Hi Terrie, nice to read your post
Wow, May ? you have been working well on your speech and YOURSELF, since May.
You know what overkill is, so I wont repeat that to you. Removal of "emotioanl charge" through repition.
You know what it means to overkill a word or situation to the "boring" stage, ie total removal of emotional charge.
Overkill means also, overkilling any feelings you may have about anything to do with the way you want to speak.
Take exaggerated and overt use of costal breathing to the boring stage.
Take speaking with "fewer words per breath" to the boring stage.
Take disclosure to the boring stage, etc etc
Some will know this as de-sensitisation.
This will help you to deal with objections and resistence, you mention sounding slow and odd. I was on a course all last weekend, and the lecturer on that that, well, how can I say this, he didnt care at all how he sounded. He proved again to me, Uniqueness is the norm.
Take any objections you may have square on, ask what's underpinning them ? Then deal with these.
There's no right and wrong approaches on the journey to fluency. People will rave about approaches, eg, Shwartz, McGuire, Bell, Hollins, Starfish, Drop Down Through, Swish, breathing, NLP, NS, the list is endless. What matters isn't what is right, it's what you believe in. What you can believe in, what you believe is right for you. The strenghs of your beliefs will give you the permission to act on your intentions and behave in a certain way, and having a friend listening in will also bolster your permission frames.
You are on a journey, and I can read by what you have written, that amazing progress has already been made, but you haven't reached your final destination yet, but, boy are you enjoying the journey. Listen you are doing something you would have never dreamed of doing 12 months ago, how good is that ?
You mention 2 parts of you, the part that is scared, and the part that is excited.
Simple, FEED the excited part, see the well know story below.
I've met you Terrie, you have no need to worry about how you sound and look, quite the opposite.
You have total justification in believing in yourself.
Shame I cant come to the presentation, I know it will be a good one.
Kind regards
Si.
The need to choose our focus of attention
There is an old Cherokee story about a tribal elder who is teaching his grandson about life.
"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.
"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.
The other is good -- he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
This same fight is going on inside you -- and in every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win ?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
from Michael Neil's coaching tips
