This past week my marketing professor taught us about "elevator pitches" and how important they are when going into an interview for a job. An elevator pitch is a 60 second synopsis of yourself and the goal is to impress whomever you may be speaking to so that they will want to talk to you further or even offer you a job. He told us that we would all have the opportunity to practice and create one of our own this semester and the first thing I did was turn to my classmate next to me and ask if it was mandatory. I am terrified of talking to a small group of people, much less a crowd. Then I thought to myself that I could go about this two ways. I could continue being terrified and absolutely dread the day in March that I have to give my class my elevator pitch, or I can look at this as an opportunity of stepping out of my comfort zone and see the benefit it is giving me with for my future career. Honestly, it didn't matter what way I decided to go about this because either way I have to do it. With that being said, why not be optimistic about this assignment and try to get as excited as I can about it?

This got me thinking that we all end up getting in situations in our lives that force us to step out of our comfort zone. Whether it is public speaking or something else, we all have fears that more times than not we have to face at some point in our life. We can either absolutely dread it, cry, and try to find ways out of doing it, or we can think positively, realizing it is an opportunity to simply grow. Grow into a stronger, more confident person that conquered what they felt is most terrifying in life.

Stepping out of your comfort zone is one of the riskiest things you can do. You think to yourself that you could be setting yourself up for failure, but what we sometimes forget to also think is that we could be setting ourselves up to succeed. You don't know the outcome of something if you don't do it. You won't know if you like or dislike something until you try it. You don't know if you are good or bad at something until you complete it. You could have a hidden talent at what you are most afraid of and you don't even know it yet because you can't get yourself to do it. There is no doubt I am dreading this assignment, but at the end of the day I have to do it so I must find the good in it. That being that I will get the experience of talking in front of a crowd, as well as bettering myself for the future when I am actually being interviewed for a job and I have to sell myself the best I can in a short amount of time. Find the good in the bad. Find the good in conquering your fear even if that is simply conquering your fear.

I'm not saying that I am going to love public speaking after completing this assignment because I know I still won't voluntarily talk in front of my class any other time. And I'm not saying that conquering your fear is going to make you any less afraid of it, but I am saying that you will be proud of yourself and who knows, you might actually be less afraid of it.