Here is why the advice of “just keep showing up” isn’t fixing your public speaking problem. (And what you should do instead.)

This advice is based on the idea that when someone is exposed to their fear, they realize it is not as bad as they thought.

Then the next time they speak their nervous system will not flare up as strongly as the first time because they understand the threat is not as significant as they thought.

This will lead to another positive experience which will again decrease their feelings of nervousness.

They will continue on this trajectory until public speaking is easy for them.

It's just something do.

They might even offer the sage advice of "just keep showing up and it will get easier."

Here is why this this isn't working for you: you are not having positive experiences. 

Because you are nervous, you are experiencing physical symptoms like dry mouth, a shaky voice, sweaty palms, or your face turning red. 

Your nervousness is also creating a lot of unhelpful thoughts, such as concern about what people think about you or frustration over your nervous reaction.

It will be difficult to focus, which will interfere with your performance.

You walk away feeling like you didn’t express yourself well and worried whether others noticed.

In other words, you have a bad experience.

This reinforces the story that public speaking is a “scary” thing.

You won't just fear public speaking, you will begin to fear your reaction (and all the interfering symptoms that come with it). 

Instead of decreasing your nervous response, you have increased it.

Your ramped up nervous system makes speaking even more challenging and you have another bad experience. 

This creates a cycle, which each bad experience creating more nerves which lead to more bad experiences. 

You’ll lose trust in your ability.

You’ll lose trust in your mind and body.

You’ll be stuck.

In order to overcome your fear of public speaking you need to break this cycle.

You can do this by:

• learning how calm your nervous system
• changing your beliefs and mindset 
• adopting self-talk that will help you maintain your focus

In my Deliver Your Best program this strategy has helped more than 150 overcome their fear of public speaking.

I believe that you can too.

Just remember - it's not just about "showing up."

It's about showing up with the right tools and resources so you can break the cycle.