When it comes to public speaking there are several reasons which stop people from standing up and letting their voices be heard, remember that your voice is a gift, it projects away from you it’s meant to be heard by others.
If your voice wasn’t meant to be heard then you would just use the internal voice we all have inside our own minds.
The thing is most people don’t have a fear of speaking, its the fear of what others may think or say about them
Do you get butterflies in your stomach and severe anxiety when talking one to one with friends, colleagues, and people in the supermarket?
Chances are you do this without giving it a second thought you do it effortlessly
Now the issues come about when you believe the audience has something you want
Imagine This Scenario
You’ve just dropped your kids off to nursery or kindergarten for the Americans out there and the teacher asks you to talk to the kids about your job or something you do.
I Bet bottom dollar you could go into that room and deliver that talk without getting all sweaty and without clamming up.
You are able to deliver a talk with no problem because you know your content, you know what you’re going to talk about and you’re not intimidated by anyone in the class
Now put yourself in the scenario that you are delivering that speech to the other classes, going up the age groups until you reach a point where you begin to feel uncomfortable…
Maybe it’s when you get to the older kids, the teenagers, college students etc
Now, why are you feeling this way?
The second you get to the point where you believe there is somebody in the class that has a higher level of intelligence than you or knows the subject you are speaking about more than you or you feel they are more “successful” than you, this is when you start clamming up, trying to prove yourself to those individuals who you feel intimidated by
Whenever you are about to give a talk and you believe there is someone more intelligent than you, who has more knowledge in that area what tends to happen is you end up putting those people on a pedal stool and toning down the message in which you are sharing.
It’s our natural way to want to learn, when somebody has more perceived knowledge than us it’s our body’s way of getting our mouths to talk less and ears to listen more
Ways You Can Overcome That Feeling
- Stop and look into the audience, who is it in particular that you are intimidated by? why are you intimidated by these people?
- Prepare for your talk/speech, try to use as few notes as possible. Remember you are the expert, you have the knowledge in the field in which you are speaking about
- Think about the purpose of your speech what is the message you want to share, when you focus on the message you wish to share rather than focusing on your self you’ll notice the speech will be much better.
Practise Makes Progress
The only way to get better at public speaking is to do it, instead of feeling nervous tell yourself that those nerves you are feeling is excitement
My first challenge when it came to public speaking was a 30 Day Facebook Live challenge
When I watch those videos back now it’s awful but do you know what’s great about them?
I get to watch them back and see how far I’ve come in the last 2 years when it comes to confidence and speaking
My initial thought when the challenge was set was ..”SH*T….I can’t do that.” but I did it and I can tell you now that the fear of doing it was greater than when the live broadcasts were over.
The thing is we build things up so much inside our minds and make it seem like an impossible task, we create this fear thinking about everything that could go wrong but realistically looking at it what is the best and worst case scenario.
I remember ready a study (can’t remember where I read it) it was studying people with a fear of heights, they tracked their heart rates and the build-up leading up to the skydive and the fascinating thing was that the build-up and anticipation of the event were worse than the event itself.
After the event, they interviewed those who jumped and asked how they felt and 9/10 said they would love to do it again it was amazing.
30 Day-Live Challenge
Do the 30-Day Live Challenge and you will be amazed at how much you will change, your confidence will increase, and your perception of what you thought would happen will change …
I can hand on heart tell you that is one thing I urge everyone to do when it comes to public speaking, its been a game-changer for me
If you are feeling nervous about going live with all your friends and family, ask yourself who is it your thinking about which is stopping you from going live and why does their opinion matter?
To begin with, if the thought of going live to your entire friends on social media scares you too much, find a small Facebook group, ideally a private one that you can practice in.
By practising in a smaller private group chances are you don’t know any of the people in there and you’ll be able to get your head around the buttons and technology of going live…
Drop a comment below if you took up the challenge would love to hear how it went
Check Out Our Other Blog Posts Below
- 5 Tips for Personal Development: How to Achieve Your Goals and Improve Yourself
- Why Do I Do Cold Water Dips And Meditate
- Is Consistancy The Key To Success
- How To Overcome The Fear Of Public Speaking
- The Joy, Comfort, and Stress-Reducing Power of Outsourcing
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