Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder. Did you know that most people don’t learn many new words, read many books, or stop and think about why their Public Speaking Skills are important? This is interesting to me since those are the three things I think about all the time. As a speaker, I am always interested in words, not only for the meaning but also for the interpretation. How do others hear certain words, and how do they react to the word? And What about those words that have no meaning to […]
It doesn’t matter what others are doing
It doesn’t matter what others are doing. It matters what YOU are doing. I saw this poster a while back, and it hit me as such an obvious comment that I almost laughed out loud at the simple message. Then, as life would have it, I did a double take and had to admit that I waste plenty of time wondering, questioning, and thinking about what others are doing with their time and talent when I need to focus on what I should be doing. It’s not like our work is going to get done magically without us. No, we […]
You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do
You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do. I don’t know about you, but one thing in life that really chips me off is when people tell me they are going to do something and then never get around to it. Now, I’m also preaching to myself today because a while back, I made a list of things I had promised other people but never got around to. I had to go and make things right. Now, some folks had moved on, and when I didn’t keep my word, they did other things, at that point, I […]
Practice the Pause
“Practice the pause. Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you’re about to react harshly, and you’ll avoid doing and saying things you’ll later regret.” ~ Lori Deschene Oh, if I had only learned this earlier in my life, I would have saved myself from myself. I probably have too many stories to regale you with from all the times I spoke out when I should have practiced the pause, mentally and verbally. Even now, I catch myself chatting away when, in reality, my brain tells me I should just be quiet and let the conversation hum […]
Sometimes your only available transportation
I have had a lot of different experiences in my life and have taken chances that, on the outside, might not have seemed so smart. Okay, they probably weren’t so smart on the inside either, but who knew? I jumped in anyway because I have this theory about life—you’ve got to go and do what you want to do in case the world changes and those one-time opportunities disappear. I fundamentally believe that we are not meant to live a boring life. This world is too big, too amazing, too discoverable for me (or you) to sit at home and […]
Carpe Diem, My Friend
Carpe Diem. Seize the day… Make your lives extraordinary. Dead Poets Society It’s the fourth week on my topic, and I am just as excited and motivated by my themes of Commitment, Excellence, and Action as when I first introduced you to it a few weeks ago. When I started to write about these three themes that I know you hear about often, they just kept unveiling themselves as a much deeper theme than a one-and-done. Commitment, Excellence, and Action seem so simple, yet so hard to master if you don’t lay the groundwork to get it right the first […]
Discover who you are
Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are. Bernice Johnson Reagon If you ask your friends and family what are some challenges they are facing today and how they plan to overcome them, most of your peers will look at you with a blank expression, and suddenly, you will see a quote cloud form above their head that says, “You need to find someone else to talk to. I don’t want to go that deep today…or tomorrow or ever.” Now, it’s not because they didn’t understand the question, it is because […]
You Have Permission to Rest
Almost every health official or wellness magazine suggests that we all need to slow down and rest, and yet most of us refuse until our bodies force us to stop and take care of ourselves. The million-dollar question is, why don’t we take such good advice? And the ten-cent answer is that, for many, it seems selfish to stop and take care of ourselves when so much needs to be done in the world, our community, and our own homes. Like most of my friends, I was under the weather this week. Not really sick and not really well. I […]
Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities…
Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. A few weeks ago, my show was about if you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way, and, although I thought I was done with that thought, in my mind and in my quiet time, I kept coming back to the BIG idea that anyone can take the steps in the right direction to do what they are called to do. What may seem impossible to others is not impossible for you. If you will, just put forth the effort to make it happen. […]
