Online Business Freedom

I stood there, staring at the audience, my heart throbbing painfully in my chest, my mouth dry, and my tongue feeling enormously large in my throat.

My breath kept catching in my chest, and my knees felt wobbly and weak.

The more I tried to get the words out of my mouth, the more frightened and distraught I became.

“I’m sorry,” I finally croaked out, looking at my feet, “I can’t do this…”

“Great!” The professor said to my surprise. “NOW we can get to work…”

The year was 2002 and I was in my final year of college at UC San Diego.

Physically, I was in an auditorium with around 20 other students in a small public speaking class.

But mentally, I was doing battle with a demon that had plagued my existence since sophomore year in college.

The demon of stage fright, aka - The Fear of Public Speaking.

And I was losing. Badly.

Literally 3 minutes before, I was hiding behind the bleachers in the auditorium, listening in as, one by one, the students went up to a lone podium at the front of the room, and began introducing themselves and why they had decided to take the class.

Upon hearing what was happening (we’re getting up to talk ALREADY???) I almost left right then and there.

To my horror, the professor spotted me, and told me that I was next at the podium.

In my mind, this was a fate worse than death.

Over the course of two years, what was once a tiny bit of nervousness when getting up to do presentations, had turned into a full blown, terror filled experience every time I had to get up to speak in front of more than a handful of people.

I had no idea why this fear had spiraled so completely out of control, but I finally got the nerve, during my last quarter of college, to face my fear head on, and to eliminate it from my life once and for all.

Back to the auditorium… But there I was, my voice shaking, my weakness exposed, and just absolutely vulnerable and helpless.

A side I absolutely HATED showing.

But then, something miraculous happened.

That moment of black and utter despair passed.

The class smiled at me and urged me on.

Someone yelled, “Man, don’t even worry about it… you should have seen MY introduction…!”

Slowly, some feeling returned to my legs.

My heart started beating at a more regular rhythm.

I began to think more clearly.

And I began to speak. In a loud and clear voice.

I was probably up there for about 3 minutes, total. But it felt like a lifetime.

And when I finished, the 20 students broke out into thunderous applause. I smiled weakly and took my seat.

And all the while my professor just stood there, arms folded, smiling a knowledgeable, “told you so,” kind of a smile.

She knew she had forced me to take that first step towards slaying that inner demon.

Here’s the point in all this. Here’s what I took away from that experience.

You see, I gave 3 speeches over the course of 10 weeks that quarter. They all probably sucked.

But I kept at it. Kept practicing and refining my skills because I knew in my heart that one day, I would need this skill to educate people on how to be successful.

I just knew, in my heart of hearts, that that day would come.

In spring of 2005 I competed in my Toastmasters International Speech Contest. I won at three levels, getting to my district level, before losing.

In December of that year I spoke in front of 300 loan officers (my former career) on how to write copy for the mortgage business.

At one point during my presentation I received an unexpected round of applause that surprised me because I was so passionately caught up in what I was saying.

But afterwards it made me think back on my senior year in college and that fateful class.

Because the real lesson that I took from all this… the LIFE lesson that I keep in my heart to this day (And I urge you to think about), is hopefully something that completes the missing component in the old “Just Do It!” and “Take Action!” messages that are so regularly talked about in personal development and money making circles.

I realized what it is that separates a person who is magnetic, who lives life with passion, and meaning, and purpose, from a person who lives in fear and desperation.

You see, the person who lives their dreams, who has very little resistance between their thoughts and their actions, simply accept the fact that they don’t KNOW what’s going to happen when they do something.

Yet they step forward with unfettered boldness ANYWAYS.

And it’s the very opposite reason that holds so many people back. In a general sense, the peanut gallery, the unwashed masses are right. It is fear that holds people back.

But what is it a fear of? Here’s the truth:

People are simply afraid of not being 100% sure of an outcome. That’s it. It’s the fear of uncertainty. People want a GUARANTEE before taking action.

Guess what? NEVER GONNA HAPPEN.

But that’s why it is those with the conviction to EMBRACE this unknowing state who are liberated from this debilitating fear.

So do that right now. Just accept that there will NEVER be a 100% sure outcome for ANYTHING that you do.

It’s this acceptance of the unknowing that, in my mind, separate the good from the great.

And looking back on that 3 minutes in my stuffy college class, I am always thankful that I know ANYTHING can be overcome by just accepting this fact.

-James D. Lee

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