TJ Walker says don't wait for perfection to speak publicly. He shares a story about a chipped tooth veneer during a European speaking tour to show that minor flaws shouldn't stop you from making videos, giving speeches, or doing interviews.
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Have you ever thought to yourself, I'm going to give the best speech ever, the best media interview ever. But first I've got to lose that last ten pounds, or I've got to get that new haircut, or I've got to get plastic surgery, or I've got to do something. Well, if you've ever felt that way, just means you're human. We're all human beings. We all have some level of ego and vanity. And it's not that I want you to go give a speech and you're splattered with mud and you didn't even bother to comb your hair. That's not what I'm talking about. But be careful about waiting for perfection, about saying, well, I'll do it later once I get things perfect. Things are never going to be perfect, especially if you're over 18 years old. For example, recently I was on an extended speaking and training business trip to several different countries in Europe, and I was really going to be away from my home base in New York for three weeks. Well, a couple of days into the trip, I broke a tooth. Now, there was no pain. It was just a veneer, but it was a jagged edge. And I looked in the mirror, I thought, wow, that looks horrible. This is embarrassing. So I had to make a decision. Am I going to continue doing daily videos here on Facebook, YouTube? Am I going to continue speaking? And I just did it. I didn't apologize, I didn't talk like this. I didn't cover it. I just did it. And I rightly concluded that for most people, they wouldn't even notice. And if they did, they probably wouldn't care. Now, if I had an entire front tooth knocked out and there's a big hole there, that's a little bit different, because then it would be so distracting. I think people would be wondering the whole time TJ had been getting into bar fights, what's going on? But for just a little bit of a chipped front tooth, it felt bad to me, it looked bad to me. But I had to make the judgment that it just didn't matter to anyone else. In fact, I asked people later who had seen the videos. No one even noticed. So try to look your best for any speech, media interview. Try to come across your very best. But if something isn't perfect, don't let that be an excuse to stay on the sidelines, get into the arena. In my experience, the people who are most successful in life are often the ones who speak the most, whether it's on YouTube, Facebook, whether it's in front of live audiences. Whether it's just a sales pitch to one other person. The more you're speaking, the more you're connecting with people, the more you're sharing your vision, your ideals. So try to look your best. Go to the dentist, but don't wait to start speaking today. I'm TJ Walker. Thanks for joining me. Please, if you haven't already done so like my page on Facebook, go to facebook.com tjwalkerinteractive if you'd like more information on our online courses or in person media and presentation training courses, go to mediatrainingworldwide. Com.
