I was a grown man still effected by childhood events and as an ex-stutterer I was fed up with it!
You see, as a child I went through some pretty rough times, but who has not, right? Well the circumstance I had to deal with was severe stuttering. If you currently stutter, used to stutter or simply have a friend that went through the experience, you know how embarrassing it can be for a person with that type of impediment; especially when a young group of people are not educated on the topic and blatantly laugh.
These type of childhood events, even if you were able to overcome it and do not stutter as an adult, can effect how you interact with people on a personal level as well as a business level. Can you imagine the self esteem issues that can occur when you are forced to do an oral presentation in front of the class and you can not even get the first word out without struggling until you are red in the face? I was actually happy to be penalized an entire grade level and give my presentation to the teacher after school just to spare myself the embarrassment of standing in front of my classmates.
As I continued to grow as an online entrepreneur I began to realize, even though I do not stutter anymore, those past events were still effecting how I dealt with people face to face. I said, "Enough is enough! 2008 will be the year I attack my darkest fear; public speaking!"
I gathered all of the courage I could muster, created a video and submitted it to John Di Lemme's Next Speaker Millionaire competition. As I was about to hit the "Submit" button to upload the video I froze...
All of the childhood memories flooded my brain and I became terrified once again. I had not felt that way since I was 19 years old! I literally sat there in front of my desk for a good five minutes with my finger hovering above the enter button on my keyboard. Then I stood up and paced back and forth staring at the computer screen for a good ten more minutes...
I finally snapped out of it and in a firm voice announced, "Enough Is Enough!'" and slammed down the enter key! Next thing I know my wife pokes her head around the corner and asked who was I talking to. I went to bed and had horrible nightmares about my childhood memories and woke in the morning wishing I had not submitted the video, but was able to show enough self control to not delete it.
Now it has been nearly two months and I have enough votes to qualify for the competition and have some really nice compliments left in the comment section of my video! I have also learned that if I am not pushing my comfort zone then I am not growing as an individual.
I refuse to be a grown man still effected by childhood events...
