Experts agree that fear of public speaking is one of the most common, if not the most common, phobias in modern society. This doesn’t surprise me. What does in fact, amaze me, is that millions of people who fear public speaking are required to do it on a regular basis – at work, doing presentations and reports, for example – and they suffer miserably as a result. They endure silently in order to keep their career positions. Many resort to powerpoint, so they can hover in darkness and simply read from the screen, rather than interact with their audience.

Kickass Personal Transformation is my term for the uplifting and energetic process that creates positive changes in life. KPT is progress, self-discovery, adaptability and optimism, and it always involves positive risk. The past month for me has been uber busy, working on the second annual Laff-aholics Comedy Benefit for Recovery, (Sept. 15th, 2012 at the IMA) and preparing for the upcoming release of my book, Never Give in to Fear: Laughing All the Way Up From Rock Bottom, on Oct. 8th, 2012. And during the past month I’ve been thinking a lot about calculated risk and positive vs. negative risk-taking.

Fun is an attitude, a state of being; it’s playfulness, enjoyment or amusement. Fun can inspire you, motivate you, and empower you to change your attitude, reactions and perception of yourself. Fun and a sense of humor will propel you toward your goal more quickly and give you inspiration, motivation and a sense of well-being along the way. If you're having fun, you're increasing your levels of "feel good" neurotransmitters in your brain ⎯ dopamine, serotonin, etc. When this happens, you empower yourself to feel better in general; you'll find it's much easier to be creative, energetic and empathic when you feel good.

Laughter wins. Adding humor to your speech will make your intellectual content easier to remember and a whole lot more fun to deliver. Your audience will retain more of what they hear because humor reduces stress. The lower the stress level, the more we learn. Research has shown that laughter stimulates both hemispheres of the brain, accelerating learning.

You don’t have to be a professional comedian or even a class clown in order to infuse a presentation with humor. You don’t have to tell jokes. You can cultivate a unique sense of humor, develop funny material, and acquire skills for delivering humor. Here are some tips to help you get started:

Fun inspires, heals, and empowers. No kidding. Fun and a sense of humor will propel you toward your goal more quickly, and give you inspiration, motivation, and a sense of well-being along the way. Remember, fun is not something you look for outside of yourself. It's something you own, embrace, and develop within as you live life in the present moment.

it's easy think that fun and happiness are things that we might wish would happen to us; things that mysteriously come from some source outside of us — but that is a mistaken belief. It is totally up to you whether you enjoy life and feel positive about yourself and your future. Take the step now, and start having fun.