Hello gentlemen, 29 year old here. I am starting work at my 2nd company that I’ve worked for, and it seems like the people here are extremely smart. I am in a sales role and the reps are mostly older guys, 50s and up and have been doing this a long time… then there’s a handful of younger reps closer to my age.
I get this feeling in internal meetings like I want to speak up but I’ll just say some stupid, start stuttering, voice crack etc… or like I’ll forget what I’m saying. It’s probably cause I’m partially new, and not totally experienced, but also because it’s just nerve wracking.
To be honest, interacting with customers isn’t tough for me or just even public speaking , but it’s the unprepared or unprompted speaking that really makes me anxious and ultimately I just don’t speak up. I feel like I can grow from this but any advice on how to manage this anxiety and hesitation would be super helpful.