An early question I had when I first became a speaker was trying to figure our how to present myself on stage. I am not an actor. I quickly learned that if I just stood up and spoke, it seemed lifeless and lecturing. And I knew that my speaker heroes had great energy and projected that energy to their audiences.
Then someone told me about the 110 Percent idea. It goes a little like this: You want to be yourself. You want to be genuine. But you want to amp yourself up a little — to about 110 percent of yourself.
I think what that really says is that we should push our comfort zone edges. Not a lot, but some. Don’t play small. Be who you are and test the margins at the same time. See if you can expand.
The stage or the front of the room can be intimidating and cause us to shrink back. We should compensate. Push your energy. Push your connections.
Try about 110 percent.
