Expand Your Comfort Zone

Expanding your comfort zone and gradually increasing the complexity of the speaking tasks that you undertake is one way to become more confident and in control of any negative feelings associated with public speaking. Psychologists would probably describe this as desensitisation. Start with speaking tasks that you find easy and only have a small amount of fear or anxiety associated with them. Then move up to a slightly more difficult situation and so on until you tackle with confidence and surety the speaking situation that you fear most and wish to conquer.

Don’t make your first speaking task a keynote presentation in front of 2000 people. This is more likely to fail, and while we can learn much from our mistakes and we should stretch our boundaries, the lesson from this would be don’t attempt things too far out of your comfort zone until you are ready and have done the preparation and smaller steps towards your goal. Gradually build it up, with you in control, firstly speaking in situations that stretch you, but aren’t impossible to achieve. Build up at a rate that you can handle and that you can control.

So go out and find opportunities to speak on your subject in public. Join a public speaking club, such as Toastmasters; offer to speak for free at a community event or a service club. If you have something of value to tell others, keep getting in front of people and deliver it. In no time at all, you’ll gain confidence. You’ll also begin to respect the natural public speaker/communicator within you.