You know you need to get better at public speaking, it is the way you communicate your ideas to others, it is the way you climb that nasty corporate ladder. Yet, every article you read on public speaking is going to say the same cliché advice: Know your audience, prepare so well, blah blah blah.

These things matter, but slightly, and the evidence, is that everyone knows these things and probably everyone tries so hard to know their audience and to prepare so well, but in the end, most of us present so poorly (I can’t even count how many boring presentations I have attended, most people get triggered and end up ranting in that monotone voice that makes us fall asleep.)

How do you get better at public speaking then? Well, it all boils down to beating that internal battle. Finding that confidence inside of you that you are a good public speaker, once you do so, you will inevitably become one.

What the heck am I talking about? I am talking about perceived control! You know what is one thing common between all-star public speakers? Confidence. They all walk into the room believing they got this. They don’t doubt it. They know they got it. Even though, realistically, they got nothing. There is no gurantee that they are going to perform as well as they did before, there is no gurantee that the audience is going to like them this time as much as they did the last time. And this is exactly what perceived control is.

Perceived control (PC) can be defined as the belief that one sees he or she has control over their inside state, behaviors and the place or people or things or feelings or activities surrounding a person.

Psychologists found out that animals with higher perceived control, operate much better, they are way less stressed about the outcome, regardless of whether they actually have control or not.

“Regardless of whether they actually have control or not”, “they will operate better”, “If they have higher perceived control”.

We are mammals too. And if you walk into the room for your next presentation believing that you got, then you got it. Believing that you have control over the situation, is going to dramatically reduce your stress and anxiety. You are more likely to ace that talk and impress everyone in the room.

This was sort of the science behind what you really need in order to perform well. But talk is easier than doing. If you are already stuck in the “I suck” mentality, how do you change your attitude. After all, these all-star public speakers at least have a record of success that help them shut down their internal fears. What about individuals that only gave terrible talks in the past? I admit, it is way more challenging for a terrible public speaker to start trusting themselves.

But it is not impossible, and there are few tricks that can be done. On top of them is self affirmations. It is a thing and it works, just tell yourself that you are going to do great and see how it works wonders.

Get comfortable with the room you are going to present in (You are a mammal that operates on a terrotorial basis, you need to make sure your body percieves the room as safe) Seek positive feedback for every talk you give, this way you build your confidence capital. Have some calming and controlling rituals for the day of the talk. I personally schedule all my talks in the afternoon, and spend the mornings practicing my talks in the living room. I play mind games where I amgine an audience that i spretty excited for my talk. By the time I arrive at the conference room, my mind thinks I am giving the talk for the second time, and that the first time was a success. And it -my brain- falls into the logical fallacy: “If it worked once, it is going to work twice”. Dear brain, you are complete BS!

I am sure there is more to be done, but that’s all I got for you at the moment. Good luck, remember, you got it, you don’t even need luck!