A reader of this blog, Rich Litvin (check him out at: http://thatconfidenceguy.com) sent me a link to a fascinating YouTube performance – part of a speech by Richard Machowicz, former Navy SEAL, Bukido trainer, and author of Unleash The Warrior Within.
If you can get past the macho SEAL stuff, the book has a very good set of tips and techniques for taking control of situations, conquering your fear, and realizing your goals. I took lots of notes. Machowicz tends to overdo the acronyms and lists, but it all boils down to some very useful insights into how to succeed, especially in tough situations. And there are some great Navy SEAL stories to illustrate his points.
Two lists in particular seem helpful. First, the 3 steps in thinking about achieving something (like killing a terrorist or reaching your life goal):
One, figure out the target.
Two, the target determines the weapons you need.
Three, the weapons determine the movement (aka tactics to achieve your goal).
Then, there’s Machowicz’ acronym for analyzing how important something is to you: CARVER, or criticality, accessibility, recognizability, vulnerability, effect on overall mission, and return on effort. If you rank your various goals on a 1 -5 scale using these criteria, you’ll quickly find out which one you should attack next.
How good a speaker is Machowicz? Check out the YouTube video: http://bit.ly/dp675B. (WARNING – SALTY LANGUAGE.) It’s not the whole speech, but enough so that you get the idea. What’s fascinating is that even though Machowicz has done SEAL stuff like parachuting into ice cold water under the cover of darkness in order to take out terrorists, he’s just like the rest of us when it comes to public speaking: he’s nervous.
That alone makes the video worth watching. It should help everyone to know that we’re all in this together when it comes to performance anxiety. Even former Navy SEALS.
Machowicz is a strong, charismatic speaker with some rough edges that prevent him from being at the very top. He uses verbal ticks that give away his nervousness, like saying “OK?” at the end of a phrase, undercutting the strength of the phrase itself. He’s also got a bad case of happy feet – he’s wandering around too much, which weakens the effect of the strong things he’s saying.
He needs to learn Rule Number One of Public Speaking Triage: when you get to the place where you’re going to speak, no matter how much time you have, your first job (after shaking your host’s hand and thanking that individual) is to check out the lay of the land and mentally choreograph where you’re going to move. For simplicity’s sake, pick a home base, a place where you’ll start and finish, and then mentally mark where you can comfortably move to toward the audience in order to engage it at various points during your presentation. If you don’t do that, you’ll end up rootless and wandering, like Machowicz.
Nonetheless, on the plus side, Machowicz has a great presence and authority that his nervous behavior doesn’t completely undermine. I enjoyed the speech to a bunch of rather weary-looking NFL trainees. The book is worthwhile; thanks to Rich for the tip.
I liked your critique of this individual and the need for foresight as it relates to his surroundings/environment. This is something that I did not think to touch on in my recent post in Hubpages. Good insight! Thanks!