Your Comfort Zone

Although public speaking is a skill that can be learnt like any other, and although not being very good at it is not actually an indication of how brilliant we may be at anything else, there is a widespread assumption that good speakers are competent in general and bad speakers are not. For this reason, if not for any other, it's definitely worthwhile learning how to speak well in public.

Expanding your comfort zone will help you and you need to attack on two fronts. One is pushing yourself in other areas, so that public speaking ceases to loom so large in your imagination. The other is to face down public speaking itself.

If public speaking scares you, don't avoid it: confront it and overcome your fear. Do it as often as possible, build your skills and experience and reduce your fears this way. Start small and increase to larger groups. You could give a talk to a church or social group, join a reading group and lead the discussion on your favourite book, be guest lecturer at an adult education class. You are not looking to be paid for any of these activities; it's about gaining experience and learning to be comfortable speaking in public.

If public speaking is your biggest fear, you may want to confront some smaller demons first. Successful people tend to live 10-15% of their lives outside their comfort zones. Expand your comfort zone by stretching yourself in other ways and you'll find public speaking shrinking into perspective as your celebrate conquering your other fears.

Here are a few suggestions for how to expand your comfort zone:

Have an adventure!

Book yourself (or ask someone to give you) an adventure day. Try your hand at bungee jumping, white-water rafting, spy games, racing driving, rolling around in a giant hamster ball or whatever will get your heart pumping and give you a huge high afterwards.

Check out Red Letter Days to find out more and for easy booking.

Travel abroad alone

Take short foreign holiday on your own, where you have only yourself to rely on. Particularly if you can speak some of the language of the country you visit, you should find that getting around by yourself is an exhilarating experience. (I've done this many times and it always makes me feel I can do anything - which, after all, is the objective.)

Check out Directline Citybreaks for advice about where to go, deals and easy booking.

Give a fancy-dress party

Let your hair down and remind yourself that it's OK to make a fool of yourself occasionally. Dress up in a costume you would never normally choose and behave outrageously. Perhaps get some karaoke going, play charades or do whatever you normally shy away from. If you find it difficult talking to people you don't know, you could ask your friends to bring some of their friends you've never met and make a point of having a chat with all of them.

Check out Jokers' Masquerade for some comfort-zone-expanding fancy-dress costumes.