Myth Number 1 declares that performance nerves are to be expected; everyone has them. Further, that they are necessary. They are what give a speaker the energy to be exciting or interesting.

Let's take a hard look at these assumptions. What happens to you, personally, when you have an attack of Performance Jitters? of a rollicking Stage Fright?

Your predominant emotion is that of dread. You want nothing so devoutly as Getting Outa Here

You get tight around the chest and diaphragm. Your breathing--if any--becomes shallow and your energy wanes.

You sweat. (Icky!)

Your mouth dries up and you can scarcely swallow.

Your hands shake.

Your knees knock and are in danger of collapsing.

Your mind goes blank; did I have a speech in there somewhere? Gone!

In other words, your body tries to shut down! Now why would such unpleasant body symptoms serve you? Do they really make you an exciting and interest speaker?

It's important to separate stage fright and the deep fear of speaking in public from excitement. Think of excitement, not as dread, but as pleasant anticipation. When you're looking forward with pleasure to an activity your body does not try to shut down. It perks up. Your brain goes into high gear. What is about to take place feels good, fulfilling, gratifying, perhaps fun.

You may be one of those people who has some of the good feelings, but still suffers from some of the nasty ones.

Here're some things that will help you:

Think about your responses to having to speak. Separate the actual fear-symptoms from the excitement feelings.

See how many of the negative responses you can tweak your mind to shift to the excitement category.

Learn and use deep breathing in your daily life and certainly use it in your speaking life!

Various energy techniques and hypnosis can be very powerful in developing and fulfilling positive, healthy expectations.

Check out your Self Talk. If it's full of "I'm going to be a failure", consciously change it to "I'm an excellent speaker and I enjoy speaking in public." Never mind if that's a screaming lie. Your subconscious mind, which has diligently helped you feel like a failure can change its tactics and, over time, alter your belief so that you do indeed enjoy speaking in public and you've become very good at it. It takes discipline to continually remind yourself to cancel your negative Self Talk and replace it with healthy thoughts.

During my thirty-some years as therapist and public speaking coach I've observed that these techniques work very well for many people. If, however, a person has underlying and deep feelings of insufficiency, counseling may be helpful in clearing out the personal debris to free up a person to be--and to feel--truly successful.

Carole McMichaels
http://getridofpublicspeakingfears.com/