Mind and body. What do these things have to do with a TEDx talk? Here's what. I have a TEDx client I'm working with right now who is getting ready for the TEDx stage and is very overcommitted. She's got the job where she's overcommitted there. She's got her Talk. She's overcommitted there. She's working on content. She's got her countdown, where we've reverse-engineered her training for everything that she needs to do as it relates to her Talk, her performance, her content, all of that good stuff.

I asked her, "Okay, great. What are you doing for exercise?" "I don't have time to exercise." "Okay, well, what about nutrition? At least you're eating healthy." "Well, yeah. I'm barely having time to eat." "Okay, sleep? How about sleep? Are you stocking up on your sleep?" "Yeah, not really."

Here's the thing. You want to be the best you on that stage whenever it is. If your TEDx talk is six months away, 12 months away, one month away, you want to be the best you. You want to think about all the components of your body and your mind to set yourself up for success. What does that look like?

Let's start with nutrition.

What you put in your body matters. At least during this countdown to the red circle, think about what you want to put in your body that serves you, that is nutritious, that helps you. Try to stay away from processed food and eat clean, as clean as you can. Maybe the best you on stage is 10 pounds lighter. Maybe the best you is six ounces lighter. Whatever it is, know where you are your best and you just feel your most amazing self, and get to that point.

Now, nutrition's only part of it. Also, you want to look at your sleep as well. How often you sleep, how long you sleep matters. You want to stock up on sleep as much as you can because, I'll tell you, 100% of the time, as your time gets closer to that red circle, you're going to sleep less and less and less because the nerves kick in and the stress goes up a lot, and so you want to make sure that you stock up on your sleep leading up to that.

Also, exercise. Looking at exercise, you want to make sure you move every day. Now, what does movement look like? If you're a CrossFit athlete, get out there and do your CrossFit workout. If you are not an athlete and really kind of not used to moving, walk. Just take a walk every day. Start out with a short walk and extend it longer and longer and longer. You want your body to get used to moving so, again, you're at your best self on stage.

What about your mind? You are going to have stress. It's part of this style of speaking. Stress just comes with the territory, so how do you handle that? One way is meditation, adopting a meditation practice, and that meditation practice might be five minutes, it might be longer, but you want to give your mind a break, whatever that means to you. Give your mind time to not focus on all the things you need to do and all the things you should do and all the things that people are telling you to do, and give your mind time to just reset and be.

When you put all of those things together from your body to your mind, that will help you be the strongest that you can be in that red circle.