A story I enjoy telling at the beginning of a presentations skills seminar supposedly happened to Demosthenes, a prominent orator in ancient Greece.

Demosthenes required his pupils to learn to speak publicly by putting six marbles in their mouths as they practiced. He permitted them to reduce that number by one each day.

Finally, they reached the day when he said to them, “Now that you have lost all your marbles, you are ready to speak.”

Application:  Today, I don’t want you to lose your marbles in order to speak, but I do hope you lose some of your anxiety about speaking and learn to feel more comfortable in front of an audience.