In general: Write your thoughts and questions down.

(With respect to the upcoming meeting topic, of course.)

• What are your ideas?
• What problems and potential pitfalls do you see?
• What questions could be properly addressed to you?
• What questions do you anticipate (addressed to you others) that you could answer???
• Depending on your role, is there a quick visual (diagram, design, other other imagery) you could sketch up quickly to contribute?

In this particular case, you "kept repeating in [your] mind what [you] would say about [your] projects." So, start by writing down what you're mind already has on repeat. Do this quickly, and make a second pass to flesh out details or prepare for questions you might be asked.

Etc.

This is a really good habit to get into, in my opinion, regardless of whether you have meeting anxiety (or ... we'll just say, flexible meeting start times). One of two things will happen, and often both in my experience:

• You'll be well-prepared for the meeting. You'll look and sound professional and confident. And, you'll impress the shit out of everyone.
• Your anxiety will fade, and you might actually find that after a few minutes of note-taking, your mind has stopped racing and can focus on your assigned work again.

This sort of thing really helped me personally. And at this point, if I know I've got a meeting coming up and I'm already well-versed in the topic — there's not much anxiety. If it's a new topic, I'm likely to take my mind out of that endless thought-cycle by writing my thoughts and questions down 15 to 30 minutes ahead of time. And then I feel OK.

In general: Write your thoughts and questions down.

(With respect to the upcoming meeting topic, of course.)

• What are your ideas?
• What problems and potential pitfalls do you see?
• What questions could be properly addressed to you?
• What questions do you anticipate (addressed to you others) that you could answer???
• Depending on your role, is there a quick visual (diagram, design, other other imagery) you could sketch up quickly to contribute?

In this particular case, you "kept repeating in [your] mind what [you] would say about [your] projects." So, start by writing down what you're mind already has on repeat. Do this quickly, and make a second pass to flesh out details or prepare for questions you might be asked.

Etc.

This is a really good habit to get into, in my opinion, regardless of whether you have meeting anxiety (or ... we'll just say, flexible meeting start times). One of two things will happen, and often both in my experience:

• You'll be well-prepared for the meeting. You'll look and sound professional and confident. And, you'll impress the heck out of everyone.
• Your anxiety will fade, and you might actually find that after a few minutes of note-taking, your mind has stopped racing and can focus on your assigned work again.

This sort of thing really helped me personally. And at this point, if I know I've got a meeting coming up and I'm already well-versed in the topic — there's not much anxiety. If it's a new topic, I'm likely to take my mind out of that endless thought-cycle by writing my thoughts and questions down 15 to 30 minutes ahead of time. And then I feel OK.