The reality is that speaking is a physical skill similar to any over physical activity. How do you get better at riding a bike? You ride it a lot. How do you get better at speaking? You speak a lot. Verbal communication is something I long struggled with and I used to look for all kinds of solutions but then, one day, I decided I was going to start talking into a microphone and record myself talking about whatever topic I wanted to talk about. In my day job I work at home and rarely talk to anyone, at the time I used to also live alone in a suburb area way on the edge of my city, basically I was pretty isolated and already a bit depressed so my daily opportunities to talk to others weren't very many.
At first, trying to talk for 10 minutes straight seemed very weird. I realized my mouth would get sore, etc, I would sometimes physically get tired of talking and make mistakes in what I said.
After doing this for about a month though I eventually started getting better at it and even posted some videos on YouTube where I narrated. I was also finding that I had less trouble expressing myself and being understood when talking with other people.
This isn't a cure all and it's not going to solve all anxieties related to public speaking but I really believe it can help most people. Many jobs nowadays don't require much talking and some people can easily get by nowadays with much less verbal communication than they probably is used to so I think this approach is something at least worth considering.
As an aside, this has also led to be developing a much greater appreciation for verbal communication, including music, listening to different accents and I have also been learning a foreign language. This isn't strictly relevant to becoming a better speaker but I feel like my approach eventually opened up a new appreciation for language and communication that was completely lacking from my life before.
At first, trying to talk for 10 minutes straight seemed very weird. I realized my mouth would get sore, etc, I would sometimes physically get tired of talking and make mistakes in what I said.
After doing this for about a month though I eventually started getting better at it and even posted some videos on YouTube where I narrated. I was also finding that I had less trouble expressing myself and being understood when talking with other people.
This isn't a cure all and it's not going to solve all anxieties related to public speaking but I really believe it can help most people. Many jobs nowadays don't require much talking and some people can easily get by nowadays with much less verbal communication than they probably is used to so I think this approach is something at least worth considering.
As an aside, this has also led to be developing a much greater appreciation for verbal communication, including music, listening to different accents and I have also been learning a foreign language. This isn't strictly relevant to becoming a better speaker but I feel like my approach eventually opened up a new appreciation for language and communication that was completely lacking from my life before.