FREE RESOURCE

Creating Your Public Speaking Mastery Pyramid

Get our free workbook to help you map out and practice situations for overcoming the fear of public speaking. In this guide, I help you identify creative ways to get practice with public speaking and you’ll rank them from least to most anxiety inducing. It’s this kind of courage and effort that will help you build your public speaking self-confidence.

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Additional Resources

Ontario Crisis Support

LGBT Youthline Ontario

CMHA (Canadian Mental Health Association)

Distress and Crisis Ontario

Gerstein Crisis Centre

Crisis Services Canada

National Indian Residential School Survivors hotline

Favourite Books

The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

In the Spotlight by Janet Esposito (don't judge a book by its cover, this is a must-have for public-speaking anxiety)

Quiet your Mind and Get to Sleep by Colleen Carney and Rachel Manber

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Own your Greatness: Overcome Impostor Syndrome, Self-Doubt & Succeed in Life by Lisa Orbé-Austin PhD & Richard Orbé-Austin PhD

P.S Check out a list of my self-confidence reading picks over on the blog (here)

Favourite Psychology/Business/Personal Growth Podcasts

The Dhru Purohit Podcast (previous host of the 'Broken Brain' podcast)

Finding Mastery by Sports Psychologist, Dr. Michael Gervais

The mindbodygreen podcast with Jason Wachob

The Otherwise Intelligent Women by Kattie Thorndyke

The Daily Stoic podcast by Ryan Holiday

Favourite Apps/Meditations

ThinkUp

I AM - Daily Affirmations

Purely Being | Guided Meditations

Insight Timer - Meditations

Libby (Toronto Public Library app)

obé fitness (my go-to fitness app)

THE BLOG

A curated hub of tips, resources, and stories focused on helping you build a fear-less career you love.

Blog

Freedom in Entrepreneurship: Protecting the Plate in Front of You

Discover how to design a sustainable business that aligns with your values. Learn how our career counselling team supports entrepreneurs with confidence and clarity.

LinkedIn-shy? Why the “imposter phenomenon” might be behind your reluctance to share

Professional networking platforms like LinkedIn can provoke feelings of negative comparison or come with pressure to create the ‘perfect’ page. This pressure may be why imposter syndrome tends to play out when it comes time to join, post, or update your page.

5 of the best LinkedIn profile tips from popular career podcasts – and why you should update yours

Could Linkedin make networking easier for introverts? Some academic research suggests that while extroverted professionals naturally do well at traditional networking, tools like linkedin can level the playing field – even if all you do is scroll. Here we’ve curated some of the best tips for polishing your professional brand.

“What’s wrong with me?!” Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety: Stop Medicalizing Your Fear

“What’s wrong with me?!” How ‘medicalizing’ public speaking anxiety fuels your fear

Using terms like public speaking anxiety to describe the experience can create a negative relationship with speaking itself. When we talk about the ‘symptoms’ associated with our fear (like shaky hands or a racing heart) we end up associating the fear with something truly dangerous.

Looking for an Effective App to Develop your Public Speaking Skills? Try Poised

When we avoid situations with public speaking, we end up feeling even more tense about the experience. Over time, our worries are reinforced by the negative cycle of fearful thinking and avoidance - which only leads to more fear. Even the most seasoned public speakers feel some level of fear, but too much of it can hold us back from saying yes to an opportunity or experience we might enjoy.

"How do I keep my voice from shaking?” Why your voice shakes when speaking in public, and what you can do about it

People with public speaking anxiety often feel like the fear is something they have to conceal. They often ask if there are and tricks to keep your voice from shaking. Fortunately, research has given us plenty of solutions and tools to stop a shaky voice - as well as the ways to understand why it happens in the first place.

Public Speaking Courses in Toronto – Why Groups Work

Why choose a public speaking group over individual sessions?

Group work is inherently social, so the group setting is a bonus for those with a fear of speaking in the workplace. Not only is group therapy more affordable, group therapy can be just as effective, if not more so, than one on one. The fear of public speaking is rooted in concerns over other people’s perceptions of us.

Speaking, stigma, and shame: Public speaking anxiety is something organizations shouldn't ignore

One of the questions I ask all new clients struggling with public speaking anxiety is, “do you feel like you need to conceal this problem?” The answer is almost always yes. People usually talk about the judgment they anticipate having to face—the kind that can result in pity, discomfort, negative evaluations and even demotions.

Ride the wave: 3 tools to help you rethink, redirect, and reframe your public speaking fear

Many people have butterflies when getting up in front of a crowd. However, people with public speaking anxiety feel these jitters on another level. A racing heart, shaking palms, sweating, dry mouth, lightheadedness, or nausea can all be byproducts of the panic and dread associated with this kind of fear.

Fear less, not fearless: Why accepting our fear of public speaking is the pathway to personal success

When we meet for the first time, most of my clients say their goal is to totally extinguish their fear of public speaking. However, this not only sets you up for black and white thinking—’either I get rid of my public speaking fear, or I don’t!’—it also makes the goal less attainable and reinforces the idea of the fear being a ‘bad’ thing.

“I’m so bad at this!” What social anxiety research can teach us about our negative self-talk

When our body is busy fending off panic and adrenaline, our thinking is less clear. It’s harder to concentrate, and we’re less likely to perform at our best. Research on social anxiety suggests that this is exactly what ends up happening: when we’re anxious, we perform poorly compared to our non-anxious peers.

What am I really afraid of? How understanding your fear of public speaking can help you overcome it

Bridging the gap between where you are now and where you’d like to be is easier when you can unpack, dissect, and be curious about why you’re feeling scared

What is public speaking self-confidence (and why it’s different than you think!)

Public speaking doesn’t always involve a crowd. Job interviews, meetings, and other ‘high stakes’ scenarios can also result in public speaking anxiety or nerves that prevent you from doing your best. When this anxiety arises, the focus often shifts to the way you appear to others instead of the work you’re doing yourself: but true self confidence is knowing you’re going to be okay, even if something goes wrong.

My Top 10 Favourite Books to Build your Self-Confidence at Work and in Life

The single most beneficial thing you can do to show up as your best self in this lifetime is to develop self-confidence. I’ve carefully curated my top 10 favourite books to help you discover the best, most confident version of you. happy reading!

How to Build Confidence in Public Speaking | Podcast Episode

How to Improve Your Confidence in Public Speaking | Podcast Episode

Bayley Levy (@itsbayleysworld) invited me to speak on her podcast to discuss the origins of public speaking, why it’s so hard, and what we can do to better manage our fears.

Considerations for Yearly Goal Setting | Article Feature

It’s not that goal-setting needs to go out the window, rather we might want to alter our approach. It requires being agile, perhaps modifying our definitions of achievement and focusing on what I call “activity goals”.

How to Design Your Life and Career | Podcast Episode

The personal compass is a soul map, personal blueprint and self-made guide to help you gain clarity on how you want to feel in your life. This kind of soul work is needed to do the goal work in our lives.

5 Steps to Simplify Your Life | Podcast Episode

One of the most powerful things we can do for ourselves in the pursuit of living an intentional life is getting clear on how we want to feel. You’ve probably noticed many people selecting words of the year right now, which I’m all for, but they don’t help us with the ‘how’ or the discovery of how we feel when we feel at our best. In this exercise, you get to review a list of over 100 feelings to create your top 5 words, deep-seated, transformative feelings so you can simplify your life.

How To Understand And Manage Your Emotions | Podcast Episode

When you’re feeling overwhelmed or the effects of performance anxiety nothing feels more soothing than having a simple and supportive emotional toolkit of mindfulness practices to choose from.

Lessons on Surrendering & Being Seen: A Year in Review

A Year in Review: Lessons on Surrendering & Being Seen

The greatest life lesson I learned this year is that while hard work will get you there, I don’t need to overdo it. Destination points are arbitrary and the ability to surrender is just as important as persistence.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: Building Confidence at Work

Understanding and Overcoming Impostor Syndrome With Dr. Tracy Dalgleish | Podcast Episode

Are your self-doubts getting in your way? In this podcast episode, I speak to Dr. Tracy Dagleish, clinical psychologist and host of the podcast, about what impostor syndrome is and how it interferes with our ability to reach our potential.

Overcoming Job Interview Anxiety | Podcast Episode

Does the thought of speaking about yourself make your heart race and palms sweat? In this podcast episode, I speak to Emilie Aries, founder of BossedUp about how to develop public-speaking self-confidence. We talk about the power of visualization and why it’s so hard, the tendency to become self-focused when we are nervous, breathing techniques, and so much more.

The Positive Effects of Gratitude on Our Mental Health and Well-Being

Enduring stress (you know...the kind that the whole global population is living right now with COVID-19) makes us want to act fast when what we actually need is to act slow - to stop, to think, and to broaden our perspective. How do you do this when you’re maxed out? Here’s an idea. Make the first and last action item of your day saying thank you.

Actionable Steps to Prepare You for Your Next Job Interview

Dozens of studies, including my own, have shown that anxious candidates fare worse in the job interview process. There are many reasons why job candidates tend to receive lower performance scores. But for now we will focus on one factor that seems to improve your rating of interview performance when you’re nervous: PREPARATION.

Rewriting Your Beliefs to Overcome Your Fears

Here’s the important thing about public-speaking anxiety and many forms of anxiety: the more we panic and resist fear, the more power it has over us.

How to Feel Less Anxiety Before Presentations: Harvard Research Study

Research is beginning to show that we might have it all wrong - that if we want to help individuals who experience speech or performance anxiety, we shouldn’t be telling them to calm down.

Strategies to Help You Conquer Your Public Speaking Anxiety

Fear is a normal part of life, but it becomes problematic when your fear turns into avoidance and begins to run your life. For those with public-speaking anxiety, we look for any excuse to avoid speaking in front of others.

My Vision for the Blog

Some people like 1:1 sessions, others prefer group workshops and then there are those who are looking for DIY strategies. Having a blog and presence on social media is one way I hope to start a conversation and resource library for people who are looking to reduce fears they have related to public-speaking.

Visit the blog