What’s the greatest advice I can give you to improve your speaking and presentations?
Keep going.
This applies to situations such as:
- the split second during a presentation when things go wrong
- the moment when you’re rehearsing for the third time
- when you start writing a great idea and think ‘I’ve got plenty of time, I’ll just do it later’
There are parallels with physical fitness (and I’m your personal trainer, people). Here’s how:
- Every performance helps with the next – even if this one isn’t going well, you’ll build on it to succeed next time.
- You’ll only improve with repeated application – one day of supreme effort and achievement will be worthless if you don’t continue the momentum. Failing to follow up on your speaking success is like having an unused piece of exercise equipment in your living room: a noble intention you were too lazy to pursue.
- It gets easier each time.
- Once at a good level, maintaining your skill requires little effort.
The literal meaning of the Chinese word ‘kung fu’ can be translated as ‘supreme skill through hard work’. Communication skill – like martial arts skill – is not a mystical attribute attained by only a chosen few, but the result of applying yourself (and failing) repeatedly.
Giving up is easy – it doesn’t require any courage or intelligence. However, applying yourself over and over again, enduring the failures on the way, and keeping at it is the only way to attain the instinctive level of communication that you truly want.
Related Posts
The Kung Fu of Presentation, Part One: The Philosophy
The Kung Fu of Presentation, Part Two: Learning