Do you want to be a guru? Speaking is your ticket.
I’ve made it one of my career goals to be engaged in public speaking frequently. As of late, I’ve had quite a bit of success with this endeavor. Meetups, conferences small and large, online webinars, etc.
These efforts have had a huge impact on not just my career, but also in finding my own self. I’ve found my inner guru, and you can find yours, too.
Unfortunately, I must admit that my aim for public speaking is rather selfish. Some people say they speak for the “good of the community”, or because they just “love it”. But no, I cannot say my heart is so selfless or that I just “love” speaking. I wish that were the case.
The truth is I engage myself in public speaking, rather selfishly, for my own personal pursuit of knowledge and understanding. I have come across no better way to learn and enhance my skills than by sharing what I know in front of audiences.
Why? Because the road of preparation for such events is by far, in my experience, the most productive approach to learning and mastering new skills and fields of interest.
What does this have to do with being a guru?
My conclusion is if you want to be a guru on a topic of interest, you need to pretend that you already are. Take a risk, get in front of an audience and share what you do know. You’ll come to find there’s no better motivation to form a mastery of a subject than the healthy fear of standing in front of 100 people.
Plus, everyone benefits from you sharing what you know — and surprisingly, you benefit most of all.
The reality is we all have a unique perspective and a unique set of experiences. If we all acted more like gurus, willing to share what is uniquely ours, we would learn more, do more, and grow more as a result. And, we would contribute to the growth of others, too. Bonus!
Do you need to be a guru to speak at conferences and events? Most people think so.
Are YOU a guru? Yep, so get yourself out there!
Go to Meetup.com to get started.
Imposter syndrome? I assumed for many years that only the elite “gurus” were welcome on stage. And even after speaking many times I constantly struggled with imposter syndrome, like I didn’t belong on stage. I wasn’t good enough, nor had anything to offer.
However, every time I speak I have gotten more and more confident, more and more comfortable believing that I do have unique experiences and perspectives that others can benefit from. I realized, too, that people generally are very gracious and thankful, even though I am not the most charasmatic guy out there.
Why is speaking getting easier and easier? Was I just learning the skill of speaking itself? Was I gaining a new mastery of the subject? Or maybe, I was a guru all along and didn’t know it? Answer: all of the above.
Parting question: how has public speaking shaped or developed your identity and/or career?
Cheers!
Phil
