Spouting nonsense: Alanna Ketler claims surveys about our fears show public speaking consistently ranks at the top of the list

On December 5th there was an article by Alanna Ketler at the Collective Evolution web site titled 9 Uncomfortable Life-Hacks That Could Pay Off Forever. Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone.

They were to:

1] Wake Up an Hour Earlier Every Day
2] Keep a Food Journal
3] Track Your Spending
4] Question Everything
5] Be Honest
6] Pick One Thing to Master at a Time
7] Accomplish an Almost Impossible Task
8] Practice Public Speaking
9] Incorporate Some Form of Meditation Daily

Under her #8, Practice Public Speaking she began by claiming:

“Surveys about our fears show that public speaking consistently ranks at the top of the list, even before death, and I have certainly had my fair share of horror stories in this realm.”

Of course, that is total nonsense, so she earns a Spoutly. Two obvious counter examples are the 2016 and 2015 Chapman Surveys of American Fears where public speaking was ranked 33rd out of 79, and 26th out of 89.

She might have gotten her silly claim from Glenn Croston’s book The Real Story of Risk, as I discussed in an April 25, 2015 blog post titled Is public speaking by far the scariest thing that people face? Even more than death? No, it is not!

Perhaps Allana should have paid more attention to her #4, Question Everything, where she had said:

“This one is important. Do not take the information that is presented to you at face value. Question everything. If you see something on the news but a little piece of you has some doubt, look into it further and do your own research. Do not just believe everything you read, even if it’s an article on Collective Evolution! Look into things further and form your own opinion.”