From Show It Until You Know It: A Guide to Building Self-Confidence:
"Aren’t you nervous? Aren’t you scared? How can you get up there in front of a crowd? I could never do what you do! Speak to everyone? Share myself with them? How do you stay so happy? How do you do it? How? How?!!
When I’m peppered with questions by folks (friends, strangers, acquaintances) asking how I am able to talk in front of any number of people, I tell them well… first, I climb the stairs to the stage. Whatever the stage may look like: the front of a classroom, a streaming web event, one-to-one meeting, or a literal stage. I climb the stairs and with my racing heart,
sweaty palms, and flushed-red cheeks, I stand tall, power walk into the spotlight, and dare to shine bright!
That’s when the butterflies in my stomach laugh out loud at me. Me! The go-getter, bring-it-on, Type A personality, don’t tell me I can’t do something because then I will have to do it just to prove you wrong woman. She has butterflies dancing in her abdomen. I am nervous as can be! But then, I remember…
I am an Academy Award® -winning actress.
I just don’t have my Oscar yet.
That’s it. That’s how I do what I do: I perform. I act. I believe. I show it until I know it. I get on stage – whatever the stage is in that moment – and I act. I act like I am unafraid of presenting, teaching, or sharing. I act like the leader I have always wanted to be and have, and I perform wholeheartedly with the best of intentions. That’s not to say I am perfect in my presentation; it’s to say that when I stumble (and I will stumble) – I will smile even bigger. Laugh at myself. Take a breath. Catch my breath. And keep going.
I act like I am ready for a job interview; for a talk with my boss or a tough talk with my family; for a presentation in front of an entire organization; for coaching two people; ready to sing in front of 15,000 people; whatever it is, I’m ready. Because if I walk and talk and act like I am ready enough times, eventually I will believe me, too. Its own my self-fulfilling prophecy: I am ready and I’ve got this."
~H.
my new book: Show It Until You Know It: A Guide to Building Self-Confidence.
Available 04.02.21