If you’ve heard me speak before, you know I’m a fan of being careful about who influences you. When you listen to your favorite music over and over again, it gets into your subconscious and affects your habits, actions, and mood. Every morning after I do my daily reading, I listen to a “start my…
OK, growing up Catholic, I’ve known passages in the Bible since CCD, but I’ve not internalized verses as much as I’d like. With my rededication to God and living a life for Him, I’m making progress. Last week I was reminded of a verse that says, “Give me your burdens.” I had a huge challenge…
I don’t know about you, but I often find myself getting caught up in the negativity in the media. I don’t intend to let it get to me, but it does. When bad things happen, how do you react? Many people explain it away with the famous phrase, “Sh*# happens.” We sometimes lock onto the…
Life is usually a compilation of a series of small decisions, but once in a while a big decision must be made. Because it is big, we procrastinate and avoid making that choice. It may be a decision that will change the course of your life while enhancing who you are. What is that big…
If you have ever been to one of my training seminars for speakers, you know we say that one tool every presenter should use is a story file. In the presentation world, this is just a simple word document or a place where you collect all of your stories. When it is time to put…
Here’s the situation… You just finished a run-through of your presentation. You love it. It works. You have one problem with it though. You keep getting feedback that one particular part of your presentation confuses people. It is really clear to you, and you love it. You know it is brilliant. In fact, it is…
Have you ever seen speakers on stage who, although they weren’t perfect, you couldn’t help liking them anyway? Then again, have you seen presenters who were eloquent and seemingly perfect, but you just didn’t like them at all? What do you think is the difference? There are probably a hundred different reasons for both instances.…
You can thank TED or blame TED. Things are changing in the speaking world, and it’s not so much the change in technology as it is the change in format. I hear more and more people talking about TED Talks. Even my 21-year-old nephew watches TED Talks but only knows about Toastmasters because of me.…
Have you ever been impatient? Ever wonder if some of your goals will ever come to fruition? Me, too. Perhaps you remember being a newbie at a professional association and seeing the mentors on stage in front of the group. Maybe, somewhere in the back of your mind, a tiny little dream seed was planted,…
As I continue learning more through my Bible reading, I recently had an epiphany. I had heard the story of Peter’s denial of Jesus three times over and over again. I had also heard that Jesus called Peter the rock upon which he was going to build his church. Until my readings this week, I…