{"id":388,"date":"2012-09-23T21:10:40","date_gmt":"2012-09-23T21:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kamillamilligan.com\/2012-09-23-on-speaking-out-effectively\/"},"modified":"2012-09-23T21:10:40","modified_gmt":"2012-09-23T21:10:40","slug":"2012-09-23-on-speaking-out-effectively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kamillamilligan.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/23\/2012-09-23-on-speaking-out-effectively\/","title":{"rendered":"On Speaking Out Effectively"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m enjoying the book Talent is Overrated<\/a><\/em> by Geoff Colvin<\/a>. In sum: talent does not exist. People excel through “deliberate practice”: hard, focused work on key skills that stretch their growth, repeated with feedback for a lot of hours; followed by similar work on the next set of skills to extend their growth. It is hard; it is time intensive; it is self-aware; it is rare.
\nReading the first part, I thought to myself “okay, how can I apply this to my life?” because that’s what I do with all self-improvement: I try to do it. On the bandwagon, instantly! About half way through I started to ask, “do I want to do this?” And now I feel like it may be the only reasonable choice, though I am not really trying to excel or become world class – I just want to do well and grow.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the principles helps me understand better people who do excel: who hold high level positions, have extraordinary jobs or do anything with incredible skill. You learn how to improve yourself; you get on an improvement track; you start becoming who you want and it is, I imagine, hard to stop the momentum in spite of the hard work it takes. If you make a habit of working, and those habits are designed for maximum learning, then you may have set yourself up to succeed in spite of your best efforts. I can now wrap my head around people who climb the academic ladder, for example: they start learning, growing and excelling and their progress fuels further growth.<\/p>\n

Relevance to me: I spoke on the radio on Friday morning. Check out the Facebook page<\/a> for the interview (scroll down to Friday, September 21, 2012 and the segment on diversity and Kelowna) and community comments. Honestly, though I knew there would be views on both sides, I expected at least a few more people to identify with the concerns I raised. Great learning opportunity, I must say, and a chance to check why I spoke out about the issue.<\/p>\n

I’ve been on the radio & TV a reasonable number of times for someone who’s not in the media. I generally like public speaking and generally do pretty well. The Talent book has me wondering what I can do to do it not just well, but better. Here’s what I’ve come up with.<\/p>\n