Success in 12 Months: Communication & Public Speaking
Welcome back to my Success in 12 Months blog series, as we enter Month 9. This month, I’m going to be talking about communication and public speaking, and you might be thinking, “I don’t intend to become a public speaker. I don’t need to get up in front of people and share my ideas.”
But I know something about you. You’re doing the work in this series because you’re a high-achiever. You’re trying to build more success into your life. You’re trying to get to a higher level.
I guarantee you, it doesn’t matter what vocation you’re in, it doesn’t matter what your goals are or where you’re trying to get here, that the art of speaking and communicating your ideas–either one on one or to a group of people–will only help you on your journey to success.
This is a skill that can’t possibly hurt you, and so it’s your duty to learn how to do this at least at a proficient level.
You don’t have to be the world’s greatest orator and charge money for your speaking fees. You don’t have to get to that level.
What I’m suggesting you do–and highly recommending you do–is learn how to confidently and successfully communicate your ideas. You know this is going to get you to the next level and beyond, if you can do this successfully.
Having said that, let’s dive in. The fact of the matter is, it doesn’t matter how brilliant you are, how much experience or knowledge you’ve accumulated over the years or how good you are at your art form or your craft.
If you can’t communicate yourself effectively, your success will be limited. The idea here is I don’t care how much you know. If you can’t teach me, if you can’t explain it at a level that will help benefit me in my life, then what use is that to me?
It’s your duty to your craft–and to the things that you’ve built into your life–to be able to successfully communicate it so other people can benefit from all the effort you spent at becoming an expert or doing whatever it is you do to become proficient in your life.
The thing to remember is communication is more than just speaking the words. It really requires thought and preparation and making sure you’re delivering yourself clearly and in a straightforward fashion.
That may seem simple, or depending on your personality, maybe that seems a little bit nerve-racking to you. Either way, this doesn’t necessarily happen overnight.
Yes, you can probably carry out a conversation right now one-on-one or casually with somebody at a coffee shop, but what I’ve found–and I’m sure you’ll agree–is that when you get up in front of a group of people or when you’re presenting yourself in a way where you’re trying to persuade or communicate a new idea, if we’re not used that kind of environment, our minds can tend to play a little bit of a trick of us.
Our minds might escape or shut us down and we forget exactly what we wanted to say in the moment, and that’s where you need to recognize that successful communication in a public speaking format doesn’t necessarily just happen by chance or naturally.
Even the people that you watch and admire how good they are at speaking in front of group of people probably had to spend a lot of time practicing that. There’s very few people that just get up and wing it and nail it the first time.
That might seem counter-intuitive, you might not believe it, but it’s true. Do a little bit of research on people who speak in front of audiences. Almost 100 percent of the time they have really, really practiced that craft to get good at it.
They were not natural at it, nor are you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get to where they got to. Set the baseline and you’ll understand that a little bit better.
But you want to make sure you’re clear and straightforward with your delivery.
Public speaking is often a huge fear of people. In a previous month, we talked about the importance of facing our fears and operating in the face of fear or even just doing things scared if we had to.
If you really want to master yourself and take yourself to the next level and become the kind of person who really achieves maximum potential in their lifetime, then public speaking is absolutely something you want to conquer and become at least proficient at.
Again, I’m not necessarily suggesting you become a paid speaker, but you want to be good at this.
Why Communication and Public Speaking Are So Important
Verbal communication and public speaking are often stumbling blocks for people. Whether you are an employee, a sales person or the business owner, there are times you have to verbally communicate your message. You have to talk to people.
Are you unemployed looking for a new job? Of course you’ll have to interview for a position. Can you effectively share what you have to offer and why you are a good “buy?”
The same goes for sales, support and service professions. Often your first chance to build trust is during an introduction. How do you do that?
Lastly, a business owner is always at the forefront of explaining what their business is about and why it’s better than all the others like it.
The Weekly Growth Lesson: Your Speech Brief
For this week’s growth lesson, you’re going to outline a brief 5-minute “speech” about something that is important to you. It doesn’t matter if the topic is about your business.
Remember, the overall flow of a good speech is usually:
1. Tell them what you are going to say.
2. Then tell them.
3. Tell them what you have just said.
Sounds simple right? The outline template below will go into further detail. Fill it out to complete your speech outline:
- Topic
- Intro: The Intro establishes the topic (from above) and it introduces the supporting points below.
- Supporting Point One
- Supporting Point Two
- Supporting Point Three
- Conclusion: Recap main points and add a call to action.
You now have a basic speech outline!
Whether you are speaking to a small group or a large one, you want to understand who your audience is and what they care about, and you want to deliver it to them.
You also want to be comfortable with the topic in order to plan the best way to deliver it so the audience gets your message.
We’ll take this further next week.
As I always say, share your thoughts and your progress, leave a comment below or e-mail me and let me know what’s been happening for you. I’m investing in you and want to support you in your success!
Your partner in mastering the art of communication,
James