If you came up to me 2-3 years ago and told me to introduce myself…

I would’ve flinched at first sight, tried to avoid eye contact with you, and mumbled my way into saying something like:

“Yeah uh… good to meet you. I’m Jeston, currently umm a senior in high school. Let’s see… I play the piano, and yeah, that’s who I am...”

Yeah. That’s not the type of greeting you want.

There’s this joke that people fear public speaking more than death, but if you think about it, I think there’s some element of truth to it:

Public speaking can be f*cking scary.

For most of us, we were never taught how to speak with confidence, conviction, and clarity.

But what if I told you that learning to speak eloquently (and also learning how to write well) is one of THE highest ROI skills you can learn in life?

For anyone wanting to start their own business, do well at their career, or even meet someone new, learning to speak well is absolutely crucial beyond measure.

If you cannot clearly articulate your thoughts, you’re ngmi.

For example, I recently recorded a 10-minute uncut video of me being interviewed in real time, viewed by 3k+ strangers on the Internet:

In this quick guide, I’m going to show how you can go from 0 to 1:

It First Comes from Within

Getting good at public speaking doesn’t first come externally; it comes from within.

If there’s only one thing to take away from this essay, it’s this:

How confident you are with public speaking is a direct reflection of how comfortable you are with yourself.

And how do you build that confidence?

You practice, and practice, and practice - until you’ve done it so many times that it feels completely second-nature to you.

For me, I’ve built an irrefutable stack of wins:

• Journaled 750,000+ words

• Started a podcast with 20 episodes

• Hopped on calls with 30+ people the past 1.5 months

• Met people from 25+ countries during my study abroad

If you’re not at a level where you’re speaking comfortably, chances are, you haven’t practiced enough.

Build the habit of regularly talking to people, and I guarantee you that you’ll get better over time.

But I’m not just going to tell you theoretical fluff.

Here are some ways you can tactically improve your public speaking game:

Own Your Intro Like it’s Yours (Cause it is Yours)

When I volunteered at Andrew Yeung’s tech event in Bel Air, I was petrified.

Why?

It was my first ‘networking’ event, and I wasn’t just meeting people my age at a career fair. I was meeting multimillionaires - tech entrepreneurs, investors, and creators.

If there was a place where I felt like the dumbest in the room, it was there.

But I learned a million-dollar lesson that still serves me super well today:

Your first impression matters - a lot.

How you introduce yourself sets the precedent for the conversation moving forward:

Do you want to be someone who cowers behind their own shadow or someone who comes in with quiet confidence, graciously asserting themselves and what they do?

Of course, you’d want to choose the latter. Here are some tips to channel that inner zen:

• If you say what you do, own up to it.

• People love a good, firm handshake.

• If you have 3 things to say about yourself, say ALL 3. Not 1, not 2.

• Don’t walk around nervously. Keep your pace + movements assured.

There’s still more to share - let’s roll onto the next tip:

How to Be An Interesting Person

The biggest lesson I learned from podcasting is this:

If you want to become an interesting person, become someone who’s interested in other people.

The quality of questions is a direct reflection of how invested you are in learning more about the other person.

People love talking about themselves - who wouldn’t?

If you approach each interaction with genuine curiosity to connect, learn, and make a new friend, you’re going to get what you wish for: a genuine friendship.

Being a person you’d want to hang around isn’t that complicated:

Have a general sense of emotional intelligence. What does that look like?

• Don’t just talk about yourself

• But don’t try to pick someone’s brain

• Learn to adapt to where they carry the conversation

TLDR: Lean on the side of asking questions, but do it sincerely and genuinely.

It All Comes Down to Your Story

Everyone loves a good story.

Master your story, master public speaking.

One of my favorite public speakers is none other than Alex Lieberman. Listen to the way he tells the story of Morning Brew in a recent pod:¹

• He remembers the events like they’re in his back pocket

• He adds conflict to leave listeners on edge

• Opening up about his struggles builds trust with the listener

• His sentences flow and weave together, with minimal filler words

This is someone who has lived a tremendously interesting life and retold his story over and over again.

There’s so much I can talk about storytelling, but for the sake of length, I’ll create a separate essay on this topic :).

Conclusion

In order to win at the game of life, you have to become a master of skills.

For a lot of people, I recommend public speaking to be on top of your priorities list.

I’ll leave you off with a great quote from Vinh Giang. You’ve probably seen some of his videos, but yeah, he drops some banger advice:

Have a killer rest of your week.

Cheers,

Jeston Lu

Thanks for reading! If you have anything you want me to cover, fill out this form here. What did you think of today’s edition? Would love to hear back from you: just hit “reply” or reach out to me on X/Twitter.

1  Little shoutout from the podcast at 16:23 :).