what if someone falls asleep when I'm speaking????
Oct 06, 2018
I want to tell you a story I shared recently on Facebook Live about how we get inside our own heads .. about the power of beliefs and how they are formed. I think it's so applicable to speaking, and to every area of our life.
I was speaking in Iceland a number of years ago, and someone fell asleep in the audience while I was speaking! (I know, right?)
I want you to take a moment to consider the layers of meaning we assign to a situation like this.
“When I was speaking, someone fell asleep”
Now this was true, as far as I can tell. She was slumped over, leaning on the person next to her, looked like she was drooling a little. She was out. She was asleep. So I feel comfortable stating the above as a fact. This is true.
But we don’t stop there, do we? When we observe things in the world, we apply meaning all the time. So, we don’t just say “When I was speaking, someone fell asleep” - we assign or infer more meaning. We might say to ourselves:
...
Finding Your Way Back To Your Story
Aug 09, 2018
It's been a wonderful and crazy week here in Orlando for the John Maxwell Team event. I've been honored to serve 3000+ members for these past 4 days.
I wondered what story I could share with you this week and I decided I would pinch my lovely wife Susan's thoughts she shared on her blog yesterday (you can read the entire post here). See what you think ..
The speaker training "stage time" experience here at the International Maxwell Certification is... nuts. Observing the whole process from start to finish, you see the hard work - the blood, sweat and tears that go into creating a truly memorable speech for the audience. The disappointment if not selected, sometimes the anger - normally borne out of some shame or fear around not being chosen... You see the elation of those that worked so hard, perhaps not being selected 1, 2 or 3 times and when it's finally their moment - they completely nail their presentation... so much so, it seems almost "effortless".
One of the...
R.I.P. Bun
Nov 28, 2016
Facebook memories are great aren’t they? I don’t know about you, but I sure find it scary how quickly time flies when I look at those memories!
Today’s memory on Susan’s Facebook was from a year ago today. Amelie’s rabbit was poorly and so we had to take her to the vets.
She had two rabbits in a hutch in the garden and it turned out they were escape artists! They would get out and run around the garden. We have a lot of wild rabbits in the garden to they would try and play with them. Unfortunately the wild rabbits aren’t as friendly and they would attack Amelie’s rabbits. Although it was disturbing to watch white fluff flying everywhere as they scrabbled over one another, no real harm ever appeared to be done.
The wild rabbits suffer from myxomatosis periodically throughout the year and so when Bun started having problems with her eyes, we worried that she might have caught it.
After about a week it was getting worse and worse and so we took...
Today’s memory on Susan’s Facebook was from a year ago today. Amelie’s rabbit was poorly and so we had to take her to the vets.
She had two rabbits in a hutch in the garden and it turned out they were escape artists! They would get out and run around the garden. We have a lot of wild rabbits in the garden to they would try and play with them. Unfortunately the wild rabbits aren’t as friendly and they would attack Amelie’s rabbits. Although it was disturbing to watch white fluff flying everywhere as they scrabbled over one another, no real harm ever appeared to be done.
The wild rabbits suffer from myxomatosis periodically throughout the year and so when Bun started having problems with her eyes, we worried that she might have caught it.
After about a week it was getting worse and worse and so we took...
Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 23, 2016
As I promised in yesterday’s story, here is a small token of our appreciation for you. I finally got Susan’s approval to send it out! (Big love for Lane Jones who magicked up a graphic for it today!)
If you are not familiar with any of the existing MindPowerment programs, they are relaxation and guided imagery audio programs with embedded suggestions for general health and wellbeing. They are simple to use but make sure you read the instructions and warnings. For the avoidance of doubt, do not listen to this message while you are driving or operating machinery or at any time when you need to be fully alert!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families. We are so grateful for so many things including you! Thanks for being a part of our world. Enjoy your day tomorrow.
Here's PowerNap 18 just for you! https://www.roddygalbraith.com/p/powernap18
If you are not familiar with any of the existing MindPowerment programs, they are relaxation and guided imagery audio programs with embedded suggestions for general health and wellbeing. They are simple to use but make sure you read the instructions and warnings. For the avoidance of doubt, do not listen to this message while you are driving or operating machinery or at any time when you need to be fully alert!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families. We are so grateful for so many things including you! Thanks for being a part of our world. Enjoy your day tomorrow.
Here's PowerNap 18 just for you! https://www.roddygalbraith.com/p/powernap18
Until next time ..
You do the thing .. then you get the energy to do the thing
Nov 22, 2016
‘What are you doing your story on today?’ Susan asked me at about 5pm UK time today.
‘I’m not sure’ I said, ‘I have two possible ideas, I thought I’d do one today and one tomorrow.’
‘You’re not doing one tomorrow, it’s ThanksGiving this week!’ she said. ‘You’ve got to send everyone a gift tomorrow.’
‘What do you mean?! What sort of gift?’ (I am a planner, and a preparer .. I can't properly express how alarming this idea was to me today!!!)
‘I’m not sure yet, something personal. Something that you create specially for them, but something that is relevant to everyone.’ she said.
‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know, but you’ll think of something!’ she said smiling.
About 10 minutes later I said ‘How about a PowerNap MindPowerment MP3, I’ve been wanting to do a Powernap series for ages.’
‘No, something everyone...
God only requires that you try
Nov 21, 2016
I thought we’d do something a bit different today. This is from Go Out And Make A Mess where I tried to use the words, mainly paraphrased, of some of the greatest contributors to personal growth .. so most of it is not mine, but I hope these thoughts inspire you on this Monday evening to have a wonderful week ahead!
***
God doesn’t require us to succeed; He only requires that you try.
~ Mother Teresa (now Saint Teresa of Calcutta)
I used to lay in bed thinking to myself, ‘I wonder what I’m capable of if I really threw myself into something with all my might?’
And it was a comforting thought for a while. It took me away from the humdrum of my daily, disappointing existence; but inevitably I had to return at some point.
The interesting thing was that I somehow thought that the only requirement for my dream life to unfold was for me to be discovered, that someone would spot my genius and then everything would be alright! How can you...
To be wise, you must first be young & stupid
Nov 17, 2016
Driving back from the shops today I took the scenic route home and went through an area called Winter Hill. It’s a beautiful spot, very high up and from the road you can see for miles across the Thames Valley. Ok, it’s not quite the Grand Canyon, but it’s local!
As I drove along the narrow road my mind went back 29 years to an unusually snowy winter.
I normally drove to school with 2 friends, Larry and Alex, and so after picking them up we assessed the weather and decided there was no school for us that day! Instead we went up to the top of Winter Hill with a sledge.
The roads were covered with snow as very little traffic passed along the road. We struggled to get up the hill, but once at the top, the road was flat. I was driving my Mum’s Ford XR2 which was a somewhat sporty, front wheel drive hatch back.
‘I have an idea!’ I said.
‘What?’ said Larry.
‘Why don’t we tie the sledge to the back of the car!’ I was thrilled at my...
As I drove along the narrow road my mind went back 29 years to an unusually snowy winter.
I normally drove to school with 2 friends, Larry and Alex, and so after picking them up we assessed the weather and decided there was no school for us that day! Instead we went up to the top of Winter Hill with a sledge.
The roads were covered with snow as very little traffic passed along the road. We struggled to get up the hill, but once at the top, the road was flat. I was driving my Mum’s Ford XR2 which was a somewhat sporty, front wheel drive hatch back.
‘I have an idea!’ I said.
‘What?’ said Larry.
‘Why don’t we tie the sledge to the back of the car!’ I was thrilled at my...
Offering kindness to strangers
Nov 16, 2016
About 10 years ago and I was on a train leaving London that was very busy. It was difficult to find a seat but after walking through a few carriages I found two seats together by the window - a double seat! I very selfishly sat down in the outside seat hoping that no one would then ask to sit by the window, so I'd have both seats to myself.
I took out my book and started reading.
'Excuse me, can I sit in there?' a curt voice said above me almost immediately.
'Of course!' I said. Then as I looked up I realised it was 'Fish', an old friend that I hadn't seen for a about 5 years.
'I'll scoot over by the window' I said, 'and you can sit here.'
He sat down next to me and we began catching up. It was about 25 minutes to our stop and so we raced through all the usual topics of catchup for the first part of the train journey.
About 10 minutes in, a tall lady with dark hair and glasses squeezed passed a procession of people standing in the aisle and stopped above Fish. 'Excuse me!' she barked.
We...
I took out my book and started reading.
'Excuse me, can I sit in there?' a curt voice said above me almost immediately.
'Of course!' I said. Then as I looked up I realised it was 'Fish', an old friend that I hadn't seen for a about 5 years.
'I'll scoot over by the window' I said, 'and you can sit here.'
He sat down next to me and we began catching up. It was about 25 minutes to our stop and so we raced through all the usual topics of catchup for the first part of the train journey.
About 10 minutes in, a tall lady with dark hair and glasses squeezed passed a procession of people standing in the aisle and stopped above Fish. 'Excuse me!' she barked.
We...
That's 'infotainment'!
Nov 14, 2016
‘Did you see my Brené Brown post?’ Master Ian asked me in between rounds.
(Many of you have heard me talk before about Master Ian before, but for those of you who are new, he’s my boxing coach - twice a week he comes to my office to train me, and today was one of those days.)
‘No, why?’ I said.
‘It was fantastic!’ he said, ‘but it only got 3 likes! I think everyone should read it and think about it, but it just didn’t seem to get much response.’
‘What were you expecting?’
‘Well, the day before, I put a video of my dog choosing which hand the food was in, and LOADS of people liked it and commented on it, it’s still going crazy.’
‘Well that’s just it’ I said, ‘sad but true .. people will give a lot more of their time and attention to entertainment than they will to education! And money too!’
It’s a funny thing but people really will pay more for entertainment...
(Many of you have heard me talk before about Master Ian before, but for those of you who are new, he’s my boxing coach - twice a week he comes to my office to train me, and today was one of those days.)
‘No, why?’ I said.
‘It was fantastic!’ he said, ‘but it only got 3 likes! I think everyone should read it and think about it, but it just didn’t seem to get much response.’
‘What were you expecting?’
‘Well, the day before, I put a video of my dog choosing which hand the food was in, and LOADS of people liked it and commented on it, it’s still going crazy.’
‘Well that’s just it’ I said, ‘sad but true .. people will give a lot more of their time and attention to entertainment than they will to education! And money too!’
It’s a funny thing but people really will pay more for entertainment...
The Dead Eyed Scalder
Nov 11, 2016
Hey [[firstname]],
‘You’ll never guess who just smiled at me in Starbucks!’ Susan said with a big grin on her face, carrying two red cups.
‘Who?’ I said.
‘The Dead-Eyed-Scalder! she said triumphantly.
(We go to Starbucks so often that we know all the people in there and given them sort of affectionate names! It started when one of us would try and describe to the other who had made the coffees: 'The Dead-Eyed-Scalder' got her name because she always made the milk so hot that you couldn’t drink it for 5 minutes, and because she looked so unhappy and disinterested in .. well, everything .. that she had a vacant middle distance stare! It sounds pretty mean actually now that I type it out!!!)
‘Probably just a one off.’ I said.
The next time we went into Starbucks, as we walked up to the counter to order, there she was again and she greeted us with the biggest smile. ‘How are you?’ she beamed.
She chatted away while...
‘Who?’ I said.
‘The Dead-Eyed-Scalder! she said triumphantly.
(We go to Starbucks so often that we know all the people in there and given them sort of affectionate names! It started when one of us would try and describe to the other who had made the coffees: 'The Dead-Eyed-Scalder' got her name because she always made the milk so hot that you couldn’t drink it for 5 minutes, and because she looked so unhappy and disinterested in .. well, everything .. that she had a vacant middle distance stare! It sounds pretty mean actually now that I type it out!!!)
‘Probably just a one off.’ I said.
The next time we went into Starbucks, as we walked up to the counter to order, there she was again and she greeted us with the biggest smile. ‘How are you?’ she beamed.
She chatted away while...
