Have you ever met someone with a dehydrated sense of humor? Where you couldn’t quite tell if they were joking or not because of their deadpanned face, which caused you to freeze up on your response. Should you laugh? Should you be offended? Inside you’re asking yourself, “is this person serious?” In other words, there was some confusion. I have a dry sense … Read More
Avoid Overwhelming Yourself By NOT Doing This
Have you ever wanted to master a skill only to run into someone else who was enormously better at it than you were? Chances are you have. I have. What effect did this have on you? Did you feel overwhelmed or say to yourself, “I’ll never be that good”? Did you want to give up? There’s nothing to be … Read More
Public Speaking: Make Time For Timing
It is extremely important that you time your presentations. It’s both a courteous thing to do, and it shows that you give a damn. Besides, you’ve probably been given a slot of time with which to work. It’s best not to exceed it. Perhaps you’ve heard that when you prepare for your talk, you should plan for possible laughter or … Read More
What Is Life to You?
WARNING: Today’s post is going to be all over the place. Give yourself an electrical IV with the refrigerator power cord and try to keep up. What is life to you? Why the hell are we on this dirt encrusted boulder? What’s the point? Why should we get up in the morning every day and do stuff? Why are things … Read More
Public Speaking: How To Practice Eye Contact WITHOUT An Audience
Have you ever watched a speaker stare down at the floor? Almost as if they were avoiding eye contact with the audience entirely. Have you done it? I know I’ve done it when I first began in public speaking. I see it all the time. Do you know why this occurs? My bets are on nervousness or lack of preparation … Read More
Public Speaking: Have You Ever Thought This?
I call it the “Why the heck am I doing this?” feeling. The feeling that would appear when it was dangerously close to presentation time. These used to beat the hell of out me. It would start about two hours before I knew I’d have to give a speech. I’d question it all. What was I thinking agreeing to speak? … Read More
Are You Immune To Criticism?
Have you ever butted heads with somebody that knew everything? Or rather, pointed out that they knew or did everything better than you and then proceeded to pack your worth into a blender and hit the “crush soul” button? Maybe you just sat and watched as your ideas were ground into puree, or equally sucky, attempted to argue with the all-knowing sage? … Read More
Tactical Tip #2 – Well, sort of…
Okay…This Tactical Tip doesn’t have much to do with public speaking except that it was a lesson I learned in perseverance… I’m pretty dang sore right now. It’s not as easy as it used to be. Basically, I was hanging out on a nice Sunday afternoon and decided to have some fun. Be Sociable and Share! – Below are … Read More
Are You Honest With The Person That Matters Most?
“And the TRUTH shall set you FREEEEE!” – Jim Carrey in Liar Liar. “You can’t handle the truth!” – Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. …Enough with the movies already! Have you ever done something and hit a plateau? Where you wanted to get better at this something, but you just couldn’t get beyond a certain point? The reality is, you … Read More
Do You Rattle Your Comfort Cage?
Get out your little GPS contraption and search out a challenge that frightens you. Next step…beat the sh*t out of it. And I’m not talkin’ about your GPS. Rattle your damn comfort cage—violently. The challenge doesn’t even have to be something that you’re passionate it about, or even something that on the surface relates to your path in life. We’re after something … Read More