So there you have it: You’ve agreed to give a speech, and now your mind has gone completely blank as you try to start thinking about what you’ll say. Where did your energy go? Perhaps most importantly, how are you going to win it back and create a great speech?
It’s all about your goals
If you’ve ever read a book or attended a workshop on motivational techniques, then you already know the power of goals. If for some reason you haven’t, then you’re going to learn now.
Simply put, if you want to achieve something, like writing a great speech, you first need to start by creating a goal and, this is the important part, write it down! Yes, I know it sounds too easy, but believe me, this really works.
Setting goals is how you start to succeed
Sure we use the word “target” a lot, but do any of us really know what it means? It can mean many different things, but for our purposes here, let’s assume that when we talk about goals, we’re talking about something you want to achieve.
You’d think that when it comes to the goal of writing a great speech, all you have to do is think to yourself “I’m going to write a great speech” and that would be it. Right? Well, there’s actually a lot more to it than that.
Experts say that thinking about the goal is really just the first step. The next step (and some argue the most important) is to write it down. For some reason, this has the effect of making the goal seem more “real” to us. Finally, the last step in the process is to take action to make the goal a reality. There may be many steps you need to take, but taking the first one is what will get you on your way…
Visualization: Can you see what I can see?
If you were a professional sports figure, in recent years you would have been caught up in the “visualization” craze that swept through the sports world a while back. Simply put, this is where you take the time to imagine yourself succeeding before it’s time to act. Since the mind can’t differentiate between real and imagined actions, you think you’ve done this before and you’ve just improved your chances of completing your goal.
When it comes to writing a great speech, visualization can go a long way. Speech writing can be quite time consuming and so taking the time to visualize yourself successfully creating a great speech helps you stay focused and on track as you write.
What sports figures go through is called process visualization. What will happen when you are writing a speech is called output display. You can “see” what you want to produce and that will help you get there.
Becoming an action speaker
In the end, all the goals and visualizations in the world won’t do you any good if you don’t get up from your chair and take some action. It is this final step in the goal process that separates the people who plan big things from those who achieve big things.
What all this means to you
You can write a great speech. The key to doing this is to make sure you have clear goals for what you want to achieve.
Knowing your goals is only the first part of a process. Then you need to take the time to visualize yourself creating that great speech and then, most importantly, you need to start taking the necessary steps to get to where you want to be.
There is no secret to writing a great speech. You have the ability to do it right now. Go set some goals and you’ll be halfway to creating that great speech…!
