Join us September 16 and 17 for our two day public speaking intensive! (We have an indoor-outdoor space, yeah!) One exercise we will do -- learning to speak without preparation. Improvisers learn to trust their brains to produce interesting ideas. One of the ways they do this is by learning how to turn off the inner critic.
Can we create a period of time in our next meeting where no idea can be criticized -- even internally by ourselves? One method is to advocate a “my first thought is the best thought” period of time. It will probably be hard. We will probably say, “I have no ideas.” But we do. It’s just that a part of us is shooting them down before we can even recognize them.
Our inner critic is a wonderful ally when we are making finishing touches on any kind of presentation or project. Our ability to analyze, scrutinize, and edit ideas is vital. But too often, our critic wants to be in charge all the time. This inner voice can then destroy creative moments that require some risk as we open ourselves up to new mindsets.
I’ve found that most of the intelligent, successful people I meet have a tough time asking their inner monitor to take a break. I’ve also found that my clients get much better at this with practice. In my public speaking seminars this is vital, toward helping my clients feel comfortable answering questions or otherwise speaking without much prep.
If you’d like to find more creative ideas and be better at thinking on the spot, take periods of time where you run with your first thought. Brainstorming in this way, “my first thought is the best thought…. at least for now,” helps us create more novel connections between different parts of our brain. Your inner critic may think these ideas are “stupid, obvious, politically dangerous, or impossible.” That’s ok. During this short practice period, our critic is on a forced sabbatical. We can then exercise our minds to build greater creative abilities.
#publicspeaking #leadership #creative #personaldevelopment
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