if you want to be great at something. : Practice, practice, practice!

hannan

if you want to be great at something. : Practice, practice, practice!
n

Malcom Gladwell suggests "10,000 hours"


source

http://dyslexicprofessor.blogspot.com/



Public speaking demands repetition! In public speaking your whole body and mind are your tool. Just like an athlete has to commit to repetitive physical actions to excel with her/his sport of choice, or a musician spends hours learning to work with their instrument or voice, a public speaker works with his/her tools. A competitive public speakers, in order to be successful, must with great repetition work with her/his body, voice, and mind. Practice, practice, practice! The best selling author, Malcom Gladwell suggests "10,000 hours" (see: http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html ) if you want to be great at something. I AGREE! When you are done practicing...practice some more. I now tell my students, perfect practice makes perfect performances. It is the repetition, specifically the practice of memorization that made me realize how truly powerful the human brain is. In college Forensics, in order for students who are participating for truly competitive programs (like the LAVC Speech Team), students are required to have 4-5 competitive speeches ready for the national tournament held annually in April. This means that any student who is doing platform speeches (prepared speeches) must write, research and memorize 4-5 different speeches. Not only does this require a GREAT amount of initial time dedicated to mental repetition, but following each preliminary speech competition prior to the national competition (most teams will go to 8-12 different competitions Sept-March) the successful students are constantly applying the criticisms given to them from judges at each competition. Successful competitors are constantly editing, and often rewriting their speeches and re-memorizing between each preliminary competition. So, not only does the competitive speaker practice with great repetition the performative aspects required for public speaking, but also she/he is constantly writing. As a dyslexic, who failed the first grade because I could not read; who failed English in the 11th grade because I could not write; and who at the community college had to take English 21, before being permitted to take any college level English courses after being called "retarded" by a college professor -- I am confident when I say "it was the four years of intense repetition being practiced with my whole body and mind that helped me to learn to not just negotiate my dyslexia, but to also get creative with my own learning style and discover solvency for my problems associated with dyslexia." Thank you Marty!