Reader,
Public speaking anxiety is NOT your enemy…
How you view it makes all the difference.
Have you ever thought about why body-shaming doesn't make people eat healthily and become fit?
And why doesn't putting warning labels on cigarette packs make smokers quit and live healthily?
You’ve seen those warning labels: "Cigarettes Cause Cancer".
What if I told you this is doing...
MORE HARM THAN GOOD?
Researchers have found the results to be quite the opposite...
Such negative messaging made people do the very act they were supposed to stop doing.
SHOCKING, right?
Studies found that people who were body-shamed ate more junk food and comfort food and became even more obese.
Smokers didn't quit smoking…
Instead smoked even more cigarettes to break free from worries and fear of a horrible forthcoming death by cancer after being reminded by warning labels.
SIMILARLY...
If you are being fed with negative messaging such as:
- “Showing signs of nervousness on stage is bad”
- “You have to perfect in every way on stage”
- “Public speaking is very dangerous”
- etc..
It’ll make you even more nervous. Here's why negative messaging fails:
Humans act out of EMOTIONS or HABITS.
Body-shaming, bizarre cancer warning labels and negative views about speaking nerves give rise to emotions of fear, anxiety, disappointment, and frustration.
And what’s better way to break free of such emotions than
– Eating more comfort food,
– Lighting up another cigarette and
– Avoiding public speaking altogether?
When it comes to overcoming public speaking anxiety... most want to get rid of the speaking nerves altogether.
But this isn’t going to make you confident!
BECAUSE...
As long as you are human with emotions and care about your speaking engagements and the audience, speaking nerves will be alongside you.
Your speaking nerves make you prepared by rising up to the challenge and doing your best.
So, what does public speaking CONFIDENCE mean?
⇢ It means you embrace speaking nerves under stage lights
⇢ It means you know what to do when your mind blanks out
⇢ It means you don't fear showing your human side on stage
⇢ It means you face fears and look your demons in the eye
Speaking confidence is NOT the absence of speaking nerves...
but your ability to fight back and stand tall in the face of your fear.
BUT REMEMBER...
The only anxiety we want to eliminate is the one stemming from your limiting beliefs.
The limiting beliefs that make you feel like not good enough, failure, imposter, unimportant and so on.
Here's a list of common limiting beliefs behind your fear of public speaking and social anxieties:
- Public speaking is inherently scary
- I'm not a born natural public speaker
- What I have to say is unimportant
- Mistakes and failures are bad
- Appearing nervous on stage is bad
- Showing vulnerability is bad
- I'm not smart enough
- I'm not good enough
- What makes me good enough is doing things perfectly
- I'm going to be judged negatively
- What makes me good enough is having others think well of me
- People will judge based on my accent
- I'm not important
Wanna know if you have any of these beliefs?
Here's a resource to help you with that.
Best,
Waqas - Head Speaking Anxiety Coach
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