-focused): “By investing £1.5m, we can unlock £5m in operational efficiencies and increase business unit agility, allowing us to respond to market changes 50% faster.”

The first message is about your process. The second is about their strategic and financial priorities. A message framed around clear, relevant benefits is not only more persuasive but is also easier for you to focus on, as it is inherently more engaging and purposeful.