Filed under: Leadership | Tags: Coachin, fear, Inspiration, Mentors, Public Speaking, Robin Sharma
Few weeks ago I spoke to my friend Isaac about fears during our daily walk. He mention that the number one fear is Public speaking. I couldn’t believe it and he was almost sure that he read it in the “Time Magazine”. I asked him to find more evidence to this finding since I thought that fear of death is number one and that, at least, the fear of the dentist is stronger than public speaking. . .
During the following week, I spoke to some of my friend that confirmed they are more afraid of public speaking then death because they don’t know enough about death but they had many experiences at nursery /school / university / parties when they had to speak in front of others and they shared with me that this is their number one fear. Some of them shared that they feel shame, some are depending on what other people think of them, for others it is related to their look and few think that they have nothing to say in public.
When Robin Sharma arrived to Israel few days later as our guest, he mention the same phenomena in his keynote and I remembered that I used to feel uncomfortable with public speaking 10 year ago, though I had a brilliant coach Barry Katz who worked with me to improve my skills and enjoy public speaking. I believe that confronting a fear is going out of our comfort zone and improve the leadership in our own life.
Isaac came back to me with some referrals to the phenomena:
• Fear of Public speaking is said to be the Number One Fear reported in surveys of American adults, topping such fears as the fear of flying, financial problems, sickness, and even death!, Americans said that their number one fear was public speaking, and that the fear of death was number five.
• According to The Book of Lists (contains hundreds of lists on unusual or esoteric topics), the fear of public speaking ranks number one in the minds of the majority of people. Far above the fear of death and disease, comes the fear of standing in front of a crowd. We all want to be movie stars, but are terrified of the spotlight. I have some opinions about why this happens, to be covered in a future article.
• Public Speaking – A Greater Fear Than Death? By Peter Fisher Platinum Quality AuthorPeter Fisher is a Career Coach and Director of Career Consulting Limited. A webmaster for over 20 Personal Development and Careers Websites ranging from Your-Career-Change.com . According to studies, public speaking is a bigger fear than death. Fear of public speaking is reported to be the number one fear of American adults, with many people experiencing tremendous suffering because of it. The fear of public speaking is the most common phobia that has ever been diagnosed and while this does not mean people would rather be dead than speak in public, as some authors would like you to believe, it does illustrate why communication of ideas through public speaking is often avoided by professionals. Yet quite simply, one of the most powerful sources of confidence in your public speaking ability is knowing that you are prepared.
• Fear of Public Speaking by Hildy Gottlieb Copyright ReSolve, Inc. 2004©
Some studies have shown that fear of public speaking ranks up there with the fear of death. That doesn’t surprise me. Although I am now about as comfortable with a microphone and an audience as I am in my own living room, that wasn’t always true. To be honest, until only a few years ago, I was petrified to talk in front of any sized group.
Fear of public speaking is easily one of the most common and debilitating fears that there is. Many people place fear of public speaking in the same category that they do life-threatening situations. So if getting up in front of people is something that scares you silly, you aren’t alone. Fear of public speaking is rated the number one fear with death actually coming in at number four.
Dealing with our fears, dancing with them and overcoming challenges could lead us to better life and opportunities to grow to our full potential and I believe that everyone deserve this chance.
Lets end with a quote from Jerry Seinfeld: “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two? Does that seem right? To the average person that means that if they have to go to a funeral, they’d be better off in the casket than giving the eulogy.”
I will be happy if you share your thoughts about public speaking as the #1 Fear,
Doron Libshtein
CEO, Coaching Interactive Limited
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Personal growth should be common property.
www.mentorschannel.com
4 Comments so far
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Dear Doron
This article of yours is a good showcase for mentoring. Whereas, there is nothing we can do about death, other than accept it as a part of life, there is much we can do about public speaking.
Comment by Drew March 22, 2009 @ 9:00 amWhile it is understandable that people fear public speaking, this fear can be overcome, rather easily, by proper preparation. The preparation includes not only going over the speech again and again to ensure one knows it, but also, it includes understanding that no one is perfect and that the road to success is paved with failures. There are no shortcuts other than trying again and again. And most important, in the words of Sir Winston Churchill: “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm”.
Next to the Sedona Method, therapy has the highest likelihood of producing a lasting change in your fear of public speaking. Dentist
Comment by Dentist March 22, 2009 @ 10:59 amHi – I’m surprised you’re surprised at this…
I train people in public speaking so there’s a sense in which I’m grateful for the fear… it pays for my family’s food every week!
Let’s not take the Jerry S qote too litterally: that’s not actually what the statistics say, but it’s a good take for a comic.
I’m becoming more and more convinced that this fear is at least partially a result of ignorance – an ignorance of what ‘good’ pubic speaking will look like and feel like. On the other side of the coin, people know pretty clearly in their own minds what failure will feel like! If you can’t define success but you can clearly define failure, is it any wonder that you’re going to feel like a failure?
Simon
Comment by simonr April 3, 2009 @ 9:11 amOne of the courses I teach as a professor is public speaking. It is a confidence issue more than anything else. They have to get up in front of their classmates daily. By the end, the majority of them have licked their fear. The problem with adults beyond college is that they often don’t have access to a class (Toastmaster’s aside) like the ones offered in colleges and universities.
Comment by psychologyofsuccess July 2, 2009 @ 6:46 pm