Tag - public speaking anxiety

Three key factors which reduce speaking stress

Studying 'stress hardiness' research is part of what I do to help clients become more resilient presenters; and there's been a lot of interesting work done in this area over the past nearly 40 years by two psychologists, Salvatore Maddi and Suzanne Kobasa. They've worked with 1000's of  Control, commitment and challenge - key factors which reduce speaking stress professionals and have found three critical factors in resilient people. Resilience shows up when people go through life stressors and come out the other side showing the ability to grow and thrive. (Whereas non-resilient people suffer physical and/or mental ill-health.)

These...

Reduce Stress with these Simple Quick Techniques

I'm always on the lookout for techniques to help clients reduce stress and anxiety levels. And I've been talking to a lot of my private clients recently about how going through stress in their lives can make their public speaking anxiety worse - which makes total sense. Reduce Stress with Simple Quick Techniques In fact for a few clients, stress was the trigger which set off their speaking anxiety in the first place. One had been fine about speaking in public until his mother died, when he just stopped coping with the pressure. For me too: my...

Where’s your Locus of Control around Public Speaking?

Where's your locus of control around public speaking?

Control: where do you sit with that word when you think about public speaking? My clients often struggle with feeling out of control in different ways when they’re presenting - either mentally, physically or both. When your sense of control goes, so does your confidence. Loss of control = loss of power, and powerlessness = stress. Your brain actually loses prefrontal function when you feel out of control (that's the higher thinking part). But so long as you have the perception of some control, you get to keep your cognitive functions: in other...

Public Speaking Anxiety – A Drive for Certainty?

Public Speaking Anxiety - A Drive for Certainty?

Creating certainty in public speaking Anxiety: it's not only a signal that something needs attention - it can also be a drive to eliminate uncertainty and a sense of loss of control in our lives. And in working with many clients on their public speaking anxiety, I'm frequently seeing that many of them have a strong drive for certainty and control around their speaking. This is a tricky one - because public speaking is an inherently uncertain activity. However, if you recognise yourself as someone who's uncomfortable (or driven mad) by your need for...

Defeating Speaking Fear – New Landscape

Defeating speaking fear through a new landscape.

Speaking anxiety? I'm always looking for new or different ways that fearful clients can find a workaround for theirs. And I found one in an article about procrastination byTimothy Pychyl in Psychology Today. It's about your goals and what stops you. And it ties well into defeating speaking fear through a new landscape. In the article, he talks about the wave of negativity that can overwhelm us when we sit down to a difficult task; and how learning to cope with this wave of mixed emotions is crucial in order to succeed with our...