A dilemma I hear very often when I work with top leaders is that “yeah it’s a great tool” or “I read this interesting article” but “I’m really busy right now, so I don’t know if I have time to practice…”
Reality is though – as Laura Vanderkam pointed out in a Ted Talk a couple of years ago, that we all have the same amount of time. The question is: How do we prioritize and spend it?
Most people who come to me want to become better speakers. They want to get the message across, manage Audience Interaction or mastering a third or fourth area of public speaking.
To “become a better speaker” is a big and complex thing, so my job is to break that goal down into mini milestones and establish good habits – such as practicing strategic eye contact, using The Power Circle to get to the point and remove unnecessary fillers.
The key to a great and free performance is great habits. And great habits come from intentionally practicing the little things over and over again… just like a trumpet player who every day in the beginning of his practice goes through different exercises to breath right, articulate well, challenge his technical level of playing and rythm. Practicing great habits is nescessary to make a great performance – so what habits do you want to create?