I’m often asked whether there is a formula for success in public speaking, and my response has always been, “practice.” Practice is the secret to becoming good and the antidote to fear.

But I just had a personal experience that made me realize that practice is only one half of the formula. Ten thousand hours of preparation won’t prevent a meltdown if you’re walking around with stupid, idiotic thoughts in your head.

Last week I was invited to speak to the International Leadership Association (ILA) conference in Prague. Didn’t know much about the conference. Didn’t even know much about the organization. I said “yes” because I thought it would be a great trip to take with my husband. Turns out it coincided with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Everybody said Prague was an historic, romantic city. So, I thought, “Why not?”

As for presenting a “case study,” I felt well-enough prepared. I was more worried about how I would recover from sleep deprivation after an overnight flight to Frankfurt, walking the guaranteed 5 miles through that huge airport to catch a the second leg to Prague at 4 a.m. However, the reality of my situation came into clearer focus when I arrived, signed in, received my name badge and scanned the program. Almost all the other speakers had a Ph.D. and some fancy- titled white papers or books with long, complex, theoretical themes. Walking around and listening in on conversations it became obvious that most of the attendees were academics speaking a language that might as well have been Czech.

That’s when I started feeling...nautious.

I awoke in the middle of the night conjuring up worst case scenarios. I imagined that they would read my bio in the program description and not even bother to show up. Or, that they’d come in with skeptical faces, arms folded, and proceed to stump me with questions on my “research methodology.” It didn’t help that in the bar the previous evening I noted that these folks weren’t talking about the 135 varieties of beer on the menu; they partied all night talking leadership theory. Woo hoo.

By 6 a.m. I had slept little and convinced myself this had been a terrible mistake. I faced my impending doom the only way I knew how; I starting taking it out on my husband. It wasn’t pretty.

When he finally asked what was going on, I told him. And then, he said, ”You’re kidding right?”

I replied with a wise crack. No need to print that here.

“Have you forgotten,” he said, “that you’ve written two best selling books on leadership? Most academics would love to write something other people want to buy,” he said. ”They have nothing on you. In fact they’ll probably wish they were you.”

Now that’s very husbandly support, and it’s awfully nice, however on this topic I thought he did have some credibility, as well. Drew is a screenwriter, author, attorney and film professor at Boston College. So he’s one of them. Sort of. In a bar he would prefer to talk about New England Patriots football, politics or movies. Or beer.

I had to halt this mental spiral, so I left early and headed to the meeting room, which thankfully was empty. I ran through my program. I decided he was right. What was the worst that could happen? My plan was to share a few “case studies” (stories) of leaders who succeed in motivating and inspiring others by living and working with purpose and passion. The exercises in the program are designed to get people thinking and talking about their own career passions.

The room filled up; they had to bring in chairs. I’m relieved to report that within 15 minutes, the place was buzzing. Everybody seemed to enjoy it. We had not just academics, but smiling, energetic, engaged college students who added a lot to the mix. They had some of the best stories to share.

So - what did I learn? I realized that I needed to revise my formula for success in public speaking. It didn’t take into consideration the fact that even experienced speakers allow certain circumstances to rattle their confidence.

So, here’s the new formula for success.

Practice + Affirmation = Success.

As we all know, eight bazillion books have been written on success. They all say the same thing. Success requires mastery of a skill - you have to be really good at something. And, success requires mastery of thought - you have to manage the way you think.

We are what we think. Our thoughts become our reality.

Once I started thinking about the new formula, it also became obvious that affirmation needs some definition. I believe there are two channels for affirmation. Two “inputs” if you will. One is the inner channel -your own thoughts, feelings and beliefs; that what you say to yourself. The other is the outer channel -the affirmation you receive from others; what other people say to you.

It’s hard to imagine consistent success if you don’t have the inner and outer channels open and working properly. Last week proved that to me. I probably would have been okay, but it sure helped to have someone else there who I trusted to offer genuine encouragement.

You need to have other people who believe in you. And you need to believe in yourself.

Here are five steps to help you develop the inner and outer channels of affirmation:

1. Take stock of yours skills; if you have negative thoughts there may be a reason - you do need to get better. Practice. If you are not as good as you need to be, make the commitment and improve.

2. Take stock of your thought process; if you are a reasonably good speaker and still routinely experience doubt and anxiety, learn to use the inner channel of self-affirmation. “I have an interesting message to share,” ”Audiences always enjoy my presentations,” or “I’m a successful speaker,” are examples of affirmations. Write your own.

3. Take stock of personal and professional relationships in your life; if you don’t have supportive people who shine a light on your brilliance, find them. None of us can do it alone. We need need people we trust and respect to believe in us and tell us so.

4. Admit it when you’re feeling anxious; it doesn’t do any good to suffer in silence. Seek the support of others you trust and let them know how you feel so they can help you get on track. Embrace their words and let the magic of that outer channel of affirmations take hold.

5. Visualize your success; it always helps to rehearse and picture the audience. Imagine people nodding, smiling, applauding and shaking your hand after a presentation. I always do better when I go through this exercise a few hours before a presentation. This means of course you have to set aside that time and honor the time to visualize and prepare.

So there’s my new formula; practice + affirmation = success. The two go hand in hand. Combine them for your next presentation and see how it works. Let me know if you have affirmations you want to share.