Fear of Public Speaking
Fear of public speaking is also known as glossophobia.
I remember reading once that most people state they would rather die for fear of public speaking. I mean, I dislike it immensely, but would I rather die? That is an astounding no. To be honest, as much fear as we have of speaking publicly, I think in general (unless you’re a politician) most people that are coming to hear you speak want you to do well and believe in you, or they wouldn’t be coming to hear what you have to say.
The other day I was asked to speak at a local PT office with people I had only just met on the subject of yoga therapy. I was game. It’s been a while though, so was I nervous? Absolutely. Did I do it anyway? Damn skippy. I am passionate on the subject and people need to know how badass yoga therapy truly is.
Why Do We Fear Public Speaking?
Why are we so afraid and what can we do about it? Psychology Today states that for many of us speaking in public makes us feel threatened so our cave man fight or flight kicks in to protect us from the threat. In reality (again, unless you’re a politician) we probably don’t have to worry about being attacked during our speech. The second reason we fear public speaking is that we have too much negative self-talk. Imposter syndrome takes over and we start to say, “Who am I to speak on this subject? I’m no expert. People are going to see right through me.”
A third reason might be because we have to speak to new audiences and when an unfamiliar audience is in front of us, we feel a lack of confidence. And lastly, we may not be super experienced in public speaking initially or we don’t do it often enough, so we need to practice to enhance the skillset and get over the speaking jitters.
Ok so we have a fear, got it. Now what? Do it anyway! As I said, most people wish you well. They believe in you. And most of the time, we rock it and no one even notices our um’s, our gestures, or our flaws. And if we didn’t know fear, we would never know courage!
How to Reduce Your Fear of Public Speaking
* Yoga! Deep breathing, meditation, and fine tuning your focus and awareness. Not to mention a little Pratipaksha Bhavana; flipping the negative self-talk to the positive will make a load of difference. There is no one like you and will never be anyone else like you. Own that!
*Know your topic and practice, practice, practice! “Practice makes permanent, what you practice is who you become.” Become the lead expert in your field, practice what you preach, study. I once had a very smart guy lead me through some leadership training, David Robertson of Grassfire Industries, and he taught me to One Up. Every day, learn one new thing. I study all the time, everyday I am studying under people who know more than me! This is how you become an expert.
*Visualize your speech going well. Visualize the whole room, who is there, what it looks like, smells like, the temperature, the energy in the room, what you are wearing, and what you will say. And visualize it going amazingly perfect in every way. I tell my clients in chronic pain that visualization is key to changing old neural pathways. The same goes for visualizing/daydreaming about how bad ass you are. This helps change that negative self-talk.
*Recognize your success! Give yourself a pat on the back and celebrate when it is done! Ask for feedback and keep an open mind on what you can do better next time. And I am very guilty of this and working on it daily, but don’t be too hard on yourself. Most likely, YOU are the only one who noticed the guy yawning in the front row, the “um’s”, the hand wringing, the moment you lost your train of thought and went braindead. Give yourself some credit. You didn’t let fear stand in your way and you were courageous. So the next time you have to speak in public: Show up, be authentic, and I guarantee everyone will love you as much as I do.
Need Some Guidance in Overcoming Your Fears
Get a free consult with me and overcome your fears today. Or try one of my classes on decreasing fear and instilling peace here.
