You can boost your Confidence significantly by developing and mastering your public speaking skills. Indeed, there is a relationship between Confidence in public speaking and self-confidence in other aspects of life.
It is almost counterintuitive to talk about boosting self-confidence by speaking in public. This is because some people hold the opinion that a person has to have confidence to be able to speak in public. This is not always the case.
Firstly, you don’t have to feel confident to build your public speaking skills.
Secondly, when you build your public speaking skills, you will feel more confident as a result.
This makes public speaking a very effective confidence booster.
It is almost safe to say that public speaking is the best and most practical way of building your confidence.
At Home of Influence, we engage in conversations with people all the time, and they often express their feelings with words like…
“I will love to develop my self-confidence through public speaking, but I just don’t feel confident enough to face the crowd.”
In this post, I will show you 5 ways in which public speaking helps develop your overall self-confidence.
5 Ways Public Speaking Boosts Confidence
1. Mastering a new skill
The ability to speak effectively in public speaking is a skill. When speaking in public is not your forte, and you set out to develop your public speaking skills, it is the same as mastering a new skill.
Learning a new skill is great for confidence building. This is because learning a new skill or making progress on a creative project can improve how you feel about yourself, which inadvertently boosts your self-confidence.
By developing a new skill as in public speaking, you are stepping out of your comfort zone. The process of stepping out of your comfort zone boosts your confidence, not just in public speaking but also in other areas of your life.
According to an article in the New York times, “Confidence is ultimately about being comfortable in a wide variety of situations that would make most people feel uncomfortable. So if you stretch your comfort zone every day, very quickly, you’ll have a large comfort zone and be able to feel more comfortable even when outside of it.”
2. By overcoming “smaller fears”
According to the Chapman University Survey on American Fears, public speaking is regarded as the number one fear in America, with 25.3 percent of Americans say they fear speaking in front of a crowd.
By overcoming your fear of public speaking, it becomes much easier to overcome other fears that you might have.
I call this a “smaller fears.” Rightfully so, simply because of the position that public speaking fear occupies on the “fear scale.”
3. By discovering your true self
Public speaking helps you to connect with who you truly are.
In a one-on-one conversation, we have the luxury of adapting our style to match the style of our conversation partner.
But when speaking in public, we don’t get that opportunity.
This forces us to connect with who we really are, and what we truly believe in.
By mastering public speaking, you become more self-confident as you are more in touch with your inner self.
As stated in master class, “Being true to yourself means thinking and acting in ways that align with your values and feelings—rather than the values of others. If you’re living true to yourself, you feel confident in your identity.”
4. Confidence in one-on-one situations
When you develop the ability to speak to a large crowd, in most cases, you become more confident interacting with individuals.
The conversational confidence you develop from mastering public speaking can help your interaction with a boss, a stranger (check out the article on how to be comfortable around strangers), or even a date.
When you are confident with speaking to a large crowd, you become more confident when talking to individuals.
This point is corroborated by big impact hq. According to the article, becoming better at public speaking strengthens the belief you have in yourself, forcing your harsh inner critic, fears, and anxiety to take a back seat.
This helps you understand that what you’re saying is valuable to people who want to listen, which helps boost your confidence in one-on-one conversations.
5. Positive feedbacks
When delivering a speech, or when you are done giving a presentation, the positive feedback you receive helps in building your self-confidence.
Many speakers assume that all feedbacks, whether verbal or non-verbal, is always going to be negative and judgmental.
Well, this assumption isn’t valid.
Whenever you give a good presentation, you’ll most likely, receive positive feedback.
Positive feedback reinforces your self-confidence, not only as a public speaker but in other aspects of your life.
Conclusion
Public speaking is one of the most powerful and effective ways to developing your self-confidence.
You don’t have to wait to feel confident before developing your public speaking skills.
Toastmasters, an organization that helps with public speaking and leadership skills, is a great place to kickstart your journey in developing your public speaking skills.
Take the first step by speaking in public, and your self-confidence will grow not only on the stage but in every aspect of your life.
What is your opinion?
What other ways do you think public speaking serves as a confidence booster for anyone seeking to build their self-confidence?
Comment below. I would like to hear from you.
This article was contributed by Godwin Amanyi.
