The fact is, I don’t wanna be writing this email. In fact I’d rather be doing one of about a dozen other things.
Maybe it’s because, somewhere along the line in the 2,500+ previous daily editions of this newsletter, I used up all the good topic ideas I had, and I don’t really have a hot new one for today.
Maybe it’s because, by my standards, it’s very late in the day for me to be writing.
Or maybe it’s because I spent too long walking in the sun earlier today without drinking any water, and right now my eyes feel heavy and my head is throbbing.
And you know what?
Well, let me tell you what, in the words of one Tristan de Montebello, who was at one point a world champion public speaker (yes, a championship for public speaking exists), and has since started an online business that has trained thousands of people in public speaking. Says Tristan:
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Play whatever you have.
If you show up and you don’t wanna be there, they should feel that you don’t wanna be there. Play the fact you don’t wanna be there, but play it with confidence.
What’s interesting about this idea is that it works in prepared speaking as well as in all of the other areas you’re going to be in.
What people tend to do is they will show up, in any environment, and they will start leaking.
They start leaking all of their insecurities. If they were hoping they would feel confident, and they show up and they don’t… a word comes out of their mouth wrong, they start fumbling, something happens that was not supposed to happen… everything internally is going to break down.
But what if instead you could keep those insecurities inside, plug the leaks, stay in character, and play whatever it is that you are experiencing, use that energy, in a confident way?
We call it staying in character. It kind of looks like conviction.
And what it does, it sends the message to your audience that they’re okay and you’re okay.
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When I heard this a couple days ago as I listened to an interview with Tristan while massaging the elliptical at the gym, my ears perked up, for two reasons.
One reason is that this strategy, which Tristan calls “playing whatever you have,” is a topic I had planned on including in my new 10 Commandments book. I’ve found it to be a common element between the work of standup comedians, pickup artists, and hypnotists.
The topic didn’t make the cut because, well, there was space for only 10 Commandments, and I had others that I felt were stronger fit for the book.
Reason two my ears perked up was Tristan’s final sentence, about making your audience feel okay. That’s something that did make it into my book, because it’s probably the most important persuasion lesson out there, and that’s why it goes into Commandment I.
Anyways, if you’re interested in figuring out how to “stay in character” and “play whatever you have”:
Tristan’s online business for teaching people public speaking is called Ultraspeaking. They offer 30-day cohorts for getting you better with public speaking.
I’m thinking of signing up for the next one, although the $997 does make me wince. If I do sign up, I’ll have more to say about it. Meanwhile, if you want to speak better to groups, and you have $997 to spend, you can look up Ultraspeaking and see if it’s for you.
On the other hand, if you want others to treat you better, and happily go where you’d like them to go, and do what you’d like them to do, the Kindle version of my book is just $4.99, and is waiting to make you feel okay at the following link: