road to successful

Ida Greene - Are You Ready For Success?

2010-04-20T00:59:00.000-07:00

Ida Greene - Are You Ready For Success?
People Skills International | 2004 | ISBN: 1881165027 | Pages: 140 |
PDF | 1.25 MB

There are three types of success that we are working on at any given time in life. They are Personal, Financial, Spiritual and Social. There is a large overlap between the spiritual success and financial success. You will need to decide what type of success is right for you at this point in your life. It may be personal success, where you work on your relationships with others or spiritual success, whereby you decide if there is a Supreme Power in the universe and discover your relationship to that power. On the other hand, you may need an improvement in financial success. This book provides you with a contract to sign, committing you to stay on the path to your Success. It helps you project your future for success.

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2010-04-20T00:41:00.000-07:00

Jack M. Zufelt, "The DNA of Success: Know What You Want
to Get What You Want"
Regan Books | 2002 | ISBN: 0060006587 | 224 pages | PDF | 1 MB

Do you set goals for yourself only to find they go unmet?
Do you recite daily affirmations that never become realized?
Do you ever listen to motivational speakers but find you quickly lose your enthusiasm?

How many times have you set out to achieve your goals only to find yourself falling short of the mark? Over the years, we've been inundated by methods of achieving success -- goal setting, daily affirmations, self-help gurus, and subliminal messaging. But these standard techniques have failed us time and time again. So what does work and how do we go about living the life we've always dreamed of having? Is it even possible?

Not only is it possible, with The DNA of Success, it's inevitable. Success is not something "out there" -- it's an inside job. We all possess what it takes to achieve our greatest desires. But first, to find the motivation and direction our lives lack, we need to pinpoint our Core Desires -- those things in life for which we have an intense, unwavering, and deeply felt need. Whether you want to earn more money, establish deeper relationships, boost your self-confidence, or deepen your spirituality, you must first identify your Core Desire -- that intense want that drives you from within.
Do you know what you desire most in your heart?
Do you have a sense of what it will take to realize those desires?
Are you willing to do whatever it takes?

Jack Zufelt, a top professional speaker and highly acclaimed trainer, knows that all success is a result of the power within us. As The DNA of Success explains, Core Desires are the trigger mechanisms that unleash the Conquering Force. Your Conquering Force is your innate ability to act effectively in a pursuit of your Core Desires. Once you tap into your Conquering Force, you will overcome all obstacles and resistance in your way to achieve amazing results -- every time.

Don't waste your valuable time and energy writing goals, visualizing your success, or repeating mantras -- The DNA of Success smashes the myths of achievement and teaches you to find the cause of success within yourself. Through case histories, business examples, real-life stories, testimonials, success tips, and proven advice, Zufelt reveals the new, in-depth psychology and personal habits that have won him the respect of his colleagues and the praise of the many thousands he has inspired.

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Coach Yourself to Success: Winning the Investment Game

2010-04-20T00:25:00.000-07:00

Coach Yourself to Success: Winning the Investment Game
Wiley | 2005-04-13 | ISBN: 0471719846 | 199 pages | PDF | 5 MB

Over the years, Wall Street has repeatedly warned individual investors against managing their own money. This, they say, should be left to "financial professionals." The truth of the matter is that investing is manageable and you can master it on your own.

Joe Moglia, CEO of Ameritrade, knows that today's individual investors have what it takes to make their own investment decisions. All they need to tackle success is a little coaching. And if you think the CEO of one of the world's leading online brokers couldn't begin to understand the financial issues of today's investors, think again. As one of five children born to immigrant parents, Moglia knows what it's like to worry about not having enough money to get by, let alone having money to save and invest. But through hard work and dedication, first as a winning coach in the field of football and then as a leader in the world of finance, Moglia found success. Now, he wants to help you find that same success and does so by explaining the tools and resources available that allow you to construct and execute a personal investment plan that fits your needs.

Filled with in-depth insight and practical advice, Coach Yourself to Success explains the essential principles of investing. Divided into these comprehensive parts, this user-friendly guide first describes the building blocks of investing and the primary types of assets, so you can understand what they are and how they differ from the rest. You'll become familiar with:

* Individual stocks
* Mutual funds
* Exchange traded funds (ETFs)
* Bonds
* Cash instruments
* And more

After gaining a solid foundation in the basics, you'll put your understanding to work in Part II. Discussions of determining goals, assessing risk tolerance, allocating assets, formulating and executing investment plans, and monitoring investment performance will help you put the pieces of the investment puzzle together and create a sensible portfolio.

In turbulent financial times, the wrong advice can become extremely costly. With Coach Yourself to Success as your guide, you'll not only have a better idea of what to do—but you'll also have a far better understanding of why you are doing it.

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Beyond Tantra: Healing Through Taoist Sacred Sex By Mieke Wik, Stephan Wik

2010-04-17T02:29:00.000-07:00

Beyond Tantra: Healing Through Taoist Sacred Sex By Mieke Wik, Stephan Wik
Publisher: Findhorn Press 2005-10-01 | 144 Pages | ISBN: 1844090639 |
PDF | 1.2 MB

Beyond Tantra is a down-to-earth guidebook for bringing the ecstatic powers of Taoist Sacred Sex into your love life. Based on the authors’ true story of their successful journey into discovery and healing, it provides Westerners with a step-by-step, tastefully illustrated, practical introduction to the ancient Chinese Art of Sexual Dual Cultivation.

The authors draw on original Taoist sources together with years of personal experience and practice. They share both their successes and challenges to create a personal, encouraging and inspiring story of hope and success.

"This is an open-hearted true story of a couple who transformed their relationship while learning to charge their vitality and health with enriched sexual energy. Mieke and Stephan share the knowledge and experience gained as a result of their mutual courage and commitment as a couple to engage in respectful, unfettered interpersonal communication while creatively applying the principles of Taoist lovemaking. They provide a beautiful example of how to personalize the information and methods carried forward from past Taoist teachings with meaningful clarification from today’s knowledge." --Taoist Master Mantak Chia, co-author of The Multi-Orgasmic Couple.

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Zig Ziglar 'Success for Dummies' (audiobook)

2010-04-17T01:59:00.000-07:00

Zig Ziglar 'Success for Dummies' (audiobook)
ISBN-10: 0694519197 | MP3 | 128 kbps | 85Mb

How to succeed in life - who is not interested in this question? However, each of us understands the success differently. Is it possible to universal approach to the concept of success in life? Are there any "recipes" for success? Can I make a success of the constant companion of his life. All these and many other issues the author tried to find the most specific and comprehensive answers. He even invented his own "formula for success! We hope that after reading this book, you'll see a lot, reconsider their views on life and realize that success - is not confined to the elect.

Zig Ziglar (Dallas, Texas) - lecturer, writer and recognized expert in network marketing, chairman of the corporation Zig Ziglar, which helps people more fully disclose their physical, intellectual and spiritual resources. Hundreds of companies use his books, audio and video tapes for training. Zig traveled over five million miles, talking every year with more than 300 thousand listeners, "Peter Lowe Success Seminars" (Peter Low Success Seminar) at various companies, trade organizations, schools and religious communities. He also communicates with the huge number of people through radio and television. Sieg has written 17 books, 10 of which became the world's best-sellers, in particular: Secrets of Closing the Sale, Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World, See You at the Top (the last edition was more than 1.7 million copies). Among his recent books - Success for Dummies "and Something Else to Smile About. Zig Ziglar has continued to record and distribute audio and video tapes for training sales staff. His works have been translated into 38 languages worldwide.

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Motivation Techniques – Using Power Motivation to Stimulate Anyone to Action

2010-03-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

In this article, I’ll reveal some amazing motivation techniques and tips to bring out the fire in anyone. With the right words and encouragement, you can make anyone passionate about a certain task or subject.

Here’s a story to clearly illustrate the power of these motivation techniques.
Jason is the new coach of a basketball team. His team has won many games since he has arrived to replace the previous coach.

The players are more at ease with him and more open to discuss any concern with him. Moreover, they have become more confident and motivated to play now that he's leading the team.

Before he coached the team, they were on a losing streak. Now the team is on a hot streak and they may even have a chance to win the championship.

What is Jason's secret?

Whenever one player does something nice, Jason gives him a good name to live up to.

When a player makes good blocks or does a great job in rebounding, Jason will tell him, "Wow! Your rebounding and defense are very much like Tim Duncan. Keep it up."

When a player shoots consistently, Jason will tell him, "Super! Your sweet moves rival those of Steve Nash. Wow!"

When his team wins, he'll encourage them, "We will win one game at a time. We'll win the championship, just like the San Antonio Spurs did."

Jason’s motivation techniques are very effective. He knows how to praise his players and how to motivate them to do better. He assigns qualities and aspects that the players are inspired to adopt, even if the players don't possess those characteristics yet.

The players, on the other hand, would try their best to establish the reputation that their coach has assigned to them. They don't want to humiliate themselves by performing below the reputation that Jason has delegated to them.

These motivation techniques are powerful due to the persuasion law of expectation. Jason expects something exceptional from his players, and his players are inspired to fulfill or even exceed their coach’s expectations of them.

Whenever he needs something to be done by a player, Jason tells him, "James, you always shoot like Michael Jordan. In this play, you're going to take the game-winning shot. Let's win this!"

James feels like the MVP. He's all fired up and his coach expects him to play like Michael Jordan. James simply can't let his team down.

Sometimes Coach Jason will apply a slightly different approach.

When he expects David to defend Brian (the other team's star player), Jason will tell him, "David, you've always been a great defensive specialist. Nobody has ever stopped Brian from scoring above 20 points in any game before. Would you be able to stop him this time?"

Coach Jason issued a challenge to David. David couldn't back out now. He has to prove that he can defend Brian. He has to show everyone that he is one of the greatest defensive players ever.

This is another great motivation technique. When you give out a challenge to someone, that person will be much more motivated to prove to you that he can accomplish any task you assign to him. Moreover, he will want to enhance his reputation by trying to surpass that challenge you brought out to him.

These motivation techniques can be used in any other situations, not just in the basketball court. Remember to expect good results, assign positive qualities (even if they don’t possess those traits yet), and issue friendly challenges to get faster compliance.

Originally article: Motivation Techniques – Using Power Motivation to Stimulate Anyone to Action

You Want to Make yourself Memorable? Try This! by Chepay

2010-03-24T05:26:00.000-07:00

Would you like to make more friends? Would you like to be able to persuade more people to your way of thinking? Would you like to be a better person? A better salesperson? You too can make yourself memorable to everyone you meet. People aren't inherently going to search for you; you have got to give them a reason to know who you are and what motivates you.

When I was into networking business before, I was wondering why they reach that far, great commentator and logical in their way of thinking. The book entitled "How to Win Friends and Influence People" one of the bestselling books of all time by Dale Carnegie's 1936 really influence me. Here are some of the things I took away from the book.

Introduce yourself to others. Be the first to say hello, no matter where you are, act like you are the host.

Make an extra effort to remember people's name. As Dale Carnegie says," the sweetest sound to a person is their name."I remember when I was called by "hoy" sounds annoying and irritating. Think about how you felt the last time you ran into someone who you wouldn't expect to remember your name?

Use eye contact and smile upon meeting someone. The best way to build rapport is through eye contact not to look at the ceiling when talking. It losses self confidence.

Everyone in the world wants one thing more than anything else: to feel important. There's no better way to bring someone to your side than to fulfill this want. President Clinton is the master of this, When you talk to him, he makes you feel like, you are the only person in the room. It's basically to live the Golden Rule "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." How do you do this? Through empathy. Understand that one of the greatest human needs is to feel important.

Show others that your enjoying their conversation with them. Don't yawn, look bored or have a case of roving eyes. Show curiosity and interest in others. Take an interest in other people. Understand their interests and motives. Ask questions. This shows you're interested and that you're hearing what he's saying.

Listen, Listen, Listen. You are not likely likeable, but you really start to understand the persons want, needs, and desires. Listen with an open mind and an open heart – free of preconceptions and prejudices. As the Greek philosopher Epictetus put it: "God gave man two ears but only one mouth that he might hear twice as much as he speaks."

Be enthusiastic about things and life of others. People will gravitate to those upbeat, positive and cheerful people.

Display your sense of humor. People remember humor six times longer than the regular conversations. It is not always good to be serious but have some variation. Look at the situation as if for the first time. Your sense of humor will vary not to take things seriously.

Be able to speak on the variety of subjects. Keep abreast of some current events not just stick to one subject only.

Speak their language. Talk in terms of their conversation style. Take for instance, if someone just want the facts, don't go into a lot of stories and anecdotes. A quick way to measure the appropriateness of your communication
is to ask yourself, "Am I willing to be spoken to in the way I am
about to speak?" If the answer is 'Yes', proceed with assurance.
If the answer is 'No', be very thankful you took that minute to
think.

Be tolerant of peoples beliefs if they are different from yours. Invite peoples to join you for lunch, dinner and other social events.

Ask them for their opinion. Not just you do only the talking but have them share their own experiences and ideas.

Have positive body language. Use the SOFTEN technique: Acknowledge what he's saying with a nod or a smile. He'll feel appreciated and therefore more likely to listen to you.

* S=smile * O=open posture * F=forward lean * T=stay out of their territory * E=eye contact * N=nod to show understanding

Just as it does with other animals, human body language also sends a message. Body language can create a positive or negative presencethe degree to which an individual attracts attention and how they represent themselves. Be yourself and enjoy the conversation.

Compliment others about what they are wearing, doing, or saying, but be sincere. An expression of praise or admiration will uplift his self esteem.

You cannot be someone else, the point is you can make a difference to start with. People may look as you as you are. You are the resemblance of what you act, say and think to others. Remember the old adage "Out of sight, out of mind"? It's doubly true today. You are as memorable as your last communication or point of contact. So, if you are not communicating, then what? Who is going to remember you if you don't make yourself memorable?

Originally article: You Want to Make yourself Memorable? Try This!

3 Steps For Eliminating The Um's And Ah's In Public Speaking by Nancy Daniels

2010-03-24T05:10:00.000-07:00

One of the most annoying traits in speaking is the use of verbal tics. We have all heard them at one time or another. If you are aware that your speech is plagued with these filler words, it would be a good idea to work on eliminating them because they take away from your message: your audience loses focus on what you are saying. Instead, they begin counting!

Words like um and ah are the most obvious. They are common; they are annoying; and, they mar your speech. Other two frequently heard words or phrases are like and you know.

Generally, the ums and ahs are filler words heard primarily during a presentation, a live interview, or in lengthy conversation. Like and you know, on the other hand, are words said out of habit. Some people resort to the phrase you know at the end of a sentence. Others use it at the beginning of the sentence; and, there are those who use it at both the beginning and the end of a sentence.

Like is more often heard by the generation Y population and is reminiscent of a ‘Valley Girl.' The problem with the word like is that it gives the wrong impression. Constant use of that word sounds young, immature, and uneducated – definitely not the image you want to project if you are intent on furthering your career. In fact, it is certainly not the best impression to make if you are hoping to enhance your personal life as well.

Most people are unaware of these verbal tics until they hear themselves on a recording. In one instance, a young man with whom I was working was so annoyed at himself when he heard the amount of ums and ahs in his personal introduction (he could not say both his first and last name without an um!) that he vowed it would stop before his next class.

By our next session, his verbal tics were gone. How did he accomplish this feat?

1. By concentrating on listening to himself when he spoke.

2. By allowing himself to pause, take a breath, and then continue.

3. By practicing out loud.

You can put an end to these habits if you are motivated. Recording yourself and studying the playback is your 1st step. Your 2nd step is to allow yourself to pause instead of filling that space with sound. The 3rd step is to pay more attention to yourself when you are speaking. In doing so, it will make your delivery much more interesting and rewarding for both you and your audience, you know?

One of the most annoying traits in speaking is the use of verbal tics. We have all heard them at one time or another. If you are aware that your speech is plagued with these filler words, it would be a good idea to work on eliminating them because they take away from your message: your audience loses focus on what you are saying. Instead, they begin counting!

Words like um and ah are the most obvious. They are common; they are annoying; and, they mar your speech. Other two frequently heard words or phrases are like and you know.

Generally, the ums and ahs are filler words heard primarily during a presentation, a live interview, or in lengthy conversation. Like and you know, on the other hand, are words said out of habit. Some people resort to the phrase you know at the end of a sentence. Others use it at the beginning of the sentence; and, there are those who use it at both the beginning and the end of a sentence.

Like is more often heard by the generation Y population and is reminiscent of a ‘Valley Girl.' The problem with the word like is that it gives the wrong impression. Constant use of that word sounds young, immature, and uneducated – definitely not the image you want to project if you are intent on furthering your career. In fact, it is certainly not the best impression to make if you are hoping to enhance your personal life as well.

Most people are unaware of these verbal tics until they hear themselves on a recording. In one instance, a young man with whom I was working was so annoyed at himself when he heard the amount of ums and ahs in his personal introduction (he could not say both his first and last name without an um!) that he vowed it would stop before his next class.

By our next session, his verbal tics were gone. How did he accomplish this feat?

1. By concentrating on listening to himself when he spoke.

2. By allowing himself to pause, take a breath, and then continue.

3. By practicing out loud.

You can put an end to these habits if you are motivated. Recording yourself and studying the playback is your 1st step. Your 2nd step is to allow yourself to pause instead of filling that space with sound. The 3rd step is to pay more attention to yourself when you are speaking. In doing so, it will make your delivery much more interesting and rewarding for both you and your audience, you know?

Originally article: 3 Steps For Eliminating The Um's And Ah's In Public Speaking

How To Plan A Great Speech - Setting Your Objectives by Bob Howard-Spink

2010-03-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

"To fail to plan is to plan to fail" The truth of this maxim is undeniable; and failing to plan a presentation has two inevitable consequences:

We deliver one of the biggest causes of audience disinterest - the "one size fits all" presentation that we regularly see demonstrated by the over-confident "I am great on my feet!" speaker!

Also, with no plan, or route map, we have nothing to navigate by. We feel uncertain, not in control, thus suffering the main cause of presentation nerves. The audience consciously and unconsciously, picks up this nervousness and lack of congruence, and they stop trusting in us and in what we have to say.

By contrast, nothing is more inspiring in confidence to a speaker than to know that their message is exactly right for this audience, and to feel totally clear about its delivery from start to finish! I would go even further and suggest that there is no such thing as presentation nerves. Just people who don't know how to plan a presentation or can't be bothered! And guess what? It is the thoroughly prepared and well rehearsed presenter, talking with an audience rather than reciting Powerpoint text, who displays those powerful persuasion skills and congruence that wins an audience over.

To set your presentation objectives, work through this questioning sequence:

Question 1: What broadly speaking would I like to achieve with the audience?

1. Do I want them to appreciate and understand a wide range of issues or opportunities? Or:
2. Do I want them to understand some of the important issues/opportunities and recognise the actions/solutions that could be taken? Or:
3. Do I want them to understand the key issues and commit to agreed actions?

Question 2: Now I am clearer about what I want to achieve, but what realistically can I achieve?

1. How much time have I got, remembering anyway that attention peaks after 15 minutes and lasts only 20?
2. What do the audience know about the issues and how much explanation is required?
3. How well will the audience accept the issues and how much persuasion is needed?
4. What is my personal credibility with the audience and how much needs covering there?

After asking these questions you will now be 90% clear on what you can achieve and how you will get there. You can ensure that what needs to be covered, will be and properly. Working in this way you will avoid the mistake often seen, when a presenter falls between two stools, attempting to cover too many issues when the objective was to get agreement on a few. It will also clear your thinking on how far this presentation or pitch will take you towards your ultimate aim, and what further stages are required.

Question 3: Given the answers to Q2, what specifically am I planning to achieve?

You now have a clearer idea of what your presentation will achieve, but your aims still need to be refined into specific objectives. The audience seeming to agree or sounding happy is never enough. With those as aims we will inevitably fall short of what we wanted to achieve because we stop when it seems that we have succeeded. We have to set the good old S.M.A.R.T objectives. The acid test of communication success is the audience response versus your objectives. Asking "are you happy with that?" lets them off with a response without any commitment. Asking "Will they agree specifically to do so and so by such a date!" requires a specific agreement and commitment. Whether your presentation is on range of issues to a conference audience or a boardroom sales pitch, get into the habit of setting specific and timed target outcomes such as:

* Minimum of 75 % recall of key message in exit survey with minimum of 15 % sign up to programme in the first week.
* Agreement within 24 hours of the pitch to move to stage 2 of the implementation programme by October 10th.

Setting target outcomes in this way brings considerable benefits: We feel compelled to ask the question to see if we have succeeded. And if we haven't, then better to know it and to do something about it. Also, faced with the prospect of measurable success or failure, we soon recognise the need for thorough preparation and to perform at our best. Once these are set as habits, we inevitably increase our success rate.

Copyright © Bob Howard-Spink

Originally article: How To Plan A Great Speech - Setting Your Objectives by Bob Howard-Spink

The Complete Guide to Public Speaking

2010-03-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

Jeff Davidson "The Complete Guide to Public Speaking"
Wiley (2002-10-01) | ISBN 0471236071 | 352 Pages | PDF | 1.5 Mb

Comprehensive, practical, and accessible, The Complete Guide to Public Speaking serves all the needs of public speakers, from the seasoned pro to the greenest rookie. Whether you-re trying to start a career as a professional speaker or improve your speaking skills to further your career or influence those around you, this straightforward guide will help you deliver dynamic, compelling, and convincing presentations. -Author Jeff Davidson distills his eighteen years of experience as a public speaker, covering every aspect of public speaking, from the practical details of presentations to the psychological issues of inspiring an audience. Insightful and compelling, this is both a handy resource for information on the public speaker-s most pressing questions, as well as a primer for those who are new to the field. Every chapter is full of expert advice and practical information. Inside you-ll find thorough guidance on topics such as: Identifying and developing dynamic speaking topics; Adding spice to your presentation with humor, gestures, and stories; Marketing your speech and speaking capabilities;Negotiating speaking contracts; Preparing for the big moment - from room check to show time; Inspiring your audience.

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How to kiss a woman's breast (Repost)

2010-03-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

When most men approach their partner's breasts they go directly for the nipples. The male reasoning is logical. Since the nipple is the most excitable part of a woman's breast, why waste time on the less important areas, why not get to the point! Not a good idea. Women are a lot more complex. Women love to WONDER about what’s coming next. Tension and anticipation are some of the biggest turn-ons for her. She loves to be waiting on the edge of her seat.

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IQ and Psychometric Tests: Assess Your Personality, Aptitude and Intelligence (Repost)

2010-03-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

IQ and Psychometric Tests: Assess Your Personality,
Aptitude and Intelligence
Publisher: Kogan Page | pages: 236 | 2007 | ISBN: 0749451068 | PDF | 10,3 mb

IQ and psychometric tests are increasingly used in recruitment and selection procedures by companies who want to ensure they employ workers of the highest caliber. With hundreds of questions on verbal, numerical and spatial ability, memory, creativity, and personality, IQ and Psychometric Tests will help job candidates weight their strengths and weaknesses and improve their scores. It also includes two completely new, full length IQ tests. Not just a preparation book, IQ and Psychometric Tests will also appeal to anyone who enjoys stretching their mind and exercising their brain.

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IQ and Psychometric Tests: Assess Your Personality, Aptitude and Intelligence (Repost)

101 Secrets of Highly Effective Speakers (Audiobook)

2010-03-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

People fear public speaking more than any other situation. The reluctance to get up in front of an audience is often a major impediment to career advancement and personal development. However, this fear can be overcome.

Caryl Rae Krannich Ph.D, author of over 40 business and personal development books, reveals the 101 secrets to become an effective speaker, including how to:
· Check the speaking environment
· Prepare a dynamite introduction
· Establish instant credibility
· Project the proper enthusiasm
· Use visuals aids effectively
· Time a speech correctly
· Close with power
· Handle questions from the audience

These techniques form the steps any person can take to move from timid to confident, from confusing to intriguing; and from filling time to commanding an audience's attention in the quest to make an effective and memorable speech!

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101 Secrets of Highly Effective Speakers (Audiobook)

Fearless Public Speaking Now!

2010-03-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

Fearless Public Speaking Now!
Speaking | ISBN: N/a | 2002 | MP3 | 77 Mb

Not only will you quickly and easily lose your fear of public speaking with this program... you’ll also...
* Gain a new air of confidence and self-assuredness...
* Feel comfortable speaking regardless of audience size... 100 or 1,000 people... it doesn’t matter...
* Become a great communicator and inspire people with your words...
* Be immune to the negative effects of criticism...
* Have the right words for every situation...
* Bring people around to your way of thinking...
* Feel confident in any social setting...
* Master the art of storytelling...
* Get your points across quickly and powerfully...
* Intuitively know what to say and what NOT to say...
* Become sharp and witty...
* Be at peace when you are the center of attention... in any situation...
* Quickly develop rapport with almost anyone...
* Get better at remembering names, dates, places, etc....
* Perform well under any and all types of pressure...
* Think faster on your feet...
* And much, much more...

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Bill Gove - Everything You Need To Know About Speaking

2010-03-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

Bill Gove - Everything You Need To Know About Speaking
Bill Gove | ISBN: N/a | 2005 | MP3 | 85 Mb

Everything You Need To Know About Speaking, by Bill Gove. This 6 DVD album (audiorip) is an exclusive 3 hour fireside chat with the father of professional speaking, Mr. Bill Gove. Plus, Bill offers the tips, techniques, and speaking strategies that made him one of the most popular professional speakers of the 20th century. This is a behind- the-scenes, backstage interview with the master of masters, telling it like it was and like it is in the world of professional speaking. The stories Bill tells on these DVDs are worth their weight in gold. This one-of-a-kind album is a classic and a must-have in your personal library. Its been sold in 30 countries around the world.

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Bill Gove - Everything You Need To Know About Speaking

Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown

2010-03-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

David Wiedemer, Robert Wiedemer, Cindy Spitzer, "Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown"
Wiley | 2009 | ISBN: 0470481560, 0470572884 | 273 pages | PDF | 1,9 MB

A practical guide to preparing for the next phase of the financial meltdown

From the authors who were the first to predict Phase I of our current economic downturn-in their landmark 2006 book, America's Bubble Economy-comes their insightful sequel discussing their predictions for the next phase of the Bubble Economy.

It may seem like the worst has come and gone, but it hasn't. With their proven track record of accurate predictions-which most financial professionals and economists missed-the authors explain how and why the next phase of the financial meltdown is about to hit. Things are not going back to how they were before. Instead, we are moving through uncharted territory, with new challenges and opportunities that few people can anticipate. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, Aftershock shows readers how to seek safety and profits in these dynamic economic conditions.

•Discusses how to protect assets, businesses, and jobs before and during the second wave of financial meltdown
•Provides clear and accurate advice on how to profit from the collapsing bubbles
•Offer focused guidance regarding real estate, which will continue to be a pressing concern for many
The authors' first book was chosen by Kiplinger's as one of the 30 Best Business Books of 2006, and its accuracy has been hailed by Paul Farrell of Dow Jones MarketWatch when he said "America's Bubble Economy's Predictions, though ignored, were accurate." Don't miss out on these time tested author's proven advice for how to mange your money during the coming financial meltdown.

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Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown

Trading Stategies for Capital Markets (Repost)

2010-03-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

To compete in today's complex and fast-changing capital market, you need a broad range of information and skills in order to develop and implement favorable trading strategies. Trading Strategies for Capital Markets is a comprehensive guide that shows how capital markets work in the real world, fully exploring price drivers, major players, key elements of the securities and derivatives traded, and ways of devising on-target trading strategies.

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Trading Stategies for Capital Markets (Repost)

The Truth About Confident Presenting

2010-03-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

The Truth About Confident Presenting By James O'Rourke

Publisher: FT Press 2008 | 224 Pages | ISBN: 0132354969 | PDF | 2 MB

All you need to know to make winning presentations--fearlessly and painlessly
• The truth about preparing quickly, efficiently, and well
• The truth about managing anxiety and handling hostile audiences
• The truth about nonverbal signals, PowerPoint, microphones, and more

This book reveals 51 proven and bite-size, easy-to-use presenting techniques that work.

This book brings together everything you need to know to prepare well, manage anxiety, deliver effectively, connect with your audience, and succeed! Authored by top business consultant James O’Rourke, this book offers real solutions for the obstacles and fears faced by every presenter. You'll discover what makes people listen, and what instantly turns them off. You’ll learn how to prepare effectively, not obsessively; how to scope out your audience and muster evidence that'll convince them; when and how to listen; how to manage anxiety and establish a great first impression; how to make nonverbal cues work for you; how to use PowerPoint well; how to handle hostile questions confidently; and much more.

This isn't someone's opinion: it's a definitive guide to effective presenting—a set of bedrock principles you can rely on to help you win with any audience.

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Your Personal Breakthrough: Breakthrough to Success in 7 Days

2010-02-03T03:31:00.000-08:00

Christopher Howard Training | ASIN: B001AHU84U | 2006 | MP3 | 236 Mb

INcludes 7 Audio CD's, Your Personal Breakthrough Workbook, a Bonus DVD in plastic clamshell. Are you ready...right now, to live the life of your dreams? Isn't it time you achieved Your Personal Breakthrough? Right now, as you read these words, your ideal future is within your reach.
Your personal Breakthrough is an interactive program that teaches you how to breakthrough the barriers that have held you back and that will move you powerfully forward towards the success you deserve. Your Personal Breakthrough provides you with the unique opportunity to discover what you really want and how to achieve it in all areas of your life, including finances, career, relationships, and health. This step by step practical system consolidates more than a decade of research into the most advanced neurological linguistic and re-patterning tools essential for accelerating profound human change. Chris' training will help you align the enormous resources of your unconscious mind with your conscious desires, so that you will be able to actualize your full potential and create the life of your dreams. Chris' teachings have been deliberately engineered into a simple and effective format that is easy and fun to implement. Chris will guide you through this proven process that will empower you to create measurable and long-lasting results that will positively change your experience of life. Begin a journey that will unlock your own inner wisdom and strength. In 7 days you can expect to: Blast through inconsistencies and blocks in your performance. Eliminate overwhelm, procrastination and self-sabotage. Define and realize your goals much faster than ever before. Take charge of your focus and expect more out of your life. Create lasting results by removing the barriers that hold you back. Understand and re-organize your approach to life. Become unstoppable as you breakthrough to long term-success.

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True Success

2010-02-03T03:21:00.000-08:00

John Wooden
John Wooden | ISBN: N/a | 2003 | MP3 | 71 Mb

With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father's wisdom.
John Wooden, affectionately known as Coach, led UCLA to record wins that are still unmatched in the world of basketball. Today, he continues to share the values and life lessons he passed to his players, emphasizing success that’s about much more than winning.
Why you should listen to him:
Born in 1910, Coach John Wooden is the first person to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame both as a player and coach, while ESPN ranks him as the greatest coach of all time, across all sports. In his 40 years at UCLA, he has mentored legends such as Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. His career has been illustrious to say the least, and he has created a model, the Pyramid of Success, and authored several books to impart his insight on achievement to others.
Coach wanted his players to be victors in life and not just on the court, so he treated them as an extended family and emphasized that winning was more than scoring. Indeed, most of his inspiring theories were born from conversations with his father, as a boy on their farm in Indiana. One that sums up his ideology quite well is his often quoted definition of success: "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best that you are capable of becoming."
"Coach Wooden is a humble, private man who has selflessly given up his life to make other people’s lives better ... John Wooden gave us the necessary tools to overcome the adversity and obstacles that he knew from the beginning would always be in our way. He taught us to find a source of motivation to inspire us to ever higher levels of preparation and work."
Bill Walton

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Originally article: True Success

The Success Puzzle

2010-02-03T03:11:00.000-08:00

Bob Proctor
Life Success Publications | ASIN: B000MZC5JC | 1998 | MP3 | 177 Mb

In The Success Puzzle, Bob Proctor provides that step-by-step guide so that you can create the masterpiece of your life.
Stop for a minute and ask yourself this: Are you really building the picture you've always wanted for your life? If you're not building the picture you want, you're working on the wrong puzzle... and this is where Bob Proctor begins in this program, The Success Puzzle.
This easy-to-follow audio program helps you first decide on what it is you want your life to look like. Then, through a fun goal-setting exercise, Bob Proctor helps you prioritize the primary action steps you'll be taking to build this life of your dreams (the frame of the puzzle, so to speak).
Once the framework is in place, you'll learn:
* Where your habits came from and how to change them.
* How to work with the laws of the Universe to achieve your goals in the easiest way possible.
* How to draw upon the infinite supply.
* How to eliminate all obstacles blocking your path.
* A four-step process to make effective decisions! (This is not in any other Proctor program).
* How to work on the various sections of your life in orderly yet fast-paced motion.
* The importance of commitment to success.
* A better way to deal with restraints, delays and negative consciousness that seek to slow your masterpiece-building pace.
* How to build in greater color, enthusiasm and passion in all facets of your life.
As you build this primary puzzle, you'll assimilate the simple lessons and steps it takes to build on new projects and ambitions throughout your life. You'll solve the Success Puzzle for your initial masterpiece, and for every masterpiece project and direction you take from then on.

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Originally Article: The Success Puzzle

Being Creative and Encouraging Innovation in Your Business

2010-02-02T19:15:00.000-08:00

by Alicia Fruin

When running your own small business, we are often called to be creative and innovative. Without this ability, I have discovered it is nearly impossible to be successful, let alone stay afloat. This innovative and creative spirit is especially important to small business owners because they do not have the kind of budgets the big corporations can play with. Small business owners are required to craft new and innovative ways to get the most “bang for their buck” whether that be refurbishing old unsuccessful projects into successful ones, cutting costs without cutting corners, and of course, thinking of new ways of marketing or boosting sales.

While most of the small business owners I work with do embody this innovative spirit, they often forget to foster this spirit throughout their company. To run efficiently and productively as possible, they need their entire team to be on the same creative page.

In Adrian Brown’s “Creativity & Innovation” he highlights five characteristics that he has observed in creative organizations. All of which I believe are important not just for large corporations, but especially for small business. They are:

1. “Information is free flowing: Creativity is partially about making new connections. For example: applying a familiar technology to a completely new application.”
2. “New ideas are welcomed: It is easy for individuals and companies to become stuck in its ways. Habitual behaviors, a rigid adherence to “best practices and groupthink can all act as barriers to new ideas
3. “Good ideas are nurtured: New ideas are delicate and can easily be killed off with an executive shrug or simply a lack of care and attention”….
4. “Risk taking is accepted”: “Experimentation and innovation involve some failures along the way. Risk taking doesn’t mean being reckless, rather it means understanding the risk/reward relationship and taking calculated risks where the potential rewards are valuable.”
5. “Innovators are rewarded: Creativity is hard to measure and can often be ignored by compensation and reward systems.” However, often it is enough to publicly recognize creativity with a simple thank you for a job well done, believe it or not, this sends a powerful message through your organization.

It helps to remember “you are not alone.” Remember, it is important to not only tap into your own creativity; but also your staff or team’; you may be surprised at the ideas they may have to boost your business!

If you are looking for more ways to develop your personal creativity, or that of your team, I recommend that you enroll in an online course that is part of Profit Consulting Co.’s “Creativity & Innovation” program. This convenient and easy to use program expands on Brown’s major themes and provides interactive exercises, additional readings, and offers learners hands-on exercises to spur personal creativity.

This is just one of the many programs of study we have recently added to our website! (www.profitconsultingco.com). We also feature courses in Business Communications, Leadership, Finance, and Management. These courses are affordably priced, 100% web based and in a self-study format allowing you to improve your creative, business, or management skills at your own convenience.

About the Author Alicia Fruin

Alicia is the owner of Profit Consulting Co., a Business Education Company. They offer small business coaching, consulting and training. Alicia has designed over 80 customized training programs and led these programs for hundreds of business owners around the country in a variety of industries. In addition, Alicia has coached managers, presidents and sales people on how to build a business truly worth having!

Recommended Reading: “Creativity & Innovation” by Adrian Brown

“The things we fear most in organizations -- fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances -- are the primary sources of creativity.” Margaret J. Wheatley

Originally article: Being Creative and Encouraging Innovation in Your Business

The Ten Things to Teach Your Children

2010-02-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

by Boake Moore
Being the father of five; I am constantly teaching my children both literally and through my actions. With the Labor Day weekend and a finally moment to reflect - I thought about the things I hope I can pass on to my children.

This is not focused on teaching them how to add or spell but how to face life and be of character. We all have a responsibility to resource, equip, teach, and provide for those who are coming after us, and who are preparing to take our place. We are expected to do all we can to help ensure their growth and security; to teach them the things you value the most. Teach them to learn from your mistakes and not necessarily repeat them. It's probably your most important and fulfilling tasks as a parent - passing on the values that will sustain them through their lives of challenging tasks and difficult decisions.

What, then, should we be careful to pass on tour children? What values do you want to instill? Here are my ten torches I hope to pass on:

To value money less: I want my child to not let their careers dictate their time and who they are. Learn them to find joy in their family and friends; in serving others and to find your stock in life in god and not in your workplace. Teach a child to learn to save more and spend less and to not have to continue upgrading your spending habits to match your earning increases. Have your child learn to not to have to continuously upgrade your house and car. Your child should want to find their satisfaction in worship and not in your toys.

Reflection time: I hope to pass on to my children how critical free time is and how valuable your time is. I think as a generation our worst fault is our "busyness" and ability to overbook ourselves. We never ever have any time to reflect or to meditate; to spend time alone or for that matter to book a lazy time at home with the family. My first value will be of time - to be less busy; less scheduled; less stress - to value your free time and to learn to schedule "nothing" or time to do nothing. The time to meditate; to reflect; to dream and plan is so critical to a healthy life but is often completely missed. My children should learn to leave the office an hour early to spend more time with the family instead of working late.

A Servants Attitude: As Americans most of us are blessed to have more than we will ever need. Most of us live in excess - having more toys and spending our free time enjoying our toys and leisure. We should want to teach my children to use their blessings on helping others - to use their free time serving others. It takes a long time to realize the joy of helping others far exceeds the pleasure of driving a new boat or playing the latest video game. My second torch to pass on is to teach my children it is far greater to serve others than to serve yourself.

The importance of friends - deep biding relationships. One of the best things we can bequeath to the next generation is how helpful, how rich, and how essential it is to have abiding and vulnerable personal relationships with one another. They need deep relationships that they can not only share with but who will also hold them accountable. They need deep friendships. (Hebrews 10:24) They need to have a small group that is biblically based and will help them grow spiritually.

Less perfection. It seems with emails; computers and better communications - errors seem to get magnified and publicized. Unfortunately this has led to huge pressures to be perfect. Everyone now strives to be so perfect. We shouldn't teach our children to be perfect! I hope to teach my children to be able to accept the truth about faults, weaknesses, and failures and not hide in shame, self-judgment, and condemnation. Teach your child to be more forgiving and less judgmental. I want them to learn to be honest beyond honest; about confession, forgiveness, grief, restoration, healing, and moving on. This will help them deal with the baggage they will naturally carry and learn to grow as imperfect people who have a living message of hope for a world that is lost. Learn them to experience more joy and happiness in their imperfection.

Less judging. This seems to be such an issue I decided to make it a point in itself. We all are guilty of judginng OURSELVES and others too harshly. Culture is constantly setting standards no one can meet and then we judge ourselves too severely. Worse yet we are constantly judging others when we hate it when others judge us. It seems these days those who call themselves Christians end up being the most judgmental. Again nothing is as critical as teaching your children the importance of trust and honesty; about confession, forgiveness, grief, restoration, healing, and moving on. And once they learn to be less judgmental of others they also stop being so concerned with judging themselves and if others are judging them. It's so freeing.

Praise. I hope to model to my children how proud I am of them; how wonderful they are and how much God loves them. Our children need our blessing. They need to know we aren't holding on to power, territory, or authority. They need to know we trust them and love them and we believe in them and Support them, take initiative to help, mentor them, and guide them. Give them confidence in who they are so they aren't so apt to change to make someone else happy.

God's blessings don't mean being wealthy. Unfortunately we have somehow tied our wealth or lack of it to how much God is blessing us. And if we are successful it's because God is blessing our actions. True we do owe everything to God but somehow we attribute our success to his approval and that's far from the truth. You should want my children to learn God's love and blessings are the same whether we are rich or poor and aren't an indication of either.

Worship values. We need to teach and model the realities of what is truly important in life. Our time to worship and our faith in God should be the most important thing in our lives. Worship is a seven day per week pastime not a Sunday morning date. Our children have to know that everydat starts with God. We need to place more emphasis on Sunday as a day of reverence. Sunday is THE day of worship, a day of reverence and rest not a day to schedule birthday parties and little league games. We need to teach and model the reality of God and his grace, being loving in our relationships, the truth of the Word of God, the salvation that comes through Jesus, the importance of a life surrendered to God, that God is first and foremost, that God sees all we do so being an honest person, living holy lives, and living in community - is the only way to live. Once we trust in God and put our faith in him and worship Him as He deserves - the rest of our lives become much richer and become much easier to manage. Our children have to know that all of reality and all of life is spiritual at the core. This is God's universe, whether we are dealing with marriage, dating, finances, careers, or our mission in life. We have to teach our children to see that God has principles, answers, solutions, and guidance for every single area of life, so they will look to him and trust his ways. Learn to trust in the Bible for our answers not our culture.

The Importance of Prayer - though it's last it's certainly not the least. We need to pass on to our children how important prayer is; what a blessing it is to be able to talk to God. You can't have a better friend or supporter. How often is HE and our prayer time the first thing we cut out of our busy schedule. Teach them to have a set prayer time; to start the day in prayer; to pray in the same quiet room; to become a habitual prayer. Pray, Pray and Pray.

May God bless you and your children.

Originally article: The Ten Things to Teach Your Children

10 Ways to Win a Friend and a Way to Lose Him/Her

2010-02-01T23:50:00.000-08:00

by Glen Santillan
1. Be Kind. Always treat people with kindness and humility.
2. Be Accommodating/Hospitable.
3. Always pretend as if you like to listen to his/her not-so-interesting stories
4. Be respectful. Remember that respect begets respect
5. Laugh with him/her. After all laughter is the best medicine (any connection?)

6. Try to be with him/her when he/she needs someone to talk to. ALways be at his/her side.

7. Be sensitive but never should you be over sensitive, Too much of everything is not good.

8. Praise him/her. If he/she needs to be praised for a job well done then he/she deserves it.

9. Have some time to talk about your lives - family, friends, etc. In short, try to know him/her better

10. Trust him/her. This may be difficult but if he/she is worth to be trusted then why not give him/her a chance!

And the way to lose him/her?
Just be honest and upfront and you will surely lose him/her.Believe me i've experienced it. It only shows that they are just friends, not real/true friends because if they are they would understand and appreciate your honesty.

Originally article: 10 Ways to Win a Friend and a Way to Lose Him/Her

Preparing for a Public Speech

2009-11-24T02:09:00.000-08:00

by Anil
Speaking in public is considered number one fear for many adults. People get tensed and try to avoid such occasions where they may have to do a public speech. It was not different for me until I learned public speaking skill by attending workshops and seminars by many well known speakers. Public speaking is a skill which can be learnt. Most people who give speeches or presentations confidently have learnt the skill.

What I learned from all training programs is, with some tips and practice; this skill can be mastered by any one. All that you need to do to be an excellent speaker is P.R.E.P.A.R.E yourself. In detail you have to do your Preparation, Rehearse, Entry, Posture, Audience, Relax and Ending well.

Preparation: It is the most important in public speaking. It starts with the following questions?

What will be your speech about?

Where is your speech going to be and how long?

Who is going to be my audience and why should they listen to you?

What are the take away key points for your audience?

How are you going to present your contents?

Getting answers for all these questions will make you doing a good preparation.

Rehearse: Rehearse your speech with the help of notes. You may check your timing each time when you practice. Keep practicing for few days prior to the actual day of speech.

Memorizing your speech has advantage and disadvantage. It is good to if your speech is a short and without much facts and figures. Disadvantage is you may forget certain parts and get struck with the lost figures. So, it is good to have a short note to refer on key points.

A speaker may not be able to be connected with audience when you read a speech. Limit your talk to a few key points. Once you have your key points, and then create your PowerPoint slides. That will keep you from having hundreds of PowerPoint slides.

Visualise the event in your mind and see yourself coping with the situation well and foresee any other potential problems you may face and see yourself dealing them with full confidence.

Entry: It would be great to begin your presentation with an impact. I have seen some speakers have soft openings like humorous video clips and jokes. It is up to the choice of speaker and the topic. Once you had a great take off, rest of your course of lecture will be smooth. Beginning a lecture with an apology like…"I'm not really very good speaker" or "I didn't get enough time to prepare this talk" is like killing yourself. Your audience are the right people to judge you and let them do that. Never let you down by yourself. Be enthusiastic and speak with positive energy.

Posturing: Your body is a tool. Use it effectively. Keep a gentle smile in your face. Make your posture very relaxing gesture with your hands; let them return to the resting position by your side. Do not keep standing on one spot like a statue. Move different location and then stop there while your speech. Try to maintain eye contact with everyone by scanning through audience. Do not stare or focus too much on one person.

Audience: Do a research to know your audience better while preparing for your speech. What does your audience know about the topic? What is their knowledge and experience background? Try and anticipate their challenging questions. During the presentation, seek reactions, questions and concerns. Invite your audience to participate if possible. This makes you appear accessible and allows you to move through the topic with your audience following along closely.

Relax: Most people get panic and rush ahead when they are stressed. You need to clam yourself and slow down at this moment. Practice slowing down when you are under stress and you will look more confident. When you think you are confident, you will feel and experience more confident Physical reactions in front of audience.

When confronted with a stimulating situation the body resorts to the "fight" or "flight" response. Your pulse increases. Adrenaline releases into your bloodstream. It is normal for any human being. Your body prepares for a physical response but you have to stay put.

Take a few deep breaths. Mild exercise or stretching can disperse some of the anxious energy from you.

Ending: Ensure you have smooth and correct ending of your presentation. Begin the end by summarizing your important key points. Next ask for audience questions and clarify any remaining issues. Then make your closing statement, which should encourage some action. What do you want the audience to do? Memorizing the last few lines ensures a strong close. Do not forget to express your thanks and gratitude to your audience. Finally smile and nod your head.

Originally article: Preparing for a Public Speech

Booking Conference Speakers

2009-11-07T02:19:00.000-08:00

by Ryan Daley

As you choose a motivational conference speaker, it is important to note that not everybody will be suitable for your event. You must select the right personalities as the right motivational speaker for your conference. Your event is also distinct by nature and must engage a matching personality for a speaker.

For conferences or seminars or workshops, people generally expect long speeches on technical issues. Many people can find these events tedious and find themselves helplessly yawning during the events. An effective conference speaker they can help to reinvigorate the audience. Booking one of the conference speakers from a reliable source can add energy and enthusiasm to the course of conferences. As conferences may last for a few days, it is important that the audience feels entertained and increasingly engaged in the subject matter of the conference.

Conference speakers are expert speakers who know their subject well. They are skilled at public speaking and imbibe the speeches with motivational quotes, funny events and short stories with relevant messages. They develop the conference speeches in a manner that keep the audience interested and revitalised. The corporate speakers connect with their audience and develop a personal touch over a period of time.

The conference speakers can be accomplished individuals or celebrities or sports persons. They are in any case experienced and knowledgeable at the subject matter of the conference.

For booking one of the corporate speakers, you can get in touch with the experienced consultants of Sports Bureau Promotions at www.sportsbureau.com.au. They will help you make your event a success.

Originally article: Booking Conference Speakers

Why You Need to Make Eye Contract When Speaking to an Audience

2009-11-07T02:14:00.000-08:00

by Nancy Daniels
Imagine watching a speaker who has wonderful words of advice, encouragement, experience and/or success and that speaker never once looks in your direction – in fact, that speaker never acknowledges you or anyone filling those seats to hear his/her wonderful words. Does that happen? More often than you may think.

I have seen, as well as worked with, many people who have strong delivery skills but are lacking in one particular area. They are unable to make eye contact with their audience. Now admittedly, if you are speaking to a hundred people or more, you will not be able to look at each and every individual but you are able to acknowledge each and every section of the room. In doing, those in that particular section will think you are looking directly at them.

It goes further than that, however. Making eye contact with your audience means talking to your audience and that can only occur when you recognize how your audience is reacting to your words. Looking over the heads of your listeners is not making eye contact with them. If that happens, then you are not communicating with your audience but are instead talking at them.

The beauty of public speaking is understanding that your message is a form of oral communication. You audience’s response to you is part and parcel of that communication. If they do not react, be it with a smile, a frown, or the nodding or shaking of their heads – if they are not booing, applauding, laughing or even groaning, then your message is not being heard. If your message is not being heard, then your purpose for speaking is pointless.

Part of good public speaking is building a rapport with your audience, establishing trust, credibility, and integrity with those who have gone out of their way to listen to you. Without eye contact, you cannot build that trust, you cannot justify integrity because you are not communicating. Acknowledging their feelings in respect to what you are saying is the value of why you are speaking. Whatever your success, it can only be recognized when you are aware of their response to your words.

What is fascinating about making eye contact is that it is one of the most important things you can do to control your nervousness because you will be treating your audience just as if you were having a conversation in your living room. And, that is good communication. If you are not making eye contact when you speak, try it next time. You will be amazed at how much better you feel as well as your audience!

Originally article: Why You Need to Make Eye Contract When Speaking to an Audience

Ten Presentation Skills Secrets to Outselling the Competition

2009-10-31T01:30:00.000-07:00

by Ed Sykes
Usually, you have one opportunity to present your organization’s ideas, products, and/or services to the audience. You work on the account for months and the presentation is your big moment. You speak to an under enthusiastic, yet polite audience; they thank you for your presentation and say they will get back to you. Unfortunately, after the presentation you learn that they went with another vendor.

What Happened?

It amazes me how often we see presenters with only one opportunity to make a presentation to sell their products, services, or ideas who come nowhere near meeting the needs of their audience. It’s almost as if the presenter is apologizing for making a presentation, and this prevents them from presenting well.

Why is it important for you to give a powerful presentation that sells you and your organization? You face more competition during these economic times, so you need to stand out so that the prospective “customer” chooses you as their provider. Your job as a presenter is to convince the decision-makers to choose your organization or act on the information shared during your presentation. The following are ten presentation skills secrets that will help you give a powerful presentation that will sell you to decision makers:

1. Research Audience Needs – Invest time to find out what is important to the audience members so that you can meet their specific needs. Find out what challenges they face and how you can help them overcome these challenges. You will find out your audience members will appreciate your presentation more since you took the time to find out what is most important to them.

2. Be Organized – Have a clear opening, body, and closing to your speech. Take the time to outline your main points and keep it simple. Don’t put everything in your presentation. Keep your presentation to three main points with sub points.

3. Get Excited – Show your excitement and passion for the subject you present. When you are excited and it shows, the audience will also become excited about your presentation. Excited audience members are audience members who will take action.
4. Dress the Part – A friend once told me, “Dress like you want to be listened to.” Take time to dress the part of an expert. Be professional in the way you dress. Investing in your looks shows the audience that you respect them and want to do a good job for them.

5. Open Strong – Bring in the audience members by creating a strong opening that will engage and challenge the audience. Be confident and know your material so that rest of the presentation will be smooth.

6. Present Features and Benefits – Most presentations I listen to are laden with feature after feature of what the organization does. You will distance yourself from the competition by presenting how the features you present will benefit the decision makers. The difference between features and benefits is that features are elements a product or service has (e.g., easy opening parts, multiple customer service shifts, fast processors), while benefits are how those features can benefit the customer (e.g., easy opening parts allow you to quickly clean the product without hassle, multiple customer service shifts provide you with 24/7 service so that you get the answer you need when you need them, fast processor allow you to process your work in half the time). Remember, decision makers will not care about you and your organization until they see how your organization will benefit them.

7. Questions Are the Answer – As you prepare for your presentation, ask the following question: “What are the possible questions I might be asked during my presentation?” Once you have a list of possible questions, develop powerful answers. Develop the mindset that questions asked by the audience are positive because they give you clues to how you can adjust your presentation to meet their needs. So, embrace questions as a way to make your presentation better.

8. Use PowerPoint As An Aid – How many presentations have you seen that suffered “death by PowerPoint?” The presenter has hundreds of slides they must go through. The slides are cluttered with several lines of text and multiple graphics on the each page. Presenters read directly from every slide, as the audience grows bored. Remember the following to prevent death by PowerPoint:

You are the presentation; PowerPoint is the supporting aid to your presentation.

If your presentation cannot work without PowerPoint, it’s not a strong presentation. Look for unique ways to simplify your presentation by eliminating PowerPoint slides that do not enhance your message.

9. Close Strong – Close your presentation by asking audience members to take action on the information you shared in your presentation. Ask the decision-makers in your audience to take the next step and chose you and/or your company. Repeat the benefits of doing business with you so that you become the obvious choice.

10. Ask for Feedback – Your presentation doesn’t end with your closing. After your presentation, ask for feedback from decision-makers in the audience. Listen to the feedback so that you can address the concerns they may have concerning you and your organization.

Your job is to stand out and be a cut above the rest of the competition so that decision-makers will choose you or your organization. Follow the ten presentation secrets and you will gain more opportunities and success.

How To Overcome Fear of Public Speaking – Public Speaking Phobia

2009-10-31T01:12:00.001-07:00

by Ricky Lim

Some people are stressed just with the thought of standing up and speaking in public. They avoid public speaking like a plague. It’s hard for them to have all eyes on them. Whether they work alone or with large numbers of people, they would have to speak in public if they want to accomplish certain tasks. Also, one cannot be a leader and achieve meaningful accomplishments if they themselves are afraid to speak in public.

One of the main things to remember in order to figure out a way on how to overcome fear of public speaking is that it does not have to be stressful. Understand what the cause of the stress is and where it is coming from. You would also have to remember the key principles. This will give you the confidence that you need when speaking in public.

So many aspects in life are stressful as they already are. Public speaking does not have to be stressful. If you can’t help but feel stressed with just the idea of speaking in public, then deal with the stress in the same way that you would deal with any of the stress in your life.

So many people have already learned the tips when it comes to speaking in front of people and they managed not to be stressed at all. Voices tremble and knees would shake – these are the most common signs of fear of public speaking.

If these are already happening to you, and you want to overcome your fear, the first thing you should do is to stop these from happening. It’s your body, clearly you can control it.

It does not make you abnormal if you are afraid to speak in public. A way for you on how to overcome fear of public speaking is to have the right plan of action, right understanding, and right guiding principles. It is not hard, in fact, you can do this overnight. You just have to set your approach on the right path when it comes to speaking in public.

Another thing one must remember as a way on how to overcome fear of public speaking is that he does not have to be brilliant nor perfect in order to succeed. The people who are afraid to speak in public watch the people who could and think that they should be as entertaining, smart, witty, polished, and calm as them.

That shouldn’t be the case. First of all, they should stop bringing themselves down. The main key is to just believe in themselves and to just do it.

Stress Management - 7 Coping Skills for Stress Relief

2009-10-01T23:34:00.000-07:00

by: Linda Hampton
Stress management is the controlling and reducing of tension that occurs in stressful situations. Everyone copes with stress everyday. "I'm SO stressed out!" - It seems like you hear it all the time from nearly every one you know . Most people are unprepared to deal with stressors that trigger feelings that can make us sick. Literally, sick.

The statistics are staggering. Research conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health has shown that anxiety disorders are the number one mental health problem among American women and are second only to alcohol and drug abuse by men. One in every eight Americans age 18-54 suffers from an anxiety disorder. This totals over 19 million people! Anxiety is the most common mental health issue facing adults over the age of 65. Treating anxiety disorders costs the U.S. $46.6 billion annually.

Health Psychology magazine reports that chronic stress can interfere with the normal function of the body's immune system. And studies have proven that stressed individuals are more vulnerable to allergic, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases.

Stress often prompts people to respond in unhealthy ways such as smoking, drinking alcohol, eating poorly, or becoming physically inactive. This causes damage to the mind and body.

There are 3 common types of stress:

Mini-stress - the annoying hassles of day to day life: - Heavy traffic - Cells phones with no power

Moderate-stress - the more significant day-to-day hassles that comes from deadlines and time pressures constraints - Project deadline at work - Holidays

Severe-stress - those events that are traumatic long term or permanent - Divorce or separation - Loss of job

Although there is no definitive answer to any of specific stressor you may experience, it's your coping skills that support your ability to manage stress.

Here are 7 coping skills to stress proof your life.

1.Know how to relax - find a quiet place, get comfy make sure your body is well supported. Breath slowly and deeply.

2. Eat right and exercise often - avoid caffeine and refined sugar, eat dairy products which may improve your mood. Make exercise a part of your daily life-even if it's only taking the stairs instead of the elevator or parking at the far end of the lot.

3. Learn it is OK to say 'no'. Often, many of us feel we have to say 'yes' to everyone, every time we're asked for help. You can't be all things to all people. You must first meet your own needs before you can truly give others what they need.

4. Take a mini-vacation from stress. If you can find fifteen minutes a day, or one hour a week if daily isn't possible, make a date with yourself. Schedule a walk around the block, lunch in the park, a sunrise or sunset alone, a bubble bath without interruptions.

5. Make time for yourself, your number one priority; once your own needs are met you will find you have more time for others. And you may find more pleasure in helping others when you don't feel that you must always put others needs before your own.

6. Go outside and enjoy Mother Nature. A little sunshine and activity can have amazing ramifications on your stress level and will enhance your entire outlook towards life. Your improved attitude will have a positive effect on everyone. Not only will you be less stressed, you will be healthier, happier, and more energetic; ready to face whatever obstacles come your way.

7. Have a good sense of humor. Be a resource to yourself. Try something new, learn to play again. Laugh. Laughter releases endorphins, chemicals in the brain that restore calm.

Stress management and how you cope with stress is part of your daily life. It's how you react to stress that makes all the difference in maintaining your health and well-being. Just like causes of stress differ from person to person, what relieves stress is not the same for everyone. You'll never completely get rid of stress, but you can learn to manage stress with coping techniques that work for you. I hope that I've given you some great ideas on how you can deal with stress.

Originally article: Stress Management - 7 Coping Skills for Stress Relief

Persuasive Speech Topics – Finding Speech Topics to Persuade and Rock the Audience!

2009-10-01T23:26:00.000-07:00

by: Michael Lee
Having a tough time deciding on what persuasive speech topics to talk about? Don’t sweat it. In this article, you’ll discover some amazing tips to easily find persuasive speech topics that will keep your audience listening to your every word.

First, you must know your target audience very well. Know their age, sex, educational attainments and career experiences. Find out what their beliefs, dreams and goals are. What keeps them excited or awake at night? What makes them tick?

If possible, know their personal, cultural, social, religious and political backgrounds. This will prevent you from saying something that might be offensive to a particular race or culture.

Then based on the information gathered from your audience, list down a list of persuasive speech ideas that might fit their personality, status or background. Remember that the worst thing you could do is deliver a boring speech, so try to come up with controversial yet useful subject matters.

List down persuasive speech topics that will benefit them. Remember they’re always thinking of “WIIFM” (What’s In It For Me?). If they don’t see any good results or advantage for listening to your speech, they won’t be interested or responsive.

After you’ve listed down your topics, check those items that you either are an authority in or are very familiar with. Your audience will look up to people with authority. If they perceive you as someone who is an expert in a subject, they would be more likely to listen to you and accept your viewpoints.

But even if you’re not familiar with any subject, as long as you’re passionate about it, you can still choose that topic. Just do proper research over the internet and libraries to come up with your persuasive speech ideas.

During your research, take note of the most interesting or helpful facts that might astound your audience. Keep an open mind and relate how your research can solve their problems or improve any aspect of their life.

Some people are naturally skeptical, so show proof to validate your claims. Gather statistics, facts, testimonials, endorsements, presentations, case studies or true stories. Make sure you note down the source or reference.

Finding persuasive speech topics is easy if you follow the guidelines above. Simply give your audience the information they want to hear, and you’ll do a fantastic job. Best of luck to you!

Originally article: Persuasive Speech Topics – Finding Speech Topics to Persuade and Rock the Audience!

What is Important in Life?

2009-10-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

by: David Snape
When we are healthy, we seldom think about what it feels like to be sick. But when we are really and truly sick, all we can think about is being healthy again.

No matter how much wealth we manage to accumulate in this world, it is virtually useless without good health. This is tied closely to the knowledge of our own mortality. Deep down, we all know that we only have a handful of decades on Earth and then it's over.

In light of that, what becomes important then? That is indeed an interesting question. What is important cannot be money, because we can't take it with us when we die. What is important can't be our possessions because, once again, they are not going with us. Having money and possessions is very temporary. Those things cease to matter to us when we die.

Some turn to their relationships when they realize this. They feel that family and friends must be the most important thing then. Yet, we will lose contact with family and friends when we pass away too.

Some people die and then come back. They call this the near-death experience. Many of those people talk about what they saw in the state of death. They also talk about how they feel which is almost universally wonderful. There are a few that report going to a very bad place, but the majority feel good. They are free from the pain and suffering of their mortal bodies.

In the near-death experience, many talk about the life review process, where they see their entire lives displayed before them. The good things they do and the bad are right there. In addition they see how their actions and words affected others too. Apparently it can be quite painful to recognize how much we hurt others and caused others pain.

They also get to see the good things they did. I remember one woman who went through the life review process said that the most significant act in her entire life occurred when she was a little girl. She said that the most important action out of her entire life was holding a little flower in her hand and giving it unconditional love. That was it, out of her entire life that was deemed the most significant thing she ever did.

In light of that, we can conclude that what is important is not who we were but how well we treated others in this life. Therefore, when we contemplate our lives and set our goals, maybe it would be a good idea if we thought about others first.

Life is not temporary, but life on Earth is temporary. How are we going to face all those people who are watching what we do, when it is all over? Hopefully, we will have done things that we can be joyous about.

David Snape is the author of What You Should Know about Gum Disease - an important book considering that the majority of adults suffer from some form of gum disease. David also answers questions on any health, fitness or wellness topic at his blog: http://tobeinformed.com. David believes in oral irrigation to help fight against gum disease and that the premiere oral irrigation device on the market is the Hydro Floss Oral Irrigator

Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes. It does not intend to provide advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have or think you have an oral health problem, visit a periodontist for advice, diagnosis and treatment. The USFDA has not evaluated any statements about products in this article.

Originally article: What is Important in Life?

Self Improvement-Not Successful in Life: What’s Your Excuse?

2009-08-09T22:33:00.000-07:00

by: Saichon Sannok
Excuses! Excuses! When we fail to do something we are expected to do, we almost always have an excuse for it. However, if we analyze it closely, an excuse is a self-destructive alibi for having failed to do something, especially when it involves attaining a goal. Instead of trying to persevere in finding ways to continue achieving a goal, some of us resort to excuses. -Self Improvement

Even a handicap cannot be used as an excuse. Many handicapped but determined people have become achievers and champions. Instead of using a handicap as an excuse, let us turn it into an asset. Let us explore this further.-Self Improvement

A handicap need not be a reason for failure. On the contrary, a handicap can be a reason for success.

A person with a handicap has one obsession - to lead a normal life. Depending on the handicap, a person will prefer to be as independent as possible. So he struggles and finds ways to overcome his impediment. When he is able to achieve his goal, this raises his self-esteem. In turn, he inspires others.

Everybody has handicaps in varying forms and degree. That is why, it requires effort and determination to overcome them. Handicaps can either be physical, financial, or emotional. And they can either be real or imagined.-Self Improvement

Whenever we look at a handicap, we almost always look at the negative side only. It’s about time we take a look at the positive side of it. The positive side may be the difficult side, but it’s the one worth looking into. It’s the side that is going to lead us to excel in life.-Self Improvement

If you think your handicap is physical, like having a weak body, you can counteract this through proper diet and training exercises. As long as the physical parts of your body are intact and mobile, there’s no reason why you cannot make it strong and useful. Why? Even those without a leg (for example) can be made to walk or run normally. With the advancement of science, artificial legs can help a handicapped person function with great mobility.-Self Improvement

It your handicap is financial, then the more reason you have to rise above your present status. And if your financial status limits your educational attainment to improve your life, the school is not the only place to learn. Certainly, there are help centers to get you started even from zero level. Once you are initially warmed up with the basics of an education, the rest is up to you. Make use of libraries. Once you are educationally equipped, use your brain and come up with creative ideas to improve your life.

If you are emotionally disturbed with negative thoughts, it is like you are sitting on a chair with wobbling legs. Try sitting on a chair with sturdy legs; meaning, look at the bright, positive side of life. Put aside negativity and start thinking positively. The only one who can stop you is yourself.

If your handicap is a combination of any of the physical, financial, or emotional type, congratulations. You should strive more to overcome them, because a double layer of perseverance results in more than double the achievement. Where the odds are greater, the prize gets much bigger. After all the efforts you have exerted, the prize of success shall be a well-deserved one.-Self Improvement

So what’s your excuse for not being successful?

Originally article: Self Improvement-Not Successful in Life: What’s Your Excuse?

Read More: http://selfs-improvement.blogspot.com/

Training For Success - Be Prepared

2009-07-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

When most people think of the boy scout they picture the young boy walking the old lady across the street and while that may be true for scouts to be helpful, they also must be prepared. The same preparedness comes when you are starting a home based business. You must prepare yourself for the circumstances that will befall on you.

For example, when you first join your network marketing company you have a dream, you are fired up and ready to accomplish this dream because you are passionate about your product or service. Then you start marketing the old fashion way with the dreaded list, 3-foot rule and expensive ads only to find that not everyone cares about your dream.

You probably wonder why everyone you talk to just doesn't jump into your boat and it gets you kind of frustrated because you see it, why don't they? You must be prepared for an outcome that you are not attached to like your prospect joining your business. So how do we prepare for that? Training.

With all my years of experience, I still train. I read the same books over and listen to the same material more then once. I'm always looking for new material to train with and even if I can find just one golden nugget inside of a course or book, it is well worth the effort of my time.

But, there should be a balance for training and doing. Most people spend the time getting ready to get ready. Making the effort to learn as much as you can is important. Doing what you learn is even more important. There is no time better then the present to stop getting ready and declare yourself capable regardless of the outcome. So what if you make a mistake. As long as you learn from it that is what is important.

I've been making mistakes for years regarding home based business and I find that they cause no physical pain. You see most people take the past of least resistance and the pain of failure is much less then the pain of success. That is why most people fail at any business.

Jay Olivo is network marketing, internet marketing coach and a founder of My Proven Home Business. Jay has been teaching multilevel marketing since the early 90's and has built large downlines and success using formulas learned from mentors and experts along the way. For more information about Jay Olivo a proven home business opportunity, visit his web site at http://www.JayOlivo.com

Originally article: Training For Success - Be Prepared

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity

2009-07-27T05:32:00.000-07:00

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity
For more than 20 years, David Allen has been a management consultant and executive coach. Allen’s first book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, published in 2001, became a National Bestseller. Allen has been called a personal productivity guru whose work has been featured in Fast Company, Fortune, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.

Getting Things Done is divided into three parts. Part 1 provides an outline for getting control of your life through the five stages of mastering workflow: collection, processing, organizing, reviewing and doing. Part 2, which is well over half the book, repeats a lot of what is said in Part 1, but provides much more detail on the application of Allen’s methodology. Part 3 explains why Allen’s methods work and the benefits to be gained from using his approach.

The entire process, including inputs, processing/thinking, and outputs (actions and action lists), is conveniently summarized in a flowchart provided in the book. Allen’s philosophy is that to be one’s most productive self, one must be able to think clearly. In order to think clearly, one must have completely downloaded from one’s short-term memory or RAM (like computer RAM) all the "open loops" -- unfulfilled commitments one has made to oneself. This frees the mind to do naturally what it does best -- think about things rather than of things. Allen gives pointers for using one’s critical thinking skills, including three methods for making decisions about what actions to take, in Chapter 9.

Once one has everything off his mind and written down, in paper or electronically, one has to decide, "What’s the next action?" This is THE critical question. Once this is decided, the action must be completed or tracked in a trusted system, such as a Personal Digital Assistant or PDA.

Allen also has a two-minute rule, which states that as one goes through their in-box and determines next actions, any next action that can be completed in two minutes or less should be completed immediately. In this way, a lot of items are touched only once and are forever cleared from "psychic RAM."

Allen outlines a process for getting RAM cleared in the first place and then for keeping it clear on a daily basis, as new things come into one’s "in" box. The "What’s the next action?" question must be asked on the front-end, when the item from the "in" box is first reviewed.

Applying Allen’s system is put forth as a way for today’s knowledge worker to have a competitive edge in the new millennium. His system is as applicable to one’s home environment and projects as it is to one’s work. He also claims it can help procrastinators.

Getting Things Done is part tools and techniques, part psychology. Allen says that mastering your time enables you to live in the present moment. This may be the true gift of this book.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity

Simple Steps to Achieve Your Goals

2009-07-24T23:34:00.000-07:00

By Rick D. Lee

The habit of setting and achieving goals is one of the most important habits you can form in life. If you don't set goals, then you could feel that your life is not going anywhere. But if you're busy working toward achieving your goals, then you'll feel that you're making progress in life and that you're moving toward something greater. Here are 4 simple steps you can use to start achieving any goal you set in life:

1. Write your goals down. You won't be able to start achieving your goals if you don't write them down. A goal that only exists in your mind is nothing more than a wish. By writing them down, you turn your goals into something real and tangible.

2. Create a plan of action. Write down a list of things you need to accomplish in order to achieve your goal. Having everything written down in a master plan will help you tremendously to stay clear on what you're trying to accomplish.

3. Visualize your goals. By constantly visualizing your goals, you'll be able to stay focused on them. It'll help you to stay on track and prevent you from being distracted by unimportant things. Think about your goals when you wake up in the morning, before you go to sleep at night and regularly throughout the day.

4. Take action. The most important step of all is taking action. Your goals will not come into reality unless you put in some work into achieving them. Try to take action every single day, even if it's only a small step toward your goals. It'll get you into the habit of taking continuous action and help you maintain your forward momentum.

Originally article: Simple Steps to Achieve Your Goals

Looking For Inspiration? It’s All Around You

2009-07-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

by: Mitchell Dahood M.A.

Some people struggle to find something to "inspire" them, while others find inspiration all around them. When was the last time you were truly inspired?

If it has been a while chances are your vision and other senses have been clouded by the chaos and confusion of your conscious mind.

Who could blame you? With the way the mass media continues to tout the doom & gloom of our economy, record foreclosures, record corporate bankruptcy's, high unemployment, etc., etc. It's amazing you manage to get out of the bed in the morning.

And yet I have heard it said that eight times more millionaires are created during a down economy than at other times. Some may question this, and yet it makes perfect sense to me. During a down economy, many people lose their jobs and many of them unable to find another job start their own business.

Many people think of starting their own business, and yet when they are employed, they never seem to have the motivation to begin, let alone follow through. When left with no choice, they take action, usually something they always wanted to do, and just never seemed to know where to begin.

The inspiration and opportunities are always present. It is simply a matter of where we choose to focus our attention.

When our journey ends, we are unlikely to regret the things we have done as much as the things we haven't done. If you listen to the media, it may not seem like the time to be bold and start a new venture. Yet there are people doing it, and more than a few will ultimately become millionaires as a result.

Boldness is always rewarded. Be bold in pursuing what you are passionate about. Be bold in reclaiming who you are and where always meant to be. If you need a little help in being bold I have a couple of powerful guided imagery's I have uploaded at You Publish dot com. they are "Conquering Negativity" and Connecting To the Passion of Your Champions Heart".

You can listen on the site for free. All you have to do is enter my name in the search box, and the links to everything I have uploaded on the site will appear. I would appreciate hearing any feedback you have on these two guided imageries.

Originally article: Looking For Inspiration? It’s All Around You

Go Green: Turning Your Jealousy Into Strength

2009-07-24T22:46:00.000-07:00

by: Tama J. Kieves

The other day I read about an acquaintance, another author, I know who was featured in The New York Times. As I came upon the story, try as I might to fill my mind with the bird songs and daisies of good will, I felt sandpaper scrape my soul. Immediately, her shiny success became my failure.

Jealousy stung me like tear gas, laced with longing and sadness. Yes, of course, I’d much prefer you think I’m someone who levitates on my good desires for everyone else. And, really, I am sometimes. But other times, I’m tiny-hearted, insecure and ratty with psychic holes that leak out precious energy.

But finally, I’m no longer interested in making myself wrong for these falls from grace. I’m interested in restoring my natural light. I’m devoted to using everything I have, at every moment, to take me into the life of my purpose, my peace, my freedom and my own true success.

Since everybody’s “going green” these days, and proud of it, I thought I’d like to turn “green with envy” into an alternative power source as well. Lord knows, many of us have warehouses of this fuel. Besides, our emotions are never wrong. They are simply the yellow check engine lights, telling us that something needs our attention and care.

Jealousy is an emotion that many creative, intelligent, ambitious people feel. It’s the darkened cousin of the wholesome desire to reach your own dazzling potential. Unfortunately, it’s the wounded one that feels powerless or as though life is unfair or that somehow you will be forever deprived of what you need and deserve. It’s a misguided focus. It happens. But the good news is that you can use this activated energy to get even more focused, loving, and graceful in your own life.

Here’s three different approaches I’ve found helpful to turn jealousy into strength:

Put Your Focus Where It Belongs

I imagine drawing a circle around myself and staying inside my circle. It’s my reminder to focus on my own good life, and the purity and power right in front of me. I choose to bless my life, just as it is, for all that I have and all that I do not have. I choose not to reject my own life, but to embrace it with the ultimate tenderness and reverence.

I remind myself that Spirit is the source of my good. I am never deprived of what is truly mine. My job is to tend my own garden. When I’m jealous, I’m so busy watching my neighbor’s garden grow, that I allow my own fruits and flowers to wither with neglect. Jealousy reminds me to water my own plants, stand on my own soil, take important and timely actions, and focus on tending the bounty I have and the harvest yet to come. If I look outside my circle to see what someone else has, it drains energy from my sphere, my budding wonder, and my responsibility.

Turn Jealousy into Clarity

Your jealousy is a powerful flashlight. It shines a beam on your true desires. Take the focus off what the other person has, and begin to notice and name what you truly want. Jerry and Esther Hicks, in “The Law of Attraction,” write that it’s the contrast of what we don’t yet have that causes us to “launch rockets of desire.” When you see something that stings you, it helps you to stir up passionate energy about your desire. Take a moment to imagine having that desire come true for you. Stay in the good feeling place, of “yes, this is exactly the kind of thing I want in my life,” perhaps as though you found something in a catalog you’d like to order. Pretend you’re ordering it now. Avoid the negative backlash of “but I don’t have that in my life and I probably never will.” Bring your attention back to your clarity. Is there an action you’d like to take now that you have this clarity? Would you like to take this moment and commit to this desire? Or pray for this desire, ask f or help in seeing what thoughts or attitudes you might want to shift? Real clarity often inspires commitment, movement, and right action.

Bless the Ones Whose Turn It Is

I find it helpful to celebrate the success of others. Of course the first time someone suggested this to me, it sounded as though I was supposed to swallow arsenic and call it pepperoni. But it works. Instead of standing in the shadows, and seeing myself as different, (read in inadequate), I cross the finish line with them and enjoy the ribbons. I imagine the dreamer in them that hoped for a triumph such as this, and I’m grateful they got it. I’m grateful dreams come true. I don’t see us as different. We’re all going to win and we’re all going to lose. I choose to bless the ones whose turn it is now to stand in the sun for a moment. I also know I don’t know their whole story. Even if I think “they just lucked out,” I don’t know the road they walk on, what struggles they have faced or yet will face. I know that no one is where they are by accident and that we’re all the favored children of a loving, generous Universe. I also know I can block my good, by resisting their good. It’s hard to be in the flow, when you’re grinding your teeth.

A friend of mine, a speaker, once told me that she loved seeing other speakers who spoke on her topic get better speaking engagements than her. I must have looked as though I’d seen a ghost, because she quickly explained. “We’re on the same team. They’re teaching the same message. And the more people they reach, the more people are now available for my message.”

So next time you hit some healthy jealousy in your life, don’t allow that hot stone to sit upon your heart. Go green. Recycle. Use that disagreeable fire. And burn your way back into grace.

Originally article: Go Green: Turning Your Jealousy Into Strength

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10 tips to Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking

2009-06-18T01:38:00.000-07:00

by Richard Denny
If you have never spoken in public before you more than likely dread the thought of it, or if you have had a bad experience you may now have a crisis of confidence. Let me assure you these fears and more can be overcome. Here are the most common:-

* Fear of drying up
* Fear of forgetting
* Fear of going on too long
* Fear of boring people
* Fear of not sounding right
* Fear of trembling hands and trembling voice
* Fear of having a weak speech

YES you can overcome the lot. Here are just a few tips on which to get started:-

1. Prior to writing the speech/presentation collect ideas, stories, interesting facts, anything that you may be able to use before you start to write.

2. When you write the speech there must be a beginning, a middle and close.

3.The beginning should be an interesting fact or a people story. The purpose is to get their attention, it is best not to have a weak joke.

4.The middle is the content, this is where you make your case or present your main theme.

5. Illustrate the speech with stories or people to make it interesting. Genuine case histories and examples are excellent.

6.The better the preparation the less the fear and the more confident you will feel.

7.Always take some deep breaths before you start, this will settle the nerves.

8.Always have notes with big writing. Your notes must be your aid not a trap.

9.Remember the 6 P’s – Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

10. Invest in yourself, get some training, this will reap untold rewards, every good speaker has had some training.

Originally article: 10 tips to Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking

When the Pause Becomes Ineffective in Public Speaking

2009-06-18T01:21:00.001-07:00

by Nancy Daniels
The other day I heard a speaker who was very dynamic in his delivery except in one respect. He paused too often and for too long. Without a doubt, pausing is one of the most important characteristics of good public speaking: pausing that is excessive or predictable is not.

The beauty of the pause is that it allows you, the speaker:

* to take a quick breath thereby supplementing your air supply;
* to be more expressive in your delivery;
* to briefly think (and I mean brief);
* to move in a new direction.

There are some, however, who actually abuse this aspect of their delivery by pausing too often or far too long. If your audience can begin to predict your pauses or is tempted to start timing them, then you need to make a change.

What was happening with the speaker I heard recently, was that he was pausing to see his audience’s reaction to him – almost begging for a smile or a laugh or applause. Speakers who are ‘asking’ for a response like that are too self-absorbed. If fact, I can take that a step further. Because his entire presentation was memorized, he knew from experience which of his statements produced reactions; therefore, he was determined to make his audience respond to him with his scripted pauses.

In teaching public speaking, I advise my students and my clients not to mark their scripts with smiley faces, places to breathe, or any other symbol. If you approach your speech or presentation with these types of directions, then you are acting. Your objective in public speaking is not to act; your goal is to speak publicly.

The pause in public speaking is exactly like the pause in normal conversation. And, similar to normal discourse in which you pause while speaking, if you can learn to treat your audience just as if you were have a conversation in your living room, you will then find yourself pausing naturally.

If, on the other hand, you pause for audience appreciation, then your presentation is an affectation. Don’t wait for your audience’s response – allow it to happen naturally.

The pause is normal; the pause is natural; the pause is a necessity in public speaking. Use it but don’t abuse it!

Originally article: When the Pause Becomes Ineffective in Public Speaking

3 Specific Ways to Overcome Public Speaking Fears

2009-06-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

by: Peter Fisher

I am going to show you three specific ways to overcome your public speaking fears, but first you need to believe that the fear and nervousness you are experiencing CAN be overcome.

1. It is normal to be nervous and even fearful before getting up to speak in public. Most great actors feel nervous before going on stage; world class athletes are nervous before a big event so don't feel that you have to be fearless!

If you can accept that your nerves are a normal response and not unusual in any way, then you start to release the tension and allow yourself to function effectively. Because fear is a normal physiological response that releases adrenaline into your bloodstream - preparing you for the fight or flight response - you can harness the help you are being given.

Adrenaline heightens your responses and gives you the extra 'lift' to give of your best.

2. Work out where your fear of public speaking comes from. With most people it is a fear of appearing foolish - nobody wants to look daft - so preparation is the key. Your self-esteem is a powerful mantle and you don't want to lower it by exposing yourself to laughter or ridicule.

You may feel that the audience won't like you - in fact they are probably more supportive than you may think. You may be worried that the audience will not like your speech or value the content of what you have to say.

Aim for approval from your audience and you will find yourself well pleased too; but never at the expense of compromising the truth of the message you deliver.

3. The audience knows nothing of your fears; audiences like this have seen many speakers before and are looking forward to hearing your speech. Because they are 'neutral' all you need to do is hide your nervousness and act the part of an accomplished speaker.

Think about speakers YOU have seen before; how did they look and act. COPY THEM! Now bear in mind why you have been asked to speak; keep your material simple but to the point and focus on what you believe the audience needs to understand.

Put their needs before yours and you will be assured of giving a great speech.

These three ways to overcome your public speaking fears will soon have you saying "I enjoy giving a speech, and I'm actually good at it."

Originally article: 3 Specific Ways to Overcome Public Speaking Fears

Get Happy Now! How Enthusiasm Can Change Your Life

2009-06-02T22:45:00.000-07:00

by: Keith Callister

Do you remember when you were just a small child? Of course you do, we all do, but what do you remember the most? For many of us the most vivid memories we have are from the times that we did something that we were excited about, like our first trip to Disneyland, or even the first time our parents took us out to eat. There's a reason that these memories stand out in such a vibrant way, and that is because our memories are stronger when the emotion we attached to that memory is strong. (this is also the reason that negative memories are so vivid as well, but we can talk about that another time)

So what makes enthusiasm so powerful? Why does it stick with us when so few things do? Enthusiasm is one of the highest levels of euphoria that we know of, when we are enthused about something we are not merely excited, it's almost as though our whole body tingles with expectation. Tese are the times when you feel like you can't wait a minute more. And the best part is when we are enthused about something we are never let down, it may not be exactly what we thought it would be, but the electricity we feel about it carries us through to almost always having a positive result.

How can we use enthusiasm to get happy now? It's simple, we simply tap into our memories of enthusiasm and attach those same feelings to everyday situations, you may not feel as enthusiastic about doing a presentation for work, but maybe you can set up a reward for yourself when the presentation is complete, and get excited about the presentation because the reward awaits you at the end of the experience.

You could also simply just choose to be enthusiastic about life, and be grateful for every day you have, I heard a quote once from somebody that said "a good day is one where I am on 2 feet above the ground instead of lying beneath it." That too is something we can be excited about today is a day to live life.

Another simple way to use enthusiasm to better our lives is to share it, and the simplest way to share it is through a smile, next time you "accidentally" make eye contact with someone while driving, or walking down the street, or in the grocery store, instead of looking away with embarrassment, flash them a quick smile, it will help you get happy, and it will more than likely get you a smile which means you just helped someone else become happy as well.

Give it a shot you have nothing to lose, infuse your life with some enthusiasm and see what happens.

Originally article: Get Happy Now! How Enthusiasm Can Change Your Lifesu

2009 Stock Market Predictions > Market Forecast - Stocks Going Up

2009-06-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

by: http://www.ChatHotStocks.com
The stock market should present us with a wide variety of NEW hot stocks in 2009. Many of them are going to be new technology stocks that come from the nanotech, biotech, financial, energy, healthcare & communications sectors.

Most of them might seem promising, but the truth is that a good number of these trading & investing opportunities could be extremely risky, while others are simply not as good as they look. That's why it's very important to know how to choose among the best especially if you want to day trade them.

When you know how to pick and approach the best hot stock trading opportunities, you are able to generate a consistent and respectable amount of money in a very short period of time.

Experienced day traders recognize that trading hot stocks on momentum can be the fastest way to make money in the stock market, especially on uncertain times like these.

You don't necessarily have to trade momentum hot stocks all the time. But you can learn how to take advantage of them when you encounter the best opportunities for going long or for shorting them to make money when they are poised to fall down.

If You decide to day trade stocks just keep always in mind that for a trader to survive and be consistently profitable, its necessary to keep things as simple as possible. To much confusion and technical indicators will most of the time make you slow in your decisions and froze you up when a good opportunity is right in front of your screen.

In the end, stock market day trading is all about picking the best daily stock opportunities and following your buy and sell signals with ease and simplicity. Once you learn to master your trading decisions, you can aspire to produce consistent profitable results.

Originally article: 2009 Stock Market Predictions > Market Forecast - Stocks Going Up

“Just Believe and You Will Achieve”

2009-05-15T04:16:00.000-07:00

by John Di Lemme
As I read the following stories of world-renowned people who have succeeded to the ultimate level in their respective fields, I said to myself, “Just Believe and You Will Achieve”“All they had when they started their journey was belief in themselves because they overcame some major obstacles to succeed.” I am a true believer in reading success stories to find the inspiration and consistent motivation needed to achieve your personal WHY in life. As I have written in past issues, you need a mastermind group around you in order to truly flourish. When I first said that I was going to build an

international business when I was only 26 years old and achieve enormous success, everyone thought that I had lost my mind but what kept me fueled up was reading stories of other achievers and how they struggled to reach their achievements. As many of you know, I went on

to fulill my dream and now I am building an international personal development business that will help many people achieve their dreams. The following are stories that I know will help you realize that all you need to do is BELIEVE in your ultimate outcome and you WILL achieve it!

FAILURES...BUT NOT QUITE

• The teacher of famous opera singer Enrico Caruso said Caruso had no voice at all and couldn’t sing.

• Eighteen publishers turned down Richard Bach’s 10,000 word story about a soaring seagull before MacMillan finally published it in 1970. By 1975, “Jonothan Livingston Seagull” had sold more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone.

• Thomas Edison was thrown out of school in the early grades when the teachers decided he couldn’t do the work.
*****

*R. H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York caught on.

*President Harry S. Truman went broke in the men’s clothing store he started.

*When Bob Dylan performed at a high school talent show, his classmates booed him off the stage.

Now you need to visualize your own story in this article and what will it say? You have the ability to design your own story RIGHT NOW or you can allow others to tell you what you can do! Remember, you do not want to be part of the “Should have, would have, IF Club,” which years

from now, you will stop and say to yourself, “I should have, would have, if only I knew, etc.!

You have the keys to succeed in your hands right now. Make a decision today to become a success story and not just a statistic! You need to be proud of your dreams and you need a mastermind team to verbally express your mission.

Find Your WHY and FLY!

John Di Lemme

Reserve your seat now to the next upcoming boot camp!

Call 877-277-3339

Originally article: “Just Believe and You Will Achieve”

Public Speaking :10 Tips To Make Your Speeches Persuasive

2009-05-15T04:07:00.000-07:00

by Edward Hope
For many the first time they bake a cake it will end up being a burnt offering to their friends or family. Baking a cake is a skill. So is making a speech. A cake's taste is largely determined by the ingredients that are mixed into it. The effectiveness of a speech will be very dependent on the materials the speaker puts into it.

The material used in persuasive speech should stimulate one or more of the following natural elements of persuasion;

1. Attention
2. Interest
3. Conviction
4. Desire
5.Action

The list of "ingredients" needed to make your speech more persuasive are:

1. Satisfy yourself that you know your cause fully and wholeheartedly believe in it.

2. Start your speech with a human interest story, thought-provoking question, a bit of humor, suspense, a novel or unusual visual aid to get immediate attention.

3. Make the purpose of your talk clear, but use very little time to accomplish that. Avoid making it long and dull. The important job is to move forward and do what the speaker has said they will.

4. Inform your listeners how the speech will help them or why they will be interested in it.

5. The material presented must be logical and contain plenty of commonsense. No amount of persuasion will be accepted by people that will make them appear foolish.

6. Use quotations. The most effective quotations to use in a speech are those made by people recognized as experts in their field e.g. Einstein on science, Mayo brothers on surgery.

7. Make illustrations be the core of your speech. Jesus' talks were full of stories. Abraham Lincoln was also famous for his stories.

8. Clear interesting facts are necessary, especially for the conviction step. Facts add weight to a talk. However, facts can be dull, they do not create vivid picture or touch the listeners' emotions. Try to package the facts in ways that will make them easy for the audience to understand. So instead of saying "The death rate in China is high," try something like "Every time you breathe a Chinese person dies."

9. To stimulate desire make a vivid appeal to the senses cast in frames of the audience's wants or desires. Of course the appeal must be believable. The most effective persuasion is by a combination of stimulating a listener's wants and influencing their mind.

10. After gaining the attention and interest, convinced the listeners and stimulated desire, the speaker only has to close by showing his audience what to do. Make it easy for them. People will fail to act if the speaker does not make it easy for them to do so.

The materials outlined will add spice to your speech and will also make it more effective. Persuasive public speaking, like good baking, requires that you practice and include the materials that are needed to deliver an effective speech.

Originally article: Public Speaking :10 Tips To Make Your Speeches Persuasive

The Art of Public Speaking

2009-04-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

by J. BERG ESENWEIN and DALE CARNEGIE

The efficiency of a book is like that of a man, in one important respect: its attitude toward its subject is the first source of its power. A book may be full of good ideas well expressed, but if its writer views his subject from the wrong angle even his excellent advice may prove to be ineffective.

This book stands or falls by its authors' attitude toward its subject. If the best way to teach oneself or others to speak effectively in public is to fill the mind with rules, and to set up fixed standards for the interpretation of thought, the utterance of language, the making of gestures, and all the rest, then this book will be limited in value to such stray ideas throughout its pages as may prove helpful to the reader--as an effort to enforce a group of principles it must be reckoned a failure, because it is then untrue

Chapter I ....

2009-04-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

The Art of Public Speaking - A View from Impact Factory
by Robin Chandler and Jo Ellen Grzyb

Art of public speaking
This document covers hints and tips on public speaking and presentation skill, dealing with public speaking nerves and anxiety, public speaking skills and public speaking techniques, public speaking training.

Fear of public speaking ....

2009-04-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

The Art of Using Humor in Public Speaking
by Anthony L Audrieth

Part 1. Introduction to the Art of Using Humor in Public Speaking
The Art of Using Humor in Public Speaking is just that. It is an art, not to be taken lightly, but to be applied with great care. Your audience will judge your presentation, regardless of your use of humor. If you can entertain while teaching, then all the better. If you use humor poorly however, you can do irreparable damage to your cause. In other words, poorly handled humor in a presentation can damage or destroy your credibility.

Part 2. ....

Originally article: The Art of Using Humor in Public Speaking

2009-04-10T02:24:00.000-07:00

Foods to Eat to Lose Weight- Eat More to Burn Fat

Eating the right foods can help you lose weight. Skipping meals or only eating rice cakes and toast won't work and will cause you to gain weight insteat of losing weight. So, what I'm going to do is share with you some foods to eat to lose weight.

That way, you can increase your metabolism and lose fat, even if you're just laying around the house.

Here's a list of foods to eat to lose weight and burn fat:

# Tuna. It has omega-6 fatty acids in it, which helps with weight loss. Tuna is also a great source of protein.

# Green beans, broccoli, and green salads. Dark green veggies have been shown to help reduce your appetite. This will help keep you from over-eating.

# Lean Chicken breast. It's loaded with protein and helps with burning fat.

# Apples and grapefruit. They both have slow-burning carbs and helps with increasing metabolism, which is important for burning fat.

# Salmon. It has alot of protein and healthy fats. Great for helping you burn body fat.

# Yogurt. It's good for your bones and teeth, and is great for burning fat. Make sure you consume the low-carb yogurt or sugar-free yogurt. The other yogurts are loaded with sugar.

Besides eating foods to lose weight, you can also drink to burn body fat. One drink you should consume is water. I know you probably already knew that, but I want to add that you should drink cold water. Cold water has been shown to increase your metabolism and burn fat more quickly than drinking water above room temperature.

Red wine is another great drink that will help you lose weight. Red wine has alot of health benefits to it besides helping with weight loss. It's also good for your heart. You should drink one cup per week.

These are some foods to eat to lose weight. Make sure you eat frequently. When you follow these tips, you'll begin lose weight quickly and safely.

Originally article: Foods to Eat to Lose Weight- Eat More to Burn Fat

2009-04-10T01:40:00.000-07:00

How Many Carbs Should I Eat in a Day?
by Steve Hanson
Everyone eats carbohydrates. You pretty much can not get around it. We need carbs for energy after all. But the question still remains: how many carbs should I eat in a day? Are there drawbacks from eat too little or too many carbs? What are the side effects of eating carbs or abstaining from eating carbs? Well once again, as with protein, it depends on what you do on a daily basis. Furthermore, ingestion of carbs should be focused more around the question: WHEN should I eat carbs during the day?

As with how much fat to eat in a day and how much protein to eat in a day, it all depends on a couple factors:

* job
* insulin resistance
* activity level
* target body weight
* exercise goals
* lifestyle

The most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as stated by the Department of Health and Human Services, suggest that roughly 50% of your daily calories come from carbs. Thus, a person who eats approximately 2,500 calories per day should take in about about 300 grams of carbs. This number is not altogether bad for the average American, but we have to take into consideration the sources of those carbs.

These are the kinds of carbs to avoid at all costs:
* sugary snacks and pastries
* sugar-sweetened soft drinks or fruit juice
* candy
* cookies
* regular fried greasy chips
* processed, packaged snack foods
* high sugar kids cereals
* processed white flour products such as white bread and pasta

These foods offer virtually no nutritional value, and they contain far too many calories. Some of these foods also contain saturated and trans-fats that are bad for your heart, and sugary foods can lead to such maladies as type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Specifically if you are already insulin resistant, you should avoid these bad carbs as they will just ruin your day by making you tired, slow, dumb, and hungry.

Instead choose these kinds of carbs:
* fresh fruit
* vegetables
* whole wheat and whole grain products
* beans, nuts, and other legumes

When Do I Need More Carbs?
People that exercise with high intensity or with prolonged endurance, can benefit from a high carbohydrate intake before exercise. It is feasible to consume a high carbohydrate meal before a marathon, or a moderately high carbohydrate meal before lifting weights or martial arts training. It is not a good idea to consume too many carbs in one sitting, but 50 grams is not out of the question if you are preparing for a physically draining event.

During and after exercise is also a key time to consume carbs. In fact this is the only time it is recommended to consume sugary carbs. I tend to sip on Gatorade during a workout and my post-workout drink contains about 40 grams of carbs in the form of dextrose. If allowed to choose, I would choose Biotest Surge as my post-workout drink of choice. This is a product that is specially formulated to replenish lost glycogen stores and restart protein synthesis after a demanding workout.

When Do I Need Fewer Carbs?
There is no need to eat carbohydrates at night. Ever. Some folks believe in consuming a high-carb meal the night before an event like a marathon, but I just don't see it. I would say eat that meal in the morning if the event is in the late morning or early afternoon. The best time for a high carbohydrate meal is in the morning, when your body is prepared to uptake glycogen for energy for the day. Lunch should be a moderate carb meal as you don't want to get that 'bonk' feeling in the middle of the afternoon. Also consider that if you don't plan to exercise during the day then there is really no need to gulp down many carbs at any point in the day.

Carbs and Fat Loss
If you are on a fat loss diet, then there is definitely no need to eat more than 100 grams of carbs in any one day. I don't necessarily support Atkins, but there are valid points to that diet. When I am in the middle of a hardcore cutting phase, trying to get as lean as possible in a given time frame, I will only consume 20-30 grams of low glycemic index carbs for breakfast.

For lunch I will try to avoid most carbs, opting for whole grain bread or a salad if necessary. My pre-workout drink is typically 1/2 a serving of Biotest Surge, I sip on Gatorade during the workout, then finish off with 1 serving of Biotest Surge after the workout. On non-workout days, I skip all of that and choose a protein bar, cheese, or a meat snack instead.

Dinner is always low carb during a diet. Soup, meat and vegetables, and salad are all great choices for low carb dinners. Appropriate snacks are meats, cheeses, protein bars or shakes, veggies, and other super-low carb foods. Typically in the midst of a diet phase, I eat around 75 grams of carbs on a non-workout day, and maybe 120-140 grams of carbs on a workout day.

In conclusion, I recommend that if you are moderately active, you should derive maybe 30% of your daily calories from carbs. Sure, my opinion differs from specialist government agencies, but that is only because I have seen low carb diets work. I have also seen Americans grow obese and suffer from a long list of carbohydrate induced diseases.

A 200 lb man on a 2500 calorie diet would probably eat maybe 180 grams of carbs in a day, all from unprocessed whole food sources. A 140 lb woman on a 1500 calorie diet might only eat 100 grams of carbs in a day.

Someone on a strict diet might limit themselves to 50 grams of carbohydrates a day regardless of sex or weight. Just remember to avoid those nasty sugary processed carbs so that you can stay healthy, avoiding energy crashes and adult-onset type II diabetes.

Originally article: How Many Carbs Should I Eat in a Day?

2009-04-10T01:22:00.000-07:00

Angelina Jolie Diet and Workout
by Vinesh panditpotra

Discussing Angelina Jolie’s diet and workout:

How did Angelina carve that awesome figure for the movie Tomb Raider?

Easy! She lost fat and gained lean muscle mass.

Of all the celebrity routines I have reviewed, I find hers the best (probably with me being a kung fu student).

Angelina Jolie started practicing kickboxing and weapons training months before the filming of the Tomb Raider movie.

How does kickboxing help burning fat?

People often overlook the vitality the intensity of their cardio can bring forth in their efforts to burn fat.

Kicking on the heavy bag repeatedly needs particularly: Breathing endurance, optimization of hips, thighs, calves at a high speed with constant repetitions.

An hour of kickboxing workout can burn as much as 600-800 calories.

And that is not just it, when you apply impact on the bag or even if you practice with the ankle weights, your muscles follow an entirely different range of motion than running or cycling, this range of motion doesn’t only burn calories but also does a fair bit of muscle conditioning resulting into the subtle sexy tone on Angelina’s body.

Can you do it?

Well, kickboxing is difficult for beginners but if you stick to it no matter what, hell yeah!

In my personal opinion, I would rather see you start off with something like slow sprinting and circuit training if you are obese or overweight with really slow stamina.

Weapon Training and Scuba Diving:

Weapons, if used correctly apply the use of the entire body to generate movements, it takes time but eventually you learn to balance with the weight of the weapon (most weapons are atleast 4-7 KGs) and move in different motions leading to a mild workout for the inner muscles too.

This workout when combined with a high protein diet leads to a pretty good reinforcement of lean muscle mass as well as sheds notable amount of fat.

Scuba diving or any water sport for that matter needs you to move your body in volumes of water which gives you an amazing cardio because the muscles are used pretty extensively while again leading to some tone.

If you notice, all of Angelina’s workouts have something to do with reinforcing tone while also burning fat.

Diet:

She followed the traditional model’s diet.

Six meals spaced out properly while being high on protein and low on carbs and low-med on fat.

Can you do her diet?

Yeah, definitely.

My Rating for Angelina Jolie’s workout: 9.5/10.

This is definitely the routine for guys and girls if you want to shed fat but it isn’t the workout if you want to put on bulk.

Originally article: Angelina Jolie Diet and Workout

2009-04-10T01:02:00.000-07:00

The 25 Essential Presentation Skills for Public Speaking

Inspired by 25 Skills Every Man Should Know, I pondered a list of the 25 essential skills every public speaker should have. How did I do?

Every public speaker should be able to:
1. Research a topic - Good speakers stick to what they know. Great speakers research what they need to convey their message.
2. Focus - Help your audience grasp your message by focusing on your message. Stories, humour, or other “sidebars” should connect to the core idea. Anything that doesn’t needs to be edited out.
3. Organize ideas logically - A well-organized presentation can be absorbed with minimal mental strain. Bridging is key.
4. Employ quotations, facts, and statistics - Don’t include these for the sake of including them, but do use them appropriately to complement your ideas.
5. Master metaphors - Metaphors enhance the understandability of the message in a way that direct language often can not.
6. Tell a story - Everyone loves a story. Points wrapped up in a story are more memorable, too!
7. Start strong and close stronger - The body of your presentation should be strong too, but your audience will remember your first and last words (if, indeed, they remember anything at all).
8. Incorporate humour - Knowing when to use humour is essential. So is developing the comedic timing to deliver it with greatest effect.
9. Vary vocal pace, tone, and volume - A monotone voice is like fingernails on the chalkboard.
10. Punctuate words with gestures - Gestures should complement your words in harmony. Tell them how big the fish was, and show them with your arms.
11. Utilize 3-dimensional space - Chaining yourself to the lectern limits the energy and passion you can exhibit. Lose the notes, and lose the chain.
12. Complement words with visual aids - Visual aids should aid the message; they should not be the message. Read slide:ology or the Presentation Zen book and adopt the techniques.
13. Analyze the audience - Deliver the message they want (or need) to hear.
14. Connect with the audience - Eye contact is only the first step. Aim to have the audience conclude “This speaker is just like me!” The sooner, the better.
15. Interact with the audience - Ask questions (and care about the answers). Solicit volunteers. Make your presentation a dialogue.
16. Conduct a Q&A session - Not every speaking opportunity affords a Q&A session, but understand how to lead one productively. Use the Q&A to solidify the impression that you are an expert, not (just) a speaker.
17. Lead a discussion - Again, not every speaking opportunity affords time for a discussion, but know how to engage the audience productively.
18. Obey time constraints - Maybe you have 2 minutes. Maybe you have 45. Either way, customize your presentation to fit the time allowed, and respect your audience by not going over time.
19. Craft an introduction - Set the context and make sure the audience is ready to go, whether the introduction is for you or for someone else.
20. Exhibit confidence and poise - These qualities are sometimes difficult for a speaker to attain, but easy for an audience to sense.
21. Handle unexpected issues smoothly - Maybe the lights will go out. Maybe the projector is dead. Have a plan to handle every situation.
22. Be coherent when speaking off the cuff - Impromptu speaking (before, after, or during a presentation) leaves a lasting impression too. Doing it well tells the audience that you are personable, and that you are an expert who knows their stuff beyond the slides and prepared speech.
23. Seek and utilize feedback - Understand that no presentation or presenter (yes, even you!) is perfect. Aim for continuous improvement, and understand that the best way to improve is to solicit candid feedback from as many people as you can.
24. Listen critically and analyze other speakers - Study the strengths and weakness of other speakers.
25. Act and speak ethically - Since public speaking fears are so common, realize the tremendous power of influence that you hold. Use this power responsibly.

Which skills have I missed? Are all of those on the list essential?

Originally article: The 25 Essential Presentation Skills for Public Speaking

3 Powerful Techniques To Help Master Persuasive Public Speaking!

2009-04-06T23:40:00.001-07:00

by Sean Kenaston
The most successful orators mastered the art of persuasive public speaking. Whether they were leaders or activists, they had an ability to leave people hanging on their every word. They inspired people to take action. They motivated people to change.

No one is born with a talent for public speaking. Every successful speaker had to overcome their anxieties and deal with the stress of the situation in order to develop their knowledge and skills. You can to!

There is a high demand for persuasive public speaking. Teachers and salespeople, presidents and coaches all rely on their ability to persuade people that they have the answers – or at least know the right questions. These skills can apply to any work environment. Just think of the accomplishments you could be missing if you don’t master the art of persuasive public speaking.

1. Believe in yourself and in your message. You have to have faith in yourself as well as the message you are delivering. If you do not believe in the content of your speech, you won’t be able to speak about it with passion or sincerity, both of which are keys to persuasive public speaking.

People want to invest in companies or leaders that reflect their values; they value integrity. If you cannot convey a sense of sincerity, people will wonder if you’re holding back essential information. They’ll wonder if there’s something you are not telling them. To stop this doubt, you need to be as confident and straightforward as possible.

2. Create a big presence. Don’t hide behind the podium or make small, insignificant gestures. Enthusiasm and passion need to be conveyed. To accomplish this, take up as much space on the stage as you can. For example, when you ask a question, take a step forward. When you begin to deliver the answer, take a thoughtful step backwards.

One of our first impulses when we are new to public speaking is to stand timidly at the front of the room. We clasp our hands tightly in front of us and lean over the microphone. This will not result in persuasive public speaking. Instead, make gestures using your arms. Point them into the audience. Use them to compare and contrast two points, like scales. Good examples of this are late-night infomercials. Take notice of the way they use their body to accentuate their sales pitch.

3. Use your voice. You most basic tool, when it comes to persuasive public speaking, is your voice. We use our voice to make an impression on our audience. People are more profoundly influenced by how someone talks, than what he or she says. Use the pitch, volume, and quality of your voice to their best advantage. Soften your voice for emphasis and vary your pitch to express emotion.

If you’re able to use these three points during your next presentation, you’ll be well on your way to mastering persuasive public speaking.

To effectively handle the stress of persuasive public speaking, check out Stress Handbook.

Prepare Yourself For Public Speaking

2009-04-06T22:49:00.000-07:00

by Richard Highsmith
"I can't believe I agreed to do this speech. Look at all those people out there! My knees are shaking so much my pants are vibrating. My stomach feels like I just went over the top on a roller coaster. My heart is beating so fast and hard my tie is jumping. I just want to scream and run away!"

Speaking in public is often cited as the number one fear of adults. The Book of Lists places death in fifth place while public speaking ranks first. Jerry Seinfeld said, "That would mean at a funeral, people are five times more likely to want to be in the casket than giving the eulogy."

Let's look at some techniques to deal with the anxiety and give an excellent presentation. The methods are divided into the acronym P.R.E.P.A.R.E.

Preparation - The foundation of a good speech is built on the 6 "W's" of effective journalism. You must determine:

Who is your audience?
What are your key points?
When are you speaking; how long?
Where is the speech; physical surroundings?
Why should the audience listen to you?
HoW are you going to present?

In an effective speech you can only deliver 3 to 4 main ideas. Think about your audience, the amount of time you have, what media you are using to support your presentation and the physical surroundings. Decide on the essential ideas vital for understanding your topic. These are your key points. Make a comprehensive outline with supporting detail, quotes and graphics.

Rehearse - Practice is essential. Begin by reading through the detailed outline of your speech. Check your timing during this rehearsal. When you are comfortable with the material, move on to a Key-word outline. Don't attempt to memorize the entire speech word for word. Keep practicing with your Key-word outline until you are familiar with the material and its sequence. Mark Twain said, "It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech." That is the effect you are working toward - a conversational, impromptu style, but with thorough knowledge of the material.

Continue to practice out loud with a less detailed outline and recheck the timing of your talk. If possible video tape yourself or have someone you trust listen to you practice. Ask them to tell you what you're doing right as well as give suggestions for improvement. Accept their criticism gracefully, even if you don't agree with them.

Entry - Launching your presentation is as important as the takeoff of an airplane. If the liftoff fails, the rest of the trip becomes irrelevant. Determine how you are going to start your speech and commit the first several lines to memory. An excellent beginning includes telling the audience why they want to listen. What is the benefit to them?

If you are particularly nervous, look for a sympathetic face and talk to that person for several moments. Do not begin with an apology... "I didn't have much time to prepare this talk." Or "I'm not really very good at giving speeches." Starting with a negative makes the audience uncomfortable. Remember you feel more anxious than you look. Convert your nervous energy into enthusiasm and launch your speech positively.

Posturing - Your body is a tool. Learn to use it effectively. Find your center of balance. Your feet should be firmly planted about shoulder width apart. Hold your shoulders back and chin up. Stand calmly, being careful not to fidget or sway. Let your hands rest by your sides.

Make your movements purposeful. If you make a gesture with your hands, let them return to the resting position by your side. Don't wander around the room. If you want to go to a different location - go there and then stop. Speak to one person at a time and maintain eye contact.

Your voice has volume, tone and pace. Realize you will speak faster and at a higher pitch than you did when you were rehearsing. Be aware of this tendency. Talk lower and slower. Speak loudly enough so everyone in the room can hear you, but not so loudly the people in the front rows are covering their ears.

Audience - Know to whom you are talking. What does your audience know about the topic? Try and anticipate their questions. Don't be like William Safire who said, "Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care." During the presentation, seek reactions, questions and concerns. This makes you appear accessible and allows you to move through the topic with your audience following along closely.

If possible greet audience members as they arrive. Ask why they came or about their interests in the topic. Adjust your presentation plans to better meet their needs. Finally keep in mind the audience is not your enemy - they want you to succeed. Nobody came to watch you flail or fail. Engage people and make them partners in your successful talk.

Relax - Remember the physical reactions you experience in front of a group are normal. When confronted with a stimulating situation the body resorts to the "fight" or "flight" response. Your pulse increases. Adrenaline releases into your bloodstream. Your body prepares for a physical response but you have to stay put!

Sometimes your mind generates negative thoughts. Michael Pritchard said, "Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed." Deal with the fear by building a solid foundation (know your topic!) and feeling confident in your message. Take a few deep breaths. Mild exercise or stretching can disperse some of the anxious energy. Smile.

Ending - Like the touchdown of an airplane, your presentation must be landed correctly. Begin the end by summarizing your key points. Next ask for audience questions and clarify any remaining issues. Then make your closing statement, which should encourage some action. What do you want the audience to do? Memorizing the last few lines ensures a strong close. Finally smile and nod your head.

If the thought of speaking in public makes you anxious, you probably will be. However if you P.R.E.P.A.R.E., the level of your anxiety will be lower and you will deliver a better, more effective speech. Who knows, you may find you like giving the eulogy better than being in the casket!

Originally article: Prepare Yourself For Public Speaking

The 10 Factors That Affect and Predict Stock Prices

2009-04-04T02:39:00.001-07:00

This is the most frequent question that most stock/options traders may have in their minds. Stocks price changes due to market forces, i.e. buying and selling of the available stocks in the market. The following are the factors that affect or even predict the buying or selling of stock that ultimately affects stock prices of companies.

Market sentiment. The price of the stock of a company is affected most of the time by the general market direction during a session. In a bull market, the stock price of most companies will rise and in a bear market the stock price of most companies will fall. One can gauge the market sentiment by looking at stock indexes or its future price movement. The stock indexes are S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Index, Nasdaq (USA), ASX100, ASX (Australia), Nikkei 225 (Japan), Euronext 100, Euronext 150 (Europe Union), DAX, TECDAX (Germany), FTSE 100, FTSE All Shares, FTSE Techmark (United Kingdom.

The performance of the industry. The performance of the sector or industry that the company is in also plays in part in determining the stock price of the company. Most of the times, the stock price of the companies in the same industry will move in tandem with each other. This is because market conditions will generally affects the companies in the same industry the same way. Of course, there are exceptions to this. Sometimes, the stock price of a company will benefit from a piece of bad news in its competitor if the companies are competing for the same target market.

The earning results and earning guidance. The main objective of a company is to make profit. Therefore, investors and traders always assess a company based on its Earning Per Share (bottom line) and Revenue (top line) and its future earning potential. In US, companies generally report the earnings results every quarter-yearly. A company that achieves good earning results (EPS and Revenue) expects a boost in its share price and one that delivers poor earning result shall see a beating in its share price. Sometimes, besides reporting the EPS and Revenue for the past quarter, a company may also issue guidance (expected value) for the EPS and Revenue in coming quarter or coming years. This is also closely monitored by investors and is an important factor that will affect the company stock price.

Take-over or merger. In general, a company being taken-over is anticipated to get a stock price boost and the company taking over another company shall experience a drop in its share price. This is assuming that the company is being taken over at a premium, meaning it is being bought over at a higher price than its last traded stock price. Depends on the agreed term, a company can be bought over by cash or stock (of the acquirer) or a combination of the two. In some minority cases, the stock price of the acquirer may get a boost if it is perceived that the acquisition shall contribute to its earning or revenue in the near future.

New product introduction to markets or introduction of an existing product to new markets. The introduction of new product to market is seen as a revenue enhancer for a company. This also applies to an existing product that breaks into new markets. Sometimes, the prospect of a new product introduction suffices to improve the stock price of a company, this is often observed in surges in stock prices of pharmaceuticals companies after the announcement of successful clinical trials, or FDA approvals for new drugs.

New major contracts or major Government Orders. A company that is able to obtain new major contracts or major government order is expected to see a bull run in its stock price. Those companies that fail in the contract bidding normally experience the fate of sell-off in its stocks.

Share buy-back. The act of share buy-back by a company will reduce the number of share available in the open market. Due to the law of supply and demand, a reduction in share available for trading in this case will cause a drop in supply, this will normally help increase the share price. Also, the continuing buying back of share of a company will also acts as a support for the share price that helps to maintain or increase the share price. The investors may also see the share buy-back by company as a confidence booster for them in the company itself. Therefore, share buy-back is quite often used as a tool to deliver value to the investors.

Dividend. After the announcement of a dividend. The stock price may increase by an amount close to the dividend per share value. However, the stock price may drop on the ex-dividend date by the dividend per share amount. This is because anyone buying a stock on or after the ex-dividend date are not entitled to the corresponding dividend payment.

Stock splits. Stock split in theory, should not have an impact to the stock price. However, it is generally observed that the stock price increases (after taking into account the increase in the number of share) after a stock split. Some attributed to the better affordability of the stock after stock split, some attributed this to the perception of cheap stock due to the lower stock price after the stock split. Some however believes that stock split has no real impact on the stock price (effective stock price, taking into account the change in number of shares), as the stock price will increase regardless of stock split.

Insider trading. Insiders include CEO, COO, CFO, Chairman, board directors etc, who has first hand information about the operations and the financial status of a company. Therefore, the buying or selling of stocks by these insiders may herald some good or bad news about the company. This is being watched closely by savvy stock investors/traders. However, do be aware that due to compensation package that comes in the form of stock or stock options, the insiders may sell their stocks/stock options to cash-in their compensation benefits. So in this case, it may not signal anything significant about the company. A savvy investor should know how to observe and filter out this piece of information from your investment or trading decisions.

Investment Gurus/Hedge Funds trading. The investment decision of highly revered investment gurus like Warren Buffett, George Soros, Carl Icahn are closely monitored by investors and therefore will move the market. Hedge fund stock buying and selling are another source of information regarding the flow of "smart money".

Analyst upgrade/downgrades. Analyst upgrade and downgrade to a stock may have positive or negative impact to the stock prices. However, one needs to be wary of the fact that quite often analysts' upgrades or downgrades happen "after" some important news about a company. For example following a extremely disappointing earning result, many analysts will likely to downgrade the company stock. So, it is very likely that by then the stock price of that company has already priced-in the poor earning result, and analyst downgrade may not have further impact to the stock price.

Addition/Removal to/from Stock Index. Stock Index Fund are those funds that invest in those company stocks that are included in a particular stock index (e.g. S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, Dow Jones U.S. Large Cap etc.) . Therefore, an inclusion of a company stock to a stock index will generate buying interest in the stock for these stock index fund managers. The stock index fund managers will dispose of the stock that has been removed from the stock index.

Others. These include news about new technology, patent approval, war, natural disaster, product recalls and lawsuits that shall have positive and negative impact to the relevant company stocks. The health or mishap of a key leader in a company may also affect the stock price of the company. Take a look at the recent news about Apple Computer.

Please visit the author's website at http://www.i1also.com for further information.

Originally article: The 10 Factors That Affect and Predict Stock Prices

How to Quit Smoking Weed. You Can Quit Smoking Pot Forever!

2009-04-04T02:10:00.000-07:00

by Michael Porteous
Marijuana while only a "soft drug" compared to the likes of cocaine, heroin and others can still be a very addictive and destructive drug. Many people who long to quit smoking pot find their lives revolve around marijuana and it becomes a habit that fills any gap in their lives. It can become such an integral part of their lives that they feel like they are living in a haze most of the time and are missing out on some very important parts of life. The first thing to know when learning how to quit smoking weed is that the drug is not chemically addictive!

Pot is not an addictive drug like heroin or cigarettes as there is no physical craving that occurs when you do not take the drugs. Pot does not affect the receptors in your brain like these drugs and the effects are also not as vivid as the hard drugs making it less of an issue to many people to start smoking. The primary addiction to weed is a psychological addiction, the memory of the highs you once felt smoking pot always come back and make you want to try to reach that feeling again even if it takes you more and more pot to do this as you become more resistant to its effects. The smoking goes from a pleasurable action to a habit with little real benefit just a perceived one. To compound this many pot smokers have friends who also smoke and it becomes a social thing making it more ingrained.

So this being said it is possible to quit smoking weed without suffering cravings or relapses and you are not fighting with a chemical need but a psychological need which can be overcome with willpower. While this may sound easy it can of course be a lot harder in practice as the habit can run very deep especially for those who have smoked for years. Quitting can be accompanied by anxiety and depression as you learn to live life without the constant smoking which can seem soothing and comforting but only because it was a part of your routine. The trick for some people is to find something to replace this addiction, obviously not another addiction but something creative and fulfilling. Something that makes you happy without an extreme high you may try to latch onto as an alternative.

So how to quit smoking weed in a nutshell? You must realize you do not crave weed but just want it! Once you learn to adapt to a life without marijuana you will find you can quit smoking pot forever!

For more help on kicking your addiction click below.

www.kick-addiction.com

Originally article: How to Quit Smoking Weed. You Can Quit Smoking Pot Forever!

A Marvelous Herb - Horney Goat Weed

2009-04-04T01:41:00.000-07:00

by Adam Kalloh
Horny Goat Weed has been used as an aphrodisiac for hundreds of years, and research has also proven its effects on improving sexual desire and performance. Its scientific name is Epimedium or Yin Yang Huo in chinese but it is also called as Barrenwort, Bishop's Hat, Fairy Wings, Inyokaku, or Horny Goat Weed. Epimedium is a genus of about 60 or more species of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Berberidaceae.

One of the primary physiological effects of Epimedium is the dilation of blood vessels, allowing hormone-boosted blood to reach sensitive tissues. By expanding the circulatory systems blood vessels, Horny Goat Weed also lowers the blood pressure.

According to Chinese this clears the body from weariness and increases energy level while nervous stimulation is enhanced as the brain is supplied with hormone-enriched blood.

Because of these properties Horney Goat Weed has also been used succesfully to treat coronary heart disease, asthma, bronchitis, and sinusitis.

Although epimedium has been successfully applied in treatments for disorders of the liver, kidneys, joints, knees and back, it was mainly used as an aphrodisiac in Asian medicine. According to legend, this property was discovered by a Chinese goat herdsman who noticed sexual activity in his flock after they consumed the weed. Apparently at this time the plant was crowned with a straightforward nickname: Horney Goat Weed.

Like Viagra, icariin, the active compound in Epimedium, inhibits the activity of PDE-5 allowing enhanced blood circulation in penis tissues. A study found 15 of 20 healthy men responding positively to Horney Goat Weed, and for 7 of the 15 men already on Viagra also had a positive effect from using Horney Goat Weed.

Like many natural herbal aphrodisiacs, Horney Goat Weed has been researched over a long period of time and its benefits have been in use for thousands of years.
While the western world's magic blue pill offers immediate results for impotence symptoms, for Epimedium takes a bit longer to achieve the desired result, but provides longer-lasting benefits. Not to mention that you can leave behind the fear associated with generic drugs.

The mystery of this marvelous herb is still studied by scientists however everybody agrees that epimedium has no harmful influence only positive impact on human health. It's especially effective in curing male impotence but increases female libido too. There are many reasons for men to switch the popular blue pills to the time tested and natural Epimedium. If women will start to use Barrenwort too, at least they won't forget the purpose of the bed other than sleeping.

Originally article: A Marvelous Herb - Horney Goat Weed

Ten Top Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking

2009-04-02T23:24:00.000-07:00

by Celia Ann Rooney
As a writer, teacher, attorney, and business owner, I can tell you that people will judge you by what you say and how you say it. When you are invited to present a speech at a professional convention or conference, you must take care to present yourself well in your speech. We can all improve our public speaking by learning a few simple techniques which can help prepare us to speak confidently in public. Surveys of Americans have shown that people are most afraid of public speaking; death ranks a mere number two. But you can rein in your fear and speak with confidence if you read on and do your homework.

This article shares with you the ten top ways that you can use today to improve your public speaking.

Top Tip #1: Plan your speech.
Planning plays an important role in all of your communications. In public speaking especially, you should follow the formal research and preparation which an outline requires. This process and its result will keep you organized and flowing in your presentation. This first tip is actually a bundle of tips.

Here’s how to get started and do the outline:

First, ask yourself: Who is my audience?
Assuming this will be your professional group, your colleagues will require a different style and approach than another group. A group of potential customers, for example, will probably need more information about what services your company provides and how you can help them fulfill their needs. On the other hand, your colleagues will want to know your particular expertise and how you go about satisfying customer needs.

* Direct all of the ideas and examples toward the audience’s interests and needs.

Second, ask yourself: How do I narrow the topic?
For a presentation to your professional group, you will often be invited to speak in a general area which the coordinators feel is needed for the theme of the conference. Be sure to get the brochure and look at the advertisements so that you know what the theme is! Look at the other topics included in the brochure. How does your area fit in? Your topic should, if at all possible, be related to a “hot topic” in your field. You will know what those are from your professional
publications and journals. If you don’t get them, go on-line and do your research.

Think of an interesting twist on a subject of high interest in the field. Everyone says, “Don’t reinvent the wheel,” but what if the right approach to a problem in your field is, “Reinvent your own wheel,” or, as Bruce Springsteen says, “Sometimes you just have to write your own narrative!” You may wind up with a highly creative wheel that spins faster than all the others.

Third, do the outline:
All presentations have big ideas and little ones, categories and details, main ideas and examples. Pick the style you like and go with that. The top communicators in all of history tell stories. Once you have the big ideas and categories outlined, tell stories for the examples and details—it is a great educator’s tool. Look back at what we have studied so far for a good example. The big idea: Plan your speech. The details of how to plan your speech: a)
know your audience b) narrow your topic c) do the outline of big ideas (the I, II, III’s) and the examples (A,B.C under each).

Here’s another good example. In my series of e-books about learning the principles of success by studying the biographies of successful people, I am currently planning the fourth book in the series. The working title is Success Stories IV: Second Winds and Success on the Rebound. The big idea is in the title and the stories will be the examples. I have begun to make the outline of
stories I will tell which exemplify the principles explained in the first book in the series and which show second starts and careers.

There are so many stories out there that give us tremendous hope for the future and for what we can do even late in life to improve the world we live in that the hardest part is selecting the best examples I can find for the principles to be learned. I have four selected so far. The most thrilling I have found (because I didn’t recall ever knowing the latter part of this story) is the story of Alexander Graham Bell. We all know him as the inventor of the telephone and how that invention changed our lives forever. But did you know that his true calling was to teach the deaf how to speak? Did you know that Helen Keller’s parents were referred to him by a medical specialist when they were looking for a teacher for Helen? Bell took the wealth earned by his hard scientific work and put it to good use to improve the lives of the deaf. And he recommended Anne Sullivan to Helen Keller’s parents, giving birth to “The Miracle Worker.” The invisible hands of providence were working there for sure.

A story about a real life person like that is so gripping that it teaches us a lot about possibilities and dreams and changing lives. It tells a lot about how you can get a second wind in life, a second chance to do the things that are really important to you and that you know in your heart and soul you are called to do.

Whatever your field is, you will have case studies and role models in your patients, customers, vendors, employees, colleagues, students, and assistants. Think about their stories and tell them in appropriate places in your outlined presentation.

Other benefits of using an outline are that you won’t be tempted to read it because it will just highlight the main ideas and also your speech will have a logical, well-organized flow. Everyone has heard a speech where the speaker seems to be jumping back and forth, skipping main transitions, and just generally not doing a very organized pesentation of the material. It’s no fun for the audience to try to keep up and figure out where the speaker should be. Always plan your material so that the organization provides a framework for the ideas. Your speaking will be greatly enhanced and more readily received. And your audience will love you for it!

Top Tip # 2: Select your words carefully.
In this day and age, we are plagued by the imprecise use of language. I think it has to do with all the cyber world speed junkies all around us! Do your homework and you will soon discover that you are able to communicate your ideas far more effectively and easily than you may have thought. Remember that words have both a dictionary definition as well as a connotation—the feeling or implication of a word is key to its proper use. Don’t use the word “cry” when you really mean “howl;” don’t use “request” when you mean “plead;” don’t use “happy” when you really mean “ecstatic.” Pay attention to the words you use and where you use them. You can make your speech far more accurate and effective by selecting the correct words. Besides that, you can make your public speaking far more compelling by using active verbs and nouns and descriptions which really tell a story in a more fascinating way.

Say what you mean, and mean what you say!

Top Tip # 3: Avoid slang and jargon.
Avoiding slang and jargon is very important in making yourself clear to your listeners. Slang is almost useless outside the forums where the teenagers hang out. Unless you work at the mall selling t-shirts, drop the slang out of your speech habits. Slang has the hallmarks of imprecise speech. One kid will say it and then they will all pick up on it. If you are a parent, you will know that slang is basically coded speech. In other words, the kids don’t necessarily want you to know what they mean. If you feel it helps you in communicating with your
teenagers, by all means, that may be a context in which you may want to use their language. But be careful that slang does not infiltrate your every day speech at work.

Jargon is that particular set of words which has special meaning for a professional or business group. Lawyers are particular bad about using jargon—as a lawyer, I hear it every day. Many states have even passed “Plain Language” laws to require lawyers to speak and write clearly and plainly about what they mean. So much of the jargon that lawyers use relates to old formalities. I have noted that certain clients will want to impress us with their ability to sprinkle their communications with us with “whereas” and "hereinbefore”! I avoid that type of stilted speech as much as possible.

There may be legal documents which require the use of “terms of art” which have special legal meanings, but for everyday speech and communications, I have found that they can be avoided entirely! If you really understand a word and its usage, you can speak it plainly. Other professions also have problems with jargon. Think about the explosion of e-terms we have to live with today. It’s not a book, it’s an “ebook;” it’s not just commerce, it’s “e-commerce;” not just marketing, it’s “emarketing.” These words are everywhere now, and you probably get them every day in your e-mail box. They are so common these days that many of us are just dropping the hyphen and using the “e” as a full suffix! That saves time typing on the keyboard. Send me an email. Write an ebook. You will see them both ways for a while, but then the hyphen will disappear. What you should do is try to cut down on the jargon as much as possible. For clarity’s sake, you should try to avoid jargon in your speech with people outside your field.

Top Tip # 4: Avoid verbal stalling mechanisms.
Ask someone who loves you whether you are using annoying stalling mechanisms when you speak. Go ahead. You need to know the truth. Maybe it’s only sometimes, like when you don’t jot down notes before making that phone call. But if you focus on this tip for a day, I promise you that you will discover the times and places and circumstances in which you are likely to falter in your speech.

“Ah…,” “Ummm…,” “Hm…” We’ve all heard them and we’ve all used them. These are verbal tics which we need to avoid as much as possible. If you have planned your speech, you will be able to overcome this obstacle. If you feel an “Um” coming on, that is the time to glance down out your cleverly devised outline and move on to the next idea or example. I always hold a pen up there at the podium. It is easy and effective to check off each point as you go.

At times it is appropriate to insert a dramatic pause, or take a sip of the discreetly placed glass of water, or have handy a verbal cue to yourself— “Does anyone have any questions before I go on to the next point?” or make a short announcement to the audience: “Remember if you have questions please write them down on the question card distributed with your materials (or outline) and
someone will come around to pick them up.” This type of transition works every time.

Top Tip # 5: Practice your speech. Out loud.
Trial lawyers, orators and teachers will all tell you that practice, practice, practice is the best method to achieve success with the spoken word. Listen, the spoken word has been every bit as powerful as the written word in the history of the world from the very beginning. God said, “Let there be light,” and it was so. For people, practice is key. From the beginning of this country, the spoken word has held great power:

John Adams said, “Let me have a country—a free country!” and it was so. Well, after convincing the other colonies that independence was right and just and necessary, and after a major war in which a ragtag army took down a king and the most powerful empire in the world at that time, then it was so. Now, John Adams knew well the power of practice in public speaking and the human need of it. He would write out his closing arguments and arguments to Congress, and let his wife Abigail read them and give her criticisms, many of which he took to heart. After those planning stages, he would practice and practice the speech out loud.

Henry Clay, who later became the great orator and politician of Kentucky, would practice speeches in the barn and in the woods as a young farm boy. They called Clay the “American Demosthenes.” Demosthenes was the great Greek orator of ancient times, who stuttered as a child. He overcame his stuttering by practicing speeches out loud in private every day. The spoken words of these speakers have changed their countries and the world forever in these instances. We may be surprised at the many opportunities we ourselves have to change the world around us and help other people, if we practice our speech to make it more effective.

What causes do you care about in the world? You can make a difference with your speech. You can inspire colleagues, salesmen, volunteers and workers. You can get people to do the best job they can, or to make more sales, or to give the best services available in your field, or to donate money and goods to a worthy cause. You can help where no one else has. Whenever you have those opportunities, use them well. Remember the importance of your presentation. And practice beforehand.

Top Tip # 6: Relate to your audience.
This tip is really something that brings together many of the other principles in improving your public speaking. As you plan the speech, the needs of the audience play an important role in what you say. You want to gauge the level of your audience’s understanding, interests, education, and attitude at the beginning of planning your speech.

But this relating to your audience is the hard part--when you stand up to speak to an audience. Walk to the podium. Take a deep breath. Look at the people. Maintain your eye contact. Smile. Perhaps you have had an introduction of some sort. The first words out of your mouth should be to your host and to your audience. “Thank you for that kind introduction. And thanks to all of you for coming here today. I am very pleased to be here to speak to you about…(your topic).” Take another deep breath, and then start into your outline. By the time you get into your speech or presentation, the material takes over. If you have prepared the material well, your speech will go well.

Remember, too, that in almost every case, your audience is routing for you. They came to hear you speak. They came to get information, facts, tips, whatever your experience and expertise can help them with. They are rarely thinking directly about you. They are thinking about the next client or
customer or contract. They are wondering if you will deliver to them something helpful to them in their field or business. That is where you can relate to them best. Deliver what they came to get.

During your speech, respond to your audience. When you look at their faces, do they look confused or do they occasionally nod their heads and appear to be right with you? Even if you have a strict time limit, it may be appropriate to say, “I’ll come back to that at the end,” or “Remember if you have questions…,” or “Let me explain that a little more.” You cannot say everything you need to about a subject because in most cases, the subject is too broad, so that some follow up communication may be necessary.

Top Tip # 7: Relax and be yourself.
People get nervous about public speaking because most of us do not do it every day. Unless you have had the experience of being a teacher or a trial lawyer, or a judge, public speaking is probably not part of your daily or even weekly or monthly routine. That makes it hard for most people to speak in their normal way or use their normal gestures. You can get past this type of nervousness by remembering you were invited to speak and most of the
people in the room came to hear you speak. You! Not some fancy professor at an ivy league school, or some Academy Award-winning actor, or some celebrity. When you think about it, you can only be you, and that is the best thing you can be! Don’t put on last minute airs that don’t suit you.

Top Tip # 8: Remember: They are watching you!
I know you are asking yourself, “Well, how can I relax and be myself if I have to remember they are watching me?!” Good point, but you want to be your best public self while you are up there in the front of the room. When you are called upon to give a professional presentation to your colleagues or a marketing proposal to potential customers or referral sources, your best public self should be ready to perform.

Here are the details, some “do’s” and “don’ts”:
* Stand tall with good posture.
* Say a prayer.
* Don’t scratch your nose unless it’s absolutely necessary.
* Try not to fidget or shuffle papers.
* If your knees shake, try squeezing your toes in your shoes.
* Find a friendly, receptive face in the audience.
* Try not to fuss with your hair (brush it back beforehand)
* Stay focused on your topic.
* Respond to cues from the audience.

Top Tip # 9: Use Humor Wisely.
Humor is good, but not everyone can pull it off. If you are good with telling a joke or have a quick wit, and humor fits in with your style and the topic of your speech, by all means, entertain. There are only extremely rare occasions when wit is completely not appropriate, and those should be obvious to you. However, there are also topics and types of humor that must be avoided always: nothing mean-spirited or that mocks or that causes discomfort or embarrassment
should ever be considered humor. Ask for someone’s opinion before putting humorous comments or stories in your public speaking. (As a substitute, find inspiring quotations to include.)

Top Tip # 10: Have Confidence.
Public speaking is really all about confidence—in yourself, in your purpose, and in your preparation. Very often, confidence grows with practice and with preparation. But even great orators and speakers who have been giving speeches for many years admit to feeling nervous before a speech.

You should have confidence in this fact: When you love the work that you do or the cause that you support or the mission that you have been called to do, that is your confidence. That is your true foundation. You should always remember that those invisible hands of fate have placed you in a particular room, on a particular day, with a particular audience for a particular reason.

Picture your success in your mind and you will have confidence. See yourself confidently presenting your speech. Hear the applause. Think positively about the outcome. Your dream of successful public speaking, with the proper preparation, will come true.

Originally article: Ten Top Tips to Improve Your Public Speaking

5 E's To Success

2009-03-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

by Debra L. Morrison
EMPATHIZE - I feel very sorry for women who have been socialized that "a man is a plan" and now have to "fend for themselves" after being widowed (often at an early age) or divorced. Trying to learn about finances when one is grieving is a recipe for disaster, as grieving is surely a full time job! Additionally women's family's money messages are particularly limiting, if not worse. Women's socialization has also placed huge hurdles in our paths towards understanding our finances. I'm in touch with both the necessity AND the magnitude of the task ahead. My easy steps will help us safely get in touch with our feelings about money.

ERADICATE fears - Like all subconscious matter, our fears will control us until we disarm them and bring them to the conscious, so we can deal with them effectively and efficiently. Once we've taken an inventory of all our assets and listed all our expenditures we are well on our way to realizing that we can manage our doubts and devise plans to succeed.

EDUCATE - How can women win at the game of finances, if we don't know the rules? Understanding the historic performance of various asset classes as well as commonly accepted DOs and DON'Ts will aid us in the race to compound money quicker. I'll give you the Cliff Notes of investing so you can craft an effectively diversified portfolio. Knowledge is power!

ENERGIZE - Armed with a can-do attitude, we will move from our paralysis and take the first step(s) NOW! We will institute rewards for our achievements and further feel the power of success breeding success. We commit to birthing and nurturing a plan whereby our money outlives us, because it's Our Turn Now!

EMPOWER - It's not enough to hear what to do, we must act now, and feel the surge of pride when we move towards our goals. What we feed grows, and positive reinforcement is essential to achieving steady progress. The power within us is strong enough to channel towards converting obstacles into opportunities. I'll give you 5 amazingly simple power unleashing tips!

Originally article: 5 E's To Success

Emotional Intelligence - Building the Framework for Success

2009-03-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

by Byron Stock
Emotional Intelligence is an ability that may be either innate or learned. It is your capability to obtain and use information from both your emotions and those of others with whom you interact. Ultimately, this information helps you make better choices about what to say or do (or not say or do).

The Emotional Intelligence (EI) competencies fall into two categories: intrapersonal (existing/occurring within the individual) and interpersonal (existing/occurring between persons). The competencies build logically upon each other. The first few (emotional self-awareness, emotional self-regulation and emotional self-motivation) are intrapersonal and lay the foundation for the interpersonal competencies - empathy and managing relationships.

Emotional Intelligence is an inside-out job. It starts with oneself: developing intrapersonal skills. People with high levels of these skills (emotional self-awareness, self-regulation and self-motivation) are more likely to recognize other's emotions and social cues and then successfully manage relationships. In other words, effective interpersonal skills rely heavily on enhanced levels of intrapersonal skills.

Emotional Self-Awareness

Goleman defines emotional self-awareness as "having a deep understanding of one's emotions ... how your feelings affect you, other people and your job performance."(1)

Emotional Self-Regulation

This is the ability to step back, to "hit the pause button" before, during or after an emotionally charged situation. Goleman writes that self-regulation "frees us from being prisoners of our feelings."(1)

Emotional Self-Motivation

Self-motivated people not only know what they are feeling, they can transform their anxiety or negative emotions into positive, productive emotions and actions. They draw on positive feelings of optimism, confidence, and enthusiasm rather than dwelling on negative, pessimistic feelings and second-guessing decisions.

Empathy

Once a foundation of the first three competencies (all intrapersonal) is established, EI begins to influence a person's interactions with others. From a traditional business perspective, empathy may seem inappropriate or unnecessary. However, in today's economy, where teamwork, cross-cultural sensitivity and coaching and mentoring are essential, empathy is a core skill.

Managing Relationships (Social Skill)

This competency combines sincere care and friendliness with a purpose. To manage relationships effectively, leaders must understand and channel their emotions in useful ways, be motivated to take positive action and exhibit empathy toward others. As opposed to trying to manipulate or manage relationships, this is about setting a positive tone of cooperation no matter how difficult the situation or conversation and having other's best interests in mind while focusing on achieving goals to create win-win outcomes. It can help all sides find common ground where collaboration can lead to movement in the desired direction.

Where Do You Start?

Laying a strong foundation in emotional self-awareness increases the likelihood of building strong skill in the other competencies. Some actions that can be taken to enhance skill in emotional self-awareness include...

* Notice and name your emotions - the ability to identify your feelings provides information you can use to make decisions and help you determine what to say or do (or not to say or do) in various circumstances.
* Identify triggers to negative emotions - these can be people, events, or situations that frequently trigger a strong, negative emotional response. Once you identify triggers, you will be more aware of situations in which it might be helpful for you to manage your emotions (emotional self-regulation, the second EI competency).
* Identify what's important in your life and the positive emotions they evoke - these positive emotions are the emotions you will want to experience more frequently. Increased frequency in experiencing these kinds of emotions is related to more positive energy. And research shows that when the emotions are positive, thinking is clearer and better decisions are made.

Outstanding leaders are often said to have "good people skills." But the person they are most skilled at handling is themselves. They start from the inside and work out. The good news is that all of these competencies can be systematically learned, enhanced and developed.

Originally article: Emotional Intelligence - Building the Framework for Success

How to Engage an Audience

2009-03-24T22:35:00.001-07:00

by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Executive speech coach and award-winning speaker Patricia Fripp was recently asked, "What is the best sway to engage an audience?" This is the advice she gave the attendee at her San Francisco Speaking school:

"The best way to engage an audience is to be prepared, personable, polished, practical, and profound.

Prepared:
Know who you are speaking to: why are they there; what part of the agenda; what is the purpose of the meeting and expected outcomes of your contribution?

Is there a theme for the meeting?
What is the state of their industry?
What is the organization proud of?
What are their challenges?
What is a typical day in the life of the audience members?

Ahead of time, can you interview a few people who will be in the audience and find 'sound bite' quotes?

Personable:
Before the event be responsive, easy to deal with, and meet all organizer's deadlines.

During the event don't demand, change the equipment requested, or act like a celebrity.

Before you speak meet, shake hands, chat with attendees, and be visible and involved for at least part of the meeting. You will be perceived as more interesting if you are interested. You engage your audience when it is obvious you have attempted to include THEM into the message.

Polished:
Giving a presentation is not about being perfect as much as personable. However, you are expected to know your content and have practiced your presentation. Even if you use an outline, do not be so tied to your notes you have to read it. This kills all eye connection with the audience if you are looking down too much.

Practical:
Be sure your information is interesting and has a logical application to the audience. Is it delivered at the right level of abstraction for the audience? No brilliant sounding ideas that are not specific enough to be useful?

Profound:
Simple universal concepts are not necessarily simplistic. Your observations and recommendations based on your experience and wisdom can make them profound."

Originally article: How to Engage an Audience

Getting It Going

2009-03-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

By: Ted Ciuba
You are to be congratulated for going the extra mile, even though you are enlightened enough to know that the interest you receive, leveraged back, compounded back, pays you in spades.

And so here is another idea we like to think about, it’s about "getting started", it’s about "some is always better than none". It’s about once you take a step forward then you’ll be in a different place and you’ll have a different view, you’ll see different things, different opportunities, and different ways to advance.

I’m talking about some people make splendid plans and they go to seminars for years trying to figure out how to, for instance, put up an internet business… How to trade stocks or options… How to buy nothing down real estate... Or how to become a wealth coach. And then they’ve got so many excuses saying, for instance, the technology’s become too difficult, or "I’m not wealthy myself, how can I teach other people to be wealthy?"

And then others attend a single seminar, start by reading/taking a single course.

Start, not getting it right, but getting it going.

One thing for sure… If you want an excuse, you got it.

Excuses are easy. But do they move you toward your goal?

I’d like to share with you a story about the very first book (manual, to be more exact) I ever published. I wrote it, advertised it, got orders, and shipped it. Then I got it back from about three or four different people, all written over and scribbled in red. Seems I had a lot of spelling and grammatical errors in the work.

That was the humble beginning, that first product I ever sold in the beginning of business that would turn into multi-millions of dollars. It was just a $97 sell of an imperfect product, but it got the chain of events in motion that would make me millions.

Imperfectly done, but DONE, that’s the thing. You can try and get it perfect, but if that keeps you from getting it out the door, there’s no point. Some is always better than none. Getting going is the most crucial step you’ll ever take.

Hey, talk about red ink!... Those people who were sending me that product back marked in red, those were corrections they were giving me! This was great, because I entered them into the computer, and the next time I printed the book out to sell it, it was better!... Those were improvements! I quit getting those nasty correction letters.

It went upwards on from there. The message is: don’t let the perfection bug bite you. You can’t afford it. The most important thing you could ever do in any venture is get going. That’s how you’ll go to a new place, experience a new view, take new actions. That’s how you’ll get feedback. That’s how you’ll know if it’s making money, if it’s adequate for the market, and a thousand and one other discoveries that you can’t imagine grandstanding or preparing.

Get out there and play. That’s how you make money!

Originally article: Getting It Going

Get Happy Now! How Enthusiasm Can Change Your Life

2009-03-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

by Keith Callister

Do you remember when you were just a small child? Of course you do, we all do, but what do you remember the most? For many of us the most vivid memories we have are from the times that we did something that we were excited about, like our first trip to Disneyland, or even the first time our parents took us out to eat. There's a reason that these memories stand out in such a vibrant way, and that is because our memories are stronger when the emotion we attached to that memory is strong. (this is also the reason that negative memories are so vivid as well, but we can talk about that another time)

So what makes enthusiasm so powerful? Why does it stick with us when so few things do? Enthusiasm is one of the highest levels of euphoria that we know of, when we are enthused about something we are not merely excited, it's almost as though our whole body tingles with expectation. Tese are the times when you feel like you can't wait a minute more. And the best part is when we are enthused about something we are never let down, it may not be exactly what we thought it would be, but the electricity we feel about it carries us through to almost always having a positive result.

How can we use enthusiasm to get happy now? It's simple, we simply tap into our memories of enthusiasm and attach those same feelings to everyday situations, you may not feel as enthusiastic about doing a presentation for work, but maybe you can set up a reward for yourself when the presentation is complete, and get excited about the presentation because the reward awaits you at the end of the experience.

You could also simply just choose to be enthusiastic about life, and be grateful for every day you have, I heard a quote once from somebody that said "a good day is one where I am on 2 feet above the ground instead of lying beneath it." That too is something we can be excited about today is a day to live life.

Another simple way to use enthusiasm to better our lives is to share it, and the simplest way to share it is through a smile, next time you "accidentally" make eye contact with someone while driving, or walking down the street, or in the grocery store, instead of looking away with embarrassment, flash them a quick smile, it will help you get happy, and it will more than likely get you a smile which means you just helped someone else become happy as well.

Give it a shot you have nothing to lose, infuse your life with some enthusiasm and see what happens.

Originally article: Get Happy Now! How Enthusiasm Can Change Your Life

Get the Career You Want Through Online Education

2009-03-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

by Amelia Turner

Are you working in your dreamed career field? If you are one of those who can' made your dreamed career comes true, online education will be your best path to earn a career degree to enter a career field that was your career goal when you were at college. With the available of online education programs, going back to study is easier than ever, you can even do it without the need to quit your current job or affecting your family and social commitments.

With the growing trend of online education programs, you can find almost any career related online courses offered by accredited online schools. Many of these online education programs are designed for working adults who want to earn a certification or degree in their area of interest without having to stop life on its course. The key elements that make online education the best option for working individuals are flexible learning environment and remote log on to the online classes from any location have made easy for working adults to go for study in their favorite subjects while maintaining their current job and lifestyle.

Here are a few steps to find an online education program that meets your career goals:

1. Identify Education Requirements

Before you start searching for an online education program, you need to identify what are the education requirements in order for you to get the career you want. For example, if you want to become an accountant, you need to earn at least of bachelor or master's degree in finance; and you may need to have a forensic accounting degree if you want to become a forensic accountant. Then, identify the level of degree you want to pursue, such as bachelor, master or PhD.

2. Search For Online Education Programs

Once you know what type of online education programs to look for, search for a list of online education programs offered by various accredited online schools that meet your goals. Usually, you will find many similar online education programs offered by different online schools. You may need to short list them with a few criteria such as the school reputation, program cost, and the courses of the online education programs that best fit your needs.

3. Request Information From Online Schools

The information about the online education programs found at the school's website may not be detailed enough for you to make your decision. Hence, you should request the schools to send you the details information about the education programs so that you can review and compare them before you make any decision. Most online schools are providing free information packs on their education programs, what you need to do is fill up a simple form to let the schools know what type of online education programs you are interested in and where to send you those information.

4. Apply For Admission & Earn The Degree

Once your have decided an online education program to go for, admission application is simple and it can be done online. You need to fulfill all the admission requirements in order to be accepted by the online school. Then, you should work hard and smart to complete the program to earn the degree that is required to make a career switch.

Summary

Online education has made easy for working adults to go back for study without the need to give up their current job. You can get the career you want by earning a career related degree through online education program without give up your monthly pay check.

Originally article: Get the Career You Want Through Online Education

14 Career Success Things You Must Do to Succeed in the Workplace

2009-03-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

by Paul Lubic

Being successful in your career involves adding value to your organization by helping it, and your supervisor, reach their goals. Success also involves effectively competing for promotion opportunities.

1. Adding Value- Adding value is being helpful to your organization by contributing something of value (work products, ideas, leadership) to the organization's success. By adding value to
your organization you will be seen as a contributing, successful employee who is a key part of the organization's success formula. So, how do you add value?

2. Work Hard- You must work hard to be successful and valuable to your organization. But what does this mean, exactly? "Working hard" can be defined as producing a high quantity of work that is of high quality, at levels equal to or higher than the norm in your organization.

3. Accumulate Knowledge- Some of your education will be gained by studying your organization's strategies, plans, etc. and by increasing your formal education. This will benefit you in two ways: the knowledge you gain will allow you to stand out from your peers;
and it will help you to recognize improvements, and ways to contribute to your organization's goals, which is a value generator for you.

4. Form Relationships- Your ability to build and sustain relationships with your supervisor, peers and customers is one of the most important factors in your ability to succeed. Relationships will help you in many ways: 1. Your supervisor will get to know you better and may want to help you meet your goals and objectives. 2. You’ll feel more comfortable with assignments and will know your supervisor’s preferences when you get to know him/her. 3. Your peers will become trusting of you and will help you with advice and pitch in when you need it. 4. Your customers will promote you to their peers and possibly to your supervisor when you do a good job for them.

5. Communicate- Your communication skills are very important to your success. Even as important as your technical skills, because you must be able to communicate your ideas and issues to your coworkers and your supervisor in a way that’s effective. You must be proficient in oral, and written forms of communication, and also how to give presentations.

6. Collaborate- A mainstay—or should be--in most organizations and a way to exhibit “maturity” in your job. Project level collaboration includes working with your peers and stakeholders to develop a better outcome. Collaboration is a great team builder and it
allows stakeholders to feel some ownership in the solution.

7. Lead- You can add value to your organization by exhibiting leadership in your performance of your job. I know, you say you aren’t in a leadership position, but there are ways you can still lead even though you’re not a “titled” leader.

8. Generate Ideas- All organizations need fresh, good, workable ideas that are relevant to meeting and exceeding their goals. Good ideas that innovate a process or function to save time or money are “point” (value) generators extraordinaire for you. Your organization's leadership yearns for good ideas that they can implement and brag upon.

9. Stewardship- Every organization and project has a budget it needs to work within. Your supervisor is responsible for his/her portion of the organization’s budget and is probably evaluated on how well the budget is managed. You can help stay within the budget by being reasonable, perhaps even frugal in how you spend and consume. Even if you aren’t at a level that makes buying decisions, you can make suggestions to those that do. Your supervisor will appreciate your efforts and will applaud your initiative.

10. Competing- Whether you realize it or not, you’re in competition with your peers for promotions, pay increases, and sometimes the right to continue working. Consequently you must quickly find out how to add value to your job and your organization. Then you must
contribute more value than your coworkers, so much more that it’s obvious to everyone, including your supervisor.

11. Create Visibility of Your Value- Don’t cheat, lie, or cast dispersions on your coworkers to make yourself look better. That approach will only get you in trouble. Do it the hard way: by working harder, smarter, longer, and with higher quality. Volunteer for special assignments and additional tasks that come up, to help a coworker who’s behind schedule (make sure your assignments don’t suffer), etc. You will be rewarded for your hard work because your supervisor will recognize your contribution is helping her/him and the organization to reach their goals.

12. Dress for Success- Look and act like you belong in the position you want to obtain. If you are in a “line” position such as an accountant, analyst, engineer, etc. and want to be in a lead or coordinator role, notice how the people in those positions dress and emulate them. You must give the perception that you’re “promotion material” in how you dress and act. If you're seen as being promotable, you'll have a greater chance of being considered for the next opportunity to advance.

13. Use Your Age and Experience to Your Advantage- There are stereotypes attached to age that are both positive and negative. For example, people who are young are looked upon in two ways; from a positive point of view, they are seen as bright and energetic; but are also assumed to be inexperienced and mistake-prone from a negative point of view. People who are older are labeled as having lots of experience and make less mistakes, but on the down side are thought to be less energetic, ready to retire, and not as smart. Whichever category you fall in, you should accentuate the positive aspects and work toward dispelling the negative stereotypes in your case. If successful, this will show your supervisor that you're valuable in even more ways.

14. Make a Plan- You must make a plan for what you want to accomplish in your time with the company. This plan should contain goals and objectives in the form of the position or series of positions you want to hold to be successful in your organization and the steps you’ll need to take to qualify for them. You'll stay focused on your goals and have a greater probability of being successful by having a plan and working to it.

Being successful in your career is possible if you add value to your organization and are recognized for it. The items listed here, if practiced properly, will increase your chances of success.

Copyright 2008 Paul Lubic

Originally article: 14 Career Success Things You Must Do to Succeed in the Workplace

Keep That Positive Energy!

2009-03-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

by Kevin Hensey

In this universe, like energy attracts like energy. So positive energy attracts positive people, events and circumstances.

So what do you do if you are not feeling so positive? When you feel sad, angry, annoyed, or simply drained? You certainly do not want to stay that way if you want to attract positive things to your life.

Do these to turn that negative energy into positive:

Acknowledge your negative feeling. Yes, acknowledge that you are feeling it. Do not deny or suppress it – simply allow yourself to feel it. By acknowledging it, it will be easier for you to leave that feeling. However, do not dwell or wallow in that feeling. Simply recognize it.

Find something to be grateful for. No matter how bad your day went, there must be something that happened that you are thankful for, no matter how small. It might be running into a friend, getting a good lunch, or something else.

Think about someone or something you love. Think about a loved one smiling at you. Think about a happy moment you spent together.

Read a joke or listen to lively music. This is especially effective if you are feeling simply tired or annoyed. A good joke or happy music can quickly shift your energy to positive.

Meditate. Take a break. Close your eyes, sit in a relaxed position, and breathe deeply. Imagine a beam of light shining through the center of your body. Feel that light spreading through and warming your body. You can do variations to this meditation, or do whatever relaxing meditation you are comfortable with.

Talk to positive people. Their positive energy can give you a quick pick-me-up. Positive energy is usually stronger than negative energy so their positive energy will most likely “infect” you!

Follow these tips and feel that positive energy flowing through you.

Originally article: Keep That Positive Energy!

Fear of Public Speaking: is it Justified?

2009-03-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

by Nancy Daniels

They say that man’s greatest fear is public speaking and that his second greatest fear is dying. According to Jerry Seinfield that means that most people at a funeral would rather be in the coffin than give the eulogy.

To my knowledge no one has died from public speaking. Your hands may sweat, your voice may quiver, your heart may be pounding in your cheeks, and, you may have vomited before going on stage; but rest assured, public speaking will not kill you!

Are your fears of standing in front of an audience justified? If you’re not prepared, then you have every reason to be ‘scared to death.’

Part of the fear of addressing an audience is the unknown. For many of us that is what is so thrilling about public speaking; for most, however, that is what is so unsettling. Admittedly, you do not know what will happen as you stand at the lectern which is why your preparation is critical to your success.

Of the thousands of people with whom I’ve worked, it never ceases to amaze me how many come to their class, their session, or their workshop unprepared. A guarantee for failure on the podium or at the head of the boardroom table is not knowing your material.

What that means is to practice your speech or your presentation out loud many times. Reading over your material to yourself is not practice because the flow of your words, while understandable in written form, may not sound as good out loud. You must practice just like the musician, the actor, the athlete, or the presidential candidate.

In regards to public speaking, this is called a rehearsal. Too many people look to squeeze in a few minutes to go over their script and I disagree. You should set aside time each day to practice and stick to your schedule. No matter how tight your agenda, do not cancel your rehearsal. Treat it just as importantly as you would treat a meeting with your boss or a potential client because it is. Your success in that speech or that may presentation speaks volumes about you and your abilities because you must sell yourself as an expert in your topic or your field.

If you have the ability video-record yourself, by all means do so. In playing it back, analyze what you like about your delivery and what you don’t like. What needs work? Video-recording is one of the best tools that I use in training others. By watching yourself, it will be easier to improve that which needs work.

That does mean you must record yourself each time you practice; but, it also doesn’t mean waiting until the last moment either. How you look and sound to others is something you cannot appreciate until you see yourself on video and is similar to hearing your voice on your voicemail, generally not a pleasant experience! It also would be a good idea to have someone listen to you during a couple of those rehearsals if at all possible.

While you cannot know exactly what will happen during your speech or presentation, being prepared is the best defense for the unexpected and is part of every successful delivery.

Originally article: Fear of Public Speaking: is it Justified?

How Americans Can Instantly Improve Their Speaking Skills

2009-03-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

by Philip Yaffe

Let me confess that I am an American and l used to speak very badly. Now I speak very well, at least that is what everyone tells me. The fact is, my change from being a poor speaker to being a good speaker happened virtually overnight. Here's the story.

I was a student at UCLA in the 1960s. After graduating, I spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, East Africa. When I got there, of course everything was quite different from anything I had previously experienced. For one thing, I was posted to a tiny bush village next to what was supposed to be a major north-south road. Anything beyond 20 cars per day passing by was considered to be heavy traffic; in Los Angeles, less than 20 cars per minute was considered to be abnormally low traffic.

Perhaps the biggest surprise occurred when I turned on my shortwave radio. I quickly found the frequencies for both the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and the Voice of America. The difference was astounding.

Listening to the BBC, I heard cashiers, janitors, parking attendants, etc., speaking as if they had graduated from prestigious universities. By contrast, listening to Voice of American, I heard people at the top of the educational and social ladder speaking as if they had never even graduated from primary school.

This was no chance occurrence; it happened every time I turned on the radio. "How is it that high-level Americans seem to speak less well than low level Brits?" I kept asking myself. And found no answer.

After a few weeks I came to a startling conclusion. The apparent superiority of the Brits had nothing to do with either intelligence or education. It was in fact physical.

If you pay attention, you will notice that the British, particularly the English, tend to form their words on their lips, while Americans form them in the throat. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable among males, whose deep, gravely voice is considered to be masculine, virile and seductive.

I believe that forming words in the throat puts abnormal strain on the larynx, which is why Americans so often tend to stumble over their words. They frequently interrupt their speech by interjecting "ah" or other irritating hesitations. This is not because they don't know what to say next. It's because they are giving their vocal cords a momentary chance to recover.

To put the idea to the test, I consciously began forming my words on my lips rather than in the throat. My own irritating hesitations (I was notorious for this) vanished almost overnight. Suddenly I could put together a sentence that flowed fluently from one end to the other. In fact, I could put together whole series of sentences that flowed fluently from one end to the other with hardly hesitation in sight.

Having tested this discovery over several weeks, I decided to purposely redesign my articulation. It wasn't easy. I had to consciously think about how I was forming my words virtually every minute of the day. However, after a couple of weeks it began feeling more and more natural, until finally it was.

All this happened 40 years ago. During the intervening four decades, I have gained somewhat of a reputation as an entertaining and provocative public speaker, not only in English but also in French (I live in Belgium).

In short, redesigning my voice has worked extremely well for me. I don't know it if would work for anyone else, but I see no reason why not.

But a word of warning. If you do decide to make the change, you are likely to develop a pseudo "Oxbridge" English accent. This is quite normal; forming words on the lips naturally gives rise to this type of accent. However, out of context it can be rather embarrassing.

Since I was living with a lot of British expatriates in Tanzania, my new way of speaking didn't seem particularly odd. However, the minute I returned to Los Angeles, people began commenting on it, including my mother. "Where did you pick up that snooty accent? Get rid of it." So I did.

It is not all that difficult to find a middle ground between the two accents. You will still sound like an American, but without constantly tripping over you tongue. Why not give it a try. The results might amaze you.

Originally article: How Americans Can Instantly Improve Their Speaking Skills

Attracting Your Perfect Job or Career

2009-02-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

by Ken Keis
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." Helen Keller
Are you in your perfect job?
Each of us is born with specific talents. Before you can attract your perfect career, work or life, you must be clear about your gifts, talents, and interests.

The challenge for many of you will be that your gifts and talents don’t fit the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) Code. While it may be easy to define the skills necessary to do the job of a welder, bus driver, or receptionist, how does an intrapreneur and an entrepreneur fit into the code? Many people do not! Making career decisions using the status quo is not always beneficial. For many of us, that process misses the mark.

My primary MBA research revealed that the higher up individuals moved on the traditional corporate ladder, the lower their job satisfaction and morale levels were. That is a fact. Even though I was not surprised by the research results, I was not prepared with direct follow-up questions to confirm the exact reasons for their growing job dissatisfaction.

Further evidence points to this: as people progress along the responsibility trail, they have less time and less balance in their lives; there is a growing chasm between their work life and the life they envisioned for themselves. Increasingly they are forced to make choices among the things they value most in life – and they simply do not like the options.

Don't get me wrong. I am not slamming jobs or dedication to work. I do want to point out that your job, career, or business should be there to serve you, not the other way around.

I agree with Dr. Alan Weiss’s opinion on life – we don’t have a work and home life, we simply have a life with all its elements. So if you are in a job or career or business that is not serving you and using your gifts, talents, and interests, then it is time to take action and make a change.

Action Steps to Help You Attract Your Perfect Job or Career

1. Establish what you want in a position, career, or opportunity.
2. Let go of your fear – your choices determine your quality of life.
3. Ask for support. Get feedback from friends, coaches, and colleagues – and tell the truth.
4. Take quiet time to listen to yourself. Expect to receive the answers you seek.
5. Make a list of all the characteristics, qualities, and attributes of your perfect opportunity.
6. Compare that list to your current situation. In many cases, individuals who complete this process find out that – with a few adjustments and a bit of fine-tuning – they can achieve exactly what they wish to accomplish. For some reason, they have not been accepting the fact that they are actually quite close to having what they want. Some individuals must give themselves permission to enjoy their life.
7. Envision your perfect career or business in all its detail. How does it look? Document it, reflect on it, and get excited about living it!
8. Complete assessment and interest inventories to help in the clarification process.
9. If you are the one in five individuals who has achieved perfect responsibility On Purpose, what is your next level? How can you go even higher?

Until next time keep Living on Purpose,

Ken Keis

Originally Article: Attracting Your Perfect Job or Career

Creating Your Vision by: Ivan Campuzano

2008-12-14T21:52:00.000-08:00

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one" Albert Einstein

I feel that one of the most important ingredients in your formula for success is having a clearly defined and vivid vision of where you want to be. At first the “how” is not that important, you need to create a vision that gets you so excited that you develop the mentality that you will stop at nothing to get what you want.
Many people first focus on the how than very quickly find themselves overwhelmed with too many details and just as quickly talk them selves out of pursuing their goals. You have to take a leap of faith and trust that the how will be shown to you as you go along. Do you remember the days as a kid with dreams of epic proportions? What happened those dreams? You got older and domesticated by a society that says that having those dreams is foolish. That’s nonsense, why wouldn’t you want to accomplish the things that even as a kid you knew would make you happy. I encourage you to dream like you once used to.

“Shoot for the moon…even if you

Miss you’ll still be amongst them stars”- Beanie Sigel(rap artist)

One way I keep myself motivated and keep my vision alive is through my picture book. In my book I have everything that I want and every morning I look at it to remind me what I want in life. Go right now and get some magazines and cut out every picture of the things you want and places you want to visit, don’t be thinking if you can actually get those things now, dare to dream. Remember your mind thinks in pictures, look at your picture book until in becomes as vivid as possible in the theater of your mind. Your mind cant tell the difference between something you remember or something you experience in real time.

Visualization Exercises(meditation):

(Please read this whole section, I will explain why almost all self help fails to produce the results people want)

You can think of meditation as conscious sleeping. Just as you sleep to gain energy for your daily functioning, meditation is conscious sleeping that gives you all the energy(creative abilities) you need for what you intend to accomplish.

I also use lucid dreaming as another way to increase creativity, I will soon write a hub on lucid dreaming.(Lucid dreaming is when you actually become aware in your dream that you are dreaming, once properly trained you can control your dreams)

Use the power of meditation to help you achieve your goals. Strive to everyday meditate one minute for each year of your current age. I am 24, so everyday I try and meditate at least 24 minutes. If you are new to meditation check out this website on transcendental meditation .There are many techniques find something that feels good to you.

Quantum Mind Power

Daily Routine:

1. Pick a nice comfortable place where to meditate. Have an intention on what you plan to meditate on before hand. Ex. A destination you want to visit.

2. Find a comfortable position to sit. Sitting on a chair or on the floor, does not really matter as long as it is comfortable for you.

3. Cross your legs, clasp your hands together.(this helps make your own energy circuit and gives stability)

4.Close your eyes, than stop inner and outer chatter.

5. Relax, begin thinking that your whole body is becoming extremely relaxed.

6. Eyes should be closed.

7. You will notice that your mind is full of many thoughts. Your mind will than begin to ask questions to those thoughts and try and come up with answers whether they are known or unknown. This is why your mind(ego) can be your enemy if it mostly thinks in negative terms.

8. You will need to transcend your mind and thoughts in order to meditate. Your mind and thoughts are what separate you from your higher self, you can also think of your higher self as your subconscious mind don't worry about the labels.

9. You transcend your mind by simply observing your breath. Don't inhale/exhale consciously just observe your natural breathing. Don't go behind your thoughts, if you catch your self drifting just always come back to your breathing. Slowly the amount of thoughts reduces and your breathing becomes thinner and shorter. If you are able to keep all your focus on your breath, you will get to the point of no thought and no breath. This state of no thought is your connection to your divine being and energy body. The more you meditate the more benefits and energy that you will receive. Your own self awareness and consciousness will also expand.

10. You will feel a very pleasurable feeling meditating. If you feel any discomfort in your body these can be possible areas of disease or illness. If you meditate everyday you will heal your body naturally.

11. Now that you are in a state of no thought and total relaxation. Begin to think only on your intention. Remember whatever you think now is in a state that will be impregnated directly into your subconscious. It is incredibly important that you don't color any of your thoughts with any lack,limitation,dis belief or doubt. This is why almost all self help material does not produce the results people expect. Wishing for more money(or anything else) never works, the thought of wanting more money also has the thought of doubt attached to it. Ask your self how many thoughts that you think about have been modified in a way that is not beneficial to you. You just never realize that you are programming your sub conscious all day. This is why meditation is so powerful. You are able to make suggestions to your subconscious where the thought is not modified in any way shape or form. So if you want to make things happen fast you need to get rid of the concept of attaching time to yourthoughts. You have to remember that everything you get in your life comes based on the conditions that you set up and time is usually one condition that cuases the most frustration with people. Just as a computer programmer gives a computer instructions to complete a task, you program the most powerful computer you have which is your subconscious. Your conscious mind acts as the gate keeper as to what thoughts you let in. Now that you know this choose to become more aware and conscious about what you think all day long. Learn to see the world in a non linear way, remove time from your consiousness and watch how things show up in your life faster than you ever thought.

Thoughts = feelings = actions = results (just like that you can begin to shape your life)

12. Mentally rehearse every moment of it with all your senses. Dare to be like Peter Pan :)

13. Visualize in vivid detail, your intention as established fact. Also make sure you meditate only on days you feel good. Remember you want your thoughts to be as pure as possible. This also means that you really find out what you want, make sure its not something you want solely for ego purposes. Thoughts that involve the ego are usually always colored with negativity.

14. With time you will begin to be able to hold vivid pictures of anything(you will develop you third eye). The more you are able to hold onto an image in your mind the more power you give it.

15. Get up and go have a great day :) notice how much energy you have the rest of the day. As you advance in your discipline, you will have a lot of fun basically creating your day before it starts.

Beliefs:

To start making that vision a reality you will have to change some of your beliefs and adopt beliefs that will help you reach your goals. Because if you have this great vision of you retiring on your own private beach but deep down you don’t believe you can do it, you have already sabotaged yourself. Your desire and your belief are in conflict with each other and therefore you will not manifest what it is that you want into your life. If you want to be a good leader one day but you currently have the belief that you are a shy person, it will not happen. You need to truly make a decision to adopt the belief that you are really outgoing. When you truly decide to do something you will find a way to do it.

“Nothing happens unless first a dream” – Carl Sandburg

Some Ways to shape your beliefs:

1. Always think Success- as soon as you think about failure forget about it and don’t let anymore negative thoughts snowball. The more attention you give a thought the more powerful it will become than you will make it harder for yourself to get back to a productive mind state. The only way to change how you feel is to think about something else. Whenever you feel doubt, fear, and failure creeping into your mind have a default thought that you can use to avoid giving attention to mental poison. As soon as I feel I am entertaining thoughts of negativity I immediately begin to think about relaxing on a beach and affirm to myself that “I attract abundance to all areas of my life”. The more I try and have the feelings of being on the beach with no worries and remind myself that I am in complete control of how I feel, I immediately feel the negativity begin to melt away as I begin to focus on my new positive thought.

2. Develop the belief that you are better than you currently feel- don’t look at your weaknesses as a burden but as an opportunity to improve your self. When I find something I don’t like about my personality I don’t get down on myself for it, I just realize that now I have something I can work on to make myself better. Most importantly love and accept who you are, not who you will or should be.

3. Believe that sky’s the limit- if you have little goals you will have little success, the bigger your dreams the more potential for your possible success. Even If you think your dream is too big, strive to reach that dream, because you will end up at a better place than if you would have set your sights on a smaller goal. The trick is to really believe you can do it, this just isn’t wishful thinking. Wishful thinking never got anyone anything, you need to find out what you want and get out there and get it. If you really want that house on the beach your mind will come up with ways to help you get it.(develop faith in your self)

How to remove junk beliefs:

1. Meditate on your old belief and tell the truth about it. Now replace it with a belief that will better serve you. Meditate on it until you feel you have changed that belief.

Now when you accept these beliefs it means you will have to raise your standards and develop a strategy that will put you on the road to accomplish what you set forth. Do whatever you have to do. Read any books that will spark your interest or help you discover any distinctions that will point you in the right direction. Find a role model, a person who has already accomplished what you want. Find out what some of their beliefs, interests, body language, image, etc. is and adopt them as your own. Your role model can serve as a blue print, the goal is to cut down on the trial and error so you can get where you want faster than you ever thought possible. You can take all the qualities from all the people you admire and add your own personal touch. Just think of if it as if you are trying to build the person you want and know you can be. Thomas Edison is one of the greatest inventors in history, he was able to elaborate, modify and adapt on other peoples ideas. You don’t have torecreate the wheel just constantly be aware of any success ingredients you come across and make them part of your identity. Think of your mind as a warehouse the more you learn and store will eventually serve as an inventory for future reference, which will breed new ideas and perspectives.

Consistency is key we are all creatures of patterns and habits. In order to become the person you desire to be, start by changing your patterns. Think of all the quality traits you must possess, make a pattern which uses those traits efficiently than strive to be consistent. Consistency will develop into habits and this is key because if you fail to be consistent with your actions you will not be consistent with who you desire to be. This lack of confusion between your actions and what your mind knows you are capable of leads to tremendous amounts of stress, confusion, and even depression. Many other consequences also come from a lack of consistency.

This is why awareness of self is critical; you need to be constantly evaluating your self. Decide if the persona you are currently displaying is the reality that you want for yourself,because with enough time thats what your reality will become.

Thank you for reading my hub, I love to hear anyones opinion or suggestions. Good luck to everyone.

http://www.howtogetyourshineon.com

9 Practical Tips to Raise Your Spirits

2008-11-14T22:05:00.000-08:00

By: Anthony Fleming

1 – Think of a nice thing to do or to say to someone. This could be as simple as a compliment to a work colleague such as "That's a great tie." or "Your presentation yesterday was very good." [This is a win/win. Other people will feel good and you will feel good too. Just try it for a few days.]

2 – Practice re-framing your thoughts and take a different perspective on situations. For example, a driver cuts in front of you and you feel angry. Consider that the driver has an emergency - perhaps a sick child - and he is in a desperate hurry to collect his little girl from school. [Feels better, doesn't it?]

3 – Slowly drink a glass of water in the mornings and while drinking it think to yourself "This is magical and health inducing water. It is washing away all impurities in my mind and body and filling me with health and vitality..." [It tasted different, didn't it?]

4 – Lift your mood while you are driving your car or you are at home alone. Just listen to one of your favourite up-beat songs loudly and sing along OR say to yourself repeatedly "I like myself! I like myself! I like myself!" [You couldn't help smiling, could you?]

5 – Begin a very simple exercise routine (aerobics, shadow boxing, yoga, tai chi…), preferably in the mornings, and while doing your routine repeat positive words and expressions such as: "Health!" "I feel good!" "Vitality!" "The Universe is my friend!" "Energy!" "Inspiration!" "I am full of confidence!" etc. etc. [You will feel much more alive and ready for a fantastic day!]

6 – Feed your soul by reading a short passage from one of the Holy Book or Scriptures, or if you are not religious then read something you find inspirational and uplifting. [Do this every day and you will feel the difference within 7 days.]

7 – Do something uplifting in the morning in place of watching the news. This will have a dramatic effect on your mood and your outlook on life as you will be starving yourself of your usual morning/evening stimulus of bad news. [Well, is there ever any good news on the morning or evening TV news channels? This practice will obviously make you feel more positive and optimistic as your focus of attention will gradually be drawn towards the many, many good things life has to offer.]

8 – Find some time for yourself. Everyone needs some "me" time. There are many ways to do this and I will list a few to get your creative imagination working: 1: Go to bed 15 minutes before your spouse. 2: Take a short stroll alone at lunch time. 3: Get up a little earlier. 4: Pull over in your car for 15 minutes and listen to some soothing music or just sit quietly. [Do this regularly and everyone around you will benefit as you will be happier and less stressed.]

9 – At the end of the day sit quietly and write down 10 good things about your day. This might be a challenge for the first day or two, but by the third day you will amaze yourself how easy it is to pick out the good things in your day. [Do this for just one week and I promise that you will notice more and more great things about life.]

Do drop me a line and let me know how you get on with these simple tips.

How to Get the Life of Your Dreams by: Enobong Ekong

2008-10-11T00:59:00.000-07:00

It is possible to have a wholesome, complete, fulfilling life, filled with prosperity in your finances, health, mind and relationships. God has indeed given us all things requisite for life and godliness as stated in 2 Peter 1:3. But how come many Christians fail to live the glorious life God has planned out for us?

If you study the bible carefully, you would see that He has given us so much that it's a wonder why we fall short of living the good life. He has given us Himself, His Son Jesus Christ, the name and authority of Jesus, His word that made all things, the blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit Who is the power of the Godhead, and the angels who are sent to serve and assist us (Hebrews 1:14).

I believe the answer is unbelief. Be it unbelief that comes from ignorance of the word, or unbelief that stems from different circumstances we've faced, stories we've heard, doctrines we've been born into or just plain lies and fears that the devil uses. Sometimes the devil just steals the word from our hearts and we forget that we've been working on something (Mark 4:1-20).

The devil's attack on us has been to steal, kill and destroy all God has for us. He has been using the same deception he used on Eve in the Garden of Eden, which was: God will not do what He said. Eve told him what God had said but the devil said no, you will not surely die. He totally contradicted God, saying she will not die, directly implying that God won't do what He said. Since then, he has been sowing seeds of doubt, fear and unbelief in the hearts of men, causing man to doubt God who is truth, and believe him, who is the father of all lies. We need to stop believing the liar and believe the One who has not, the ability to lie.

Once our eyes and minds are open to this truth, we will begin to read the Bible in a different light. We would begin to take God's word as it is. We would begin to rest in the truth that God said it and He will do it (Numbers 23:19 (Amplified) "God is not a man, that He should tell or act a lie, neither the son of man that he should feel repentance or compunction [for what He has promised]. Has He said and shall he not do it? Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good?")

We would begin to stand on every promise with confidence and rest being fully persuaded and assured that God will perform His word (2 Corinthians 1:20 (Amplified) "For as many as are the promises of God, they find their Yes [answer] in Him [Christ]. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him [in His Person and by His agency] to the glory of God."

Hebrews 6:18 (NIV) "God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.")

Jesus died to give us the complete package (freedom from sin and its hold, eternal life, grace, righteousness, authority, health, healing, freedom, peace, joy, love, victory, protection, security, confidence, prosperity, wholeness, success, newness of life, abundant life and more). Go on and enjoy your full package as you stand by faith on God's word till you see with your eyes its manifestation.

Matthew 8:13 (Amplified) "Then to the centurion Jesus said, Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed. And the servant boy was restored to health at that very moment."

Originally Article: How to Get the Life of Your Dreams

The Power of Your Thoughts and Emotions by: Tracy Crowe

2008-10-11T00:48:00.000-07:00

If you have watched "the Secret" or read about "the Law of Attraction" you know that you bring about everything in your life based on the thoughts you have. What do you think about? I find it very difficult to sit and write down what I'm thinking about because thoughts are so fleeting. Some people are able to do that in their journaling and find it a very useful exercise. Most people don't or can't monitor what they think about. So how can they create the things that they want?

The truth is we think the same thoughts over and over again. We repeat the same things we learned as a child. Why? Our ego runs our mind, and our ego is just a collection of things we believe about ourselves. It is the story we tell about ourselves, often a story of "poor me". We learn very powerful lessons as a child; as we are like a sponge soaking up everyone's spoken opinion of us, which we take as gospel. If my mother or father says that about me, then they must be right because they know everything. By the time we get old enough to realize that they don't know everything, the lesson has been learned very effectively.

So, as adults, we still believe we aren't intelligent, or get upset too easily, or are clumsy etc, and we keep telling ourselves that. It becomes who we are. We live up to other people's opinions of ourselves. We never think about the source of our ideas or test them to see if they hold true. We don't even realize that our opinion of ourselves is just something we learned long ago. We just take for granted that it is the truth. So the first step to creating what you want is to monitor your ideas and question the beliefs you have about yourself that you keep repeating over and over. Test them out. That way, you get a better idea of your true capabilities.

Since it is often so difficult to keep track of our thoughts, God gave us emotions. There are basically only two types of feelings: good and bad, which we then break down into different intensities (for example, excitement is more intense than contentment). When you feel good, you are thinking a good thought (the kind that brings you what you want). When you feel bad, you are thinking a bad thought (one that takes you away from what you want). It is much easier to tell whether you feel good or bad than to determine what you are thinking. It is easier to know that you are feeling sad then to know whether you are thinking a bad thought.

So the secret to getting what you want is to make sure your emotions are positive, that you feel good, as much as possible. The most effective way to do that is to notice all the good things in your life. When you love your life because you know it is full of good things, you can't help but feel good. It also helps to notice what things make you happy so that when you are feeling sad, you can remember them and feel better.

The key here is feeling better. Nobody can go from being clinically depressed to being full of joy right away. The best we can do is to be moving in the right direction, towards better thoughts and better feelings. That way, if we keep moving forward, we will eventually get to a place where we really are full of joy. And then we really will have everything we want.

Originally Article: The Power of Your Thoughts and Emotions

Create Success With Your Thoughts by: Stefan Holm

2008-10-11T00:39:00.000-07:00

Have you thought of why we have to fight so hard to overcome the negative we carry around and to improve our self-esteem? Why we just cannot start to create success with our thoughts right here and now?
This is a very interesting subject that could be discussed in eternity, but I will try to explain it in short.

Imagine your subconscious is like a glass of water that stores all feelings you have experienced, whether they are positive or negative. You have filled your glass since you were born with negative and positive feeling depending on what you have experienced during your travel in life. Your subconscious also absorbed what kind of feelings your parents carried with them (providing you lived with your parents). It has been discovered that you can carry your social heritage with you from up to six generations back in time, so maybe you understand what you have to deal with here.

If you are coming from a background where everybody was safe and secure in themselves and financially stable, the possibility of you creating the same prerequisites without struggling is bigger. Unfortunately most of us come from totally different backgrounds and your glass of water has got a bad start with a poor self-esteem and poor economy. For most of us the glass is then overfilled with crap. A lot of people try to create success by filling the glass with positive things, but remember, we have mentioned the glass was already full.

The key for those who struggles with their current results, is to once for all admit what you carry with you when it comes to poor economy, health, relationships, etc. Once you have done that you know where you are. Then decide where you want to be by setting goals with a deadline. In order to achieve your goals and create success you must then replace the full glass of crap with new fresh water, i.e. change your habits, thoughts and way of looking at money, health and relationships. Each and every habit takes approximately 3 weeks to break, so depending on what you carry with you the change takes different long time.

This is the biggest reason why rich and successful families remain rich, while people with poor economy, health and relationships most often can see their misery handed down from one generation to the next. This pattern can be broken by those who are dissatisfied with their situation. Do you want to change your situation? Contact us now for information of how we can help you.

Good Luck!

Originally Article: Create Success With Your Thoughts

7 Powerful Goal Achievement Methods By: Kenny Lindsay

2008-10-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

A fantastic way to attain your goals quicker is to spend more time working on them. Most people don't seem to have enough time available to do the things necessary to survive let alone achieve great success. Finding ways to spend more time on your goal related activites is a crucial part of all personal development. Getting to bed earlier and spending less time on the Internet are good ways to create more time.

Many successful people write down their goals on a piece of card and look at them several times a day to keep them on track. Going over the goals everyday is a good way to stop getting sidetracked by distractions that don't move you forward.

The process of acquiring specialized knowledge is vital to those who wish to make strides forward in their field. Attending further training and courses will help you gain specialized knowledge which gives you competitive advantage in any field. Going to seminars is one action which can give you rapid results.

Determining the effectiveness of each of your actions towards your goals is crucial in order to make progress faster. It's important that you spend your time on the actions that produce the results you desire and don't waste valuable time on actions that don't improve your situation. Using the 80/20 rule is very powerful and should be done regularly with all goal oriented activities.

Healthy eating and regular exercise is essential for anyone desiring to be at the top of their game. Don't fall into the trap of ignoring these because without your health it's almost impossible to achieve anything worthwhile.

Hanging around with people who are already successful can be a powerful influence for yourself. You'll find your attitude, behaviour and knowledge will improve when you spend time with high calibre people and so it's important to find these kind of associations.

Even though it's definitely a good idea to work hard towards your goals, it is also important to take some time off to relax too. Relaxing enables you to work better since you'll be refreshed and not so stressed out.

Originally Article: 7 Powerful Goal Achievement Methods

Success is a Marathon By: Matt Jones

2008-09-26T00:50:00.000-07:00

Imagine you are standing among 22,000 people. It is 6 o’clock in the morning and you are waiting for a starting gun to fire so you can run 26.2 miles. On June 4, 2006, that is where I was and for me it was a dream come true. Two years and four months earlier I was twenty-five and sitting on a hospital bed. Upon reaching down to tie my shoes, I could not remember how. The week before I had slipped into a semi-coma after cancer spread to my brain.

Not only could I not tie my shoes but also had to re-learn how to walk. Through that experience, I discovered three principles of success. They helped me conquer cancer and run a marathon. You can use these same principles in your life to overcome challenges, and achieve greater success personally as well as professionally.

Visualize Your Victory
A timeless truth says, "Where there is no vision the people perish." What is your vision for your life? What do you want to do, be, and have? The first step is to be able to see your vision in your mind’s eye. Just as I laid in the hospital bed, picturing myself running a marathon, you must do the same for your vision. Once you can do that, it becomes a definite major purpose. This moves the vision from your mind to the physical world.

Take Action
Will Rogers said, "Even if you are on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there." How do you run a marathon? One-step at a time. In order to fulfill your vision you have to take action every single day. It does not matter how small it is. The key is to do something everyday that moves you closer to your vision. This builds momentum. Think back to science class and inertia. Objects at rest tend to stay at rest, while objects in motion stay in motion.

Check Your Attitude
According to Charles Swindoll, "The single most significant decision we can make on a day to day basis is our choice of attitude." In order to complete a marathon I had to have the belief it was possible. Daily I had to check the negative self-talk and the self-defeating inner dialogue. The little voice that says it is impossible. Once you have the attitude that your vision is possible, you will take the necessary action.

Success like a marathon is an endurance event. It does not happen overnight but is a series of action steps progressing to a worthwhile goal. Crossing the finish line was one of the greatest victories in my life. Through Visualizing your Victory, Taking Action, and Checking your Attitude you will be able to cross the finish lines in your life.

Originally Article: Success is a Marathon By: Matt Jones