"It helped me to become more accepting and confident in myself, and to overcome my tendency to perfectionism"

What I really loved about Speak and Inspire was the daily homework, which we had to share on the Facebook page. Having the homework kept me involved with the course. Having to share — especially when Lisa asked us to share a video or post a Facebook Live — helped me to become more accepting and confident in myself, and to overcome my tendency to perfectionism.

If you watch my first videos, you can see that I was speaking from my head and trying to get everything just right. In fact, I would tape the video several times until I felt that it was good enough. If you compare these videos with the ones I posted when I started repeating the course, the difference is striking. I feel that I am much more relaxed, natural, and speaking from the heart.

I especially noticed this difference between my two videos on "Conviction and Clarity".

The first time around in order to communicate my conviction and clarity, I was speaking loudly. The second time — with a different topic — I was speaking from the heart. Lisa's tips about creating interest by varying the tone of voice, rather than simply raising it was helpful in this, as was the self-confidence I'd developed by the number of videos posted, and the positive and helpful feedback from others in the course, following Lisa's guidance, of mentioning 2 specific things you liked, and then one that could be improved.