Inspiration for the weekend

I was working with a gentleman on improving his speaking skills this week. He told me how nervous he gets before he talks. I asked him what he thinks about before he starts and a long list of negatives came out of his mouth. I let him know that was is problem. He was psyching  himself out before he began speaking. Most of the negatives were comparing himself to others.

My advice...be the best you, you can be. Do what you do best, not what someone else does. That's I do when I speak and perform and when I live life. Am I being the best "me" that I can be. I can never be someone else, but I can be a great me!

Don't beat yourself up comparing yourself to them. They are a lot of people in the world who envy certain things about you too.  I love the quote my friend's dad told me one time..."One eyed man is king in blind man country." The moral? The one eyed man can feel terrible that he only has vision in one eye and get down on himself, but people lacking vision will envy him because of his gift of site. Focus on what you can do, not what you can't.

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy this quote I found today while researching information for a speech.

Who have you worked with part 2

I've been lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with a variety of organizations and companies as a model, actor, entertainer, mc and speaker.

I was recently asked for a list of groups I worked with. I started to go through my list. People are very visual so, I put together this photo of some of the groups I've worked with. I shared the photo on Facebook first. Over course my mom and several friends chimed in about the groups I missed.

For now, here's the photo of some of the groups I've worked with and some extra photos of others I need to add.

Morale of this story.  Never doubt yourself, if you do, take time to reflect on what you've done in the past to motivate yourself to do great things in the future.

Old School is New School?

Happy  June 1st!

I have been reading a lot lately! 3.5 books last month! I have the goal of reading one book a month this year! I've read studies that say the average person reads one book a year! A friend told me about a story where the most successful people in the world read 12 books a year. I want to be successful!

Here is a great article I found on reading and success:
Success and Reading More (CLICK HERE)

I recently began reading the book "4 Hour Work Week." I'm about 1/4 of the way through the book. It's been on the best sellers list for years. It talks about how to make ourselves more productive and how to create more free time to do what we enjoy. People around the world are going crazy of this book. The more I read, I recognize that the philosophies being taught are the ones I was taught a long time ago and I've used at different points of my life to be successful.

When I was a little kid, my mom would always say, "Finish your work and then you can play!" I loved going outside to play, so I finished my work as quickly as possible so I could have more time outside.  Get your work done, get rewarded. As I grew I became the same way. In college, I'd take as many morning classes as possible so I could do whatever I wanted to in the afternoons. I could work, I could spend time with friends or I could participate in clubs.

When I joined the workforce. I would often tell my employees. "Unpack and Merchandise 100 boxes, when you do you can product test an item." I was the manager of a toy store. I'd also let them leave early with pay if the work was completed before we were scheduled to leave. That was a great motivator instead of staying in the store until 9:30 PM, we'd often leave at 9:10PM. Do your work and get rewarded.

We are very much in a play first society. Play than work or Play and don't work. This just piles up more work. I like the comment I read by John Maxwell, "In life, you will always pay, you can pay now or pay later." I would like to pay as quickly as possible so I can enjoy more free time. Why work 8 hours if  you can get everything done in 4?

I'm really starting to work on how I spend my time. They're are some many things that can distract us...TV, Internet, FB, Shinny objects. They all take away from our work time and time we want to spend doing our thing (family, friends, traveling, calling our own shots.) The key is to focus, be productive and finish your work so you can play.

Thanks Mom! I'm enjoying the book, but it's reminding me that I didn't need the book to learn the philosophy,  I just needed to remember what I was taught a long time ago.