I learned two lessons this week….

One cost me business and the other reinforced something I had known and it is all about energy drinks. I had a speech to give Thursday night and I knew I was going to be worn out from traveling. So Wednesday night at the convenience store I saw an energy drink and it said, ‘Are you tired of feeling gittery with energy drinks?’ I figured I would give this one a try….

Great and AWEFUL!

1st the great. Caffeine or energy drinks will focus your brain intentionally and allow you to memorize much more info in a short amount of time than without the energy (as a rule and if you don’t abuse it). I must have memorized 250 names in an audience in about 60 minutes (maybe 90). Then I went through and repeated all the names. That was awesome. I have in the past drank a Coke to focus my brain but never an energy drink. It worked.

With that said, if you do it all the time it is going to wear on your body. It is not healthy.

Now the aweful…I am a speaker…so if all I had to do was memorize fine…but I also had to teach a 60 minute class and wow oh wow….I was talking like the world’s fastest talker, skipping stuff…I even used profanity on stage!! I haven’t done that in 21 years of speaking….uggghhh….just one word a@#hole and I was referring to myself in a fun way but that isn’t how I talk….especially on stage. I was sweating like a 600lb man in a sauna. It was just aweful. NEVER again will I have an energy drink before going on stage to speak.

Experiment Results….

1. Energy drinks will give you an added memory boost

2. Long term they are unhealthy and will have negative impact on your body and memory

3. DON’T drink them if you are going to be speaking!!!