Easier said than done: Owning who you are
Courage trumps confidence. Where confidence is a feeling (and I don’t know about you, but I haven’t yet mastered total control over my feelings!) courage is a decision – a choice we make about how we show up.
Put another way: if confidence is the light your audience sees shining from you, then courage is the energy that powers that light. It’s fierce and illuminating, and everyone has it. Yet some find it harder to access – and dial up – than others.
When it comes to presenting, you can find your courage with the following three amplifiers:
Knowing your stuff,
Preparing well, and
Owning who you are.
But I get it, that third one is a doozy that’s easier said than done. Most of us spend a lifetime working to get comfortable in our own skin. It’s worth the effort though, as the stronger you are in each of these three areas, the more courage you will have to draw from.
You can see the importance of each aspect when you consider what resides where just two of the amplifiers intersect and the other isn’t present.