How I overcame my fear of public speaking
A huge part of being a good manager is speaking in front of an audience. Be it presenting your slide deck or negotiating a deal with the stakeholders, the art of public speaking is an indispensable asset. I struggled a lot with this skill till very recently. When I entered the college, I could not even introduce myself to the class without stuttering, running a cold sweat or blanking out. This led to me facing a lot of confidence issues. My class participation suffered because I could not articulate and deliver an answer properly despite knowing it. I overcame this fear gradually over the period of 4 years in my undergraduation. I joined the JAM club of the college, tried to put myself in positions where I was forced to speak up such as taking lead during presentations of projects, as well as working with the sponsorship team of the college cultural festival. The development, however, was not easy. More times than I care to remember, I have completely blanked out in the middle of a presentation. I have had to walk out of a debate because my brain refused to supply me with the requisite words. However, over time my mind started filtering out the faces, the booing, the catcalls and the comments and my confidence grew. I went from not being able to introduce myself properly to anchoring the curtain raiser event of my college festival as well as winning the Just a Minute competition in the college's annual insititute level gathering.