Howdy ,

Welcome to day 4 of your 5 day challenge.

You are making awesome progress!

Today you will learn 3 tried and true strategies to help you feel better about the fear of public speaking. 

Remember that it's completely normal to experience some fear when you speak in public, and it's one of the most common fears in the world, gulp. 

However, if we can better understand this speaking fear, then we can reframe fear into something more useful and less scary.

Today you'll learn 3 proven strategies to decrease fear that have worked for my clients over the years in my private coaching, and in my public speaking courses, Impact & Total Impact.

Read your lesson below and watch the video I made for you HERE:

Watch Here!

If you suffer from extreme anxiety, this can be a part of your full treatment plan. These strategies will help us feel more grounded, present, and positive.

First, a difficult truth: We are hardwired to fear public speaking 😱 😱 

Our "long ago" ancestors were scared of standing out from the pack, and for good reason. According to The Moxie Institute neuroscience research, our ancestors four most greatest fears were:

1. Standing Alone

2. Having no place to hide

3. Having no weapon

4. Having many hostile eyes on them

That is exactly what we do when we speak in public and it can trigger a fear response in us that feels very real!

I love this quote 💌:

"Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it."

-Author Judy Blume

Here are 3 helpful strategies to fear less and feel better about public speaking:

🧘🏽‍♀️ Step One: Settle your body into a calm state 

Guess what, you already have the tools needed for this first step from the first 3 days of your challenge. Let's review:

Your day one Belly Breath exercises are scientifically proven to help decrease your fear, sending messages to your brain to keep you out of fight or flight, and put you in "rest & digest" mode. You also oxygenate your body more by breathing with your belly breaths which calms both your body and mind. 

The day 2 Release Your Tension warm-up routine that you learned with me will decrease any tension you may have in your body related to speaking: your jaw, neck, and chest area. Be sure to download your warm up checklist and put it somewhere visible so you do it consistently before your meetings.

Yesterday's Take Your Time speech method in Day 3 gives you specific speech exercises to slow down, be deliberate, and breathe more when you speak. These speech skills will settle you nerves as well and signal to your brain and body that you are not in a rush.

🤔 Step Two: Reframe your thoughts

There are many helpful approaches to reframe your negative thoughts including therapy, mindfulness, meditation, and in some cases, medication. 

Here is one exercise that I have found super helpful that you can do right now to help you reframe your thoughts: The Worst Case/Best Case Scenario Exercise.

Imagine your worst case scenario: Take a moment to see yourself doing public speaking in a fearful way. Imagine everything that could possibly go wrong. Maybe you forget what you wanted to say, and you start to tremble and sweat profusely. Your audience is frowning at you, and you almost feel like you are going to panic. Yikes!

What senses came up for you as you imagined this fearful experience? How did your body respond? What thoughts did you have?

Imagine your best case scenario: Now take moment to reset, and then imagine yourself doing public speaking in a calm and positive way. What happens differently in this scenario? Maybe you take your time, really connect with your audience, and you get applause at the end of your speech. Maybe you stay calm and feel present the entire time. Maybe you don't feel so alone or vulnerable as you share your thoughts to the group. Maybe you even feel good, energized, and inspired as you share your ideas.

What senses came up for you as you imagined this positive experience? How did your body and thoughts respond? Which scenario did you have an easier time believing for yourself? 

I encourage you to write out both scenarios in a journal, or, you can use today's worksheet download, Best Case/Worst Case Scenario Worksheet inside your course HERE

🪷 Step Three: Practice mindfulness

1. Envision yourself doing well during your speech.
2. Say out loud that you are going to do well before your speech. (Don't say that you are going to do poorly, that has been proven to impact your speaking performance.)
3. Say a simple positive affirmation that you'll actually believe like, "I've Got This" or "I Can Do This", or even the title of this challenge, "I Can Stay Calm & Speak On"! )
4. Set one positive intention for your speaking and focus on that:

"I'm going to slow down." 

"I'm going to take more breaths." 

"I'm going to take pauses when I need to collect my thoughts."

PRO TIP: Remember, experienced public speakers, actors, athletes, and public figures don't get rid of their fears, they just get more comfortable being with their fears. We can learn how to accept our fears, and we can even harness our fears to help energize ourselves.

Remember, your LAST challenge is tomorrow and it's the most advanced skill yet! You'll learn how to find your speaking flow and it's a total game changer.

Stay Calm & Speak On,

Coach Jessica

Your Day 4 Home Assignment: 

1. Download and write out your best & worst case speech scenario in your worksheet HERE
2. Continue to do your warm-up checklist from Day 2.
3. Get ready to put it all in action in your final challenge tomorrow, woot, woot!