We have a special guest post today courtesy of Frank Simmons Jr., a nationally known speaker, trainer, coach, mentor, author and motivator.
I have been speaking for over 25 years to audiences of all shapes, sizes, colours and dimensions. In that time, I have trained and coached over 1,000 speakers on the art of speaking. I have found that the best speakers are not the speakers who have the most talent or charisma. The best speakers are the ones who know and understand that they are individuals who are unique and who have their own set of gifts and talents. They know how to avoid the cookie cutter. Do you?
Like so many other areas of our lives, many people have been told to conform and to play by the rules. The same thing is true when talking about public speaking. Speakers are shot out of cookie-cutter systems to conform to the mold of what a “public speaker” is supposed to be. The result of this formula is that many speakers fail to realize their true potential, they give up and end up in the trash (so to speak) with other bland, tasteless and stale cookies. That is a sad ending for those who started out thinking and believing that they would change the world with their voice. How do you keep this from happening to you? That is a great question.
The first thing you should do is listen. Listen to the advice of – and get training from –speakers who are “seasoned” in the industry, because we all need to continue learning. You should read books, watch videos and do whatever it takes to listen and learn. What you should not do is allow your teachers to become gods. Not everything that they say is gospel. In your listening and learning, learn how to separate the necessary from the unnecessary and avoid becoming one of that teacher’s cookies.
The second thing you should do is stop listening. I bet you’re thinking, “But, I thought you just said to listen.” You are right, I did. The problem with listening, for those cookies that end up in the trash, is that they never stopped listening. And when I say listening, I mean reading and listening and any other form of taking in information. If you are not careful, you may become a listening and learning junkie and you can never shake or escape the urge to get another fix to keep you going. You cannot hear your own voice or recognize it if you are always hearing and listening to everyone else. If you don’t stop to hear your own thoughts and get your own ideas you could end up on that cookie tray that I am trying to keep you off of.
The third thing you should do is believe in yourself. One of the things that cookie makers do is they make those cookies that are different believe that they are no good if they are not shaped like and taste the same as the other cookies. How boring would the world be if we were all the same? B-O-R-I-N-G! I was once told that I would not be successful unless I learned how to speak like everyone else. I am sure that there are some people reading this who have been told similar things in their lives. Quit listening to that madness. You need to believe in YOU. The great ones are the ones who believe in themselves as being smart, creative, talented, gifted and brilliant. You get the point. If you don’t believe in you, why should someone else?
I know that I left a lot out, but this is not a book. It’s a blog. That’s a Frank Thought! What’s yours?
Frank Simmons Jr.
Chief Inspirational Officer, Frankly Speaking Seminars, LLC
Website: www.franklyspeakingseminars.com/
Blog: www.franklyspeakingseminars.wordpress.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/fsseminars
