Envy slithers like a snake through your soul, feeding on your resentment and discontent. With its mouth full, it whispers in anguished desire for others good fortune, character and possessions. Envy is just appreciation so twisted it has taken a turn for the worse. Whenever you speak well, be assured that amid the appreciation there is envy lurking about. Standing before an audience, you become a role model whose example is emulated in appreciation or depreciated by envy.
Envy asks, “why you, and not me” while appreciation says, “why not you and me”. As a skillful speaker you do not speak to impress. You speak to impress upon your audience what your message means to them. Whether it is a perspective, process or philosophy, ideally you are giving them something that they don’t have. Envy thinks and reacts to lack, reasoning that whatever you have must mean less for me. Offer your message as an open invitation, and eventually, they will accept they can become more with you, not in spite of you.
Envy turns an example of what you can become into something unbecoming. Presenting your efforts as far beyond the reach of mere mortals invites more envy than inspiration. The difference between the ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. Give your listeners that little extra by sharing stories and strategies. Let them share in your struggle which lead to success. Help them see what they can become and you win their desire and choke their envy. If you just talk about the perks and privileges of your perspective, you stoke the worst kind of desire, desire writhing in envy.
Envy turns someone’s best into your worst. Envy aches to possess a character of quality while dismissing the characteristics of quality. Wanting what someone else has become is dumb. If you have ever wished you could speak like someone else, you have mixed envy with admiration. There is nothing worse than wanting to possess what you must become. Powerful presenters and skillful speakers do not purchase the skills they possess like a pair of snake skin shoes. They distill their will through education and experience so they can call upon their skills at will. Envy sheds its’ skin when you wish to live the lessons necessary to create admirable qualities. Envy squirms along the surface of success, looking to sneak in and steal it. Modeling success distills the skills from within, taking what’s best and making you better.
It is unenviable to hear a speaker extolling their achievements, exemplifying their efforts and spiraling round in self appreciation. Evoking enviousness is arrogant and unbecoming. Help your audience appreciate your message without envy. Rid your character of discontent and resentment so your listeners will always feel it is their good fortune to wind up in your audience.