From Stuttering to the TEDx Stage: Karim Boktor’s Story of Doing It Scared

I recently sat down for a chat with Karim Boktor, and his story is one of those that makes you think about how much our own beliefs can quietly get in the way.

Karim grew up with a severe stutter. He went through speech therapy and learnt the mechanics of speaking, but he always felt there was another piece to the puzzle.

What really got him thinking was something quite simple.

When he sang, he didn't stutter. When he acted out scenes from movies, he didn't stutter either.

So if the mechanics worked perfectly well in those situations, what was happening the rest of the time?

That question eventually became a much bigger part of Karim's life and work.

When things aren't actually "fine"

As Karim got older, the impact went well beyond his speech.

He talked openly with me about struggling with confidence, worrying about being teased or humiliated and finding it difficult to fully express himself. Later, while running businesses, married and about to become a dad, things really started catching up with him.

He hadn't even recognised that he was dealing with anxiety. His racing mind was simply normal to him, and sleep had become one of the ways he coped. Then along came a baby, sleep disappeared, and suddenly that coping strategy wasn't available anymore.

Eventually Karim found himself sitting on the couch, in his jocks apparently (his words, not mine 😂), watching Tony Robbins.

That sent him down the Google rabbit hole.

What did Tony Robbins study? NLP and hypnosis - and that was the beginning of a completely different direction for Karim. He began studying NLP and hypnosis, working on what was happening internally, and noticed changes not just in his business, but in his confidence, happiness and even his stuttering.

Then someone suggested TEDx...

This is where Karim's story gets even more interesting.

Someone approached him about potentially speaking at TEDx.

His immediate reaction was basically: You've got the wrong bloke.

Here was someone who had spent much of his life identifying as a stutterer, who had struggled with speaking and confidence, being asked to stand on a TEDx stage.

But eventually Karim thought, what if?

Instead of waiting for the fear to disappear, he decided to actually use what he'd been learning and do it scared.

Months later, he received confirmation that he'd been approved to speak.

Then, just to make life interesting, shortly before he was due on stage in the US, Karim was told he couldn't deliver the talk he'd prepared because of issues around some of the subject matter.

His choices were pretty simple.

Go home without speaking, or create a new talk in basically a day.

He created the new talk.

And he got on stage.

The "inner stutter"

This was probably my favourite part of our conversation.

Karim's work is no longer simply about the physical stutter he experienced growing up. He talks about something he calls our "inner stutter."

It's those beliefs, fears and subconscious patterns that make us hesitate, pull back or say no when part of us actually wants to move forward.

How many opportunities have people turned down because it felt easier to say no than to say yes and work out the scary bits afterwards?

Karim didn't magically become fearless.

As he put it, he did it scared.

And I think that's an important distinction.

Sometimes personal development gets presented as though we're supposed to eliminate every fear, limiting belief and uncomfortable feeling before we can get on with our lives.

Sometimes you can simply be scared and bloody do it anyway.

What Karim is doing today

Today, Karim works as a breakthrough and leadership coach and is the founder of The Boktor Method. His work focuses heavily on identifying the subconscious patterns that can hold people back from performing at the level they're capable of. His website describes his background as an internationally recognised Master Trainer in NLP, Timeline Therapy and Hypnotherapy. (Karim Boktor)

During our conversation, he also talked about working with high-performing clients including athletes and executives.

What I like about Karim's story is that he's not talking about this stuff purely from a textbook.

He's lived it.

He's been the person struggling to speak.

He's been the person whose confidence took a hammering.

He's been the person who thought, I'm not the guy who gets up on that stage.

And then he became the guy standing on it.

So if you've got your own little "inner stutter" going on, that thing that keeps making you hesitate when you know you're capable of more, Karim is definitely someone worth checking out.

You can learn more about Karim Boktor and The Boktor Method on Karim's website.