How To Crush Your Fear and Become A More Outgoing Speaker

Many famous speakers, actors and comedians, despite their success, confess to being shy or to having social anxiety. Shocking isn’t it? They are in front of others and a camera every day doing their thing and doing it well. Yet they apparently are uncomfortable and oftentimes fearful.

So, how can you apply this same fearlessness to your life? How do you crush your fear and become a more outgoing speaker? Try some of these ideas and see how much more outgoing and confident you become.

Accept Your Feelings

There is no point in denying how you feel. You are uncomfortable with getting up front on a stage and acting as if you are outgoing even though you know you aren’t. It’s okay to feel that way. You’ll find by accepting this honest feeling, you’ll feel better.

Take Baby Steps

Start speaking at small events such as church, or your local meet-up. Have coffee with someone you met at a meet-up or your church whom you don’t know well. Don’t go overboard, saying yes to everything, but keep pushing your boundaries until you reach comfortable balance.

Ensure Your Own Comfort

To feel more comfortable in your own skin, research the dress code and details of the speaking event ahead of time. Wearing the appropriate clothing and knowing what to expect will ease your tension and help you feel more comfortable. And when you feel comfortable, you won’t feel as fearful.

Focus on Being Yourself

It’s tempting but helpful to create a fake personality as you work on building your confidence, crushing your fear, and becoming more a more outgoing personality. However, it’s important that you be yourself at all times. Maintaining that false persona would be difficult at best and disastrous at worst. You’ll enjoy life more if you let yourself shine as you are.

Go Forward with Fear

Chances are you’re going to feel fear no matter what you do as you step out of your comfort zone. Those feelings you get in your gut, throat and belly are normal. When you feel it coming on, try to translate it into excitement instead of fear and push forward with courage.

Acknowledge Your Deficiencies

One thing that often makes people fearful about how to crush your fear and become a more outgoing speaker is thinking that they must be perfect or that they are lacking in some way. First, nobody is perfect. It may seem like it on the outside, but it’s guaranteed there are flaws you don’t see. No matter what your deficiencies, be they factual or perceived, you can still enjoy a healthy public speaking life and will be accepted by your peers.

Work on Your Proficiencies

The qualities you like most about yourself are the ones you want to highlight. Those are the things that will make you a memorable speaker. If there are others you feel need a little improvement, work on becoming proficient in them.

Talk Positively to Yourself

You have to believe in yourself before others will believe in you. Before each speaking event, give yourself a pep talk. Recite positive affirmations that help you stick to your goals and go forth with less fear.

To work through fear and become more outgoing you have to face that fear. You have to push your boundaries and step out of your comfort zone. Each time you do so, you will grow. The more you practice, the more comfortable you will become getting in front of a crowd and speaking. Remember to take it slow, acknowledge how you feel, and if you need to, get help from a friend or loved one.