This past week, I listened to the Speakernomics – Speak. Get Paid. Repeat. The title of the particular episode was “Running Toward Intimidation with Scott Carley.” The podcast host, Robert Kennedy, III, discussed Scott Carley’s journey of breaking through intimidation and building relationships with top-notch speakers.

What a great lesson in standing up to intimidation, reminding me of some intimidation I ran to.

September 2005 – My wife, my son Frankie, and my daughter Jackie were sitting in the St. Timothy School cafeteria in Chantilly listening to the Cubmaster of Cub Scout Pack 146 explain all about Cub Scouts – the camping, the crafts, the fun.

Then he came to the part I dreaded. He asked, “Who wants to be a Den Leader?” I was intimidated. I had no idea what a Den Leader did. I had to make a fast choice. I could run away from intimidation, or I could run toward it. I am glad I chose the latter.

I became a Den Leader and Assistant Scoutmaster when my son Frankie moved to Boy Scouts.

I learned a lot about camping and supported my son, which resulted in my son Frankie becoming an Eagle Scout. Frankie is now a U.S. Navy Nuclear Officer on the U.S.S. Indiana fast attack sub. Pardon my bragging.

Was running toward intimidation and becoming a Cub Scout Den Leader worth it? You bet it was.

Are you faced with deciding to run away from or toward your speaking intimidation?

In this article, I cover the importance of running toward intimidation, how to do this, and the results you will get.

Importance

When you don’t run toward intimidation, you fall into a rut. Earl Nightingale, one of my mentors, says, “A rut is nothing more than a grave with the ends kicked out.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be in a grave. I’m always moving.

Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing and expecting something different?

So, running toward intimidation gets you out of your rut.

When you do something that intimidates you, you also move forward and increase your chances of accomplishing your goal.

It is a common misunderstanding that knowledge is power. Acquired knowledge is necessary to accomplish your goals but not sufficient. Nothing will happen in your life unless you act on your acquired knowledge.

When you run toward intimidation in your speaking, you take the crucial first step toward applying your knowledge to achieve your goals.

Some examples of running toward intimidation are:

• Submitting a proposal to speak at a national conference even if you haven’t spoken at a regional conference

• Reaching out through a cold call to a prospective client you discovered on the Internet

• Hiring a virtual assistant to perform routine administrative business tasks you have been doing yourself

All these require you to run toward your intimidation.

An excellent point to remember is you will never have all the information you need to make a speaking decision. There will be a time limit, and the opportunity will no longer be available if you don’t decide to do the job. Don’t let this happen.

Hopefully, you now know the importance of running toward intimidation.

So how do you do it?

How

As I mentioned, you will never have all the information you need to make a speaking decision. You will always come to a point where you must decide whether to run toward or away from your speaker’s intimidation. Sometimes, you must use your intuition and gut feeling to make your speaking decision.

You may not know anything about what you are embarking on when you run toward your speaking intimidation. However, very few situations in this world have not been encountered by someone else. Your job is to find out who these people are, talk to them, and then apply what they say.

The important thing is to start the activity, note how you can improve your performance, and then perform the activity repeatedly. Countless studies show by doing an activity repeatedly; we become better and better at it over time. But a requisite is to stop talking about the speaking activity and start doing it.

Brian Tracy tells us, “There are no failures, just practice shots.” He’s right.

We have now covered the importance of running toward intimidation and how you do it.

Now, let’s look at the results you will get.

Results

Some of you may know I have been a Toastmaster for over thirty years. I am still learning.

One of the great things about belonging to a Toastmasters club is the public speaking self-confidence it gives its members. Although that is something of great worth, the real magic happens when this self-confidence in public speaking transforms into self-confidence in other areas of members’ personal and professional lives.

Inevitably, in the process of running toward your intimidation, you help others. People look up to people who display self-confidence and seek advice from them. In this process, you assist others to run toward their intimidation.

When you help others, you satisfy a basic human need to feel needed. We all have this need, and it probably is the main reason you speak to your audiences – to help your audience solve a problem they have not been able to solve.

The funny thing is when you help others, you are also helping yourself – another positive by-product of running through your intimidation.

In this article, we have covered the importance of running toward intimidation, how you can do this, and the results you will enjoy when you run toward your intimidation.

Run toward your intimidation and reap the benefits!

Call to Action

• Volunteer for a job before you know how to do it

• Seek advice from others who have done the job

• Keep doing the job over and over and over again, improving every time you perform it

Frank DiBartolomeo is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and award-winning speaker, presentation and interview skills coach, and Professional Member of the National Speakers Association. He was awarded Toastmasters International’s highest individual award, Distinguished Toastmaster because of his outstanding work in public speaking and leadership.

Frank formed DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC (www.speakleadandsucceed.com) in 2007. The mission of DCI is to help technical professionals to inspire, motivate, and influence their colleagues and other technical professionals by improving their presentation skills, communication, and personal presence. Reach Frank at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com and (703) 509-4424.

Don’t miss Frank DiBartolomeo’s latest book!

“Speak Well and Prosper: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Better Presentations”

Available now at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com