8 Myths For Overcoming Public Speaking Fear
Summary: If you fear public speaking, you are not alone. Many say it is a big fear, and the reasons are many. Your fear could be because of inexperience. Even the most experienced speakers get butterflies before speaking. The more speaking experiences you have the less anxiety you will have, but don’t expect it to ever go away completely no matter how experienced you are. Overcoming public speaking fear is mostly in your head.
Myth: Your Nervousness Is An Indication of Weakness
As I mentioned in the opening paragraph that the best and most experienced speakers get nervous. In fact, if you don’t get nervous before a speaking engagement there is something wrong. If you are not a little nervous, you are probably not taking it serious enough. You may be a little too confident in your abilities. Every time you have an opportunity to speak in public you are have a chance to influence someone. Which is why a humble person has a far better chance in influencing others.
What is important is how you deal with your fear. Do you deal with it in positive or harmful ways.
Myth: Perfection Is Required
Don’t be a perfectionist. You need to be flexible. Expect surprises to happen and curve balls to be thrown at you. Of course you need to plan and prepare but don’t be uptight if things don’t happen according to your expectations. Overcoming public speaking fear becomes much more difficult if you set the bar so high that it is almost impossible to reach.
Myth: Public Speaking Is A Skill You Are Born With
It is easy to think this because you see great speakers and they make it look so easy and natural. You only see part of the story. You may not know their past life of training and prior experience. What you don’t know is all the sacrifice and effort they went through to become great speakers.
Effective communicators are made not born. The same is true with salespeople. It is true that for some people it comes more natural than others. So what, if it doesn’t come natural to you, all that means is you have a little more work to do.
Myth: You Must Be Funny
The value of your speech is based on your content not your jokes. There is no rule that you have to say jokes and your audience doesn’t have to laugh to influence an audience with a powerful speech. With that said, telling stories can bring humor into your speech.
Myth: Every Word You Say Must Be Super Important
Don’t expect everything you say to be deep and profound. You won’t be able to influence everyone.
Myth: You Are The Only One Feeling Nervous
You can uncover this myth by asking someone else in your shoes who will be giving a public speech if they are nervous. If they are honest they will most likely admit they too are nervous.
Myth: You Need To Be An Extrovert To Influence An Audience
You don’t need the gift of gab to be a powerful public speaker. Being a subject matter expert will make you more credible than whether you are an extrovert or introvert.
Myth: You Can’t Make A Mistake
In reality making a speech or grammar mistake makes you human. Few people trust the too good to be true people and situations. You will not be publicly humiliated if you mess up.
Conclusion: Overcoming public speaking fear is possible. Don’t expect the anxiety to completely disappear. A little speaking anxiety is healthy, because it means you are passionate about your topic and your opportunity to influence others.
About the Author:
Learn more about public speaking by visiting MindBodyandMoney.com. Bret Bradshaw’s business is about self-development and working a home based business.
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