Take One Step at a Time
A few weeks ago, I saw a baby picture of my 12-year old son, and it made me think of how he progressed with speaking.
At 15 months old, he wasn’t speaking in complete sentences.
Family and friends were worried.
Fortunately, our pediatrician wasn’t concerned.
Our doctor, however, offered us a free resource: an area speech pathologist.
When the speech pathologist met my son, she knew he was understanding and engaged in conversation.
She used this analogy to describe my son’s experience with language: “You are at the top of the stairs, and your son is at the bottom. You’re expecting him to just jump from the bottom to the top of the stairs, rather than gently progress, saying one word at a time. It takes just one step at a time.”
Her words made me pause and allow my son to express himself as himself in his own time—one step at a time.
Just two months later, the speech pathologist returns to our home after a few weeks of home visits.
My son greets her with this sentence: “I was riding my horse as Raul, saving Christine from the Phantom.”
She responded, “Your son is just fine.”
Recently, I was working with a client who was struggling to hone in on her TEDx talk topic.
These were the client’s questions:
What’s my idea worth spreading?
How do I break down the main ideas in a poignant way?
Can I be vulnerable and engaging?
It seemed too daunting of a task to complete.
Nearly impossible.
When you have a speech, or a formal presentation, fear can set in.
Impatience of wanting it done right now can affect and influence the content of your message.
Have patience.
Play with ideas and language.
Know that it takes collecting ideas, finding focus, and then drafting, and redrafting again to get the speech to be what you want it to be.
Don’t expect to jump from the bottom of the stairs to the top immediately.
It takes time.
It takes practice.
It takes patience.
How do you get started on a presentation?
Or get unstuck?
It takes courage to get started, and it takes the gentle support and encouragement of a coach.
If you’re ready to craft a keynote or share your story, reach out for a discovery call, so we can connect to uplevel your speaker style.
If you want help telling you or your organization’s story or communicate with ease, join me for a storytelling webinar:
