I love to speak to audiences and rarely if ever do I lack the confidence to get up before a crowd.

But once in addressing a music industry conference, I was suddenly surprised to be struck with fear.

It wasn’t the size of the group that was estimated to be 800 – it was the speaker who preceded me.

He was one of the best I have ever heard and he had the audience in the palm of his hands.  I was so rattled, I stepped out from backstage to the auditorium to view his expert talk the way the audience was obviously enjoying it.

What I learned that day not only saved the day for me.  I made it one of the tenants that I now hold dear to confront the fear of failure.

Would you like to know what I told myself?

“Jerry, you have earned the right to be here.  Only you could talk about this topic.  The group doesn’t want to hear one good talk, they want to hear two”.

And with that I returned backstage to await my introduction, but before I said a word, I stood at the podium in silence for a few seconds looking left, right and center as if to gather my listeners in while saying to myself “you have earned the right to be speaking”.

Fear of failure is useless.

It is 100% always self-inflicted.

Fear of failure can be cured by thinking of yourself as bringing a special gift to the audience and you will never let them down.

By the way, this approach works in presentations, one-on-one meetings and even in the privacy of your own mind when unwanted negativity creeps in.

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