Category Archives: Personal Development

Posted on

How To Get Over The Fear Of Public Speaking

If you are making a presentation to 5 or 500 – you are speaking in public. You have an audience and a message. What if your fear is crippling and hinders your success? You will fail to make an emotional connection with your audience and the important message you want to share will be lost.

 

Studies show people fear public speaking more than death. World class presenters like Nancy Duarte used a resource before her TED talk Uncovering Common Structures Of Greatest Communicators. The book version of this resource helped me overcome my fear of public speaking. I needed some new skills for the task of building up people instead of homes.

 

Recently when I was asked to rewrite half my speech the night before, told I wouldn’t have the comfort of a podium to rest my notes on and hide behind – these strategies made a big difference. Understand and use this approach and you will make a big difference!

iStock_000002452515Small

 

Paul who used to hate Christians, until he had an encounter with the risen Jesus provides illumination about fear.

 

For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

 

Posted on

How To Find Meaning And Purpose In Life

Wondering and wandering, I’ve done both. Why am I here? What am I here for? Where am I going? Often feeling spiritually empty, I questioned my meaning and purpose in life.

Nobel laureate economist Robert William Fogel says, “Spiritual inequality is now as great a problem as material inequality, perhaps even greater.”

Spiritual emptiness is a universal chronic disease. King Solomon, the wisest and richest man who ever lived, warned us over 3,000 years ago in the book of Ecclesiastes about the futility of life “under the sun”. However, he also told us that God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart and our existence is beyond living “under the sun”.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

 

iStock_000000575597Small

 

Then in concluding the whole matter of life, Solomon said,

 

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter; Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13

 

You can listen to a full message on meaning and purpose by Andy Stanley called Under The Sun.

Posted on

How To Break Bad Habits

Most of the decisions we make each day are done by habit. Even important life changing decisions are not given the attention and discipline they deserve.  Our habits are a significant part of our success. Some of them are bad habits that we need to break. Habits can be changed if we understand how they work.

All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits.

William James 1892

Change Point

Bad habits that we want to eliminate are going to be hard to change! God must have understood how hard change would be for us.

Posted on

How To Change When Change Is Hard

Are you amazed by transformation? Most of us marvel at how things can change over time and the pace of change is increasing. If we are going to be next generation leaders then we need to learn how to embrace change and we need to create successful lasting change for ourselves and others.

iStock_000023500040Small

Why is successful change in our families, workplace and lives so hard?

We start out with great and admirable goals and fall short – OFTEN!

 

90% of people who lose weight gain it back.

Only 1 in 4 people who have a heart attack, stroke change habits.

Only 8% of people who make New Years resolutions keep them.

The majority of people, 76% live paycheck to paycheck.

Posted on

How To Make Better Decisions By Asking The Best Question Ever

Regrets, we all have them.  Can you think of someone you wish you hadn’t met? An emotion you wish you’d have controlled? A job you would rather not have taken? A piece of cake, you should have left on the buffet table? Really, regrets are all around us. Some with bigger consequences than others.

iStock_000021296392Small

Just so you don’t feel alone in any of your regrets, here are some statistics.

Personal fitness: 36% are obese, 33% overweight

Personal finance: 76% are living paycheck to paycheck

Personal relationships: 50% of all marriages end in divorce

The trouble is we only know how big some decisions are in the rearview mirror. In the moment we lack experience, focus, or discernment to really understand the consequences of our decisions. This lack of understanding leads to regrets.

Posted on

Surprising Truth About How to Motivate People

Habits, discipline and results all begin with motivation. It’s widely accepted as the key ingredient for both positive and negative outcomes. Think about an elite athlete or a terrorist, they each have motivation. One for good the other for evil!  How to motivate people is often the deciding factor for your success. As a parent, teacher, manager or politician you need to know how to motivate others, otherwise you’ll never experience success.  Theories on human behavior and what motivation really is and how it works are unfolding based on new research and science.

iStock_000008282786Small-cropped

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink answers the motivation question!

“When it comes to motivation, there’s a gap between what science knows and what business does. Our current business operating system–which is built around external, carrot-and-stick motivators–doesn’t work and often does harm. We need an upgrade. And the science shows the way. This new approach has three essential elements:

Posted on

Three Questions To Help Find Work You Love

Are you looking for career advice? Through high school and university I had a variety of jobs: commercial fisherman, fish factory worker, infantryman, laborer and bricklayer. Then something amazing happened – success! But how? How do you find work you love that leads to success?

Passion-Talent-Market

Research shows that up to 70% of people hate their jobs. Many of my friends do not love their work. Now their children are in school wrestling with the tension of what to study and what careers to pursue. Many people I know are still wondering how to find work you love.

Posted on

New Leadership Model Helps You Make a Difference

Sometimes you need to look back to move forward. Looking back in history we uncover how people connected on the basis of their shared values and ideas. When they connected they started communities, companies, revolutions – they made a difference. What about BIG differences today?

iStock_000020292787Small

Do you want to begin making a difference ?. Someone who has already made a huge difference is Seth Godin. Seth is an entrepreneur and the most popular business blogger in the world. He makes some profound observations about marketing ideas in this digital age. He often tells people “Go make a difference”. I wonder how to make big changes first in myself, then in people around me. All leadership starts with self, then leading others.

There are probably some things you believe in. We all have dreams, passions and desires. But how do you lead others to believe in your hobby, interest, business, or cause? William James said “The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”

Posted on

Starting the Personal Development Industry

Reading books and listening to inspiring messages is how I bridged the gaps in my life. Now I’m on a quest for ways to help others become the hero of their own story. My desire is to equip others with tools, skills and resources to help them achieve success.  Which resources that helped me on my journey are worth recommending?

illustration [Converted]

Socrates said “I cannot teach anyone anything; I can only make them think”. Conversely, as a coach, I’m also reminded that if the student hasn’t learned the teacher hasn’t taught.

Posted on

How To Overcome Fear And Create A Vision For Your Life

Fear keeps most people from clarifying and articulating a vision for their lives. Looking around it’s not hard to see why. Surrounded by uncertainty at every level people are immobilized by fear. How can you move forward with a clear direction when circumstances are always changing?

iStock_000022353886Small

Uncertainty is exactly why you need a clear vision for every area of your life. Regrets are many but looking back many people are sorry they didn’t have the courage to live a life true to themselves . Living without a vision has great consequences.  In Proverbs 29:18 we read the often quoted …

Where there is no vision, the people perish.