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McGonigal's speech, 'How to make stress a friend,' highlights the negative effects of stress and how beliefs about stress can influence physical reactions, while Abrahams' speech, 'Speaking up without freaking out,' focuses on managing anxiety during public speaking. Both speakers emphasize transforming stress and anxiety into positive experiences, with McGonigal offering general long-term strategies and Abrahams providing specific tips for effective communication. Despite their different approaches, both aim to help individuals view stress and anxiety as beneficial rather than detrimental.

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Ola Polak
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2 views1 page

Com Sum

McGonigal's speech, 'How to make stress a friend,' highlights the negative effects of stress and how beliefs about stress can influence physical reactions, while Abrahams' speech, 'Speaking up without freaking out,' focuses on managing anxiety during public speaking. Both speakers emphasize transforming stress and anxiety into positive experiences, with McGonigal offering general long-term strategies and Abrahams providing specific tips for effective communication. Despite their different approaches, both aim to help individuals view stress and anxiety as beneficial rather than detrimental.

Uploaded by

Ola Polak
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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McGonigal in her speech titled “How to make stress a friend” discussed the harmful

outcomes of stress, and how people's bodies react to being exposed to frequent presence of
stress. She talked about a study which showed that frequent stress can increase the risk of
dying, particularly for people who believe within themselves that their stress is harmful. In
accordance with this study, McGonigal explained that one’s beliefs regarding stress can
monitor body reactions.

Matt Abrahams made a speech called “Speaking up without freaking out”, during which he
discussed the impact of anxiety on communication. He explained that anxiety comes from
evolution, and pointed out that around 85% of people feel anxious during important
speeches, and that the speaker's stress influences the target audience.

While McGonigal discussed stress in many different life scenarios, Abrahams focused solely
on producing speeches involving an audience. The first speaker approached stress in
general whereas the second speaker presented tips on how to reduce anxiety during high
stakes communication situations.

Although the speeches differed, they both touched upon changing stress and anxiety into
benefits instead of fearing them. McGonigal believed that a person can get “better at stress”,
by for instance sharing feelings with a close person and caring more about others.
Abrahams in his speech also discussed that both symptoms and sources of anxiety can be
managed by creating a well-structured plan of speech, and treating the situation as a
“conversation with the audience” and not a performance.

While both speakers discussed similar topics, with the goal of shifting feelings that are
normally viewed as negative into one’s that are helpful and positive, they differed in both
their approach, and the tips that they have given to the audience. MGonigal’s speech
provided long-term advice ready to be used in any stressful situations, while Abraham’s
speech gave insight into the topic of anxiety in communication.

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