Jack Canfield

When you ask most people what it would take to become better teachers and trainers, it’s normal for them to jump straight to critiquing their skills. “I’d have to get over my fear of public speaking.” “I need to get better at organizing my presentation.” “I have to gesture more and learn when to incorporate humor.”

There’s no question that technical skills affect your ability to impact an audience, whether you’re working with one or thousands of people at a time. But the most powerful changes come when you focus first on how you are showing up in the world. BE-ing is more important than DO-ing.

The Importance of BE-ing

It’s a normal part of human development to try to fit in with the crowd. Children hit their pre-teen and teenage years, and suddenly their most pressing desire is to be just like everyone else in their circle.

Unfortunately, this behavior often carries over to adulthood. We see other people who are more successful, more confident, more beautiful, more outgoing or who possess some other quality we desire, and we try to model their behavior. We try to turn ourselves into replicas, thinking that this is the path to the success we want.

But just as there are no two snowflakes alike, every single person is a precious and unique being. You are here to experience the game of life in your own particular way. The key to success in any endeavor is to love and accept yourself unconditionally and then express yourself with 100 percent authenticity.

The Benefits of Authenticity

The more you are able to be yourself, the more you will affect the world around you and the people with whom you interact, particularly in the role of a trainer or teacher.

There are 3 primary ways that you’ll benefit by being more authentic:

• Your students will be more engaged. Human beings crave connection with each other. Being authentic is like opening up a superhighway for connecting with others. When you are fully expressing yourself, your students feel deeply connected to you.

However, when you’re busy acting like how you think a successful trainer or speaker would act, your students’ minds might be engaged by what you’re saying. But their hearts won’t be connected to you or the material you’re presenting.

• You’ll feel more natural and relaxed. The fear of public speaking is one of the most common in the world, and it keeps many people who have important messages to share on the sidelines of life. Usually this fear stems from being concerned with what other people will think about you while you’re speaking or teaching. A common way that nervous speakers address this fear is to script what they do or say on stage. They try to replicate what they see other speakers doing and lose themselves in the process.

When you are fully comfortable with being yourself, your mind isn’t preoccupied with trying to remember the role you’re supposed to be playing or the rules you’ve set up for how you are supposed to think, feel and act. Instead, you can simply enjoy the experience of facilitating other people’s growth.

• You’ll be more effective. With your mind clear, you’ll be able to live in the moment. This allows you to more easily tune into exactly what you need to say or do to help your students shift. Although being well-prepared is a professional way to approach your business, experienced trainers know that their best results often come when they go off-script, adjusting their presentation, delivery and exercises to suit what is happening in the room.

I once conducted a weeklong training for 120 school administrators in Bergen, Norway. We were about to start our afternoon session when someone announced that one of the workshop participants had been killed in an automobile accident during the lunch break. Trying to proceed with the planned agenda would have been disastrous. Instead, I added a small-group process that allowed participants to express their grief, shock and feelings of mortality. Once these feelings were cleared, we were able to resume with the planned material.

Of course, not all situations are as dramatic. Sometimes the only clue you’ll receive is a simple comment or question. If you’re open to the feedback you’re getting, you’ll be able to shift gears to better serve your students.

Develop Greater Authenticity

Learning to be yourself is a process. You’ll need to practice self-acceptance and love, embracing the knowledge that you are perfect and worthy of love exactly as you are. You’ll need to find and let go of the limiting beliefs you hold around your worthiness and your abilities. And you’ll need to practice revealing yourself in your truest form.

Everyone can be a teacher, whether in a formal capacity as a trainer or speaker or in a less formal role, as a supervisor, parent or friend. There are people who are waiting for you to appear as their teacher, people whom you are meant to serve. The more you strive to simply be yourself, the more they will be able to connect with you … and the more easily you’ll be able to serve as a clear channel for the wisdom that you are meant to deliver.

Are you ready to remove your blocks and limitations … so the real you shines through and you can begin to facilitate change in the world? Personal transformation is one of the biggest benefits attendees get from participating in Jack’s year-long Train the Trainer program. Get full details and an application here.

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