In my talk “SENTENCED TO BLINDNESS – THEN WHAT?, I speak about our inner critical voice. The inner voice, which often seems to put an end to the ambitions and wishes we have for ourselves and our lives. One day we get a thought: “I want to be a speaker and give talks next to my LEGO job and inspire people to see their potential and worth.” It is a vision and it can be felt completely into the heart and we are lifted up by the thought, but as this is something we have never tried before, we do not know how to put this idea into practice. How to make it real ..
And then the inner voice starts to speak. The voice represents the person we have been through years of practice and repetition, and it can’t relate to such an airy thought. It wants a plan. It wants to be able to see the whole process in front of it, so it can be sure we don’t fail or do anything stupid.
The thought first says, “Let’s be a speaker – let’s jump into it and inspire people.” It’s a feeling and we have it 24 hours a day. The feeling is a glimpse into the future. Imagine if we actually listened to it and experienced the vision that appeared to our inner eyes.
But the inner voice is concerned and finds all possible ridiculous reasons why we should NOT be a speaker and give talks in our spare time. “Yes, yes, it’s a good idea, but it’s huge and you’re just going to make a fool of yourself. Nobody will listen to your ridiculous ideas or so called visions, and it will all turn into a failure – believe me. “. “You must be a comedian or charismatic in order to do it and you are none of these things”. And there died the vision! Beaten by the inner voice.
On Tuesday I had the pleasure of giving my talk for the first time in front of a public audience, and although it went really well and people seemed genuinely inspired, I was still sitting in the back seat on my way home from Odense and listened to the inner voice saying. “Hmmm you could have done better!”. “You spoke too slowly”. “You have to redo the hole script, cause
people were bored”. The longer time I let the voice speak, the more I began to believe it, so all Wednesday and Thursday smashed myself over my “failure”. I thought about how I could do it all different and if I should tell more jokes, and I was wondering if I should just drop it all. “It’s a ridiculous idea to think that I could ever be a good speaker – DROP IT”.
Fortunately, something quite astonishing then happened. When I had almost lost belief and confidence in the project. Was it the energy of the universe? Destiny? I don’t know, but a person contacted me and wanted to discuss an idea of how we could work together on my message – a message that I obviously share with the person. After an hour on the phone, I had turned the whole situation around again – in my head.
I had just completed my first public talk, and I had done what I set out to do half a year ago: to speak publicly about my vision challenge and how we can all live the life we want to live, if we choose to see the opportunities that present themselves rather than the limitations we face. WELL DONE MORTEN – YOU ROCK !! I forgot to say that to myself just after the debut!
The autopilot won again. For some days. Once again I let the inner voice take control, but I was able to regain control, with a little help from a friend.
We are all unique creatures and can accomplish amazing things if we dare listen to the inner voice that first time whispers a new vision or ambition in our inner ear. If we dare listen to it first time we hear it and manage to calm the inner critical voice who constantly tries to keep us away from dangers and the unknown – yes – then there are actually no limits to what we can accomplish.
Now I’m back on track after some thoughtful days, and I celebrate that I once again let the light win over the dark. I have learned a lot from my first public performance and I will use that to make my talk sharper and more relevant.
To you who asked me to call the other day – thank you for helping lifting me out of the dark and back into the sunshine.