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An earlier blog post pleaded with you to be not hesitant. The whole point is to communicate with impact. If you don’t want to make an impact, why bother to speak up? If you need to speak, don’t be hesitant.

The reality is that you may be unsure from time to time. That’s okay, state that you are unclear, describe what you are unclear about, but don’t be hesitant.

To remove hesitation when you communicate, try these tips:

• Prepare for the communication. The more you prepare, the more you’ll be ready. You can “over prepare” so don’t overdo it.
• Develop your confidence, act like you belong, and remove the reasons for your low confidence. You don’t need to fake it till you mean it (but that works too sometimes), genuinely improve your confidence from the inside out.
• Learn how to communicate. Speaking is a skill, there are definite techniques to follow. Don’t learn it the hard way, take training or read books to shorten your learning cycle.

If you sound hesitant, your audience will wonder why they should be listening to you.

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Athletes, dancers, and actors are wonderful to watch largely because of their physical movements. All three need prodigious control over their physical, mental, and emotional abilities. Oh yes, the mechanics of what they do is important as well.

But why are they so attractive, and why are all three considered entertainers?

First, the high performing ones are completely in the moment. Their mind, body, and spirit is into what they are doing. It is such a joy to watch someone who is so involved in what they are doing.

Second, they are committed to their task. Their thought is not on success or failure, but only on practicing their craft. This commitment can be seen as they literally throw themselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually into the task at hand. They do not hold back. We feel one with them as we egg them on towards their goal.

Third, they are comfortable with the vulnerable nature of their profession. Athletes could get hurt. Dancers and actors could get a really bad review, and be booed off the stage. A natural consequence of failure is cancellation of endorsement contracts, and loss of ranking points. Their courage, lack of fear, or their determination even though they are visibly scared, keeps us spellbound, and we fear for them.

The not so good ones are nervous, stiff, distracted, awkward, and thus low quality to watch and with poor performance. If you pay a lot of money to watch these people perform, it is likely your reactions range from disappointment to anger to rage.

While athletes, dancers, and actors “work” they are not thought as working, but entertaining. In the office environment, the “players” have the same challenge. But the same rules apply. You are expected to entertain as well as perform. It does not matter that you are not paid endorsement money or huge prize money or that no one outside your co-workers will know your name.

Be in the moment, be committed, and get comfortable with your vulnerability, no matter what your chosen profession.