Is Success Simple or Hard?

MAN, SOMETHING IS IN THE AIR, and it’s all about how our mindset affects our results. Consider these posts in today’s feed reader:

First, Guy Kawasaki highlights the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck and her book, “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”. (Be sure to read the article “The Effort Effect” as well.)

Then Seth Godin comes in with a post called “Thrill Seekers”. He doesn’t mention Carol Dweck, but his message is the same: people who embrace growth, who love challenges, will go much further than those with a fixed mindset.

Neither post goes for the typical motivational approach of “You can do it! Just get out there and SELL!” (or “...LEAD!” or “...INNOVATE!” or “...<FILL IN THE BLANK>!”) Such fiery exhortations might have an effect for a day or so, but true inspiration and growth rarely come from being puffed up by the hot-speaker-du-jour.

The YouBlog Take

So what does this mean for you? Can you just will yourself to be a better presenter? Probably not, if all you’re doing is repeating a mantra like “It’s going to go well.” or “I’m NOT going to screw up. I’m NOT going to screw up.”

The key is to get out of a mindset of being a good presenter or a bad presenter (or mediocre or brilliant or whatever) and focus, instead, on the process of the presentation — on the exchange of information, on the dialog with your audience, and on helping them see how their experience can be improved with whatever it is you’re proposing.

If you get them really engaged in a conversation (even if there are a thousand of them), then all the artifice and posturing and technique falls away. They’ll ignore and you’ll forget about anything except what’s going on between you.

And the end result? You’ll be a better presenter than you ever imagined you could be.

Comments

[Mary-Louise]

I work for Guy Kawasaki. Thanks for the link to his recent blog posting: "The Effort Effect!"

Mary-Louise

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/

[John Windsor]

Thanks, Mary-Louise. You must have a fun job!