Does a public speaking class help to overcome your shyness?

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. - Albert Einstein

Einstein is attributed with the above quote. While it is correct in some regard, lets break it down and look at it from a public speaking angle.

What happens when you public speak over and over again?

You certainly don’t go insane, at least I’ve never heard that happen to someone, but what happens to your shyness, does it go away?

As we do something over and over again, we get used to do doing it that way, we get used to what we are going to say, we become comfortable with our words, whether spoken or body language. We become more confident at what we do.

So our shyness may be there but we have covered it with our knowledge, our skill set & our repeated attempts at public speaking over and over and over again.

This process is known as extinction. The fear may be there but its hiding underneath, buried under your own skill set and experiences.

An actor said to me the other day:

“i've been a professional actor over 30 years, and have done plenty of cold reading. Auditions are the only time I might get nervous”

Why would he be nervous at auditions and not cold readings? He’s probably done both right a lot of times in a 30 year career?

With cold readings, similar to public speaking there is something to hide behind - a script, a speech.

What happens if you don't have a script. What if you have to give a speech on the fly and there is nothing to hide behind, what then?

In the case of the actor above, nervousness,

Give this some thought? What would it be like for you if anytime you spoke you didn’t feel shy? Whether its speaking to a friend, potential girlfriend/boyfriend, future employer

What would that be like?

Until next time,