Happy New Year my friends! Chances are, someone you know over the holiday season got engaged. Or someone you know knows someone else who knows someone whose third cousin twice removed got engaged. In any event, some people said, “Will you marry me?”, others said, “I do”, and now things are underway for the wedding. And when that happens – Best Men and Maids of Honor get chosen.
And they have to give speeches.
Aside from the usual anxiety about what to say, the more intense fear starts to creep in – what if I screw up?
Well, let’s ask a different question – what if I knock it out of the park?
Ask yourself that. Again and again. And then close your eyes and visualize what that would look like. Picture a room full of smiling, laughing people hanging on your every word. What does it look like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like? Immerse yourself in those sights and sounds fully. Live inside that moment you created in your head.
Years ago, when I was a college bowler (yes, big man on campus). a mentor of mine said, “See the shot. Be the shot.” Sounds corny, right? It was. But it was true.
It was all about visualizing my approach, follow through, the strike, and the feeling I would have afterwards. And then living inside that moment when I actually did it.
So when you get up to deliver the big speech, picture success. Live inside that success. Then go do it.
See the toast, be the toast.
