Hands and legs quivering, knees knocking together, face turning red, pulse racing, mind whiting out – this is stage fright.
Our work responsibilities are rewarded with a salary increase but also the obligation to give reports or speeches. We are innocently beavering away at our jobs, are recognised for doing well and given promotions or more responsibility.
Tetsuya Miyaki is a typical example. He was a low level bureaucrat in a municipal government office. Promoted to become the head of a department, he suddenly found himself having to give public presentations, including to the municipal assembly. When he became the mayor of a city ward, the speech requirement exploded, and so did his stress.
This is what happens to us. With no thought for the future, we plough along working hard, looking for the rewards but forgetting the escalation of expectations that go together with that.
I was the same. I had no vision of what the future would require. Eventually, I gave my first public speech. It was in Tokyo in late 1983, in Japanese and it was horrible. I was supposed to talk for 30 minutes but I finished in about 8 minutes. My nerves were severely ramping up my speaking speed. I read the whole thing, never looked up at my victims, didn’t smile, had no pauses, no gestures, no animation except high blood pressure giving me a big red face like a warning beacon.
When I took the High Impact Presentation Course with Dale Carnegie it was such a revelation. I just kicked myself for all of the opportunity costs I paid by not doing this when I was younger.
I was an idiot. I could have spent decades polishing my speaking skills, growing my potential rather than hiding from the opportunity. I could have ramped up my personal brand big time, if I had been even half smart and gotten the training.
Don’t be stupid like me – get the training. If you are going to get anywhere in your career, you will need this facility to not just speak competently in front of an audience, but to speak persuasively. It is not a matter of if, only a matter of when.
