I grew up with the idea of when opportunity knocks you open the door and let it in…but what do you do when opportunity doesn’t knock and you need an opportunity – I agree with the funnyman of yesterday – Milton Berle – If opportunity doesn’t knock – Friend you build a door. Yes – sometimes you need to pull out the hammer and saw and make things happen. Ideally, I wish it would just appear but you and I know that isn’t always the case… so now is the time to get going… to put on our work clothes […]
Speak Without Fear
The Power of a Nudge
I don’t about you – but I sometimes struggle to get moving on projects, book writing, speech writing, and radio show writing you name it and I’m usually dragging myself to get it done… What’s odd it’s not that I don’t want to do it but I find so many other “worthy” things to do instead of my work…like clean the house, vacuum my car, read my emails, do my laundry (I’m odd like that) but I still have to get to it – I still have a responsibility to my editor, my team and others to do my work… […]
What’s Your Balance?
I don’t mean your physical balance – although that is important but what I am asking about today is your “credit” in the accounts of “worthy organizations”… such as your volunteer activities… your kids school… your place of worship… what I find (more so at the holidays) is that for many of you – you make great deposits and have a lot of credit with good organizations and although that is a worthy endeavor I just want to make sure that those you need you the most are not short changed. Suzanne Bates wrote in a recent column that – […]
All together now…
Right outside my window I have the most amazing birdbath. What makes this resting place so awesome is the many visitors that come to drink, and wash and play…at least I think they are playing in the water… When a bird lands on the rim of the bath I will stop what I’m doing and watch… watch them peck at the water, jump in and wiggle, flex their wings and groom themselves. It’s a good thing the bath is not near my office window – goodness knows I’d get nothing done. I wasn’t always a bird person – in fact […]
Sometimes you’ve got to ask…
I had a dear friend say to me one time, “you know Deb you can ask for help… it’s not a sign of weakness and in your case, it might be a sign of strength” I know I looked at her like she had two heads – a sign of strength to say you need help – I’m a little slow on that concept…you’re going to need to explain. So, she proceeded to tell me that as much I as like to help others and find a sense of community or friendship or profit from my time well spent… that […]
Add a word – get a third
I have a client who is going to be a country music star. I’m working with her on interview skills so when her time comes, she’ll be ready for the bright lights, big hair and big city. One day while we were working together and I was looking at her CD cover I asked who the other people on the CD were since they were not backup singers and I knew they didn’t write her songs –she told me how she learned some very hard lessons by being so young, innocent and trusting in Nashville. She said, Deb, “don’t you […]
What will you do?
Well it’s bound to happen, and it did…. I fell down some steps as I was going off the stage to write something on the whiteboard. It happened so quickly, and I went down hard and hit my head against the wall and my backside on the steps and my shoulder took the brunt of the fall. Probably one of the worst things that can happen to a speaker – in the middle of a 2-hour session is to fall down. Luckily, I was able to regain my composure and as I quickly stood and said, “well now that I […]
Be a lamp – or a lifeboat – or a ladder
Be a lamp – a lifeboat – or a ladder I came across this saying a while back and it made me stop and think about who in our lives have been there as a lamp, a lifeboat, or a ladder. I’m sure for most of us it would be easy to choose someone who is a lamp in our life – someone who believed we’d come into our own one-day and be the person we were born to be. That one person, who against all odds of human reasoning liked us, loved us and believed in us and today […]
Never look down on someone unless you’re helping them up
I know that most of us don’t “think” we look down on others but in our own way many times we compare and contrast and then make a judgment – whether right or wrong. For many it is not a matter of arrogance but of what I call Not Thinking – or being so consumed that we don’t stop to realize that as a member of the human race we have a responsibility to help others…now where does that come from – hopefully from your core – your good will – your fundamental life beliefs – and the basic concept […]