Business Speakers ~ What You Need to Know

Business speakers are only as good as their ability to communicate effectively. It does not necessarily follow that an expert on business matters has the know-how to engage, educate and entertain an audience. Professional business speaker John Bell shares some of the top tips that have resulted in him being ‘Voted UK Best Speaker of the Year’ on four occasions.

Some of the world’s greatest business minds can ooze confidence and excel as practitioners of business, yet can become shivering wrecks whilst standing behind a lectern facing an unassuming and docile audience.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear from the outset ~ quality business speakers are not born with a natural ability to captivate and inform an audience. They have learnt the essential skills required for a polished public speaking performance and then practise and perfect their art.

What follows are the basics of giving a public presentation as a business speaker, together with some simple suggestions on how to acquire a noticeable air of confidence whilst presenting in public.

Firstly, as a business speaker you need not only to establish the title of your talk but also the objective of the presentation. e.g. the title may be ‘The Alpha Widget’ and the objective could be ‘To familiarise delegates with the benefits of using the Alpha Widget’.

You can establish the objective as a business speaker by simply asking ‘by the end of my presentation what would you like delegates to do or what would you prefer them to be thinking?’

Establish early how many minutes your business speaker masterpiece is expected to last.

In preparation for the task ahead clear your desk of all clutter and you are already on the road to becoming a polished business speaker admired by many.

Write the title of your talk and speech objective as a business speaker onto separate Post-its (or scrap papers), and then place them in the centre of your now cleared desk.

Carry out a brainstorming session by writing anything that comes to mind that is connected to your title or business speaker objectives onto additional Post-its and place them around your title and defined objective.

Once you have covered your desk you will then need to cull. Get rid of anything that is not central to the objectives of your presentation as a business speaker.

Take into account the amount of time that that the event organisers have set aside for your speech, and the time allocated to you, the business speaker, at the end of your talk to take questions from the audience etc.

Consider each Post-it as no more then two to three minutes in time and this will help you improve your time management skills as a business speaker.

Establish order in your business speaker presentation by separating the Post-its and creating a beginning, middle and end in your speech. The beginning might be related to what existed prior to the production of the Alpha Widget, the middle a reference to the main advantages of the new product, and the end perhaps some reference to the future benefits the delegates will achieve when they use the fantastic Alpha Widget.

Now add a Post-it or two to the very beginning of your speech introducing yourself – the business speaker to the audience, together with a brief overview of the content of your talk. (Known as the gestalt).

Add one or two Post-its thoughts at the end of your talk to act as a finale. The conclusion provided by a business speaker usually consists of little more than a brief summary of the presentation and an equally short ‘thank you for listening’ comment or an ‘any questions in the time remaining?’ type statement.

Look again at your timings as a business speaker. If you anticipate one particular Post-it needs to be allocated more than a few minutes this may mean some other Post-it(s) will need to be cut.

When you are totally satisfied and confident about the content and likely duration of your presentation produce an aide-mémoire.

The best business speakers don’t normally use notes but it is perfectly acceptable for a less experienced business speakers to use one or two index cards showing a few words, usually written in very large letter with varying colours, to act as a prompt and assist in the quick retrieval of information, if required.

Even the top, experienced business speakers rehearse, rehearse and rehearse again. Check your talk timings carefully, and know your material well.

On the day of the event, a good business speaker will arrive at the venue very early to check everything is set up and ready. If you are using slides with PowerPoint make sure they are loaded onto a computer and you understand the workings of other people’s remote devices that are used to forward and reverse a slide during the speeches.

To be effective as a business speaker don’t use more than ten words per slide. Audiences quickly get bored with too many words and always prefer meaningful pictures and illustrations to emphasis a point.

Direct your business speaker presentation to the whole audience and yet try to make each and every delegate feel as if you are addressing them as individuals. The best way to do this is by randomly looking at different sections of an audience and establishing the briefest of eye contacts with as many delegates as possible.

Build rapport as a business speaker by sharing humorous observations and create audience participation by asking the odd open question e.g. ‘Anyone been in a situation where they wished they had something like an Alpha Widget to help them out of a tricky situation?’

Talk as if people in the audience are your best friend of many years standing and they will quickly warm to you and make your job as the impressive business speaker that much easier.

Whatever you do as a business speaker don’t read, especially from your slides. Remember notes are an aide-mémoire; nothing more, and the top, very best business speakers don’t use them at all.

Don’t detract from your performance as a business speaker by trying too hard. If you have purposefully prepared, know your material, and rehearsed as I advised, you will appear that much more confidant to a grateful audience who has a thirst for knowledge.

Stop hiding behind a lectern. Stand near the front of the stage, with your legs slightly apart, displaying open arm gestures, and you will appear honest and genuine as a business speaker. (Check out short videos of quality business speakers on the Internet to better understand why I recommended this style of deportment).

If you intend to move away from the lectern make sure you are fitted with a radio mike and the lighting engineers are expecting you to move.

Vary the tone and speed of your delivery as a business speaker, and carefully watch the energy levels of your audiences, injecting humour, witty observations and the like to regain full audience attention if required.

Whatever you do, don’t get too carried away when the audience look as if they are really enjoying your skills and expert knowledge as a business speaker. When you get to the end of your allotted time say something along the lines of ‘in conclusion’ or ‘finally’ and know that, at best, you have no more than two minutes to stop and humbly accept the applause.

So in conclusion, from one business speaker to another, I wish you every success with your presentation.

After Dinner Speech - Best Top Tips From a Professional After Dinner Speaker

Are you a potential after dinner speaker looking for golf jokes to use for an after dinner speech at a golf club dinner? If so you are very likely to be about to make the biggest mistake amateur speakers can make in preparing their speech. Read on to learn why.

Don't tell me! Someone mentioned they were looking for an after dinner speaker for an important event and you, in a moment of weakness or sheer madness, said you would do it. And now, as the evening rapidly approaches, you have swallowed a little of your precious pride and decided to seek help or search for some speech material you might us. Am I right?

Let me begin by saying this, if it is of any consolation, you are not the first and most certainly won't be the last to put your mouth into gear before engaging your brain. Many years back, flattered by friends who said I was a natural comedian, I did exactly the same and what follows are some of my best top tips to make the coming event a little less daunting, and hopefully help you by describing some of the basic mistakes I made in those early days whilst dying as an inexperienced, after dinner speaker.

Many people, including some of my friends, believe comedians are born funny and then somehow become a natural, polished, humorous entertainer. Nothing is further from the truth. Some top, after dinner speakers develop their skill as children as a method of dealing with school bullies, and the everyday anguish growing-up causes so many of us in those terrible teenage times. For far too many, school is not the best days of your life as described by those for whom time has distorted the truth; but a living hell, made a little easier by learning to make others laugh as a means of defense.

Some of the best after dinner speakers on the professional circuit began studying the subject after realising how powerful a tool it is in entertaining and amusing a captive audience, in convivial company, after a meal. The fact that others were prepared to pay money to have someone make others laugh would, initially, have been a bonus, and later, with lots of experience and 'gigs' under their belt, an effect way to earn a living.

For those amongst you who are thinking about using after dinner speaking as a means of making a living, my advice is to carefully consider whether your dream could ever become a reality. Professional, after dinner speaking is one of the most difficult occupations in which to earn a decent living. There are lots of after dinner speakers out there offering their polished skill as a service, and relatively few speaker engagements available to ply their trade.

Most after dinner speakers are hired through an agent. The difficulty for those wanting to become an after dinner speaker is that agents are only interested in established, quality, popular speakers with a proven ability to give an after dinner speech.

Such after dinner speakers have so much experience; they no longer have 'off days'. Their reputation for excellence is already in place, and this removes the element of chance that event organisers take when engaging a less experienced, amateur, after dinner speaker. What event organisers gain in cash saving is insignificant when compared to their potential loss of reputation with which they gamble when engaging cheap amateurs.

If you are considering giving after dinner speeches as a profession, please believe me when I say that being a successful, fulltime, professional after dinner speaker is seriously hard work and is a dream that is, for most, very difficult to achieve. In regard to quality of life, it will mean many late nights, often away from home and your loved ones. The occupation of after dinner speaker is not nearly as glamorous as some would imagine. It can be an extremely tiring and demanding occupation with variable rewards.

If, all that said, you are still interested in how to give an effective, entertaining after dinner speech, perhaps as a one-off or hobby, what follows are my best, top tips:

I begin by offering some reassurance - most audiences make allowances for a courageous amateur doing his or her best to entertain them. They often hold a 'better them than me' attitude.

A survey carried out in America showed that more people fear public speaking than death. Which, I guess means, that at a funeral, Americans would rather be the individual lying in the coffin than the poor soul providing the eulogy to the mourners!

Some, attempting to perform as an effective after dinner speaker, fail because they don't work hard enough at being funny. Being funny is seriously hard work and not that funny.

After dinner speaking is no different to any other skilled profession. The fortunate few funny folk having all the lucky breaks is nonsense. Luck plays little part in whether or not you are likely to succeed as an after dinner speaker.

It was Gary Player who said, "The more I practise the luckier I get". This is as relevant to after dinner speaking as it is in golf. However the best, professional, after dinner speakers work on the principal that practise in itself is not sufficient, as many a frustrated, addicted golfer will also testify.

Preparation is an essential ingredient in successful, after dinner speaking. There is a saying - 'failing to prepare is preparing to fail'. Learn about your audience before you start, and never forget that preparation, before presenting, is paramount.

At the research stage, you will need to know exactly who makes up the audience. For example, if you are told the diners will be made up from members of a particular profession, ask the organiser where the audience stand in that organisation. Are they managers or machine operators? Such information will help you fine tune your after dinner speech and make it totally relevant to the audience's every day reality.

It is not sufficient to know that all of the audience have an interest in golf. You need to dig deeper. Are they all members of a particular club? Do they have a rival team whom you might poke fun at? Are there any 'characters' in the club who most members would recognise if an after dinner speaker were to describe and exaggerate their most noticeable characteristics?

This brings me to an important point in the art of successful after dinner speech giving.

Quality, after dinner speakers do not tell jokes. Quick-witted 'one-liners' are still in fashion on the after dinner speaker circuit, whereas jokes are not. The 'these three golfers were approaching the 18th hole' type stories will create a chorus of cringes, as many inexperienced after dinner speakers have found, unfortunately, too late to save their delicate feelings.

If an audience of diners have a strong interest in a particular subject the chances are they will have heard each and every joke you have placed in your repertoire a dozen times before. Hopeful you now better understand why I say being a successful after dinner speaker is such hard work. It is not a case of putting an act together and then repeating the speech night after night to different audiences.

For a professional after dinner speaker, what a particular audience of diners consider funny, fluctuates with the years, and is generally accepted as being a subjective and fashionable test. By better understanding who your audience are, as apposed to what they have in common, means you are much more likely to provide an entertaining after dinner speech that will be remembered with affection by the diners, and event organisers for years to come.

The fact that an audience of diners have a common interest in golf will, for a professional after dinner speaker, only act as a theme that weaves its way through their after dinner speech.

Basing your whole after dinner speech on golf jokes is preparing to fail. A quality after dinner speech is a subtle observation of the real life of the audience of diners, delivered humorously by the after dinner speaker.

Superior after dinner speech humour is so much subtler than simply reciting one joke after another. If you happen to be an after dinner speaker who tells joke after boring joke during your speeches, I make no apology if I have offended you by writing so. I never apologise. Sorry, that's just the way I am.

And, if having read the last few sentences, you are still have a problem understanding what it is I am saying, it may be you are without all hope.

Quality after dinner speaking has much to do with a skilful observation of real life. The words used to describe a situation require vocal expression, comic timing, character exaggeration, and carefully placed pauses that are so full of meaning. Frank Carson's catch phrase "It's the way I tell 'em" is the essence of what makes good, after dinner speaking.

For the diners doing the laughing, and for that matter the after dinner speaker too, humour is an escape from their everyday reality. Top after dinner speakers befriend an audience and quickly build a rapport with the diners. As the average after dinner speech provided by a professional after dinner speaker lasts between 20 to 30 minutes, speed in building rapport is an essential requirement in successful after dinner speaking.

To help build rapport, an after dinner speaker will often playfully laugh at themselves. To do so, the after dinner speaker needs to become a philosophical spectator of his or her own life in relation to those they have around them. Effective after dinner speaking is about showing an understanding of what makes people tick and then making witty observations to entertain and amuse the diners.

When next listening to a proficient after dinner speaker notice that many of the topics included in the after dinner speech revolve around problems the after dinner speaker encounters in his or her day-to-day reality.

Top after dinner speakers know there is little difference in people. By making fun of their own problems the after dinner speaker develops an empathy with the diners mainly because the diners have very similar problems to that of the after dinner speaker.

The after dinner speaker is, by helping the diners to come to terms with their own problems, helping them through a difficult dilemma they would, under normal circumstances, prefer not to think about. Following a good meal, and with the well-known therapeutic effect of a moderate amount of alcohol, diners are primed and ready for the light-hearted entertainment a professional, after dinner speaker always provides.

Top after dinner speakers are constantly striving for perfection by reworking their best material. They may be at the top of their profession but they never stop asking the question "How can I make this after dinner story better?" Theirs is a quest for perfection that never comes. Most of the best after dinner speakers are their own worst critic. Depressingly so!

The best after dinner speakers are striving to be ever funnier. For them, providing the best ever after dinner speech, is a lifelong apprenticeship that few have the resolve to complete. If you are giving your first ever after dinner speech, rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse. If possible, try your material out with friends or relatives whom you trust will provide honest, constructive feedback. And if they say you need more jokes in your speech, don't listen to them!

When an after dinner speaker is working on improving his or her after dinner speech material, they will often work on a simplistic definition of the psychology of humour. Mine is - the study of wit in relation to the workings of the human mind and prediction of people behaviour.

To make an after dinner speech humorous, the diners must first predict some outcome, and then be humoured with a punch line that nudges them off their expected route.

To do this, an after dinner speaker must be a great story teller and be aware that in telling the story the majority of diners listening to the talk will be travelling down a particular path, guided by the speaker, only to be nudged from the predicated route. It is this 'nudge' that makes the story humorous. An unexpected outcome can turn a tedious tale into a funny story.

When you next have the opportunity to enjoy a professional, after dinner speaker, be much more analytical about what it is they are saying, and then analyse why what they are saying, appeals to your sense of humour.

By way of example, I consider Woody Allen to be one of the best, humorous storytellers around. Here is a short extract from one of his routines and I would like you to take a few minutes out to analyse. Look particularly at the construction of the story taking into consideration the likes of rapport building, etc, I described earlier:

"When I was little boy, I wanted a dog desperately, and we had no money. I was a tiny kid, and my parents couldn't get me a dog, 'cause we just didn't have the money, so they got me, instead of a dog - they told me it was a dog - they got me an ant. And I didn't know any better, y'know, I thought it was a dog, I was a dumb kid. Called it 'Spot'. I trained it, y'know. Coming home late one night, Sheldon Finklestein tried to bully me. Spot was with me. And I said "Kill!", and Sheldon stepped on my dog."

Now analyse the construction of this short story. Take into account the skilful observation of life Woody Allen uses. Do you believe it possible that maybe he was bullied at school and, at some low point in his childhood, discovered humour made his life a little more bearable by effectively dealing with such obnoxious, bullying characters?

To best understand the quality of Woody Allen as a storyteller you need to appreciate his masterful style of delivery. Otherwise the quote from Woody I have provided above is merely a skeleton that lacks life and flesh.

Woody Allen's genius as a humorous speaker comes from his vocal expression and it is that which puts flesh onto the skeleton of a story. It is his superb comic timing, character exaggeration, and carefully placed pauses that then breathe life into his amusing tale.

If you need to better understand the importance of the ingredients I have described in giving a polished after dinner speech, seek out video clips of Woody Allen and, or a top, professional, after dinner speaker and you should appreciate why I have included them.

For now, take the full stops is Woody's story as being the pauses I described earlier. Does he build empathy by describing a situation that was similar to a problem you may once have had? It is my belief that most people have been bullied at sometime in their life. The fact that the memory of such can still cause pain may be one of the main reasons people would prefer not to speak of such events to others. It is their secret a skilled after dinner speaker has somehow touched upon. The diner can empathise with the speaker and rapport is established.

Ask yourself this:

Was money 'tight' when you were a child? (Rapport)

Is Woody Allen a philosophical spectator of his own life in relation to those around him? (Rapport)

What relationship does Woody with the other characters in the story?

Read through the story again and then consider - does Woody appear to be laughing at himself?

Is Woody appearing to make fun of his own problems encountered whilst child?

As with Woody Allen, during an after dinner speech the speaker becomes a story teller describing the practically enacted theory of the absurdities so often found in human relationships and this is usually related to a 'twist' in the story that makes the tale humorous for the diners.

The 'twist' takes the story away from the norm (the predicted path), and makes it funny. Woody's dog becomes an ant. As the story unfolds Woody creates a movie in your mind. He becomes a storyteller. You are there with him as Finklestein (did you picture Frankenstein) tries to bully him and Spot (his pet ant) is instructed to Kill!

Entertaining, after dinner speakers have the ability to have fun with literal meanings. It is said they can see the funny side of most things. They can, but only when they set the mind to the task. After dinner speakers are performers, providing humorous twists. And, at the end of the day -

(pause) it's midnight. (the twist)

If you wish to make an impact as an after dinner speaker take a topic that has a literal meaning somehow connected to the diners and think of alternative meanings to make it humorous.

By way of example - at an after dinner event where the diners are made up of people connected to the retail industry and, having probed deeper with the event organiser, you may have established that a large part of the audience will be shop owners, you therefore might include:

"I said to the guy next door - I was on my way to the shops and your dog went for me!"

Now think of alternate meaning to 'your dog went for me' i.e. the dog attempted to bite him:

"and he replied - that's impressive; it never went to the shops for me before!"

The listener is nudged from the predicted path making the story humorous and, indirectly relevant to those in the audience who are the shop owners.

I would now like to offer you important advice on the type of material you should not use whilst giving an after dinner speech.

Be extremely careful about using any material that could cause offence to any of the diners. Experienced, successful, professional after dinner speakers are usually very skilled at judging how controversial they can be on topics such as sex, politics, race or religion. If you are new to after dinner speaking, take my advice and avoid all four topics during your speech.

I mentioned earlier that an average after dinner speech, delivered by a professional after dinner speaker, lasts around 20 to 30 minutes. 10 to 15 minutes is sufficient if you are inexperienced at public speaking. Don't mistake smiles or polite laughter as in invitation to go on and on and on and on. Your aim should be to leave the diners wanting more, yet appreciative of the entertainment you have already skilfully provided.

One of the biggest mistakes made by inexperienced, after dinner speakers is their perceived need to read verbatim from copious quantities of notes scribbled on A4 sheets of paper that become totally illegible in the candle light available during your speech.

If you feel it is absolutely necessary to have an aid to memory, acquire something as small as an index card and use the odd word or two, printed in large letters, to jog your memory. Do not read verbatim. Here's why:

And so to my final tip, purposefully left until last because I consider it to be the most important. It is this - when giving a successful after dinner speech- Stop Trying Too Hard!

I understand this initially seem to contradict all I have written about after dinner speaking and the giving of a great speech, but please hear me out.

You have completed the required research, you have prepared and practised your piece and now, as you deliver your masterpiece to an appreciated audience of after dinner diners, I want you to imagine yourself speaking informally, to a small group of close friends and family. People with whom you normally feel totally comfortable and at ease.

You have my word that if on the day, you stop trying too hard, your confidence will grow, you will appear much more relaxed, and, it turn, the diners will be much more at ease and in better positioned to enjoy and appreciate your short masterpiece - the after dinner speech.

Have a great evening.

Motivator for Recession

Menacing clouds gather over commerce and industry. Doom and gloom is all that is forecast. Experience has shown that in difficult times the main difference between companies that manage to weather those approaching storm and those that creek and grown in the wind and then flounder, often fatally, can often be traced back to something as basic as staff morale and their ability to seek adequate shelter. You need a professional motivator now. Read on to learn why.

The severity of the approaching storm, judging by the extraordinary and hasty, emergency contingency plans being implement by the government, is likely to be on the scale of Hurricane Katrina when it devastated New Orleans back in 2005.

In preparation, you can do as many in New Orleans did back then, and hope and pray that the storm will pass you by, or, as some of the wiser did, baton down, secure your investment using all available means, and, with the help of a specialist motivator, wait for the eventual silver lining and rainbow.

You are in the best position to know how to secure the very structure of you business. The issue of staff morale is best left to the professionals – someone specialising as a motivator.

Until that advice is in place, here is some first aid help from a motivator working worldwide and helping his clients prepare for the approaching hurricane.

It is the role of a motivator to create positive thoughts in the minds of others. When a workforce is motivated they are in a better position to help clients and the like to focus away from the ‘negatives’ created by a credit crisis. A motivator helps individuals establish an inner happiness that radiates to those around them. Think how much better you feel when the sun is shining!

A motivator is an essential commodity to be utilised during recession because motivation is inseparable from survival and any related success. Tragically, for many, what is at stake is simple survival.

A professional motivator will have the special ability to take conscious control of the level of employee motivation in your company, assisting your staff to step outside of a comfort zone that may condemn your firm to stagnate through recession and procrastination.

Procrastinate a lot? Not sure? You need a motivator!

Being a good motivator involves the initiation of a process designed to bring about a desired outcome. In other words - some action is required. Find yourself a professional motivator and then make that call. Your business could be at stake if you don’t. Swallow your pride and do it now.

In an ideal world the sun constantly shines and birds sing sweetly. Take a little time out now to check the weather forecast. This is the lull before the storm! There is no doubt it is coming and so take some advice from a former boy scout, now motivator, ‘be prepared’.

As an employer, ideally, you want your staff to be self-motivated, purposeful in their tasks, with the minimum of direct supervision. Am I right?

With the help of a motivator you will find that motivation is the greatest asset to help you through the inevitable, approaching storm. A professional motivator understands that motivation is predominately an extrinsic condition and he or she has the special skills to instil positive thoughts in the mind of your staff. Your employees are beings that respond primarily to some form of external stimuli usually from someone who is a recognised motivator. At a basic level most managers choose the ‘carrot or the stick’ method. This will not be sufficient in the high winds and rain that move ever closer. Your business is about to shake and shudder and a firm foundation is your best chance of survival. A professional motivator will help you make ready.

When a motivator injects the correct level of motivation into your business you will find it is the very glue that can help hold your business together, thereby weathering the prevailing storm.

A motivator is required to create a way of thinking that permeates the whole philosophy of your company on a day-to-day basis. Without positive thoughts your staff will wither and fade and your company will be the ultimate loser.

The very reason a professional motivator exists is because motivation is an extremely complex concept. It is a science that has been investigated and studied over the decades in many ways by many people. It could be the biggest mistake you ever make leaving motivation to an in-house amateur.

Until you source a quality motivator here are a few more tips:

You will motivate your staff if you help them work toward fulfilling their potential at a level they are capable of. This is where the difficulty often lies for many managers who consider themselves a motivator– if staff are not motivated enough they may fail to reach their true potential and your business will suffer.

Pushed too far beyond their natural capability and they become de-motivated and will often complain of being bullied by their so-called motivator.

Successful motivation is achieved when people perform well whilst still working within their limitations. This is achieved through a motivator when your staff are productive and appear to do be doing so with relative ease despite the hurricane winds that whirl around them on the outside.

An effective motivator understands that motivation is something that is an essential part of your people’s day-to-day lives. It provides the 'get up and go' that helps them get out of bed in the morning and look forward to their day at work despite the rain that threatens to dampen their day.

By investing in the skills of a motivator you will discover that people can be conditioned to enjoy work and look forward to helping you and your company survive recession. If you have members of your staff who already have a negative attitude, even before the storm hits, they need to be taught how to acquire a positive attitude. People often need the services of a motivator to help staff adopt and display a positive attitude. Every cloud has a silver lining; sometimes people need to know exactly where to look. This is the role of a motivator.

If you are to survive recession by weathering the storm your staff needs to be motivated to give them an unswerving faith that they can succeed above and beyond their own often-mundane expectations. Invest in a professional motivator; the consequences of not doing so are too dire to contemplate.

The taking of some intended action by a motivator initially precipitates motivation in others. Done correctly it will create a visible energy, which in turn drives staff forward out of the grasp of a hurricane that so often accompanies recession.

A motivator can help motivation become contagious, as other staff members ‘catch’ the appropriate, desired behaviour. Now is the time to seek out a motivator. Don’t, like some of your competitors will, catch a cold through complacency.

Take that action today. Seek out a motivator. The old mantra, ‘I’ll start tomorrow’ doesn’t work. Tomorrow never comes as it always refers to sometime in the future. The immediate future is bleak with wind and rain forecast.

Don’t worry it’s not all bad news. Here are some good reasons why you need a professional motivator:

Motivation is the most important factor in recession survival. A motivator specialises in inspiring and motivating others.

Whereas the type of personality your staff displays in the work environment may represent the way they behave, their level of motivation is directly related to why they behave in that particular way. Television, newspapers and radio are so full of doom and gloom if your staffs appear ‘down’ this is the likely reason they do so. Doing nothing will change nothing. A motivator can counteract any negative thoughts your people hold.

Motivation is a state of mind. A motivator is the creator of positive states of mind.

Staff who declare ‘This is just the way I am. I can’t change’ are mistaken. As stage hypnotists know, and continuously demonstrate, the subconscious mind can be manipulated. A professional motivator is skilled in manipulation.

Invest in the services of a professional motivator and you will install an internal energy force that determines all aspects of your staff’s behaviour at work and will impact on how they think, feel and interact with other members of staff and more importantly, your clients. The last thing you need during recessions is a discontented work force harming relationships that you have developed with your customers over many years.

Motivation is the force that makes us behave in a particular way. Inspiration is what a motivator provides to help an individual complete the necessary changes successfully. A motivator will often do this through the power of laughter.

A motivator will demonstrate that motivation is influenced by our personal perceptions of a situation and strengthened by many other factors that create the inspiration to do, or not to do something. Recession, credit crisis and the like are terms that develop negative perceptions. A motivator will help dispel negative perceptions by getting you people to look on the bright side of life. He or she will guide them towards that rainbow we all desire.

If you are in any form of successful business, the most expensive asset you possess is your human resources. Your current goal should be to survive the recession storm that is about to hit us, and therefore you need to invest in the motivation of your staff using a professional motivator. The forecast does not need to be so bleak if you are correctly prepared!

I wish you every success in weathering the storm.


About the author ~ Motivator John Bell works worldwide and specialises in motivating and inspiring adults. Short videos of John motivating audiences can be viewed at his website www.johnbellspeaker.com

John has been working as a motivator for over 25 years, and holds a Masters Degree in Education.

He is also a former stage hypnotist and stand-up comedian and fascinates delegates as he shares amazing secrets on the workings of the human mind and has a special ability, as a motivator, to make people laugh at the absurdities that the inevitable storms in life so often throw at us.

John can be hired to act as motivator at a conference or at your place of work and offers his international clients an ‘all in’ fee that is available on request.

www.johnbellspeaker.com

Motivational Speakers are Essential During Recession

Hiring motivational speakers, especially during times of recession, is a great investment. Professional motivational speaker John Bell explains why:

It may be a cash flow problem that brings your company to the edge of the abyss but it will be an unmotivated work force that provides that final, painful push, launching your dreams into a black hole from which there is no return. Motivational speakers are the guardians that steer your people away from pending disaster and place them purposefully on the path to a powerful recovery.

Choose one of the top motivational speakers, someone who has a proven ability to motive and inspire, and he or she will guarantee your people will be motivated and inspired sufficiently to inject your company with a shot of enthusiasm carefully designed and measured to provide your desired outcome. The best motivational speakers can administer a motivating medication for an illness so severe that, were it to be left untreated, it could, and for many will, prove fatal.

There is a saying ‘laughter is the best medicine’ ~ that, of course, assumes you’re not a diabetic, in which case Insulin is likely to lie somewhere high on you list. (Humour is an essential ingredient in the service motivational speakers provide).

Think of motivational speakers as apothecaries who provide the Insulin, and your organisation, a living body that has desired needs and essential requirements.

Fail to meet those needs and the body will function to a degree for a time, but will eventually succumb to one or more of a long list of potentially fatal consequences.

Many companies don’t even appreciate they need the services of motivational speakers. They have become so used to working with a unmotivated work force they think the atmosphere in which they function is the norm ~ they survive in a state of unenthused apathy that they believe is an ethos most companies are also performing in.

Nothing is further from the truth. To continue my analogy with illness ~ in the USA there are believed to be 8 million diabetics who don’t know they have the condition. They do not even suspect they are ill. Their body has become so used to a ‘below par’ feeling they accept and assume how they feel is the norm. Diabetes is not normal and untreated it can be a killer!

Tragically, undiagnosed diabetics don’t appreciate how they may be heading towards some serious problems such as liver disease or cancer, stroke, heart attack, restricted circulation eventually requiring amputation, kidney failure, blindness and even death.

This is why health authorities worldwide are so concerned with a diabetes epidemic that threatens us all. They understand that by identifying diabetics and treating their condition they will not only dramatically improve the quality of life of the diabetics, they will also, in a relatively short period of time, save themselves lots of money. They are investing in the future ~ as you ought to be!

When recession finally sets in, unmotivated workforces will grow to epidemic proportions. Quality motivational speakers are few and far between. If you want to invest in the future of your company you would be wise to seek out the services of one of the top motivational speakers now. It could save you lots of money!

The best motivational speakers are extremely skilled in what they do. Engage one of the top motivational speakers and you can be reassured your people, having been treated, will be motivated and inspired to offer you your best chance in these difficult times of recession.

The very best motivational speakers don’t have ‘off days’. This is why the top motivational speakers will totally guarantee their work. Choose one of the best of the top motivational speakers; someone who is prepared to invoice you after you witness how well they have motivated and inspired your people.

The very best motivational speakers are confident and experienced enough to let you determine whether they are value for money. Be totally satisfied before you pay them their fee. You have little to lose and lots to gain.

Now is the time to inject a shot of motivation into your people. Don’t wait until it’s too late ~ seek out one of the best of the top motivational speakers available and invest in your future.

I wish you and your company every success in riding out the recession.


About the author ~ Motivational speaker John Bell works worldwide motivating and inspiring staff. If you are looking for a professional motivational speaker to inspire your workforce check out the videos on his website www.johnbellspeaker.com

Motivational speaker John Bell offers a total satisfaction, all-in fee, to his many clients.
Learn more about top motivational speaker John Bell at his website www.johnbellspeaker.com and you will understand why audiences continually vote him the best.

Stop Smoking Advice

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John Bell, the author of this ground-breaking smoking cessation technique, was engaged by a large pharmaceutical company to research methods that general practitioners could use to help patients stop smoking. He set about identifying the methods senior healthcare professionals had used that brought success. Described in the following article is an overview of his findings. Findings that are so powerful, that if followed in a logical sequence, the author guarantees you will stop smoking.



Stop Smoking Advice

Let me ask you a few question. If you were invited to invest one day of your time in discovering how to improve your quality of life dramatically for the better, if it was explained to you why, despite all of the expert medical advice in the world, you continued on along a path you, deep down, suspect will bring about your early demise, if it were made clear to you in simple, un-patronising terms, why you behave the way you do and then you were assisted to change your way of thinking, permanently, with the minimum of effort on your part, would you be prepared to take, at least, that first step on a journey of discovery and change?

If any of your answers are ‘No’ to the above, thank you for your time and have a nice day.

If on the other hand, any of your answers to the above questions were ‘Yes’, and you are a smoker, or know someone who is a smoker, and would like to help them stop, then please read on and let me make your day.

Hello, and congratulations on taking the decision to continue. You have already taken the first step to quit smoking!

Let’s get on. A good place to begin is, yes you have it already, at the beginning. Smoking, and the problems associated with it, are not new. Intelligent people have been smoking tobacco for thousands of years.

The tobacco plant has been growing in the Americas since around 6000 BC. Christopher Columbus described witnessing a man with a hoard of tobacco leaves who used them to trade, way back in 1492.

That same year the first record of a European, a Spaniard named Jerez, is chronicled as setting alight to leaves wrapped in paper, and then proceeding to inhale the resulting smoke.

Being a Spaniard, around the time of the infamous Spanish Inquision, he was immediately placed behind bars for what was considered unholy behaviour. On his release he discovered a smoking ‘craze’ had taken over the country. A ‘craze’ that now has worldwide popularity.

The term ‘craze’ suggests smokers are crazy. As a former heavy smoker (40 a day), I do not believe I was either insane or demented.

I take great solace that one of the most intelligent men of the twentieth century, namely Albert Einstein, was also a heavy smoker. So smoking has little to do with intelligence.

So why do people smoke when they know of the likely consequences? Some years back, a large pharmaceutical company engaged me to research the methods that doctors and nurses used to help their patients to stop smoking. There were few then and little has changed.

What I did discover during my research was a phenomenon recognised and accepted by healthcare professionals that helped me unlock the mystery as to why intelligent, well-educated people, smoke despite a wealth of evidence showing smoking kills. That phenomenon is called The Placebo Effect and is connected with the way the human mind is programmed.

There is no greater power than that of the human mind. Although we increasingly rely on computers, the human mind has a far greater capacity for processing information. It has facilities no computer can match.

I wrote this article using voice recognition software. The computer types the words I speak, and even checks the spelling and grammar. It sometimes even offers suggestions for the completion of a sentence. Over time, it gets better at recognising my voice. Clever - certainly. Impressive - yes. Intelligent - absolutely not!

As yet, no computer is capable of original thought. I believe that when computers acquire the ability to think in ways more like the human brain, then our real problems as humankind will surely begin. Computers will potentially be capable of dominating the world and our lives could change dramatically.

Until that time we need to rely on our own brainpower. It is a fact that we use only a fraction of this power, and if we can learn to use more of the huge potential of our own brains we can achieve many things we might have thought impossible. This includes smoking cessation.

This article is primarily about describing how the human brain works, why individuals begin smoking in the first place and then fail to quit despite dire warnings as to the consequences if they fail to do so. By learning the mechanics of thought we can tap into an enormous, often dormant power and in so doing escape the clutches of nicotine. So what is the Placebo Effect?

During my research I discovered that before each and every medication produced by pharmaceutical companies can be offered for sale it has to be thoroughly tested. One such test is to measure the effectiveness of the medication against a control, known as a placebo. A placebo, in this context, is a medicine, pill or potion that has absolutely no medicinal qualities whatever. In effect, it is a ‘sugar pill.’

It has long been recognised that if a patient truly believes that a pharmacologically inactive substance has an ability to cure, then, amazingly, it can, and often does. Research has shown that the power of the human mind has the ability to make people better. To do so, some change takes place in the brain.

The mind consistently proves that it can control the body. That is why smoking is not only a mental addiction it is a physical one too.

The subconscious part of the brain is like a sponge. It absorbs information uncritically. This is why, when a smoker’s conscious mind initially instructs the brain to performs certain functions, the subconscious sets up a system that puts the required behaviour into a ‘standing order file’. Have a cup of coffee, have a fag, wake up in the morning, have a fag etc. The difficulty for most smokers is that once the subconscious has set up a standing order there has, up until now, been great difficulty in changing that instruction.

Here lies at the root of the problem as to why some people seem to quit smoking with little effort whilst others fight one losing battle of willpower after another.

As you are likely to know nicotine is very addictive. Willpower alone is rarely sufficient to enable a smoker to quit. These were two of the major findings in my research but were of little help in my quest to help people quit smoking. A mayor breakthrough came when I linked those findings to some other research I had embarked on some years before.

Whilst working as a stage hypnotist I had discovered that we can find ways to convince the mind that certain things are true and by doing so we have a route that opens up enormous possibilities. These routes I discovered are in the subconscious.

Quite simply I realised it is possible to directly influence the subconscious – yours and that of other people – by using inert, harmless, placebo-like techniques. With the use of certain procedures I found I could enter the subconscious minds of others and redirect signals used to control human behaviour.

There is a saying ‘It’s easy to stop smoking – I’ve done it hundreds of time’. That was so true for me as a smoker of forty a day. When I thought back to the method I used when I finally quit smoking it was connected to a direct influence I placed in my subconscious.

Let me explain a little more. The subconscious has an enormous influence on our thinking and thence our actions.

The human brain is made up of an estimated 75,000,000,000 nerve cells known as neurons, and each neuron is believed to have up to 100,000 connections, known as synapses, to other neurons. Many of these cells are found in the subconscious part of the brain.

Here is where the problem lays for so many smokers who want to quit but find they are unable to do so. Imagine these neurons and synapses as being similar to junction points found on railway lines. Your conscious mind says ‘Don’t smoke’ whilst the subconscious, which by definition you are not conscious of, continues to pass the message ‘time for a fag I think’.

Having the ability to manipulate those synaptic signals gives some indication as to the Power of Placebo and why redirecting unwanted messages to the mind’s trash bin and then cancelling subconscious standing orders makes such perfect sense.

So now you know why smokers often have so much trouble in quitting smoking. It has little to do with willpower or intelligence and much to do with the need to redirect subconscious signals to the trash bin whilst cancelling standing orders set up years before.

The next stage I suggest is for you to find someone willing and able to carry out the subconscious maintenance that is required and recommended. Visit www.stopspmoking.synthasite.com to learn more.

Motivate and Inspire Conference Audiences

Preparing your talk as a Motivation Speaker

Having established exactly what is required of you as a motivation speaker, you can then begin the task of preparing your presentation. The best method is to find a large table or desk and clear it of any clutter. Clutter causes calamities!

Take a pad of ‘Post-it’ notes (small sheets of note paper with a not-too-sticky glue patch on the rear side) and begin brainstorming - one idea per sheet.

As an example: perhaps, as a motivation speaker, you have been asked to give a talk with the title, ‘How New Improved Widgets Can Power-up Your Profits!’ You already have the title - next you need to think about the aim or objective of the presentation. The client has perhaps stated he wants delegates to leave the conference having acquired two or three key ideas that they can put into practice back in their place of work.

Write the title on a ‘Post-it' and stick it in the middle of the table or desk. Note key ideas on another three notes. You can now start your brainstorming session. Anything connected to your title should be written in brief note form on a ‘Post-it’ and positioned around the title. As you continue the title gets surrounded by other words or phrases describing the object of your talk and its attributes. In this case, it might be New - Improved - Quality - Price Advantage.

During this brainstorming don’t disturb the free flow of your ideas by focusing too much on a particular thought or idea. Just write brief notes, and stick them on your work surface. Getting into an analysis at this stage of whether or not a particular sub-topic should be included stifles the flow of good ideas. By all means try to place your notes next to related ideas so they form groups that represent a particular theme. By the end of your brainstorming session you should have a table covered in ‘Post-its’.

Time to cull

Assuming you have made some order of your ‘Post-it’ ideas, you must then begin culling them. I use the word culling because it can be hard to do away with ideas that you have nurtured. To watch some people perform this phase of the development of a talk you would think they were being asked to sacrifice living creatures! Of course, all you are doing is some objective editing. Get rid of anything that is not central to the objectives of your talk. It has to be done otherwise, all that you achieve will be a talk that clouds important points with an overload of information.

Worse still, as a motivation speaker, you are likely to overrun your allocated time - much to the annoyance of your client, the chairperson for the day, and especially the next speaker, who will have to cut short their presentation because of your inconsideration.

At the same conferences the chairperson will discretely indicate to the motivation speaker how much time is left with a show of fingers. If you overrun your allocated time four fingers drawn across the throat means you are unlikely to be invited to speak at the next conference!

Take an objective look at your notes. Consider the information carefully. If the content is not totally relevant, then remove the note. Discard material that you are not totally comfortable with. Check the agreed title. Does the information remaining on the table lie comfortably in the topic? Are you meeting the aims and objectives of your talk?

If you are unsure whether your client would or would not prefer a particular topic be addressed in your presentation - check. Just one phone call could be the difference between you getting additional work with that particular client in the future, or no!

Creating order

It is now time to create some a degree of order from your ideas. Every conference speech as a motivation speaker should have the same structure. The rule is exactly the same whether you are writing a book, a song or a talk. All talks or presentations must have a beginning, a middle and an end.

Your presentation should flow naturally, like a river on its journey towards the sea. Giving the talk structure aids your delivery, and also improves audience comprehension and enjoyment.

The beginning

The beginning of a talk needs to achieve two things. Firstly, you have to establish audience attention. This can be as simple as introducing yourself, saying how honoured you are to address the meeting. Such pleasantries are familiar and allow the audience to settle down and get used to the sound of your voice. Do not be tempted to try anything dramatic, such as making sudden movements or a loud sound. This is a crude way of grabbing attention and will not win you any friends in the audience. Secondly, you need to spend a few minutes, no more, on something that does not require too much mental agility from your audience. Including a few words on the history of your topic creates interest, covers familiar ground, and allows your listeners to appreciate by contrast how significant current advances are.

By way of example - I once gave a talk on a medical theme, and began by reflecting how only 100 years had passed since depression was being treated by cutting holes into the head of the poor patient to reduce pressure, it was though at the time to allow the escape of undesirable elements and facilitate recovery.

If you had found that fact interesting so probably would your delegates. By developing interest early you start to whet the appetite of your audience and it allows the talk to smoothly flow into the present day.

One last thing about opening your talk - never apologise! It does not matter if you think you have something to apologise about, never do it. If you have arrived a little late, the lighting or microphone has failed, your visual aids are a little poor, or the break-time coffee was cold, leave it to the chairperson to make the apology. You need to start on a positive note and nothing should detract from that.

The middle

The main part of your talk - this is where you ensure that you present the core points. However, this section requires its own special kind of introduction. It even has its own name - the ‘gestalt’. This is a German word for which a rough translation in this context would be ‘overview’. The most common textbook definition of a gestalt is ‘a whole which is larger than the sum of its parts.’

You need to tell the audience, in advance, and in brief summary, what you are about to tell them! It seems a slightly odd thing to do, but people listen better, and retain more, when they have a broad view of the direction you intend to take them.

In practical terms, you are creating an awareness of what is intended, and this awareness allows active co-operation. You will find that any audience reacts badly to a speaker who sets off without giving an overview.

As the bulk of my motivation speaker blog is concerned with how to deliver your talk, I am not going to say much more here other than this: be natural - talk to your audience as if they were your best friends. Of course, you will be using all sorts of presentation skills and techniques, but the point I am making is that the audience should feel that you are addressing each one of them as an individual. Be sure to make eye contact, and see to it that those at the back and the sides get their fair share of your attention.

The very best motivation speakers look as though they are behaving completely naturally - that is their consummate skill. They have learned how to make technique invisible, leaving only the personality and the message to shine through.

The end

Perhaps the most important lesson here is to make certain that you finish within your allocated time. You will have practised your speech, but bear in mind that it always takes longer to deliver for real than it does in front of the bedroom mirror. It is plain bad manners, and very unprofessional, to run over your time.

If there is no clock at the back of the hall, then take your watch off and place it where you can easily see it - on the lectern or table. Make sure that you are not seen to be checking it. Surreptitiously looking at your wristwatch is not the thing to do. You need to appear to be timing your speech as though you are using an internal body clock.

The imminent closing of your speech needs to be signalled to the audience. This gives them a chance to ease down their attention a little, and perhaps, if you intend to allow time for questions, gives them an opportunity to think of something appropriate.

The ending can take several forms. A popular one is to summarise the main points you have made. Another is to tell a little story. This needs to be appropriate and relevant, and if humour is appropriate, this is a good time to use it.

One technique that I use is to end a motivation speaker presentation with some thoughts for the future. This is when you can re-emphasise the points that your client has asked you to be sure to make. By doing a thorough job of getting the agreed aims and objectives across to the audience, you can dramatically increase the likelihood of future repeat work from that particular client.

Beware of falling into the trap of making the ending too long. I have lost count of the number of speakers I have heard who say something like, ‘ . . and in conclusion . .’, only to drivel on for another five or ten minutes.

When you get to the end - stop!

Do not be tempted to use the ending to get over a point you missed, or to say something unrehearsed. Simply thank the audience and the person chairing the event step back, and wait for the applause.

To improve your skills as a motivation speaker I suggest you visit other areas of my website where I offer further advice.

Success – Ten Top Tips

Success – Ten Top Tips


I have one key message in this next blog. Here it is:

When you do what successful people do, you will be successful.

For many years I have worked as a motivational keynote conference speaker with professionals in a range of industries to help them achieve greater success. I have discovered that the communication skills that lead to success in the healthcare or IT industries, for example, are just the same as those in your personal relationships.

If you’re still not sure whether you need to read this article, ask yourself a couple of important questions:

Would you like to be more successful than you are?

Would you invest an hour of your time listening to me giving a motivational and inspirational keynote speech, or spend ten minutes reading this article, if you knew it would help to make you more successful?

Tip one: Model their Behaviour

Research shows that all successful people do much the same things. So, model their behaviour and be like them. Here are three things that successful people do so often that they do so by habit without thinking:

Get your brain used to change

Cross your arms a different way. Tie your laces the wrong way round. Successful people are unafraid of change. Practise.

Write down your ideas

Carry a notepad and pen with you at all times. Use them. Ideas will come to you in the middle of the night, or during a walk, or while you’re working on something else. Write down every idea. Encourage colleagues to do the same. Successful people never waste ideas.

Picture yourself succeeding

Whatever your goal, imagine how you will feel when you achieve it. Where will you be? What will you be wearing? What will people say to you?

Visualisation is a powerful tool for success.

Tip two: Learn to listen

Listen with more than your ears. Listen actively.

Act like a professional listener

Raise your eyebrows now and then. Give little nods. Say ‘I see’. Echo what the other person said. Ask short probing questions using what, why, when, how, where.

Watch out for ‘body-language’

Often, when people are not being honest, their hand tries to cover their mouth. Men wearing glasses take them off, or look down. Women often look up and find an imaginary piece of makeup on their eyelash.

Tip three: Stop ‘trying’

The opposite of ‘succeed’ is not ‘fail’. It’s ‘try’. Eliminating the word ‘try’ from your vocabulary will make you more effective.

Instead of saying ‘I’ll try…’, say ‘I will…’

Sometimes you will find you can’t honestly say that you will do something. This is a sign that you are not committed to doing it. Now you are using ‘meta-language’. If you don’t mean what you say, don’t say it.

Be suspicious of people who say ‘I’ll try’

When someone tells you that he will try, be alert to the likelihood that he may not be able to keep his word or is not committed to the task.

Tip four: Get rid of your gremlin

We all have a gremlin who whispers in our ear and stops us taking chances. ‘You can’t do this,’ it mutters. ‘You’ll never do that.’ Sack your gremlin today.

Contradict your worries immediately

When the little doubting voice whispers in your ear, tell yourself the exact opposite, loud and clear. Like visualisation, saying a thing makes it true.

Let your body educate your brain

Sit up straight. Head high. Shoulders relaxed. Eyes direct. Smile. Your gremlin finds it hard to counteract positive body posture and will eventually fall off your shoulder.

Tip five: How can I do this better?

Successful people never stop asking the question ‘How can I do this better?’ Get used to doing this too.

When you suggest change, your team may assume you’re criticising what they do now. Reassure them by showing that you are also open to change. Challenge everything, however small or obvious.

Take it slow and steady

Roger Bannister conquered the four-minute mile by first running a
quarter-mile in a minute, then a half-mile, and so on. Everyone else was trying to run a whole mile in four minutes. Break down your goals into smaller, achievable chunks and eventually you will get there.

Tip six: Admit your weaknesses

Look at each of the jobs you do. There are some tasks that you don’t enjoy and are not good at. Ask yourself why you are doing them.

Hire an expert

Perhaps you’re saving money. The truth is, because it’s not what you are good at, or what you love to do, you cannot do it as well or as quickly as a person who adores doing that same task. You are wasting your own time and in the long term you are wasting money. Get someone else to do it.

Look around at the others in your team. Everyone has some jobs they are not gifted for, but that must be done. So, offer to swap some tasks around, so that everyone has more of the jobs they excel at. You will all have more time to become successful.

Tip seven: Behaviour breeds behaviour

Family and work colleagues are strongly affected by how you behave. They watch you, and judge your mood, based on how you look. So, consider the message you want to send out, and behave accordingly.

Set a relaxed, creative, happy atmosphere

Smile, say ‘hello’ and make small talk when you go into the office each morning. Come home from work with something positive to say, and ask your partner and family how their days have been.

Dare to be different

Just because ‘everyone’ does something in a certain way, albeit an
inefficient one, doesn’t mean that you have to do it that way too. Be daring. Break the mould now and again.

Tip eight: Imagination

Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge. He had no rockets on which to test his new Theory of Relativity, so he used his imagination.

Give your imagination room to roam

Have regular ‘down time’.

Go for a walk in the park.

Chat with a colleague at the water-cooler.

Take the long way back from lunch for once.

Get used to encouraging your mind to roam.

Value every idea you have.

Write down things that other people say that strike you as clever or
insightful.

Tip nine: Take action

‘Being successful’ is not in itself the objective. Think about what you will have, and what you will be able to do, once you are successful. Instead of thinking ‘I want to be rich’, think what having money will buy you, such as a new car or two holidays abroad a year.

Make your goals real to you. Research shows that people who write down their goals are more likely to succeed than those who don’t. Write yours down, be specific, and mean them.

Set out on the path to success

Look at your written goals, and work backwards towards the present day. What achievable steps could you take to reach your objectives? Write those down too.

Tip ten: Behave like a successful person

When you ride a bike, and look too hard at the one pothole in the road, you will ride straight into it. If, instead, you concentrate on the rest of the smooth road, you will miss the hole completely. Be careful where your negative thoughts may take you.

Keep success in mind

Whatever you think about, you get. Decide not to even consider failure any more, or that might be just what you end up with. Always rehearse successful scenarios in your mind, in vivid colour, and in real time, starring yourself as the successful person.

Keep score

Give yourself credit when things go your way. When they don’t, ask: ‘How can I make this better in future?’ Revisit your written objectives now and then, and cross off the steps you’ve already taken.

I wish you every success.