I've been reminded this week that the toughest times of our working and personal life are the most precious, for it is then we find and build our strengths.

When you are speaking to an audience, you do not need to pretend to be perfect. 

It is often our frailties, and humanity that makes audiences relate to us.  The stories we have about how we coped and survived the tough times, the pain we felt that we moved beyond are our treasures. 

Although they need to be told in the right way, they are our speaker's gold. 

When you are on stage, you don't need to pretend to be perfect, never to have made a mistake.  Your experience is greater if you have faced adversity and survived it.  There is a way to tell your story which communicates this and emphasises the benefits (and if you ever want to talk about how to do this, ring in on my Wednesday Q and A - details on the right) .

For a final thought, I turn to the words of Margaret Moth, which have resonated with me ever since I first heard them in a 60 minutes documentary:

 ‘I’ve crossed the Sahara on a camel.  I’ve been down the Amazon in a canoe and I’ve been shot in Sarajavo. Those are my riches.’

I have written more about Margaret Moth on my blog here.


If you like this tip: you may like these

Tip 11: Poise and how to find it

Tip 19: Why you're better to try and be average than a superstar on stage

Tip 28 : Why More isn't always better: Lessons learned from Juggling

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(A special welcome to the Her Business Network Ladies who Lunch, who attended the session on Mastering the Art of Public Speaking.  Click here to follow the link to download the resources from the session)