Change is as good as a Rest

Attended speaker training today and we were looking at how humour can be used to convey a story.  Now, my normal story is quite emotional, so I decided to do something totally different, which also had a good deal of humour in it already.  It was really refreshing to tell something else and it made me think of the possibilities of that.  You have so many stories you can tell.  Yes the sad ones can be very emotive, but the funny ones have their place too.  A funny story can raise the energy levels and build a rapport between you and your audience.  A funny story doesn't have to be complicated and it can carry a simple message.  There are so many possibilities to be explored.  The good thing is in a training environment you can test ideas and see how they are received and it is exciting when you see positive reactions.

Inspirational Women 6 Oprah Winfrey

Being born into poverty has not stopped Oprah Winfrey becoming North America's first multi billionaire black person being ranked the richest African-American and the greatest black philanthropist in American history. She is a media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. I see her as an inspirational woman to all women of all colours. She just reaches out to so many people and proves being black and a woman does not stop you from being amazing. Go Oprah.

Inspirational Women 5 J K Rowling

If you've not heard of J. K. Rowling then where have you been? British novelist and screenwriter who wrote the Harry Potter fantasy series.  The books have won multiple awards, and have sold more than 400 million copies making them the best-selling book series in history. The books became the basis for a series of films that Rowling had overall approval on the scripts and was a producer on the final films in the series. Not content with writing under her own name Rowling also writes under the name of Robert Galbraith. She like many started out with nothing but an idea and a great deal of determination. Her journey has seen her become one of the most power women entrepreneurs as described by Forbes. Quite an achievement and her rags to riches story is an inspiration to us all.

Inspirational Women 5 Arianna Huggington

One of the founders of the The Huffington Post now known as the Huff Post an American news and opinion website and blog that now has both localised and international editions that offer news, satire, blogs, and original content and covers politics, business, entertainment, environment, technology, popular media, lifestyle, culture, comedy, healthy living, women's interests, and local news. Arianna Huffington understood the power of media and used it to her advantage to make a very successful business.

Inspirational Women 4 Tory Burch

Today's inspirational woman is Tory Tory Burch an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist, who has been listed as one of the most powerful women in the world by Forbes.  Her Empire just keeps on growing, she is amazing.

Inspirational Women 3 Cher Wang

The inspirational woman I have chosen today is Cher Wang an entrepreneur and philanthropist co-founder and chairperson of HTC Corporation (which manufactured one out of every six smartphones sold in the United States) and integrated chipset maker VIA Technologies. She is considered one of the most powerful and successful women in technology. Wang has been listed in Forbes as one of the most powerful Women in the world.  Her achievement is even more impressive when you consider technology is considered to be a very male domain and yet she has not let that her stop her.

Inspirational Women 2 Rebecca Minkoff

My inspirational woman today is Rebecca Minkoff who built her own clothing and accessory company using using social media and influencer marketing to target young women on a personal level.  Minkoff really understands the power of social media to connect and has used this to great effect and good for her for doing that!

Inspirational Women 1 Sara Blakely

You may or may not know many inspirational people and often when you think of successful business people you may think of men.  It's easy to forget that there are some incredibly successful women out there too.  Take Sara Blakely for instance.  Sara is an American billionaire businesswoman, and founder of Spanx, making the largest selection of slimming intimates, body shapers, hosiery, apparel, and the latest innovations in shapewear for men and women.  So you have a woman to thank for those crazy undergarments you put on to make your outfits look great.  

Don't give up?

Have you ever felt like giving up on something because it has become too hard to continue or it seems that there are unsurmountable obstacles in your way that you don't know how to overcome?  There is no easy solution to some problems, but if you give up you will never know if it was worth it to see it through to the end.  Giving up now may seem easy, but you have to keep telling yourself to keep pushing forward and get the job done.

Who inspires you?

It is easy when looking for inspirational people to think of the obvious ones.  I'm sure many people will have heard of Richard Branson for instance and yes he's a very very rich man, but inspiration doesn't have to come from people like that.  There are so many creative, inspirational people out there that have done amazing things so I have decided to talk about women entrepreneurs who have created successful businesses in my up coming posts.  You may wonder why women?  Well, men seem to shout their successes from the rooftops and you probably think of men more when you think of business.  It's nice to hear about some other successful people and as a woman myself it seemed apt to talk about women that have made their business into successful ones.

Do you want to be an Expert Speaker?

Have you ever listened to a talk or speech by someone that should have been really interesting, but just wasn't?  Have you ever delivered a speech where you knew you didn't perform very well or even worse were boring?  Would you like to be able to deliver powerful and meaningful speeches?

The ability to talk well does not necessarily have to be a gift.  Learning the right systems and steps, practicing and refining them will make you into a competent and authoritative speaker.  Yes you have to believe in yourself, and yes you need to have something of value to share, but in truth the most knowledgable people do not necessarily make the best speakers.  If you had a system you could follow that would help you to consistently deliver good speeches wouldn't you want to know it?

As an Ambassador for Unlimited Success here in Peterborough in the UK, I have access to some fantastic courses each worth £1395 + VAT.  One of them is Expert Speaker Discovery where you learn an amazing system that will help you to be a better speaker.  I myself have used this very system to gain more customers for my business. Maybe you have to give presentations or talks for your job and you feel you need more confidence.  Maybe you're aiming for that dream job and want to expand your skill sets.  Whatever the reason ESD is a fantastic tool that will take your public and professional speaking to a whole new level.  Maybe you just want to do something for yourself and your own personal development.

If you're interested in taking action for yourself now, then get in touch with me and let's see what can be done.  

How do you deal with other people's mess?

You ever had it when someone dumps their mess onto you?  How do you feel?  Angry, frustrated, pissed off?  How do you deal with that?  Sometimes you just have to be practical.  Sort the problem.  Then work out how you can stop the same situation arising again.

Thank you

I don't know why you read this, but I hope you find some value in my ramblings.  Seriously though, thank you for taking the time to read this, I'm humbled.

How do you manage Pain?

Have you ever been in pain?  You may have found it very consuming because it was all you could think about.  How did you cope with that?  Pain affects different people in different ways and your pain threshold may be higher or lower to the next person.  Does that make your pain any more or less important?  Of course not, but how you deal with any problem will define you.  Do you get on with life or do you just stop?  Does your pain define who you are?  What can you do about that?  Have you got coping strategies?  There are people that live with pain and get on with their lives, while there are people that are ruled by their pain and this stops them living their lives to the full. Which one is you?  Can you change that?  It's something to think about.

Final words...

If you only had one final thing to say on social media what would it be?...

Subject: Teacher Arrested

I was sent this and it's all true.  Whenever I did maths at school it turned into a crazy puzzle involving a Donkey tethered in a field, a tree, the sun and a random carrot.  I never understood it either.

A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide-rule and a calculator.

At a morning press conference, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement.

He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of maths instruction.

...Al-Gebra is a problem for us', the Attorney General said. 'They derive solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute values.' They use secret code names like "X" and "Y" and refer to themselves as "unknowns" but we have determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country.

As the Greek philosopher Isosceles used to say, "There are 3 sides to every triangle."

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Trump said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, he would have given us more fingers and toes."

White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the President.

Start again

There have been a number of changes of late, which has has affected my blog.  I am hoping that soon it will be changing again to a new format that will be more consistent.  Have you ever had to change something in your life?  How did that make you feel?  Sometimes it can feel like a long hard slog or too much hard work to change something.  You just have to keep your focus and trust that it will all be worth it in the end.

Do something Different

Whatever you do today, try and do something different.  You may get caught up in a routine or in the humdrum nature of your day.  Think about what you can change and do something to make that change.

Remember Remember the 5th of November

There have been lots of fireworks going off here in the UK as people remember the plot to blow up parliament by disgruntled Roman Catholics using 36 barrels of gunpowder during the state opening in 1605.  The explosives man was Guy Fawkes, who was caught red handed after a tip off.  He was tortured for his part in it and hung drawn and quartered after.  There is a rhyme to remember the event by and here is a version of it.

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November
Gunpowder treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
To blow up the King and the Parliament
Three score barrels of powder below
Poor old England to overthrow
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match
Holler boys, holler boys, let the bells ring
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the King!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope
A farthing o' cheese to choke him
A pint of beer to rinse it down
A faggot of sticks to burn him
Burn him in a tub of tar
Burn him like a blazing star
Burn his body from his head
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!

Source

Fireworks

There are lots of bangs going on here as in the UK it is coming up to Bonfire Night (5th November).  There are firework displays all round the country as people remember this extraordinary event in our history.  Now I'll be honest.  It's great to go out and oo and ah at some fireworks, but in truth it's also nice to stay in the warm and dry with a cup of hot chocolate.

Learning

I have been on a course and have one more day to go.  It has meant getting up early, a long drive and a lot of thought provoking information.  What lengths will you go to to learn something new?  More importantly how will you start utilising that new knowledge in your life?

What word describes you?

Have you ever asked yourself what word or words best describe you?  Even better have you asked other people what words best describe you?  You may find the answers you receive to be revealing and surprising.