Do You Hate Public Speaking?

Let's face it, standing up and speaking to an audience can be pretty daunting.

In fact, a famous survey in the 1970's found that public speaking was the no:1 fear of respondents. It even surpassed the fear of dying!

Not surprising that so many of us, will do anything to wriggle out of it, be it at work or in our social life. In fact, I work with folk who are veritable experts at avoiding public speaking and delegating the task to others.

The problem is that the higher up our career ladder we climb and the more successful we are, the more likely we will be called upon to speak to an audience. it may be addressing our employees, or delivering a keynote speech, or sitting on a panel as an expert.

You get to a point when ducking out of an appearance or sending a junior manager on your behalf just won't work. The music stops and, horror of horrors, you are in the spotlight.

And even worse, there is an expectation that leaders can communicate with clarity, confidence and inspiration. All of that tends to be a tall order for someone who has spent their entire career avoiding public speaking.

So here is the big deal; you avoid speaking and being in the limelight only for it to catch up with you just when you least want to leave yourself exposed and vulnerable.

Now is not the time for you to announce to the world that you dislike public speaking and worry that you are no good at it. You are hardly going to put yourself on a Presentation Skills 1.0 course with the new graduate intake are you?

Successful public speaking does rely on skill set - the ability to craft a message and tell a story that engages an audience. No doubt you are aware of many of these skills and, probably, some helpful colleagues have given them to you as useful tips in the past. Stuff about voice projection, breathing, eye contact, gestures, how to use visual aids and how to structure a talk or presentation. 

But skills are not enough to overcome anxiety. Because anxiety, nerves, worries, fear (you choose the work that most reflects you) are all attitudes of mind. And there is enough evidence out there to show that it is mental attitude rather than skills that overcomes impossible obstacles and delivers lasting success.

Yet, mental attitude is not logical. So often I see well meaning friends and colleagues giving helpful advice like "it's not the worst thing in the world". The problem is that to someone who has these worries about public speaking it is the worst thing in the world - even if it is just for a short moment in time.

Whilst a speech writer or a performance coach can give you peace of mind, true peace of mind can only be obtained by breaking the prison bars in your mind.

Just like in those films like "Shawshank Redemption", breaking out of prison takes time and concerted effort. After all, the mental barriers that we have are deeply ingrained habits go thought. We need strategies to begin to shift them.

If you hate public speaking ask yourself these questions:

How much is avoiding speaking to audience costing you in career and business opportunities?

How would it feel if you could speak passionately about the things you really care about?

How long do you want that paralysis and fear to rule your life?

Isn't it about time to take control?

If you want to overcome anxiety when speaking in public, step out of your shadow and unleash your true potential come on my course that aims to tackle this dragon head-on.

Overcome Public Anxiety course with Chris Green

Chris Green is a speech writer, public speaking coach and author of "Nail That Presentation".