Public Speaking 101

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to the optimal living 101 masterclass series. Today we're talking about public speaking 101. How to express yourself confidently when you're talking with more than a few people. As always, we've got 10 big ideas let's take a quick look at, then we'll jump in. All right, our first big idea. Jerry Seinfeld plus common humanity plus I'll share my story. Jerry Seinfeld tells a really funny joke about you attending a funeral. Would you rather give the eulogy or receive the eulogy? If you believe what people say, they're most afraid of you to conclude that they'd rather receive the eulogy. Public speaking is one of people's greatest fears. Welcome to humanity. We'll talk about that. And embracing that fact, it's not about you being you. Nothing's wrong with you. You are a human being. Speaking in front of people can freak you out. The second big idea, which is the idea I wish I knew years and years ago, is I'm excited. Plus bring it on plus threat versus challenge. We're gonna talk about the science behind how to channel those nerves. There's nothing wrong with being nervous. In fact, that energy is there to help you crush it. We just need to know how to take that high arousal state and make it work for us. The third big idea. Rule number zero. Rule number zero of expressing yourself confidently when you're talking with more than a few people is that it has nothing to do with you. Public speaking isn't about you. It's about helping someone or sharing an idea you're excited about so someone else can benefit. We're going to talk about what the Dalai Lama does before he gives a talk. Sipping his tea, he imagines something that we're going to talk about. The fourth big idea is rule number one. Got rule number zero, which is basically, it's not about you. Rule number one is be you. Be you amplified. Dale Carnegie, a great teacher on public speaking, says, your uniqueness is your number one asset. We just need you to be you like you're talking with a friend and then amplify it a bit like a statue on the top of a building. He says, then we want to focus on connection over perfection. If you try to be perfect, you're going to lose that connection. We want to express rather than impress. We're not trying to impress anyone. We're just trying to express ourselves authentically. That is rule number one. Be you amplified. The fifth big idea. Practice, practice, practice plus growth, mindset plus Enthusiasm. You ask my five and a half year old son how you get good at anything and he'll tell you immediately. Practice. That's how you get good. That's how you get good at speaking. You've got to do it. You've got to have a growth mindset. Know that you can get better. And ultimately all we're trying to do is to harness your enthusiasm for life, for a subject and have you express that confidently. Our sixth big idea is to systematically organize and over prepare. And then you need to schedule, you need to embrace that it's gonna suck in the beginning and then you need to ship. We're gonna unpack that. You're gonna have an idiosyncratic system, but I'm gonna share my system. I prepare for these classes in basically the exact same way every single time. We're gonna talk about the power of constraints and being over prepared and having confidence that comes from that orientation. The seventh big idea energize you. We want to amplify you. We've got to make sure you're energized. Our basic fundamentals. Eating, moving, sleeping. Act like it's the Super Bowl. You got an important talk. That's how I approach it. This is my Super Bowl. This is what I do. I prepare as if I mean it like I mean it, right. We want you to do the things you know you could be doing in preparation for a peak performance. Imagine you are a quarterback or an athlete or a rock star, whatever it is. Rockstar might not be the best example, but give yourself the best shot at doing your best. By taking care of your basic fundamentals, you amplified and energized. The eighth big idea is the best version of you, the optimist version of you. Which is what optimized literally means. You need to act like that best version of you or moment to moment to moment. While you're preparing and while you're getting ready to deliver your talk. You want to cultivate your presence. And we're going to talk about the science of cultivating your charisma. Three aspects we've talked about in different contexts. Super applicable here. We're also going to talk about something called your ideal performance state by a peak performance guy named Jim Lohr. He says you need to walk into the arena whether you're Michael Jordan performing or a rock star performing or giving a talk, like a matador with that level of confidence. He calls that your ideal performance state. The ninth big idea is whoop plus oops plus one. Again, we've got the science of making your vision a reality, right? You've got your wish, your outcome, your obstacles, your plan. We're going to revisit that in the context of giving a talk you're proud of. Then we're going to talk about oops, you whooped it. But then oops, things will inevitably go wrong. Like a good golfer, you expect to make bad shots. Not a big deal, miss, take, take a deep breath, get back into it and then plus one get a little bit better. With each time you practice, practice and practice, inevitably you get really, really good. The 10th big idea is a pre shot routine. We want to breathe, we want to smile and then we want to let it rip. We're going to talk about the training versus the trusting mindsets and ultimately all of this work is to get you amplified so that you can come through most authentically. That is a quick look, let's jump in.