Improving Presentation Skills Without Judgment

Ever wondered how weight loss is just like presentation skills? No? Me neither – until today.

This month I re-started a very rigorous work out routine (P90X). This is my second time with the 90 day program. I only made it through 60 days at the beginning of this year. Since then, I’ve worked out occasionally, but within the last few weeks I’ve hardly worked out at all and have enjoyed many tasty foods. I’m sure you can imagine the result.

I have been thinking about beginning the workout program for quite a while now, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. Why? Because I was judging myself. I was disappointed with myself and my inactivity. I felt ashamed. And, honestly, I was afraid. I was afraid of feeling like a failure if I tried and realized how far I had fallen from where I was.

I finally was able to start the difficult workout all over again a few days ago because I gave myself one rule: NO JUDGMENT. All of my fears, insecurities, and worries stemmed from the judgments I was placing on myself. I deemed myself to be out of shape, weak, and a gooey mushy blob (at least in my head). But once I released myself from the grips of my own judgment, I allowed myself to just do the process.

It was still tempting to let my judgments creep in my mind. In my “workout room” (aka the living room), there is a mirror in which that I would occasionally catch my reflection. Every time I caught a glimpse of the imperfections I told myself, “No judgment. Keep going.”

This is the exact same process you need to take if any fears, worries, or concerns are holding you back from improving your public speaking skills. If you allow your preemptive judgments of yourself to stand in your way of taking chances, presenting at your next business meeting or taking the platform at your trade association, you will never give yourself the freedom to grow and improve.

Make a rule for yourself: NO JUDGMENT.

If you stutter, forget your place, wander too much on the platform, get your papers shuffled up, or even accidentally trip – no judgment. There will be time later to debrief yourself on what went well and what could have been improved, but don’t stop yourself before you start.

Stay in the moment. Focus on the process, not on the potential future outcomes. Once you give a speech or step out of your comfort zone in any way, give yourself a big pat on the back! (I used to reward myself with ice-cream, but I guess I need to find a new reward as I continue the workout…dang!) Each time you give a speech, run a meeting, host a webinar, or lead a training session, put a gold star in your calendar because that’s an accomplishment. Just doing it is an accomplishment in and of itself. I don’t care if you have the worst presentation of your life! You did it! And you learned from it. Next time you’ll do better.

While I work on developing my fitness by working the process and doing the workouts, I want you to develop your public speaking skills by focusing on doing more presentations and stepping out of your comfort zone. Focus and just do the process.

In fact, if you give a presentation, speak in front of any group, or reach outside your comfort zone, I want you to leave a comment here. Share your accomplishments with our community! I look forward to hearing about your process with no judgments!