“Inspiring storytellers are not always born; they’re made. And they make themselves great by reframing the story they tell themselves.” Carmine Gallo, “The Storyteller’s Secret”, Secret at page 17.

And, [s]uccessful storytellers learn to manage their fear and not eliminate it.  Reframing your internal dialogue, the story you tell yourself, will help you manage and control your fear.”  Carmine Gallo, page 16

In chapter 2, Carmine Gallo discusses the tele-evangelist Joel Osteen and how he got to where he is.  And the start was conquering stage fright.  For attorneys,  you must get pass the fear of a jury.  The fear you are not good enough; the fear they won’t like or even trust you; the fear you will fail your client; the fear of the unknown.  There is no denying this hurdle.  Even the great trial lawyers have butterflies in their tummy, the pulse raising, the sweat on the brow;  and yet, they jump into the fray and do it.  And do it well.

Seeing Joel in his megachurch on television now, you would never believe he wanted to stay in the background and avoided giving a sermon, even when his father begged him.  Joel was terrified of even giving the church announcements and experienced sweaty palms, racing heart, fast breathing.  One week after Joel gave his first sermon, Joel’s father passed away, and he now was the preacher at a 5,000 member congregation.  Now that congregation has swelled to 50,000 plus, and this introvert is seen by the tens of millions each week on television.

“Growing into a confident storyteller doesn’t happen with the flip of a switch.”   His self-doubts gave way to positive self-dialogues each day, and a ritual of writing his own sermons.

Thus, “[t]he story you tell yourself exerts a powerful influence over  your ultimate ability to captivate people.  Some beliefs limit your potential.”  If you believe you will do poorly, then be not surprised when you are correct in that estimation.

Force  yourself to try cases.  Be prepared. Be ready.  No one knows your case better than you.  No one knows what must be said and done better than do.  You just got to box it up and deliver it to the jury with the passion, sincerity, credible, and competence that you have  by simply sweat and inspiration.

Learning to listen, form thoughts, deliver the words can be practices at seminar, community talks.  Work on your speaking skills at depositions and motion hour.  Get a cheap microphone and headset to use with your iPhone or computer recorder, and record stories, others closings, while listening to YOUR OWN VOICE in the headset.  Work on your cadence, work on your clarity, work on your enunciation, work on the delivery and the emphasis. Get a tripod for your iPhone, and you will benefit from the agony of learning the hard way.  But you will learn.  It will take time, but the greatness of Rome was not built in a day, not without mistakes.  But it was built with persistence and time and learning from the past.

I hope you got something out of this little pep talk.  It took me a long time before I feel comfortable in front of people.  With my ADHD, it was a task that was slow to show improvement.   The good news for me was I had two years of platform teaching as an Army lawyer teaching others an average of two  7-hour classes per week for 36 weeks of the year.  That was my crucible to get over stage fright.

Again, “Inspiring storytellers are not always born; they’re made. And they make themselves great by reframing the story they tell themselves.”

As Joel said, “Wrong labels can keep you from your destiny.” “The Storyteller’s Secret”, page 16.