Google Trends tells me that most people search for my site to get ideas on Words of the Day, so I should not disappoint my potential fans!

Today Word is:

trepidation

It is a noun. It means:

A fearful state; a state of hesitation or concern.

I decided, with considerable trepidation, to like what Cynthia did with The World Champion’s Edge.

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WARNING! There is nothing educational in this post. However, I am working on Darren LaCroix’s Get Paid to Speak by Next Week today, so I might have some inspirations to post about speaking professionally in the next few days.

Taking a break from Get Paid to Speak by Next Week, I logged into Google to check my mail and feed reader. As I was doing so, the Top Recommendations caught my eye. I guess Google thinks I need to start reading my own blog.

I am a superstar in my own mind!

If you are attending the District 40 conference this weekend, I will be attending the Sunday session so look for me and say hi. I will likely be wearing a black suit with no tie and a Champions Edge Pin.

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“We are cutting back on unnecessary expenses.”

“I am just too stressed about my job to come.”

“THEY EXPECT me to be at work more, so I can’t come.”

What excuses have you heard the past few months from your members and potential members?

The Excuses

Excuses, we all have them. What is your excuse for not taking an hour to an hour and a half a week to improve your communication and leadership skills? Do you not have enough time, do you not have enough money, or maybe you just don’t have the energy with the economy and all?

The Reality

The reality is that Toastmasters will not make you a better speaker. Toastmasters will make you a better person. It is a commitment to personal development and that scares some people. To be successful, you have to be willing to take on challenges, take risks, and reap the rewards. So you have to accept that your excuse is not time, it is not money, and it is not really energy, you excuse is that you are scared to change.

The Solution

Even if no one you will ever know what Toastmasters is all about, you are still going to go farther in life because you have been a Toastmasters member. Being in Toastmasters teaches you to change, it teaches you to grow, and it teaches you how to be a better communicator. You might not like that, but if you are committed to taking 100% responsibility for your life and not making excuses, then Toastmasters should be an option.

Why it Makes Sense in a Down Economy

In the 1970’s, Warren Buffet was buying stocks when others were predicting the end of stock markets and trying to sell out. When the stock market recovered, Buffet’s riches grew, because he was doing what others weren’t.

How does this relate to Toastmasters? As the people around you spend less on their education, spend less becoming better speakers, you can be spending the money now, so when the economy improves, you have the skill set to be successful. You will have the base you developed in the lean times to make an impact when times are good.
It is one of the things I find funny about training and research. When a company is doing poorly, they cut back on the one thing that will help them in better times, their people. Why should you be like most people and most companies?

You want to be more successful…right?

Then don’t listen to your fears, spend the time, spend the money, and make yourself a better person today so you don’t have to play catch up when things improved.

I am putting more into Toastmasters because I know that I am getting the experience I need now that will drive me forward faster in the future.

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The simulated click of the camera captured my attention. Sitting in a conference room, a middle aged man in front of me was snapping pictures of the lecture slides. My attention on the presentation was snapped and I was slack jawed. My thoughts were racing, “What is this person doing? Last time I checked, that is not allowed without permission.”

As a blogger and a speaker I was annoyed, because the content in your presentations is your livelihood. When I am presenting at a conference, I am presenting work that is delivered in articles, books, videos, and other mediums. The content presented can take years to develop, and I was shocked that this person was sitting there snapping pictures of the slides without a care for asking permission. How rude!

The effect of this person taking pictures was that others started to do the same. It would seem that one person taking pictures of the lecture slides meant others could do the same. I don’t think that is the case. If the presenter wanted the slides to be public domain, then they would say that they are public domain and make them available, if they do not, then you will have to ask permission before recording anything. That is not only good manners, but in some cases might be legally required.

When you are considering using other’s content; whether it is in print, web, or other medium. Be smart about how you use other’s work. If you are scanning flickr for blog photos, make sure you are checking the copyrights. If you have to give credit, then give credit. If you want to take pictures or want copies of the slides, then ask. You might be surprised when they say no, but respect that.

Content is king in today’s information market. Respect the content and don’t be rude if you don’t get permission. Take that as a bump to produce your own content. Then see if you want other people copying your materials.

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Background:

You might be asking yourself why I got a copy of Steve Pavlina’s new book, Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth to review and why am I reviewing it on a blog about public speaking and Toastmasters?

Over three years ago, I read the blog post “Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking” by Steve Pavlina. Steve’s blog post got me going to Toastmasters meetings, attending Darren LaCroix boot camps, and working on developing myself as a more thoughtful person. Luckily I got a copy a few weeks ago, and after getting back from a number of business and personal trips, have the time to sit down and write my review of the book.

Review:

Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth, by Steve Pavlina is not a manual. Unlike many self help books, it does not give you what the author thinks are step by step instructions to make money, be happy, or be healthy. What I found the book offered was a very practical foundation in a philosophy of personal development and practical guidance into how to apply that philosophy to your personal life.

The book is broken down into two parts:
1. Fundamental Principles or what I found to be the Philosophy of Personal Development.
2. Practical Application or how to apply the Fundamental Principles to your life.

In Part 1, Steve lays out the fundamentals about truth, power, love, authority, oneness, and intelligence. The descriptions of what each one of these contains are thoughtfully interlaced with personal stories from the author’s life. I was pleasantly surprised by the readability of the first part. When I first read the introduction, I was worried because sometimes Steve’s blog posts are so content rich that it takes me a long time to read and digest the material. This was not the case, and I found the fundamentals enlightening and it gave me some purpose to make changes in how I think about personal development.

Part 2 is the instructive portion of the book. What I found in part 2 was a very good description of how the elements described in part 1 can be applied to the topics of habits, career, money, health, relationships, and spirituality. What was enjoyable about the practical application was that it was not, “you have to do X to get Y.” It was more of a description of what steps you can take to make yourself a more congruent and conscious person in the different topic areas. Becoming more congruent and conscious will then allow you to advance in the different topic areas. Definitely a much different approach then other self help authors have taken.

Overall I really enjoyed reading the book. I did not find myself chucking it aside like many other self help books I have read recently. Honestly, I can say that I gained a lot out of this book and know that it will lend itself to be a great reference in my future development. There are a lot of new ways of approaching self development contained within the pages of the book and I hope to apply more of them everyday.

As with all of Steve’s writing, the most important thing to take a away is to try it out yourself. If you don’t get results after a month, then stop doing it, but you won’t know until you try. That goes with speaking, exercise, diet, and anything you can do to develop yourself as a person. So if you want, give Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth a try and hopefully you will get as much out of it as I have.

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