From birth through age 5, a child’s brain under goes its most dramatic growth. While human growth is highly individual and dependent upon both nature and nature or genes and environment, there particular mile stones that set you apart, enable you create an individual brand, a unique you and these require personal initiative, right decisions, right people and right breaks in life.
In the past I procrastinated, waiting for the right breaks in life to work on/ invest in personal development in vain, that slack time to pursue a course, read books consistently etc. Until it dawned on me that personal development is something we do off the clock, meaning you’ve got to cut out that time. In the last 5 years after intentionally cutting out the time of course trying hard to keep afloat for a balanced life, I’ve graduated from post graduate school, studied CPA (Uganda) to second level (both very intense programs) while heading and running an organization, and when I look at the me now, it was all worth it.
So call it self actualization, personal growth, personal development, transcendence or spiritual something….., what matters is we were born to become the best human being you can possibly be. Becoming a complete/ better you is the biggest most noble goal you can aspire to.
Stretch, get uncomfortable, take the limits off and invest in a better you.
A lot of people hate speaking in front of an audience be it 1 person or a group of individuals.
My 2019 Story:
I was lined up to speak at 2 major events in capital Kampala and both were mass gatherings of about 350+ people. But the me I knew, and the huge glossophobia (fear to speak in public) I had from all my prior attempts, I couldn’t see myself make it yet I had to represent my organization. This time round, there was no room for delegation.
My Glossophobia:
Like any organized person, I would prepare in advance my slide notes and make several run through ahead of time. But the moment I get up onto that microphone, the nerves set in, my eyes would stop seeing the slide notes clearly, and my mind would run wild wondering if am still in command of my audience, whether am communicating or not, or I have lost them a while ago.
In order for me to avoid the same experience, I had to do something to get me ready and to get rid of my nerves (glossophobia). I signed up for a public speaking power packed training cohort with Dr. Denis Ankunda where I learnt several tips on how to deliver an epic speech, leaving your audience charmed. Here are some tips.
Be prepared:
A successful public presentation happens hours before you even start the talking.
Make notes on each point you want to make in the slides. Dong this ahead of time, helps ensure that all the materials you need are available and also allows time for plenty of practice. If you’re going to use handouts, also make sure these are ready in advance.
Command the space:
Start by asking a question or two to your audience without seeking for answers, this captures the minds of your audience and focuses them onto your topic. Be aware of your body language. Face your audience and stand with your hip distance apart. Make eye contact, but not for too long lest you appear creepy. Don’t remain rigid, move about in a relaxed mode, do not pace. Own the available space on the stage unless, of course, you have been given a podium and there’s no space beyond the podium. Avoid crossing your arms, clasping your hands behind or in front or having your hands in your pockets. Keep your hands free for expressive gestures.
Tone of Voice
The tone of your voice and how you talk will have a significant impact on the way your talk is received. To speak clearly and confidently you must become like a classically trained actor e.g. Shake Spear, Barak Obama etc. Use the 5 ‘P’s to improve the clarity of your speech:
Projection – Make sure the back of the room can hear, but don’t deafen those at the front. Try varying the pace to keep things interesting. Have breaths in between your speech, keeps you relaxed and give you time to align your flow. Pitch – Vary your pitch i.e. have highs and lows, have a rhythm, monotonous voices are boring and difficult to listen to, but don’t be over the top. Also, try not to use an upward inflexion at the end of all sentences, it makes you sound like you’re unsure about the things you are saying. Pronunciation – Don’t mumble. Ensure that all of the syllables are clear. Practice hard to say words and phrases. Pause – Pausing helps the audience to absorb the information they just heard and gives you time to prepare for the next section. It also allows a moment for you to collect your thoughts. Avoid Filler words: It is better to be silent, take a breath, than use filler words like ‘um’, ‘ah’ and ‘you know’.
Know your audience:
Take time to know your audience, ask questions to the person that invited you, find out a thing or two that resonates with them. If it’s a one on one, take time to find 1 or two things about their personal life. This breaks the ice, creates comfort and a direct connection with your audience, they feel they can relate with you.
Furthermore, try to understand why the audience is listening. Ask: “what will I gain from listening to this talk?” as if you were in the audience yourself. Be clear about your goal and what the audience should obtain by attending. Additionally, establish your credibility. Tell your audience why they should listen to you.
Throw away your notes and do not read the slide word for word:
Although you should have written notes on all of the points you want to make for each slide during preparation, don’t stay glued to your notes and do not read the slide. Reason why a run through was important during your preparation. Also helps you remain in command of the room. Only refer to the notes and slides if you must. Frequent reference to the notes makes you appear less of an expert on the topic i.e. reduces your credibility, secondly, they become something to hind behind to help contain your nerves. If you keep looking down on your notes or reading through your slide, then you’re not engaging your audience and if your audience is not engaged that means they are not listening properly. If you’re reading from your notes then your tone of voice is likely to be flat and you will have minimal stage presence, coming off boring at times.
Try to enjoy yourself (or at least look like it!):
If you look bored, then the audience will think you are bored. And if you’re bored by the topic, then why should anyone listening be interested? When you come out, have a smile on your face, make it seem like you’re happy and thankful to be there. If you feel confident enough to do so, add a little humor (as long as it’s appropriate). This will help you and your audience relax, and break the ice if the room is feeling a little tense or unfriendly.
And finally, just as you started strong by engaging your audience and taking control of the room, end strong, find a nice power packed quote or a joke that you can end with leaving your audience thrilled and exited for a wonderful speech delivered.
Throw your thoughts here or any other tips on how to deliver a breath taking public speech that will leave your audience astonished and applauding for minutes.
Are you a business owner? do you run a business? Are you an employee? And do you want to see your business stand a test of time and attract authentic clientele while enjoying validation from an authentic clientele? Here is an interesting topic or a few adaptations that you may consider to build a solid work force and deliver on your business goals authentically.
Let’s talk Business Ethics:
What is Ethics? Simply a set of rules or principles that your organization follows. What is Business Ethics? A code of conduct that businesses across the board are expected to follow while conducting business.
Find the balance between business ethics and money
Your business should have a balance between the needs of the stake holders (in this case your clients) and the desire to make profits, and often times this requires certain tradeoffs. These guiding principles ensure that you gain money without affecting the individuals or society.
Ethical principles:
Integrity: Refers to the ability to do the right thing as opposed to maximizing profit usually in a compromising situation. Requires you to demonstrate courage and personal integrity.
Loyalty: You and you entire work force need to remain loyal to the business. Has issues to do with disclosure of private information and everything done to be in the interest of the business.
Honesty: The need for you and your team to be truthful while dealing with your different kinds of work. You need not to deliberately deceive or mislead information flow to others. Avodance of partial truths, over statements and misrepresentation.
Respect and Concern: These go in tandem, reason they are categorized as one principle. Respect and concern is when you as a business owner are ethical, compassionate, Kind and caring. Further seeking your teams’ accomplishments to achieve the business objectives and showing respect towards your employees’ dignity, privacy, autonomy and rights. Being cautious and treating each person equally and right.
There many other ethical principles that you can adapt in your business (Fairness, leadership) that will keep you afloat, attract a certain clientele to your business and help you build a healthy and authentic work full while delivering on your business goals.
Share your thoughts by leaving a comment in the comment thread.
A month ago I had a chance/ opportunity to attend the launch of a world bank report on Uganda Jobs and a few facts were shared i.e. the % of Uganda’s population in formal employment, % of those self-employed and the % of quality trends in terms of % educated Ugandans in employment, % of non-educated Ugandans in employment and % of salaried Ugandans (Decided to withhold the %s because this research was carried out 5 years ago).
The donting fact is that the private sector is where the job solutions are, the private entrepreneurs have the real solutions to Uganda’s un employment gap that looks like it’s on an upward trend with the number of graduates released to the job market every year from the many universities, and TVETs across the country.
Entrepreneurial solutions range from medical waste management, safe transport solutions, non-cash economy solutions, agri-business solutions, Fin tech solutions and all these are job opportunities to thousands of Ugandans out there if only our entrepreneurs are given the right environment to thrive. Right environment could mean, tax holidays just like it is for the foreign investors, affordable capital, access to banking services without a long list of requirements, access to foreign markets, and many other things you can think of that can enable a young/ start up entrepreneur thrive. Think of the thousands of jobs that will be created locally, this of the evolution in Uganda’s economy that will emerge.
On the other hand, our so literate government through extensive research thinks the sole solution to our ever increasing job challenges is agricultural interventions as the future of Uganda’s economy. Well with the emerging world economic trends, they are right to a certain extent, but from my own opinion, I certainly think both interventions are necessary, right from investing in emerging entrepreneurs especially social entrepreneurs, to faster and orderly urbanization with industrialization, private investment for faster job-rich growth (as opposed to government funds that never reach the public), development of agro –processing industries for value addition, creating access to foreign markets with supplier protection policies and the development of secondary cities with all necessary facilities for the population to retain cash with in for local development.
Well what are your thoughts?? Let me know what you think
Self-improvement is strongly linked to positive thinking. Negativity slows down our progress and personal advancement. If I’m constantly thinking “I’m not capable”, “am not deserving” or that “everything happening to me is terrible” then there will be no motivation.
Two decades ago while still fresh on my journey with God (this time round with understanding) and had just found an incredible home church, I was fearless, I had this incredible unstoppable, unmeasurable faith that anything I wanted in life I’d get just because I believed I am a child of God (positive thinking). Then later I dropped the ball to first assessing whether I deserve it or not (-ve thinking) and right there the stakes changed. I’d “pppraaay”, roll, cry, beg in the presence of God and “waapi” (nothing), till last year when I stopped & reasoned with myself “what I had then that I don’t have now?” My discoveries resolved around the fact that that back then I had & acted upon the knowledge that I was loved by my father regardless of who I was & what I had done, that I have an inheritance with my father, God’s grace’s sufficient and greatly abounds in every situation, and that am my fathers’ child so I have access to whatever I needed without begging like a servant. And quickly jumped back onto the radar and boom, everything I desired of the Lord last year I got it, for as long as I believed and trusted in the creator of the universe who will not hold any good thing from me.
So Positive affirmations can be very helpful. However, it is of little use to tell ourselves “You can do everything” if you do not believe it. It also doesn’t help to say “everything is going to work out,” and then hold some doubt wondering “will it really work out?” The important aspect is to maintain a positive and realistic attitude towards life most of all Faith in God.
Negative thoughts are common cognitive distortions. All of us at some point have these kinds of thoughts, however, it is important to learn to detect them and contract so that they don’t undermine our positive thoughts.
I invite you on this journey of positive thinking, journey of unstoppable faith in God, he’s our Father and will not hold any good thing from us, He has loved us with an everlasting love, and he knew us before the foundations of the earth were formed and He means well for us.
Eleanor 