Fear of Being Judged by Others || Acharya Prashant, with ITM-Mumbai (2023)

Acharya Prashant

Video Information: 04.04.23, ITM-Mumbai (Online), Greater Noida  Title: Fear of Being Judged by Others || Acharya Prashant, with ITM-Mumbai (2023)  ➖➖➖➖➖  Description: In this powerful session Acharya Prashant addresses a universal fear faced by many students and professionals—the fear of being judged by others. A young MBA student asks how to overcome anxiety while presenting in front of peers. Acharya ji responds with deep insight, explaining that this fear arises not from external judgment, but from internal disconnection with one’s work.  When you love what you do, he explains, your mind doesn't wander to the audience—it remains rooted in the task itself. Using vivid metaphors like a cricketer facing a fast bowler, Acharya ji emphasizes full-hearted living, authentic engagement, and bringing warmth and intensity to whatever you commit to. This is not just about public speaking, but about how we live, love, and work without fragmentation or half-heartedness.  This talk is a must-watch for students, professionals, and anyone struggling with stage fright, imposter syndrome, performance anxiety, or the desire for external validation.    Are you truly connected to your work, or are you still living for the audience’s applause?    Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Good evening sir, I am Mayank, I am pursuing MBA from ITM Business School.

00:11The question which I want to ask is that whenever I give a presentation in between my colleagues

00:19or in the college, I always have a question in my back of the mind that I am being judged

00:29so how to overcome the fear of being judged by the third person.

00:37I want a suggestion from you which I can implement in my day-to-day work so that it will help

00:45me to grow in future.

00:48Put your heart in that presentation and then your mind will not be in the audience.

00:56When your heart is not in your work then your mind wanders in the world.

01:07There is your work and then there is the world.

01:11Love your work and then you will forget the world.

01:16Your problem is not that you are too concerned with people's opinions.

01:20Your problem is that there is no heart in your work.

01:25You have made or created a presentation just for the sake of some marks or degree or completing

01:36a formality, ticking a box, something.

01:41If I love what I am doing, how will I have the space to worry or wonder too much about what

01:50the others are thinking.

01:55Think of a cricketer on the pitch and there is a fast bowler rushing at him and 150 kmph.

02:09And there is an audience of 80,000, the stadium is jam-packed.

02:21What if the cricketer starts thinking of these 80,000 opinions?

02:28What if he starts looking into these 1,60,000 eyes?

02:32Will he still retain sight of the ball?

02:39Should he look at the ball or should he look into the eyes of the audience?

02:43Please tell me.

02:44He should look at the ball first.

02:47Should his mind be totally absorbed in the game or should he be thinking of how the audience

02:55would react if he misses the ball or hits a six?

02:58He should focus on the game first.

03:01Right.

03:02Now, if there is a batsman who is all the time thinking of the audience, what do you know

03:08about him?

03:10That he is mentally disturbed, he is not able to focus on the work which he is very popular.

03:17No, don't use words like ability and all, talk of intention.

03:21If there is a batsman who is continuously thinking of the audience, what I know is that he does

03:25not love cricket.

03:26Yes.

03:27Right?

03:28Yes.

03:29It boils down to love.

03:33Do you love your presentation?

03:35Not that much.

03:42That's the problem.

03:43So go deep into whatever you are doing.

03:46And if something does not deserve the depth of your attention, avoid it.

03:55You cannot give your best to everything.

03:58Not everything deserves your love.

04:02Avoid those things.

04:05But when you choose something, don't be half-hearted.

04:11Once you have placed your hand on something, bring that thing to your heart.

04:20Let the distance be removed.

04:24Half-heartedness is the curse of life.

04:29People live as if they are half-dead.

04:34Lukewarm lives.

04:37Neither cold dead, nor boiling with vigour.

04:46Just lukewarm.

04:4898.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

04:52That's lukewarm.

04:57Let there be some temperature.

05:00As a young person, you need some heat.

05:08Are you getting it?

05:14Yes.

05:15And that's the job of love.

05:20That's the job of love.

05:21It gives you warmth and something beyond warmth.

05:28It makes the inner frozenness boil up.

05:35There is a lot within that needs to simply evaporate.

05:43Love does that.

05:44If there is no love, if there is no love, the internal stuff, all the conditioning and nonsense

05:51trash we have been carrying since centuries, all that will continue to remain intact within.

06:00If you want your insides to be cleaned up, you need the heat of love.

06:06The cleansing power of love.

06:12Are you getting it?

06:14Yes.

06:15So, be just towards your academics, your profession, your relationships, whatever it is that you

06:25are into, must bear the imprint of your authenticity.

06:31If you have touched something, it must not now anymore remain mediocre.

06:41Are you getting it?

06:44Even if you get just a small room to live in, let the insides of that room display that

06:54somebody young, original, authentic, loving resides here.

07:07Even if you have an old pair of shoes that you wear, why can't they be polished properly?

07:13This example will not suit all conditions, but please get the drift.

07:21See what I am pointing at.

07:23If there is something in your life, why must there be a half-hearted approach towards it?

07:30The shoes are there, right?

07:33Well, the shoes are not expensive, I understand, you are a student, and the shoes are old, and

07:38the shoes, to some extent, are now worn out.

07:41That's okay.

07:42But why can't they still be polished?

07:46That does not cost much.

07:51There has to be a warmth towards life.

07:56Are you getting it?

07:59Are you getting it?

08:00There has to be a special quality of feeling towards life.

08:06And I am not talking of biological feelings.

08:07I am not talking of lust, anger, greed, etc.

08:11I am talking of that special quality.

08:15So if I am talking to you, I have to give everything that I have to you.

08:23At this moment, I cannot be half-present, half-attentive.

08:30I have an entire organization to look after.

08:33But I have to forget all that.

08:36This moment, it is me and you.

08:41If I am touching something, I have to give it everything.

08:47Cannot pass through life in a manner of sleepwalking.

08:59Be conscious, be awake, be loving.

09:06That presentation is not just presentation.

09:08That's a period of time, and that's your life.

09:13If you cannot be immersed in your presentation,

09:17then you are missing out on life itself.

09:23Are you getting it?

09:25Yes, sir.

09:27And then, obviously, there will be too much concern for whether the audience has applauded,

09:33or is the teacher making note of all the great points that I am making?

09:40Will I be credited enough for this shabby presentation that I have made?

09:45Allow me the liberty to call it shabby, because I have been through the academic process,

09:50both as a student and as a teacher, a professor.

09:54I have been through all that.

09:58So, I know how teachers operate.

10:00I know how students think.

10:03We are all just going through the motions, aren't we?

10:10As if we are waiting for some special day in future.

10:13Today does not mean anything.

10:15Today let me just somehow tolerate the time.

10:22Please let me somehow just complete the formalities today.

10:28My day, my golden day, my real day, would come sometime in the future.

10:34That will never happen, son.

10:37This is your moment.

10:39This is your life.

10:41That presentation is everything.

10:48That presentation is everything.

10:49When you are making that presentation, that presentation is not just the most important

10:55thing in life.

10:56How can then you tolerate to be divided?

11:07Half your mind is busy just scanning the audience.

11:11Oh, is she smirking?

11:15Is he sleeping?

11:20Is he making fun of me, that one, at the back?

11:25Do I see derision on the teacher's face?

11:30Divided.

11:31No, no.

11:32You can't afford to be divided.

11:39Live fully.

11:42And if there is stuff that does not deserve your fullness, drop it.

11:53Just drop it.

11:56Have the guts.

11:58Because I fully agree that not everything in life deserves the wholeness of your love.

12:09You have to be discreet.

12:13The point when you can be unconditionally loving towards everyone and everything comes way

12:19later in life.

12:23At that point, there are no boundaries.

12:26When you reach that point, then you don't have to make distinctions.

12:31But standing where you are, you must learn to make distinctions.

12:35You have to be discreet.

12:36You have to see what is it that deserves your time, energy, love, attention.

12:43And when you discover that, you plunge into it.

12:47You immerse yourself.

12:51You sink into it.

12:53You allow yourself to be drowned.

12:56You allow yourself to fall dead.

13:00Dead in terms of your concern for the world.

13:03I am dead to the world because I am immersed in my work.

13:05Dead in terms of your concern for the world.

13:21Dead in terms of your concern.

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