T.J. Walker explains why people freeze on stage and how to fix it. He describes a trainee who collapsed from stage fright, then shows how gradual private rehearsal, like talking to one person and recording without publishing, rebuilds confidence. Barbara Corcoran froze at first too, but became a skilled speaker with practice.
Chapters
Welcome to the T.J. walker Success Channel. This is the place where I help you become more successful by learning how to boost your communication skills, your competency and your confidence. I'll never forget the worst case of speaking anxiety I ever saw. I was conducting presentation skills training. It was at an oil refinery in New Jersey of all places. Handful of executives were there just trying to get more comfortable with delivering presentations to colleagues, their boss, directors meeting. They were not going to be up on stage in front of 10,000 people. And it was time for Mary to stand up and speak. The first three had already finished. Mary stands up. I turned the camera on to record it and all of a sudden she's on the floor, she's on the ground, she is in the fetal position position and she is crying. What's going on? What's happening? I turned the camera off gently and I've changed the names to protect privacy. We got her up, started talking and she just, I, I have a deathly fear of speaking. Well, I can tell you it did make an impression. I don't remember what anyone else said that day. I do remember her falling down, going into the fetal position and being that nervous. Now Mary maybe had a stronger case of stage fright than most people, but it's inside all of us. All of us at some level have a fear or a discomfort about speaking in front of people. And it is because evolutionary biologists believe we are programmed to fear being seen by others because there's more exposure. If you believe in paying success forward, then hit the share button. Now let's spread more confidence around the world. Now way out on the savannah, hundreds of thousands of years ago, if you're standing up and clearly visible by people and animals, you are more likely to be prey for a saber toothed tiger or some other animal. If they can see you, you're exposed, it's dangerous. So if you are aware of being seen by others, it makes complete sense that you're feeling nervous and scared. And for most of human history, if you encountered another human being who was not in your tribe, it was completely irrational to hide, fall down, make yourself hidden. Because if someone was from another tribe, they might kill you for fear that if they don't, you will kill them first. So again, it makes sense, it's logical to be afraid. So if you feeling like this, you're not unusual, it's not weird, you're not strange, but it is something to overcome. Thankfully we did get this woman up. We said let's just, let's sit down and talk. Your thoughts matter. Please leave a comment below in the comment section. Or a question or a criticism or a complaint or praise. Imagine you're talking to this one person about what you've done in your division in the last week. Well, that all of a sudden was easy to her. Then we brought another person in. We did it. I said, okay, we're just going to record this. No one's ever going to see it. We're not putting it on YouTube. We did that. So we built her comfort level up little by little, to the point where she was as good as anyone else. Anyone can learn to be a good public speaker, even a great public speaker. Now, you might not want to, but you can. So she's not alone. There's some famous, famous speakers who are like that. Don't miss a beat on your journey to success. Tap the bell to receive notifications so you get constant updates for your own journey. Barbara Corcoran makes a living talking to millions of people on shark tank television shows keynote speeches. But her first speech ever, she stood up in front of real estate executives, went to speak. Nothing came out. Absolutely nothing. She froze. She panicked. She had to run out of the room. Not an auspicious start to a speaking career. And guess what? Today she's wildly famous and speaks to millions of people around the globe every single month. So it's not uncommon to have horrible reactions when someone says, stand up and speak, to be paralyzed by fear. But you can get over it. You can improve. You can build your comfort level, and you can get to the point where you can be really successful in your career and speak exactly the way you want to and anytime, anywhere. Can I ask you a personal favor? I'm trying to help more people just like you all around the globe improve their personal communication skills. And to be more successful, if you hit the subscribe button, not only will I be able to help you, but that'll send a message to others around the world that this is a place for them. So please, as a small favor, hit subscribe.
