Make A Habit Of Communicating

Are you making the transition from being confident about a particular speech or presentation to being confident about your speaking abilities in general, to the final level, which is having an identity of being a great communicator. If you really want to make the total transformation, your own personal development, you've got to think of that arc. You might not be there yet. The starting point for most people, the starting point for people in my courses, my online courses, typically, is I'm not very good at this at all, or I'm nervous about speaking or I'm uncomfortable speaking. I've got to give a speech, I've got to give a job interview. I've got to give a PowerPoint presentation. How can I improve? How can I get to a base level of competence? So that's the first phase for everyone in any form of communication. Before a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist writes a great novel, that person had to go to first grade and learn how to write letters and capital letters and periods and commas. You have to learn the fundamental building blocks of writing before you can build confidence in your writing abilities. It's exactly the same thing with spoken communication. The first step is learning the fundamentals, the basics, and then you focus on individual speeches and presentations and talks and PowerPoints, and you work on that. And in my courses with you and my other students around the world, I teach you step by step. How can you prepare a specific speech, a specific presentation? How can you rehearse that speech? How can you get to the point where you're completely comfortable and competent, that that specific speech you have to give tonight or tomorrow or next week is going to be not just competent, but great? Of course, the number one secret I always stress is practice your speech on video until you love what you see, the style and the substance. That's the first big threshold. Sadly, the vast majority of the world never gets there. They always get to the point before they practice on video and they're just throwing things out there. They're not quite sure if it's any good or not. They sort of hope, well, maybe it'll go okay, or maybe it'll be a good vibe today. Maybe the room will be on, maybe. But they never really get to that first true stage one level of competence, preparing for that particular speech. But then you go to the next phase, and the next phase is telling yourself, okay, I've given 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 speeches. My last 10 speeches, my last 10 YouTube videos, my last 10 Facebook Live presentations have all gone well. I have a system. I'm preparing, I'm Getting more comfortable, more confident, I'm getting better results. And they're going well. They're consistently going well. That's the next step. But the final stage comes after you have been doing that for a while. And it might not be the first week, the first month, the first year, or sometimes in even the first decade. But eventually, if you practice the daily habits of good communication long enough, a transformation takes place. You no longer think about this is a good speech you're going to give, or in general, your speeches are good. You go to a higher level. And that higher level playing forging a new identity for yourself. And your identity is I'm a great communicator. I am an excellent communicator. When I have ideas I want to communicate with the world, I can do it. And it just doesn't matter if it's standing, sitting, talking to one person, talking to 20, 50 or a thousand. It doesn't matter if it's YouTube Live or an online video for Facebook, it doesn't matter. I am an effective communicator. That is my identity. That's who I am. That is my identity. But it's not an identity I was born with. It wasn't born with those habits. I was born shy, never said much at all. Quiet. I created this identity for myself because I decided I wanted to have the habit of being a good speaker. There were things I wanted to do in my life, media, politics, student activities, where I just decided it's going to be a lot easier if I can be a strong communicator. And I'm telling you I had no base level skills. I was the worst kid in my cub Scout troop trying to sell magazines and door to door peanut brittle sales to raise money. I had no natural communication abilities whatsoever. But I embraced the habit of practicing speeches, practicing presentations, getting to the point where I was comfortable doing it as frequently as possible, and then getting to the point where I wasn't worried about any one speech or series of speeches or new environment of speaking because I just had an identity. That I am a great communicator doesn't mean everybody loves me. You might not love me, but I am confident that I'm coming across the best I can and that I am very competent at it. This is where I believe you want to be. It's where I believe you can be. If you decide you want the habits of being a great speaker, a strong communicator every single time. Not just today, not just for the next 10 speeches, but your core identity, it can be yours. I'm hoping that your identity, if not already, is that of a great communicator. It will be soon. By the way, I have a special bonus for you today. Thanks so much for listening. If you look in the notes below, you'll see a link to my latest course which will help you become a great communicator. It is the complete PowerPoint and presentation skills Masterclass. There is a discount link below. A coupon will give you a massive discount. So I urge you check out that course. If you ever think you might have to do a PowerPoint, it will help you greatly.