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Public Speaking, Business, and Life Lessons from an Egret

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It’s amazing what Mother Nature’s creatures can teach us about public speaking, business, and life, just by being there.

My husband and I are on vacation right now in Nuevo Vallarta; and yesterday, while walking back to the hotel from the beach, I spotted this egret next to a waterway on the hotel property.

Of course I had to whip out my phone to take a picture. While I was doing so, a bunch of rather noisy people came down the path and I was worried that the egret would take flight before I could grab my picture.

Thankfully he didn’t pay any of us a bit of attention. (I guess he is used to admirers checking him out.)

As I thought about the egret’s reaction (or rather lack of it), it occurred to me that he was inadvertently sharing some important messages with me about public speaking, about business, and about life.

  1. When you’re sharing information with people, don’t forget the power of the pause. Pauses actually focus people’s attention more powerfully on what you are sharing, and provide time to digest its value.
  2. Don’t get distracted by inconsequential occurrences (or tourists in his case).
  3. Keep your focus on what’s really important (for him, getting more food; for me, empowering more people to speak up and share their gifts with the world).
  4. Take some time off to enjoy the view.

Since I am on vacation, I am paying particular attention to lesson #4. It’s a good lesson to periodically take to heart; so that lessons 2 and 3 come more easily when it’s time to get back to work.

Please share if you have also learned some lessons from Mother Nature’s creatures.

P.S. When I had originally posted this message, I had mistakenly labeled the bird I saw as a heron; so the final message I learned is that when it comes to naming birds, I’d better stick to cardinals, robins, and blue jays.

The Power of One Word in Sales

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It’s amazing what a difference one word can make when it comes to getting people to sign on the dotted line and close a sale.

As I share in the video accompanying this post, I was reminded of this fact when my husband Saul and I met with Enrique, the gentleman who meets with us annually to discuss our ownership of vacation weeks with a Mexican resort company.

Several years ago when Enrique and I were chatting together, he mentioned that many times he would meet with people who appeared ready to invest in some weeks with the company, but that they often got cold feet and backed out of the deal when he mentioned that it was time to sign the contract.

I suggested that he substitute the word agreement for contract. Contract implies obligation and even pressure, while agreement implies doing something that has already been agreed upon.

The power of this word shift for Enrique is such that his success rate went way up and he increased his income and has been promoted as a result.

Most people wouldn’t consider a sales conversation to be a type of public speaking; but it requires, among other aspects, as careful a use of words as any well constructed speech.

I invite you to share your own experiences with the word contract; and your thoughts about replacing it with the word agreement (if you have not already done so).

When You Don’t Know What to Say at a Time of Loss

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One of the most important commandments in the Hebrew Bible (which I would surmise is also included in other holy books) is the commandment to comfort the mourner.

Perhaps it is given so much importance in my own Jewish tradition because it is something that is so difficult to do.

What can you say in such a painful situation? How can you console someone who has suffered a loss, instead of avoiding that person and feeling guilty about it ever after?

The person who suffers the loss can end up feeling deserted by family, friends, and community, precisely at the time that caring support is needed the most.

You end up feeling uncomfortable around that person; and this often leads to a long-term negative effect on the relationship that you had shared, and perhaps even cherished.

Despite all my years as a speaking and messaging coach, I cannot recall anyone ever asking me for guidance on how to communicate with others in such a situation. Yet this situation inevitably comes to all of us.

Having had the occasion to attend the funeral of the dear niece of one of my husband’s cousins, I was inspired to make a video about this difficult subject. I hope that you find the thoughts I share to be helpful, and that the necessity to use them comes rarely in your life.

Love and blessings,

Marjorie

Want to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions All Year Long?

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Want to keep your business and your life on track throughout the year, so that you can reach your personal and business goals?

Want to avoid the usual guilt factor that often arises from having to write down the same old resolutions year after year?

In the video accompanying the blog post, I share 5 suggestions from the Jobs section of the Detroit Free Press for how to revive those pesky New Year’s Resolutions, so that you can thrive all year long.

  1. Write them down: Resolutions are all too easy to forget, especially if they are about something we are reluctant to do or to change. Writing them down helps to keep us accountable.
  2. Be realistic: A stretch goal is a lot better choice than something so far out of reach that it discourages us from even starting down the path to success. In other words, don’t expect to play a concert at Carnegie Hall if you’re just starting to take piano lessons.
  3. Break them down: The bigger the goal, the smaller the steps need to be; so that we actually feel encouraged to get started and keep going. Remember the old riddle: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time.
  4. Set a time frame: There’s nothing like a deadline for each small step to keep us honest and on track to eventual completion of even the biggest projects.
  5. Reward yourself: Too often we criticize ourselves for not doing things as well as we should (horrible word, should!), or for not doing something absolutely perfectly. This is guaranteed to discourage us and throw us off track. It’s far better to acknowledge every thing we do, no matter how small it is. Appreciation, not denigration, is what encourages us to keep on keeping on, no matter how long the path.

I’d love to hear if you have any other strategies that you use to keep yourself moving forward toward your long-range goals.

Here’s wishing you every success, this year and every year to come.

Polar Vortex Invitation

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Right now, as I write this, it’s around 7 degrees below zero outside (with a wind chill of 40 below😱); so I’m cocooning inside. (I’m no dummy!)

While in the process of upgrading and expanding my Always Know What to Say online course, I’m thinking about how I can provide more useful strategies and support that truly meet the needs of those who participate in it, especially those who want to upgrade their business communication skills.

The obvious answer is to ask you what your communication challenges are; so that I can better serve you and everyone else in the Vibrant Vocal Power community.

If you have not yet done so, and have around 15 minutes to spare, I invite you to sign up for a brief chat with me.

Here’s the link to my calendar: https://vibrantvocalpower.as.me/letschat

I look forward to connecting with you.

Do Your New Year’s Resolutions Serve You?

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Think about it: 
Do your New Year’s Resolutions serve you, or discourage you because you somehow end up giving up on them fairly soon into the new year?
Check out the suggestions I share in the attached video:
1. How to frame your assessment of this past year in a way that helps to build a good foundation for this coming year.
2. How to adapt Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues system into one that enables you to actually keep your New Year’s Resolutions this coming year.
The thoughts I share in this video are my New Year’s gift to you.
Keep the ones that resonate with you😍 and dump the rest.😉
Wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year,
Marjorie