If you want to speak like a world class speaker, I suggest you start asking yourself these questions on a daily basis as well. Won’t take you long yet the effects will blow you away.
1. What am I doing today to improve my public speaking/presentation/speaking skills?
Confucius once said many years ago that“good people strengthen themselves ceaselessly”. They understand the power of KAIZEN, which refers to constant and never ending improvement in Japanese.
This means that if you improve a little everyday, you can achieve a great deal in a year. If we put it quantitatively, we are looking at doubling your performance in approximately 2 months by simply improving 1% daily. (this has been backed up by an MIT study )
More recently, Malcolm Gladwell also restated this principle through his latest bestseller “The Outliers” In one of his chapters, he spoke at length about The 10,000 Hour Rule.
Gladwell uses The Beatles and Bill Gates as examples here, showing how they both were able to take advantage of stupendous amounts of practice time to become very, very good at what they did. In each case, Gladwell estimated that it took 10,000 hours of practice for those individuals to hone their natural raw talents and become world class - roughly ten years of multiple hours of practice (3 or so on average) every single day. Gladwell offers many other examples of how this practice pays off, but that magic number of 10,000 hours pops up again and again.
So here’s an obvious hint. If you want to be really good at a skill, in this case, public speaking, I suggest you begin investing an hour of your time EVERYDAY sharpening the skill. Remember to ask yourself this question on a daily basis -“What am I doing today to improve my public speaking/presentation/speaking skills?”
2. Can I use this in my upcoming presentation?
As Jim Key, 2003 World Champion of Public Speaking tirelessly said “ things happen, pay attention! ” A lot of speakers constantly worry about not having enough materials to back up their statements. Their stories contrived, pictures boring, quotes overused. Heck, most of them start preparing their presentations a day before. And googling can only help you that much.
However if you constantly LOOK for materials when you don’t need them, you begin to tap onto your internal radar system that can offer you very creative finds. A quote that you can use from a stranger in the elevator. A bus ad that you can’t get your mind off. An anecdote that your colleague share over lunch. An observation that tickles you non-stop. An interesting fact shared innocently by your dad… and the list goes on.
3. Am I making good use of my time and energy?
Interesting speakers lead interesting lives. Period. They will always have an out-of-the-world anecdote that will make you laugh. Their energy and enthusiasm is infectious. Their love for life or the topic they are speaking on is unquestionable. You can’t fake all that. If you try, your audience will blow your cover at double quick time. When you are speaking, your personality and attitude towards life speaks volume.
Yes, your topic may be on investments or a bridge that can create more jobs. However, when your audience is listening to you, they don’t just listen to the words, they are unconsciously listening to WHO YOU ARE AS AN INDIVIDUAL! And believe it or not, your personal power and charms comes from who you are, not what you say. Hence, if you want to speak at world-class level, start working on YOU as a person.
