Public speaking is one of the most dreaded tasks we all encounter at one point in our life. Regardless if you are in school, college or work, Public Speaking is a task we all have to undergo. Fear of speaking in public ranks second among the most common phobias (spiders is number one). To put things in perspective, people are more scared of speaking in public than death, marriage or bankruptcy. This feeling is common among most of us. Everyone shares the anxious feeling when there is a perception of being evaluated.
People always experience the feeling of fear or being troubled before facing something that is challenging such as an examination, interview, test, and recital. Actually, these feelings are normal and can be easily justified. Anxiety is normal. It will become a problem if it interferes in your normal and regular daily activities. One of the most common symptoms of ineffective anxiety is the inability to sleep. If you can't continue life dealing with the public, you might suffer from a public speaking anxiety.Public speaking anxiety is commonly termed as stage fright or speech anxiety. Public speaking anxiety involves the feeling of fear to be evaluated or scrutinized by other people. The feeling of fear is always coming with several emotional and physical reactions that usually hinder the person's capability to deliver his presentation or speech successfully. Additional symptoms include an extreme feeling of anxiety, sweating, worry, shaking or trembling, nervousness, dizziness and fainting.
We start thinking of multiple fallacies that we need to reject by critical thinking The most common irrational thought is that everything will go wrong like forgetting the material or how people will judge you. This is known as the fallacy of catastrophe. This fallacy triggers our sympathetic nervous system, increasing blood pressure and heart rate. That is why when we are nervous we may have sweaty palms or tremble. Another irrational thought is the fallacy of approval.
Short-Term Treatments of Glossophobia.If this condition interferes in your life, it can be diagnosed as under the category of SAD. Fortunately, fear of public speaking can be managed easily. Short-term treatment includes cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and systematic desensitization. On the other hand, if you have a public speaking anxiety that causes you to experience significant distress, you need to ask a doctor for possible referrals to a psychologist. In addition to numerous traditional ,Many people feel very anxious when they are asked to speak publicly. Anxiety is a perfectly normal reaction to stressful situations, but for some, public speaking can cause more than just a fleeting anxiety attack. Learn some techniques to overcome normal and more serious feelings of anxiety.The famous author was due to deliver a short speech at a Women's Institute meeting. Now although he was very good with words when they were written down, he was not so confident with the spoken word. In fact, he was always quite anxious about making a speech.
The Chairwoman of the local Institute made a short welcoming speech and then introduced the author and the ladies clapped. He rose slowly to his feet and approached the microphone."Ladies," he began, "On my way here tonight, only God and I knew what I was going to say. Now, only God knows!" And he promptly left the stage!Anxiety about making speeches is far more common than you would think.There are many strategies that can be used to help deal with anxiety caused by having to deliver a speech. One of the major reasons for anxiety is being under prepared.If you are going to paint a door, let's say, then to do a really good job, you must prepare the surface well by rubbing it down with sandpaper. Then perhaps you need to seal the wood before applying undercoat and then one or maybe two coats of the gloss or matte paint.
OK, so we understand what causes the anxiety but how can we overcome it? Below are a few tips to help you in your next public speaking experience:Hello Anxiety!We all get nervous and you will get nervous before your next speech. Welcome the anxiety! The feelings that you are experiencing is a fear of performance. Tell yourself that it is OK to be nervous and that we are able to function with it.
About a week before the speech try to build up a positive image of yourself giving the speech really well. 'See' yourself standing confidently and relaxed in front of your audience. 'See' the audience listening intently to you and laughing naturally at your jokes. 'Listen' to the applause after the speech is finished. Do this several times a day for a week or so before the day of your speech.Now that you have done your preparation in the lead up to speech day, you can concentrate on helping yourself on the day.Relaxation techniques such as breathing deeply and slowly in and out as you are being introduced can be very good for putting your body at ease. Something else to try at the same time might be to tighten and slowly relax various muscle groups. Not necessarily in any order these might include; the thigh muscles, calf muscles, the muscles in your arms, shoulders and back. This should relieve any tension in your body so that you can concentrate on your delivery.
For instance, if we were in a situation where we stood embarrassed in front of our schoolmates without saying a word,--- that could be it. Even though we were not speaking in public, our brains perceived our fear just standing there in front of other people as we thought that we looked foolish and/or scared. In a nutshell - what happens to some of us during this type of incident is our brain links our intense negative feelings with merely standing in front of other people as they look at us. It almost sounds silly that deep fears that control us as adults often have such trivial moments of creation in childhood. Often they last only a minute, but it is a minute that can last a lifetime. I'm sure the people who initiated these terrible incidents in our lives so many years ago never think back to them or to us for that matter. They have no idea what they said or did during that incident had such a profound and lasting effect on us.Our fears may only be "in our head" but that's enough to make us react as we do to speaking in public and other anxiety-prone situations. I'm sure you already realize - it's pretty difficult to change what's "in our head" even if we can figure out why it's "in our head" to begin with and why we react as we do to perceived "threatening situations" such as speaking in public.
During a one-to-one conversation it's important to make eye-contact with the person you're having a conversation with. If you are too nervous or too shy to do this directly, a good technique to give the impression of 'eye-contact' is to look at the bridge of the nose of the person you are talking to. For them, it will look as though you're looking straight at their eyes. Try it with a friend. It works.Making 'eye-contact' with your audience is equally important. You can do this and still keep your composure by looking at the heads of individuals. Scan the audience as you speak, but instead of looking directly at their faces, look at the tops of their heads. This will give the impression of direct eye-contact with members of the audience without it being unpleasant for you.These techniques are useful for those people who have the normal feelings of anxiety that the majority of people have before delivering a speech. However, if your anxieties go deeper and are felt for much longer both before and after delivery of the speech, then there are extra helpful techniques that can be tried.
During the week leading up to the speech, try to imagine any negative thoughts you might have about giving the speech. Write down as many as you can, without thinking about anything else. Then go through your list and make a positive story to counteract each negative thought you wrote down. Add to your list as and when you think of other negative thoughts you might have.On the day of your speech, try to make sure that you counteract any negative thoughts you might have with the positive stories you made up in the week before speech day.Before going on stage, while waiting in the special room allocated to you if you have one, or maybe outside away from other people if you don't, you could try to explain away the 'butterflies' that we all have. Emphasise, for example, that they are not something emotional like being 'scared to death'. They are actually a physical reaction brought about by your brain's response to the stress that it detects. When someone is anxious the brain releases additional amounts of a chemical called adrenalin into the blood stream. This has the physical effect of making the stomach contract and interferes with digestion.
As I mentioned, it is adrenaline that creates our symptoms of fear and anxiety completely out of our control. But what if you could control the adrenaline your body creates- then you would be in control!! That is what my research discovered and that is what I can show you how to do - control the adrenaline your body creates by taking a safe, inexpensive and non-addictive medication. And once I show you, you can do it anytime you want, on demand - just 15 minutes before a speaking engagement or performance.No you don't and here's why - Taking the medication during public speaking engagements over a period of time, allows the brain to re-think how it feels about speaking in public. With the medication, each public speaking event will increase your confidence as you realize you don't look or feel frightened. Your brain will eventually understand that public speaking is not the threatening situation that it has assumed. The medication can make it much easier to transition through the period of fearing to speak in public and being confident to speak in public. Because of this, the medication should not be considered a "crutch", but rather a "training aid" that will allow you to re-train your brain to understand that speaking in public does not require an overabundance of adrenaline in order to survive.
People always experience the feeling of fear or being troubled before facing something that is challenging such as an examination, interview, test, and recital. Actually, these feelings are normal and can be easily justified. Anxiety is normal. It will become a problem if it interferes in your normal and regular daily activities. One of the most common symptoms of ineffective anxiety is the inability to sleep. If you can't continue life dealing with the public, you might suffer from a public speaking anxiety.Public speaking anxiety is commonly termed as stage fright or speech anxiety. Public speaking anxiety involves the feeling of fear to be evaluated or scrutinized by other people. The feeling of fear is always coming with several emotional and physical reactions that usually hinder the person's capability to deliver his presentation or speech successfully. Additional symptoms include an extreme feeling of anxiety, sweating, worry, shaking or trembling, nervousness, dizziness and fainting.
We start thinking of multiple fallacies that we need to reject by critical thinking The most common irrational thought is that everything will go wrong like forgetting the material or how people will judge you. This is known as the fallacy of catastrophe. This fallacy triggers our sympathetic nervous system, increasing blood pressure and heart rate. That is why when we are nervous we may have sweaty palms or tremble. Another irrational thought is the fallacy of approval.
Short-Term Treatments of Glossophobia.If this condition interferes in your life, it can be diagnosed as under the category of SAD. Fortunately, fear of public speaking can be managed easily. Short-term treatment includes cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and systematic desensitization. On the other hand, if you have a public speaking anxiety that causes you to experience significant distress, you need to ask a doctor for possible referrals to a psychologist. In addition to numerous traditional ,Many people feel very anxious when they are asked to speak publicly. Anxiety is a perfectly normal reaction to stressful situations, but for some, public speaking can cause more than just a fleeting anxiety attack. Learn some techniques to overcome normal and more serious feelings of anxiety.The famous author was due to deliver a short speech at a Women's Institute meeting. Now although he was very good with words when they were written down, he was not so confident with the spoken word. In fact, he was always quite anxious about making a speech.
The Chairwoman of the local Institute made a short welcoming speech and then introduced the author and the ladies clapped. He rose slowly to his feet and approached the microphone."Ladies," he began, "On my way here tonight, only God and I knew what I was going to say. Now, only God knows!" And he promptly left the stage!Anxiety about making speeches is far more common than you would think.There are many strategies that can be used to help deal with anxiety caused by having to deliver a speech. One of the major reasons for anxiety is being under prepared.If you are going to paint a door, let's say, then to do a really good job, you must prepare the surface well by rubbing it down with sandpaper. Then perhaps you need to seal the wood before applying undercoat and then one or maybe two coats of the gloss or matte paint.
OK, so we understand what causes the anxiety but how can we overcome it? Below are a few tips to help you in your next public speaking experience:Hello Anxiety!We all get nervous and you will get nervous before your next speech. Welcome the anxiety! The feelings that you are experiencing is a fear of performance. Tell yourself that it is OK to be nervous and that we are able to function with it.
About a week before the speech try to build up a positive image of yourself giving the speech really well. 'See' yourself standing confidently and relaxed in front of your audience. 'See' the audience listening intently to you and laughing naturally at your jokes. 'Listen' to the applause after the speech is finished. Do this several times a day for a week or so before the day of your speech.Now that you have done your preparation in the lead up to speech day, you can concentrate on helping yourself on the day.Relaxation techniques such as breathing deeply and slowly in and out as you are being introduced can be very good for putting your body at ease. Something else to try at the same time might be to tighten and slowly relax various muscle groups. Not necessarily in any order these might include; the thigh muscles, calf muscles, the muscles in your arms, shoulders and back. This should relieve any tension in your body so that you can concentrate on your delivery.
For instance, if we were in a situation where we stood embarrassed in front of our schoolmates without saying a word,--- that could be it. Even though we were not speaking in public, our brains perceived our fear just standing there in front of other people as we thought that we looked foolish and/or scared. In a nutshell - what happens to some of us during this type of incident is our brain links our intense negative feelings with merely standing in front of other people as they look at us. It almost sounds silly that deep fears that control us as adults often have such trivial moments of creation in childhood. Often they last only a minute, but it is a minute that can last a lifetime. I'm sure the people who initiated these terrible incidents in our lives so many years ago never think back to them or to us for that matter. They have no idea what they said or did during that incident had such a profound and lasting effect on us.Our fears may only be "in our head" but that's enough to make us react as we do to speaking in public and other anxiety-prone situations. I'm sure you already realize - it's pretty difficult to change what's "in our head" even if we can figure out why it's "in our head" to begin with and why we react as we do to perceived "threatening situations" such as speaking in public.
During a one-to-one conversation it's important to make eye-contact with the person you're having a conversation with. If you are too nervous or too shy to do this directly, a good technique to give the impression of 'eye-contact' is to look at the bridge of the nose of the person you are talking to. For them, it will look as though you're looking straight at their eyes. Try it with a friend. It works.Making 'eye-contact' with your audience is equally important. You can do this and still keep your composure by looking at the heads of individuals. Scan the audience as you speak, but instead of looking directly at their faces, look at the tops of their heads. This will give the impression of direct eye-contact with members of the audience without it being unpleasant for you.These techniques are useful for those people who have the normal feelings of anxiety that the majority of people have before delivering a speech. However, if your anxieties go deeper and are felt for much longer both before and after delivery of the speech, then there are extra helpful techniques that can be tried.
During the week leading up to the speech, try to imagine any negative thoughts you might have about giving the speech. Write down as many as you can, without thinking about anything else. Then go through your list and make a positive story to counteract each negative thought you wrote down. Add to your list as and when you think of other negative thoughts you might have.On the day of your speech, try to make sure that you counteract any negative thoughts you might have with the positive stories you made up in the week before speech day.Before going on stage, while waiting in the special room allocated to you if you have one, or maybe outside away from other people if you don't, you could try to explain away the 'butterflies' that we all have. Emphasise, for example, that they are not something emotional like being 'scared to death'. They are actually a physical reaction brought about by your brain's response to the stress that it detects. When someone is anxious the brain releases additional amounts of a chemical called adrenalin into the blood stream. This has the physical effect of making the stomach contract and interferes with digestion.
As I mentioned, it is adrenaline that creates our symptoms of fear and anxiety completely out of our control. But what if you could control the adrenaline your body creates- then you would be in control!! That is what my research discovered and that is what I can show you how to do - control the adrenaline your body creates by taking a safe, inexpensive and non-addictive medication. And once I show you, you can do it anytime you want, on demand - just 15 minutes before a speaking engagement or performance.No you don't and here's why - Taking the medication during public speaking engagements over a period of time, allows the brain to re-think how it feels about speaking in public. With the medication, each public speaking event will increase your confidence as you realize you don't look or feel frightened. Your brain will eventually understand that public speaking is not the threatening situation that it has assumed. The medication can make it much easier to transition through the period of fearing to speak in public and being confident to speak in public. Because of this, the medication should not be considered a "crutch", but rather a "training aid" that will allow you to re-train your brain to understand that speaking in public does not require an overabundance of adrenaline in order to survive.
