Good day everyone
When I was in college, before I flunked out, I took a speech course. The night before I had to deliver a speech to my classmates I dropped the course because I was TERRIFIED!
Fifteen years later I was asked to give a speech to guests at the Chicago Marriott where I was an executive. I said, yes because I forgot I did not know how to give a speech. I wrote out something on a yellow pad and delivered it. The audience was wishing I would just go away or drop dead on the spot to relieve their pain. I lived through that day after delivering a miserable speech. I still get a stomach ache just thinking about it.
I immediately found a speech professor who happened to be Bill Marriott’s father in law. He coached me on how to deliver great talks. He said, first don’t give speeches, tell stories, use personal examples to make your point, don’t deliver any talks on anything you are not passionate about and don’t ever let anyone write a speech for you. I added another success factor….Don’t use Power Point! As someone once told me, “Friends don’t let friends use Power Point.” Most speeches delivered by Power Point are boring and not emotionally delivered therefore the audience does not learn the lesson. Remember, your audience does not know what you are going to say so if you forget something, they will not even know it.
I have learned over my life that everything is hard before it is easy. You just have to focus on anything you want to be better at and that issue will gradually become easier. Focus and hard work makes lots of hard things much easier.
Priscilla and I started a weight week training program a year and a half ago to ensure we are building bone density so we don’t fall as we get older and break a hip. The program is called Super Slow Zone. Basically we do six Nautilus machines to failure. This takes about three minutes per machine. We do our workouts twice a week. Twenty minutes twice a week for not ending up in a wheelchair or on a walker is a great return on the investment of your time: www.superslowzone.com
Doing this workout was very hard when we began but slowly got easier as we got stronger. For example I started the leg press at 225 pounds and now am at 425. Priscilla is up to 265 pounds and also is warning me that we are going to have an arm wrestling contest before too long. This alone is making me work harder. We both feel strong and when you feel strong and are strong, all parts of your life are a lot easier including how you think. How you feel dramatically affects how you think and behave.
The article below talks about Irrational Fear of Failure…..
Force=Mass X Acceleration
A client recently expressed concern over performing her exercises to muscular failure because she did not want to injure herself. That fear couldn’t be further from the truth.
An injury in exercise occurs when the force of the movement is greater than the force that a joint can withstand. Keeping in mind that force is made up of mass x acceleration and that mass doesn’t change during the exercise, only acceleration can increase the overall force. During strength training exercise, a person becomes becomes progressively weaker until that persons strength is less than half that of the resistance (A.K. A. failure). In the first few reps the trainee’s strength is at its peak and it’s possible that they could produce that injury-causing acceleration. However, strength is so compromised by the last few reps before failure that it’s impossible to produce any meaningful acceleration. Therefore, the first few reps are the most dangerous, and the last reps before failure are the safest.
Although it may not be too comfortable, the last few reps and especially the last rep is the most important, and this is when you really need to focus on the targeted muscle. Remind yourself that what you are feeling will not hurt you, and try to embrace those feelings of discomfort; it is at this very point where all the effort you have put in is going to pay off. This is what will trigger the body (especially muscle) to react and produce the results.
Sit down today and determine what is your biggest problem and go about fixing it. I recently determined I was drinking too much red wine. It was becoming a bad habit which was interfering with my sleep, my weight and energy level and even sometimes my behavior. It was a habit that produced short term satisfaction and a good feeling but was not worth it. I also am back to my high school weight. Now I have to figure out my next problem….I am sure Priscilla will identify it for me.
I am off to NYC in a few minutes for my public leadership, management and service excellence workshop and then to Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary for three more engagements. Check out my website if you want to know more about my workshops at: www.LeeCockerell,com
Have a great week….Lee