You Are More Than Yourself

What does it take to overcome your biggest fear, transform your present and sow the seeds to meet your future self?

It was the year 2003, the hot summer of July.

I was in my PGDBM (post graduate degree, business management) class attending Business Communications.

We were given the assignment by a member of the very dynamic faculty. A white haired, female Professor wearing a sari; very gracious with amazing spectacles. Her words, actions, and thoughts were always in sync.

Amazing respect for such a professor. You’ll find very few of them these days with such passion and genuine interest to transform the lives of students.

The whole class was given an assignment to speak in front of 120 people, a batch of PGDBM 2003–05 batch mates.

There were students from across India. Some from cosmopolitan cities, some were like me hailing from a small town called Roorkee near Haridwar.

I remember speaking on stage once or twice in some functions in my childhood, where I used to put up some notes to remember what to say.

Keywords were being written down and then da da da … da .. da .. da, as the words were spoken.

This time it was not speaking on stage.

This time it was a formal class of future managers, many of whom were looking as if they are already corporate professionals. Black suits and formals. Some of them 5–7 years older than me.

As usual, as my name starts with the letter A, I was about to be called after 4–5 people.

There was no podium where you could hide your legs.

Speaking was okay. You can speak to anyone even in public, but this time task was tedious.

You have to speak sense + You have to connect with the audience + You have to maintain your body language.

Never to forget the professor who taught us the basics of public speaking so graciously.

Here came my turn to speak.

I went to the front row where the speaker would speak.

The mind went blank for a few seconds. Legs began shaking. Where to hide those shaking legs. Hands were not finding the right place to keep them. It was like the first class of driving. You need to manage clutch, gear, brake, and speed together.

It was almost like the most uncomfortable situation. Feeling giddy and a sense of nausea.

Anyway, the situation was that the theory lesson had already been given.

The whole class was waiting for the words. The Professor was waiting for me to take charge.

Here I come. Um… Aa… Umm…. Aa… .

Took a pen and kept it in my hands so that at least one part was okay. Hands found the place to be restful.

Legs still shivering.

I muffed the speech a bit. I started speaking and the tempo was high. As I became uncomfortable and just wanted somehow this to finish. I started moving left-to-right da… da. Da… da…

Da … da. … da…. Da. da…

In the next minute, I got the first feel and satisfaction that I was speaking. Even though I was moving, I was connecting with a few eyes. Some eyes were giving me motivation. Legs started calming down.

The topic somehow was delivered that day.

This became the forming ground for my future speaking (public speaking).

That was the day I overcame my first barrier of speaking among many.

If that class would not have been there in my life I would not have been to places where I went later.

Three lessons from this:

1. Get hold of the situation — The first day of driving the car is always tough. Your mind says, “How the hell I will be able to manage clutch, gear, brake, and speed together?

2. Go with your flow — Even though there are many who have accomplished more than you and they seem to be better than you. Their story and the journey is different. Their start environment and goals are different. Get into the water and try to be with flow.

3. It is about you, not them — When you are learning a new skill the whole story is about you. You are not what you were. You will not be what you are now. This is the playground for you. The match will be played later. Practice practice. Every master was once a disaster.

Your mindset is the most valuable thing!! Keep it set, do not unset or upset….!! It is not who you are, it who you become…. It is your journey. The Journey of you becoming the future you.

Believe in yourself.. You can do it!! Miracles do happen if you believe in Miracles.

Do you resonate with the story?

If you have a similar story like this, share in the comments.

If would like to invite you to my private Facebook VIP Group to talk in more detail.