Anchors that impact your speech or story

You’ve heard about โ€˜The List,โ€™ havenโ€™t you?ย  The one that claims:

Public speaking is the #1 fear for most people!

Most people would rather die than give a speech!

Really?ย  Youโ€™d rather die?ย 

Somewhere along the way, this fear about public speaking has become an accepted fact.ย  For many, this fear has become an โ€˜anchorโ€™ that has held back personal and professional growth. ย 

Thereโ€™s only one problem.ย  Itโ€™s not true.

After coaching speakers for six years, and overcoming my own fears about talking in front of others, I believe that there is a fear associated with public speaking, but itโ€™s not the act of speaking itself. ย 

Unless you have a physical issue, speaking is something you do every day, right?ย  Itโ€™s not the talking part that creates the fear – itโ€™s the thought that you might be embarrassed or humiliated while speaking to others that strikes terror in so many hearts.

How do I know this?ย  My mother has often told me that when I was a kid, Iโ€™d tell her โ€œMom, I got to talk to the class today.ย  I like it when people listen to me.โ€ ย  This is true.ย  But what she forgets is that, I preferred to do this while sitting down.ย  When I was six, I was punished in my first grade class for breaking a class rule, and that punishment became a 25-year anchor in my life.

My punishment for standing on a desk during recess was toโ€ฆstand on my desk during nap time while my classmates sleptย  [45 years later, I have yet to understand the logic of making me stand on my desk to punish me for standing on my desk.ย  Isnโ€™t that like a judge telling a bank robber to go robber another bank to teach him not to rob banks?ย  But I digress].

Picture the scene:ย  A darkened classroom, with the smell of chocolate chip cookies [our afternoon snack] wafting in the air.ย  My classmates have laid their precious little heads on their desk in quiet repose.ย  I am standing on my desk, feeling sillyโ€ฆfor about 3 minutes. ย 

Thatโ€™s when my โ€˜sleepingโ€™ classmates started peaking up at me, smiling, snickering and sticking their tongues out, mocking me.ย  Thatโ€™s when the embarrassment set in.ย  Humiliation came after about 20 minutes.ย  Even though I was towering above my classmates, I felt smaller and smaller with each passing minute.

The aftermath of this experience was that, even though I liked talking toย  others and making them laugh, I resisted every future opportunity to stand in front of a group and speak because I was afraid of reliving the humiliation of standing on that desk. ย 

This anchor kept me from expressing my true nature and hindered my personal and professional growth. ย 

It wasnโ€™t until I joined Toastmasters International in 1994 that I discovered that my fear wasn’t unique, that public speaking is learned, and that it can also be the greatest tool to advance your career. ย 

Once I learned how to manage my fears, and then the skills to develop and deliver meaningful presentations, I began to understand the power of the spoken word, and how it could help me and others.

Yes, there are misconceptions about public speaking, the biggest being that itโ€™s the #1 fear.ย  Once you realize the real fear associated with public speaking, you can mange those feelings, learn the necessary skills to become a speaker who inspires others, and break the chains of the โ€˜fear of speakingโ€™ anchor.

If you or someone you know would like to learn how to overcome the nerves associated with public speaking, check out the recording Panic to Power. ย 3 World Champions and 1 Certified World Class Speaking Coach share their experiences of panic on the platform, and how to mange your own fear. ย To learn more, click here: Panic to Power

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The REAL Reason People Fear Public Speaking ultima modifica: 2014-07-16T12:16:18-04:00 da Michael Davis