Guest Post I picked up from a LinkedIn Group I belong to.  This is about $80,000 worth of Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey and Brian Tracy in 10 lines.

FYI - You may find a copy of this printed out and displayed on my bathroom mirror!!!  Great stuff John, thanks!

P.S. If you’d like to reuse it, John only asks you provide a link to his Goal Setting for Students website.

This is one of our monthly Teaching Moments aimed at helping students succeed. Feel free to reprint it, we simply ask for a link to the www.GoalSettingForStudents.com website.
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There will be challenges along the way. Here are ten potential roadblocks to look out for:

1. No clear vision - The clearer your vision is of your definition for success, the faster you will achieve it.
2. Fear of failure - Eliminate the Bummer Words - no, never, can’t, won’t, maybe and if.
3. Lack of determination - Turn challenges into a problems that need to be overcome.
4. No action plan - Write a detailed, step-by-step plan of how you will achieve your success. Include a timetable for completion, and place the written strategy where you can read it, every day.
5. Change - You will have to make adjustments in your life to focus on reaching the success you want.
6. Negative thinking - Everyone has some self-doubt. Ask yourself everyday: a). Did I give my best effort to today’s activities? b) Did I move closer to reaching my goals?
7. Lack of enthusiasm - All days are good; some are better than others. You will find enthusiasm is contagious; give some to others.
8. Procrastination - You can have the best plan in the world, but if you don’t take action on it you simply have a dream.
9. Making excuses - Take personal responsibility for your success by eliminating excuses. Avoid blaming others for your lack of effort.
10. Learn from your mistakes - Successful people learn valuable life lessons from their mistakes.

These roadblocks can actually become stepping stones to your success. How? By identifying which ones are holding you back from reaching your goals and diligently working to eliminate them.

Goal Setting For Students

Public Speaking is something I’ve been working on for a couple months now.  I have a DJ Background, so speaking in front of a crowd wasn’t a problem - as long as it was my crowd.  I was finding I would get nervous around certain people and let those spooky chemicals overtake my ability, causing me to ramble, and generally suck.

Amongst the advice I’ve received, and the experience I’ve gained, one of my favorite tips is to not speak, not present, but ‘Work the Room.‘  Let me explain.

Suck Value Speaking

Speeches / Presentations can be boring.  Canned material, canned gestures, scripts, practiced routines are awful.  Routines suck value from your audience expecting them to react to certain moments in your dialogue.  Meh!  You’re a robot!  You’re Teddy Ruxpin!  A crudely designed, damned speaking robot and the audience is your input data process.  You expect them to feed you processes and functions and arrays etc.  I bet you’re getting uncomfortable and bored just reading those last lines!  Ahhh!

Don’t misunderstand me - know your friggin’ material, but Internalize it.  I’ll go on…

We The Audience are Humans - Join Us!
What will get you ahead in most of your interactions will be off-the-cuff, impromptu and quick response / discussions with relaxed, human gestures.  People generally like interesting people.  Be interesting, not robotic!  Speak to the audience at hand, not army of stuffed animals you practiced in front of 100 times.

Picture the Rat Pack, Frank Sinatra, Dean, Sammy etc.  Those guys didn’t present, they worked the room.  They had canned material, songs, jokes, but every time they were on stage it was something different.  People ‘kinda’ knew what to expect, but could never be sure.  They had fun, were interesting, never robotic, and people were captivated!

Be like Frank!

What You Need to Know
Again, first and foremost try to know ’something’ about your material, or at least sound like you do - but for Frank’s sake personalize it.  Let the moment/audience into your world and bring them along with what you’re trying to communicate.  Every audience is different, every audience member will experience your topics in a different way.  What works for one will likely never work for another.

Flip off your Teddy Ruxpin robot switch, be interesting, have fun and work that room Sinatra style!

Random Fortune Cookie Tips

• Say Hi To Everyone You Can, or at least ’shotgun mock’ people in the audience.  (Look in someone’s direction and point / wave like you know them.   You’ll hit someone within that audience section.)
• Act like everyone in the room is your best friend.  You don’t know otherwise.
• Engage people with eye contact.  When stating a point, look directly at someone and walk towards them.
• Pause.  Allow the audience to visualize and experience your topics in their own way.
• Smile.  Loosen up, smile when you’re talking and the room will light up.

INPUT DATA PROCESSING,
–D

Great quote on being a risk-taker and fearless. Zig when others zag!

You are remembered for the rules you break.

John Kinde, is a gifted Corporate speaker, and one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. 

John runs several humor contests on his blog at http://www.humorpower.com.  I recently found my name at the top of a contest!  (I won’t say how long I spent squeezing my ‘humor juices,’ and I’m pretty sure I didn’t promise to pay him off either…)

http://www.humorpower.com/blog/2008/11/joke-contest-creative-humor-writing-4/

LOL,
–D

I’ve taken it upon myself to start studying the teachings of Sun Tzu.  I picked up a this Art of War Book and Card Deck set.  Pretty good stuff.  I study one card a day, and try to memorize it.  I’m hoping within 2-4 months I’ll have all the cards mastered, and ready to apply to day-to-day situations. 

Today’s lesson is as follows:

These are the victories of military lineage. 
They cannot be transmitted in advance. 

AKA - Victory depends on conditions that are always in flux.  The general must recognize a momentary advantage, capturing it as it arises.  Such victories cannot be set aside for future use, nor can they be taught.

Whats this mean to you? 

Go Nuts,
–D