There’s no way around it: public speaking anxiety sucks.
No matter how much you try to say it doesn’t matter, or that your nervousness is just imaginary, it takes over without your control.
You’ve probably tried to use positive thinking. You’ve told yourself that each audience member is your friend. You’ve forced yourself to put on a smile and fake a friendly face. All the while you keep seriously doubting your own mental health.
Don’t worry, it’s normal.
And even better – it’s totally possible to overcome.
Why Do I Have Public Speaking Anxiety?
If you have experienced public speaking fear or presentation anxiety before, it probably doesn’t need much of an explanation of what it is.
You already know how it feels – you just don’t know why you feel that way.
In this article we will look at the what, why, and how of public speaking anxiety, and how you can eventually overcome it.
Note that I said eventually. There is no immediate cure for public speaking anxiety. It takes time, practice, mindfulness, and courage to break free of speaking anxiety.
Let’s look at some of the best ways I have learned to overcome public speaking anxiety and to build confidence as a public speaker.
How Public Speaking Anxiety Takes Over
Picture this: you’re minutes away from giving a speech.
Perhaps you’ve managed to ignore the nerves till now, but as the minutes tick closer, you feel the anxiety symotoms rising.
The nervousness starts to make its way from your stomach all the way to chest.
You start heating up, going red, getting cold hands, or breathing shallow breaths.
You try to pretend that you’re cool on the outside, but as the speech gets closer, you find it harder and hard to hide your anxiety about speaking in public.
Beads of sweat start to appear on your forehead and on the palms of your hands. Your throat starts feeling dry and you can’t seem to sit or stand still. You fake smile turns to a grimace and you can’t hear anything anyone else is saying.
Congratulations! You have just been hijacked by speech anxiety.
Welcome to the club!
Speech Anxiety Sucks, But It’s Normal
If you’re a victim of public speaking anxiety, don’t worry: It’s normal.
Public speaking anxiety, presentation anxiety, and public speaking fear are actually part of being a performer of any kind.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, public speaking anxiety is reported by at least 15% to 30% of the general population. Up to 10% of people report that their public speaking anxiety causes them problems with daily activities, including work, education, and social situations.
Honestly, these statistics on the fear of public speaking are likely to be grossly underestimated. The fact is that most people find ways to avoid giving presentations, public talks, or speaking in front of an audience most of the time.
Even if they aren’t scared, a lot of people get brain freeze, or overwhelmed with self-judgment and negative thought while in front of a group.
Can You Truly Overcome Public Speaking Anxiety?
It might feel like you will always have a fear of public speaking, or presentation anxiety, but the reality is that you can overcome it.
Or a more accurate term might be to transmute it.
Public speaking skill is an incredible ability to have, and it leads to many great rewards in life. If you are confident and able to use your presentation skills, you will gain more status, success, and respect in every arena of life.
How do I know that you can get over anxiety of public speaking?
Because I have done it.
I’m not an academic or college professor studying people with public speaking fear. I am a normal person who has lived with, and learned how to get over public speaking anxiety.
Over the past 14 years, I have gone from someone with severe public speaking anxiety to speaking in front of over 1000 people and competing in public speaking contests.
I’ve had the chance to deliver keynote presentations, TEDx talks, and run worskhops for groups of people all over the world.
(Humble bragging aside, my point is that you can learn to transmute your public speaking anxiety and become a confident presenter.)
How to Transmute Your Public Speaking Anxiety
What the hell does transmute mean?
The dictionary definition of transmute means to change in form, nature, or substance.
And essentially, that is exactly what happens to your public speaking fear once you decide to face it head on.
Transmuting your public speaking anxiety means you confront it, you work on lowering it, and eventually you channel it into excitement and enthusiasm.
If that sounds like something you’d like to learn to do, keep reading.
Four Steps to Overcome Public Speaking Anxiety
As I have learned to beat my own speech anxiety and to become a. confident public speaker, I have noticed most people go through four steps.
Let’s talk through them in order, and hopefully they help you find your way to overcome this common fear. Here are the four steps in order for you to overcome public speaking anxiety.
Step One: Admit You Have It
Step Two: Decide To Change
Step Three: Start Small
Step Two: Let Yourself Freak Out
If you do these four things, and you keep repeating them, you will very quickly find your speech anxiety no longer has control over you.
Let’s look at each of these in detail.
1) Admit You Have Public Speaking Anxiety
The worst thing you can do if you have public speaking fear is to tell yourself or others that you don’t. Trying to hide your stage fright is one of the best ways to make it worse.
Not only does everyone else already know you are nervous, but you trying to hide it just doubles your anxiety.
You are trying to not freak out, and you are trying to act like you are not freaking out.
Guess what that does? It makes you freak out even worse.
The solution here is to admit to yourself you have a fear. You have public speaking anxiety, and you are proud of it. Say it to yourself, and confide in someone you know. Tell your coworkers, your family, your boss, or anyone you feel will support you in overcoming it.
What does admitting your speech anxiety do? It brings awareness to the problem, and helps you to start to find ways to solve it.
If you are ready to admit your public speaking fear, then you are ready to move to the next step.
2) Decide To Change
Before you can learn how to get over anxiety of public speaking, you first need a reason why you want to.
Human beings will not make an effort to overcome fears, or try to change unless they have a compelling reason.
For you, there is a bigger reason why you have clicked on this article, and decided to read it. It’s because you want something different than to be crippled by public speaking fear or speech anxiety.
So, why do you want to start addressing public speaking anxiety in your life?
Take 5-10 mins and write down at least three things that would be better in your life if you could become a more confident public speaker.
Improving your confidence as presenter will help you overcome social anxiety, help you sell better, make you a better leader, and even make you more attractive.
But before you can change, you must know why.
So, take the time to really think about it.
And yes, write it down.
Once you have a clear why, the next step is to make a commitment to change. For me, I made that commitment in January 2012 when I joined a local Toastmasters club and resolved to improve my public speaking skill.
That one decision 14 years ago is the reason I am able to speak today without performance anxiety and feel confident in many public speaking scenarios.
Make a decision that you want to change, and know that you can learn how to get over public speaking anxiety.
It’s a crucial step and the start of an amazing new phase of life.
3) Start Small
Now that you have decided you are going to learn how to get over your fear of public speaking, you must start to find ways to do it.
That’s right – you are actually going to put yourself in situations where you can use and improve your communication skills.
Don’t worry, you are not going to dive in the deep and sign up for TED talk, but there are small ways to start growing your speaking skills.
Here are some great ways to start small with public speaking:
– Ask questions in meetings
– Say hello to people in the hallway at work
– Volunteer to read out meeting minutes or agendas
– Be the person who sets up projectorz and slides for a speaker
– Help a speaker by handing out notes or activity tools
– Volunteer to read another speaker’s introduction
– Give small department reports each week
– Call people on the phone instead of always texting them
– Keep your camera on during zoom calls
– Volunteer for activities or share an example in a training
These are some simple, low-risk ways to start training yourself to be more in front or an audience instead of hiding.
What you are doing here is what neuroscientists call cognitive restructuring, which means you are showing yourself that you can do things differently.
You’re also changing your identity. You are showing yourself (and others ) that you are the type of person who steps up, takes initiative, and is willing to face fears.
Instead of waiting for a big speech opportunity, just start small. Take a deep breath, and raise your hand next time you are in a meeting. It doesn’t matter what comes out of your mouth, what matters is that you did something differently.
4) Let Yourself Freak Out
Are you ready for the biggest secret to learn how to get over your public speaking anxiety?
Well here it is:
To learn to be confident, you have to allow yourself to freak out.
That’s right. Let yourself feel freaked out and terrified before you speak in public.
My very best advice about how to not freak out while giving a speech is to actually let yourself freak out beforehand.
When we try to hide or mask our fear of public speaking, the fear gets multiplied and forces itself to the surface.
By the time we stand up, or speak out, we’ve suppressed our anxiety symptoms so much that they take over and makes us freak out in front of the audience.
That’s why I suggest doing the opposite.
Before you go on stage, let the fear completely flow through you.
Say out loud ‘Wow, I am nervous right now. And that’s ok.’
Feel the fear, experience the physical symptoms, and let it totally take over your body for a few minutes before you go on.
When you fully experience the fear before you go on stage, it has already somewhat passed through you. Fear that has passed through you doesn’t stay around.
Remember that fear and anxiety before giving a speech is normal and it’s not going to go away completely. But if you let yourself experience it, it will pass.
If you are reasonably new at public speaking, your mind and body is not used to the increased attention of a group of people looking at you, so you will go into fight and flight mode temporarily.
The big trick I’ve learned from giving hundreds of speeches is that if you let the fear flow through you, and you let yourself sweat, shake, move and generally freak out before the show, by the time you go on stage, you’ve lost most of your adrenaline.
When this passes, then you are ready to give your speech in a calmer, smoother and more enjoyable frame of mind.
Public Speaking Anxiety is a Gateway To A New Life
The final point I have for you is that once you start to get some comfort in front of an audience, you may actually start to like it.
Many people who were initially paralyzed by fears of public speaking eventually become addicted to the high it can give you. (I readily admit I am one of them).
There is no greater feeling than sharing your ideas and feelings with a group of people and making a positive impact on their lives.
Public speaking and presenting to an audience is macro skill that impacts so many arenas of your life.
You may not want to become a professional speaker, but even being about give a speech at a wedding, a funeral, or in your company or community is an important life skill.
The more confidence you develop, and the mooe you focus on improving your speaking skills, the better your life will become.
Face your fears, become who you know you can be.
Speaker Skills is dedicated to real-world public speaking skills to grow your influence and impact. Everything we share on this site is tested and used on stage by us.
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