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Great News – It’s Not About You (Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!)

by | Public Speaking Tips, Speaking Anxiety, Thought Leadership

It’s Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. and I loooove everything about it. The fall air, the cozy-up-and-watch-a-movie-feel – and the reminders everywhere to celebrate our blessings.

This life path we’ve chosen as thought leaders is pretty amazing. From the ways it stretches us to be the best versions of ourselves – to all the ways it teaches us how much we have to learn, there is no more intensive self-development journey than the commitment to serve through our own stories and lessons learned.

And this is where the gift comes in full force.

Because it’s easy to feel not-good-enough as we put ourselves out there in such a public way.

(And if you’re like me, that sometimes happens.) It’s easy to worry that our stories aren’t interesting enough or that we won’t know how to tell them perfectly so that the audience is jaw-droppingly captivated. 

But here’s the thing: It’s not about us. 

Isn’t that the best news ever? Seriously, this is the magical path to releasing speaking anxiety (over and over again), to not getting caught up in the perfection cycle, to keeping ourselves stuck in a spin of “I don’t know enough, I’m not clear enough.”

It’s not about us. It’s about them, and how we can serve them with our stories and lessons learned. 

There is tremendous freedom in that.

So, in case you’ve got any perfection spin going, or you are hanging back because you feel like your story isn’t just-exactly-right yet, now’s a good time to release all those thoughts.

Release and serve. Because that’s what this whole thing is about.

I’m so grateful for you and your willingness to step into the bright light of service. You inspire me. It’s because of you that I keep doing the work of my own heart.

Thank you 

And to my U.S. friends who are choosing to pay special attention to gratitude this week for Thanksgiving – Happy Thanksgiving to you.  

Watch today’s video for more on this:

 

 Highlights Covered in This Video:

  • How I use my favorite mantra as an anxiety reduction strategy – and you can too
  • The advice that my experienced speaker friend gave me when I first started that I never forgot – and dramatically changed the way I think about speaking
  • The funny little mental image you can use to help you get perspective on your ideal audience member’s thoughts
  • Why even your story is not about you – and how to tell it to show that
  • Different types of stories you can share that will serve your ideal audience member
Michelle Barry Franco has been speaking publicly for more than 30 years and has helped over a thousand people, including C-suite leaders, award-winning company founders and best-selling authors, be successful in one of the bravest choices of their lives: sharing their truthful narratives for the benefit of others.