4 surprising points that instantly turned me very confident at public speaking

In my quest of self-improvement, I quite often take up challenges so to overstep my comfort zone.

My challenges aren’t akin to scaling Mount Everest; they could be as simple as refusing to bear a colleague’s gossip for the sake of work.

The recent challenge I rose up to was delivering a PPT presentation to a group of ophthalmologists about assistive technology – which enables the blind to use computers and smartphones independently.

A small step?

Well, it could be so for you, but given my introvert nature, it was a challenge.

Here’re 4 points emanating from that performance:

1. The original fear was less than expected

"I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."

Mark Twain

Once again the wisdom that our fear about something is less than we expect it to be proved true when I delivered this presentation. I had feared that I might choke midway or feel insulted because of foolish mistakes, but nothing of this happened – my overall performance, barring a few slips was good. It again impressed upon me that if I want to grow, then I must look directly in the eyes of my fears – instead of cowering in my cocoon – dreading destructive consequences.

2. Pressure was good because it guided me

"Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise."

Kobe Bryant

Admittedly, there was pressure on me to perform. I didn’t want to waste the time of my educated and learned audience. This pressure compelled me to keep my content compressed, which worked in my favour, and to be assured that I’m not going unduly fast, I even asked the audience if my pace is fine – a question which I hadn’t expected before. I shed a special care on the main points and skipped over the less important ones.

3. Mistakes are natural – halting due to them is foolishness

"Many a false step was made by standing still."

Fortune Cookie

In the very opening I erred in reading out the title of my presentation. No doubt, it was a blunder. But losing no moment or attention unit in worrying over this blunder, I focussed my concentration to deliver the remaining presentation in the best way. I realised that inactivity triggered by the fear of mistakes is already a cardinal mistake. The best policy is to accept that mistakes would cross our path, and because of them there’s no need to feel overly nervous. It curbs further mistakes that embarrassment might trigger.

4. Excellence is achievable, perfectionism isn’t

"Perfection is a good ideal and direction to have, but recognize it for what it is: an impossible destination."

Tim Ferris

Shoring up the aforementioned point, many a good work wasn’t executed for the fear of perfectionism. I erred a bunch of times during the delivery, but to rate the overall performance, I’ll agree with the views of the doctors that it was excellent. Yes, it was far from being perfect. But had I feared that my performance isn’t going to be perfect, and therefore there’s no need of rising up to the opportunity, it would have been a big mistake. I then would have remained remote from excellence. It requires courage to stand up despite your imperfections, and other than this, there’s no other way.