I get my haircut at one of those little franchise hair cutting joints (similar to Fantastic Sams but not quite as fantastic). I go about every 2-3 weeks. In fact, I’ve been going there for at least a year and a half on a consistent basis.

Guess what? Not a single one of the stylists have remembered my name or even acknowledged me as if I’ve been there before. It’s like they’ve got full blown dementia. I’ve got a haircut from them all, multiple times, and even conversed about our families, food interests, pranks I’ve played on my wife, etc. I could go into a marketing rant about this, but that’s not the point.

In comparison I remember a time several years ago when I used to frequent the drive-thru at Del Taco where the lady knew me by voice…Sad but true 🙂 

Here is the point. We get caught up in our own world and we don’t take enough time to actually LISTEN or pay attention to what goes on around us. I don’t blame those head-landscaping ladies. Not at all. We’re ALL guilty of this, myself included. And in the case of these particular hair stylists, I realize that they cut A LOT of people’s hair and I’m not exactly Brad Pitt (a close 2nd maybe—don’t hate!)

But sometimes it’s nice to actually shut off the thought engine and just listen while being in the present moment. That’s a popular buzz phrase, I know, “being in the present moment.” However, it’s simply a bulls-eye way to describe it, so I’ll rock it, too.

One of the great things about public speaking is that it takes awareness. It takes a bucket load of observation and analysis—especially self-analysis. One of the best ways to overcome the fear of public speaking is to recognize when it becomes aroused. And when it comes to cutting out nervous mannerisms and bad habits caused by fear, that a speaker displays such as funky distracting things with the hands, being aware of these things is the first step to getting rid of them.

Then, as you get used to evaluating yourself, you also begin to evaluate other people when they speak. You’ll be able to see what works for other people and what doesn’t. This is actually a great skill, one of observation and awareness.

Those are important skills that directly affect your skill of LISTENING as well. Again, awareness is crucial—in order to truly listen you must be aware when you are NOT listening. As soon as you realize that you are thinking about the fly crapping on your convo-buddy’s head, you can re-focus and bring yourself back into a state of interest toward the other person. Or at least listen to what they are saying. Asking too much? Possibly. But you can dooo itttt!

Observation and listening. Yet a couple more skills that public speaking can gift you with.

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