My mentor has been really bugging me to incorporate my martial arts background into helping people overcome their public speaking fear. So I'm doing what any loyal student does with a sensei's instruction. Follow it.
In my 17 years as a student of aikido, I've had a great deal of experience with mastering fear. I consider this to be especially true in my case. I'm 5'1" in height, and have weighed around 115-125 lbs., while my training partners have usually been an average of a foot taller and 80 lbs. heavier than I. Most of my partners were decent people, meaning that they tried not to hurt me intentionally. But there was always one or two large individuals who didn't care at all about protecting their training partner, even someone significantly smaller with "twig arms" like mine.
The latter few scared me a lot, but I couldn't avoid working with them unless I quit altogether. Give up on something I loved? Never! If you've made the decision to pursue a goal or passion that required speaking to groups, will you let your public speaking fear stop you?
Here's a secret: the fear never goes away completely, which isn't a bad thing. Fear can serve you. A degree of fear will keep you very sharp. Often when we're overconfident, we get sloppy. This can happen if you hang around in your comfort zone too much of the time.
But if your public speaking fear is paralyzing you — causing you to feel like you're going to collapse, vomit, etc., here are some strategies for rapid fear reduction. These have helped me get it under control fast over the years.
1) Take a deep breath. Take several deep breaths. This will calm you down.
2) Ground yourself physically. While taking that deep breath, find a place in your lower abdomen, tuck it in become aware of that centerpoint in your body. Feel both of your feet firmly on the ground beneath you. Keep the rest of your body loose.
3) In your mind, picture the desired end of your presentation. Imagine how you'll feel upon successful completion.
4) Remember your message. Remember why you're there. This will make you look past your fear instead of staying wrapped up within it.
5) Then, just MOVE! Get up and start delivering your presentation.
Steps 1-4 can be completed in about two seconds. Better yet, go through them as you're driving to work. If you practice in advance, you'll be able to complete them in a split second. Not only that, but this is a much more productive way to direct your thoughts if you are struggling fiercely with public speaking fears.
Of course, when speaking in public, all of the above will work much better if you're also well prepared for your speech delivery. You should have a strong presentation ready, and you should have practiced thoroughly.
Here's another little secret: These techniques can work with whatever fearful situation you're facing, whether it's skydiving, flying on an airplane, or riding an elevator.
Try them out! Let me know what happens.
Lily Iatridis of Fearless Delivery, has a proven track record and knows the key elements in effective and engaging presentation. Her expertise is in supporting professionals to get their message expressed clearly to deliver the biggest results in their live and online presentations. Secrets and strategies such as "how-to" shortcuts, personalized instruction and even packaging the presentation are just some of the skill sets that Lily brings to her audience to create a fearless and effective delivery.
If you've ever been nervous in front of an audience, please download Lily's free ebook, "5 Steps to Neutralize Difficult Audience Members– Without A Power Struggle!" In this ebook, Lily shares simple strategies that will put your mind at ease, arm you with useful strategies, and entertain you with some stories of her own bumps along the path to public speaking success.
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