The Possibility of Speaking

PeopleCount.org isn't about fixing our political problems with a band-aid, it's about a fundamental shift in what's possible for politics and government, so We, The People, hundreds of millions of us, can self-govern easily and effectively.

A big part of creating this new world of possibility is letting go of the myths that keep us stuck in the current paradigm and its problems.

I just joined ToastMasters to improve my speaking skills, and talked with my friend, Ed Perper, about it yesterday.

In our conversation, I told him about my speech-writing "process". I wrote out my entire speech, then practiced it, word for word, often making small edist. As I did it, I felt stressed- I needed to "get it right." In hearing myself tell Ed about this, I wondered, "What kind of person would practice it word for word, and then bring the whole speech as notes?"

Asking the question brought the answer immediately to mind: Someone who can't speak well without notes.

My view of myself came into focus. Fundamentally, my brain doesn't believe I'll ever get up in front of an audience and give an inspiring talk without notes. Subconsciously, I was believing that I can't be the kind of natural, inspiring speaker that I want to be.

Part of my view of life is that I am not my brain. It's like riding a horse- the horse has a mind of its own. When you're galloping along with the horse, speeding over the land, it's easy to forget that the horse desn't One can influence a horse but not control it.

So, too, with the brain. It's not my fault that my brain has beliefs about my limits. But once I identify those limits, I can choose whether to believe them. I can't choose what my brain believes, but I can interrupt and correct it. And it's my responsibility to do that.

So I'm giving up believing I'm not good enough, that I'll always need notes, that I won't be able to connect with and inspire an audience. I'm creating a new possibility for myself and my life, to support the new possibility I'm creating for the world.

There's no real reason that I can't stand in front of a large audience and give a talk as inspirational and compelling as the best TED talks. There are lots of reasons, but they're reasons I've made up- they're true only because I've said they're true and then behaved accordingly. They're self-fulfilling prophecies. So I'm giving them up.

In my next few talks, I promise have at most one 3x5 card. After that, I'll speak without notes.

My brain doesn't think it's possible. My job is to make my promise come true, not to believe my limits. This is a fundamental concept of creating a new possibility, a new future. It's not possible given what we believe today- it takes creating something new.

In the same way, I promise together we'll create a world where politics is the way we communicate peacefully about what we want for our collective future, and government is how we work together productively to achieve it. We'll naturally and easily be responsible for government.

Luckily for me, ToastMasters has a plan for how I can become this kind of a speaker.

Luckly for us, I have a plan for how to transform govern and politics.