My Fear of Public Speaking & How I Over Came It.

I recently started reading the book The Law of Success by Napoleon Hill out loud.

As I read the book, I record through Snapchat the chapter and page that I’m reading and share it to my friends and followers on Snapchat.

I’m not showing my face while I record this, so it alleviates some of the anxiety of speaking out loud while having people look at you. 

I read out loud 6 days a week from Monday through Saturday at 9 am give or take.

My intention was to develop the habit of reading more often and to develop a daily discipline. I have a difficult time focusing on one single task at a time and constantly feel distracted, so I figured reading daily would help me focus. And it did.

For about 5 -10 minutes each morning I read out loud to learn, teach, and do the lessons within the book The Law of Success.

I wanted to have something I could look forward to each morning and that was super easy to do. It’s was consistent without any interruptions or distractions.

I thought to myself if I can stick with reading out loud for 30 days, for sure something good would come from it. I would help myself and perhaps help others on Snapchat that follow me while building my personal brand as well.

Another reason for reading out loud was to get outside of my comfort zone every day, as I tend to not like the way my voice sounds. 

In writing this article I want to persuade you, on the idea of Reading Out Loud Can Help You Speed Up Your Public Speaking Skills and Self Confidence.

The fear of reading out loud

Reading out loud takes us back to our 3rd, 4th and 5th-grade classrooms where judgment by our teacher and peers caused anxiety, as well as being made fun of by other students who were more advanced in reading.

Learning how to read was filled with anxiety and nervousness for some kids. I see this being no different than public speaking in front of 10-20 or 100 people.

So.. a good way to getting over this for me was reading out loud every day for 30 days. I called this the reading out a loud challenge. 

How do you build Self Confidence?

For me, it’s learning something new every day that’s challenging enough to push me out of my comfort zone and that is small and easy enough for me to practice every day.

An example is doing 30 push-ups every day or reading out loud to a group of 40 people online. This is how I’ve built my self-esteem and confidence in speaking. The fear of public speaking is one of the reasons I’ve joined the Downey Toastmasters.

In my case, I want the ability to speak well and confidently in front of a large group of people and be persuasive, enthusiastic, charismatic and captivating enough to get my ideas across in a powerful way.

And in order to do this, my fear of public speaking must be eliminated with practice.

However, I realized that my starting point is nothing like the persuasive speaker I would like to become in the future, so… I started to read out loud by myself in my garage every day.

Weird hu? Well… let me share with you what happens when you read out loud to a group of strangers.

 

What I found Out.

Here is what happened when I started reading out loud to 40+ people online through Snapchat 6 days a week.

I cringed at the sound of my voice at the beginning, however, I pressed on and continued to read because the information in the book was valuable to me in becoming the person I wish to become.

And those who want to succeed in any endeavor find a way to improve on their skills and are willing to fail in return for possibly gaining something bigger than what they started with.

Since Snapchat records 10-second video clips it is important to read “rehearse” a sentence or paragraph several times before publishing the video to all my contacts.

This simple task of rehearsing or repeating what I’m reading several times out loud seems to loosen up my mouth, voice and speaking flow.

Having the ability to replay what you’ve just read in video and hearing your own voice, you will start to adjust and modulate for better annunciation, speed, pronunciation voice projection and overall sound to present the idea or thought the author had in mind in the right cadence. This right here is the secret sauce.

Reading out loud also gave me a better understanding of how to control my voice, meaning having a voice that sounds authoritative instead of one that sounds like one of a pushover or Beta Male.

I believe my submissive voice pattern was learned subconsciously by being around other submissive speaking people and now that I am aware of how that submissive voice sounds I can adjust it to come out with authority.

By editing the videos I get to keep the ones that read and sound clear with energy and enthusiasm and get rid of the ones that sound weak and doubtful.

This helps me focus on my voice, keeping in mind of what sounds best for me.

The editing is one of the Hacks I use to FOCUS my energies on hearing only the ones I like and adjusting accordingly to create a better sound and pronunciation in my voice.

Hearing my voice repeatedly at its best gave me the confidence to continue improving and became accustomed to my voice without cringing.

Because you are practicing something that is out of your comfort zone for a period of time you will notice your reading skills get better right away. This is a bonus.

More importantly, you begin to gain an understanding of how to use and adjust your voice to convey any idea with a smoother delivery. After the first week of reading out loud, I noticed my words began to flow more easily and fluidly.

Now when I hear my voice instead of saying eww, I say how can I make it sound more convincing to emphasize a certain point that will help me get my point across effectively and convincingly to whomever I’m speaking to.

 

The Takeaways 

Personal positive change starts with small steps.

In my case, it started by reading a book out loud for 10 minutes every day.

By creating a positive daily habit that was small enough to commit to and continue for an extended period of time my reading ability and persuasiveness has improved.

My friends from toastmasters have seen and told me personally that I have improved quite a bit from where I began.

The benefits of stepping out of your comfort zone even if it’s one small step can grow into miles apart from where you originally started with time. I not only get the satisfaction of learning something new every day by reading, but the people who pay attention to what the book is saying do as well.

Because the content of the book speaks on the subject of success and wealth creation it appeals to a certain group of people in my network that share similar values and beliefs around success and self-education.

So… if you want to begin speaking publicly but do not have the courage to do so just yet, pick out a book that is related to public speaking or personal development and read it out loud to yourself.

You will notice a difference in your voice, reading, and confidence within a week.