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Afraid of Public Speaking? 2 Questions That Transform Fear

So you think you’re freaked about public speaking?

The thought of standing up at a networking event, saying “hell yes” to that speaking opportunity, or even making yourself GO to that networking event, makes your heart pound like a timpani drum and your mind race with “I’m not going to remember what to say.”

You’re not alone. Fear of speaking is natural. But here’s the problem:

When your focused on the fear and not knowing what to say….in that moment you probably don’t have a clue about what you’re actually going to talk about.

The fear stops you in your tracks. It never let’s your mind move past the fight or flight to actually THINK about what you would say.

But no more….

Here are two questions to ask yourself to remove the fear from the forefront of your brain:

1. If I were to stand up and speak, what would I say?

The trick here is that you are not committing to speak. You’re not committing to yourself or to anyone else. You’re simply using the great power of your imagination to think about what you might say in front of the group of people.

Heck, take the people out of the picture. What would you say to persuade yourself to do business with you.

Go ahead write it out. Play with the words.

Remove the pressure completely of standing up in front of the room. This is not a commitment it’s just pure imagination. It’s just writing – no one (not even me) is going to see it.

2. How can I serve?

Now let’s turn it up a notch.

You’re a businessperson. Your business was created to do one thing and one thing only – be of service.

You’ve got a message. Now ask yourself, how does this message help people? How am I of service?

Don’t think about standing up in front of the room – imagine the end result of someone hypothetically hearing your message and your message creating a better life for them.

You get to be of service. 

If the focus is on service, helping the people who listen and we already know your business is being of service everyday your hustling – it takes the pressure off.

Remember when I said “the trick”…well I totally tricked you…I’m super sneaky that way!

When you start using the power of your imagination to figure out what you would hypothetically, no pressure would say…your mind starts seeing you do it.

[Tweet “The best speeches start in your imagination.”]

When the mind sees that you have something to say.  You’re visualizing yourself saying it. You’re gonna want to try it out.

The power of your mind compels you!

Not only that – speaking is service. If you don’t tell people how you can help them, you can’t help them and that’s a HUGE disservice.

Challenge: Now that you have a message, a vision for how you serve the world, the next speaking opportunity that comes your way  – rise up and snatch it.

The world needs your voice and your business. Don’t worry about how the you feel during the moments leading up to the presentation – you can deal with it (I know you can).

Focus on the message makes fear a temporary circumstance.