A Secret To Extraordinary Accomplishments
I sat watching a documentary on U.S. Navy SEAL Team Training on the local exercise channel. It showed young men, mostly in their early 20's, enduring grueling ocean swims in near-freezing water. It showed these same young men forced to swim underwater (holding their breaths) until a major percentage of them passed out and had to be rescued by their instructors. It showed weeks of grueling training in which ordinary men are transformed into incredible machines with wills of steel and unshakable discipline.Sitting... transfixed, and marveling at what these young men were able t

Career Success Through Engagement at Work
Several years ago, a friend shared the story of a sojourner who came upon three individuals working with stone.Curious about what the workers were doing, the traveler approached the first worker and asked, “What are you doing with these stones?” Without hesitation the worker quickly responded, “I am a stone cutter and I am cutting stones.” Not satisfied with this answer, the traveler approached the second worker and asked the same question. The second worker paused for a moment and explained, “I am a stone cutter and I am trying to make enough money to support my family.”In all my years of public speaking, I have learned many techniques to help calm those butterflies in the ol' stomach before getting up in front of a group. Several techniques don't actually have anything DIRECTLY to do with speaking or being in front of the group at all!

One time I did a presentation on the topic of Public Speaking and in my intro I asked the audience to grab the big box of 'Fear of Public Speaking' I had placed on everyones tables. They looked around the room quite dumbfounded! Then I asked if I could go to the store and buy a big family-sized bag of 'Fear of Public Speaking', but by then they realized where I was going with this....the fear of public speaking doesn't actually exist, rather, it only exists in our minds!

Have a backup plan! If you are preparing a presentation and you are planning on using some high-tech approach (say a Power Point presentation), have a backup plan! Print enough copies of the slides so everyone in your group can have a copy and hand them out whether the Power Point presentation works or not. Also, one more word about Power Point and similar approaches, DO NOT write every single thing you want to talk about on the slide and read it word for word. My theory, if 2 th

t of the group at all!

One time I did a presentation on the topic of Public Speaking and in my intro I asked the audience to grab the big box of 'Fear of Public Speaking' I had placed on everyones tables. They looked around the room quite dumbfounded! Then I asked if I could go to the store and buy a big family-sized bag of 'Fear of Public Speaking', but by then they realized where I was going with this....the fear of public speaking doesn't actually exist, rather, it only exists in our minds!

Have a backup plan! If you are preparing a presentation and you are planning on using some high-tech approach (say a Power Point presentation), have a backup plan! Print enough copies of the slides so everyone in your group can have a copy and hand them out whether the Power Point presentation works or not. Also, one more word about Power Point and similar approaches, DO NOT write every single thing you want to talk about on the slide and read it word for word. My theory, if 2 t

founded! Then I asked if I could go to the store and buy a big family-sized bag of 'Fear of Public Speaking', but by then they realized where I was going with this....the fear of public speaking doesn't actually exist, rather, it only exists in our minds!

Have a backup plan! If you are preparing a presentation and you are planning on using some high-tech approach (say a Power Point presentation), have a backup plan! Print enough copies of the slides so everyone in your group can have a copy and hand them out whether the Power Point presentation works or not. Also, one more word about Power Point and similar approaches, DO NOT write every single thing you want to talk about on the slide and read it word for word. My theory, if 2 t

minds!

Have a backup plan! If you are preparing a presentation and you are planning on using some high-tech approach (say a Power Point presentation), have a backup plan! Print enough copies of the slides so everyone in your group can have a copy and hand them out whether the Power Point presentation works or not. Also, one more word about Power Point and similar approaches, DO NOT write every single thing you want to talk about on the slide and read it word for word. My theory, if 2 t

copy and hand them out whether the Power Point presentation works or not. Also, one more word about Power Point and similar approaches, DO NOT write every single thing you want to talk about on the slide and read it word for word. My theory, if 2 things are identical (in this case, what you are saying and what the slides say) one of them isn't needed!

Print your handouts in advance! Do not, I repeat, DO NOT print your handouts on the day of the presentation, rather, at least 1 day prior. Why? It's simple, what if your printer or copy machine is out of toner? What if your LAN is down and you can't access the printer? What if you realize you are out of paper after only 3 handouts are printed? If you need to run to Kinko's to get copies made, it will be MUCH EASIER 2 days prior to the presentation than 20 minutes before the presentation is set to begin! Also, if you're speaking away from your home turf, print everything you need, put it in a folder and put it in your car 2 days before the presentation so you know it's there. There is nothing worse than showing up to your speaking venue and all of your handouts are sitting in your printer across town! (By the way, I speak from experience on all of these accounts!)

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