Public Speaking Training Article: Discovering the Root Cause of Fear & Taking the First Step to Cure It

Having taught many, many public speaking trainings over the years I've observed that at the core, fear of public speaking boils down to three common fears:

1. Fear of your mind going blank during your presentation.

2. Fear of making a mistake or not knowing the answer to a question.

3. Fear of appearing foolish.

In a way, all fear of public speaking really comes down to a single root fear:

Fear of rejection. Fear of public speaking wouldn't exist if we didn't actually care what other people think about us.

Worrying that the audience will reject you and make negative comments or have negative reactions or criticisms is what creates the fear of public speaking.

Fear of public speaking can be truly traumatizing for some people can negatively affect your self confidence and self esteem. This is especially true if it is part of your job or career to speak in public on a regular basis. Getting expert public speaking training will work most of the time, unless you've got a deep psychological complex, then you might need some therapy.

But in most cases, it's normal to have fear of rejection from early childhood experiences of rejection in school and these are not deep psychological problems requiring counseling.

Those childhood memories of rejection can be like a minefield and when we step out into that minefield of painful memories, they can "explode". Such "explosions" can be extremely debilitating and in some cases that impact can go far beyond just public speaking.

For example it can create problems in other contexts such as hampering your ability to communicate clearly and confidently with family, friends and even one's partner.

It's useful to think of those stored painful memories as being like "software programs" that are launched and run a predictable pattern, and we experience that as fear of public speaking.

Some people experience significant relief simply by discovering the root cause of their fear.

When they confront the original experience or experiences that started the "chain of pain", they can see it as being part of growing up and being an immature child who's afraid of being judged by their peers.

However, that intellectual style often does not work well for the majority of people who experience fear of public speaking. For those people, understanding and seeing the root case does not actually make the fear go away.

In those cases, the change needs to happen on a "gut level". You could think of this as "reprogramming the software" or as "deleting it from the hard drive". This requires using the "Hero Process" and other methods you can discover here in other articles that literally cause a neurological shift in how your brain represents public speaking.

Summary:
First try uncovering the root cause of your fear of public speaking - see those early childhood rejections for the simple growing pains that are natural and even necessary in life. If that causes a significant change in your fear of public speaking, that's terrific. But if not, just move on to other techniques. Don't give up!-it's 100% possible for you to conquer fear of public speaking and reap the many rewards that are waiting for you. And any public speaking training worth it's salt will address fear and support you in overcoming that fear once and for all.