Why Everyone Now Calls me a Banana

This week, I started my Dale Carnegie Course. I've taken it online, I've taken it "in house" with my whole company, and I've sat in on sessions for marketing purposes, but I've never experienced the full length program in the way it is meant to be experienced.

This time around, I can actually freely participate in the program. There are about 25 participants, none of whom I knew beforehand.

This course is designed to push you out of your comfort zone. That, it did.

Session 1 was all about strengthening your memory and gaining tools to recall names with ease. So, we did an exercise to help us remember each others' names.

It was sort of like charades, where we thought of visual symbols and/or rhymes to act out our names. You were to start out saying "picture this," then act out your name, then state your name aloud so people associate you with your action and it gives them a visual aid to remember your name.

Hannah Butler.

(That's me.)

To symbolize my first name, I peeled an imaginary banana. For my last name I held up my hand as if carrying a silver platter, like a butler.

Then I said my name aloud.

"Hannah banana."

There was complete silence for about 2 seconds, then a loud outburst of laughter.

As if acting this out in front of a room of 25 strangers wasn't mortifying enough, I just had to go and butcher my own name. Really?! Hannah banana?!

Now, I'm not telling you this story to scare you off of Dale Carnegie Training. I'm telling you this to show you how we choose our own fate.

In this moment, I was embarrassed. But that embarrassment only lasted for a couple of seconds. In that couple of seconds, I had an important decision to make: I could either hang my head and walk off stage humiliated, or I could own it.

Obviously, I owned it. I laughed at myself, curtsied with a smile, and peeled off stage (see what I did there?!)

Naturally, for the rest of the evening (and probably the next 7 weeks of class), everyone called me "Hannah banana."

But guess what? They remember my name.

Although it was unintentional, I did something different than everyone else in the room. I stood out, and it totally worked. Because everyone in class now knows my name, I immediately gained confidence.

This week, I challenge you to do something out of your comfort zone. Whether it's having a conversation with a stranger or trying a new class at the gym, you'd be surprised how forcing yourself outside of your bubble can open a whole new world of self-appreciation and confidence.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

- Hannah Banana