The Positive Fear

I was taking a class for some students of a school about public speaking. One after the other, all students came on the stage to share the stories of leaders. They shared stories about Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhiji, Mother Theresa, Sachin Tendulkar and many others. These students were supposed to narrate these stories without the help of any print material. Each one of them tried to give the best speech possible. Some had practised the speech at home but still couldn't share it easily. They had a kind of fear which was obstructing the flow of speech through their vocal chords. Not just these small students, every speaker has this fear lurking inside before s/he goes on the stage.

Fear is one of the best motivating factors. The fear of failure has stopped many from taking action while it also has helped many to always win because they were afraid of failure. That apprehension inside us before we jump into doing something or expressing our talents or skills in front of people is called fear. There is an uncomfortable feeling due to the fear of not being accepted by the audience. Steven Pressfield says that every performer shall always undergo such fear before any performance. So, it's natural for one to fear. In fact, the presence of that small amount of fear before plunging into the open air of performance is a symbol of your seriousness towards your work. It's a positive fear that inhabits us for a temporary interval of time. The butterflies inside the stomach accelerate their speeds as we are just about to take on the stage. Let them not choke your voice down your throat. You must rise above it and deliver your performance. Let that positive fear be an indication that you are in the right direction than becoming a deviation in your path to success. Use the positive fear as a positive morale booster to boost your performance better. This fear is not because of any self-doubt about one's own preparation or talent, it's just a warning unto us to not let down those who have trusted in us and believed in our performance.

Not just in any stage performance alone, even in life too, such positive fears keep attacking us every now and then if we are trying to do something new every now and then. This positive fear differs very much from the real fear of performing. The positive fear compels you to take on the stage of life to exhibit all that you have got. On the other hand, the real ferocious fear shall stop you from even trying. Hence, use this positive fear which can be overcome very easily by taking a simple single step towards action. No matter which field you are in, taking initiatives will always be challenged by a positive fear. Accept the fear and take action, and the victory shall come and dance in your arms.

Energy matters

The transfer of enthusiasm is the achievement to be accomplished by any speaker when s/he takes on the stage. The audience can be at any state just before the talk begins. So the task of bringing them to the required  excited state is left as an initial challenge to the speaker. The initial part of the speech is the most crucial during which the crowd decides whether to listen further to the speech or just handover the external ears only. The initial short timed phase is the time that a speaker gets to convince the audience that it's worth listening to him/her for next few minutes and in this phase what matters is - 'Energy'.

The confidence is clearly visible in the amount of energy that the speaker can induce into each one sitting among the audience that can build a bridge of exclusive energy force between the speaker and each person present. The extra energy hardcodes the words spoken on the minds of the people listening. Normal temperature is never expressed to be experienced by anyone. Only a high or a low temperature is spotted by any living being immediately which results in an immediate response. Similarly, people are used to the normal energy of the peers around them. The moment they witness a dynamic energy source walking and talking to them from the stage, it catches their attention immediately. The best part of being energetic in a talk is that it gets transferred to the other person at the receiving end as well and no doubt that just like when electrons get excited they produce current similarly people who are excited by your energy feel the current flow through their body.

An iron rod can be bent only when it is heated. Likewise the necessary corrections on the existing beliefs and assumptions can be made only when the temperature of enthusiasm is raised in the person opposite to you with whom you are speaking. For the enthusiasm to rise in the other person, you must be ready to propel the energy waves by being the source of the same and hence I claim that 'Energy matters'. Hope and believe to read your feedback on is.mohanbn@gmail.com

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Thanks Anthony Robbins for the lesson, Thanks God for the slap

 A small introduction of Anthony Robbins from wikipedia. Anthony "Tony" Robbins(born February 29,1960) is an American self-help author and motivational speaker. He became well known through his informercials and self-help books, Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement and Awaken The Giant Within. Robbins writeS about subjects such as health and energy, overcoming fears, persuasive communication and enhancing relationships. Robbins began his career learning from many different motivational speakers and promoted seminars for his personal mentor, Jim Rohn. He is deeply influenced by neuro-linguistic programming and a variety of philosophies.

In one of the books of Anthony Robbins where he explains about how he became a motivational speaker he says that when he had joined an organization for speakers everyone who had enrolled there used to give two speeches a week but Tony Robbins used to give two speeches a day because he had a very clear goal of becoming a SPEAKER. So he used to do it the maximum number of times possible and he teaches that if you are wanting to be a professional in something you need to do it everyday and not just on a weekend. Even Robin Sharma endorses the same idea in his book 'The Greatness Guide'. Thanks to both these masters. They had passed on a lesson which they had learnt, to me theoretically. Today I learnt the same lesson practically. Today I was given an opportunity to address a gathering of 40 people for an inspirational talk. After speaking for about 20-30 minutes I faced one of the tightest slaps I have ever got on my speaking ability. I just felt that I had misearbly failed to keep up to the standard of an inspirational speaker that I aimed to be. The sole reason for this was I was practising the profession of a speaker for few minutes once a fortnight or sometimes once a month. I had concluded on my own that based on my job timings this is the best that I could give for my speaking career. Folks! you don't achieve what you want by just giving your best, you achieve it by giving what is required to achieve it. This was one more solid slap on my ignorance of the lessons of the experienced. Though one of my friends said "Awesome" after I spoke I clearly could read the audience feedback. At that time I felt that you should never ask your friends for feedback. They are too good to say the truth straight on your face because they care for you and can't see you feeling hurt. When the live feedback is from the audience in front of you, you need not ask anyone else.

Friends, please don't make the mistake that I have made. You don't become a painter by painting on your weekend or a singer by just singing a song on a sunday. If you are eyeing any of the professional career based on your interest better implement that interest everyday into action. If I can extend it further implement it every moment. A businessman who is involved in his business every second of the day only makes profits not anyone who opens the store once a week. Its very simple - if you're a student you need to study everyday, if you're a chef you need to cook everyday, if you're person in job you need to work everyday to get paid excepting holidays. I still am into brainstorming on how I'll implement my speaking practice everyday. Hope you start your preparation soon enough to avoid any slaps later.

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