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Level 1 · Week 1 of 4
The Foundation
Why This Matters
Your Level 1 gate speech is a 2-minute introduction. The single most common failure — confirmed against every test manuscript we score — is opening with identity instead of incident. "I am here to introduce myself" is invisible. A specific moment is not.
This Week's Exercise
Write down three moments from your life that changed how you see your work, your faith, or your family — not achievements, moments. One sentence each.
Pick the one with the most tension — the one where the outcome wasn't obvious yet.
Rewrite your speech's opening line using that moment. Delete any sentence that starts with "I am" or "I have been."
Read it out loud. If it sounds like a job interview, it's not done yet.
Coach's Note — Dale Carnegie: People don't trust résumés, they trust specifics. A named place, a named year, a physical detail. That's what makes a stranger lean in.