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’re going to say. Where did your energy go? Perhaps most importantly, how are you going to get it back and create a great speech?
It’s 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.
In a nutshell, if you want to accomplish something, like write a great speech, you need to start by creating a goal first, and this is the important part, writing it down! Yes, I know it sounds too easy, but trust 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 a lot of 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 would 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 is actually much more to it than that.
Experts say that thinking about the goal is really only 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 ago. Simply put, this is where you take the time to imagine yourself succeeding before it’s time to act. Since the mind cannot differentiate between real and imagined actions, it believes that it has done this before and has just improved its chances of completing its goal.
When it comes to writing a great speech, visualization can really help. Speech writing can be quite time consuming and therefore 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 the results display. You can “see” what you want to produce and that will help you get there.
Become an action speaker
In the end, all the goals and visualizations in the world will do you no good if you don’t get out of your chair and take some action. It is this final step of the goal process that separates people who plan great things from those who accomplish great 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 accomplish.
Knowing your goals is only the first part of a process. Next, 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 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…!
