Janet Schlarbaum Perfect Speaking Tips By Dion Daly

Glossophobia, or the fear of public speaking is way up there with the fear of death. Apparently studies have shown that the Americans fear public speaking more than death, and that the British fear it only second to death.

That really doesn’t surprise me. I used to be an actor, and I remember the first time I did my first professional soliloquy on stage, I was terrified! Then I remembered my training at drama school, to centre my self, and to breath in and out evenly. Every actor has nerves before going on stage, but they soon learn how to get into character by using certain techniques.

If you suffer from fear of public speaking then follow the tips below they will really help you immensely. Remember if this is your first time doing a speech then accept that you aren’t going to be as polished as a seasoned public speaker. If you have ever seen the movie The Matrix, remember where Neo tries to do a tremendous jump between two skyscrapers and he falls immediately to the ground? Well nearly everyone fails first time it’s called learning what not to do. You’ll get better as time goes on.

Some great tips to help with public speaking:

1. Don’t take any mood-altering substances:

Most people believe that drinking large amounts of caffeine, alcohol, or smoking cigarettes, or marijuana before speaking will calm them down, or improve their speech delivery. The thing is these substances don’t. They are just an emotional crutch.

2. Try not to eat before your speech:

A full stomach will greatly decrease your energy level and your ability to concentrate. This is because your body is too engaged in digesting food. Anyway you don’t want to pass wind while your doing your speech!

3. Make sure to Look your best:

Wear clothes that are appropriate to the occasion. And make sure you are clean and tidy. When you know you look good you automatically feel more confident.

4. Introduce yourself:

A good way to ease your nervousness before going on stage to do your speech, is to introduce yourself to as many of the audience as you can. Especially those sitting in the front row. While you are doing your speech you can look at these people in the eyes just for a few seconds. Doing this will increase your rapport with the audience as well as making you feel more comfortable.

5. Don’t just go up to the platform and start your speech:

First centre yourself on the platform by standing with the spine erect and shoulders relaxed. Then look to the back of the room and find a spot that you can look at just above eye level. Look at this spot for a few seconds while breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth evenly. Then bring your eyes down so you can see all of the audience even the ones at the side of you. Keep this peripheral vision going all through your speech. (Peripheral vision means to be able to see what’s in front of you as well as what is at the side of you.) Using this peripheral vision technique will help to keep you focused and relaxed. Remember while you are centring yourself visualize a positive outcome.

6. Don’t memorize your speech word for word:

Just write out some bullet points of the main ideas you need to cover. If you follow a written speech you’ll bore people to death. Anyway a little spontaneity will ad interest to your speech.

7. Turn up at least half an hour before the event:

If you turn up early you can then get used to the space, and the platform you will be speaking from. Walk about the area you will be delivering your speech from. Make the space your own!

By Trevor Johnson

Placed here by Janet Schlarbaum

Stress is a part of everyday life. Some people handle it a little better than others. If you find yourself unproductive or having difficulty getting through your day because of stress, you need to use some stress management techniques to alleviate the tension. Before you know it, you will have the care free attitude of a teenager again.

Meditation – It’s time to stop making fun of your buddies that take yoga and join them in their next class. This is one of many forms of meditation that are very effective in grounding you and alleviating stress. Getting your mind grounded and creating overall harmony of your body can do wonders to get rid of the boss hammering you at work all day.

Exercise – If you do not have a regular exercise program and have a stressful job, you need to start ASAP. One thing that you will find is that after a tough day, exercise gives you an outlet to rid yourself of stress. Take up kick boxing and put your bosses face on the heavy bag. A few good shots to his mug will do wonders for you.

Self realization – a lot of stress is brought on because we try to do too much. To realize that you are only human is part of the process in relieving stress. You are going to make mistakes and you can only do so much. There are other people at your job, let them do some of the work. As long as you are doing what you are supposed to and doing it well, you should be in great shape. The reason a lot of people fail at their jobs is because they take on too much or something that don’t understand. The next thing you know you are going home and kicking the dog. Stay within yourself and you will be amazed at the change.

Stress management takes many forms and self talk is but one of them The inner dialogue you have with yourself is going on all the time – but most of its just “below the surface.” That is, it’s going on below the conscious threshold of the mind. It happens without you ever being aware of it.

You could be taking a test, for example, and even though most of your thought processes are concentrated on the questions and answers, your old programs are still running in the background. They’re saying things like, “I just know I’m going to flunk this test. I didn’t study like I should have, and now it’s caught up with me. This will probably make my grade point average drop, my dad is going to really upset. Why couldn’t I have been born as smart as that nerd in front of me? I was born to be a big failure.”

Your subconscious mind is working right now, day and night, to make sure you become precisely the person you have subconsciously described yourself to be. If your internal program pictures you as having trouble earning enough income, your subconscious mind is doing everything it can right now, to make sure that you have trouble earning more money. If you have conditioned yourself to believe you can’t stick to a diet, you can be sure that your subconscious mind will make sure that no diet will work for you – at least not for long. Your mind can only do for you what you (and others) tell it to do.

During our formative years each of us is told “no” or what we cannot do, tens of thousands of times. Each of those “no’s” are deeply rooted in your subconscious mind.

Most of what seems to happen to you, happens because of you. Something you created, directed, influenced or allowed to happen. Let’s take a look at 5 steps that control your success or failure:

1. Behavior – your actions how you act, and what you do everyday. The right series of actions will end up making things work better.
2. Feelings – every action you take is first filtered through your feelings. How you feel about something will determine what you do.
3. Attitude – your attitude will effect how you feel, which in turn, determines how you act.
4. Beliefs – what you believe about anything will determine your attitude about it. Your attitude creates your feelings and direct your actions.
5. Programing – how your conditioned by friends and family from the day you’re born

By Eric Ayite

There a few things that will be more detrimental to you than the control that you let outside factors have on your life. If you want to be happy, it is very advisable that you do everything in your power to decide to have a lot of control on your own life.

Many people decide that they will be happy when they have a new car or when they have a new job. Guess what? After they buy the car of they get the job, they are still not happy. There is something missing in their life. And because of that, they are not happy.

Often, we have so many things to be grateful about but we focus just on what we do not have. And we become unhappy because of what is missing in our life instead of being happy and grateful for what we have.

If your happiness is based on outside circumstances of material things, you will NEVER be happy. The reason behind that is very simple: you will never have all the material things in life and you will never have all life circumstances under your control. Most circumstances that affect your life will depend on other people that share the world with you and situations that you cannot control.

If you want to be happier in life, decide to be grateful for what you have and whom you are instead of focusing on what you lack in your life and whom you wished you were.

There are many steps that you can take to become happier in your life:

-Do not compare yourself to other people: there is a reason why we are created different. If there was a reason for all people to be similar, the creator would have made us so. Be grateful for your particularities and be happy you have skills that can complement other people’s skills

-Take time to enjoy the nature: watch the sunset, take walk on the beach, smell the roses. Life is too short to be always in hurry.

-Take time to relax and meditate very often. That will regenerate your spirit and give you the opportunity to truly live.

-Do not seek other people’s acceptance in order to be happy. Be happy whether other people accept it or not.

-Have a social life. Studies have shown that people who live a lonely life tend to live shorter lives than those who are surrounded by friends and family.

-Do not take yourself too seriously. Take time to laugh at yourself and at life

Most people think that money and a lot of it is what they need in order to be happy. They are dead wrong. Studies have repeatedly shown that the richest countries in the world are not the happiest. The conclusion we can draw from that is simple: money is not the only and certainly not the most important factor in making people happy

By Michele Rogers

A healthy life does start with a happy life. Let’s face it when one is happy there is no stress and better yet no complications to our lives. We live in a society that is going a hundred miles per hour and seems to never stop to refuel.

Having a happy life starts with making your surroundings enjoyable and your abode a pleasant place to live in. When we come home from work we want to kick off our shoes and place ourselves in a relaxing state. If your surroundings are messy then it is hard to relax. A clean quiet room is the place to start to relax.

After you sit back and are relaxing and feeling calmed from the days work or activities it is time to think of a place that makes you happy. Be it a field of daisies or a swimming pool floating on a raft. Making you feel happy and relaxed is a crucial part to a healthy life.

In a healthy life, relaxing and meditation can be a part of you day, even at work. You can sit back in your chair and think of your relaxing place. At times doing this technique several times a day you will find you are able to deal with the work stresses in a better manner. Becoming irate toward others just makes your day bad as well as theirs.

In conclusion it does not cost you anything to relax and think of a calm place to be. Just take a bit of time in your busy schedule to do this and soon your days will be more at an even keel. You will find that you are calmer when you are faced with hectic problems!

By Jason Osborn

There is an amazing happiness quote by Albert Schweitzer that says ‘Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.’ Understand this happiness quote and you will see exactly how to be happy. Here are 3 things that I get our of this happiness quote.

1. Happiness is success.

So many people want to be successful because they think that will make them happy. They work for years and years to be successful just to find that when they have reached so called success they are the furthest thing from happiness. Instead of working for success, work for happiness. This will make you a success in life.

2. Do what you love.

Have you ever found yourself doing something because you were told it would make you happy but in fact it just made you miserable? There are countless amounts of people that are doing what they hate. No wonder they aren’t happy. If you want to be happy, start doing the things that you love in life.

3. Happiness can only be defined by you.

The media does a great job at telling people what happiness is but they don’t have a clue what really makes you happy. You are the one that knows what makes you happy. So, instead of trying to find happiness by what others say it is, you need to decide what happiness is for you. Once you know this you won’t be chasing the wind to find that there is nothing there.

By Juris Olengovics

Happiness is different for each individual person. For some happiness comes from great relations with his family, some are happy for the things they can do. While you might think that there are certain things that make you happy (or could make you happy if you had them), research has shown that there are certain common traits amongst happy people – and it isn’t necessarily what you might have thought.

Happiness is state of your mind. When your mind is free from all the negative emotions and you don’t have to worry about anything you are happy. It’s the one side on how to look on things.
Just imagine if you receive a check and a bill in your mailbox. You can put the bill away and be happy about the money you received in check or you can put check away and complain about high payments. The same situation but you can decide how to act. You can be happy or sad it all depends on you.

You can decide how happy you will be. The way you look on things from the good of bad side depends how happy you will be. Doing things which make others happy will make you even happier. Don’t you like seeing happy and smiling people around? Happy people make others smile. Have you ever laughed only because someone else is laughing hard? Don’t even know why you are laughing.

“Happiness is good health and a bad memory.”
- Ingrid Bergman

Don’t take life too serious because stress can cause many problems for you. It can cause even medical problems that is why you should not worry about things too much. Besides problems become bigger when you think about them. Laughter is a powerful, positive medicine and the calmer and more peaceful you can take things, the happier your life will be. It would not be life if some bad things don’t happen.

By Jason Osborn

I think this is the desire of most people in the world today. Since you are reading this article I think it’s safe to assume that this is true for you as well. I think you deserve to live a life full of happiness and success. If you don’t know how to do that then keep reading and I will give you tips on living the life of your dreams.

1. Do what makes you happy.

This seems so obvious but most people don’t. You have to stop making excuses why you can’t do what you love and that make you happy. Just start out with something small and build up from there. Life is too short to never be able to do the things that make you happy. Start to schedule time in your week to do something that makes you truly happy.

2. Create successful habits.

Your habits and routines in life will dictate the results you have in your life. If you don’t like the direction that your life is going you have to be proactive and change the direction of it yourself. This too will take some time but it’s much better to start now. That way in ten years time you will be able to look back and see how much you have grown and increased.

3. Learn to enjoy life.

It is easy today to look at other people’s successes and life and but dissatisfied with yours. If you need to make changes in your life then so but you can’t always want what other people have. One of the biggest breakthroughs that you will have in your life is to learn to enjoy every moment of your life. It’s ok to want to grow and increase and want success but learn to slow down sometimes and just enjoy your life.

1. Find out what makes you happy.

Ask someone to write down 50 things that make them happy and you will find that most people start struggling to come up with things after the first 10 or 20. If you don’t know what makes you happy then you don’t know what to work for to make you happy. Stumbling across happiness is like stumbling across a winning lottery ticket, it rarely happens. So what makes you happy?

2. Pursue what makes you happy.

Now that you know what makes you happy it’s time to start implementing a plan that will help you reach happiness. It’s great that you now what makes you happy now but information without action is useless. What actions will it take for you to be happy? A hint to doing this is making the entire actions dependant on you. If your happiness is dependant upon someone else you are on the wrong track. Don’t rely on other people to make you happy.

3. Learn not to stress.

Notice here that I said ‘learn’ not to stress. This may take some time but it’s important that you learn to not stress out over everything. Stress not only causes mental fatigue but it can also cause physical problems in your body. If necessary go to a stress management seminar and learn how to do this. The less stress that you have in your life the happier you will be.

 Posted by Schlarbaum Capital Management

Some people can face difficult situations and smile while others will waste their time complaining. James Branch Cabell, US essayist and novelist captured this in his remark, “The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.” As we begin the month of February, I am reminded of my mother, Martha Allison Cannon. Mom shared her birthday with George Washington and I learned about how to approach life from this quote from her namesake (Martha Washington), “I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.” Pubilius Syrus in 100BC said, “No man is happy who does not think himself so” and Abraham Lincoln said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” My experience has shown me that you only have to try this approach to understand the truth of what these people are saying.

I have also come to know and fear the pessimist. Helen Keller said, “No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit” and Vince Lombardi proposed that, “Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” Pessimists in small doses may help one to set realistic expectations, but a steady diet of pessimism is truly poisonous and will bring down even the most positive person. Pessimists are practicing losers.

Consequently, I have come to the point in my life where I avoid pessimists for I fear their potential for bringing me down to their level. Philosopher and psychologist William James said, ” Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.” In fact, there is a thing called “The Law of Attraction” which can be best described by Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Francois d La Rochefoucauld provided one of the best reasons for gratitude and a positive mindset when he said, ” Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.” Going one step further, Ecclesiastes tells us, “Give not over thy soul to sorrow; and afflict not thyself in thy own counsel. Gladness of heart is the life of