In March 2020 our president Cyril Ramaphosa declared a 3 week full lock down which was later extended to 5 weeks. My wife and I decided to take our kids to the Karoo during this time so that they can at least have a farm and more space to move around. Yes, I do have very busy boys! While it was great to be on the farm with my wife’s sister and her husband, it was incredibly stressful as I didn’t know what was going to happen to my business. I then decided that it was time for me to study online and try and upskill myself.
THE MISSING LINK
Throughout my professional rugby career, I had always been in leadership positions. I spoke in front of large audiences often which came quite naturally to me. I thought it would be a great idea to do a proper public speaking course to ensure I had the necessary skills to pull some big speaking engagements off. It is not easy to sift through all the companies online and pick the correct one but a nudge in the right direction from a close friend really helped. He introduced me to Richard Mulholland from Missing Link. The rest, as they say, is history!
I embarked on an epic 11-week journey with speakers from across the globe. The group sessions took place on Zoom where participants were encouraged to interact and engage with one another. It was a great synergy where we fed off one another’s ideas and opinions. I spent many hours watching TED talks which I had never done before but it was very rewarding. We had to judge certain speakers and make notes on how they presented, dressed, spoke and what their body language and hand signals were like. Seeing other people speak and the mistakes they make helps you be more aware of your own mistakes allowing you to correct them at your next engagement. The course focused on all facets of speaking including your topic or your area of expertise, and your area of authority. Without giving away too much, I really recommend Missing Link if you ever want to do a course on Public Speaking.
OVERCOMING FAILURE AND FEAR
You see the thing is that if you fear something then you will most probably never try it, never mind trying to master it. Well, that is exactly why I did this course. It systematically worked me through all the phases of planning and preparation. “If you fail to prepare then prepare to fail!”
By the time the course ended I knew exactly where my area of authority was which gave me the confidence to speak with authority. The topic of Debunking Motivation refers to an experience I had in 2002. We were on a Springbok tour with our backs against the wall on having lost to both France and Scotland. We were about to play England who were eight months away from being crowned World Champions.
Our coach really fired us up properly that day and we were prepared to run through a wall for him and for our country. Sadly, we received a red card within ten minutes of the game and that changed things dramatically. We went on to lose by a record score of 53-3 which was the biggest loss margin in Springbok History. The experience was something I have never been proud of even though the record has been taken from me.
DEBUNKING MOTIVATION: THE BEGINNING.
So why am I telling you this story?
I have built a full keynote talk around Debunking Motivation and how short term motivation can never give you long term results. Every person has something different that motivates them and therefore it is incredibly important to find that one thing that drives you. It is also important to understand what motivates your family members, team members and business partners.
If you are keen to hear more, let’s jump on a 15min phone call so that I can share some more insights with you. Please follow my story on Facebook and LinkedIn. For any keynote speaking event, please look at my speaker sheet or contact me on corne@cornekrige.com.
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