- [Dan Lok] Write this down: Stage time equals wealth time.

Stage time equals wealth time.

Every single time I get an opportunity to be on stage,

I cherish it because stage time equals what?

- [audience] Wealth time.

- [Dan] Why do you want to master public speaking?

Because of one word: leverage.

Whatever you're doing now, if you're selling one-on-one,

that's how much leverage you have.

That's the ratio.

You're restricted by, cause think, as I always say,

money earners are by-products of value creation.

You want to deliver a lot of value,

how can you be more efficient?

How can you deliver more value

to more people at the same time?

One-to-one, that's fine, but one-to-ten?

One-to-twenty?

One-to-fifty?

One-to-a hundred?

One-to-one thousand?

That's leverage.

So, by mastering this skill,

the skill of public speaking, yes,

your earning ability goes up.

Does that make sense?

Think of people, that,

how many of you actually have a little bit of,

you're afraid of public speaking?

Be honest, it's okay.

You're afraid of it.

My question is, how many opportunities have you missed out?

Because you didn't take the time to build the skill.

And imagine, if you actually have the skill,

how much more money you would have made.

How many more opportunities you

would have taken advantage of.

And for those of you who are pretty good,

you're like, you know, I'm not afraid,

but let's say your skill is okay,

but what if your skills are actually exceptional?

How much more money?

How much more success you would have?

Does that make sense?

- [audience] Yeah.

- [Dan] So, stage time equals wealth time.

So, let me give you some tips

on how to overcome stage fright.

How many of you get nervous before you go up to the stage?

Can I see a show of hands?

Before you go, how do you feel?

Just yell the answer.

How do you feel?

- [audience members speaking]

- [Dan] Okay, stomach like, uggggh.

Okay, wanna throw up, okay, yes?

- [audience members speaking]

- [Dan] Huh, anxious?

Okay, yes.

- [audience members speaking]

- [Dan] Little voice saying, "Nobody wants to hear you."

Okay, that's awesome, yeah.

By the way, I have the same fear

every time I do a meet up.

Every time I show up early at 5:00,

you know, my team is here,

seriously, my little voice,

"I wonder if you were going to show up."

And then about, you know, 30 minutes later,

people start coming in, I'm like,

phew, that's a little bit better, right?

And after 45 minutes, oh, you know,

people are sitting down, at 50-60% packed.

Oh, people actually showed up, good.

I still have the same fear, I do.

It's not like, "oh, yeah, people are going to show up."

No, no, no, it's not like that,

I have the same fear, that little voice.

Same thing.

What else? Yes.

- [audience members speaking]

- [Dan] Worry you're going to forget something.

The point of the thing, the thing you want to communicate,

the point of what you want to say, yes!

What else?

Last one, give me one.

- [audience members speaking]

- [Dan] Worry you talk too much.

And you do talk too much, by the way.

[audience laughing]

Listening, right?

The listening, I was sharing that with you.

What else?

How else do you feel?

Dev, give me one!

- [audience members speaking]

- [Dan] Huh?

- [audience members speaking]

- [Dan] Oh, don't like people looking at you.

Okay, don't like people looking at you.

Now, let me, first of all, here's what doesn't work.

The typical advice, people tell you that,

you know, you want to picture your audience

and they're naked or in their underwear.

[audience laughing]

How many of you have heard of that?

All right, okay, now.

Depends on who you're speaking to,

it could either be too exciting or too terrifying.

Both are not good, okay?

No, don't picture your audience in their underwear

or naked, it's not good, okay?

And it's not like, oh, you know, you want to drink

your green tea before, or you want to meditate.

No, no, no, I'm not talking about that.

So, let me give you three, how many?

- [audience] Three!

- [Dan] Quick mental fixes.

What I personally do.

What I personally do.

Now, nowadays when I go up to the stage,

I don't get nervous any more.

Not one bit.

Not like even a little bit, none.

And I'll share with you why.

So, three quick mental fixes to deal with stage fright.

Number one: focus on the audience, not yourself.

If you feel anxious, if you feel anxiety,

if you don't like people looking at you,

if you're afraid you're going to say the wrong things,

you're afraid you don't sound smart enough,

you're afraid that nobody's going to show up,

you're afraid that nobody's going to listen to you,

or you're going to offend somebody,

all this stuff is what?

- [audience members speaking]

- [Dan] Yeah, it's about you.

It's all internal.

Do I look good?

Do I sound smart?

What are they going to think of me?

Are they going to like me?

It's all me, me, me, me, does that make sense?

Yeah, so stop being so selfish!

Don't be so selfish.

Focus on the audience.

Think, if your focus is external,

if, this is why I don't get nervous any more,

here's why I don't have a music stand.

Because I don't care if I say everything

that was meant to say, it was said perfectly,

that's not important for me.

Looking good is not important for me.

'Cause I focus on the audience.

That's it.

My focus is external.

Are you getting value?

Are you walking away with value?

That is it.

I don't give a fuck if you like me or not.

I truly do not care.

I truly do not care.

'Cause it's not my job!

My job is to teach and to help you grow.

If you like me, that's nice,

you might resonate with the message a little bit more,

but that's not what I'm here for.

That's not what I'm here for.

So when "them" is out of the way,

then why would I be nervous?

When my focus is not internal?

All this stuff, all the fear, all the anxiety,

it's you-you, me-me-me-me-me-me.

Kick that out of the way and just focus on

"What can I give?"

"What kind of value can I deliver?"

That's it.

Focus on that, the fear disappears.

It's all gone.

You want to feel nervous, you won't.

Because it doesn't matter.

And that's why I break all the rules.

You know, in public speaking, Toastmasters.

You know, hands, don't put them in your pockets,

you're not supposed to use profanity,

you're not supposed to do this,

all these rules, I don't give a damn about those rules.

My rules are: Am I delivering value?

Am I being effective?

Am I being an effective communicator?

And is my message getting through?

If it is, I keep doing it.

If it doesn't work, the audience, then I will know.

Then I will stop doing it.

Everything else, I do not care.

This is all noise.

Does that make sense?

- [audience] Yes.

- [Dan] Yeah, so, don't focus on yourself,

focus on the audience.

Focus on the audience.

What's the objective?

Why are you even there?

Why, what gives you the right to be on the stage?

What are you there to do?

If that is clear, everything else is easy.

Yes?

- [audience] Yes.

- [Dan] So, this little ritual that I go through myself.

Now, every time, how many of you have been with me

more than three, six months?

Yeah.

Okay, you notice, every time before we start,

where am I?

- [audience members speaking]

- [Dan] I'm in that room, usually.

That's, I call it my green room.

I'm not here socializing,

not that I don't want to socialize.

Afterwards, you can ask questions,

I will socialize all you want.

But before that, I need some me time.

What do I need?

- [audience] Me time.

- [Dan] I need some me time to focus.

So, let me share with you my ritual, yeah?

What I go through.

So, in that room, and this is like, pretty private stuff.

But I'll share that with you.

So, in that room, what I go through, I go through

a couple of things.

First of all, in order to not focus on myself,

to focus on the audience,

I will do a very quick visualization exercise.

And here's what I visualize: I close my eyes,

I will do it like that,

and I will visualize a big bright white light,

beaming from the sky, to me, through here,

through my forehead, my hair,

through my whole body,

so I become a big, bright, white light.

From there, then I visualize from this bright light

and it will get brighter and brighter and brighter,

and it will shhhhhhh fill the whole room.

That's what I visualize, it will fill the whole room.

And in my mind, my intention is,

I'm going to make sure everyone

who comes to my presentation, to my workshop, my speech,

every single person is going to walk away

with some kind of value.

Even though they might not agree with my message,

even though they might not like me so much,

but I guarantee, my job, my intention is,

they're going to walk away with some kind of value.

That's it.

See how that shifted all the focus off of me?

And just focus on the audience.

Once I've done that, now you can see,

I don't know if you can see it.

After just a few seconds of that,

do you see a difference in my eyes?

I don't know if you can see it.