Can Public Speaking be learned or is it a Natural Talent?

Have you ever tried writing your name with your non-dominant hand? Give it a go now. Chances are the results weren't spectacular.  (Here is my attempt!) 

Why was it so ordinary? Because it is probably something that you haven't done very often. Any skill that we are unfamiliar with, or haven’t had much practice at, is usually something we are not very good at.

Whether that be cooking, swimming, or riding a bike. A lack of exposure to a skill; a lack of time spent doing an activity, usually leads to a poor performance when first attempting it.

And the opposite is true. That which you have spent large periods of time doing, those skills you have been practicing again and again, are usually areas in which you are very competent.

It is easy for us to look at someone who is competent in an area of skill that we are not, and if we are unaware of the process of how that skill is developed, we can often assume that they have some sort of special talent or gifting that makes them like that.

Yet, one thing we all have in common is that whatever skills we possess, we didn’t come out of the womb naturally competent in them.  They were skills that had to be learned and developed before we reached a level of proficiency in them.

The same is true for public speaking. No one is born with a fully developed public speaking gift. It is something that is learned over time. 

"It is not a talent but an observable, learnable set of skills and abilities." 

Now, sure there are people who seem to be more ‘natural’ at it then others, but this is because of other factors that propelled them towards success in this area. 

Knowing that public speaking is a learnable skill is good news, as it means that anyone can grow and develop proficiency in this area if they put time and effort towards its progress.

And this is the key takeaway from this whole article. The people who excel at public speaking are the ones who have put in the hard work to become better. Nothing beats hard work and dedicated commitment to one's growth and development. 

The speakers you see who are excellent public speakers are simply people that have worked harder at it than most others. They pushed through the fear, the awkwardness, the embarrassment, the failure. Until they became good at it. Public speaking success is tied to your ability to not give up in the beginner, uncomfortable  moments. 

That’s how life works. Learning a skill that is unfamiliar always feels awkward and unnatural when first starting out. Walking, riding a bike, cooking. Your first attempts were failures. But you kept at it and look at how far you have come! With the right instruction, practice, and quality feedback, you succeeded. Learning to be an excellent Public Speaker works like this too.

You can become that person.