Shaw, Gerard: - "I've heard it countless times when I was a kid and even when I was growing up, ""just smile"". Maybe I heard it more than any of you did, that's because I rarely smile. I'm one of those introverts, and I'm not saying all introverts are as totally clueless as I am when it comes to facial expressions. I was literally bad in all sorts of expression, both body and verbal expression. I was often misunderstood. So, I focused more on expressing myself in other forms of expression which are music, writing, and the arts. It was cool for a while, I enjoyed sharing it with a couple of close friends. I've lived my youth pretty much with ideas, concepts, and imagination in my head. I got brilliant ideas and thought that's enough to get me to college. I nailed writing the application for business school until I was called for an interview. Guess what? It was terrible, and I barely made it through, but somehow I did. I vowed I'd jump into entrepreneurship and put up my own company right after college so I could skip being in that same situation. I hated interviews. I also struggled with presentations back in college, and I'm happy that I often did it with a team. I was always ""the brain"" who's got all the major inputs in terms of conceptualization and ideas. But then somebody had to do the presentation, and I was just happy there's always someone ""gifted"" with that talent in my team to do it for me. I just had to give all the praises people give to that someone, he deserves it. But at the back of my head, ""What do I deserve?"" At some point, right at the culminating part of all our endeavors, we will be faced with our very own reality. Before graduation, I realized it's not okay to be just on the sidelines. It's not okay to let someone do your dream for you. I had to do a final presentation on my own and I knew I had to do it for myself. It felt like a hard battle between what I knew who I am in the inside and the lack of who I am on the outside. I had to take a hard look at myself in the mirror everyday and funny that I needed to tell myself to just smile. I didn't even know that smile, I never even bothered looking at myself with that for a while. I started thinking about what others could be thinking. Being that conscious was hell but truly enlightening. I began studying keynote speakers, what do they have? I've observed the best-talented presenters in class, what keeps their audience engaged in their every move and what they have to say? Soon I