The Number One FEAR: Public Speaking Anxiety

There are four types of people in this world:

1. Those who have no fear or anxiety when it comes to speaking in front of an audience. In fact, they look forward to it.

2. Those that have public speaking fear, know they have it, suffer from it, and have decided to live with it regardless of its consequences.

3. Those who have public speaking anxieties, know they have them, know that having them is impacting them in a major way in terms of their businesses, jobs, promotions and opportunities.

4. Those who have public speaking fear, but do not consciously know it; thus they accept themselves the way they are without realizing they could remove this obstacle.

If you answer 'YES' to any of the following questions, then you have some speaking anxieties.

Do you cringe with fear when you're faced with a speaking assignment?

Do you get mental blocks when you have to write a presentation?

Do you suffer from what if? What if I do something dumb? What if I forget my speech? What if I freeze? What if nobody laughs at my jokes?

Do you have thoughts of doom?

Are you so anxious behind the lectern you're afraid the audience will see you shake or sweat?

Does it feel like there are butterflies fluttering around in your queasy stomach and you feel nauseous or ready to faint?

When you get up to speak, are you so nervous that your mind goes blank?

Are there times when you just want to run out of the room and hide?

Have you ever feigned illness to avoid a speaking assignment?

Have you gone so far as to rely on medication to get through a speech?

Have you passed up or been passed up for promotions and other opportunities because you're too afraid to give presentations?

If you answer "YES" to any of these questions, it is time for you to decide to do something about it.

One way is to present from a relaxed, confident emotional state rather than from a nervous or anxious frame of mind. Don't buy into the notion that you need to be nervous when you present, that you need nervous energy to produce adrenalin to transform your negative energy into positive energy. If you begin a speech feeling nervous or anxious, you squander energy when you try moving from an anxious state to a confident one. Don't worry about having the necessary adrenalin to help power your performance. Your adrenalin will be pumping with either emotional state.

Remember when you were a child, you probably felt warm and comfortable when you smelled your grandmother or mom's favorite pie or cookies that she baked. Years later, whenever you passed a bakery or were in someone's kitchen and you whiffed that same fresh-baked pie or cookies scent, you immediately felt those same feelings that you had as a child in your grandmother or mom's kitchen. That's a strong emotional anchor--an association of an emotional state to a sound, sight, touch, smell, or taste.

Set up a relaxation anchor for yourself before you speak. Here's one way. In your mind's eye, re-experience a time in your life when you felt very relaxed. See, hear, and feel everything in that experience. As you start to feel relaxed, touch your thumb and forefinger of each hand together. When that relaxed feeling peaks then begins to subside, release your thumb and forefinger. Repeat this exercise several times at different times. Soon, all you'll need to do is touch both thumbs and forefingers together and you will enter a relaxed state. Then just before you have to present, use this anchor to feel relaxed.

You may have tried a relaxation technique such as described above - this is an NLP technique. You may have tried hypnotism. You may have tried medications. You may have taken a public speaking course or even joined Toastmasters. And nothing has worked for you.

When nothing else works, consider the best tool for getting rid of your speaking anxiety rapidly: our No Sweat Speaking(tm) process.  As part of our process, we've always found that to get the right results, you must first define the problem. When you don't define the problem correctly, your solution doesn't solve the problem. The same principle applies to eliminating speaking fear. You first need to define the problem -- the causes of your fear -- completely, accurately, and honestly to achieve success. Sometimes, this is a daunting task, because you have to face a part of yourself that's uncomfortable to you. But it's necessary.

Here's an approach.

Write down every aspect of your fears and anxieties of which you're aware. For example, approaching the lectern, being introduced, writing the speech, thinking about the speech, making a mistake, being the center of attention, etc.

Next, write down all the causes that may not be apparent to you, or that make you uncomfortable when you think about them. Such as, low self-esteem, parental disapproval, being told children should be seen and not heard, traumatic or abusive experiences unrelated to public speaking, insecurity, etc.

Once you take stock of your fear, you're in a position to address its causes. You've defined your problem. Now you need to apply our process that'll help you nullify the effects of your problem and achieve success.

So isn’t it time for you to take charge and get rid of your career/business limiting fear?

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Allan and Allan are public speaking coaches and trainers, specializing in helping professionals get rid of their speaking fears rapidly. You can contact them at nosweatspeaking.com