Actors call it stage fright. Stand up comics collect flop sweat. But to succeed in many fields you have to overcome your dread of public speaking or at least keep it under control Sir Laurence Olivier had it. So do Johnny Carson and Kim Basinger. You probably do to.
Most people s No.
1 fear, according to The Book of Lists , is not financial ruin or heights or even death. Its public speaking. Barbra Streisand had such debilitating stage Friday that she stopped performing before a paying audience in 1967 and didn t return to the stage again until 1994. For some people, just thinking about a being in front of a group can conjure up the few of these sensations. All of these physical and psychological of reactions are fairly normal they are a response to the idea that you are about to make a fool of yourself.