» News
Fear of public speaking
An NLP-based technique to overcome it.
I promised in one of early posts to introduce an NLP technique, which can help you overcome the fear of public speaking. Before I tell you more about this, you probably know yourselves that the best way to get rid of the fear of public speaking is - REHEARSAL. As simple as that. Practice the speech out loud and it will not only boost your self-confidence, but also give you a better idea of what to expect once you get on stage.
If you combine rehearsal with the technique below, you stand good chances of turning your public speaking performance into a breathtaking event. What do you have to do?
Step One
Figure out what you need to successfully overcome the fear of public speaking. For example: “I need self-confidence, determination and motivation to practice.”
Step Two
Browse your life experience and find (an) occasion(s), where you performed or acted as extremely self-confident, determined and had motivation to practice and learn. Look for extremely positive events. If you don’t have any of their own, because it might be that you have never in your life been as self-confident as you would like to or have never had enough determination or motivation to complete different tasks, borrow them from someone you know (a colleague from work, a friend, a relative …) or from a famous person (e. g. someone who can speak extremely well in public).
Step Three
After you have found them (it), close your eyes, move a step forward and imagine you are now in a situation, where you were as self-confident as you would like to be to overcome the fear of public speaking. While your eyes are closed, and you are completely relaxed, go through what was going on:
- WHO OR WHAT YOU SEE, what are the colours, how big or small are the things or people that you see, are they moving or standing still; you need to see positive so add colour, enlarge small things, which should be big, change the weather if necessary from rain to sunshine …;
- WHO OR WHAT YOU HEAR; what are the sounds like, how’s the music in the background, what and how are people saying things; let me remind you again that you need powerful events with powerful sounds; keep in mind that you can also hear the silence;
- HOW YOU FEEL; if you have found a very powerful event or experience from your life, you’ll feel hilarious, overwhelmed by your success or performance and this is what you need;
Step Four
Afterwards go through what you see, hear and how you feel again and when the images are the most intense, the sounds most pleasant and when you feel the most self-confident anchor them: clench a fist, make an OK sign or any other gesture you feel comfortable with and can use it discreetly before any public speaking performance.
Now repeat Steps Three and Four for determination and motivation to practice. Each time you make another step forward.
Step Five
After you have anchored all three features (self-confidence, determination and motivation), open your eyes, step to the left or right and break state.
Step Six
Go back to where you were standing before. Close your eyes, breath deeply, relax. When you are ready, fire off your anchor – your gesture (clench a fist, make an OK sign …). What happens is that you instantly get access to your resources: self-confidence, determination, motivation. All of them have been stacked on your fist. By firing off your anchor, you should feel exactly as you felt when you were going through the events for each of the features above. If this doesn’t happen, try the following:
- Go through Steps Three and Four again, for all three features; add colour, change sizes or shapes or the moods, behaviour of the people in your image/event; examine what you hear, perhaps the sounds are too loud, too unpleasant, too quiet …, maybe you just need a deafening crescendo of an applause ☺, check also your feelings if the event you have chosen fits your needs to overcome the fear of public speaking; do Step Six again;
- If you still don’t get the results you should, you have probably chosen people or events, which are not powerful enough. In this case look for more intense, powerful, stronger events, where self-confidence, determination, motivation are exactly what you need and start all over.
Step Seven
Now it’s time to go into your future public speaking event. Make another step forward by stepping into your next public speaking event. When you are there, fire off your anchor-your gesture and observe what happens to you … What do you see, hear, how do you feel? What you see is satisfied audience, who likes your speech and is giving you the applause you deserve. You leave the stage as a winner and it feels great. Absolutely fantastic. All your efforts are paid off. You did it.
You need to do this process frequently, not just a day before the speech, because it won’t get you the results you want. Start today to be PREPARED when the time comes.
