Bernard Shaw is not afraid of making a fool of himself when he learns to speak.

Bernard Shaw is not only an outstanding English playwright, but also an excellent speaker. Interestingly, the process of learning to speak is also quite dramatic. Bernard Shaw was one of the most timid people in England when he was young. At the age of 20, he first came to London, a big city. He is too timid to meet people. Once, someone invited him to be a guest. He walked up and down the river bank for more than twenty minutes before he got up the courage to walk to someone else's door. When he got to the door, he was still in a panic and didn't dare to knock. On another occasion, a friend invited him to attend an academic debate. He stood up nervously at the meeting and spoke incoherently. As a result, he was laughed at by others and even called a fool. Regarding the timidity and fear of youth, Bernard Shaw later frankly admitted: "Few people suffer from timidity like me, or are ashamed of it."

When he realized that he was afraid to speak boldly, he became angry and practiced speaking, determined to turn his weakness into his strongest advantage. Reminiscent of his timidity and fear when he first learned to skate, and his mastery of skating essentials after repeated falls, he realized that he would not speak in public unless he practiced in public.

So he bravely signed up for a debate club in London and insisted on giving a public speech once a week. At first, others regarded him as a "clown", made fun of him and even bombarded him to step down, but he always insisted on stepping down after the speech. He challenged himself again and again, always silently shouting to himself: "I am not afraid of making a fool of myself!" " ""I'm not afraid of making a fool of myself! "Slowly, he became bold, his thinking became clear, his speech became fluent, and others had to sit up and take notice of him.

Since then, Bernard Shaw has been actively looking for opportunities to exercise his eloquence. Whenever there is a public discussion meeting, whether in churches, schools, parks, docks or markets; Whether in the hall full of thousands of listeners or in the basement with only a few people, he actively participated. According to statistics, in the following 12 years, his speeches reached 1000 times, and he can be seen almost everywhere in London.

Of course, the process of defeating yourself is difficult. Bernard Shaw has suffered cowardice, fear and ridicule from others, but he never flinched, but persevered with strong perseverance. As a result, he changed from a timid young man to one of the best speakers in the first half of the twentieth century. Later, someone asked Bernard Shaw, "How did you learn to speak in public?" He replied, "I taught myself to skate to practice speaking ―― I made a fool of myself stubbornly and persistently until I became proficient!" " "

Editor's note:

Many people are afraid to speak in public and speak incoherently. In fact, they are all afraid of losing face and making a fool of themselves. Courage is the premise of speech, and self-confidence is the secret of success. I hope you can learn wisdom from Bernard Shaw's successful experience, be fearless of setbacks, make unremitting progress, and turn smallness into greatness and mediocrity into magic on the road of pursuing excellent speech and eloquence.