Public Speaking - The perfect arena to develop Self-Command & Self-Mastery

Public speaking is an important arena where leaders and individuals are able to develop on their level of self-command, self-mastery and mental fitness.?

Most of us have, at some point, experienced physical or mental signs of fear like stress, nervousness, anxiety, watering of the palms, heightened heart rate or the inability to maintain eye contact with the audience, when stepping up for a public speech or important presentation.?

If you experience this kind of mental or physical patterns while public speaking, you can, first of all, take heart from knowing that you are not alone at all.?

These signs are part of the normal human evolutionary response, when the brain processes a certain situation as a “survival threat” . Most of us – even leaders right at the top – suffer from some form and extent of public speaking anxiety.?

The reasons behind this can be traced back to neuroscience & human evolution :

• Human beings are not naturally wired to step out of their comfort zones and into the spotlight. For our earliest ancestors, this meant the fear of being spotted and hunted down. Public speaking definitely takes most of us out of the comfort zone & our brain perceives that as a potential threat. Despite years of evolution, our brain reacts to threats in the exact same way. This makes us want to stay in our comfort zone (unless we are pushed out)??in familiar & safe environs

• Positive Intelligence research shows that this “survival instinct” takes the form of repetitive mental patterns, where we tend to “Judge” ourselves, causing self-doubt & psychological conditions like the “Imposter Syndrome”, that further heighten??the stress before we even start speaking

• Since our mind processes the threat in the same way as it would process for a physical threat, we experience the signs of the “fight or flight” survival instinct - like heightened heart rate, sweating of palms,??hyperventilation??etc?

• Heightened stress & the influence of our survival emotions does not allow us to use the full capacity of the executive parts of our mind – this leads to us fumbling, make errors, overfocusing on our notes rather than the audience & the consequent disconnect with the audience further feeds into the self-doubt. It’s a vicious cycle.

The good news is that confidence in public speaking is a skill that can be developed through "Mind-Training" techniques, just like any other skill??

Here are some steps & useful tips, which can do wonders with your self-confidence :

• Train the mind to focus inwards & to consciously notice & quieten those survival emotions :???Mind-Training & meditation exercises are very useful. One of the most powerful out of them includes Focusing on our breath (& only the breath) , by??taking several deep breaths at a time, while simultaneously trying to do away with thoughts from the mind . (In our Coaching Programs , we assist leaders with many other Mind Training & Mindfulness exercises. Technology has even enabled development of a Mobile App for Mind Training)

• Try to dissociate yourself from your thoughts?-???Negative self-talk like “What if I am not good enough” or “What will people think of me” come from the unconscious “Judgy” patterns of the mind. Tell yourself that its not you but??“Your Judge” who thinks you may not be good enough. Reframe the thinking to saying -??“I know that I can bring value to this audience & even if I am not the best, I will still share something of value & also learn myself & grow in the process”

• Make it about the audience rather than you :?Part of the stress emerges from the fact that we overthink about ourselves leading to even more self-talk and self-judgment. Shifting the focus on the audience takes off the pressure. Try to observe the audience carefully, engage with them to understand what are their pain points and needs – try to connect your offering so that they feel this resonates with their needs.

• Learn to make eye-contact one person at a time :??For our brains, seeing a large audience at a time invokes survival emotions & resistance. Instead of scanning the room, look at one person at a time. The famous Celebrity Speaker – Simon Sinek often talks about this technique. Even if you are a natural introvert, you will find that this calms down your nerves and puts less pressure on the brain rather than speaking to the whole audience at the same time.?

If you find this Newsletter useful, please share, comment or react.?

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