Have You Done That One Great Thing? NO? What Are You Waiting For?
By Michael Masterson
Time passes so damn quickly. And as you get older, it speeds up so much that, if you don't do something about it, your life will take place without including the person who's buried deep inside you. You know the person I mean. The dreamer. The bright, starry-eyed optimist who was once in charge of your body and soul. I have wanted to be a writer since I was six years old. It was my father who first encouraged me. After reading a poem I wrote called "How Do I Know the World Is Real?" (Can you believe I can still remember it? Cripes, I can still recite it!), he told me I had a special talent. And that if I nurtured it, I could be a great writer some day. How about you? What did you want to be... or do... when you were a child? And what kind of dreams have you had since? Do you still have ambitions you haven't achieved? Of course you do. We all have dreams. And we're all guilty of putting off those dreams. In my case, fiction writing too often takes the back seat to other things. During the course of a normal workweek, I manage a half-dozen sizeable businesses, consult with a half-dozen more, write ETR, write business books, learn languages, and practice new skills. I'm no goof-off. But I still regret every morning I don't work on a novel or short story or screenplay or poem. So be honest with yourself. Have you achieved all of your most cherished dreams? Are you even working toward them? Do you even remember what they were?
-----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- Are You Truly Happy? - As Michael Masterson pointed out today, life is short. And there is no time like RIGHT NOW to pursue your dreams. But is self-doubt stopping you? Are negative thoughts holding you back? Dr. Srikumar Rao has taught thousands to break those barriers. Learn what his lifelong study of human potential can help you achieve...
"To speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks." Ben Jonson The Self-Confidence Question
By Peter Fogel I have an entrepreneur friend who is an engaging speaker. He always gets high marks on audience evaluations.
On stage, he comes off as quite confident. Watching him, you'd think he was loaded with self-esteem. In fact, the opposite is true. And at a recent presentation, he let his audience in on this personality "flaw" right from the start. Now I wouldn't recommend doing this all the time. If, for example, you are delivering a sales presentation to a room full of businessmen, playing the "low self-esteem card" could backfire. Your listeners might think: "Gee, does this guy need a hug or something?" But in my friend's case, it helped him bond with his audience immediately. Why? Because he was giving a speech at a self-improvement seminar. He knew his audience -- and he knew what they would respond to. His eager listeners almost certainly thought, "WOW! This guy has his own image problem. And yet, he's accomplished all his goals. If he can do it... so can I!" But though my friend has proven that you don't need high self-esteem to be an effective speaker (or a successful entrepreneur) -- he's also shown that you need to be able to present your material with aplomb and conviction. Fact is, your audience starts checking you out the minute you step on stage. They look at the way you're dressed and the way you move. But it's the way you deliver your speech that makes the biggest impression on them. Telltale signs that you have low self-esteem: - You stand up there and just read off PowerPoint bullets.
- You don't make eye contact with your audience.
- You use unnatural hand motions.
- You speak softly, and your voice tends to trail off at the end of a sentence.
Whether your self-esteem is high, low, or somewhere in the middle, you can learn how to turn on the switch when it's "show time" and put on a splendid performance. It starts with knowing your subject inside out. When you feel like an expert, you will exude self-confidence from every pore. That said, here are four tips to help you give one great presentation after another -- and keep getting asked back. 1. Deliver One Big Idea As Michael Masterson often says... every effective communication is based on one BIG IDEA. Create a speech that has one BIG IDEA and it will stand out in the hearts and minds of your audience. Worried about length? Don't be! You do not have to deliver a long and exhaustive speech for it to make an impact. Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address -- with just 271 words -- is one of the most quoted and most powerful speeches ever given. Imagine: In less than 3 minutes, Lincoln not only summarized the Civil War, but redefined it as a struggle for freedom and equality! 2. Speak in the Moment Practice, practice, practice... so the words, as Shakespeare said (when he was alive of, course) are spoken "trippingly on the tongue." Do not give a canned speech or read your presentation. Outline your important points, know them, and then speak to your audience as if it is one person sitting across from you and hanging on every word you say. 3. Tell Stories Don't quote boring industry facts and figures. Any "B" speaker can do that. Be an "A" speaker. Capture your audience's attention with a story. If you are giving a speech on customer service, for example, tell them a customer service horror story. They will LOVE it! Tell the truth... but embellish the anecdote a bit (using dramatic license, and adding humor if you can). The idea is to eventually lead your audience to the conclusion that you (or the product/service you are selling) have the solutions to their problems. 4. Fake It 'Til You Make It That's what most top-gun speakers did in the beginning. With enough stage time, you'll internalize what you need to know to overcome your self-confidence "issues." And then, it will be second nature to come across as cool, collected, and in control. Just like riding a bicycle. Guaranteed! [Ed. Note: Want to dominate your niche market and become an in-demand public speaker? Get the training you need to learn how to tell humorous and captivating stories... and put yourself head and shoulders above the rest. For more information on Peter "The Reinvention Guy" Fogel's Gold Public Speaking Package and to sign up for his FREE 7 Days to Effective Public Speaking E-Course (value $65), go to www.publicspeaklikeapro.com] -----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- MaryEllen Has Met the Man of Your Dreams - He's got dark hair, piercing eyes, and he brings in sales of $5 million per month. He's gone "beyond Google" with a homegrown strategy for powerhouse marketing that 99.9% of Internet marketers out there have never even seen...
As a development manager for a real-estate project I consult with, SB takes direction from three people: a profit-center manager, a project manager, and me. Most of the time, our advice and recommendations work together. Sometimes, however, we disagree. And when we do, it throws SB into a frenzy. SB complains about getting mixed messages... being confused... being overworked. At the same time, he does a very good job on the work he understands. The people who work directly for him are happy with his leadership. And the results are almost always excellent. SB's mistake is in not understanding who he really works for: his customers. Every dollar the business earns comes from them. Their money funds his paychecks, the paychecks of his bosses, and the paychecks of the people who work under him. By focusing on what is best for his customers, he can reduce the amount of confusion and conflict he experiences by having three supervisors. Are you in a similar situation? Are you getting conflicting advice from the people you work for? You can usually determine the right thing to do by understanding what would be best for your customers. (Which decision will improve the service they get? Which one will make their buying experience easier, faster, and more rewarding?) In the 1960s, the edible oils industry began a campaign to convince us that vegetable oils are healthy. Yes, these oils are derived from natural sources. But by the time they make it to your grocery store, they are anything but good for you. Corn oil, for example, contains none of the vitamins, minerals, and fiber found in the plant itself. A number of studies have shown a link between processed oils and heart disease. Processed oils have also been associated with asthma, blindness, cancer, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, stroke, and liver problems. Meanwhile, the average American is consuming more than 50 times as much vegetable oil as he once did. Vegetable oils are not easy to avoid. They are in all salad dressings and processed foods. But some are healthier than others. Choose coconut oil for cooking. Choose olive oil (which is easily damaged by cooking heat) for salads. 5 Ways to Make Your Meetings More Productive
By Michael Masterson
1. Start on time. 2. If there's someone with a reputation for tardiness without whom the meeting can't take place, schedule a briefing with him 15 minutes beforehand. If he gets there on time, use that 15 minutes to discuss the big issues. If he's 15 minutes late, he won't hold things up. 3. Distribute a short agenda to all participants the day before the meeting. 4. Set and enforce a strict time limit for each agenda item. Discussion should end when a specific action has been determined, written down, and assigned. 5. Every five or six meetings, ask for suggestions to improve the way you're running the proceedings.
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David Cross is a little on edge. He's Senior Internet Consultant to Agora Inc. And Editor of ETR's Internet Rant newsletter. He works hard to make sure marketing produces sales for his clients and readers. So it disturbs him to see so many "gurus" -- who have no idea what they're talking about -- spouting wrong-headed strategies all over the Web. And they charge a bundle for it! In each issue of the Rant, David exposes another Internet marketing myth -- and tells you what to do instead. Find out more about it here.
"Initially, I felt discomfort every time I read ETR." "I want to first of all thank you immensely for the wonderful advice I get from you and your team daily. It's been tremendously helpful, and I appreciate it very much.
"You may find what I'm going to say a bit funny. Lately, I've been referring to ETR as the ZERO, as in the Japanese WWII fighter plane. I don't know if the English phrase 'to zero in on' something came from this WWII plane. But ETR has the uncanny ability to take a seemingly simple business problem and then zero in hard on it to expose its very essence. Usually, before you even finish the process of zeroing in, the solution simply begins to reveal itself. "Initially, I felt discomfort every time I read ETR, because it wasn't always easy having to admit and face some rather brutal home truths. Then I started implementing your advice and learned to turn all that firepower to my advantage. I look forward to ETR every new day now. It is changing the way I do many things. "Thanks again, and keep up the very good work."
Emmanuel Wainchom Kijem
Douala, Cameroon
-----------------------------------------------------Highly Recommended ----------------------------------------------------- What Separates Billionaires From Everybody Else? - It's time management. They jealously guard their time. They know that every minute they spend in a long-winded meeting... is a minute when they're not making money. Find out what else makes up the Billionaire Mindset here.
Today's Words That Work: Aplomb Aplomb (uh-PLOM) -- from a French phrase meaning "balanced" -- is imperturbable self-assurance. (It literally means "on the plumb line.") Example (as used by Peter Fogel today): "But though my friend has proven that you don't need high self-esteem to be an effective speaker (or a successful entrepreneur) -- he's also shown that you need to be able to present your material with aplomb and conviction."
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