I remember…

my first class I teach at Richland College.

I’m nervous and think, “This 90-minute class will never end.”

But I’m done in 5 minutes!

There I stand, with 40 college students looking at me. I know I have nothing else to say. They know I have nothing else to say. And my entire body breaks out into a sheen of sweat.

Had I not signed a contract to teach this class I might not be a speaker and communication consultant now as CEO of Speak For Yourself®! I am forced to show up at Richland College every Tuesday and Thursday for 16 weeks. That’s 32 class sessions in case you didn’t do the math.

It was a powerful lesson that I learned about practice and perseverance.

Effective speakers/teachers/communicators make it look easy.

It’s not!

And now…

I warn all of my fabulous clients that speaker anxiety is part of the game of speaking. You won’t get rid of it. In fact, you want that adrenaline edge. You learn how to dance with that demon and use that extra energy in a positive vs. negative way.

And some of those demon-dance steps include practice, perseverance, time, rinse and repeat.

I taught at Richland College for 10 years. The first class of each semester (and all my classes) lasted the full 90 minutes!

One of my coping mechanisms then and now (I still can get hot!) …  I wear cotton.

What are some of your coping mechanisms?