June has been an exciting month for me – with some winning moments and some aha’s.
I had a speaking engagement at a local networking event last Wednesday. If there was one fear I wanted to overcome, it was being a good speaker. I attended a stand-up comedy show by a popular person from India, in early June. His show is actually on Amazon Prime, so it was a privilege to see him in person. Any time I attend shows like these, I am curious how the person keeps the audience engaged rather than just enjoying the show (talk about a brain that is always thinking about business or perhaps wanting to grow and become better at what I want to do).
If there was one thing I picked up from him that day, he said content alone is not going to engage people. A good talk has 3 things – content, voice modulation and theatrics. Taking that on board, I prepared for my networking event. I still have a long way to go, but the feedback was amazing from the audience.
Feedback from the organiser of the event 👇🏻👇🏼
“I wanted to take a moment to extend my deepest gratitude for your outstanding presentation tonight. Your thought-provoking insights and proactive approach truly elevated the experience for all attendees.”
This is nearly 7 years of working on my speaking skills. I am proud to say I have come a long way and the journey is just starting. Sometimes you have to push yourself to get out of your comfort zone.
If you have read my previous blogs, you will know that I now regularly attend a yoga shala. There is this one thing I heard from an instructor that has stuck with me. It’s……
“Criticisms are your unspoken wishes”.
How many times a day do we easily criticise a colleague, a friend, our partner, our children or anyone for that matter?
For something like – ‘My friend never calls me, I am the one to always pick up the phone”, the unspoken wish is that you want to talk to your friend often. How about ‘my partner never puts the dishes in the dishwasher’? That can translate to ‘I am so tired at the end of the day and I just need help’.
It might seem really simple with the examples above, but when you perhaps criticise someone at work for having got a promotion, that is an unspoken wish for you to have got the promotion yourself. And, I know that life is always not fair. Rather than criticise, how about writing down that goal your heart so seeks and working towards it? When you put pen to paper and take the first step towards your goal, magic happens. The Universe will often start opening up opportunities and doors for your deepest desires.
I am carrying this with me now and into the future.
That’s it from me for this month’s reflection. I hope you’ve had a good month too.
If you or your organisation is looking for a speaker to deliver a keynote or a workshop on Money mindset or other topics including financial literacy, I am well placed to deliver this. Here is a link to my website for further details – https://oburamaraj.com/speaking/