199: Overcome Your Public Speaking Anxiety Instantly with These Strategies
Did you know that public speaking anxiety, or glossophobia, affects about 73% of the population? That’s a lot! Nearly three in four people are afraid of speaking in public.
Fear of public speaking is frustrating. I get it. You want to get on stage to scale your business, but that fear is sometimes so strong it can hold you back. However, there are ways to manage and overcome your public speaking anxiety. You can work through that fear and get on the stage to serve your audience.
If you loved this episode and it motivated you to work on more polished presentations, I’d love for you to leave a review on iTunes and tell me about your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me @jessicarasdall.
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Eliminate doubt with preparation
One of the root causes of public speaking anxiety is not being prepared. Think about it. Imagine getting up on stage and not feeling confident about what you’re going to say. You probably have thoughts like:
“What’s the first thing I’m going to say?”
“Do they even care what my talk is about?”
“How do I look and sound?”
“Do my slides make sense?”
Look at those four examples again. Preparation is the answer to each question! Ease your fears by knowing your talk inside and out. Be confident in the fact that you know your audience and what value you’re offering them. Remember that you look and sound great thanks to lots of practice. (We’ll get to that in a minute.) Get feedback on your slides from others, too!
In my experience, it helps to have answers for all those simple little questions that come up when you’re preparing your presentation. Like what platform you’ll use to create your slides, what you’ll wear on stage, or when to take pauses during your talk.
Anticipate details that may throw you off or stress them out, and take care of them in advance. This will make a world of difference when managing your fear of public speaking.
Practice as much as you can
Another cause of public speaking anxiety is doing something new, or being in an unfamiliar situation. You’re getting onstage in front of hundreds or thousands of strangers, being vulnerable, and sharing your message. Of course, it’s natural to feel anxious!
That’s why practicing is key. Practicing takes as much fear out of the unknown as possible. The more you practice, the more your mind and body get used to the sensation of speaking on stage. You might not get rid of those nerves altogether — which is perfectly fine — but you can get used to them, and know how to deal with them.
Where can you practice? Start with where you are in your speaking journey!
If you’re feeling really anxious and are new to speaking, start with social media. Try Instagram Stories, Facebook Lives, videos, or live streams. Get used to the feeling of being onstage and feeling the energy of your audience.
Also, record yourself practicing. No one likes listening to themselves speak, but it gets easier each time, I promise. Practice in your living room or on your porch. Dress up in your onstage outfit and give your talk in front of your friends and family.
Watch that footage of yourself, and ask your loved ones for their honest thoughts. Listen. Make notes and figure out how you can improve. This will help you prepare — which we love doing, remember? — and it will strengthen your confidence in your speaking skills.
Focus on your audience
Anticipating your stressors and coming up with solutions goes beyond the physical part of your talk. It helps with your mindset, too. Everyone, whether they have glossophobia or not, has had anxious thoughts race through their mind before getting on stage.
What will everyone think of me? What if they judge me? What if they hate what I have to say? Or what if they don’t listen?
These are all completely normal thoughts that are a part of public speaking anxiety. The trick is to shift your brain away from these thoughts so that they don’t consume you and worsen your anxiety.
Rather than worry about what your audience will think of you, try focusing on what you can offer them. This shift takes the spotlight off of you being on the stage. Instead, zero in on your message. Your expertise. The value you’re bringing to the table.
I’ve given this advice before, but I never pass up the opportunity to give it again because it’s so important! We can’t cure or remove our anxiety for good, but we can take steps to manage it. And this is a crucial one.
Grow your confidence
Anxious thoughts are not fun to deal with, but always remember that anxiety and nervousness are totally normal. There’s nothing wrong with having public speaking anxiety. You’re not alone if you do.
You may not be able to ditch your fear of public speaking completely, but with these strategies, I know you can calm your nerves and give yourself the best chance of success on stage. And over time, you may even start to love speaking in front of an audience!
Want a place where you can grow your confidence and step on that stage without worrying you’ll fumble? Check out the Speaking Strategy Academy.
The strategies taught inside of the Academy have helped our clients...
💜 Scale their business beyond 1:1 services to create passive products that can be sold from the stage.
💜 Consistently convert 97-100% of their audience into paying customers.
💜 Get featured on podcasts, online summits, virtual publications, and more!
💜 Book their first PAID speaking engagements.
💜 Gain clarity on the bigger impact their business will make in their industry and how to diversify their offerings.
💜 Launched their own podcasts to increase their influence and create consistent visibility for their brand.
💜 Let go of fears and limiting beliefs around showing up and started focusing on the impact they can make for their audience.
💜 Reverse engineered their done-for-you services so that they could move from service provider to educator.
💜 Built their speaker sales funnel that is converting in-person and online.
💜 Create powerful signature presentations to be used time and time again.
💜 Secured their “dream” speaking engagements alongside industry celebrities.
💜 Planned and hosted their own in-person events, virtual summits, and more!
Do you want to be one of those people? Apply today!
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