Chapter 14 Passionate about the subject matter of choice

Not all topics that you and I are qualified to discuss interest us.For example, I'm a do-it-yourself person, and I'm really qualified to talk about how to wash dishes.But somehow I just can't get excited about the subject, and in fact I don't want to think about it at all.And yet, I've heard housewives—that is, household executives—say admirably on the subject.They either harbor a burning rage at the never-ending dishes, or they discover new ways to handle this annoying chore.In any case, they were so excited about the subject that they could talk about washing dishes. Here is a question, that is, whether the topic you think is suitable for public discussion.Suppose someone stood up and spoke out against your views. Would you defend yourself with confidence and passion?If you do, you're on the right track.

In 1926, I visited the venue of the Seventh Congress of the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, and took notes afterwards.Recently, I accidentally came across these notes again.Here is one of the paragraphs: "After three or four dead speakers had read his manuscript, Sir George Fester of Canada came to speak. I noticed with great admiration that he carried no paper or note. He often made gestures, His mind was undisturbed, his mind was on what he had to say. There was something he desperately wanted his listeners to understand. His eagerness to convey to his audience some of the beliefs inherent in his mind was evident, as always Like Lake Geneva outside the window. The principles that I have always advocated in teaching are perfectly displayed in that speech."

I often think of Sir George's speeches, he was sincere and warm.This kind of sincerity will be fully revealed only when you really feel and really think about the selected topic.Bishop Fisher Bussing, America's most powerful orator, learned this lesson early in his life.In his book "This Life Is Not False", he wrote: “I was picked to be on the debate team at my college. The night before the Marian debate, our debate professor called me into his office and scolded me. "'You're a wretch! There's never been a worse speaker in the history of this house!'

"'Then,' said I, trying to excuse myself, 'if I'm such a jerk, why did you pick me up on the debate team?' "'Because,' he replied, 'you think, not you speak. Go into that corner and take a passage out of the speech and tell it.' I repeated a passage for an hour , and finally, he said: 'See what's wrong with it?' 'No.' So it was another hour and a half, two hours, two and a half hours. Finally, I was exhausted. He said, 'Can't see what's wrong with the where?' "Because of my natural reflexes, after these two and a half hours, I understood. I said: 'You can see, I am not sincere. I am not paying attention at all. I didn't mean it.'"

In this way, Bishop Xin learned a lesson that he will never forget - to integrate himself into the speech.So he began to make himself enthusiastic about his subject.Only then did the learned professor say, "Now you can speak!" If a student in our class said, "I can't get excited about anything, I lead a normal, monotonous life." Our trained teacher would ask him, what does he do in his spare time?Their responses varied: Some went to the movies, others went bowling, and others planted roses.Another student told the teacher that he collected books about matches.He gradually began to cheer up as the teacher continued to ask about his unusual hobby.After a while, he pointedly described the small room where he stored his collection.He told the teacher that he has a collection of match books from almost all countries in the world.After he got excited about his favorite topic, the teacher interrupted him: "Why don't you tell us about this topic? I think it's very interesting." He said he never thought that anyone would be interested in this matter !This man has spent years pursuing a hobby that has become almost a passion, but he denies its value as worthless.The teacher earnestly told him that the only way to test the interest value of a subject matter was to ask himself how interested he was in it.So, he talked all night as a collector.I later heard that he also went to various lunch clubs to give lectures on collecting matchbooks and gained local respect for it.

If you want to learn to speak in public quickly and easily, the above example just illustrates the second principle.