When (Not IF) You Believe You Achieve Greatness Screenagers?
When (Not IF) You Believe You Achieve Greatness Screenagers?
It was an icy cold January morning after we had finished co-teaching a public speaking class in San Francisco State University.
I still remember walking through the corridors back to Rudy’s office after that class on my first day (I had no idea it was going be 9.5 more years) of Graduate school.
Rudy and I were talking and I shared t how he had engaged the class in a few different ways, and he mentioned, “That was quite observant, Warren.”
I thought that sounded cool.
I made another point and few minutes later he said, “Again that was very intuitive now you saw the connection and associated it with the class engagement.”
I felt honored.
Next, I showed Rudy how I saw how he held the class engaged when he moved with purpose and gestured with emphasis, and again he said, “Warren, even your visual communication skills are quite acute for your first day in the program.”
I could see that was nice.
He went on to say, “Warren, when you go on to your doctorate you could focus your research on engaging communication or what we call in the research Immediate Communication.”
I said out loud, “No, way.”
I quickly followed with, ”I’m not going on to earn my doctorate, I’m just here to earn my master’s degree and get a good job as a trainer.”
Either he didn’t hear me or he wasn’t listening because he kept going about, “Warren, when you study for your PhD, you will want to study under a researcher who specializes on in-class engagement and Immediate Communication.”
Again I said, “No, I just want to get my master’s degree and a better job.”
For the next year, every time I saw Rudy he said something about, “When you go for your PhD.”
He never said, “If you go for your PhD.”
And every time he said it my answer was always the same, “No.”
Why? Because the picture I had of myself was to be a small trainer in a big company, and I didn’t believe I could do anything more.
Remember, being ADD, I struggled in school most of my life as teachers kept telling me, “Warren, you’re just not trying hard enough.”
As Dale Carnegie wrote, give the person a fine reputation to live up to.
It turned out when you study your passion (for me it was communications,) the study is easier.
Think about it, I was studying talking, I was talking about talking, I was researching talking, in my graduate courses we were learning about talking, I was going to conferences about talking, and I was teaching about talking in public speaking classes.
It was an ADD dream come true.
I still struggled in the more challenging classes, but overall, for the first time in my life, I was talking to myself differently, I was seeing myself differently, and I was feeling differently as I was building my confidence.
So, after almost a year most every time I saw Rudy and heard him say, “When you go for your PhD Warren…,” I started to break down. (He was so persistent in believing more in me than I believed in myself.)
I started seeing myself as a PhD student.
It was all because Rudy, believed more of me than I believed in myself.
As I tell audiences all over the world, “I stand before you as Doctor Warren LINGER, because Rudy believed in me.”
Zig Ziglar tells us there are a whole lot of people who went a lot further in life than they believed they could, because someone else believed they could.
Who has done that for you in your life? Who thought you could do more than you thought you could?
Who have you supported to do more than than the others thought they could?
As I’ve taught public speaking for many years, my total is well above 5000 students doing more than they ever thought they could.
Even now, I travel around the world reflecting back to others how they can be and do more than they ever thought, but that is only after they build the confidence and take action to start. Click the blog yesterday for 3 steps to build.
With public speaking most everyone begins by thinking they can’t (junk-engagement) do much, so getting them up there and pushing them to do their best is optimal engagement.
With all my products and services I continue to do A-B testing to ensure they are up-to-dane and the most effective at collecting learning analytics.
As a result, one of the powerful aspects of coaching and our training is the act of reflecting learning analytics back to our clients to show them their grown, and that is awesome.
Look inside yourself at how you feel and ask, “If I was going to believe in myself as doing more than I ever thought I could do, what direction would I chose?”
Believe—you can go further than you ever thought you could.
Remember, come join tomorrow to see more Improving Your Engagement with Screenagers and others inspirational experiences and ideas for Optimal Engagement in the ScreenAge.
Remember to engage tomorrow.
Following with you.
Keep it simple.
All the Best, Warren
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