"We are all desperately, desperately concerned about what other people think of us. When we get obsessed, when we really overthink how we walk into a room, what we're saying, how we say it, we get in our own heads. And we put levels of pressure on ourselves when we're communicating that just shouldn't be there. And the output of that is that we overthink it. And we deliver something that's garbled."
"You have to know you know your stuff. The example I can give you of that is: if you've ever been in that horrendous situation where people go, 'Hello. We're sat around a room. Let's go around the room and introduce ourselves.'"
Effective communication requires balancing concern for others' perceptions with confidence in your knowledge and message. Excessive worry about how others perceive you leads to overthinking, which results in garbled delivery and underperformance. The key is to care less about meeting imagined expectations and instead focus on knowing your material thoroughly. When you understand your subject matter deeply, you can communicate naturally without the self-imposed pressure that undermines your message. This approach applies across various contexts including public speaking, networking, and professional negotiations like salary discussions.
#communication-skills #public-speaking #professional-development #confidence-building #workplace-communication
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