Life-long Learning is NOW

Hi Friends

Each day for 7 days I are looking at a new habit and would encourage you to follow each for a next month so that they become regular habits from then onwards. In 7 weeks we will have 7 new daily habits that may completely change our lives in a positive way, making us better at work, socially and at home. Each habit is simple and within the limits of everybody.

Today’s habit is learn something new every day. It might be something small or a new course that will be life changing. It’s up to you.

Life is a learning experience. We used to talk about a job for life but that is changed and re-training is a theme today. Many people are changing their job every few years because they are on short term contracts, short term projects, they are made redundant or are looking for promotion. And for these people it’s usually essential to be on a learning roller-coaster. But that roller-coaster isn’t a steady ride and that’s what I want to tell you about here. Another group of people need to undertake annual training to keep their professional status.

And that’s what you should be doing to keep your place in life.

In fact we talk about learning for life. Do you feel you know everything you need to know? Everything to get along? That you don’t need to bother with any more learning?

Maybe there’s a physical skill you want to learn like photography or painting, gardening or driving. Perhaps you feel inadequate in a life skill like being able to talk in public, feel confident, be able to manage others, or be a better team member.

So why not sit down and list out 5 things you’d like to learn about and why. Now put them into an order and think about the subject at the top of the list. Now what can you do to learn about this?

Maybe you should get a book from the library or buy a book. They say that only 2 books in every 100 that is bought are actually read. Some of the rest are started but some aren’t even opened. That is very sad. They also say that if you spend just one hour a day reading about anything, then you will become an expert in 12 weeks. By expert we mean that you know much more than the average person. 

You might learn by looking up the information on the internet and either finding articles or videos. This is a common way to learn and there are free and paid curses that will help too. A course is so much better than random videos or articles because they are structures and complete.

You might join a local night school or day classes. If you are particularly enthusiastic you might even sign up on an Open University home study degree course. Wouldn’t it be exciting to tell your family and friends that you’ve just been awarded a degree.

Learning something new will keep your mind active, make you a more interesting person for others, and widen your knowledge. It might give you skills that will have other advantages. If you learn skills like decorating, car mechanics, gardening or plumbing then you could save yourself money at home, or even turn it into a send income or teach others. Just remember we can all learn, all the time and we will benefit. If you learn one small thing every day you can only benefit.

Remember if you are unwilling to learn, no one can help you, but if you are determined to learn, no one can stop you. Make today the first day of a new learning plan.

And make this your new habit that you will use every day from now.

Good luck with your new habit. Please try and learn something every day.

Public Speaking - Is this your Fear?

Hi Friends

Speaking in public takes many forms. You could be on a TV or radio chatshow, running a webinar online or seminar offline, it might be a speech at a wedding, work event like a presentation or when a colleague retires, it could be just in a

group at the pub where you want to make an announcement. making videos for an online course is another situation which isn't actually speaking in public but does feel like that when you start.  We have probably all had to make a public speech at sometime or another, usually with some time to prepare but occasionally on the spur of the moment. 

Public speaking is an art that you have to learn. An art that is vital in some jobs. An essential as an entrepreneur.  Public speaking can take you to the heights you need to be successful.  But you need to work on this skill. And you must bear in mind that your first time will be a real learning experience, and you will think you were terrible. BUT . . if you ask anyone you trust that was in the audience then you might be pleasantly surprised. They won't have picked up on your nervousness. They won’t have noticed the mistakes or that big chunk you missed out completely because they didn’t know. But listen to what they say and if you think they have valid criticism then try to correct what you did. 

And you’ll learn yourself from the speech. Maybe you couldn’t read what you wrote. Perhaps you didn’t talk up or show enough emotion. So you weren’t prepared for the questions at the end. So let’s look at some good practices.

Research

When I first started running an online TV channel I commissioned an experienced presenter to run a couple of interviews for me. I met her at the railway station and we went for a coffee to talk about the day’s schedule. Then we went to the first interview that we did in a quiet hotel lounge. She sat down with the interviewee who was a local song-writer singer and just spoke with him for a few minutes to put him at ease.

Then she started. It was a positive interview about his career and forthcoming show. As she asked questions it became apparent that she had found out so much about the guy. And she was able to lead him through a really informative 20 minutes.

The same thing happened with the second interview which was with the local Top Cop. She knew about his career and a family outline, so she was able to talk about him as a family man, making it more intimate.

Research is so important and so easy today. Google anyone

who is anyone, and lots of people who aren’t!  Companies, places corporations are all here. And you will come up with enough background to strengthen your speech. You won’t need to use everything but it is useful to know and substantiates your speech. If you have a question and answer session after it will give you rock steady answers. So research.

Tell Them

Remember the old adage. Tell them what you are going to tell them! Tell them! Tell them what you’ve told them!

So at the beginning introduce yourself and tell them what you are going to cover. This sets the tone and is like the forward and table of contents.

Then tell them by giving your speech.

Then conclude by giving a brief overview of what you have covered. This sequence will help them understand, know where you are throughout the talk, and keep you on topic.

Rehearse

I cannot tell you how important this is. You aren’t rehearsing to be word perfect because you will sound wrong. You are rehearsing to feel comfortable, to get the order and words right and to look good. You’ll probably use notes with bullet points to keep you on track. Look at great speakers and see how passionate they are, how the words can spill out or be controlled. It’s because they have rehearsed. Can you imagine an actor learning the script but not attending rehearsals. Or worse thinking they can carry the script during the performance.

Suit the length to the subject content

A speech doesn’t have to be short to be interesting. On YouTube most people get distracted after a couple of minutes because there are distractions, just keep surfing!! But being in an audience listening to an interesting speech is different. There are no distractions.

Don’t overstay your welcome. Make sure the content is relevant and not to fill a time slot. It’s like writing a sales letter. A very long sales letter will be more successful than a short one if every word is important. A long speech will hold the audience if every phrase means something to them.

Voice Inflections and Body Language

Write your speech out and speak it. You will find that some doesn’t sound right, it doesn’t have rhythm. Writing and speaking are different, use different phrases and language. Speaking is generally less formal.

 

Try to alter the pace and volume of your words. You can slow down and almost whisper or shout to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Often when you do lower your voice the audience leans forward and breath quieter. This can have a real impact. Don’t hurry your words. The listeners often don’t know you so they aren’t used to your voice, and when

people are taking in information they need more time.

Likewise do pause. You will be amazed the effect you have on people when you pause for a few seconds. As an aside try this is conversation, particularly when you ask a question. Wait for the answer and don’t rush in. It always works that you get more than you expected. So pause. It gives the audience time to think, makes them expectant and keeps them interested.

Use Eye Contact

You have your notes but just try not to look at them continuously. Look at the audience. I’d suggest that you don’t let your eyes wonder across the whole audience. 

Concentrate on one or two people, then when you move to the next topic or thought, then concentrate on someone else in another part of the audience. And smile.

You may have a white-board or screen presentation, don’t turn your back. You may have to sometimes but avoid where you can. IF you have a presentation use bullet points, don’t have every word on screen and just read. Likewise keep is simple, no fancy PowerPoint animations because it will distract. If you need this then your speech lacks interest.

Be Humorous

A joke right at the beginning is a great ice-breaker and will build up empathy. Not political, religious or sexual. A joke against yourself is a winner.

You can add in a couple more jokes along the way to keep everyone focussed but don’t spoil your speech by making it a funny throughout, unless it’s intentional and each joke works with your audience.

Being too intense throughout is as bad as too many jokes. Keep the tone light and in tune. Don’t talk down because you are the expert. Remember the definition of an expert. The “Ex” is a deadbeat has been. Whilst the “Spert” is a drip under pressure. Think about that.

Your Learning Experience

Mistakes are good. If nobody else realises you’ve gone wrong, as is normally the case, then you can be pleased. Just learn from your flaws and try to correct them. The only one who doesn’t make mistakes is up there somewhere looking down.

More importantly is list out all the things you did right and build on that. And every time you manage to put a mistake right then add this to your list. Of course it’s important to correct these problems. But the right things will give you a firm base to work from. Like a building, firm foundations keep the house standing, even when there are floods or hurricanes. So work on these points and follow them each time.

Oh. And practise a few situations you may run into. The more you practice in front of a mirror, or friends if anyone is willing, then the better you will become. 

Good luck with any public speaking

 

Good Manners Meeting People

Good manners simply means treating other people as we'd like to be treated ourselves. 

After reading through my last post I realise that using your mobile whilst having a meal with others is not very good manners and so I've decided to put together short course on basic good manners and etiquette. In the week I listened to a programme on the radio about etiquette across the world and was surprised to learn how many schools for etiquette there are around the world, all teaching English good manners. 

Here is my first video covering meeting people. There's nothing special about this but so many people get it wrong. Good manners is common sense. So when you met someone offer your hand to them, keeping your hand held forward vertically, not facing down or up. Take their hand and shake 3 or 4 times not vigorously or weakly but with a firm grip. Look them in the eye and tell them your name. For example "Pleased to meet you. I'm Mike, Mike Leahy" use that format so you say your first name twice. They'll remember better and feel more relaxed in calling you by by your first name. In the UK you normally stand about a metre apart and everyone feels comfortable. Interestingly in Japan people stand much closer together, probably because people live in closer proximity: whilst in Australia people stand further apart in general and stretch their arms forward. 

 

When you are having a conversation don't hog the talking, in fact use the art of listening. Listen to the other person and take in what they are saying. Don't let your mind wander. Be interested, agree or disagree as appropriate and ask questions. Don't interrupt but always wait for the other person to finish. 

If someone else joins you and you know them , then introduce them to the rest of the group. You might add something personal like "This is John, we work together". If strangers come to join the group then make sure they are included. 

Always speak well of others. Don't gossip. If you talk badly of others then people will think "Are they going to bad mouth me when I'm gone?" And if you can't think of anything good to say then shut up. 

If you have any comments or questions use the comment box at the bottom. And if there are any questions about etiquette write them down and I'll try to answer here on the blog.  

Socialcam gone Native Video on Facebook and Twitter is here

Hi Guys

Socialcam is dead. It's official. Or it will be on Friday 29th October 2015. It was founded by a small team of 4 people and was a spin-off of JustinTV. I will miss it.

Socialcam was launched in March 2011 and on 17th July  2012 was acquired by Autodesk for £60m. went from zero to ths staggering amount. So in just 551 days Now just 3 years on it gone.

If you are over 40 you'll remember the days of the first computer game with the ping-pong ball. Days before digital cameras, let alone smartphones. Now video is beginning to rule, particularly with the advent of Native Video for Facebook and twitter.

Just to remind you, native video is dropped straight of your smartphone onto Facebook or Twitter with no interface such as YouTube or Vimeo. This has just recently been launched and you may not have noticed but there is now a tab on Facebook for your videos. With

editing apps it's now not just possible but downright easy to edit in-phone and add effects too. Take a look at your Facebook page and check out the menu: Timeline - About - Friends - Photos - More, Click on More and the top item is Video, That's where all your videos go. Now I don't expect many of you have much there but this is the future - and you will.

So to download just bring the video up as you do with a photo and look for the "Share" sign. Click and it will bring up a variety of possibilities. Click on the Facebook symbol and its done. Add some text, post and its done.

I used to take the video and upload onto Socialcam, this was programmed to relay to Twitter wwhich shared with YouTube and Facebook. So for minimal effort I would be on all 4 within 20 minutes or so. Now if you want to be ranked and found on Google you must download onto YouTube because Google doesn't pick up anything on Facebook.

As a bonus I just found this video on YouTube of Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak "Woz"talking not just about how he met Steve Jobes when he was a student and Jobes was just 16 years but how the two worked closely together, Woz being the creative guy and Seve being the marketeer, and how well that worked.

But interestingly he went on to talk about how to become the best at anything. I have the same ethos. If you dig deep and learn everything you can about anything you'll become an expert. I've always said that if you read a book about your subject for an hour a day, you will become an expert in 3 months. Obviously we aren't comparing this to a university degree but in my experience an enthusiastic positive approach will take you much further that any disinterested person with a higher education.

Take a look at this video that was with a 14 year-old. Woz is very open and gives some good advice.

Make your future. Invest your spare time now and make a better life.