This was one of those presentations that becomes a turning point in one’s speaking career.
It was different from almost anything else I’d done before, I enjoyed the experience even more than I thought I would, and it gave me confidence to make my book The Elastic Waist Entrepreneur more personal and motivational rather than simply a how-to.
I spoke on the topic of bravery, for Austin’s version of the worldwide “breakfast lecture series for the creative community,” Creative Mornings. Thanks to a random taco-fueled social encounter with Ben Thoma, Austin’s Creative Mornings organizer, I ended up as the city’s November “Bravery” speaker.
Sure, I do lots of presentations on social media in tourism – and enjoy them very much – but never before had I been asked to speak on such a general topic in a way that would inspire, entertain, and motivate a packed house (Austin’s Creative Mornings events are free to attend but tickets are snapped up very quickly, and there’s always a waiting list.)
The day of the event, I was chanting, “Be brave! Be brave!” to myself just before I stood up to talk about bravery.
I structured the presentation in three parts:
1) Be inspired to be brave through the stories of heroics by ordinary people; I tell a few at the beginning of the video, to get you started.
2) Learn physical bravery by challenging yourself athletically, even if you don’t think of yourself as remotely athletic. Why not? The Left Thumb Blogger does it; why not you?
3) Work, test and strengthen your mental bravery and toughness via “deliberate discomfort” …. putting yourself deliberately into uncomfortable situations (travel to strange places, eat weird food, do stuff that scares you, get back up after failure.)
Huge thanks to Creative Mornings video production partner The Delivery Men for making me look good. 🙂
Never forget, we’re all members of “The Church of Uncertain.”
Go out there and be brave!
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