To understand how this technique works, it’s important to fully understand that fear of public speaking is something that starts and “lives” in your mind.
Sure, your body feels the sweating and the nervous stomach, but what happens BEFORE the sweating and nervous stomach?
The answer is that you are running pictures and movies in your mind that are making you sweat and causing that knot in your stomach.
I’ve discovered in the public speaking trainings I teach that the movies are different for everyone – everyone has their own “recipe” to create fear of public speaking:
Some people picture the audience laughing at them.
Some people picture the audience getting up and walking out.
Some people picture themselves making horrible mistakes.
Some people even picture the audience as being like giants, and picture themselves as small and insignificant.
Although the movies and pictures are different for everyone, the common denominator is the fact that they are picturing total failure, horrible humiliation, or painful rejection of some sort.
That’s what causes fear of public speaking.
Now let’s get to how to get rid of fear of public speaking… but first I want you to rate your fear of public speaking on a scale of 1 to 10 – 1 being least and 10 being most fear.
Imagine the worst possible thing happening when doing public speaking.
Now, how do you rate your fear on a scale of 1 to 10?
Okay, now let’s get rid of that fear: sit or lie down comfortably where you won’t be disturbed for a few minutes.
Take the fingertips of each hand and place them directly above your eyebrows about an inch.
Touch your forehead on those 2 spots lightly – DO NOT press and DO NOT spread out your fingers.
Now start breathing deeply into your diaphragm so that your abdomen rises and falls as you breathe.
As you breathe deeply, begin to think about doing public speaking.
Run the movies in your mind of failure, rejection – whatever bothers you most of all.
Don’t hold back, really let yourself imagine the worst most painful things you can imagine.
BUT KEEP BREATHING DEEPLY!
That is super-important.
Keep your fingers on your forehead and imagine the worst-case scenarios.
Keep touching your forehead and breathing deeply to your abdomen & keep running worst case scenarios over and over.
After a few minutes, you’ll be surprised and delighted when you notice that those scenarios don’t bother you anymore!
Now – sit up, take your hands off your forehead, and now rate your fear on a scale of 1 to 10 – It’s much, much reduced, isn’t it!
Repeat the ESR Technique until thinking about public speaking worst case scenarios don’t bother you anymore.
This technique is ostensibly very simple, yet extremely powerful, and it really works! And what have you got to lose? At the worst, you’ll lose a few minutes of your time. But the upside is that you might discover that your fear of public speaking no longer has a stranglehold on you any more.
For more public speaking training articles visit http://www.bestpublicspeakingtraining.com
David Portney is the author of “129 Seminar Speaking Success Tips and the founder of the Academy of Public Speaking located in Redondo Beach, California where he personally teaches specialized workshops and public speaking trainings. Visit David’s website http://www.bestpublicspeakingtraining.com
Fear of Public Speaking, Public Speaking Training
What if you could conquer fear of public speaking with a stupidly-simple technique in a matter of minutes?
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