I have found in myself, and noticed in others, a desire to deflect attention or spit out a weak excuse when it comes to light that I have not done things correctly. It started in childhood since at that point in life I made a lot of mistakes. When we are young we are very […]
Team
What’s In Our Heads?
Our thinking is our greatest ally or our worst enemy in our pursuit of excellence. Below we continue the article we began in the last post from The University of Kent in the United Kingdom. The article gives some examples of the kind of thinking that prohibits us from excellence: Negative performers – Are content […]
Striving For Excellence
“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we’ve chosen to do with our life. Steve Jobs Striving for excellence is an important part of professionalism in any […]
Good Enough
Have you ever used the term, “Good enough”? Have you ever been working on a project and reached a point when you said to yourself, or others you were working with, “Well, that’s good enough. It will have to do”? Sure you have. We all have. What are we saying when we utter that phrase? […]
Speaking with Confidence in Work and in Life (Part 2)
Let’s pick up with Brian M.’s blog from The Art of Charm on the subject of speaking skills. Speaking without tension That low, dominant tone that makes you sound confident comes about naturally when you release the tension in your voice. The muscles in your shoulders, neck, jaw and throat all affect your voice tone […]
Speaking with Confidence in Work and in Life (Part 1)
Speaking is a main method of communicating. Whether in business relationships or personal relationships speaking in a manner that effectively gets your message to your hearer(s) is an important skill to possess. The skills for speaking effectively are necessary both when we are speaking to someone on the telephone or speaking to them face-to-face. The […]
Smile!
Believe it or not, the person hearing you, on the other end of the phone, knows whether you are smiling or not. Instantly, when you speak they will know whether you are glad they called. This is because our physical behaviors impact our emotions which in turn will impact our voice. Our tone, volume, speed […]
Variety In Speech
Some people speak in monotone. They have developed the habit of eliminating all the variety from the way they talk. We want to be careful not to fall into this ditch. It is difficult to Listen to someone speak in monotone. Staying interested is very challenging. Partially because it is uncomfortable to listen to, but […]
Tone
An important part of speaking is the tone of our voice. Yes, the words we choose are important. The volume and rate of speed we use to deliver our message has a significant impact. A fourth ingredient to successful communication is our tone. The tone of our voice is what communicates our emotions regarding the […]
Take a Deep Breath
When the phone rings at your job, it is someone calling for help. There is a person on the other end of the phone line who has a problem and they are reaching out for help. It matters not, what industry you are in. When the phone rings, generally it is someone who is wanting […]