09.30.10
Posted in Humor attitude, Humor~Events at 8:35 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
One of my early mentors, and enthusiastic encouragers, Darren LaCroix—winner of the World Championship of Public Speaking—can help YOU to be funnier!
Whether you need to lighten up your next speech topic, your next meeting, or your attitude in general, Darren has resources to help you. Here’s what he says about his newest offering:
“WATCH AND MODEL what I’m doing and how I promote… What ideas does it give you? Nothing like this has been done before— I’ve invested a ton for tonight—LEARN FROM IT!
;-]
Tune in on your computer!
Watch the LAUNCH-inar LIVE tonight 9pm Eastern (6pm Pacific) tune in online!
GO TO:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Get-Paid-to-Speak-TV
Get humor secrets from Fripp, Vinnie, Mike, and Me!
JOIN THE PARTY!!!
Stage time,
Darren
What is a LAUNCH-inar?
VIDEO CLIP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvykzuA_J9k
For more info on Darren, go to: The Humor Institute Inc.
7582 Las Vegas Blvd. S. #144
Las Vegas, NV
89123 US”
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Posted in Humor attitude, Humor~Health & Goals at 12:28 am by Dr. Trina Hess
I talked with my friend who advises me on hair color. Another woman overheard our conversation and chimed in.
“I’ve always wanted to get highlights in my hair, but I was afraid to do it. I don’t know what it’d look like on my hair.”
We assured her that it was much scarier than it seemed. Yes, women do think too seriously about these things. But we have to: we’re judged much too seriously in this culture.
So we have to be courageous and try things that everyone else is doing…
It was funny to hear this woman’s doubts about highlighting, mainly because—before I got highlights in my hair—I had the same fears:
Fear of the unknown.
Fear of being too outrageous and of standing out.
Fear of looking ridiculous.
Then it hit me: these are the same kinds of fears we have about using humor in our daily interactions, our speeches, our writing, or team interactions.
We think we’ll be considered a clown.
We think we’ll ruin a project by making it seem TOO light.
We think we will fail.
We think we’ll get hurt or that we’ll hurt other people.
But like the highlights in our hair, none of these fears are true! We can implement humor just like we can add highlights to our hair. The highlights that humor adds are like the hair highlights: they will be so subtle you won’t notice unless you are really looking for or at them.
But they make the biggest difference, because they make a big impact. Very, very subtly.
Humor highlights are just like great hair highlights—
They aren’t clown-like, they don’t shout.
They just highlight you and your best features.
They brighten the atmosphere around your face and make you look fresher.
What can YOU highlight today with YOUR humor?
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09.28.10
Posted in Humor attitude at 9:57 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
“Nothing good ever came out of a committee.” I heard that phrase recently, and I admit I have to agree with it.
I’ve always believed that ONE person should do all the work and the other 11 can complain about it. Until one of those 11 gets elected and the process can repeat itself.
Why do committees fail? Most operate like a volleyball game. “I thought YOU were going to get the ball?!” If there was only one player the ball would always be hit. Here are some other ways that committees fail us:
1. We chop up the whole, so that no one can see the big picture.
2. We spend so much energy of self-defense to make sure we ourselves don’t look bad.
3. We are distracted by politics, deadlines, and personalities.
If we’d operate under an umbrella of humor, we could change all this.
1. Humor requires us to see and understand the whole—even the bad parts can give us clues to our goal direction.
2. Humor reminds us to not take ourselves so seriously—so our self-protective mode is set to “OFF.”
3. Humor focuses our attention because it snaps us our of our distracted stupor.
How funny can you make YOUR committee?
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Posted in Comedy Around The World, Humor attitude at 9:47 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
Today’s Comedy Around the World goes to Jericho, on the West Bank area of Israel. When I visited this ancient town in the 1990’s I was a little upset.
Not about the weather.
Not about the lack of language skills I had for this area of the world.
Not even about the various livestock that were riding the bus with us.
What was upsetting was how I and my fellow kibbutz volunteers were being treated.
“Move over, let them have the seats!” is what I understood the driver to be saying to the locals on the bus. He motioned them out of the way and ushered us into the available seats.
I felt bad. I felt the striations of the culture I was in. I sensed the inequality.
And I wondered not only how this nation would ever really get it together. But I wondered how ANY of us get together, work together, and progress together.
We are Samaritans and Jews. Arabs and Jews. Christians and Muslims. Gen-X and Gen-Yers. Typists and texters.
With so many strata how do you possibly keep a team together?
You lighten up.
You look beyond the schisms.
You focus on the commonality—the humanity.
You get to the baseline.
You use humor to, “Get Your S.H.I.N.E. Together!”
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09.27.10
Posted in Humor~Events at 2:44 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
More important is, how do you MARKET that?! Here’s how: Join us for the October 16th NSA-Pittsburgh meeting as Michel Neray shows us how in “What’s Your Problem?”
“Your value as a service provider is directly related to the problem you solve. Pretty obvious, right? If you solve big problems, you have high value; little problems, low value. But if the problem you claim to solve is that same problem that everyone else in your field claims to solve, you’re not doing anything to differentiate yourself — and you’re the one with a problem; a positioning problem.
“The Essential Message approach is all about discovering the problems and challenges you are uniquely qualified to solve and passionately driven to solve. The result is a stronger differentiation and a higher value positioning in the market.
“Michel’s ‘Meet the Pros’ session at NSA this year in Orlando was attended by a new NSA member as well as by an established speaker who was on main stage at NSA three years ago. Both found the first round so valuable, they stayed for the second round. (And they weren’t the only ones!)
“This is customized program that Michel has put together for NSA chapters.
You’ll learn:
- the difference between category challenges and differentiating challenges
- how to identify the unique challenge you solve
- how to engage potential clients in conversation about what you do
- the 5 layers of differentiation - the deepest layer is where you dig out your best signature stories
Find out more about Michel in these ways:
Connect on FaceBook:
Follow on Twitter:
@EssentialMichel
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09.25.10
Posted in Humor attitude, The Change Process at 8:02 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
“The RMS Titanic was the world’s biggest passenger liner when it left Southampton, England, for New York on its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912. Four days into the trip, the ship hit an iceberg and sank, taking more than 1,500 passengers with it.”
In a Yahoo! news article, author Louise Patten, granddaughter of Titanic second officer Charles Lightoller, said the truth about what happened nearly 100 years ago had been hidden for fear of tarnishing the reputation of her grandfather, who later became a war hero.
She said that if the Titanic, “had stood still, she would have survived at least until the rescue ship came and no one need have died,” Patten said.
We rarely get the advice to slow down. We are almost never told to just, “stand still.” Especially in a turbulent time like the Titanic crisis. We’re conditioned to want to keep moving—at least we’re doing “something!” We think we’re moving forward and that must be a good thing.
Problem is, we could be moving in the wrong direction.
Problem is, we could be moving at the wrong speed.
Problem is, we could be moving on someone else’s designated walkway.
Humor encourages a stepping back. The highlight of humor’s charm is its surprise. It’s iconoclasticity. Its courageous new lenses.
Carlos Santana, speaking in the DVD, “The 5 Keys to Mastery: Opening doors to lifelong success,” talks about stepping back. He calls it, “hitting the pause button.” He believes that everyone has a genius in them, an Einstein, a Stradivarius. But, “can you PAUSE and crystallize your existence and look at it and do something ABOUT it?”
He continues that, “everyone is supremely important. Everyone has the capacity for grandness. It’s up to you to wake UP to it and do something WITH it.”
Whether you’re heading for an iceberg or you’re just in a rut. Don’t cave into the mantra to keep moving. Maybe you just need to push PAUSE.
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Posted in Humor attitude, Humor~Creativity at 7:25 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
Software architect Linus Torvalds is considered the father of Linux, which he started to develop as a student at the University of Helsinki, Finland, around 1991. He was featured in a DVD called, “The 5 Keys to Mastery: Opening doors to lifelong success.”
He talked about the workings of making a new idea come alive.
He said that, “the environement is much more important than the individuals IN it.” The right environment, he believes, can make people, “do more than they should be ABLE to do.”
And that’s what happens when we create a humor environment.
1. There’s a palpable lightness that puts everyone at ease (except people who are very very suspicious…)
2. There’s a fearlessness that is generated from knowing that mistakes are allowed and unpunishable.
3. There’s an inspiration in the air, a self-induced motivation to push ourselves toward our personal bests.
A humor environment may be tough to create, especially in a group of people. Differing personalities, senses of humor, attitudes, moods, and intentions all compete, criss cross, and confound our creation. But the end result of creating such a light environment will outweigh the pains of creation.
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Posted in Humor attitude, Humor~Creativity, Humor~Health & Goals at 6:23 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
A lot of speech trainers talk about finding a subject that you’re passionate about. That way, speaking becomes “easy,” and almost effortless. And, you have more “fun” at “work.”
But I wholly disagree. The more passionate we are about something, the less we can lighten up about it. And the more stern and severe we will sound when we’re talking about our subject!
Not only that, but it will be much much more difficult to inject humor into your presentation because passion runs counter to humor.
Here’s why:
1. Humor tells us to step back. To evaluate our subject with new eyes. The observe as an outsider would. To see new facets of our subject and consider that maybe we (and our subject) are not always right!
2. Humor tells us to not take our subject too seriously. That way, we won’t take personally any affront to our blessed subject. We are free to playfully assume an opposite stance to our subject.
3. Humor tells us it’s OK to have fun—even if that fun consists of making fun of our subject. This sense of fun and lightness will uncontrollably rise to the surface of our vocal range. We will speak and not be stern.
How attached are YOU to your speech topic? Why not lighten up?
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09.24.10
Posted in Humor attitude, Humor~Events at 3:01 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
Now there’s no excuse for not sharing your comments here! Yes the others still apply (1. I want to be anonymous 2. I have nothing to say 3. I don’t know how to spell).
But the great news is that now you don’t have to register to post your comment! Just write and send! It’s that easy!
What do you say about THAT?
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Posted in Humor~Events at 2:07 am by Dr. Trina Hess
The Professional Women’s Guide to Getting Paid What You’re Worth
Thursday, November 4th
9am-11:30am
The Greentree Radisson
Are you uncertain about how to structure your fees?
Struggle with clients who want to barter for your services rather than pay you?
Is it time to implement a billing system, or event a collections system?
Do you struggle with asking for payment for your services?
Do you find yourself giviing away services instead of charging for them?
Are you ready to get over feeling uncofmfortable about asking for money?
Join us at this workshop and learn how other professionas have overcome these challenges.
Presented by Beth Caldwell, author of the book
“I Wish I’d Known THAT! Secrets to Success in Business from Women Who’ve Been There”.
Register by October 28th and SAVE
Members just $29 Non Members $35
prices increase to $35/$39 after October 28th
Admission includes breakfast and your workbook.
Please…tell a friend!
for more info please go to the Pittsburgh Professional Women (PPW) site.
A limited number of vendor tables and program ads are available for each event. Please call me if you are interested in either. 412.202.6983
Hope to see you in November and December!
Beth Caldwell
Executive Director
Pittsburgh Professional Women
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