One of the questions I'm asked the most as a public speaker, is how in the world do I overcome fear? I know that there are millions of people that are scared to death of public speaking and even more scared of what other people think about them. Let's take a quick look at how we all can overcome public speaking fears together.
I hear people say all the time online that public speaking in front of a crowd is worse than dying and my response to that is, there is a much greater fear and that fear is not being heard! Imagine for a moment if you could not communicate with anyone. To me, that is a fate worse than death! I would rather know fantastic public speaking techniques , then almost anything else on earth.
When we take a good close look at this fear of public speaking, what we may find is that we are concerned with embarrassing ourselves or failing. We can get so caught up in caring about what other people think, that we never really understand what it feels like to connect with the crowd. Remember this, fears stands for false evidence appearing real! The amazing thing about fear is, that it's only a thought and we can replace that thought at will with a pleasant thought.
The number one thing that I tell people about public speaking is, to be a good Boy Scout or Girl Scout you've got to be prepared. Want to know why I say that? Because when I was in the Boy Scouts, I was taught to always be prepared and that's what I want you to do! Practice going over your material in your speech topic until it's second nature.
Practice makes perfect! How did Michael Jordan become one of the greatest basketball players in the world? How did Tiger Woods become one of the greatest golfers we've ever seen? How did Tony Robbins become the top motivational speaker in the universe? They all did it through practice and practice is the key to mastery. There is just no room for lazy public speakers, because if you're not putting effort into it, it will show. By practicing and being prepared, you will have great confidence and a spectacular presentation!
Learning how to properly breathe is vital, if you're going to be a great public speaker. I decided to start taking Tai Chi over 13 years ago and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. This beautiful Chinese exercise will teach you how to relax your mind and your body, but more importantly, it will teach you how to properly breathe.
The final thing you must do is make it happen! There are three kinds of people in this world, those who watch it happen, those who wonder what happened and those who make it happen, which one are you? As Tony Robbins would say, take action now!
