The Secrets of Public Speaking From History’s Greatest Orators

Today's blog post is based on a podcast from The Art of Manliness:

Despite the fact that public speaking remains an important and relevant skill in our modern age — you never know when you’ll need to give a toast at a wedding, pitch an idea at work, or champion a proposal at a city council meeting — most of us get very little instruction these days in how to do it effectively.

Fortunately, my guest says, we can look to the great orators of the past to get the public speaking education we never received. His name is John Hale, and he’s professor of archeology as well the lecturer of The Great Courses course Art of Public Speaking: Lessons from the Greatest Speeches in History. Today on the show, John shares what we can learn about the physicality of public speaking from Demontheses of Athens, the importance of empathetic body language from Patrick Henry, the effective use of humor from Will Rogers, the power of three from the apostle Paul, and the potency of brevity and well-executed organization from Abraham Lincoln.

Here are the highlights from the program:

• Why hasn’t public speaking been much of an emphasis in our education system?
• Who was Demosthenes? What role did his speaking have on Greek history? 
• Why public speaking is important to democracy 
• The physical act of public speaking
• What Patrick Henry can teach us about delivery 
• Why does humor often fall flat in public speaking? Why was Will Rogers’ humor effective?
• The role of body language in public speaking
• The power of three in a speech 
• What made Lincoln’s Gettysburg address so memorable and powerful

Be sure to check out the podcast...I really enjoyed it. Also, check out this blog post about rhetoric.

Interesting days

Today - Dolphin Day, Day of Pink and Look Up at the Sky Day

Tomorrow - Husband Appreciation Day, High Five Day, That Sucks! Day, Anime Day, ASL Day, Microvolunteering Day, Take A Wild Guess Day and College Student Grief Awareness Day

Next Wednesday - World Creativity and Innovation Day, World Stationery Day, Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day, Chocolate Covered Cashews Day, American Red Cross Giving Day, Tea Day, Banana Day and Administrative Professionals Day

Week long celebrations:

Apr 20 - Apr 26: Stationery Week

May 14 - Shades Day and Chicken Dance Day

Blue 42 for Life Challenge

What is the Blue 42 for Life Challenge?

According to the website:

THE CHALLENGE: Realign your body and mind as you boost your vitality!

Join the Blue 42 challenge to support and fast-track your health and wellness journey. We have included our best-selling products into a discounted monthly autoship bundle designed to help you jump-start your health and get you on track. All four of the health pillars are represented to support your initial journey with our product line.

• DAILY MORNING ROUTINE Drink 16-ounces of water with Control Weight Balance to start your day with enough energy to take on whatever comes your way. Add our best-selling C-Boost Plus to your Muscle Food Protein Drink daily to fight off viruses and keep your immune system strong.

• DAILY EVENING ROUTINE Your day is over and it’s time to relax! Either with lunch or dinner, take two capsules of Tempo. Mix one scoop of Deep Quiet Sleep into 8-ounces of warm water. You will sleep like a rock and feel rested and relaxed when you wake up to start a new day.

*Results will vary. This challenge is best paired with daily exercise and healthy meals. Consult your doctor before making any changes to your diet or exercise routine.

If you haven't been following along lately, Blue 42 is one of the six companies under the Greener Still umbrella. SendOutCards is also one of the six companies.

There will be some training on the Blue 42 product line coming up next Tuesday, April 20th. There is no link yet, but when it comes available, I'll share it with you.

If you'd like more info on Blue 42, I wrote about it here.

Anybody who signs up during the month of April will get the book "From Beaten to Badass" donated, in your name, to a woman's shelter in the state of your choice.

How much does it cost? The price is $187, basically $6 a day for Deeper Sleep | Better Body | More Energy | Greater Health.

Interesting days

Today - Scrabble Day, International FND Awareness Day, Equal Pay Day, Thomas Jefferson Day and Be Kind To Lawyers Day

Tomorrow - Dolphin Day, Day of Pink and Look Up at the Sky Day

Next Tuesday - Volunteer Recognition Day and Chinese Language Day

Week long celebrations:

Apr 20 - Apr 26: Stationery Week

May 13 - Numeracy Day, Top Gun Day, Apple Pie Day, World Cocktail Day, International Hummus Day, Leprechaun Day and Frog Jumping Day

The benefit of the benefit

A couple of days ago I came across a Facebook memory that talked about the benefit of the benefit of a product or service. You may be familiar with the difference between features and benefits. If not, check out this blog post on the subject.

Briefly, here are the differences:

• Features are facts about products or services; they add credibility and substance to your sales pitch
• Benefits give customers a reason to buy because they explain how your product or service improves their lives

As I said in the other post, there are only two benefits,,,time and money, but I think there are actually three:

Most of us want more of all of these!

You could use energy as a proxy for health, so the benefits that most people seek are more wealth, better health and more time to enjoy them. So, your job is to figure out how your product or service can help your prospects improve one or more of those three items.

So, what is the benefit of the benefit? That depends on each individual prospect...you need to find out what they would do with with more health, wealth and time, but you'll probably find answers like spending more time with friends and/or family, more travel, going back to school, etc. These are the emotional drivers of a purchase.

And these drivers can be boiled down, in my opinion, to one thing...relationship enhancement...that is, improving relationships with others by spending more time with friends and family, or improving your relationship with yourself by traveling or going back to school.

What does your product to do improve a prospect's relationship with others, themselves or their business? And then figure out how to tie that in with their specific benefit of the benefit they want in their lives.

Interesting days

Today - Deskfast Day, Hamster Day, Library Workers Day, Licorice Day, Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day and Walk On Your Wild Side Day

Tomorrow - Scrabble Day, International FND Awareness Day, Equal Pay Day, Thomas Jefferson Day and Be Kind To Lawyers Day

Next Monday - Bicycle Day, Hanging Out Day, Rice Ball Day, Poetry And The Creative Mind Day, Garlic Day and Amaretto Day

May 12 - Receptionists’ Day, Limerick Day, Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, Root Canal Appreciation Day, Odometer Day, Nutty Fudge Day, Donate A Day’s Wages To Charity Day, Third Shift Workers’ Day and International Nurses Day

Week long celebrations:

May 6 - May 12: Nurse’s Week

Your weekend guide to interesting days - April 10, 2021

This week

Sunday - Vitamin C Day, Carrot Day, Walk Around Things Day, D.A.R.E. Day, Cordon Bleu Day, World Rat Day and Geologists’ Day

Monday - Star Trek First Contact Day, Read A Road Map Day, Hospital Admitting Clerks Day, Go For Broke Day, Caramel Day and Deep Dish Pizza Day

Tuesday - World Table Tennis Day, New Beer’s Eve, Plan Your Epitaph Day, Caramel Popcorn Day, Army Day and Tartan Day

Wednesday - Beer Day, No Housework Day, Making The First Move Day, Day Of Hope, World Health Day, Bookmobile Day and Beaver Day

Thursday - Zoo Lovers Day, Pygmy Hippo Day and Draw a Picture of a Bird Day

Yesterday - Unicorn Day, ASMR Day, Name Yourself Day, Cherish An Antique Day, Day Of Silence and Winston Churchill Day

Today - Golfer’s Day, International Safety Pin Day and Sibling Day

Next week

Tomorrow - Pet Day, Cheese Fondue Day, Barbershop Quartet Day, Submarine Day and World Parkinson’s Disease Day

Monday - Deskfast Day, Hamster Day, Library Workers Day, Licorice Day, Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day and Walk On Your Wild Side Day

Tuesday - Scrabble Day, International FND Awareness Day, Equal Pay Day, Thomas Jefferson Day and Be Kind To Lawyers Day

Wednesday - Dolphin Day, Day of Pink and Look Up at the Sky Day

Thursday - Husband Appreciation Day, High Five Day, That Sucks! Day, Anime Day, ASL Day, Microvolunteering Day, Take A Wild Guess Day and College Student Grief Awareness Day

Friday - Wear Your Pajamas To Work Day, Save The Elephant Day and Eggs Benedict Day

Saturday - Haiku Poetry Day, Blah Blah Blah Day, Cheeseball Day, World Hemophilia Day, Kickball Day, Bat Appreciation Day, Nothing Like A Dame Day, Auctioneers Day and Ford Mustang Day

Next month

May 4 - Star Wars Day, 45 Day, Teacher Appreciation Day, K.I.N.D. Day, Candied Orange Peel Day, Renewal Day, Poem on Your Pillow Day, Petite And Proud Day, Asthma Day and Firefighters’ Day

May 5 - Nail Day, International Midwives’ Day, Hoagie Day, Revenge of the Fifth, Hug A Shed And Take A Selfie, World Maths Day, School Nurse Day and Cartoonists’ Day

May 6 - No Diet Day, Password Day, Beverage Day and No Homework Day

May 7 - Roast Leg of Lamb Day, Public Gardens Day, Military Spouse Appreciation Day, Love’s Baby Soft Day, No Pants Day and Cosmopolitan Day

May 8 - No Socks Day, Windmill Day, Train Day, World Donkey Day, Ovarian Cancer Day, Buckfast Day, Iris Day, Fair Trade Day, Bellydance Day and Free Trade Day

May 9 - Moscato Day and Lost Sock Memorial Day

May 10 - Mother Ocean Day, Golf Day, Stay Up All Night Night, World Lupus Day and One Day Without Shoes Day

Week long celebrations:

May 3 - May 9: Lawyer Well-Being Week 

May 6 - May 12: Nurse’s Week

The week in review - April 9, 2021

Monday - "ABCs of the Most Famous Song in the World" From the Tracing the Path podcast. "The most famous tune in the world has been around for 700 years as part of classical, folk, children's and pop music."

Tuesday - "RETHINKING THE QUESTION: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?" I'm not sure why the title is in all caps in the article, but I copied it as is. "So, what should you say instead?"

Wednesday - "Will you be part of the 5%?" Some disturbing statistics. "Basically, 90% of the population will be dead or dead broke by the age of 65!"

Thursday - "Goals vs outcomes #TBT" What's the difference? "An outcome is the final result that you desire (desired outcome)"

Intereesting days

Today - Unicorn Day, ASMR Day, Name Yourself Day, Cherish An Antique Day, Day Of Silence and Winston Churchill Day

Tomorrow - Golfer’s Day, International Safety Pin Day and Sibling Day

Next Friday - Wear Your Pajamas To Work Day, Save The Elephant Day and Eggs Benedict Day

May 9 - Moscato Day and Lost Sock Memorial Day

Week long celebrations:

May 3 - May 9: Lawyer Well-Being Week 

May 6 - May 12: Nurse’s Week

 

Goals vs outcomes #TBT

Today's blog post was originally published two years ago:

I'm finally wrapping up my series from a couple of weeks ago!

An outcome is the final result that you desire (desired outcome), while the expected outcome is what you can expect to probably happen, while the actual outcome is what ends up happening depending on whether or not you meet your goals...which are the steps to get you to your desired outcome.

Let's say that your 25th high school reunion is coming up in a couple of months and your desired outcome is that your high school sweetheart falls in love with you again. So, here are some goals you might want to accomplish to get you to your desired outcome:

• Lose 100 pounds
• Divorce your spouse
• Get your heartthrob to divorce their spouse
• Get a job and quit living on welfare

Here were a few goals. But based on the likelihood of being able to accomplish those goals, you can pretty much assume that the expected outcome doesn't match the desired income. Maybe if there was more than a couple of months, you might be able to accomplish those goals.

Many people may have the same goal, but their likelihood of success may depend on the strategy they choose to implement. Let's assume that several people have the goal of having one million dollars in cash. I'm sure that most people have that on their wish list, but these people have decided to make that a goal. What are some of the strategies that people can use?

• Work hard at their job
• Invest in the stock market
• Win the lottery
• Rob a bank
• Join a network marketing company

Unless you're the CEO of a major corporation, your chances of earning a million dollars are quite slim. So, you may want to set a goal to become CEO first. Investing in the stock market and playing the lottery are also probably not the best ways. I've written about both of these methods somewhere, but I can't find it! But neither of those methods is ideal. We can pretty much visualize the probable outcome of robbing the bank and it's not pretty.

So, that leaves joining a network marketing company. What? Are you kidding me? No, network marketing is a viable way to earn millions of dollars. I don't know how many millionaires there are in network marketing...I saw statistics once but I can't find them again. But I do know several people personally that have made tens of millions of dollars over their career and I know of one that's currently making almost $2,000,000 a year.

Anyway, to wrap up the series - pick some items from your wish list that you would like to accomplish, figure out what goals will get you to your desired outcome and work your way towards accomplishing your goals.

I'm working on my purpose, mission and vision statements. When I come up with something, I'll let you know.

Interesting days

Today - Zoo Lovers Day, Pygmy Hippo Day and Draw a Picture of a Bird Day

Tomorrow - Unicorn Day, ASMR Day, Name Yourself Day, Cherish An Antique Day, Day Of Silence and Winston Churchill Day

Next Thursday - Husband Appreciation Day, High Five Day, That Sucks! Day, Anime Day, ASL Day, Microvolunteering Day, Take A Wild Guess Day and College Student Grief Awareness Day

May 8 - No Socks Day, Windmill Day, Train Day, World Donkey Day, Ovarian Cancer Day, Buckfast Day, Iris Day, Fair Trade Day, Bellydance Day and Free Trade Day

Week long celebrations:

May 3 - May 9: Lawyer Well-Being Week 

May 6 - May 12: Nurse’s Week

 

Will you be part of the 5%?

During last night's free training in the "She's Creating an Empire" Facebook group, this statistic was brought up. Basically, 90% of the population will be dead or dead broke by the age of 65! I've heard it before but since 4 weeks from tomorrow is my 65th birthday it really struck home:

But unless something drastic happens I won't be in the  last two categories! I will still be working, but I'm planning on being done with that in the next two years (or less!).

But what about the other two categories? I think the best definition of financial independence is this one from Robert Kiyosaki: "Stop working and when your money runs out. that's how financially free you were"

From a blog post I wrote on the subject:

In other words, if your passive income exceeds your monthly expenses then you're financially free because you won't have to work anymore. How much are your monthly bills? Then you need that much in passive income. You don't need millions of dollars in income to be free. In fact, many people have millions of dollars in income, but it's not passive, so they're not financially free.

A third of Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless; so, many of us have a week or two of financial independence.

How much will you need to live on? According to conventional wisdom, you'll need 80% of your pre-retirement income to live on. And Social Security will provide approximately half of that. Where will the other half come from?

Here's an example, using a couple of rules of thumb that I've come across. We'll use an hourly wage of $18 which is certainly doable where I live...the minimum wage is $14 per hour and the median is $24.

The first rule of thumb is to multiply the hourly wage by 2,000 to get the annual wage (40 hours times 50 weeks...it's pretty close), so that comes out to $36,000 per year or $3,000 per month. Eighty percent of that is $2,400 and SS should provide about $1,200 of that (depending on how much you've made during your highest paid 35 years). The other rule of thumb is the Rule of 200...multiply your monthly income by 200 to find out how much money you'll need in savings and/or your 401k earning 6% interest to be able to live off the interest, which comes out to $240,000 (1,200 times 200). If you have $240,000 put away, you should be financially independent. But what if you don't have that much? The median 401k balance in the U.S. is $25,775 according to Business Insider, which is only 10% of what you'll need! Then you'll need $1,200 of passive income from rents, royalties, annuities or a business like a network marketing business.

What about being wealthy? Here's a great definition by Tony Robbins (also from the same blog post):

How do I plan on going from where I am to becoming wealthy in 2 years? By taking advantage of the financial education provided by "She's Creating an Empire". I invite you to join me.

Interesting days

Today - Beer Day, No Housework Day, Making The First Move Day, Day Of Hope, World Health Day, Bookmobile Day and Beaver Day

Tomorrow - Zoo Lovers Day, Pygmy Hippo Day and Draw a Picture of a Bird Day

Next Wednesday - Dolphin Day, Day of Pink and Look Up at the Sky Day

May 7 - Roast Leg of Lamb Day, Public Gardens Day, Military Spouse Appreciation Day, Love’s Baby Soft Day, No Pants Day and Cosmopolitan Day

Week long celebrations:

May 3 - May 9: Lawyer Well-Being Week 

May 6 - May 12: Nurse’s Week