To improve your speaking, start writing!
Each athlete, celebrity, mogul or speaker you admire has some habits they frequently and regularly cultivate. It is possible to consider them to be lucky, gifted or talented. However, it is now common knowledge that talent is simply not enough. There are regular disciplined activities which convert that individual’s potential into performance. The same applies to Public Speakers.
"Whatever you do not develop cannot grow" - Samuel Jonathan
Have you observed that most of the Speakers you admire are also Authors? The leading reason can be attributed to this popular Samuel Jonathan quote; “As a man speaketh, so he writeth”. Writing is a person speaking through their pen. That is why the best-selling book of all times records that David exclaimed “Thou have made my tongue to speak like the pen of a skillful writer” – Psalm 45:1. There is a profound relationship between writing and speaking.
"As a man speaketh so he writeth" - Samuel Jonathan
Occassionally, someone in the audience will raise their hand and say "Mr Jonathan, I know of someone who writes very well but are terrible when it comes to public speaking". Of course, when a person is writing, they are usually alone, probably relaxed. There is no stage-fright, no anxiety or pressure. There is no live audience with which they have to balance and maintain eye-contact. All other things being equal, and with the right coaching, an individual speaks the way they write. That is why many of your favourite Speakers (if not all) are also Authors.
Whenever I am asked to edit a manuscript, I can easily detect plagiarism. When an Author writes, they are speaking through their pen and cannot speak or write vocabulary they do not have. This is why the first habit we focused on earlier in this series (Daily Habits of World-Class Speakers) focused on the habit of reading and expanding your vocabulary. Just as in speaking, you can "give" what you do not have when you're writing! Ignore this point and you are ignoring a significant component to your success in public speaking.
World-Class Speakers engage and cultivate the daily habit of writing. They ink their thoughts. As they think it, they ink it! They write little notes as they read. When a learning opportunity or teachable soundbite comes across their ears, they swiftly turn that moment into a monument with the stroke of a pen. They write bits and pieces of ideas and illustrations on topics which they are yet to receive an invitation on!
To learn how to perfect the daily habit of writing, join us in our next edition.
To contact the Author, send an email to president@royalcentreforpublicspeaking.com
