Random Thoughts About Building Enthusiasm and Self Confidence

I am constantly writing down ideas, illustrations and other brilliant thoughts so I can develop them into columns. This past week-end, I went through my scraps of paper in search of inspiration and decided to simply share a couple of these random thoughts those notes.

Move Information From Your Head To Your Heart…

Sales people can memorize a sales script that has been perfected and proven effective, deliver it line by line and still fail to produce sales…
A person can memorize all the “right” answers to interview questions and still not make the final cut for the job…
A speaker can memorize a brilliantly written speech, have flawless delivery, yet fail to move the audience to action…
We could go on and on with examples of memorized information that either fell flat when delivered or failed to deliver the desired results. The big question is, “Why?”

Communication research indicates that one of the main reasons for such outcomes is that while the individual had the information in their head, they didn’t have it in their hearts. Whether we are interviewing for a job, selling a product to a prospect or an idea at work, making a speech or whatever, we must exude a natural enthusiasm that comes from passion. That passion is the result of really believing what we are saying to be true.

In order to make our head knowledge “heart” knowledge we need to internalize the information, thus moving it beyond the level of good information to the level of strong belief based on the foundation of the information. We do this by repeating the information over and over to ourselves and other people as we have opportunity. This is the method many professional speakers use to hone their stories—they tell the story to anyone who will listen dozens of times—before ever telling it to a live audience.

So next time you have good information in your head, internalize it by repeating it over and over, as you do your conviction of its rightness will build and when you need it the most, it will be accompanied by a passion that is born from affirming something you have faith in.

Be Careful What You Remember…

A great preacher once cautioned a congregation to be careful what they remembered because the things we choose to remember becomes the basis for what we believe about ourselves and circumstances.

I think that preacher was right. If we choose to remember all the dumb things we done, then we develop a mindset that we can’t do anything right, which will erode our confidence. If we choose to remember things beyond our control that went wrong when we tried to sell something or present an idea, then that causes us to hesitate because we believe the old adage “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” If we choose to remember how badly we messed up in a job interview or making a presentation, we can become paralyzed by fear for embarrassing ourselves again, regardless of how well prepared or qualified we are.

Of course, we can’t erase every bad event, but we can choose to deliberately remember those successes we’ve had in life. Pull them up, relive the moment, savor the way you felt afterwards. By doing this you will begin to build a positive (yet realistic) belief system that can help elevate you to the next level.
Have a great and profitable week!
Robert Hidde