You want to be fearless.
You want to step out onto that stage with absolute confidence (that’s the word I meant). So what’s the one way to gain true confidence for public speaking and presentations? Well, here’s the bad news:
There isn’t one, quick, simple thing that will allow you to reach that goal.
(See Seth Godin’s post ‘The self-defeating quest for simple and easy’.)
Like mastering anything, don’t view the task as a whole, because it’ll become too large to seem achievable. Here’s the good news: you can achieve your goal by breaking it into manageable chunks. For example:
- Watch a great speaker (here’s my post about Stephen Fry).
- Break down the things they do, and work on them one at a time.
- Get help if you need it, from a great speaker if possible.
Like learning a martial art – which people usually do to gain confidence – your instructor can’t teach you a ‘confidence-boosting’ technique; instead, they’ll teach you the components of self-defence: blocks, punches, kicks, throws, running away (the art of fighting without fighting), and from these you will gain greater confidence as the overall result.
One step at a time, people.
See my posts ‘Removing Fear’, ‘Just Get On With It!’ and ‘Reveal Yourself’.
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