In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Steven Covey proposes a quite unusual thought experiment that he terms “beginning with the end in mind.” What he actually suggests is that you write your own obituary! While this may seem to be somewhat macabre, it is actually a brilliant exercise, in that in forces you to think about your legacy and how you would want to be remembered.
Give it a try: as you embark on a new year and new decade,
I recently had the wonderful opportunity to speak at TEDxEmory. The overall theme was: What makes your heart beat? And my topic was Owning Your Confidence: How to Overcome Nervousness and Exude Confidence in High-Stakes Situations. I discussed several practical techniques to help you excel in even the most stressful of situations. They are practices I’ve developed over many years of being on television and speaking professionally around the world.
While neuroscience describes what happens when we get stressed and nervous as fight,
In an age of information overload where we are constantly having to compete for attention, the ability to tell stories that have an emotional and intellectual impact is a critical skill.
Think about the last meeting or presentation you attended or Ted talk you watched, what did you remember, what did you repeat?
The story! Especially if the story related to you or triggered you to reflect on your own similar experience.
One of my most memorable professors at the University of Cape Town’s drama school was the formidable Mavis Taylor. Like a character out of a Dickens novel, Professor Taylor seemed ancient to me at the time, with limp, long, blonde hair and an equally long face which showed little or no sign of emotion, ever.
Mavis spoke sparingly, and with a direct gaze that seemed to look right through you.
