On the road to brave
I have always dreaded public speaking. Small group, big group school or work.
In high school, I considered poison to avoid a debate. Literally, I asked my mom for a 24-hour poison (which she declined).
Twenty years later as an Senior VP, I begged colleagues to give my talks. Yes, it was embarrassing, but the alternative seemed even worse. After one of these talks, my replacement shook his head and said “You need to do these yourself.”
And, of course he was right.
The irony here is that my job was coaching executives on their presentations to prospective clients. I coached people to be brilliant in the front of the room but I myself was a hot mess of nerves.
So, I decided to get better. I worked hard, I read a lot and practiced a lot. I focused less on skills and more on courage. Because I wanted to build a method that could help someone as challenged as me to feel confident.
What I now have is a framework that helps me and my clients - many of whom had never stood in front of an audience or felt confident speaking on Zoom – find their courage and their voice.
And I discovered something. The real work is not in calming anxiety and learning speaking skills – it’s in trusting yourself and what you have to say. It’s in acknowledging your fear of judgement and doing things badly - and doing them anyway. That takes bravery. And being brave feels amazing when you have support, encouragement and love around you.
And even better than that? Believing in yourself and your voice.
