Okay, so many people are afraid of public speaking. The question is: why?<\/p>\n

Being afraid of death makes inherent sense, doesn’t it? An integral part of any life is to avoid death. But public speaking?<\/p>\n

When we look at the potential evolutionary purpose of this anxiety, it starts to make some sense.<\/p>\n

So, it is natural for us to be afraid of public speaking. How should we handle it?<\/p>\n

People often say that they want to “get rid of the fear”. The nerves feel uncomfortable so they (understandably) want to find a way to make them go away.<\/p>\n

My suggestion is not to get rid of the fear.<\/p>\n

Instead, my approach is to accept the fear.<\/p>\n

When you try to ignore or avoid nerves before giving a presentation, you risk the nerves arriving without warning. For example, your projector breaks, it throws you off-balance and suddenly the fear comes rushing back.<\/p>\n

When you accept the nerves, you can use them to your advantage.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Make Friends With Your Nerves<\/h3>\n

The first step is to accept that your nerves exist. They will not go away.<\/p>\n

Instead of trying to avoid thinking about the nerves, take some time to just breathe. Stand or sit with a long, free spine (i.e. a back which is not bent) and pay attention to your breathing for a minute or so.<\/p>\n

After a while, or when you feel calmer, turn your attention to the feeling of nerves.<\/p>\n

Notice how it feels to be nervous.<\/p>\n

Notice where in your body you feel the nerves most strongly \u2014 for me, I feel them around my solar plexus (the point where the bottom ribs meet in the middle at the front).<\/p>\n

It can be helpful to think that you are trying to “make friends with your nerves”.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Warm Up<\/h3>\n

Warming up your voice and body is my preferred solution for dealing with nerves.<\/p>\n

Anxiety tends to become stronger when we think about it too much. We run over and over our fears in our mind again and again, which just makes them worse.<\/p>\n

When we warm up our voice, we switch our attention to our body and our breathing. This gives our mind a rest for a little while, which is very useful before we give the presentation.<\/p>\n

If you enter your details into the form below, I’ll send you my free warm up eBook which you can use to warm up before a presentation.<\/p>\n

[optinform]<\/p>\n