Today I spoke to a crowd of more than 500 people for the first time, which was quite a thrill. When speaking in front of a packed cafeteria, the number of people may as well be infinite because you cannot count them nor make eye contact with them all. That means that I now can cite evidence to use against my future self's nervousness for any public speaking engagement short of a presidential address. I was invited to speak at the Junior Award Ceremony at my former high school, Merivale High School. Sure, I was nervous, but it would be too ironic to back out of giving the following speech merely due to fear:
First of all, I would like to congratulate all of the award winners for their achievements!
It is an honor to come back to my high school and make an attempt at some words of wisdom. I only want to talk about one thing today. I want to tell you a secret that I slowly realized over the years and why it matters to you.
In grade 12, I was applying to post-secondary schools. I had to pick a school, pick a program, pick a specialization, pick options, pick internships, pick part-time jobs… Too much picking for a ripe 18 year old.
At the time, I felt like I should already know what to do with the rest of my life. BUT I DIDN'T! Honestly, I had barely any idea. But looking at all the people around me -- I thought, you know, they seem to know what they are doing. These 30, 40, 50 year olds seem to have a grip on things. How did they know how to do all this picking when they were my age?
Long story short, I ended up at the University of Ottawa studying commerce. It was at that time that a friend of mine decided to join the Army Reserves because he wanted to try it out. The recruiting centre is near uOttawa, so he asked me if I wanted to go for a walk with him while he went to check it out. Since it was January, I said "Uhh no, not really, it's like 5 Kelvin outside." He said “that’s warmer than 4 Kelvin”, and added that we could get Booster Juice on the way so I conceded and went for a walk because I really like Booster Juice.
Long story short, I ended up joining the Air Force as a pilot and went to the royal military college to study electrical engineering. You can bet that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
But here's the thing -- to begin pilot training, every candidate has to go in a punch-buggy sized simulator that moves around as you steer and fly some courses to prove that you can handle a steep learning curve. Some of the other candidates were much older than me, but when I spoke to them, they told me that they were nervous and apprehensive. How could that be? Shouldn’t they have it all figured out by now? Some of these people even already had pilot licenses!
In Kingston, at the Royal Military College, we were thrust into leadership roles for which we had no experience whatsoever. We were placed in front of dozens of people and expected to be the commander for the day. None of my peers knew what they were doing. I certainly didn’t.
Long story short, the first time I ever had to give marching orders, I ordered a “right turn” too quietly and a block of evenly spaced humans people slowly but steadily marched into the side of a parked white van. Luckily, no casualties other than my self-confidence.
Even now, when I was asked to talk at this ceremony, my first thought was "that’s crazy, I don’t know the first thing about public speaking." “How does anyone talk in front of that many people?”
So here's the secret and if you remember, just remember this one thing. Every person I have ever met has no idea what they are doing. They have no idea what they are doing.
My point is that if at this stage in your lives, you feel afraid, nervous, uncertain – or if you ever feel that way at work or in school later in life, this just means that you have embarked on an adventure and that you are growing as a person.
If you feel comfortable and safe about everything in your life, then you are not growing as a person. Growth is risky. Growth is nerve-wracking. Growth is uncomfortable. But success is worth it.
The best thing you can do with your high school years is get used to being nervous and uncomfortable. Find one thing per month that you might fail at and give it a shot. If nobody else knows what they are doing either, then what’s the worst that could happen?
When you set out on an adventure to expand yourself, any adventure that suits you, big or small, tell yourself that everyone felt this way, feels this way, and will feel this way. Even those who succeeded and those who are great. It makes the fear afraid. The only ones who never felt this way are those who never tried.
In the end, it went superbly and several parents even came up to thank me personally, which surprised my pessimistic instincts and was a distinct honor. Today's lesson: never back out of something just because you are afraid of what might go wrong. You might miss what goes right.
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