For millions of people, public speaking is not exactly on the list of most favorite activities. Most people have a preconceived notion of speaking in front of a crowd, and it usually causes anxiety. There are a few tips to consider that can not only get you through speaking in public, but also help you in many areas of life. These revolve around the importance of practice and public speaking.

It has been noted by coaches, teachers, and inspirational figures that practice makes perfect. It’s true to an extent that repetition can truly help with becoming better at anything sports related but can it work for public speaking? Yes. The importance of practice and public speaking is equated to sports in the way that if you practice the words you’re going to say, you’ll be ready to confront a public audience.

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Social Anxiety Disorder, also known simply as Social Phobia or Social Anxiety is perhaps the most commone form of anxiety disorder known.

In fact, it’s so common that it is believed to affect somewhere around 10% of the entire population in one degree or another.

What’s more, it can affect absolutely anyone – from housewife to movie star.

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Have you ever wondered if there really is some special ‘secret’ to overcoming the fear of public speaking? Well, these secrets and subtle tricks definitely exist and I’m going to share one with you in just a moment. However before I do so I’d like you to imagine what your life and career would be like if you were never afraid to speak in public again. How would that change your life for the better? More promotions? More friends? Perhaps even more money and self confidence? You see, trying the typical methods to overcome public speaking fear such as practicing your speech, visualization, and positive self talk work…but only to a limited degree. In order to really squash those fears you need to think outside the box. Read on to learn a secret very few people know about. While it may seem counter-intuitive, one of the best ways to succeed as a public speaker is to not consider yourself a public speaker at all. Let me explain. You see, many of us have unrealistic or distorted views of what successful public speakers do. We erroneously believe that in order for us to be successful, we need to ‘mimic’ what the professionals do and say. Consequently, we try to emulate the personal characteristics of others because we believe those traits are responsible for their success. This isn’t the case. The truth is most successful speakers became successful by doing things the opposite – they didn’t try and emulate others but instead allowed themselves to be themselves. And, much to their surprise, the discovered how much fun public speaking can really be. You too can do this with your audiences. Instead of droning on about some uninterested subject, what if you allowed yourself to be bold, compassionate, silly, helpful, witty…or anything else you choose? How much more fun would your presentations be? I encourage you to give this a try next time you’re assigned to speak. Even take it a step further by going into your speech without any idea how you’re going to get across your main points.

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In the middle of the 1990s, a personal development coach used as reference another coach’s techniques to come up with his own. Roger Callahan’s techniques in Thought Field Therapy, or TFT, were studied thoroughly by his trainee Gary Craig, who later simplified said techniques in order to give birth to the now highly popular Emotional Freedom Techniques, or EFT.

TFT and EFT are alternative medicine tools or methods that aim to pacify negative disturbances that disrupt the body’s energies and cause disharmony in the mind, body, and spirit. The most substantial difference in the two doctors’ techniques is the emphasis on the sequence of tapping points in the former and the lack of special proprietary procedures in the latter. There are several articles on the two methods that explain them in great detail. This article, meanwhile, shows how EFT is used to help deal with the pressures of public speaking.

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Is this story sound familiar to you?

“As a kid, I was labeled an ‘introvert’ by my school friends. No need to say I hate that word! I was timid and I was anxious in the company of many friends. I behaved rather odd at formal functions, and I was rather unpopular at parties. This is the reason why for the first half of my life, I didn’t hang out much at clubs….”

Is the reason you are reading this articles is that you are now an adult, and beside the fact that your age changed, the bottom line, with regarding to to your social anxiety is still the same?

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