Have you ever been to a conference where a nervous speaker so missed his audience that it was painful? Have you ever been that speaker?
The fear of public speaking ranks higher than the fear of heights, rattlesnakes, divorce, pulling your wisdom teeth, and death. The agony of a botched presentation is vicariously shared by everyone in the room as our sweating neophyte bungles his or her way through an awkward reading of a boring subject. It’s happened to all of us. I tried to have impressive material and a confident demeanor. I wanted to be fluent and spontaneous, like Simon Sinek. My attempts at humor cratered, but not as bad as my self-esteem when it was over. That’s when I was ready to die.
We all know we’re pretty flawed creatures. An audience has quite a bit of grace for speakers. The one thing they celebrate is authenticity. Are you genuinely being yourself? Or, are you offering up some false pretense, trying to say something cute or be someone you’re not? That same audience has a radar for duplicity, and they don’t suffer fools any more than sales pitches.
There are two shady motives for public speaking that we should admit and deal with. One is my ego need for attention, and the other is our religious tendency to view the pulpit as the best expression of ministry. Both attract the duplicity radar you’re trying to avoid.
Your best shot is to be yourself. That’s tougher than it sounds; most of us aren’t genuine because we’re honestly not in touch with our hearts. We don’t know who we are, why we’re here, and we don’t trust the desires of our hearts.
The secret sauce is getting connected with your own heart
…and being happy being yourself and being able to explain why you’re on this earth with a clarity that would inspire anyone. When you connect with the purpose God Himself wrote in your heart, that story flows like a river and sounds like an opera. You have a unique purpose for being on this earth, and when you find it and articulate it, the room will be spellbound. You’ll find out the whole event wasn’t about you at all; it was all about them and what you bring to the table to help them express their purpose.
You can resurrect that public debacle into something other people will resonate with. Learn to be yourself, connect with your design, and let it flow. We’ve helped lots of people transition the dream in their hearts into a reality that creates value for people in the context of a profitable business or vocation.
After years of coaching people on how to get in touch with the purpose God wrote in their hearts, we’ve packaged in an online course supplemented with live zoom calls and personal attention that is guaranteed to get the dream in your heart into a business plan that works financially and has a story to tell.
Hop on over to www.OnlineHeartPlan.com and see for yourself. We’re all in your audience, and we need you to be great and to be yourself. We can help!
PS: People don’t care how much you know or how polished you are. They don’t expect perfection. They care about how much you care about them and how you can help them in what they care about.
John 13:35 – By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” NIV
