I’m currently at the National Achievers Congress in Singapore for the second consecutive year and it was an amazing experience. The energy from the audience of thousands was electric and it’s always such a privilege for me to be here.
It’s funny to think that just a few years ago speaking on a stage as prestigious as this was just a faraway dream for me. I’ve mentioned this many times before, but I used to be terrified of public speaking. As a kid I pretended to be sick just so that I didn’t have to speak during a school assembly.
And today I’m honored to have one of the highest closing rates for Success Resources.
Everybody has fear, but it shouldn’t stop you from achieving success. Many people believe that it’s their fear that causes them to fail. However I believe that the reason why people fail is not because they aim too high and miss, but because they aim too low and hit.
Right now some people may be thinking that speaking at NAC is too far out of their reach, that it’s something they will never be able to achieve, that is it simply impossible. And that’s exactly why I’m writing this.
Fear is a debilitating disease that really serves no purpose other than to stop you in your tracks or scare you away.
Here are three ways I overcame my fear of speaking, and how you can overcome any fear you face that’s preventing you from reaching your goals.
1. Passion
Your desire to reach your goal must be strong enough to surpass the level of fear you have. Despite the fact that I had been afraid of public speaking from the time I was a child, I pushed through and continued on this journey because it was something I was passionate about.
This passion wasn’t about speaking on stage, but about sharing my message.
From being in 6-figure debt and unemployed to generating over $1 million in 2 years, I knew that the system I had created was powerful and could potentially save lives. That passion to help people is what drove me; it was my personal goal to reach out to others and show them exactly how to generate a passive income online.
So if you have a fear that you feel is holding you back, ask yourself what it is you are really missing out on. This comes back to the importance of having a strong “why.”
For me, the question was, “Why do you want to be a speaker?” And the answer was because I want to help people. That’s the kind of passion you need to overcome fear.
2. Personal Investment
I am not a naturally talented speaker. I wasn’t born with an innate ability to command a crowd and talk confidently to a hall of thousands. In fact, those closest to me know that I’m an introvert and prefer being on my own. But just as with many things not only in life, but specifically in Internet marketing, speaking is a learnable skill.
Through different seminars, speaker trainings and mentors, I learned how to speak publicly. I believe it’s extremely important to learn from the best and follow those who are already doing what it is you want to do.
Whatever goal you want to achieve, take measurable action steps that will bring you closer to it.
3. Practice
If you want to be good at anything, you have to be willing to be bad at it first. Practice is a combination of having that passion to drive you forward, and the knowledge from the training you’ve gone through. It’s about taking action not just once, but twice, three times and more.
The first time I ever spoke on stage in front of a couple hundred people, I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep properly during the week leading up to the event, and actually vomited twice before going onstage. To top it all off, I didn’t do well at all.
But through persistence and practice I refused to give up.
A year later my seminar Internet Income Intensive was selling out at every event, and in a matter of months I was going on tour with the National Achievers Congress across 4 continents.
So I hope that this post motivates you to get past any mental blocks you have. I’m nothing special, just a kid from Malaysia who had big dreams. I’ve had failures and fallen on my face, I have fears and insecurities just like anyone else. The only difference is I don’t view failure as failure, but rather as a learning experience. I acknowledge my fear and take productive steps to overcome it.
Remember that any dream you have is possible, as long as you have passion, personal investment and practice.