It's All in Your Head

Think you're going to screw up in front of your next audience? If you do, it's because it's all in your head.

Pushing Forward

On this day of the week when it's common to drag ourselves slowly out of bed, into the day and into focus, I am reminded of a move I made to begin pushing my own barrier out of the way. Some of you may have read that I have been a student of the National Speaker Association's Protrack VI class in Ohio, a class that one of my classmates calls "the MBA for professional speakers".

Through the 8-month course we students have examined not only our speaker style, our message and our business strategy. We have also seen the number of ways we could step out into new territory with our business and our own professional speaking practice. This examination - common to many professionals who strive to remain purposeful - though fearful, is also motivating. So much so that I called upon one of the instructors to mentor me. And the double-edged sword answer is, he said yes.

Introvert Barrier #2

Give someone a chance to vote on leaders, and if they know the candidates, they would select the introverts. Yet if they don't know the candidates, their guts would steer them away from the introverts. Why? Based on Barrier #2: perception gaps. (We have already addressed the intrapersonal barrier of introverts with the post Introvert Barrier #1. #2 - this post- is an interpersonal barrier)

Introvert Barrier #1

It's the biggest killer in today's society: Stress.

Introverts feel so much better when we manage ourselves. Until then, we are our own biggest enemy. We tend to let stress do us in. The number one barrier to introverts' self worth is stress. We need to break down this barrier.

As Jennifer B. Kahnweiler writes in The Introverted Leader, there are three common stress builders we habitually allow. They include work overload, focus on physical symptoms that create anxiety and people exhaustion.

Communication Skill Barriers

Whether we are attorneys or not, we all have what it takes to communicate effectively. Either we were born with the skills or we learned (directly or indirectly) what it takes to develop relationships and influence. On the contrary, we all have what it takes to hold ourselves back from communicating well, whether in public speaking, interpersonal effectiveness or intrapersonal (self-talk) effectiveness. It's from this platform of barriers that we most often make judgements about our effectiveness. And often we feel ineffective. The good news is, we can break down those barriers.

Here are a few things to keep in mind regarding barriers.