Speaker 1: Glossophobia is basically the fear of public speaking. And that's what I want to talk to you about. Because you know, did you know that the National Institutes of Mental Health, the statistics say that 73% of the population has a fear of public speaking. There's anxiety around public speaking. That's actually almost three out of four people. You know, if you have four people in a room, three of them have a fear of public speaking and they have a lot of anxiety when they are speaking in public in front of an audience, right? So that is you. Today, I want to talk about glossophobia and how you can stop feeling anxiety when you are public speaking. So I'm going to be giving you three principles that you can apply immediately to overcome that anxiety and the fear of public speaking so that you can get your message out there so you can say what you want to say authentically and effectively. Fun fact, before we begin, glossophobia, why is glossophobia, why is it called that? The fear of public speaking, why is it called glossophobia? Well, phobia, as you know, refers to fear, but the word glosso is the root word, the etymology of the root glosso. Glosso means tongue and it means language. So in medicine, we have a lot of terms that relate to tongue and language. Like for example, glossopharyngeal nerve, which is a nerve in the brain that controls our tongue when we speak. So every time you hear the word glosso, it actually refers to your tongue and language. So that's a fun fact before we begin. Okay, so now let's begin. So I want to give you three principles on overcoming the anxiety of public speaking. The first principle is this. It's that anxiety is the symptom of doubt. Anxiety is a symptom of doubt. See, when you're doubting, when you doubt, you are basically focusing on the things that you don't want to happen. You're focusing on things that you expect that are going to happen, but you don't want them to happen. You see doubt is really believing in outcomes that you don't desire, right? And so when you believe in outcomes you don't desire, it produces a feeling of anxiety because now you know what you don't want and you're expecting it to happen. So naturally, right? Inevitably that will produce anxiety and anxiety is this feeling of physical exertion. When you're anxious, your heart rate goes up, you know, your palms are sweaty, you perspire, you tense up. And those are symptoms, those are things that you experience in physical exertion. It's like you ran a mile, right? It's physically the same thing. It's perception of something that will happen. It hasn't even happened yet. So you feel anxiety over it, but it is experienced inside your body, right? And so that's why anxiety is a symptom of doubt. When you doubt, you're expecting and you're already believing it's going to happen and it hasn't even happened yet. So when you're anxious, you have this physical symptom that you experience in your body and it robs you of the energy that you need to have, the energy you need to have to do the thing to prevent that thing from happening in the first place, right? And so when you understand that doubt is causing that emotion of anxiety, all you have to do is reverse that. Instead of expecting the things that you don't desire, what about expecting and believing the outcomes you do desire, right? And so the opposite of doubt is faith. Faith is the opposite. When you choose to believe and focus on what you actually want to happen and you own that instead, that is how the first principle of overcoming anxiety. When I went to college after high school, so this was during my bachelor's degree, I didn't have any experience in public speaking. In fact, I was more of a shy person. And so the first time that I had to speak in public was for a club that I joined. You know, when I was in college, there were all these academic clubs and for me, I was interested in chemistry and biochemistry because that was my major and I was a part of these clubs and I wanted to be involved and more active in that club. I wanted to demonstrate leadership. And so I had to campaign to be voted in to be a secretary or to be voted in to be an executive member. And one of the things that I had to do when I campaigned was to get in front of a classroom and sometimes these classroom had like four or 500 students and I had to say, Hey, my name is Grace, vote for me. And just the thought of standing in front of a classroom of 400 of my peers was so frightening to me because I had a lot of doubt and doubt in that time was, well, believing in the outcomes I don't desire. And so what I focused on was, well, what if my students see me and they judge me or they think that I'm not qualified or they judge me or they don't like what I'm wearing or they don't like how I talk and therefore they're not going to vote for me and that would just be an embarrassment. So when I focus on those things, I felt anxiety. And so what happened was I postponed my campaign, right? I missed my opportunity to speak in front of the classroom. I missed my opportunity to ask for people to vote for me and therefore I had less time to campaign for my, I had less time compared to other people who took action right away. Right? And so when you are about to go public speaking and you have a lot of doubt, those same thoughts could be coming in your mind around, what are they going to think of me? What if they hear what I have to say and they judge me? What if they don't listen to me? What if they feel that I don't speak well? Right? And so all those what ifs haven't happened yet, but you believe in those outcomes and so you feel anxiety. And so the opposite of that is faith, right? And faith is believing in outcomes you do desire. So say for example, I have been making videos on my YouTube channel for quite some time now and as you're listening to this, it might sound like, well, it's so easy for you Grace because the words just flow out of your mouth. But you know, I started somewhere too. And so when I, before I even, before my YouTube channel even existed, I didn't have a YouTube channel, right? I was speaking from stages, yes. But you see speaking on a YouTube channel is very different from speaking on a stage. It's also very different from speaking in front of a classroom in front of my peers. And so I had faith that I have something important to say. I have a lot of experience and advice in career and in business that if I put those videos on YouTube, people would find value out of it. You know, my followers like you would listen and resonate with what I have to say. And that is faith, right? You are here listening right now because I had faith in the outcome I desired. You are here right now and listening to me and thinking, well, that makes sense only because I had faith before I started this YouTube channel. And so I want to submit to you that if you want to overcome anxiety, anxiety is a symptom of doubt. Choose faith, choose what you believe and choose a belief that will serve you better. Principle number two, procrastination is a symptom of anxiety. So remember principle number one is that anxiety is the symptom of doubt. Principle number two is procrastination is the symptom of anxiety. You see when you are anxious, right? You are spending so much energy worrying about the outcomes that you don't desire and you believe that they are going to happen, right? You do that so much that it robs you of the energy that you need to have in order to do the thing to prevent that thing from happening in the first place. And so what happens is that because you are robbed of your energy, you procrastinate because you don't have the energy to do it right now. So you procrastinate and then it happens again. Each time you're about to go on stage, you have that anxiety and anxiety, the symptom is procrastination. When you are procrastinating on something you know you need to do to have the success you want, chances are it's because you feel anxious somewhere. Chances are it's because you have chosen a belief of doubt in the outcomes you don't desire and it is robbing you of the energy that you need to have to gain momentum, to start momentum and to maintain and to stay in momentum, right? And so when you are procrastinating, you're putting it off to a future time. But when that future time comes, if you haven't addressed the root cause, which is doubt, you will experience anxiety again, right? And so a lot of people, most people make the mistake of, you just got to press on, you got to press on. But the thing is, if you don't expect the outcome that you do desire, if you don't believe in that outcome, then you're not going to be able to create the results first in order for you to have that drive to gain momentum in the first place and to maintain it when the going gets tough and the going will get tough. And so procrastination as a symptom of anxiety, when you realize that, you recognize that it would make sense, rather to build up energy to do the thing you need to do rather than to use your energy on worrying about the things that haven't happened yet, but you assume that they will happen, right? And so the way to go around that is to really think. So for example, I give you the example of when I was supposed to speak from stage and I kept worrying about what people think of me, how they will judge me, the way that I look, the way that I dress, what if they don't like the way that I talk, right? Is to understand that I don't have control over those things anyway. And so the only thing that I have control over is how well I deliver on my content, how well I connect with my audience, how well do I know my stuff so that I can go up there and present from a place of authority, authenticity, and connection and trust. So that's what you have control over. And so focus on that. Believe in that, believe in your skills. And if you don't, then why not? What do you have to learn so that you can believe in your skills and have faith that the outcome that you desire is the outcome that's going to happen? If what I'm saying makes sense, I want you to comment below and answer my question. What did, what resonated with you more? Anxiety as a symptom of doubt or procrastination as a symptom of anxiety? Which one of those principles resonated with you more? Comment below. And if I am talking to you and it's resonating with you and it's making sense, I also invite you to subscribe to my channel. Just ring that bell below so that you can receive notifications every time I upload a new video. Principle number three, self-focus is a symptom of procrastination. Okay? So remember principle number one is that anxiety is a symptom of doubt. Principle number two is that procrastination is a symptom of anxiety. So now principle number three is that self-focus is a symptom of procrastination. Self-focus means that you are making it about you. You see, when you're anxious, when you're about to go on stage or speak in front of public or an audience, you're anxious, worrying about what people will think, if people will judge you, what people will do, what people won't do, et cetera. And so you are making it about you. When you make it about them, all of a sudden the focus changes. It is about them. And when you speak from stage, it is about them because you are there. The only reason why you're speaking from stage is because you have a message that you want to get out there. And in order to have a message that lands on people, you are impacting someone, you are influencing your audience. So it really is about them. It's not about you worrying about how you look, how you sound, what you're saying. It is more about your concern and genuine concern over how will what I say impact the lives of my audience. So when you make it about them, you're actually no longer anxious. When you make it about them, you are truly understanding the purpose of the words that you're speaking because your words are a gift. The words you have in your heart that land on your tongue that you project out there are a gift to the people you have to hear. They are in that room listening to you because they know you have something important to say. So you are giving your gift to them. Make it about them. And when you make it about them, you no longer are worried about how you think or what you look or what they'll do. You are only concerned about, can I deliver? Do I have the knowledge? Can I deliver my message in a clear and succinct way? Am I the person to impact them the way I want to impact them? And so when you make it about them, you're also getting outside of your comfort zone because when you make it about them, it is about something bigger than you. And that's what builds and that's what gains momentum is when something is bigger than you, you have your purpose. It is your why. It is not about being in the comfort zone of it's about me. It is now you're acting and you're standing up in your purpose of it's not about me. It's about them and it's a bigger and it's bigger than me. It's outside of me. And so self-focus, that's why self-focus is a symptom of procrastination. We procrastinate because we don't have the energy to do the thing we do because we're anxious, worrying about what other people think. So make it about them. And when you make it about them, you will see and you will step up in your purpose and your words will come out clearly because now you have a purpose for speaking and the purpose is not for you. The purpose is for the impact you can have to change their lives and transform the people that are about to hear your message. So maybe you are listening to this and you had an experience where you got on stage, you knew your stuff, you got on stage and all of a sudden it felt like you didn't know what to say. Or maybe you feel like you go on, you are speaking in front of an audience and you feel like you're not confident in delivering your message, right? Whatever it is, I want to help you. And so what I have done is that I have put together a free download and it is somewhere, if you click below somewhere below this video, there is going to be a link where you can download the insider secrets that I used to speak in front of an audience confidently without stage fright so that I can deliver my message and that my audience will receive it. So just download, click that link below, download that free guide for you. It's my gift to you and in that guide you will learn, it'll show you step by step a process that you can follow where you can go in front of an audience, speak with confidence, say what you have to say, say it well and your audience will receive what you have to say.