It’s taken me close to 2 years to reconcile my desire to do big work in the world with my coexisting desire to be home as much as possible with my daughter while I do it. While I work at least a few hours 6 days a week, and many days a “few” means up to 9 or 10 hours, one day has remained sacrosanct. Wednesdays. On Wednesdays I only work while my daughter naps, and as much as possible we are out and about for what we both look forward to as Mama-Daughter Day. And since summer, most Mama-Daughter Days have included at least an hour on the basketball court at our local park.
I’m not quite sure how my daughter realized she loved basketball. Perhaps it was secretly watching it with my husband (since we strive to keep the TV off around her). Or it could have been discovering boys playing on the court while we took a walk around the park. However the initial interest was sparked, my girl learned pretty early how to say “ball,” do a dribbling gesture, and say “park,” making it abundantly clear when she wants to go to the park with me and play basketball.
Actually, it would be a huuuuuuuuge stretch of the truth to say that my daughter actually plays basketball. While at home with a toddler hoop she will occupy herself attempting basket after basket, on the court she dribbles for less than a minute. Then, she creates a seat for herself in a pile of rocks and watches me dribble and shoot.
I fell in love with basketball when I was 6 or 7 years old. I grew up in Los Angeles in the 1980s during Laker mania, my dad was a huge fan, my greatest celebrity memory is running into Magic Johnson while getting frozen yogurt, and I was the tallest girl in my class until 2nd or 3rd grade. All of this contributed to a huge passion for the game.
I remember being good. Maybe even great. I’m not sure if that memory is accurate, to be honest, but I have a vision of myself being picked first or second in co-ed P.E. for a few years whenever it was basketball season. While I don’t think I ever picked up a basketball once I began training professionally as a ballet dancer, the first Mama-Daughter Day where I took my daughter out to the court, I felt the kind of rush usually I only get while on stage. It hasn’t gone away, and I can tell my daughter feels it.
“Mama, ball! Mama, ball!” has become one of my daughter’s favorite anthems. “Yay!” she cheers, while clapping her hands, every time I make a hoop. “Agin, agin,” she yells anytime I stop to check-in on her or offer her the ball.
People, even toddlers, know when we are lit up and in flow. It’s incredibly captivating to watch someone standing center stage, or center court, 100 percent engaged and committed.
Whenever I share how I’ve overcome, and re-overcome (for it’s ongoing work) my fear around public speaking, I always answer that it’s from letting my enthusiasm for my speaking subject and desire to positively transform the hearts and minds of my audience trump my fear that I may not do it as well as I want to.
Soul-stirring, transformational public speaking requires the ability to do the right work, the smart work, to consistently get out of our own way by letting our passion drive our performance and by taking our fear and letting it ride in the backseat rather than shotgun. It requires the self-awareness (which often must be cultivated, rarely is it innate), to demystify our voice, our “secret sauce,” so that we are speaking to our audience our way—and having a wicked good time doing so.
I’m getting ready to open registration for my 2016 MasterTreat, a mastermind-meets-transformational retreat, for emerging through seasoned female speakers. Over 3 days in Downtown Las Vegas, a couple of dozen women will discover who they are called to be as speakers. They will practice storytelling as well as sculpting and speaking the talks and keynotes they were put on this earth to create. They will also receive tremendous support from me and my guest speakers and mentors as they create aggressive and achievable action plans for using speaking to grow their platforms, build their movements and generate meaningful revenue.
In advance of opening the doors, I’m hosting a virtual master class, Activate Your “Secret Sauce” as a Speaker, to dive even more deliciously into one of the most fundamental pieces of sustainable speaking success – shining a light on your specific stage brilliance.
While the MasterTreat will be for ladies only, my virtual master class is open to men as well as women.
On Monday, November 30, 2015, at 10:30am pacific I’ll be on camera sharing with you:
- Strategies to play nicely with the sensation that comes up when you think about sharing your message on stage
- How to find the idea(s) you want to be known for in the world and develop soul-stirring keynotes and talks around them
- Actionable (and effective) tips to make speaking transformational for your audience (and profitable for you!)
- Tactics to find high-quality speaking opportunities (and leverage existing speaking opportunities to book more!)
Do you want to play with me?
Claim your spot to Activate Your “Secret Sauce” as a Speaker NOW!
And one more thing.
If my repetitive use of the word “play” when talking about public speaking makes you a little uncomfortable, well, good! Too many speakers, for years I would include myself in this category, have chosen professional over playful. And while I ALWAYS show up having rehearsed and refined my material and embed practical strategies and tips into any talk, keynote, workshop or webinar I lead, I’ve learned that when I wrap my content in playfulness it lands SO MUCH more effectively for an audience.
I want to help you find your way to connect with your audience.
Hopefully I “see” you on November 30th!
