How to avoid pitfalls in practicing

- Unpopular opinion. Practice does not make perfect. Don't get me wrong, practice is vitally important to improve in public speaking, but just practicing without a strategy in place and without feedback loops is going to reinforce your bad habits. If you are in the habit of using filler words, uh, um, like, then that is going to happen tenfold at your 10th public speaking event. If you don't know how to control your gestures or use them to make an impact, this is what you're going to be doing every single time you're on that stage. If you're swaying from side to side or shuffling and stepping awkwardly, guess what? You're going to be doing that no matter how many times you get on that stage because you haven't built in the right feedback loops. Get feedback when you rehearse, record every single time you're on that stage. Watch it. Analyze it like you would if you are a sports champion because that's what you need to be on that stage. And that way you're always using the next opportunity, not as empty practice, but a way to strategically get better and better at public speaking.