There’s a podcast I love listening to, Acquired.
We’re not talking about a podcast I kind of enjoy, something I turn on for background noise while I cook eggs in the kitchen or fall asleep in bed at night.
No, we’re talking something like appointment TV. When there’s a new episode, I block off the time in my calendar. When I sit down to listen to it, I put my phone on Do Not Disturb. I put my headphones on so I will not be bothered by any outside noise.
Once, when I was in university, there was a fire drill in my dorm. The fire alarm was screaming its piercing scream and the firetrucks were sitting outside with their sirens wailing and lights flashing. After the firemen had evacuated everyone else from the building, they had to actually pick me up off my bed and carry me out the building. Come hell or high water, I was not leaving under my own power. Why? Because I was on the phone, and nothing would interrupt me.
When I am listening to Acquired, I’m like that. That tells you how much of a crazed fanatic I am.
Acquired started out in late 2015. It bounced around for about four years (four YEARS) with almost no listeners. Then, after four years, they really hit their groove, and now episodes usually get over a half million listeners. The live recordings fill pro basketball arenas.
When you go back and listen to those early episodes, they’re not very good. They clearly haven’t hit their stride. As one of the co-hosts, a VC from Seattle, puts it, “If we were any of the startups we fund, we would have yanked the funding after a year.”
My point is that when you are learning a new skill, at the beginning you are not going to be good at it. You’re probably going to be terrible actually. You will probably be ashamed and embarrassed by what you see and hear.
That’s completely normal. Keep going. You’ll be fine.
Most people hit the disappointment of those early days, and they quit. But if you keep going, you will eventually start to hit your stride, and you’ll see a moat appear between you and the others that most of the others will never cross.
I’m a trainer and coach by trade, so I’ve seen this happen a gazillion times. That moat, you have no idea how powerful that is going to make you.
Anyway, this is what it means for your presentation skills: Even if you think they are terrible, keep going. Keep working on those skills. Don’t give up. Give it years if you need to. You will end up with a moat no one can cross. You will be in a class all by yourself.