I was terrified of public speaking until I sat down for like a week and every day I spent ten minutes just wri... — Tobi Lütke
I was terrified of public speaking until I sat down for like a week and every day I spent ten minutes just writing that I like public speaking.
Author: Tobi Lütke
Insight: There's something almost magical about how our brains work with repetition and intention. When you tell yourself something enough times, it stops feeling like a lie and starts feeling like a plan. Tobi Lütke's approach to conquering public speaking anxiety wasn't about forcing himself on stage or white-knuckling through presentations—it was about rewiring his internal narrative through sheer, simple repetition. Ten minutes a day isn't a massive time commitment, but it's enough to create a groove in how you think about yourself. What makes this approach genuinely useful is that it sidesteps the part of your brain that argues back. You're not trying to convince yourself you're already great at public speaking. You're just writing words, over and over, until your nervous system stops treating the idea as a threat. It's the same reason people feel calmer after saying a mantra or why athletes visualize success—repetition changes your baseline emotional reaction to something. The real insight here is that we often think change requires dramatic action, but sometimes it just requires boring consistency. A week of ten-minute writing sessions probably sounds laughably simple compared to other self-help advice you've heard. That's exactly why it works. You actually do it, and it actually sticks.