Adversity, personal injury, grief and loss can make you feel as though you have lost touch with yourself, but the truth is that adversity introduces us to our real selves. When you survive something awful, you have the opportunity to increase your personal power, strength of character, and ability to contribute to the greater good based on how you react to and rebound from the adversity.

I love speaking and doing standup. I’ve performed in front of audiences of thousands and wowed them, and groups of less than a dozen people, and done just as well. But I didn’t start out that way. I learned by trial and error. And I learned some valuable techniques that I now use in any and every public speaking situation. You can use these tips and probably save yourself some of the growing pains I experienced.

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.

In your thinking, what kind of Kickass Moves do you have? Are you flexible enough? Or are you too rigid? Flexibility is a quality worth developing, maintaining and exploring. People who cultivate a flexible way of looking at themselves and at challenging  situations, generally find solutions to problems and satisfaction -- or even happiness -- in life. An adaptable way of thinking helps us to address problems from many different angles, while a more rigid “set in your ways” type of thinking will hem you in, tap your creativity and limit your options. A supple mind is an open mind, able to embrace new and exciting experiences, generate creative concepts, adapt to change, and triumph over adversity.

You never know the impact you have on another person’s life. Words, thoughts and actions of an individual are tremendously powerful. Since October 20th, I’ve experienced a number of physical and emotional challenges, and on certain days I'm tempted to get depressed and defeated, which is not a badass attitude. And I'm a badass...so I resist that temptation by remembering people who inspire me.

Here’s something I learned from years of performing standup in clubs, colleges, auditoriums and a federal penitentiary: Standup comedy is metaphor for life. It’s tough, thrilling, often painful, often fun, always rewarding. And in standup, as in life, there are myriad things that are completely beyond your control. You learn by trial and error, but learn to make the best choices you can under pressure. And when -- not if -- you fail, you get back up onstage as soon as possible, knowing that the process will ultimately bring you success.

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.

Each day presents new opportunities to hone your stress management skills and increase optimism. That’s one way to look at it, anyway, and I prefer to focus on the positive. In my opinion, it takes a true badass to embrace optimism and employ enough mental discipline to continue to cling to that positive spin, rejecting any and all negative input.

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:

Resiliency is the ability to bounce back, adapt to adversity, and roll with the punches. Resilience gives us the flexibility to restore ourselves, and our lives after difficulty, trauma, and loss, and it is a quality in high demand during these rapidly changing times.  Although there may be a genetic factor involved, resilience is not something you are either born with or not.  You can learn, build, and develop your resilience. A sense of humor, like resilience, can also be learned and developed, and it can really help you to roll with the punches.
Here are four strategies to help you build your resilience: