Listening More Attentively In Class and Managing Anxiety

Submitted by Gerardo Chagolla

Salt Lake Community College
COMM 1010-034
November 6, 2015

When it comes to creating a proposal on improving my communication interactions,

where do I begin? Limiting it down to only one or two communication habits, thats going to be
a challenge. But two habits that stand out the most are; listening more attentive in class, and
managing anxiety during public speaking, I also want to include managing anxiety period. For
the most part, I feel I do a good job listening to a lecture ninety percent of the time, but that ten
percent (guesstimate) is always something very important that would make the lecture complete,
and I missed out on the entire lecture, possibly ADD. As far as managing anxiety during a public
speech, it is hit and miss. 7th grade, I had a panic/anxiety attack during a presentation, which I
havent been able to shake it off completely. Most of my presentations after that have been
flawless, a very small amount of them anxiety kicks in like; heavy breathing, sweating, and the
room becoming dark, and another small amount of my presentations in the past I have been able
to control anxiety when I feel it is going to happen. I feel like I have to understand the
importance of listening and learn how to use all of the tools available to me for a presentation;
organization, and delivery more important.

Description of Problem:
I feel that when it comes to listening in class, I lose concentration quick when I am lost or
dont know what is going on. In the book it says under the title the Importance of Listening,
You have to be able to listen well if youre going to motivate the people who work for you.
(Communication at Work pg. 59) I feel like I am a natural born leader, but if I dont have good
listening skills, how will anyone want to hear what I have to say if I dont pick up on lectures
well? This listening issue is will affect me in the long-run, I cant teach lectures or lead a squad if
I havent paid attention to what I have to teach.

Oral presentations have been tough on me, hahaha. In all honestly, anxiety has been
something I have dealt with all my life. I dont know exactly what is the cause of it during
regular conversation, but when it comes to speeches, I do have a tendency to add slang or hood
talk to them, I feel that it is a part of me and I refuse to give that culture of my life up, my
upbringing is very important to me. During oral speeches, a lot of what chapter 12 in the book;
preparing, organizing, content, visual aids, and delivery and speech are important to managing
anxiety during the presentation, no matter if its a persuasive presentation, group presentation, or
special occasion speaking, as the book says briefings are short talks that give already interested
and knowledgeable audience members the specific information they need to do their jobs. (pg.
339) With all the briefing work done correctly, managing anxiety can become a success.

Resources and Constraints:

The best sources for listening more attentively in class can be found in our text book;
COMM 1010: Communicating At Work. I feel like chapter three in the text is the greatest manual
to this cause, however, it doesnt address ADD, which in my opinion can lead to bad listening
skills, or maybe these steps are the way to eliminating ADD!
Sources for managing anxiety during presentations are also best outlined in the text. I am
one hundred percent behind the briefing process of any presentation. If you follow all five
characteristics of a briefing, managing your anxiety during a speech will be a success. However,
something that I did not see in the book was understanding anxiety, understanding it will help
manage it better.

Recommendations:
In order for me to be an effective leader, I have to be an effective listener, learning to be a
leader takes listening attentively in class and chapter three of the book is the manifesto for it.
When it comes to communication, most people pay more attention to sending messages than
receiving them. This imbalance comes from several mistaken assumptions. (pg. 60) This faulty
assumption is one of four that if understood well, then attentive listening can lead to effective
learning and later on to effective leading. In the book it says that communication depends on the
receiver as well as the sender. Both parties have a responsibility to paying attention to each other.
Second faulty assumption is understanding that listening is passive. Some
communicators mistakenly assume that listening is basically a passive activity in which the
receiver is a sponge, quietly absorbing the speakers thoughts. (pg. 61) Good listening is hard
work though, asking questions or paraphrasing helps makes sure you both are on the same page.
Faulty assumption three is, talking has more advantages. At first glance, it seems that
speakers control conversations while listeners are the followers. The people who do the talking
are the ones who capture everyones attention, so its easy to understand how talking can be
viewed as the pathway to success. (pg. 61) Talking too much can get you off track of the main
point. The book says that despite the value of talking, experts understand that listening is equally
important. Too many times, whether its email, voice mail, or Internet, we are concentrating on
the art of telling, not listening. Yet good listening, in my opinion, is eighty to ninety percent of
being a good manager and an effective leader. (pg. 61)
Faulty assumption four is; listening is a natural ability. Listening may seem like a
natural ability, like breathing. After all, you might say, Ive been listening since I was a child.
We could all say the same thing about talking, but even though almost everyone does it, this

doesnt mean most people do it well. (pg. 61) Studies conducted suggest that people
overestimate their ability to listen well, ninety four percent of the people that have taken the
study gave themselves favorable ratings, but in reality, their listening skills werent that great.
Understanding these four assumptions of listening, as well as knowing that barriers such
as; physical, visual, or emotional, can make a difference in listening/understanding okay, to
having a great comprehension level on a subject. This will help become a leader later on in life
and that should be the ultimate goal.
Managing anxiety during speech can be well executed by two factors; first is to have a
briefing on what you are presenting, second, understanding what anxiety is and what triggers it.
These will help manage anxiety.
Briefings have five characteristics and if used right they will make sure to relieve anxiety
during the speech you are presenting. Knowing the length of your speech is instrumental to
delivering the speech anxiety free. As the name suggest, most briefings are short, usually no
more than two or three minutes on a given subject. (pg. 340) Organizing and content are two
more of the five. Organizing the content is important, think about it! The people listening to your
speech already have an understanding in the content, all you are doing is organizing it in a way
that will help them do a task with more confidence. The last two are presentation aids and
language and delivery. Having a power point or some kind of visual aid during your presentation
will help get your point across, but the words and how you use them during the power point hold
more weight during the presentation. Having all these parts of the briefing ready for the
presentation will show you came prepared and will not trigger any signs of anxiety.
Understanding what anxiety is will help manage anxiety. During professor Josh Adams
lecture of anxiety management, he said anxiety appears as a continuum. In the continuum, the

left represents under confidence, the right represents over confidence, you want to be in the
middle, which represents confidence. Anxiety strikes when we feel we are being evaluated, a fear
of rejection or trying to please everyone, he also mentioned that you cannot please everyone,
only yourself. Understanding anxiety also involves evoking a panic response such as; sweating,
or pacing back and forth.
Good ways of managing anxiety behavior are; stress control breathing, briefing notes,
and the best of them all is practice. Practicing all these can help manage anxiety behaviors. Using
cognitive skills will also help get through anxiety during the presentation, literally knowing that
it is only five minutes of your life can help manage any anxiety, but also imagining the worst, reenacting it and preparing for it will help when and if it does happen.
These main points of understanding what anxiety is and what can trigger it can help keep
anxiety out of your presentation. Also, having a prepared briefing and preparing yourself can
help with managing anxiety.

Conclusion:
I have always struggled with these two things, I feel that one compliments the other, and
not in a good way. But by following these teaching, it will take a long way in life.

Work Cited:
Adler, R and J. Elmhorst. (2013) Communicating at Work (11e). Boston: McGraw Hill.