125. Mikael Hugg: Action Matters Most to Crush the Fear of Speaking

Mikael Hugg is a public speaker, author and serial entrepreneur. Currently, he is the founder and CEO of Supersold Helsinki, a sales hacking company based in Helsinki, Finland. He just published the book “Crushing the Fear of Public Speaking.” Mikael believes that we all have unused talent that just waits us to put it into use and to take us to next level.

Why a book on the fear of public speaking?

People are not trained to control their feelings, so the natural “butterflies in the stomach” becomes a negative snowball effect. When you learn how to deal with it, these feelings empower you and help you to do your best.

Mikael once was on the stage pitching his startup. After a minute or so, the judge said “I’m going to stop you right now. I have zero idea what you’re talking about. Get out of the stage.” That was a devastating moment and a crossroad in life: either I quit speaking in public or I become better. Mikael chose to become better.

Mikael’s top piece of advice on public speaking

Some people fear being on stage, others fear before going onstage.

* Rationalize “why I’m feeling like this?” Then realize that someone believes in you, that you’re there for a reason, and believe you have something worth sharing.

* To become a charismatic speaker, you must be a rock star version of you. Maximize your persona onstage. Don’t try to be someone else as you will look fake. Figure out what are the key things on your persona that make you unique, and enhance them.

* You have to practice, to go onstage. If you want to learn to ride a bike, you can read a book, watch tutorials YouTube videos, hear advice. But if you don’t touch the pedals you will never learn. You need the field experience.

Bad piece of advice on the fear of public speaking

There is a lot of bad piece of advice, Mikael says, for example:

* “When you rehearse, record yourself with a camera.” This might be counterproductive unless you’ve been trained to appear on TV.

* But the worst is: “Imagine your audience naked.”

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