Do you get nervous about the thought of public speaking or talking in front of a group?

Would you do anything to avoid giving a speech or presentation? The fear could be of speaking to only a few people or to a large audience. It could even be with people you work with on a regular basis, or even family and friends.

And it’s not just the talk. Usually the problem starts even before the talk in the form of pre-speaking anxiety. For many people, it starts as soon as they find out they’re going to have to talk to a group of people. And then it interferes with their sleep the night before – and maybe even several nights!

This fear usually comes from lack of self-confidence. When you lack confidence it’s easy to talk negatively to yourself. This negative self-talk is absorbed at the subconscious level and becomes a belief, thereby becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

But you are not alone in this fear. Fear of public speaking is quite common. In fact, 75% of people share this anxiety about speaking in public. This fear is even higher on most people’s list than a fear of dying. If you have a fear of public speaking or performance-related confidence issue, you may be limiting yourself in your career as well as your personal life.