Frightened of Public Speaking

Most people have some level of anxiety when speaking in public. According to our book, there are three ways to explain how we create the build up our level of anxiety.

1. Skills Deficit: When we are not equipped to give a speech, we will become anxious. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Personally, the more I know about the topic of discussion and the more I have prepared for my time in the spotlight, the less scared I am to get up and speak. I have never really been much of a public speaker, however, when I am prepared and build up my skills to perform, I have often felt excited to provide the information I have learned, in hopes of exciting others.

2. Conditioned Anxiety: There are individuals who have been conditioned to be anxious anytime they attempt to communicate. We have all experienced someone hushing us. The more it happens early in life, the more we are conditioned to think of communication as a bad thing. If we are punished for trying to communicate, we'll feel anxiety build up when we become the focal point of public speaking and have to communicate to a large group or audience. We can reduce conditioned anxiety by the process of systematic desensitization. This is the use of muscle relaxation techniques to help calm your body.

3. Negative Cognitive Appraisal: This is the best explanation for why I have difficulty with public speaking. We create negative statements about ourselves and convince ourselves that we'll fail or mess up. Statements like "once I step up to the microphone, I'll forget everything I was going to say." To reduce these negative statements, we can work through cognitive restructuring process. The basic idea is to replace the negative with positive thoughts. You want to have positive statements in place to kick out the negative words when they fill your mind.

It is important to be aware of where your anxiety comes from and it is equally important to have a plan in place to build yourself up. Through practice, relaxing your mind and body, and replacing negative thoughts, you can create a path to successful public speaking.