Are you looking to overcome the fear of public speaking? Want to know what causes the fear of public speaking? This is the post you must read.

You are in your office and all of a sudden there is a surprise client visit and you are suppose to present in front of 25 people in that meeting when you hear that your heart starts pounding fast, you get nervous, negative thoughts start popping up and you are worried about how it’s going to go, you look confused, bothered tensed. You end up going on the stage forcefully and mess with your speech, getting blank on stage. can you relate to this? If you can you are suffering from stage fear and you know what it’s not a big deal because research shows that one of the biggest fears in the whole world is stage fear. So you are not the only one suffering from this fear it’s very common.

Let’s understand the top 3 reasons of stage fear and how to overcome the fear of Public Speaking.

Past Experiences 

For example, you are a small kid. You are in 5th class and the teacher asked you to come in front of the class and give a speech you tried giving a speech but failed very badly in it. People were laughing at you they were making fun of you. You feel embarrassed you feel bad and because of that one experience, you started believing that you are a bad speaker. You failed only once in the 5th class but just because of that one failure because of the embarrassment you had, it was so emotional for you that you got stuck in your negative mindset and started believing that you are a bad speaker.

Now, whenever you think of a speech you emotionally go back in that old experience which you had as a kid and because of that you have developed hatred towards public speaking and now you believe that public speaking is not my cup of tea it’s not for me. You have installed that mindset. You may ask me how can I overcome my stage fear now because I can’t change my past experiences. We will discuss this in details.

Lack of knowledge in public speaking

For example, you want to write a paragraph in English language but unfortunately, you don’t know the basic grammar of the English language. Do you think you will be able to write the paragraphs? Forget paragraphs can you even write a few sentences. Certainly, you can’t isn’t it?

If your teacher asks you to write a sentence in English certainly it will create fear in you because you don’t know the alphabets of the English language. Similarly, is public speaking if you don’t know the building blocks of public speaking the ABCD of public speaking certainly it will create fear in you. It will create that self-doubt, lack of confidence in you because you don’t know the basic skills in public speaking. The basic skills include storytelling, using analogies, using proper body language, using proper eye connection, using the stage, connecting with the audience, etc. just imagine you are put on the stage without knowing the basics of public speaking obviously it will create that fear in you. If you really want to overcome the stage fear you must focus on learning the skill of public speaking it can be by reading a book or watching a video series or taking up a practical public speaking course available in your town or city. It will certainly help you to overcome the fear of public speaking.

Public Speaking is a Threat Mindset

Taking public speaking as a threat, not as an opportunity this is the mindset you have if you are suffering from stage fear. If you treat public speaking as a threat you will try to run away from it and always find reasons to avoid it but we can’t run away always isn’t it.

For example, you are an employee and your manager wants you to give a speech or a presentation. You can’t say no to him but at the same time its a threat for you. You are literally pushed by a situation or your boss to give a speech and obviously because you are not mentally prepared to deliver it you will be nervous and this nervousness will be visible in your body language, gestures, voice etc.

Similarly, if you are a business owner to grow your business you have to speak. You can’t run away from it but Public Speaking as a threat mindset makes us run away from the speaking opportunities. So when we change our mindset that Public Speaking is an opportunity. We are not forced by anyone to speak it’s our choice and we are mentally prepared to go on the stage. 

Believe me, once we have this shift in the mindset that Public Speaking is an opportunity. You will see the fear will go down and you are much more comfortable to take up speaking opportunities. Public Speaking is an Opportunity. Install this mindset in you from today. You may ask me how can I install this mindset. The only way you can do it is by affirming it again and again regularly for a minimum of 21 days till you start believing it. We will discuss more on this in upcoming blogs on how to overcome the fear of public speaking

above shared the answer to what causes fear of public speaking. and overcoming public speaking anxiety tricks and shared below.

How to overcome the fear of public speaking? 

It’s our responsibility to train our mind and body that speaking is fun not scary. Speaking means success, not fear. You can do it by giving your body and your mind success experiences on stage.

Beliefs are based on our past experiences. If we want to change our beliefs, we must change our experiences. So obviously we cannot change our past experiences but we can change our future experiences with public speaking. The experience must be so amazing and fantastic that your mind starts believing that public speaking is fun. 

There are 2 ways of doing it.

First way: Get a platform to speak in front of 100’s of people daily and get a standing ovation to install that belief that Public Speaking is fun and easy. Getting such a speaking platform daily sounds impractical and impossible.

Second Way: Use the Power of the Mind:

Scientific researches prove that our mind is very powerful and does not differentiate between what is real and what is well emotionalized. For mind both are same.That’s the reason when we get a dream which is not a reality but still, we sometimes get up so scary, happy or sad depending on the kind of dream we had. 

The mind thinks in Images, sounds, and emotions and that’s what we see in the dreams. Whatever happens in your life we have a memory of it in the form of Image, sounds, emotions, and feelings.

The good part with the mind is we can create an experience in our mind by creating an image, emotion, sound, and feeling just by visualizing. Researchers now prove that if the visualization is emotional and intense enough the mind feels as if that experience is happening to us right at the moment. Believe me, it works like magic and feels so real if we are able to do it right.

Creative Visualization

The Thumb rule here is “Feel as if it’s already done”. Feel that already you are a great speaker and visualize yourself giving a great speech. As discussed already mind thinks in images, sounds and emotions make sure you add specific details to make the images in your mind very clear. Add color of the dress, add physical features, add sounds, and emotions. When you visualize with specific details you start believing in it more.

After visualization, we can add positive affirmations behind it to make the beliefs further strong. The only way to build faith is by repetition. Affirmations will help us in doing it. Affirm daily that you are a great speaker.