On a recent Saturday run, I was feeling despondent. Here I was far behind the rest of my group, running alone. As adults we hate being bad at stuff. Especially in PUBLIC. My dark mood continued and at one point I wondered should I stop running, as I am not making much progress at all and it has been a year. My thoughts started …
What’s the biggest barrier to becoming a great presenter?
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld says when it comes to a funeral, most people would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy. Anecdotal evidence supports this and suggests that people rate public speaking as one of their top fears. But why? Presenting is a time when you can be at your most vulnerable in your professional life. It’s that moment …
How do you define success?
If you wake up in a pool of blood and it’s yours and you have not been shot, that is not what success looks like, is it? It’s an interesting question, posed by Arianna Huffington, the founder of Huffington Post and an international media icon. Huffington once lived a fast-paced, intense, high-pressure life, but it was taking a toll. After …
For dazzling presentations, smash the fourth wall
In the TV sitcom Modern Family, all the characters at different points speak directly to the camera. They talk to the audience in a break-the-fourth-wall style confessional. The fourth wall is the invisible barrier between the audience and characters in a movie. You physically see the other three walls: one behind the stars, and one on each side. In movies and TV shows …
The winter of my disconnect*
Last December we travelled to Malaysia on holidays with friends. I decided to disconnect completely from technology, so no phone, iPad, laptop, iPod – nothing. The only small luxury I allowed myself was my Kindle. It’s hard to enjoy idle time by a pool without one! Instead of finding this liberating, I found I had a severe case of technology Tourette’s, as …
The World Cup and thinking like a freak
Are you ready to change how you think and make decisions forever? Imagine you are a soccer player and it’s the World Cup final. And it has all come down to one penalty kick, that YOU have to deliver. GULP! Talk about pressure: the whole world watching, the hopes of your nation pinned on you and you know this moment …
What motivates you?
Have you ever wondered why we spend so much time going through our email inboxes, when there are so many other pressing demands on our time? This question intrigues Dr Jason Fox, a leading global motivation strategy and design expert on an epic quest to liberate the world from poorly-designed work (got to love a great quest!) I never expected his …
*Bottom line or flowery?
The world is divided into bottom-line people who are always asking ‘What’s the point?’ and flowery people who want you to paint a picture for them. Point versus paint. As communicators we have our biases. If you are a bottom-line person, you love communicating your point. This feels both right and satisfying to you, but the problem is you risk …
Goldfish moments and how to avoid them?
Two young gold fish were swimming along and they met an older fish, who said “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” One of the young gold fish looks over at the other and said “What the hell is water?” This was a story shared by the late, great David Foster Wallace, a brilliant American writer. Wallace said the point of the fish story …
What gets you out of bed?
Just yesterday morning, the alarm went off and I hit the snooze button, I then had a goose bump moment thinking about what my friend Rachel had just said to me the day before. But before that goose bump moment my mind was racing with a 100 excuses on why staying in bed was a better option than going to …