Welcome to another Three Things Thursday.
I remember the first child abuse case I tried as a prosecutor. The lawyer defending the child abuser got up for his closing argument and said “Thank you for your time this week. You gave us a lot of your time so I don’t want to take up much more of it. I hope it hasn’t been too tough.”
He lost his audience right there. After a week of trial, the last thing they needed to hear was thank you and we hope it hasn’t been too tough. What did they actually care about?
They wanted to know they had spent their time wisely. They wanted to know their decision mattered. They wanted to know that they served justice.
Thank you didn’t matter.
A few more minutes of their time didn’t matter.
So in that opening 15 seconds, the lawyer had lost the jury. They tuned out. They were pissed. They were bored. They were over him.
I got up next and started. “You have a life in your hands. A child’s life. An innocent life. You have the chance to show this child that you care. That grown-ups care. That there is hope for a better tomorrow.”
We won the case.
I tell you this story as a way to come here. Thank you. For your time and support. For your following and your words. Thank you.
15 weeks ago when I started this journey I had no idea what it would look like. I knew I wasn’t Web Smith of 2 pm or David Perell of Write of Passage. But I knew I had thoughts, ideas, and a voice. The fact that each of you reads what I have to say gives me inspiration and energy every day.
Most of my creative energy is going into Performative Speaking. That includes working on the course directly, talking to people about the course, and filming any podcast that asks me to be on it.
Sign-ups close Friday (tomorrow) at 10 pm EST. 24ish hours left. If you want to join 33 other motivated, dedicated, and incredible people in learning effective public speaking and communication to start off 2021, then now is the time. Sign up: Here
After that, a cohort 2 waitlist will open up (which somehow already has quite a few members) with the plan for January 11. I’ll provide the waitlist signup beginning this weekend or reach out to me directly.
I wrote a fun tweet thread on the Strategy of a Speaker. It blew up and it was one of my better ideas I’ve put together for Twitter so here you go.
Then I got to talk about it today with Justin Mikolay (go follow him) about Strategy for Speakers. Why is that a cool experience?
He was the speechwriter for General Petraeus, General Mattis, and Secretary Panetta. He is as good as they come at the strategy for speakers. It’s always fun having these types of conversations with people I respect and know are experts.
Now for Three Things
I went on a few podcasts
Student Mindset Podcast with Brandon Zhang
Craig Burgess Podcast (which has now disappeared from my twitter timeline after the great twitter crash of October 15)
In one week that’s 5 podcasts. I have no idea how people do more of them because this was both amazing and exhausting. I loved every one of them. Each is a bit different and I hope one of them catches your fancy.
This visual from Producemore
You should follow Producemore. Great designs. Even better person behind them.
“The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life.” Katsumoto in The Last Samurai
My biggest negative from 2020 has been the cancellation of beauty. Museums, symphonies, and travel all closed. I believe we need beauty in our world. We have lost a year of chasing that perfect blossom.
My hope is that this year has reminded us of the power of the arts, of travel, but most of all, to seek out beauty. I know that’s what I will be doing in 2021.
Maybe Cohort 2 or 3 comes to you from a different location. Like the old days when Real World on MTV was a thing and each season went to a different place, perhaps Performative Speaking will do the same. Only time will tell.
If you want to join Cohort 1 you have roughly 24 hours remaining. Join before its too late.
Also, if you are looking for 1 on 1 private coaching you can sign up and check out my page here.
Please share and subscribe. 188 of you this week. Let’s get it to 200 people.
See you next week.
Robbie