Anxiety with Public Speaking? Here’s How to Deal with it.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from PexelsDo you feel nervous whenever you’re asked to give a speech or do a presentation? Does the thought of getting up in front of an audience terrify you? Have you found yourself turning red or feeling hot before a speech? Then you’re in good company because most people have anxiety with public speaking. You’ve probably heard that public speaking is the number one social fear – some people fear it even more than death!

Mental Toughness

Mental ToughnessYou can learn a lot from a coach. And I’m not talking about life coaches or others that you pay to help you figure out what you really want in life, but the type that wear a whistle around their necks and make you push yourself to be the best athlete you can be. I recently listened to an old interview with legendary basketball coach, John Wooden, and was reminded of some of the things I learned as a student athlete.

Why Most People Never Reach Their Goals

Why Most People Never Reach Their GoalsSetting goals can be a fun process. Many programs have you do things like turn on music that inspires you and imagine your life ten years out if you could have everything go your way. It’s a fun exercise and can get you excited and maybe even motivated. But it’s just that – the fun part.

How to Deal with Your Worries

How to Deal with Your WorriesI remember watching a video as a child about a kid who lived a miserable life because all he did was worry about things. We’ve all come across people like that and some of us are even guilty of it from time to time. As outside observers, we might see that things are often not as bad as people make them out to be. In general, unless someone is dying, there’s usually a way to recover from any tough situation and sometimes we can even come out stronger than ever.

How to Survive Unemployment

How to Survive UnemploymentGetting downsized, laid off or outsourced can be a traumatic experience. At least it was for me the two times I went through it. It hurts your ego and self-esteem, adds a tremendous amount of stress to your life and just makes you feel miserable. To many, it has the same emotional effect as losing a loved one. The first time I went through it, it lasted nine months. I know people now that have been out of work much longer than that. So I thought it would help to share of the best advice I was given.

Cast Your Net:

What I Fear About Speaking

What I Fear About SpeakingI bet you never thought in a million years that I’d admit on this blog that there are things about public speaking that scare me. Well, there are. I’ve been in the speaking business for almost ten years now and while I’ve had my share of successes, I’ve also had a lot of non-successes (I’m trying to avoid referring to them as “complete failures“). Some of them were my fault while others could be blamed on other people, but these are mistakes that I’ll never forget – and that’s a good thing. You see, these are mistakes that I desperately do not want to repeat.

A Primer for Attending Your First Toastmasters Meeting as a Guest

A Primer for Attending Your First Toastmasters Meeting as a GuestWhether it’s a goal, resolution or something in your life has made it you no longer able to procrastinate it away, you’ve decided to finally attend a Toastmasters meeting. If you keep in mind that the two biggest social fears are public speaking and meeting new people, you can probably see that going to a Toastmasters meeting for the first time is a double challenge. So here’s some of the advice that I give to those who attend my public speaking classes that are interested in Toastmasters. Much of this advice is applicable to attending any club meeting for the first time — I share most of this with those who attend my Networking classes.