How to overcome the fear of public speaking

Public speaking is not a skill that some people have and some people don't have. It's something that can be learned and here’s how you can become an ultimate speaker

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Do you have a fear of public speaking?

I did too. Nine years ago, I came to The Coaching Institute with the goal to become a professional speaker.

I wanted to learn the skill I lacked, and I learned it through TCI. Now it is my job. And I love what I do.

If you want to overcome fear, breakthrough limits and become a successful speaker in 2021, here’s where you can start!

There are generally three major fears that hold people back from becoming professional speakers because we're wired to be accepted by others and accept others.

We are afraid of judgment.

We are afraid of rejection.

We are afraid of making mistakes.

Jerry Seinfeld's been famous for joking that most people would rather be dead than deliver the eulogy at a person's funeral.

But we don’t fear standing in the room and talking in front of people.

The question is, what can you do about that and how can you move through your fear to step on stage and unleash the professional speaker within you?

There are two ways to do this:

DEVELOPING YOURSELF AS A PERSON

One of the most important things to do to become a great speaker is to focus on your own personal growth and your personal development.

Do things like:

Face your fears
Take a personal inventory of what fears that you have around rejection or the fear of making mistakes
Understand why those fears are there
Know how you can accept them, move through them, and let go of them.

DEVELOP THE SKILL OF A PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER

The second category is to focus on skill development. For example, the four major thinking styles in the world.

What's going on?

Why you're doing it?

How you're doing it?

What about this?

What about that?

When you speak publicly, you want to engage the audience and speak attractively. It’s very different than how we would have a conversation with a friend. It’s about having a real connection with the audience.

It’s not just a skill that you are born with, but anyone can become a speaker.

Lean in and do the study and you'll learn how to language things in a way that's inspirational for others.

MATT LAVARS

One of Australia's leading coaches, trainers and speakers, and head facilitator at The Coaching Institute. In between mentoring thousands of coaches and leaders all around Australasia and helping others build incredible culture, Matt is passionate about fitness and music. His healthy office lunches whipped up in five minutes are the stuff of legend