Imperfect Action Leads to Growth | The Speaker’s Edge

Release date: February 2 , 2026

Hosted by Roddy Galbraith

A Maxwell Leadership Podcast Network production

Weekly highlights from The Speaker’s Edge — a Maxwell Leadership Podcast Network production hosted by Roddy Galbraith. Learn how to communicate with clarity, confidence, and impact — in business, on stage, and in life.

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This Week’s Big Idea

Growth does not come from waiting until you can do something perfectly. It comes from taking imperfect action, learning as you go, and trusting that consistency compounds over time. In this episode, Roddy shows why progress in speaking — and in life — starts with being willing to begin before you feel fully ready.

Key Takeaways

Spectacular performance is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.
The real secret to growth is taking imperfect action instead of waiting for perfection.
Small, consistent efforts compound over time, even when progress feels invisible day to day.
Speaking skills grow in layers: words, voice, body language, entertainment, then influence.
The best way to get clear on what you are trying to say is to start saying it.
Audiences do not want a perfect speaker — they want a real one.

Quote of the Week

“Spectacular performance is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.” — John Maxwell.

Resources & Practice

Before your next talk, meeting, or training session, try this simple framework:

Start with the words — what am I actually trying to say?
Work on the voice — how do I want it to sound?
Add body language — what helps support the message?
Make it more engaging — what makes this a better experience for the audience?

Then remember:

Don’t wait until it feels perfect.
Practice out loud.
Review it.
Adjust it.
Repeat.

That is how growth compounds.

Get the companion guide here > MaxwellLeadership.com/TheSpeakersEdge

Learn about the Maxwell Leadership Certified Team: maxwellleadership.com/speak

Full Transcript (Ep. 049 — Why Imperfect Action Leads to Growth in Speaking & Life)

Released: January 12, 2026

This transcript was auto-generated. It may contain minor errors. *Copy text adds attribution automatically

Hey, guys, welcome back to the Speaker's Edge Podcast. The podcast dedicated to helping you to learn from some of the world's very best speakers and communicators so you can learn to master your message and inspire your audience every single time you speak. I'm your host for this podcast, Roddy Galbraith, and I'm thrilled you've chosen to join us today. If you want to be a better communicator, then congratulations, you're in the right place. Communication is a learnable skill and this is a great place to learn to develop that skill. And it really is a skill worth developing because it will do more for you than any other skill you can develop. It'll do more for your business, more for your career, more for your self-confidence, everything. So it's a great skill to spend some time developing.

If you think about it, we spend so much time interacting with other people as human beings. We're very social, aren't we? So we interact with other people all the time. And the better we get at those interactions, the better we get at life. And the truth is, we're better together anyway. We're stronger together, we need each other. And so communication is absolutely key. So if we can work out communication, if we can get better at communication and it is a learnable skill and it is something that you should learn, then it literally is getting better at life. So we want to spend some time on this.

Now, today, in this session, we're going to be looking at the real secret to growth. Whether it's developing your communication skills or anything else, we'll look at the real secret to growth. But before we get to that, if you haven't downloaded the companion guide, simply go to MaxwellLeadership.com/TheSpeakersEdge. You can download the companion guide and if you enjoy the show, we would love it if you rate and review the show as well. All right, let's dive in then. We'll start with a great quote from John Maxwell. You may have heard him say this or you may have heard somebody else say something similar. He said, never underestimate the compounding effect of consistency.

Never underestimate the compounding effect of consistency. I think the tendency very often is because the incremental gains are very, very small or maybe non-existent or maybe like we don't even believe they're there from one day to the next. But over time, it adds up to an enormous difference. So never underestimate that. The simple example that everyone uses is money, isn't it? You put money into your bank account or into savings and providing it's reasonably safe and there's some kind of interest rate, then it's going to compound over time. And slowly at first, from one day to the next, it doesn't look like it's making much difference. But one year later, five years later, 10 years later, 40 years later, maybe if it's your pension, then it makes an enormous difference. It makes an enormous difference.

I always think that weight loss is a good example of this because I'm often doing keto and then I'll really keto, and then I'll weigh myself the next day and it's like it's the same as it was yesterday. What's going on here? I worked really hard, I put in extra effort and it hasn't made any difference. I still weigh the same as I did yesterday. Or the reverse is true. It's a special occasion, I'll go out and I'll eat way too much and drink way too much fizzy drinks and desserts and sugar and cream and donuts. And then I think, well, I've blown it now. I might as well go completely over the top. So I'll have cereal before I go to bed, all kinds of things that I wouldn't normally eat, honey on my Greek yogurt. And then I weigh myself the next day and it's like it's the same as it was the day before. Nothing I do makes any difference. Nothing I do makes any difference. And so there's a real temptation to think that in the moment, from one moment to the next, because we don't see a change, then we think that there isn't a change taking place. There is. It's just perhaps not detectable with the naked eye. If you stare at the hour hand on a clock and if you look at it, if it was an analog clock, an old-fashioned clock where the hour hand moves, you don't see it move from moment to moment, do you? Even the minute hand is very difficult to see it move.

But over time we know it's going to move. This duck on my desk here is a metaphor for growth. In the same way this little duckling reminds me that this little duckling, if it wasn't made of plastic, of course, if it wasn't, you know, like if it was real, if it was a real duckling and it had care, it would grow into a full-grown duck over time. So we know that's going to happen. We can't see it, but we know it's happening in front of our eyes even though we can't detect that change from moment to moment. So it's a great way to think about this. Never underestimate the compounding effect of consistency over time. You put money in the bank account, if there's an interest rate, over time it goes up and up and up.

But money, of course, is not the only thing that compounds over time. We do as well. Knowledge, experience, education, skills, knowledge and experience, they all compound over time to an extraordinary level really. So never underestimate the compounding effect of consistency. That's a great quote, isn't it? Another one that's kind of in line with this really from John Maxwell is spectacular performance is always preceded by unspectacular preparation. So spectacular performance that we all want is always preceded by unspectacular preparation, which none of us really want. But if we don't do the work, then we're not going to be good enough for the spectacular performance. And it's not just like because we want it. Oh, I really want this. I'm going to do my best. You have to develop your best so that your best is good enough. It may not be good enough right now, but if you train, if you work at it, if you put your best into it over time as you grow, then your best will be good enough. So if you want the spectacular results, then you need to put in the unspectacular preparation over a reasonable period of time.

Jim Rohn said that the secret to success, really what we're talking about, these quotes from John, there's no secret to it really. He said the secret to success is just a few acts of self-discipline practiced daily over a reasonable period of time. Just a few acts of self-discipline practiced daily over a reasonable period of time leads to success. That's good, isn't it? He said the formula for failure is just a few errors in judgment practiced daily over a reasonable period of time. We can choose the acts of self-discipline. We have to be very intentional. We don't climb uphill by mistake. That doesn't happen on its own. But we do slide downhill to end up where we really don't want to be. That happens on autopilot. No one means to blow up their life, do they? No one means to end up where they really don't want to be. It happens on its own. Just a few errors in judgment. So the acts of self-discipline we need to be very intentional. We need to look out for the errors in judgment because they can appear to happen on their own. But ultimately it is within our control, isn't it? It is within our control, so we need to make the effort. Spectacular performance is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.

Why unspectacular preparation? Just think about that. Why unspectacular preparation? Well, unspectacular because no one's watching you, no one's clapping. You're not getting paid millions of dollars. I know Roger Federer would much prefer playing in front of an audience of adoring fans with half a million, a million, 2 million, 5 million dollars of prize money at stake. Of course he would. But if he didn't do the unspectacular preparation when no one's watching, hitting the ball 6 o'clock in the morning, playing all day, practicing different shots, doing whatever his coach tells him to do, then getting in a nice bath, then having all of the nutrition and the sleep and everything else that goes with it, if he didn't do those things, if he didn't do the unspectacular preparation, then you wouldn't get the results. But also unspectacular because you're not good enough for spectacular work while you're doing the unspectacular preparation because you're growing, aren't you? Don't miss this. Like the little duck. The unspectacular preparation is doing your best, but not doing it perfectly because you can't do it perfectly yet. In fact, it might be doing your best and it's really bad.

John says you're never good at anything the first time. I think that's a great let-off for us. You're never good at anything the first time. So it's unspectacular because we're going to put one foot in front of the other and it's not going to go great at first, but we're going to keep trying and then we're going to keep growing and gradually we'll get better and better and better. So unspectacular preparation means doing our best, even though our best is not very good when we first start. That's to be expected, isn't it? In fact, to expect anything else is delusional. So the secret, and here's the point that I really wanted to land on in this episode, the secret to growth is taking imperfect action. Imperfect action. Even though you can't do it perfectly, you're still going to try because you want to grow. You have to move into the process of growth in order to grow. If you don't start the process of growth because you can't do it perfectly, you're never going to develop, are you? In fact, you're probably going to get worse. If you don't use it, you lose it. That's like a law of life, isn't it? Particularly for our bodies and our skills. Balance, everything as we get older. If you don't use it, you lose it. So we need to take imperfect action even if we can't do it perfectly, even if we can't do it very well, even if we can't do it at all, because that's the path to growth.

It's the same with our emotions. We talked about this in earlier episodes. If you want to outgrow a fear of something, fear of speaking being an example, then you have to step into the fear. The only way out is through the fear. You can't hide from the fear and hope that you're going to outgrow it in secret. It just gets worse. You have to step into it. So the secret to growth in anything, really, I think, is the willingness to take imperfect action. The willingness to take imperfect action.

Now, to help you in this, when we're thinking about speaking, it's nice to think of it in layers because as John said, you're not going to be good first time. No one's good at anything first time. You start and you gradually get better. So I think with speaking, you can think of it as like a pyramid with different layers, where the first layer that you might think about, if somebody says, do you want to come and speak to my team? You say, okay. The first thing you're going to think to yourself is, well, what am I going to say to them? So your first focus is on the words. So you're going to think about what you're going to say. That's the bottom layer of the pyramid. What words am I going to use? What is my message? What is the content? What am I going to say to these people? And that's a natural place for us to start.

We're going to think about what we're going to say, but that only takes us so far. We think about what we're going to say, but it's not long before we need to start thinking about how we're going to say those words, and we need to think about using our voice. And so as we begin to experiment with our voice and discover better ways of using our voice, and rather than just using a very narrow range of expression, we're going to experiment with different ways of using our voice louder and quieter, softer, faster, more excited, more pensive, every different variation that may fit the message that you can think of. It's good to experiment with these things, not because it's definitely going to work, but you can find some things that do work. You'll discover if you do this, you'll discover a whole load of things that don't work and you don't like, but you may discover some other ways that you can use your voice more effectively. So the first layer is the words. Start thinking about what you're going to say. Then the next layer is start thinking about how you're going to say those words. And as you experiment with that, guess what? You get clearer on the words as well. So now you're working on both. You're using your voice, you're discovering better ways to say your message, and your message is getting clearer at the same time. You don't need to get the words perfect before you start using your voice. In fact, it's a good idea to work on both together. Few bullet points, jot it down and then start saying it. Start experimenting with your voice and the words. The best way to get clear on what you're trying to say is to try and say it. So stand up and start saying it.

So level number one then is the words. Level number two is using your voice. What, what's the next level? Body language. What are you going to do with your body while you're saying these words? So you've started thinking about what you're going to say. You started experimenting with different ways of saying it. Now you can start thinking about your body language. How are you going to support the message? How you're not going to detract from the message by waving your hands around all over the place or pacing backwards and forwards like a caged lion. Your facial expressions are also a part of that as well, aren't they? So our body language is all of these different things. How can we use our body to not be distracting and to support the message, to support the words that we're saying. And guess what? As you begin to think about these things, as you begin to think about your facial expressions and your body language, you get better with your voice. And while you're getting better with your voice, you get clearer and clearer on the words, what you're trying to say. So all three of these levels now work together. The words you're going to say, how you're going to say them with your voice and what you're going to do with your body and your face and your facial expressions while you're saying them.

Now it's possible to do all those three and to have great congruence between those three layers. The words you're saying, how you're saying them, and your body language all being very, very congruent. So they're all in alignment. You don't want to be smiling and really chirpy and cheerful if you're talking about something very sad. Obviously they need to be in alignment, otherwise it's going to feel off for your audience. But it's possible to do all those three and still be very dull. And so the next layer up, level number four is the entertainment layer. Is it possible your audience can enjoy this while they're listening to you? So you start thinking about maybe using some emotion, some variety, maybe telling some stories or examples, maybe some jokes, humor, excitement, sadness, roller coaster of emotions, any way that you can mix it up and make it more interesting. And as you begin to think about how you can make it more entertaining, how you can make it more enjoyable, a better experience for your audience, guess what? Your body language improves and your voice improves and you get clearer and clearer on what you're trying to say. So all the time, all four levels now moving together at the same time.

Now you don't get this growth in these layers, the layers two, three and four, voice, body language and entertainment, if you spend all your time trying to craft the perfect speech on paper or on Word electronically. If you're spending all your time on the words and you don't dare say anything out loud, then you're never going to get to the growth that comes as you go up the pyramid. So level number one, the words. What am I going to say? Level number two, voice. How am I going to say it? Level number three, body language. What am I going to do with my body and my facial expressions, my eyebrows and my shoulders and everything that goes with that to support the message? And then how can I make it a little more enjoyable? How can I make it a better learning experience for the audience? Level number four, entertainment.

And if you get all of these layers down, words, voice, body language, entertainment, then influence can sit neatly on top of that foundation. Influence can't sit on top of that foundation if it's not there. So you need to think about the words, your voice, your body language, the emotional variety, making it more interesting, making it a powerful learning experience for the audience, then influence can sit, level number five, on top of those layers. So influence comes last. If you jump straight in with do you want to buy some coaching? It's probably not going to work. It's probably not going to work, is it? And then the sixth layer, if you like, is not so much a layer. I always put it on the top of the pyramid when I'm teaching this. Not because it's a layer that you're going to attain, but it's more like a North Star or a direction that you're going to keep going. That's the mastery level. The more you do this, the more you focus on this, then the better and better and better you get. You may not be good enough at the beginning for whatever it is that you want to achieve, but if you take imperfect action, step forwards into growth, then there will come a time when you are good enough, if you're growing, if you keep growing, it's just a matter of time.

So very simply then, you could think of this as like a upward spiral of success. We start preparing the message, then we begin to practice the message, then practicing it, we want to video record it or audio record it. Then we can review that practice, then we can amend, and then we can repeat that cycle over and over and over in preparation, prepare, practice, review, amend, prepare, practice, review, amend. And that becomes an upward cycle of success. And then we get to the point where we're going to perform and then we can review our performance and then go back to the preparation again for the next one. And you can see it's not rocket science, is it? Layer upon layer, little by little, you get better and better and better the more you do it. Anyone can do this, you can do this. And if you try it, you'll find that it works really, really well. No matter what mindset you have at the beginning, you'll gradually prove to yourself that you can get really, really good at this if you try.

So take imperfect action. That's the big lesson for today. Take imperfect action. Don't allow perfectionism to stop you. If I can't do it perfectly, then I'm not doing it at all. That's no good. We got to do it badly at first. What was it Emerson said? All great speakers were bad speakers once. No one's good at anything the first time, so let yourself off the hook. Don't insist on doing it perfectly. Just try. Just step forwards into growth, taking imperfect action. Don't allow perfectionism to stop you, don't allow procrastination to stop you. Just do it and you'll get better and better.

Now, in the process, you're going to be able to help people. People don't want a perfect speaker anyway. So we're not looking for a perfect, polished speech. People want a real speaker. People want an authentic speaker. So you don't need to be perfect. You just need to get better at adding value to the audience. So keep moving forwards. You're going to make mistakes, but that's okay. You're going to learn a great deal in the process. Just do your best. Just do your best. You can't grow faster than doing your best if you think about it. So if you're doing your best, you'll get better and better and then it's just a matter of time.

Now that's it for this week. I just want to quickly tell you about the Maxwell Leadership Certified Team because you hear me talk about this every week. If you want to be a speaker, it's a no-brainer. But not just speaking. If you want to be a coach, trainer, leadership, you want to develop your career, whatever it is, then you want to check out the Maxwell Leadership Certified Team. All you need to do is go to MaxwellLeadership.com/Speak and find out what it means to be a Maxwell Leadership Certified Team member. I think you'll be very glad you did. All right, we're going to wrap up there.

Thanks for being with us in this episode. Don't forget to download the companion guide. MaxwellLeadership.com/TheSpeakersEdge. Remember, communication, in my humble opinion, is the most important skill you can develop. It is a learnable skill, so you should develop it. And if you do get good at that, if you keep learning, you'll learn to master your message and inspire your audience every time you speak. Thanks for listening today. I'll see you again soon in the next episode. Lots of love.

Bye-bye. God bless.

Ep. 049 — Why Imperfect Action Leads to Growth in Speaking & Life