When you have begun feeling more comfortable in some of your feared situations, 
a reasonable next step is to make some small mistakes purposefully, or to do things that 
make you look foolish or stupid. Examples of this kind of purposeful behavior include 
pronouncing a word incorrectly while speaking to your boss, asking an obvious question 
in class, or bumping into a door. There is no need to make big mistakes (for example, 
purposefully failing an exam or crashing your car). Small mistakes will work just ﬁne, and 
the consequences will be minimal.
Purposefully Drawing Attention to Yourself
If being the center of attention is difﬁcult for you, your exposure practices should 
include attempts to draw the attention of others to your behavior. For example, rather 
than arriving early or on time for a movie or a class, try arriving a few minutes late, 
so that everyone is aware of you when you enter the room. You may feel  embarrassed 
momentarily, but you will learn from the practice that the whole experience doesn’t 
matter, even minutes later. Your embarrassment will be temporary. Also, people prob -
ably will forget about your late arrival almost instantly and soon will be thinking about 
other things.