A few months ago I asked my daughter, “How can I help you stop sucking your thumb?”
Although she wasn’t yet two-and-half years old, given that I sucked my thumb until I was close to ten years old (and in my Hotshot Speaker Video Training I share the negative impact that had on my speaking), I was eager to support her in breaking her habit as early as possible.
“Mommy,” she told me, “It’s too hard. I can’t stop.”
“I know it is sweetie,” I assured her (because truly, quite possibly nobody knows more than me how difficult a habit thumb sucking is to break). “But I bet there is something you might want that would make it worth your while to try stopping.”
She thought a bit, and then she came back with the answer, “I want a purple table. I really want a purple table in my bedroom. I’ll try to stop if I can have a purple table in my bedroom.”
“You got it!” I said. While I didn’t suspect this reward would enable my daughter to kick her habit, at least she/we had something to work towards.
“After 7 days in a row of no thumb sucking we’ll pick out a purple table together” I promised.
Fast forward to day 6.5. My daughter woke up from a nap at my mom’s house and confessed, “Yia Yia, I sucked my thumb. I forgot.”
I was crushed. So was my daughter.
When we talked about what had happened and what might make the next attempt at 7 consecutive days go a little bit better, my daughter suggested we pick out the table now and she could look at it each day until she got through her 7 days. She also asked if I could remind her before nap and bed times because that was when she often would unconsciously put her thumb in her mouth.
After looking for the perfect purple table, my daughter adjusted her request to a Hello Kitty table. We both followed the plan we co-created. I kept showing her the picture of her table and giving her gentle reminders before she went to sleep.
And after just 7 more days, my daughter stopped sucking her thumb.
My daughter is now approximately two months “clean” of her thumb-sucking habit. Whenever I ask her, “K, how were you able to do something that felt so hard?” she reminds me, “Mommy, I wanted Hello Kitty table. So I tried, tried, tried every day to make it happen. And you reminded me why I didn’t want to suck my thumb so I didn’t forget.”
When we want something badly enough, we ALWAYS figure out a way to make it happen.
I LOVE working with entrepreneurs, change agents and thought leaders who want to be speakers. And who want it badly. Because… they know that their stories, ideas and passions must be shared with a larger audience.
Just like my daughter was crystal clear on her why, my clients similarly have a desire that is bigger than their fear (sometimes not much, but enough). That desire enables them to flow with their resistance (because they all have it), keep taking action when they face rejection (or second-guess their abilities) and it propels them onto stages, into corporations and in front of the audiences who they must serve and positively impact.
I am scheduling 5 VIP Speaker Coaching Days between September-December 2016 for 5 women (and men!) who want to do 1 or more of the following:
- Develop the content for a new keynote, signature talk, corporate training, retreat or high-level mastermind.
- Create material for a series of webinars, launch videos, a podcast or tele-summit.
- Amplify their stage presence and speaking delivery through intensive work on storytelling, arguing on behalf of big ideas, asking provocative audience questions, facilitating learning and calling audiences to take action.
- Design a classy, high-converting stage offer that enrolls live or virtual audience members into clients.
- Create an aggressive and achievable 12-month speaking business plan.
If you are interested in exploring whether a VIP Speaker Coaching Day makes sense for you, click here NOW to apply for 1 of 5 daylong sessions. (VIP Speaker Coaching Days are typically held in Las Vegas but depending on timing, I may be able to hold yours in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Phoenix or Boston.)
I don’t anticipate enrolling anyone into a VIP Speaker Coaching Day again until spring-2017, so if you’ve been wanting to work together intensively and you are someone who thrives in face-to-face, high-touch learning environments, I’d love to see your application.
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