Have you ever wondered how you come across to others? Everyone who meets you views you and remembers you slightly differently, based on their own perceptions. And here’s the thing, there is nothing you can do about other people’s opinions.
So, it’s a good thing that it doesn’t really matter what people think. Opinions are essentially blackholes – they just keep going and going! So it isn’t really important to worry about what everyone thinks.
Having said that, you don’t want to be misunderstood, right? There isn’t anything worse than trying to get a clear point across, or telling an important story, only for someone to completely misunderstand what you’re trying to say.
Getting Your Point Across
In order to be understood, as well as thinking about WHAT you’re trying to say, it’s equally important to consider HOW you’re saying it. It’s a crucial part of storytelling, public speaking, and just regular everyday conversations.
Compare ‘Hi, I’m Cheryl’ with ‘Hi, great to meet you, what’s your name?’ or from stage, “Hi I’m Cheryl, I will be talking to you today about public speaking”, with “Raise your hand if you are here today because you would like to be a confident public speaker” for example. If I was to ask you which version of the Cheryl’s you’d want to speak to, there’s a pretty clear answer, right?
The second version of each is focused on the other person, and everyone in life is more interested in themselves than anything else.
The better you can express yourself, the better you can communicate, and the more your message is about and for your audience, the more people will want to listen to you!
The Importance of Knowing YOU
Often when it comes to speaking, particularly when it’s something important, like public speaking, or being in an interview, you can overthink what you’re going to say. The problem I see with that is that when you practice your speech word for word, when you say it – it can sound robotic, but even worse than that if you forget one word or one sentence it can throw you out for the rest of the talk.
Instead, if you have a structure, then you know what you should be talking about at every step of the way, then your content might come out slightly differently every time, and that is GREAT. Because it will sound authentic, and it will BE authentic. AND, more importantly, you wont freeze, your content will come out every time, because of the structure.
The key to ANY sort of speech is being true to yourself. I know, it might sound obvious. But back when I first started public speaking, I tried to fake not having my Yorkshire accent, because I was worried it would affect how the audience received my speech. Instead, it made it worse! Because authenticity is key.
You can’t pretend to be someone you’re not. So, the only way around it is to know who you are, and how you want to express your stories, yourself, your thoughts and feelings to the world.
How to Express Yourself
There are multiple ways to build up self-expression, and likewise there are multiple factors that go into it. Honesty. Confidence. Understanding your values.
But the one thing that I know helps with your ability to express yourself, is learning a strategy for public speaking.
Both practising and becoming successful at public speaking makes you more effective at, well, speaking. But it’s not just as simple as that. You will be able to structure your thoughts better. You will have more and more confidence. And your credibility will massively increase – because people assume that people they see speaking are experts in their field.
Public speaking is a journey of self-discovery, helping you accomplish what you might currently believe is the impossible. And I can help you with that journey.
You can find more public speaking tips by following us on Instagram here, or reach out to me at cheryl@cheryl-chapman.com to hear about our next speaking event.
Cheryl xx
PS – If you liked this blog and want to read more blogs surrounding female empowerment, you can find last week’s here: ‘Let Yourself Bloom and Blossom!‘
“I’m on a global mission to help 10 million disheartened souls, who are at a crossroads, to STOP asking why me? And START saying why not me!”