Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking

May 12, 2005 |

One way to overcome fear of public speaking is to be afraid and speak anyway. As stupid as this seems, it’s possibly the most reliable way to gain confidence in speaking. Be afraid, be nervous, be hesitant, but do it anyway. You won’t be very good at it the first few times, but don’t expect…

A Cup of Tea With the Grim Reaper

May 11, 2005 |

Some of you have asked that I post a copy of one of the speeches I’ve given over the past year, so I figured I’d go ahead and post one. This was a 7-minute speech I gave to a Toastmasters audience a few months ago called “A Cup of Tea With the Grim Reaper.” The…

Personal Development for Smart People

May 10, 2005 |

Since I’ve mentioned that I’m working on a book, I might as well post something about it here so I don’t have to keep answering emails about it. 🙂 My tentative working title is Personal Development for Smart People. It’s a book about personal development which covers personal productivity, courage, drive, motivation, purpose, skill-building, focus,…

Personal Quotas

May 9, 2005 |

Just as salespeople might have monthly sales quotas to meet, you can apply the concept of quotas to your personal productivity as well. I use this technique often and have found it highly effective for certain types of projects. Here’s how it works: For each project you want to tackle tomorrow, set a minimum output…

Day 18

May 8, 2005 |

It’s now day 18 after the official start date of the 30-Day Challenge. I’ve certainly had some tough days so far, but I haven’t missed a single day yet on any of my three challenges: 1) get up at 5am every morning, 2) write for at least 4 hours per day, and 3) exercise aerobically…

Meditate to Live Longer

May 4, 2005 |

A recent study reports that meditation is linked with longer life. Transcendental meditation practitioners had: A 23% reduction in the rate of death from all causes A 30% reduction in the rate of death from cardiovascular disease A 49% reduction in the rate of death from cancer

Colorblindness

May 3, 2005 |

I’ve been red-green colorblind since birth, and someone told me about a site with some neat photos that reveals how people like me perceive colors. If you visit that link and scroll down a little, you’ll see two pictures of a fruit vendor. The first picture is normal. The second picture is how red-green colorblind…

The Rudder of the Day

May 1, 2005 |

It’s been said that the first hour is the rudder of the day. I’ve found this to be very true in my own life. If I’m lazy or haphazard in my actions during the first hour after I wake up, I tend to have a fairly lazy and unfocused day. This kind of day might…