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Articles on Speaking Matters:

The Real Spiderman, To A Professional Speaker

Alain Robert - Spiderman or Wall Crawler was in our town yesterday. he was holding a talk for the Asian Professional Speakers Singapore and I actually had the privilege of meeting him and taking a photograph with him.

Man was I excited. Spiderman and me together - a dream come true. I got to get this out, "I thought." The feeling was just amazing. Just being beside him was a living experience. Needless to say while standing beside him I feel a little queasy becasue of my fear of heights. No, don't worry, he did not hold his talk on the outside of the building. We were all safely embedded in a nice cosy function room with no high ceilings.

He was suppose to share with us his life story, how he got started and what inspired him to do what he did and among other things how he got started in public speaking, which he describe as even more frightful than hanging outside a 50 storey building. So here goes...

Born in Toulose, France, Alain was never born a climber. In fact his story is about fiighting fear and being courageous. How appropriate for a small and demour built person. Alain shared with us how he achieve his dream and how each and everyone of us can do to.

His advice: Set simple targets first.

When he had one of his usual bad accidents. This one was quite serious apparently because he was in a coma after a fall from rock climbing and yes with all safety equipment on. While doctors were fighting to save his life he said he had no clue what was going on because of his coma.

While on the way to recovery he started setting small goals such as climbing a small hill and then he would set a little larger and a little larger goal. Bit by bit that is what got him to where he is today.

Another of his marvelous advice: It takes time to achieve your goals.

Alain cited the impatience of us human beings. We often want to achieve our dreams with the most minimal of effort or we take short-cuts. He said it takes time to achieve your goals. In this instance it was his dream to climb one of the most tallest and difficult skyscrapers in the world when he was still a novice in wall climbing, The SEARS Tower in Chicago. Gees I don't know how high is the SEARS Tower but the sight of any building gets me dizzy.

Alain cited that it took him 5 years to actually climb to the top of the SEARS Tower. 5 years, I thought, man was he eating, sleeping and being merry during that time he actually did nothing. How wrong I was. He actually prepared for that feat for 5 years, taking a total of 7 trips from France to The States to actually get details of the building, which part to climb, weather conditions year round, the materials of the building, and yes you may not have guessed it safety features of the building and his safety as well.

When he finally reach the summit, he said it was the sense of freedom that overwelms him, nothing else.

Want more advice: After achieving your goals, set new ones and go at it again

He said something that really struck me. After he had ascended the SEARS Tower and with his sense of exhilaration and achievement he went on to set harder goals and conquer them. He explained why, " We must always have something to look forward to." This is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. We always tend to look back at our achievements and failures that we forgot to stretch out and look further and forward.

Alain went on to climb till date tallest buildings in the world such as The Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia and The Taipei 101 in Taiwan. What will he look forward of next???

You ain't seen nothing yet: The F-Word and three times over - FOCUS , FOCUS and FOCUS

When he was climbing those skyscrapers, there were times when the winds would try and knock him out cold. He went on to explain, while in his ever best preparations to conquer his targets there is only one thing that he cannot count on - that is mother nature. Winds and weather is something he has got to live with.

Alain went on to explained there were times when the winds were just unbearable. His remedy - Hang on for dear life and FOCUS on his target. Realize it is singular in - Target. Yes, one thing at a time, one thing at a time. Small moves baby, small moves.

The One Million Dollar advice: Try and try. Never give up

Easier said than done. But this is one man who broke many many bones and had the guts to actually break his head twice for that matter and till a point in time when doctors even officially certify him "Unfit to Climb for life". He stood up and be tall even he is only about 4 feet coming 5 may be.

He was so determine to make climbing his life's work that after his third fatal accident that he decided that he is not going to stand for mediocrity and there is simply no half way. It is all or nothing!

His most famous quote thus far..."Life's too short for surviving...life is made for living!"

One final dvice: Have Passion with a capital P

His final advice, you cannot do well in soemthing you don't have the passion for doing it. You want to get up in the morning and feel great about doing it. To say this might stunt some of you. He actually mention that he has a fear of heights but the power of his focus took him away from that fear and made it into his passion.

Alain went to finally say, " Other people work inside an office building, I get to work outside an office building. And I feel FREE!"

As for me, Spiderman made my day yesterday and I will remember his valuable lessons he gave.

Contributed By:
Calvin Yeo
Singapore
10 Jan 2007
www.thewheelofwealth.com
www.fantabulousservice.com
www.servicedelights.com

Calvin is a professional trainer, speaker and coach in the areas of Customer Service, Motivation and Wealth Management.