![\"clownsmile\"](\"http:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/clownsmile.jpg\")
<\/a>3 Seconds.<\/p>\nAfter 3 seconds, a spontaneous smile instantly transforms into clownish creepiness.<\/p>\n
Why? Because according to many, many scientific studies, the human brain is hardwired to experience the world consciously\u00a0in 3 second windows of “nowness.”<\/p>\n
The Science of Now<\/h3>\n
Here are just a few studies:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Your auditory and visual nerves have an “exhaust period” that forces the brain to ask “what is new in the world” every 3 seconds (Radilova, 1990).<\/li>\n
- Subjects were\u00a0unable to structure metronome beats with accents when the two beats exceeded 3 seconds (Szelag, 1996).<\/li>\n
- Natural sentence structure across culture and language results in utterances of under 3 seconds ( Kowal, 1975, Poppel, 1988, Vollrath, 1992).<\/li>\n
- Working short-term memory must be refreshed every 3 seconds if you don’t want to forget (Peterson 1959). You know how you repeat that phone number in your head over and over every 3 seconds?<\/li>\n
- “Spontaneous intentional acts” that rely on motor behavior (hug, kiss, handshake, touching, scratching, etc) last 3 seconds (Schleidt 1987, Gerstener 1995).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"three-706895_960_720\"](\"http:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/three-706895_960_720-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a>If you want to know more about this\u00a0“emotional moment” in which humans experience\u00a0the “feeling of nowness” check out the book “Time, Temporality, Now” by Harald Atmanspcher or “Subjective Time” by Valtteri Arstila.<\/p>\nHere’s the point:<\/strong><\/p>\n
It takes you 3 seconds to feel an emotional moment.
\nIt takes you 3 seconds to respond.
\n3 + 3 = 6.<\/p>\nHow to show public speaking anxiety<\/h3>\n
Knowing the 3 second rule explains the above\u00a0experiment.<\/p>\n
When you’re in the middle of a conversation and the other person doesn’t respond, it takes exactly 3 seconds for your brain to recognize the silence and react.<\/p>\n
![\"anxiety2\"](\"http:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/anxiety2-300x199.jpg\")
<\/a>The non-response creates anxiety and your subconscious brain takes over. Since silence creates the awkwardness, your subconscious brains will resolve the uncomfortable feeling by filling the silence with words–any words, even nonsensical words.<\/p>\nOn the inside you\u00a0are trying to resolve discomfort, but what does everybody else see on the outside?<\/p>\n
From the outside, its obvious to everyone that you do\u00a0not know what to say. You will practically ooze anxiety. The feeling of awkwardness becomes palpable in the next 3 seconds.<\/p>\n
How to show presentation skills confidence<\/h3>\n
If an anxious person reacts by filling the silence with meaningless words, what do you think a confident, non-anxious person would do?<\/p>\n
![\"quotescover-PNG-46\"](\"http:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/quotescover-PNG-46-300x300.png\")
<\/a>Nothing.<\/p>\nA confident person would not be uncomfortable in silence.<\/p>\n
Imagine yourself standing on stage in the spotlight. Hundreds of eyes\u00a0focus on you, but you say nothing. You are in complete control. You are completely relaxed. You are unphased. You break the silence only when you choose to break the silence.<\/p>\n
The first 3 seconds of silence establishes nothing.\u00a0But if you have the confidence to remain composed in silence into the next three seconds, subconscious alarm bells start firing in every observer’s mind.<\/p>\n
“Whoa, is that guy composed!”
\n“Wow, is that woman powerful!”
\n“Dang, is that kid Cool!”<\/p>\nBy the time you hit 6 seconds of silence you are in complete control of the room.<\/p>\n
How to implement the technique<\/h3>\n
Years ago, I noticed that weak, nervous speakers often start talking immediately, even before they have the audience’s attention, often while people are still chatting and calming down.<\/p>\n
I also noticed that strong speakers often stood in silence at the front of the room and did not begin speaking until they\u00a0had undivided attention.<\/p>\n
I copied the best speakers and started beginning every speech and every class with myself standing in front of the room in complete silence — even when unconfortable.<\/p>\n
I didn’t know why it worked, but it did–
\nafter six seconds of silence,\u00a0you have complete control.<\/p>\nNow days, I do know why it works, but it doesn’t matter. Nothing has actually changed.\u00a0I still stand in complete silence in the front of the room for 6 seconds.<\/p>\n
If this technique were included\u00a0in my SpeechDeck presentation skills system<\/a>, it would by categorized as a method to “Reveal the Messenger” and establish Authority. However, the 3 second rule also explains why pausing is one of the most effective techniques to generate emotion when trying to “Engage the Subconscious.”<\/p>\n
Do you want instant authority, instant credibility, instant power, instant confidence, instant attention, or instant respect?<\/p>\n
All you have to do is nothing.
\nJust do it for 3 seconds–twice!<\/p>\nImage source:\u00a0Katie Tegtmeyer<\/a><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Do you know the 3 second rule? The 3 second rule will make you look and feel more powerful in 6 seconds. You can have instant authority for free, and you literally don’t have to do anything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[9,24,40,57,58],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1136,"href":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions\/1136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}