Last Wednesday I gave a speech on communication to a group of realtors at their monthly meeting.

It wasn’t anything too crazy, about 20 minutes and it was on a topic that I’m already pretty familiar with so I didn’t even bother writing it down.

I mostly just spoke off the dome.

But right before I left, my girlfriend asked me, “Are you anxious?”

Of course I felt the need to respond as any macho guy would.

“Why should I be anxious?”

But I immediately thought about Aulus Gellius’ book The Attic Nights where he tells the story about a stoic sage explaining how it’s normal to be anxious.

That it’s not something you should be ashamed of.

It’s in our human nature to get stressed or anxious whenever something big is coming our way. We’re not robots.

It’s how you respond to the initial onset of anxiety that matters.

And that’s when I followed up my tough-guy response with, “I suppose I’m a little stressed, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

And you know what?

It was.

Because after I finished, I got two more speaking opportunities and realtors asking me questions after I was done.

Looking back, if I had succumbed to that stress before I left, I would’ve been a wreck when I showed up.

Which ties in with a question I was asked after I finished speaking.

Shortly after I spoke, the VP of the young professionals networking committee asked if I had some time to do a recorded interview recapping some of the information I talked about.

Of course I was all for it, and about halfway through the interview I was asked if I had a type of routine for keeping a calm mindset when leading up to speaking.

And I corny as it sounds, I said I always refer back to quotes from Marcus Aurelius’ book Meditations.

I’ll repeat to myself quotes like:

Or,

It’s strange. When it comes to anxiety, all I have to do is repeat to myself quotes like this, and it all kinda washes away.

And I realize not everyone is like that.

But I definitely wasn’t like that either when I was growing up.

It took years to get to the point to where anxiety just wasn’t really a prevalent thing in my life anymore.

And it all started with a shift in perspective.

Instead of thinking about everything that can go wrong, start thinking about everything that can go right.

Because anyone can think negatively. It’s the easiest thing to do.

So challenge yourself to think optimistically for a change.

You might be surprised how often everything works out in your favor.

Until next time,
Isaiah “The Macho Guy” Taylor

Dive Deeper

What I’m Currently Reading: I’m now reading It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be by Paul Arden. A book on making the most out of yourself and surprising the odds.

Quote Of The Week: “If you wanna win the lottery, you have to make the money to buy a ticket.” — Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler