Category Archives: Uncommon Life Skills

Posted on

I Speak…

once uponSometimes, even the best public speakers or performers find themselves in the worst possible position. They find themselves failing in front of an expectant audience. This blog post is all about the disasters that can befall a public speaker. Let’s hope these things never happen to you.

Losing Your Mind

At some point in time, you’re going to have a senior moment.  It happens to everyone. As our lives move faster and faster, it’s normal that our brains will occasionally get left behind.  What do you do?  The answer is: Wait.  It will seem like forever to you, but it will be only a few seconds in real time.  So wait it out.  The words will come to you.  Your brain will catch up with your mouth.  Just give it time. Sometimes you just need to be calm, kick back, and smile.

Unhappily Being Heckled

This happens more often than you might think. Some people really enjoy making themselves heard. The natural instinct is to avoid a heckler because the whole experience is unpleasant.  But fight the instinct on this one and do the counter-intuitive thing—stand up to the heckler.

Bad, Bad Technology

If you use technology, it will crash.  Seriously. At some point, it will crash. The answer is to have a version of your presentation ready to go – always – that doesn’t depend on technology.  Be prepared to tell good stories without those colorful slides.  Have a Plan B!

Greedy Speakers

Just as you have a non-tech version of your talk ready to go, you should also have a short version ready to go for the inevitable time when the speaker before you simply won’t stop talking.  That allows you to look like a hero for getting the agenda back on track.  In extraordinary circumstances, you can take your time out of the next part of the agenda, but get the conference organizer both to agree to it and announce it.  Otherwise, it’s your fault, and everyone will hate you for keeping them from their lunch. Don’t continue the greedy behavior of the speaker in front of you—change direction and win.

Audience Expectations

Sometimes, you will find yourself in front of an audience smaller than you expected. Be warm and thank them all for coming—then dive in with all your might. If you get a bigger crowd than you expected, try to get people seated as comfortably as possible and then keep eye contact with as many people as you can. If you are faced with a lot of noise—don’t worry—wait until they quiet down and start with a smile.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

Vision Torch Banner1

More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

Download your free sample here

Posted on

I Teach…

once uponThere are many reasons to seek out a life coach—but before you do, you should know a few facts about life coaching. Many people see it as an opportunity to go through therapy without going to see a therapist; others see it as the answer to all their problems—but there are certain realties you have to realize. Let’s take a look at them…

Focus – Life Coaching Allows You to Focus on Yourself

Many people often leave themselves behind. Life coaching actually puts you first, for perhaps the first time.  Life coaching takes the necessary time with you to discover your true values, goals, and talents, and will help you create a plan to fulfilling them. After all, YOU are important! Repeat that to yourself now—YOU ARE IMPORTANT!

Order – Life Coaching Gives You the Opportunity to Get Your Life in Order

In life coaching, you immediately take action. You stop being a person living on the sidelines, letting your life pass you by. A good life coach helps you understand yourself better and helps you to live a life aligned with your morals, values, and core beliefs.  It is NOT long-term psychotherapy. With support and encouragement, YOU are urged to sit in the driver’s seat in your own life. With your coach as your strongest advocate, YOU decide when you have met your goals. Try it!

Professional – Life Coaching Is Unbiased

When you have a life coach, you get to talk through your struggles with someone who is not going to interrupt you or push you towards what they think you should do. A great life coach would never make judgments or criticize your choices, but instead offers suggestions and give you the space and time to think through your challenges and options. Of course, everything you say to your coach will be kept in total confidence. It’s all about you.

Therapy – Life Coaching Is Not Therapy

Life coaching is never about treating mental illness and working through deeply rooted psychological issues. You should seek professional help in those situations. Therapy is great for people with psychological problems that require intervention with a mental health specialist. Life coaching is an empowering process for normal, healthy people to get help making their lives better, happier, and more fulfilled.

Fun – Yes, Life Coaching Can Be Fun

Expect to laugh a lot during your coaching sessions! Sometimes making change can be more than a little scary, but coaching is actually fun and empowering. It feels great to get things out in the open – so you can get clarity and take action.

Accountability- Life Coaches Hold You Responsible for Yourself

If you’re feeling negative and lacking in motivation, your coach will help you challenge limiting assumptions and beliefs you may have about yourself and the situations you find yourself in.  He or she will help you work through the issues that are preventing you from moving forward and, above all, keep you focused on your goals!

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

Vision Torch Banner1

More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

Download your free sample here

Posted on

I Speak…

fearsThe biggest factor holding many would-be public speakers back is fear. Fear is a deciding factor—and this article is all about taming that fear to your advantage. While some readers are conquered by their fear and make grievous mistakes, others can channel their fear and become outstanding public speakers. Here’s how…

Embrace Your Nervousness

All you have to do is admit that you are a little bit nervous speaking to your audience. When you do this, the audience will be more forgiving if your nervousness shows up later on. More importantly, you will feel more relaxed now that they are not expecting a world-class presentation. Imagine their surprise when you give them the best presentation ever despite your nervousness. One of the best ways to allow your audience in on your fear is to joke about it. Try starting your speech with a joke about how nervous you are. It may just be the deciding factor.

Make Mistakes Intentionally

This is another tip I would encourage. The idea is to gain control of your audience. If you can make them laugh and be more interactive with you, your presentation will have that casual feel to it, which will make it memorable. Ultimately, you will find it easier to do. Try it to see if it works for you.

Redefine Your Audience

Redefining your audience generally means changing how you see your audience. Instead of seeing them as lecturers who are evaluating you, maybe you can convince yourself that they are all fellow students who are waiting to present after you. They are all equally nervous, so there is no reason why you should be, too.

Use Visual Aids As Much As You Can

Imagine a presentation with beautiful slide presentations and even more impressive notes given to each of your audience members. Most of the time, their attention will not be on you. They will read through the notes and watch your presentation. This will help a lot as you can then speak to the people who are not looking at you. When they look at you, you just change your focus to other people who are not looking. Giving a speech to people who are not looking at you is always easier. It’s just like taking a Skype call.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

Vision Torch Banner1

More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

Download your free sample here

Posted on

I Teach…

coachIn this latest post about life coaching, I would like to cover some of the ways a life coach can help you. We often hear people talking about life coaches, and we have a vague idea about their job—but what can they actually help you with?

Becoming Motivated

Sometimes, when we least expect it, life throws a punch at us that hits us square in the jaw. We lose our jobs, our houses, our pets, we lose a loved one, we fall into old, bad habits, we sink into depression, and so on. And if left alone, it could take years – if ever – to get back to our old, awesome selves again. That’s where your life coach can help. They’re your #1 fan and will jump in to motivate you out of your depression and bring you back to the world of the living.

Everyone Needs a Purpose

Life coaches know that finding one’s purpose isn’t something that requires meditating for endless years. Rather, they know that an individual’s true purpose comes from a special combination of their hidden talents and passions. A life coach can help you uncover those talents and passions that will then reveal to you your true purpose in life. That true purpose will bring you happiness by the bushel.

Planning Your Life

Sometimes, we see or hear about other people’s success stories, and we can’t help but become jealous. Other times, we see our friends on social media posting pictures of their exotic vacation, and we get depressed. And yet at other times, we yearn to simply be ourselves. What a mess.

Your life coach will help you to cut through all that noise and concentrate on what you really want in life. They’ll help you identify those unnecessary wants and desires in your life, and you’ll be able to concentrate on the goals and dreams that will make you happy!

C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-C-E

Whatever it is you do, or want to do, with your life, you’ll do it better and with more enjoyment when you’re feeling confident. The opposite is also true – even the simplest tasks can be outright terrifying when you don’t have the confidence in your skills that you need. Life coaches understand this better than anyone else. Your life coach will be able to help you solve any self-esteem issues that you may have. They will help guide you, and just as importantly, they will be helping you acknowledge and celebrate the successes you have as you travel along your journey. These little successes will give you the confidence to conquer even the greatest obstacles in your path.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

Vision Torch Banner1

More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

Download your free sample here

Posted on

Learn The True Power of #Hashtags This Warrior Wednesday!

once uponTo be a true entrepreneur, you have to keep yourself ahead of the trends, and that’s part of what our Warrior Wednesday is about. We want to inspire you to achieve the very best you can, and we want to give you many of the tools that you will need to get there. This week, I’d like for us to continue looking at #hashtags. In recent years, the #hashtag has become important to marketers at every stage. Some of the biggest companies in the world have used #hashtags to the greatest effect on #Twitter.

Let’s see how they did it…

#TweetFromTheSeat—Charmin

Just to prove that even a mundane company like Charmin can compete—we are going to start this list with one of their most successful campaigns. This is a prime example of a company really getting to grips with their product—and it was surprising to see such innovation from a toilet paper manufacturer like Charmin. The tissue company broke out of its ‘boring’ niche with the campaign #TweetFromTheSeat, which had people use that hashtag when they were, well… most likely to use it.

#PutACanOnIt—Red Bull

Recently popular drink company Red Bull came away with the prestigious “Best Use of a Hashtag” Shorty Award with its #PutACanOnIt campaign. Though the hashtag was created by Red Bull, it was inspired by a photo the company found on Twitter wherein the photographer is seen holding a Red Bull can above a Mini Cooper to make it look as though it was a trademarked Red Bull car.

#OreoHorrorStories—Oreo

Oreo, a company notorious for a fantastic social media presence, really outdid itself when it created one of the most fun Halloween hashtags of all time. The cookie company created quick, Oreo-themed parodies of popular horror films. This campaign helped the company maintain their position with today’s buyers.

#ShareaCoke—Coca Cola

Coca Cola has had some seriously amazing marketing initiatives over the years. From the classic “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke”—all the way through to the Twitter age. One of the best examples of their advertising genius in the modern world is the unique way they rigged their vending machines to interact with customers.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

Vision Torch Banner1

More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

Download your free sample here

Posted on

Publishing Your Book: Websites That Help Promote Books: Part Ten

once uponAfter writing a book, many people want to know how one goes about publishing a book. A well-known author once said recently that “it’s no great feat to get one’s book published—it’s no great mountain to climb.” He is right, but his opinion is subjective. To you, reading this blog, it is a huge mountain to climb to get your book published. There are many paths you can take up that mountain, but it is still a huge feat.

This week, I would like to look at some of the places you can list your book for free to get noticed. These five sites have been proven to be some of the most effective free promotion in the book world. But even with these sites there are some ups and downs. The downside is that you will still be fighting for places on these sites with thousands of other authors. The upside is that once you get listed on these sites they may well help you create sales.

All of these sites give your book potential—the potential to get a huge dose of publicity and a run of strong paid sales. These paid sales will drive your rankings and will turn into more sales. People always say that the free stuff isn’t worth it—but sometimes it is.

Addicted to eBooks

This website is perfect for readers who love cheaper books. The website also allows authors to rate some of the content of their book. If you want to know the level of sexual, violent or rude content before you buy a book, this site will appeal to you. I’m excited that authors can now rate their books for the readers.

Author Marketing Club

One of the best resources for writers. You don’t have to chase around the internet trying to find sites to submit to. You can just go to the Author Marketing Club and see which sites are available to use.

Books on the Knob

Bargain reads, free ebooks and book reviews for the Amazon Kindle, nook, Kobo, Sony and other ereaders, Kindle Fire, nookColor, Kobo Vox, and other tablets, along with some games and other stuff. A useful site for authors to know about.

Digital Book Today

Includes both free and paid options for writers looking to promote. A great place to promote your book, and a place that you may have to work to get into—but once you are, you’ll reap the rewards.

eBooks Habit

Each day, this site brings you 20-30 great ebooks that are free at the time of posting, as well as some bargain ebooks with reduced prices. If you have a promotion going on—a free giveaway, etc.—then this may be the site for you.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

Vision Torch Banner1

More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

Download your free sample here

Posted on

Learn How To Use #Hashtags This Warrior Wednesday!

fear11To be a true entrepreneur, you have to keep yourself ahead of the trends, and that’s part of what our Warrior Wednesday is about. We want to inspire you to achieve the very best you can, and we want to give you many of the tools that you will need to get there. This week, I’d like to look at one of the most puzzling aspects of modern business. Hashtags. If you are thinking about setting up your own business, building your own brand and succeeding where others have failed, you will need to master this very important cataloguing tool.

Let’s take a closer look at why hashtags are important and what they do…

Business and Marketing

Many major brands now have Twitter accounts, and some choose to create hashtags to promote specific events or campaigns. If you want to use Twitter as part of your business strategy, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Consolidate your tweets: Choose a specific account that will represent your brand or business. Set up a business account, or designate one employee to tweet on behalf of the company. That way, users can find all of your tweets in one place.

Use relevant hashtags: See which hashtags other businesses in your field are using. If you’re promoting cheap airfare, you will want to use hashtags like #CheapTravel and #FlightDeals so users will find you when they search for those keywords.

Follow trends: See what hashtags are trending and make use of them — if they are relevant to your business. Using a popular hashtag that has nothing to do with your brand (for example, including #MileyCyrus in a tweet about cheap airfare) makes you look like a spammer and will hurt your credibility.

Create your own hashtag: If you want to create a special hashtag for an event or campaign, select one that hasn’t been used before and remind everyone to use it in related tweets. Be sure to include the hashtag in any promotional materials. Make it informative but short — for example, Mashable uses #MashReads to talk about writers who visit their HQ.

Generate buzz: Creating a contest, raffle or promotion is a great way to get Twitter talking about your brand. Users will be more likely to retweet your hashtags if they know they might win a prize by doing so. For instance, if you’re promoting a new confectionery shop called Candy Land, get Twitter buzzing by offering free treats to users who tweet #CandyLandPromo.

Remember, your hashtag’s visibility will depend on your privacy settings. If your Twitter account is private, only those authorized to see your tweets will have access to your hashtags. If you are using hashtags to increase your brand’s exposure, make sure your tweets are set to Public.

Twitter has a helpful list of best practices for using hashtags, but here are three key tips for all users:
Be specific: If you’re using a hashtag to join a conversation, make sure the hashtag is specific and relevant to your topic. If you’re talking about Obama’s healthcare plan, use #Obamacare instead of simply #Obama. A vague or generic hashtag like #health or #opinion isn’t effective, either.

Keep it simple: Hashtags, like links, look like spam if they are used too often. Three hashtags should be the maximum on Twitter and Facebook, but you can get away with more hashtags on Instagram and Vine. And don’t hashtag the same word twice (“#Gravity is a great movie! Everybody go see #Gravity”). It’s #redundant.

Give context: A tweet that contains only hashtags is not only confusing — it’s boring. If your tweet simply reads “#happy,” your followers will have no idea what you’re talking about. Similarly, if you tweet “#BreakingBad is #awesome,” you’re not really adding much to the conversation.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

Vision Torch Banner1

More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

Download your free sample here

Posted on

Publishing Your Book: Covers: Part Nine

fear1After writing a book, many people want to know how one goes about publishing a book. A well-known author once said recently that “it’s no great feat to get one’s book published—it’s no great mountain to climb.” He is right, but his opinion is subjective. To you, reading this blog, it is a huge mountain to climb to get your book published. There are many paths you can take up that mountain, but it is still a huge feat.

This week we are going to look at getting your paperback onto the market. In the modern publishing world, it has become common for authors to forget all about paperbacks—but whatever form of publishing you take, the good, old-fashioned paperback will be available to you. Let’s take a look at two of the major platforms.

Createspace

Createspace is actually the easiest platform you can use to get paperbacks onto the market for free. All you need to do is carefully look at their formatting guidelines and follow their cover design rules. It is possible to upload your book to Createspace within a few hours and have it on the market 12 hours later. The book will be made available on Amazon worldwide, and the quality of Createspace books rates well. Createspace also take care of ISBNs and barcodes, so you won’t need to buy them separately. It is possible to print picture books using Createspace, and through creative formatting, you can find a template on Createspace to fit almost any style of book you can think of.

IngramSpark

A more difficult platform than Createspace, IngramSpark allows you to upload your book, and for a fee, you can make it available for purchase through a multitude of platforms. Ingram is one of the easiest of the professional book platforms—but people new to it may want to track down a formatting expert to help them upload their book. With IngramSpark, you will need to purchase your own ISBN and your own barcode. Books cannot be published without them. You can do a variety of books through Ingramspark including picture books, cook books, and their image print quality is extremely high. One of the major downsides to Ingram is that you will need to pay a fee each time you re-upload the book, so it is advisable for you to carefully check your book before you upload it so you don’t incur more fees than necessary.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

Vision Torch Banner1

More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

Download your free sample here

 

Posted on

Let Your Worries Go with the Wind on Warrior Wednesday…

fear11“Let it all go and just look to achieve… look be at peace with yourself, make your warrior Wednesday the best day of your week!”

Living in the modern world isn’t easy. Your whole life may feel like it is exploding around you on a daily basis. The constant demands on your time, energy and finances can be more than you can bear. Obstacles, roadblocks, arguments, problems and people are all things that lead to stress. This week, I want to talk about ways to relieve yourself of these everyday stresses that will stop you from achieving your dreams.  Kick back, forget about the world and its problems, and indulge in the things you love.

Become Addicted to Reading

Picking up a book allows you to get away — without even leaving your room. Take this time to learn about any topic you wish, including whatever it is that’s causing your current stress. You can gain insight, advice and peace of mind by reading. If you need some good suggestions, check out this list.

Write Off Your Stress

Writing is something that many of us don’t do on a daily basis anymore. Yet many people believe that it’s one of the most powerful exercises to success.  Experts believe that writing can help you better understand any dilemma or situation. Why don’t you pick up a diary and start jotting down your problems? You may find that the answers come to you easier with the problem on paper.

Exercise Yourself to Health

You’ve probably been told this a thousand times. Exercise is a good way to relieve stress. You can literally lose yourself in something so consuming. Time can fly when you are at the gym. From working moms to billionaires, the gym has been a proven stress reliever for everyone.

Relaxation and Meditation

One of the most amazing ways to destress is to meditate. You can remove yourself from everything going on around you and truly relax. Meditation has been proven to help remove stress, focus your mind and to help you see clearly. Give it a try!

Dump Technology

Every single person on this planet seems to be obsessed with their email, Facebook, Twitter, and the internet. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to really relieve yourself from stress until you remove technology from the equation. Try to switch off all the devices and spend some time in the real world, away from problems, clients and all the other things that stress you out. You’ll find yourself unwinding soon after unplugging!

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

Vision Torch Banner1

More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

Download your free sample here

Posted on

Holding Back the Fears: Conquering Fears — Part 15

fear11The only thing normally holding many people back—and away from their dreams—is themselves. They suffer from terrible fears when they try to better their lives. Inner fears like frustration, failure and lack of confidence allow some to be talked out of success by their own demons. These fears control the lives of many people but can be conquered. This new series of blog articles is all about fears that will hold you back—and how to conquer them. This week we are going to take a look at Hypnophobia, a crippling fear that can stop you reaching your full potential, and can even stop you from living a normal, everyday life.

Hypnophobia, clinophobia or somniphobia, as the condition is often called, is the irrational and excessive fear of sleep. It may result from a feeling of loss of control, or from repeating nightmares or anxiety over the loss of time that could be spent accomplishing tasks or maximizing leisure time instead of sleeping.

Recognizing Your Phobia

Hypnophobia, known as fear of sleep and fear of being hypnotized, can significantly impact the quality of life. It can cause panic attacks and is often defined as an abnormal, persistent and unwarranted fear of sleep or being hypnotized. Rapid breathing, shortness of breath, sweating, feelings of dread and nausea are all symptoms of hypnophobia. Every year, hypnophobia causes distress to countless people. Most hypnophobia therapies take months or years, and sometimes require the patient to be exposed repeatedly to their fear. Therefore, it makes the condition even worse.

Focus

Focusing on your mind can tell you a lot about your fears. The way you describe things that happen to yourself inside your own head can be very telling. What really scares you about sleep? Try to focus and discover what the problem is. Are you afraid of nightmares? Do you think you won’t wake up? Do you feel it’s wasted time? Once you know the problem, you can start to fix it.

Relax and Breathe

Try heading to bed with a book. Lie on your bed until you begin to get drowsy and linger in a state of drowsiness. You are not asleep, yet not awake. But is there anything scaring you? Try to take notice of the world around you while you are in that state. If you start to feel uncomfortable—open your eyes. You can leave at any time.

The Positive

Singing your favorite song, watching your favorite movie, spending time with your friends, family and loved ones can all put you in a positive frame of mind. Perhaps organize a sleepover with friends who will be at your side throughout the process of sleep. If you can’t do it alone, do it with others—that is, after all, what friends are for.

A Positive Spin

Waking up all refreshed, relaxed and happy can be the end result of sleep—you know that. Why don’t you try giving sleep a positive spin? Tell yourself all the reasons why you should enjoy sleep, and try to keep them in mind—sleep is an enjoyable thing. Just try telling yourself that it is.

YOUR VISION TORCH Series
Achieve Your Dreams, Ignite Your Vision, & Re-engineer Your Life Purpose

AVAILABLE: amazonbarnes and noble   

Vision Torch Banner1

More blog articles at www.yourinneryou.com
Dear Princess Column at: www.sentimentalnursewriter.com

Download your free sample here