insecurities disappeared the answer is
no by the end of this talk I would like
you radically rethink how you perceive
the same obstacle will either paralyze
or sky rocket your potential depending
on one question will you face it by the
way I’m using a breathing technique to
so if anyone here is called Luke I am
used to be incredibly self-conscious
about being different and the world
often validated my negative beliefs once
at a party as a teenager I meet this
girl and we hit it off we start holding
hands and then she asks me what is your
name
my name is to be the most difficult
word for me to say so I reply with Shh
and as I am struggling to tell her who I
was it something I didn’t say this basic
act of speaking that everyone else did
so effortlessly was mission impossible
to me
I voted every speakings
situation that I could and those like
couldn’t filled me with shame
embarrassment and and anger I hated
Robert Frost once said the only way out
is through to me that meant the only way
I would ever overcome this
would be by
[Music]
speaking first I learned this breathing
technique and for the first time in my
life I had some control over this
chaotic nightmare then I joined
Toastmasters to overcome the fear of
public speaking and it was terrifying at
first
where I realized that what I say matters
far more than how quickly I say it last
year I competed in two public speaking
competitions and I came first
in both of them something my younger
impossible impossibility most recently
I’ve even started doing stand-up comedy
and I’ve since performed in Toronto
Montreal and New York I always warn my
audience at the comedy club that my
stuttering in one language was not
enough for me I started in six of them I
started in English Juba gay of Jose the
doctor move año en espanol basically I
now get to test people’s patience
internationally I am still at the
beginning of my journey and to be honest
I constantly go through ups and downs
but every time the negative emotions of
my former self arise which is often I
challenge myself by going outside
we’ll have a quick conversation
well obviously the conversations aren’t
that quick this exercise is
uncomfortable tough and vulnerable but
it is through repeatedly exposing myself
that I overcome these obstacles through
the magic of desensitization what was
once traumatising becomes a bit less
scary every time we do it I confront my
fear one word at a time and while my
stutter is visible yours may not be
obvious the truth is you all have an
inner stutter that might hold you back
what oh and you want to speak up in a
group and yet you remain quiet
that’s your stutter
oh and you have this great business idea
but what you block on the execution
that’s your stutter
oh and you find someone attractive or
interesting and yet you don’t even say
hello
that’s your every time we succumb to our
stutter we shrink our destiny by
that person you did not say hello to
could have been a great friend a
business partner or a soul mate when
however we faced a fear and experienced
the uncomfortable our potential and
realm of possibilities grow
we truly become the makers of our
destiny for so long I had
chosen isolation I held back for the
same reasons you might hold back I was
afraid of being judged I was afraid of
failure I was afraid of success by being
here today I am showing you that you can
all look at your biggest fear in the eye
and face it because when we realize that
the only way our fear stops controlling
us is when we act in spite of it we
start allowing that same fear to work
for us we start acting because of it
my worst fear has become my biggest
asset we should not expect to be
rewarded every time we confront a fear
No
rejection and failure are inevitable but
with every little fear defying action
transform our lives in a way that far
exceeds what we would have achieved if
all our personal fears obstacles and
philosopher Aurelius
once said the obstacle that was once in
the way becomes the way today my obstacle brought me to this stage where