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“In almost any subject, your passion for the subject will save you. If you care enough for a result, you will most certainly attain it. If you wish to be good, you will be good. If you wish to be rich, you will be rich. If you wish to be learned, you will be learned. Only then you must really wish these things and wish them with exclusiveness and not wish one hundred other incompatible things just as strongly.”
Once you realize that you can stand up and talk intelligently to a group of people, it is logical to assume that you can talk to individuals with greater confidence and assurance.
“The biggest lesson I have ever learned is the stupendous importance of what we think. If I knew what you think, I would know what you are, for your thoughts make you what you are. By changing our thoughts, we can change our lives.”
Emerson said, “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.”
only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.
breath. In fact, breathe deeply for thirty seconds before you ever face your audience. The increased supply of oxygen will buoy you up and give you courage.
He says that at the outset almost every man is frightened when he goes into action, but that the course to follow is for the man to keep such a grip on himself that he can act just as if he were not frightened. After this is kept up long enough, it changes from pretense to reality, and the man does in very fact become fearless by sheer dint of practicing fearlessness when he does not feel it.
Speak About Something You Have Earned the Right to Talk About Through Experience or Study
Speak on what life has taught you and I will be your devoted listener. It was said of Emerson that he was always willing to listen to any man, no matter how humble his station, because he felt he could learn something from every man he met.
In every public speaker of note in the history of eloquence, there has been this unmistakable quality of salesmanship, evangelism, call it what you will. The effective speaker earnestly desires his listeners to feel what he feels, to agree with his point of view, to do what he thinks is right for them to do, and to enjoy and relive his experience with him.
Always prepare so that you are ready for any emergency, such as a change of emphasis because of a previous speaker’s remarks, or a well-aimed question from the audience in the discussion period following your talk.
material? There are five ways of doing this: Humanize, Personalize, Specify, Dramatize, and Visualize.
“The heart has reasons that the reason does not know.”
When you walk before your audience to speak, do so with an air of anticipation, not like a man who is ascending the gallows.
Above all, remember this: acting in earnest will make you feel earnest.
