How Public Speaking Can Help You Live a Better Life
We spend a lot of time talking about how public speaking can help you in the workplace, but did you know that it can also help you to live a better life at home, too?
In fact, public speaking is one of those rare skills that’s almost universal, which is why it often appears on lists of skills that everyone ought to learn. That’s also the reason why many schools prioritize public speaking.
But how exactly can public speaking help us to live a better life? In today’s article, we’re going to check out exactly that.
How Public Speaking Can Help You Live a Better Life
1. It boosts confidence
Public speaking can help us boost our confidence by showing us that we can succeed in situations where we might not feel comfortable. We have to occasionally go outside of our comfort zone if we want to keep on growing as people, and public speaking is a great way for us to keep doing that. This is especially true when we do well and we exceed our expectations because we show ourselves that we’re stronger than we give ourselves credit for.
2. It can help you get promoted
This is more of an example of how public speaking can help you in the workplace, but if you get a promotion at work, then that’s probably going to come with a pay rise. It may also bring additional flexibility in terms of your working hours and the places you work from, which are great ways to improve your quality of life. Just be careful if it also introduces additional stressors, because you’re not going to want to take on so much extra responsibility that it damages your family life.
3. It reduces stress when you have to speak
Most of us get stressed when we know that we have to speak in a public setting, which is why the fear of public speaking is the most common phobia in the world, affecting nearly three-quarters of people. Given that it’s such a stressful and terrifying thing, knowing that we’re able to do it can help take some of that pressure away and enable us to do a better job when we take to the stage. Plus, it can also remove some of the fear that comes from speaking in large meetings or in front of influential people.
4. You can better empathize with people
Public speaking can also boost your empathy, especially when it comes to watching other speakers. The next time a supplier makes a pitch to your company or you’re watching somebody struggle through a boring presentation at an event, you’ll be more kindly disposed towards them because you’ve been there yourself. But it also gets you out in the world and in front of more people, and that naturally leads to greater empathy because you’ll be exposed to different kinds of people.
5. You learn to better express yourself
Public speaking forces you to learn to do a better job of expressing yourself because it puts you into situations where you need to be able to express yourself to get your message across. This isn’t only true when we’re talking about speaking to people and expressing ourselves verbally. You’ll also get better at planning and figuring out what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it to make sure that people can clearly understand you.
6. You meet fascinating new people
Building on from what we were saying earlier because you’ll be introduced to a lot of new people, you’ll make all sorts of new friends and connections that can enrich both your professional and your private life. This includes everyone from the people on the panels with you to event organizers and the people you chat with after your session. Just be sure to stay in contact with people once the event is over.
7. You become more influential
Becoming a public speaker will help make you more influential by positioning you as an expert on whatever topic you choose to speak about. This could be something work-related such as marketing, or it could be something that you have an interest in during your free time. If you’re a big fan of Dungeons & Dragons, for example, then speaking at fan events will make you a highly sought-after dungeon master and could even lead to companies seeking you out to make custom figurines in partnership with you.
8. You can make money
Public speaking can be a great way to bring in a little extra money because you’ll often be able to charge people for your time. Even if you agree to talk at an event for free, you’re likely to get travel expenses and free swag, all of which can help to counteract your expenditure, especially if you were planning to attend those events anyway. This is another one that can be useful both in your private life and in your work life, especially if you’re self-employed.
9. You can inspire other people
It’s hard to describe the feeling that comes with knowing that you’ve inspired someone, but once you’ve experienced it once, you’ll find it hard to go back. Public speaking is one of the best ways to inspire people in volume, and you can do it all with your words. Before long, you’ll find yourself receiving emails from people to tell you just how much you’ve inspired them and how you’ve been a positive influence on their lives.
10. You get the joy of learning a new skill
Learning a new skill just for the sake of learning it is a pleasure in its own right. That’s why we have hobbies. For example, if you learn to play the guitar, that brings a pleasure of its own that’s hard to quantify and can add a lot of value to your life. The same is true for public speaking. If you spend time learning to deliver a decent talk, you’ll get a lot of pleasure just from knowing that you can do something well that you couldn’t do before.
Conclusion
Now that you know our thoughts on how public speaking can help you to live a better life, we want to hear from you. Have you noticed that public speaking has helped you out personally? And if so, how has it changed you?
As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments so that we can keep the discussion going. You can also follow us on your favorite social networking sites for more. We’ll see you soon for another article!
