Lots of people are afraid of public speaking—but you don’t have to be. There’s an easy way to get over it quickly, almost instantly. I didn’t just dream up what I am about to describe. It follows the logic of an approach to therapy invented by the Austrian psychiatrist, Victor Frankl more than 60 years ago. It is called “paradoxical intention” and it involves doing on purpose the very thing you are afraid of.
Think about it. If you are afraid of public speaking, you are afraid of three things happening, one after the other:
1) You look nervous.
2) Your audience notices that you look nervous.
3) Your audience thinks negatively about you as a result.
So what do you do to stop that three-step sequence from happening? Here’s what you do:
You take a couple of pieces of paper up to the lectern with you. Then you purposely shake them, as if you were trembling. You then point to your trembling hand and say, smiling, “Don’t mind me folks. I’m always like this at the start of a talk. But don’t worry, I’ll settle down soon enough.”
By doing this you block your anxiety about been seen to be nervous, because you’re telling your audience to see it. And you’re blocking your anxiety about what they’ll think because you’re telling them that you don’t think it’s a big deal—and so they don’t have to think it’s a big deal either.
It’s as simple as that. Really! Try it and you will see.