Page 95 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

62 Part 1 Foundations

situation. Research shows that people who set realistic goals for themselves are
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less anxious and more successful than their counterparts with unrealistic goals.
This fi nding has also been reported in studies of elite athletes, businesspeople,
and students enrolled in public speaking courses.
Speech-anxious students often hurt themselves by establishing goals that
are not only unrealistic but also well beyond their reach or commitment. They
tell themselves that despite their inexperience and unwillingness to make their
self-talk
speech class a priority, they must be the best in their class or get A’s exclusively.
Communicating silently
Such illogical and unrealistic goals, the research shows, harm much more than
with oneself (sometimes
help students in coping with their speech anxiety.
re ferred to as intraper-
sonal communication).
Negative Self-Talk
negative self-talk
A self-defeating pattern
Closely aligned with the problem of unrealistic personal goals is the more wide-
of intra personal com-
spread problem of self-defeating patterns of self-talk before the speech trans-
munication, including
self-criticizing, self- action. Self-talk, or communicating silently to yourself, is natural before you
pressuring, and catas- speak, while you speak, and even after you speak. However, it is neither natural
trophizing statements. nor helpful to beat up on yourself verbally in this process. Negative self-talk, a
self-defeating pattern of intrapersonal communica-
tion, is common among people who report that they
experience speech anxiety. Negative self-talk can
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result from several causes, including the following:
• Worrying about factors beyond your control,
including how other students are preparing for
their speeches
• Dwelling excessively on negative past experi-
ences with public speaking
• Spending too much time thinking about the
alternative approaches you might take in prepar-
ing your speech
• Becoming preoccupied with feelings of mental
and physical anxiety, such as the inability to con-
centrate as you try to prepare for your speech
• Thinking about the worst and usually most
unlikely consequences of your speech—people
laughing at you or ridiculing your speech
• Having thoughts about or feelings of inadequacy
as a public speaker
Such negative thinking usually leads to three spe-
cific types of negative self-talk: self-criticizing, self-

pressuring, and catastrophizing. Let’s look at each.

Self-Criticizing
Though realistic self-evaluation is important in
self-improvement, it is well documented that many
Our students report that their initial feelings
of us verbally question our self-worth or communi-
of nervousness lessen once they start speaking.
cation skills without sufficient cause. Without much