10 Ways to Boost Your Imagination and Achieve Big Things

Siobhan Harmer

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10 Ways to Boost Your Imagination and Achieve Big Things

Siobhan Harmer

Siobhan is a passionate writer sharing about motivation and happiness tips on Lifehack. Read full profile

We all want to accomplish goals in our lives, right? Whether they are huge achievements or small victories, getting that promotion at work or making time for people close to you, attaining something you’ve aspired towards feels great. Of course, for some this can also be a little overwhelming and it’s easy to find yourself wandering off into the back of your mind where things are less daunting. But that is exactly what this article urges you to do. It’s time to tap into the goal-accomplishing powerhouse that is your imagination.

An article from Dumb Little Man explores the important role your imagination can play in achieving real life goals. By empowering your mind you can empower your reality. Here’s how:

“Imagination is more important than knowledge” ~ Albert Einstein

The reality is you can be anyone or anything you want to be; it just takes a pinch of confidence and a spoonful of imagination. Do you want to write like Hemingway? Paint like Michelangelo? Or become the next big discovery on the Dragon’s Den?

Guess what? You can be any of these things; you already have all the tools you need right now to tap in and let yourself shine.

That’s what this article is going to teach you. I’m going to tell you how.

1. Realize your potential

Do you think Ernest Hemingway set out to be one the greatest writers of all time? He was following his passion and with that came huge success. What you think you become.

2. Locate our thoughts

During meditation and exercise we can quiet the mental chatter and access a new part of our brains. When you begin to experience stillness you can start to throw away the logic of the conscious mind and tap into the super conscious mind – responsible for unlimited creativity.Don’t underestimate the power of meditation and exercise. Both will send feel good endorphins to your brain and release pent up stress and anxiety which is clouding your true potential.

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3. Throw away preconditioned notions of you

What is it that you have always told yourself, are you lacking in creativity or originality? Stop these thoughts, your mind is telling you things that aren’t true. Remember impermanence? Every moment is like a refresh, you are a blank canvas. Choose what you want to fill your canvas with.Tap in and experience your truest form, you are a rich, alive and buzzing and nothing will change that.

4. Decide where to channel your energies

Decide on an imaginative path, or decide on a few. If you want to be a great painter, visualize yourself as Picasso, walk through your day pretending you are him. What you think you become, if you imagine success you will create a path for success to find you.

5. Research and ask questions

Always be inquisitive and most importantly listen to others without trying to form a reply. You have so much to learn from your fellow peers. Carry a Notebook and write ideas down; you might be surprised where inspiration finds you.

6. Observe

Have you noticed what’s going on around you or are you still stuck in your racing mind? Pay attention to what other successful people are doing. Talk less and listen more.

7. Practice mindfulness

“Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.”

With this practice come vivid colours and heightened senses; use this new way of looking at the world to tap into your creative juices. Venture out into nature and feel the aliveness of the forest.

8. Take time to explore your passions

Music is one of mine; with my favourite song playing I visualize stepping out at dawn to snap a picture of the mysterious fog hovering over a still lake. Read poetry, have fun with crafts or go to an art gallery, whatever gets you inspired; take a double dose.

9. Understand that hesitation and doubts are normal, don’t be too hard on yourself

When the mind does take over and tells you you’re not good enough, and it will, let these thoughts go like clouds in the sky; acknowledge them and watch them pass by. Thoughts will always arise the key is not reacting to them.

10. Always take time for yourself.

Don’t become so consumed with finding imagination that you have forgotten how to take time to just be. Life needs to be a balance of all things.

Make a commitment right now to find your imagination – to be the most magnificent version of you. Every human has limitless potential, you just need to tear away the layers of doubt the mind has tightly wrapped. Realize every second you are a brand new person and can make brand new changes. Right now, now, now now! Go ahead, do something amazing.

’10 Ways to Ignite Your Imagination and Accomplish Big Things’ – Dumb Little Man: Tips For Life

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Siobhan Harmer

Siobhan is a passionate writer sharing about motivation and happiness tips on Lifehack.

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How to Overcome the Fear of Public Speaking (A Step-by-Step Guide)

Eugene Cheng

Eugene is Lifehack's Entrepreneurship Expert. He is the co-founder and creative lead of HighSpark, offering presentation training for companies. Read full profile

You’re standing behind the curtain, just about to make your way on stage to face the many faces half-shrouded in darkness in front of you. As you move towards the spotlight, your body starts to feel heavier with each step. A familiar thump echoes throughout your body – your heartbeat has gone off the charts.

Don’t worry, you’re not the only one with glossophobia(also known as speech anxiety or the fear of speaking to large crowds). Sometimes, the anxiety happens long before you even stand on stage.

Your body’s defence mechanism responds by causing a part of your brain to release adrenaline into your blood – the same chemical that gets released as if you were being chased by a lion.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you overcome your fear of public speaking:

1. Prepare yourself mentally and physically

According to experts, we’re built to display anxiety and to recognize it in others. If your body and mind are anxious, your audience will notice. Hence, it’s important to prepare yourself before the big show so that you arrive on stage confident, collected and ready.

“Your outside world is a reflection of your inside world. What goes on in the inside, shows on the outside.” – Bob Proctor

Exercising lightly before a presentation helps get your blood circulating and sends oxygen to the brain. Mental exercises, on the other hand, can help calm the mind and nerves. Here are some useful ways to calm your racing heart when you start to feel the butterflies in your stomach:

Warming up

If you’re nervous, chances are your body will feel the same way. Your body gets tense, your muscles feel tight or you’re breaking in cold sweat. The audience will notice you are nervous.

If you observe that this is exactly what is happening to you minutes before a speech, do a couple of stretches to loosen and relax your body. It’s better to warm up before every speech as it helps to increase the functional potential of the body as a whole. Not only that, it increases muscle efficiency, improves reaction time and your movements.

Here are some exercises to loosen up your body before show time:

Neck and shoulder rolls – This helps relieve upper body muscle tension and pressure as the rolls focus on rotating the head and shoulders, loosening the muscle. Stress and anxiety can make us rigid within this area which can make you feel agitated, especially when standing.
Arm stretches – We often use this part of our muscles during a speech or presentation through our hand gestures and movements. Stretching these muscles can reduce arm fatigue, loosen you up and improve your body language range.
Waist twists – Place your hands on your hips and rotate your waist in a circular motion. This exercise focuses on loosening the abdominal and lower back regions which is essential as it can cause discomfort and pain, further amplifying any anxieties you may experience.

Stay hydrated

Ever felt parched seconds before speaking? And then coming up on stage sounding raspy and scratchy in front of the audience? This happens because the adrenaline from stage fright causes your mouth to feel dried out.

To prevent all that, it’s essential we stay adequately hydrated before a speech. A sip of water will do the trick. However, do drink in moderation so that you won’t need to go to the bathroom constantly.

Try to avoid sugary beverages and caffeine, since it’s a diuretic – meaning you’ll feel thirstier. It will also amplify your anxiety which prevents you from speaking smoothly.

Meditate

Meditation is well-known as a powerful tool to calm the mind. ABC’s Dan Harris, co-anchor of Nightline and Good Morning America weekend and author of the book titled10% Happier , recommends that meditation can help individuals to feel significantly calmer, faster.

Meditation is like a workout for your mind. It gives you the strength and focus to filter out the negativity and distractions with words of encouragement, confidence and strength.

Mindfulness meditation, in particular, is a popular method to calm yourself before going up on the big stage. The practice involves sitting comfortably, focusing on your breathing and then bringing your mind’s attention to the present without drifting into concerns about the past or future – which likely includes floundering on stage.

Here’s a nice example of guided meditation before public speaking:

2. Focus on your goal

One thing people with a fear of public speaking have in common is focusing too much on themselves and the possibility of failure.

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Do I look funny? What if I can’t remember what to say? Do I look stupid? Will people listen to me? Does anyone care about what I’m talking about?’

Instead of thinking this way, shift your attention to your one true purpose – contributing something of value to your audience.

Decide on the progress you’d like your audience to make after your presentation. Notice their movements and expressions to adapt your speech to ensure that they are having a good time to leave the room as better people.

If your own focus isn’t beneficial and what it should be when you’re speaking, then shift it to what does. This is also key to establishing trust during your presentation as the audience can clearly see that you have their interests at heart.[1]

3. Convert negativity to positivity

There are two sides constantly battling inside of us – one is filled with strength and courage while the other is doubt and insecurities. Which one will you feed?

‘What if I mess up this speech? What if I’m not funny enough? What if I forget what to say?’

It’s no wonder why many of us are uncomfortable giving a presentation. All we do is bring ourselves down before we got a chance to prove ourselves. This is also known as a self-fulfilling prophecy – a belief that comes true because we are acting as if it already is. If you think you’re incompetent, then it will eventually become true.

Motivational coaches tout that positive mantras and affirmations tend to boost your confidents for the moments that matter most. Say to yourself: “I’ll ace this speech and I can do it!”

Take advantage of your adrenaline rush to encourage positive outcome rather than thinking of the negative ‘what ifs’.

Here’s a video of Psychologist Kelly McGonigal who encourages her audience to turn stress into something positive as well as provide methods on how to cope with it:

4. Understand your content

Knowing your content at your fingertips helps reduce your anxiety because there is one less thing to worry about. One way to get there is to practice numerous times before your actual speech.

However, memorizing your script word-for-word is not encouraged. You can end up freezing should you forget something. You’ll also risk sounding unnatural and less approachable.

“No amount of reading or memorizing will make you successful in life. It is the understanding and the application of wise thought that counts.” – Bob Proctor

Many people unconsciously make the mistake of reading from their slides or memorizing their script word-for-word without understanding their content – a definite way to stress themselves out.

Understanding your speech flow and content makes it easier for you to convert ideas and concepts into your own words which you can then clearly explain to others in a conversational manner. Designing your slides to include text prompts is also an easy hack to ensure you get to quickly recall your flow when your mind goes blank.[2]

One way to understand is to memorize the over-arching concepts or ideas in your pitch. It helps you speak more naturally and let your personality shine through. It’s almost like taking your audience on a journey with a few key milestones.

5. Practice makes perfect

Like most people, many of us are not naturally attuned to public speaking. Rarely do individuals walk up to a large audience and present flawlessly without any research and preparation.

In fact, some of the top presenters make it look easy during showtime because they have spent countless hours behind-the-scenes in deep practice. Even great speakers like the late John F. Kennedy would spend months preparing his speech beforehand.

Public speaking, like any other skill, requires practice – whether it be practicing your speech countless of times in front of a mirror or making notes. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect!

6. Be authentic

There’s nothing wrong with feeling stressed before going up to speak in front of an audience.

Many people fear public speaking because they fear others will judge them for showing their true, vulnerable self. However, vulnerability can sometimes help you come across as more authentic and relatable as a speaker.

Drop the pretence of trying to act or speak like someone else and you’ll find that it’s worth the risk. You become more genuine, flexible and spontaneous, which makes it easier to handle unpredictable situations – whether it’s getting tough questions from the crowd or experiencing an unexpected technical difficulty.

To find out your authentic style of speaking is easy. Just pick a topic or issue you are passionate about and discuss this like you normally would with a close family or friend. It is like having a conversation with someone in a personal one-to-one setting. A great way to do this on stage is to select a random audience member(with a hopefully calming face) and speak to a single person at a time during your speech. You’ll find that it’s easier trying to connect to one person at a time than a whole room.

With that said, being comfortable enough to be yourself in front of others may take a little time and some experience, depending how comfortable you are with being yourself in front of others. But once you embrace it, stage fright will not be as intimidating as you initially thought.

Presenters like Barack Obama are a prime example of a genuine and passionate speaker:

7. Post speech evaluation

Last but not the least, if you’ve done public speaking and have been scarred from a bad experience, try seeing it as a lesson learned to improve yourself as a speaker.

Don’t beat yourself up after a presentation

We are the hardest on ourselves and it’s good to be. But when you finish delivering your speech or presentation, give yourself some recognition and a pat on the back.

You managed to finish whatever you had to do and did not give up. You did not let your fears and insecurities get to you. Take a little more pride in your work and believe in yourself.

Improve your next speech

As mentioned before, practice does make perfect. If you want to improve your public speaking skills, try asking someone to film you during a speech or presentation. Afterwards, watch and observe what you can do to improve yourself next time.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself after every speech:

How did I do?
Are there any areas for improvement?
Did I sound or look stressed?
Did I stumble on my words? Why?
Was I saying “um” too often?
How was the flow of the speech?

Write everything you observed down and keep practicing and improving. In time, you’ll be able to better manage your fears of public speaking and appear more confident when it counts.

If you want even more tips about public speaking or delivering a great presentation, check out these articles too:

Are You Willing to Go the Extra Mile to Become a More Motivated Person?

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Reference

[1]^High Spark: 4 Ways to Establish Trust In Your Presentation or Sales Pitch[2]^High Spark: Presentation Design Hacks: 5 Ways to Look Like a Pro Fast

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Eugene Cheng

Eugene is Lifehack's Entrepreneurship Expert. He is the co-founder and creative lead of HighSpark, offering presentation training for companies.

Why Leadership and Management Are Two Sides of a Coin How to Overcome the Fear of Public Speaking (A Step-by-Step Guide)How to Succeed in Business: 10 Skills Every Entrepreneur Needs How to Learn Business as an Aspiring Entrepreneur 10 Most Successful Entrepreneurs (And What to Learn from Them)

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