Welcome back to the Look and Sound of Leadership, an ongoing series of

executive coaching tips designed to help you be perceived in the workplace the way

you want to be perceived. I'm Tom Henschel, your executive coach, and today we're talking

about negative self-talk. Have you seen the movie Groundhog Day? This classic comedy stars Bill Murray as a man who

wakes up each day, condemned to relive moment by moment the day he lived yesterday. No matter

what he does to create a new experience, everyone

around him behaves in their same predictable way.

I have a groundhog moment in my professional life.

It happens during a course I deliver called Presentation Skills Coaching.

Let me use Lauren, a recent participant, as an example.

She got up and made her presentation while I videotaped her. Her speaking style

was, I thought, succinct and articulate, her physical presence was confident and relaxed. I felt

she could improve her eye contact and use

numbers to promote clarity but in general I thought she was quite mature in her

style. When she finished I asked, so how was that for you?

And that's when Groundhog Day began.

Oh my gosh, that was dreadful, she said.

I was talking a mile a minute and I couldn't seem to slow down and every other word out of my mouth was an um...

plus I couldn't steady my hand when I went to hit the mouse and I was rocking back and forth like crazy.

And she went on while I handed out forms for people to record her feedback and I set up the playback.

I stopped her and said,

Lauren, hold on a minute, let's watch the disc.

...