TJ WALKER - THE HABIT INFLUENCER - Personal Development | LIVE STREAM

18 Jun 2008 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:37

TJ Walker delivers a short coaching monologue (from a live YouTube stream) urging speakers to stop chasing perfection and instead focus on their strengths. He uses Bill O'Reilly as an example—pointing out O'Reilly's frequent "uhs"/"ums" yet high success—to show that strengths can outweigh minor flaws; the practical takeaway is to concentrate on what you do well so audiences forgive occasional blunders.

Chapters

Oh, no. What if my speech isn't perfect? One of the things that gets so many speakers in trouble is this fear, this panic of they're not going to be perfect. Guess what? Nobody's perfect. Take, for example, Bill O'Reilly. Now, we're not going to get into political debates here, but here's a guy, very successful talk show host, radio, tv. I was listening to his talk radio show the other day, and I counted a dozen uhs and ums in the first minute of his talk show. A dozen. Now, I'm not suggesting you run around and try to say ah num every two seconds, but here's a guy who, according to my calculations, makes about $20 million a year speaking on radio, on TV, to live audiences. He's wildly successful and lots of odds and ums. So my point again, it's not that you should run around trying to make mistakes, but cut yourself a little slack if you're good at one thing. Apparently, some people like Bill O'Reilly's position on issues. They like his style. So those strengths overwhelm any flaws he might have. And that's what you should focus on. What are your strengths? What do people like about you and your message? If you can do one or two things well, people will forgive any blunders you make here or there. So focus on that. Focus on what you do well. The blunders, they'll either take care of themselves or no one will notice it. They won't care. So focus on your strengths, not trying to be perfect.