Do you have a fear of public speaking?
If so, your fear of speaking has had a dramatic impact on the person you are today. Public speaking fear may have held you back by causing:
- Weight gain because you want to eat more when you have no confidence
- Stress and anxiety even when someone asks your opinion and you’re not comfortable with being put on the spot
- Anger because you feel trapped in a life with limited potential while you watch others succeed
- Reduced comprehension as your mind atrophies and slows down over time from lack of use and challenge
- Avoidance of conflict resolution because you are afraid what you say will make matters worse
- Limited expectations for yourself but high expectations of others to compensate for your shortcomings
- Reduced productivity because you fear calling a task “complete”
- Believing big problems are smaller than they are so you avoid them until they’re even bigger problems, in part because that’s exactly how you’ve looked at public speaking; a big problem for you that’s really not a big problem…until one day it becomes a source for many growing issues
- Rejection of suggestions from others for improvement because your public speaking fears kick-in that parasite called denial to save your ego from being harmed
- Accepting of ideas you don’t really believe in because you don’t feel your words will be received favorably if you were to speak your mind
- Inability to fully complete goals because that all-important goal to overcome your fear of speaking has never been handled like you know it should be
- Lack of goal setting ability; a whatever happens approach
- Reduced productivity because you feel you have to be perfect at even the smallest details
- Viewing everyone else as “lucky” because you feel you’re unfortunate or lacking
- Focus on not failing instead of succeeding
- Decisions based on potential for failure instead of focusing on the potential if your attempt was a success
- Excitement that quickly shifts to disappointment; an “it figures” mentality
- Wallowing in mistakes instead of learn from them
- Giving up too easily at, well, anything pretty much
- Broken promises that could’ve easily been kept
- Predicted failure before you start something new and self-sabotage yourself to make sure it fails
- Limiting of yourself with obstacles you’ve set yourself, whether they truly exist or not
- Shrugging off new opportunities due to fear of learning new tasks
- Refusal of greater responsibility when offered because you don’t think you can handle it
- Short-changing your life experiences by not grasping speaking opportunities (weddings, after dinner meetings, company party toasts, come to mind)
- Preference of seclusion over recognition because you don’t feel your worthy of gaining praise
- Constant negative self-talk that sounds like you’re justifying it’s your fault when things go wrong
- Constant bad moods even when you’re smiling to others
- Turning to alcohol or drugs for daily escape
- Smoking a pack of cigarettes a day because it’s the one thing you can control in your life that uses your mouth
- Paranoia of illnesses that you don’t have because you feel there MUST be something wrong with you if you’re always feeling this badly
- High blood pressure due to long, prolonged bottled up stress with no outlet for self-expression
- Reluctance to change because you’re only comfortable doing exactly what you’re doing…even though that’s not very comfy either
- Depression through the years as you might not even recognize the problem is your blatant fear of communication
- Constant feeling of being unsafe where it’s really your ego from being scarred that you’re trying to protect instead of physical safety
- Preferring predictability over adventure because you’re only comfortable knowing exactly how things will turn out rather than enjoying the adventure of the unknown
- Yesterday’s dreams that seem unreachable today because you’ve had so many years of unfulfilled dreams
- A sense of looking forward to things going wrong because that’s what you’re used to
- Comfort in being uncomfortable and you’re so used to it by now, so you can’t even imagine what life would be like without this albatross lifted
- Forgetting details constantly because your brain is unexercised
- Difficulty in prioritizing multiple objectives and you go through life wondering how others get so much accomplished with their days
- Inability to decide what you want in life because so much seems unreachable
- Difficulty to weigh what is truly valuable versus what is a waste of time
- Unwillingness to stand your ground for what you believe is right because you’re just not one of those “speakers”
- Life that seems like a whirlwind with no focus in sight and no order
- Feeling of lack of organization
- Being condescending to others masking your own fear and ending conversations quickly, which is how you prefer it
- Frustration displayed at the smallest situations instead of patience, understanding and sympathy for others
- Inability to see more creative ways to solve problems and stick to what worked 10 years ago
- Limited creativity so you wait for others to voice their ideas
- Selling less books because you insist that’s why you wrote a book…so that you wouldn’t have to speak
- Lack of fulfillment in spiritual activities because if you’re afraid of public speaking, you’re probably not going to volunteer as lay reader or communion assistant at your church or participate in Bible studies
- Experiences only partially enjoyed because you’re expecting something to go wrong…and it usually does
- Higher turnover if you manage people because you choose to not talk with them one-on-one or and especially as a group
- Jealousy when you see others younger than you or with less experience present content you know from the real-world is not entirely correct…and that person is STILL getting credit instead of you
- Longer unemployment cycles because you’re afraid to interview and when you do, you don’t show your best side
- Loss of promotion at work but you justify it as believing you must be more important to the company where you are
- Resentment because you went another year without a promotion while watching your buddies graduate to higher levels in the company
- Reduced motivation every year to look for new challenges because you’re getting older now and you just to “teach an old dog new tricks.”
- Dwindling sales but you blame the economy and higher prices as the cause
- Fewer referrals from outside contacts because you just don’t want to go that networking event and waste business cards
- Lost clients because you don’t call people back soon enough
- Impatience with others expecting them to work faster
- Internalized stress because you don’t want to say anything to anyone to improve the situation
- Layoffs…but you figure it was just matter of time anyway
- Less willingness to express yourself to others
- Poor relationship with spouse because you either say too much or too little because you have trouble articulating the right words during conversations
- Dwindling relationship with your children as they grow older needing your wisdom but you avoid conversation over tough issues
- Elongated dispute with siblings and other family members because you lack confidence to speak to them and get matters settled
- Hesitation to confront your fear in matters other than fear of public speaking because you figure you won’t get over those fears either
- Undue struggle and stress through school presentations that could be so easy if you just had a little training and experience
- Hardship at work for you and others because you were not comfortable defending your view of a new procedure introduced at your job
- Lost sales you should have easily won but you blame it on being too old, too bald, or your teeth are not as white as ought to be (fill in excuse here)
- Embarrassment among co-workers as another client has asked for someone else in your company to be responsible for their account because you lack good phone skills
- Unrealized leadership capability as you simply must be able to communicate verbally when leading people in any occasion or level
- Less money earnings because you will always make more money and be of higher demand if you can speak effectively in public to groups or one-on-one (saved this one for last)
Chester Speaking Club can help you to overcome your fear of public speaking. Contact us for more details.
Original source credit: https://georgesuttontoastmasters.com/
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