Many motivational experts like to say that leaders are made, not born. I would argue the exact opposite. I believe we are all natural born leaders, but have been deprogrammed along the way. As children, we were natural leaders – curious and humble, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge, with an incredibly vivid imagination; we knew exactly what we wanted, were persistent and determined in getting what we wanted, and had the ability to motivate, inspire, and influence everyone around us to help us in accomplishing our mission. So why is this so difficult to do as adults? What happened?

As children, over time, we got used to hearing, No, Don’t, and Can’t. No! Don’t do this. Don’t do that. You can’t do this. You can’t do that. No! Many of our parents told us to keep quiet and not disturb the adults by asking silly questions. This pattern continued into high school with our teachers telling us what we could do and couldn’t do and what was possible. Then many of us got hit with the big one institutionalized formal education known as college or university. Unfortunately, the traditional educational system doesn’t teach students how to become leaders; it teaches students how to become polite order takers for the corporate world. Instead of learning to become creative, independent, self-reliant, and think for themselves, most people learn how to obey and intelligently follow rules to keep the corporate machine humming.

Developing the Leader in you to live your highest life, then, requires a process of unlearning by self-remembering and self-honoring. Being an effective leader again will require you to be brave and unlock the door to your inner attic, where your childhood dreams lie, going inside to the heart. Based on my over ten years research in the area of human development and leadership, here are ten easy steps you can take to awaken the Leader in you and rekindle your passion for greatness.

1. Humility. Leadership starts with humility. To be a highly successful leader, you must first humble yourself like a little child and be willing to serve others. Nobody wants to follow someone who is arrogant. Be humble as a child, always curious, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge. For what is excellence but knowledge plus knowledge plus knowledge – always wanting to better yourself, always improving, always growing. When you are humble, you become genuinely interested in people because you want to learn from them. And because you want to learn and grow, you will be a far more effective listener, which is the #1 leadership communication tool. When people sense you are genuinely interested in them, and listening to them, they will naturally be interested in you and listen to what you have to say.

2. SWOT Yourself. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Although it’s a strategic management tool taught at Stanford and Harvard Business Schools and used by large multinationals, it can just as effectively be used in your own professional development as a leader. This is a useful key to gain access to self-knowledge, self-remembering, and self-honoring. Start by listing all your Strengths including your accomplishments. Then write down all your Weaknesses and what needs to be improved. Make sure to include any doubts, anxieties, fears, and worries that you may have. These are the demons and dragons guarding the door to your inner attic. By bringing them to conscious awareness you can begin to slay them. Then proceed by listing all the Opportunities you see available to you for using your strengths. Finally, write down all the Threats or obstacles that are currently blocking you or that you think you will encounter along the way to achieving your dreams.

3. Follow Your Bliss. Regardless of how busy you are, always take time to do what you love doing. Being an alive and vital person vitalizes others. When you are pursuing your passions, people around you cannot help but feel impassioned by your presence. This will make you a charismatic leader. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, be it writing, acting, painting, drawing, photography, sports, reading, dancing, networking, or working on entrepreneurial ventures, set aside time every week, ideally two or three hours a day, to pursue these activities. Believe me, you’ll find the time. If you were to video tape yourself for a day, you would be shocked to see how much time goes to waste!

4. Dream Big. If you want to be larger than life, you need a dream that’s larger than life. Small dreams won’t serve you or anyone else. It takes the same amount of time to dream small than it does to dream big. So be Big and be Bold! Write down your One Biggest Dream. The one that excites you the most. Remember, don’t be small and realistic; be bold and unrealistic! Go for the Gold, the Pulitzer, the Nobel, the Oscar, the highest you can possibly achieve in your field. After you ve written down your dream, list every single reason why you CAN achieve your dream instead of worrying about why you can’t.

5. Vision. Without a vision, we perish. If you can’t see yourself winning that award and feel the tears of triumph streaming down your face, it’s unlikely you will be able to lead yourself or others to victory. Visualize what it would be like accomplishing your dream. See it, smell it, taste it, hear it, feel it in your gut.

6. Perseverance. Victory belongs to those who want it the most and stay in it the longest. Now that you have a dream, make sure you take consistent action every day. I recommend doing at least 5 things every day that will move you closer to your dream.

7. Honor Your Word. Every time you break your word, you lose power. Successful leaders keep their word and their promises. You can accumulate all the toys and riches in the world, but you only have one reputation in life. Your word is gold. Honor it.

8. Get a Mentor. Find yourself a mentor. Preferably someone who has already achieved a high degree of success in your field. Don’t be afraid to ask. You’ve got nothing to lose. Mentors.ca is an excellent mentoring website and a great resource for finding local mentoring programs. They even have a free personal profile you can fill out in order to potentially find you a suitable mentor. In addition to mentors, take time to study autobiographies of great leaders that you admire. Learn everything you can from their lives and model some of their successful behaviors.

9. Be Yourself. Use your relationships with mentors and your research on great leaders as models or reference points to work from, but never copy or imitate them like a parrot. Everyone has vastly different leadership styles. History books are filled with leaders who are soft-spoken, introverted, and quiet, all the way to the other extreme of being out- spoken, extroverted, and loud, and everything in between. A quiet and simple Gandhi or a soft-spoken peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter, who became president of the United States and won a Nobel Peace Prize, have been just as effective world leaders as a loud and flamboyant Churchill, or the tough leadership style employed by The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher. I admire Hemingway as a writer. But if I copy Hemingway, I’d be a second or third rate Hemingway, at best, instead of a first rate Sharif. Be yourself, your best self, always competing against yourself and bettering yourself, and you will become a first rate YOU instead of a second rate somebody else.

10. Give. Finally, be a giver. Leaders are givers. By giving, you activate a universal law as sound as gravity life gives to the giver, and takes from the taker. The more you give, the more you get. If you want more love, respect, support, and compassion, give love, give respect, give support, and give compassion. Be a mentor to others. Give back to your community. As a leader, the only way to get what you want, is by helping enough people get what they want first. As Sir Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”

In this special three part series, I’m highlighting these 17 Principles of Success both as a refresher for those who are already familiar with Hill’s work, and as an introductory guide to the essential qualities of achievement for those who have not yet had the chance to study this great personage who started the personal development revolution. Enjoy:

Principle # 6: Imagination

“Imagination is the workshop of the human mind and creative power of the soul,” writes Hill. “First comes thought; then organization of that thought into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.”

According to Hill, there are two types of imagination: synthetic imagination and creative imagination. Synthetic imagination involves rearranging old ideas into new combinations that produce new solutions. Stimulating creative imagination involves a repetition of highly emotionalized thoughts that can be combined with visualization, meditation, and prayer focused on a chief aim or solving a difficult problem, and then surrendering the thoughts to infinite intelligence to come up with new ideas, combinations, and plans.

Artists, inventors, and entrepreneurs frequently use some combination of both types of imagination. For example, many writers will often intentionally stop writing in the middle of a heated sentence or uncompleted paragraph at a particularly challenging point in the plot and “sleep on it.” During the rest of the night their subconscious mind, through the powers of creative intelligence, will work on the solution, and upon awakening, the writer will write beautifully to complete the idea.

Entrepreneurs will often brainstorm and write down all the ideas, challenges, and available solutions and resources concerning a challenging problem and then “forget about it.” They might go on vacation for an extended period of time. On returning, or even while they’re on vacation, new ideas spring up that help solve the problem.

To further develop your imagination, study yourself; find out the inner motivations that drive you to carry out certain tasks to completion while avoiding other tasks. Study other people and human behavior around you. If you want to know what the other person will do (whether a customer, boss, employee, partner, or competitor), use your imagination to put yourself in their shoes. What would you do if you were that person? By being able to look from another’s perspective, you not only help build your imagination muscles, you also help build bridges.

Principle # 7: Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm comes from the Greek root “entheos” which literally means God within. Enthusiasm is the vital force that impels action. Great leaders inspire others to action from their own enthusiasm which is highly contagious.

“It’s not so much what you say as it is the tone and manner in which you say it that makes a lasting impression,” writes Hill.

I recall a time when a “recruiter” had called and left a message for me requesting an interview. I checked out the company’s website and liked what I had to see. I was ready to come in for an interview, but when I returned the recruiter’s call and spoke to her, the tone of her voice clearly indicated that she wasn’t happy with her job and that I was just a number to make her appointment quota.

While the conversation was polite and professional, her tone and manner of speaking said she didn’t care. Needless to say, I did not come in for an interview, and it wouldn’t be a far stretch to guess that that recruiting company was losing business by the truckload on account of that one person probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.

It’s surprising (or maybe not so surprising given the poor customer service survey results across North America) that companies are willing to go on losing millions by treating their frontline workers who have first line of contact with customers as an “expense” instead of as an investment.

The companies that will turn out to be champions in this information economy are the ones that treat their customer service and sales staff as VPs of Customer Relations. These organizations will have a HUGE competitive advantage by investing just a fraction of the money (money that would normally be lost to poor service) towards paying above industry average rates to retain quality customer service professionals, investing in their professional development, teaching basic human relations skills, and helping to create a better work environment.

Principle # 8: Self-Control

Hill keenly points out that self control directs your enthusiasm. A wise business tenet is to keep cool when others are hot. As Hill says, “Those who control themselves usually boss the job.”

I can’t recall how many business deals I’ve lost because I contacted a potential client in a moment of anger or frustration (either due to the business on hand or something entirely different). It’s amazing how much more business one can drum up by simply counting to ten, taking a couple of deep breaths, and thinking of something pleasant for a few seconds before making or taking that important call!

If you’ve tried these types of techniques without much success and are still angry with someone, at least try ‘writing it out of your system’ before approaching this person. Write a steaming hot letter to this person venting about what you feel is inappropriate behavior or some problem or injustice you feel you might have encountered.

After you’ve read the letter to yourself, tear it up and throw it away! Now you can approach this person and make your case with a level head without blaming or getting overly emotional. Maybe it was a simple misunderstanding.

I’m not saying this method will always work. Sometimes you do have to confront someone and express your anger but those moments are rare when it’s productive. Using this one technique alone can save you from countless relationship disasters and bad business deals, and might even help get you that promotion over the next person who blows his top!).

Never retaliate against those who offend you. Be a leader by being a person of poise and self-control.

Principle # 9: The Habit of Doing More Than Paid For

“Giving people a little more than what they expect is a good way to get back more than you’d expect” – Robert Half

We get back in life what we give. By getting into the habit of always doing more than you’re paid for, you will meet with opportunities for expansion, advancement, and promotion at every turn of the corner. (You might not get these opportunities immediately with your current employer; but eventually competitors will take notice and will gladly provide you with plenty of opportunity if your employer is not willing to do so).

Napoleon Hill offers countless real-life examples of ordinary people reaching extraordinary heights of achievement and success using this one principle alone in his magnum opus: “Law of Success: The 21st-Century Edition.”

Principle # 10: A Pleasing Personality

Hill states that a pleasing personality is a person that attracts. It’s all about your character and how you carry yourself. Are you dressed for success as it relates to your field? Do you speak with self-confidence?

Do you offer a firm handshake and a warm smile, or a limp, ‘dead fish’ handshake with a rigid, forced smile?

Do you offer an appropriate level of eye-contact given the cultural context or do you have shifty eyes that makes people feel uncomfortable? Are you flexible in mind, body, and spirit? Do you express genuine interest in others?

The best way to develop a pleasing personality is to show a keen interest in other people. If that recruiter had expressed even the slightest interest in what I did as a person, I would have overlooked the initial awkwardness of the call and come in for an interview. Her lack of a pleasing personality cost her and her company a number of lost contracts.

It’s so much more FUN and PROFITABLE to have a pleasing personality!

Principle # 11: Accurate Thinking

“The facts, just the facts, ma’am” Sgt. Friday in Dragnet

Don’t believe everything you read in the news. Much of it is planted by powerful lobbyists and corporations with hidden agendas. Get into the habit of basing your decisions on factual information and avoiding gossip, rumors, and conjecture.

Even common day practices that are widely accepted can be based on wrong assumptions. In the Middle Ages, bloodletting was a common practice that was believed to help cure a variety of illnesses. It was a common belief among doctors that bad blood caused disease and so they bled patients for every imaginable ailment under the sun. This crude and ineffective medical ritual continued for 2,500 years until it was discovered that germs, not bad blood, were responsible for disease.

Today, we have our own version of bloodletting that is far more devious than in the Middle Ages. Take for example invasive medical practices such as coronary stenting and angioplasty. Freakonomics author, Steven D. Levitt, sites a recent NY Times article which, according to Levitt, “tells of the compelling study which found that coronary stenting is typically no more effective than heart drugs, even though it is far more invasive and, to be sure, profitable for the medical personnel involved.” (According to the NY Times article, “angioplasty and stenting generally cost between $25,000 and $50,000″).

I think we need a new name for 21st Century bloodletting. If you’ve read this far, perhaps you can convince Mr. Webster to add the term moneyletting to the dictionary.

If someone makes a sweeping statement that raises doubts, you can ask this person the question that Napoleon Hill likes asking: “How do you know?”

We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of accurate thinking. But to get to the heart of Hill’s main idea, accurate thinking is about separating the important facts from the unimportant ones.

The important facts being any fact you can use in the attainment of your chief aim. I’m not saying that the unimportant facts can’t also help enrich your life. But by focusing most of your time on the important facts as it relates to your chief aim will help get you there further and faster…

I hope you enjoyed Part II of this “Law of Success” series. (You can visit my blog for Law of Success Part III).

In the meantime, share these principles with your peers, forward this newsletter, discuss the concepts and teach other people what you’ve learned. There’s no better way to learn than by teaching others.

If you haven’t already, I’d highly recommend getting a copy of Napoleon Hill’s classic bestseller: “Law of Success: The 21st-Century Edition.” It really is a great read and I rank it in my personal top 10 list.

To get your copy visit: http://tinyurl.com/2a2cuk

There is a way to make public speaking easy to do and less stressful. Breaking down the process into steps helps anyone have a clear mindset on what it is one should talk about, how, why, etc.

First, you should be able to know or at least decide on your goals and objectives for bringing up that particular topic for public speaking. If you are comfortable with your reasons and understand them wholeheartedly, chances are your audience will too.

In public speaking, the objective of the introduction is for you, as the speaker, to connect with the audience. At this point, they should be able to understand why you are in front of them. They should also have a basic idea of the point you are trying to make.
This is also the part where you could mention your thesis statement as well as give them a run down of the topics you will be covering through the duration of your presentation.

The body is the center of your presentation. This is the part where you get to support the thesis statement you presented during your introduction. Sometimes, the use of visual aids such as a computer program like Powerpoint or transparencies, etc., help lend support to your presentation as well as catch the attention of your audience.

The conclusion, believe it or not, is one of the most important parts in a presentation. This part should be able to provide a summary of your ideas in a clear, simple and straightforward manner. This is also the best time to address any questions that the audience may have and you, as a speaker, should be able to answer them appropriately. At this point, the audience must know what is it that they should do or what you would want them to understand or realize or think as based on your presentation.

However, this breakdown will be ineffective if you do not prepare. You should know your audience. Respect your audience and they will respect you. It is unethical to talk down to them as well as to talk them up. Your presentation should be compatible with the knowledge they are given about the topic. Talking about filing taxes to an audience of literary writers will best be appreciated by providing them first with the basic technical jargon.

Most of you know who Napoleon Hill is. But for the benefit of those who don’t, Mr. Hill is quite arguably the author of the world’s first practical philosophy of human achievement. Commissioned back in 1908 by the great steel magnate, Andrew Carnegie, Hill spent over 25 years researching the lives of over 500 of the most successful people on the planet.

The amazing thing is that most of Hill’s work was not from second-hand research but first-hand knowledge from personal contact with some of the greatest powerbrokers of the day including Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, John D. Rockefeller, Charles M. Schwab, Elbert Hubbard, George Eastman, and US Presidents Woodrow Wilson, William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt.

While “Think and Grow Rich” is certainly Hill’s most popular book based on the results of his exhaustive research, “Law of Success” (which was first published in a set of eight volumes) is Hill’s most comprehensive work of achievement; a veritable tome of success literature, I’d call it the world’s first and foremost “success encyclopedia.”

The only modern day equivalents that readily come to mind is Anthony Robbin’s “Unlimited Power” in the field of applied psychology, Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” on principle-centered leadership, and the success strategies employed in Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles.”

Nevertheless, I would rank Napoleon Hill’s “Law of Success: The 21st-Century Edition” as the foundational book for developing a practical success philosophy that anyone can readily apply. The fully revised and updated 21st-Century Edition comes in at 1035 pages containing Hill’s deep analysis of the 17 proven principles of success, many personal examples and stories from his own life experiences, and new commentary from the editors providing modern parallels with contemporary events and the latest management theories.

In this special three part series, you’ll be provided with a brief summary of each of Napoleon Hill’s 17 Principles from his classic bestseller, “Law of Success: The 21st-Century Edition.” Master these principles and you will master your destiny!

Principle # 1: The Master Mind

The Master Mind is simply a friendly alliance of two or more minds harmoniously working together in full cooperation towards the achievement of a singular purpose. It’s more than just a brain-trust of accumulated knowledge used for creative problem solving; the Master Mind is a field of accumulated energy created from the combined group’s spirit which can accomplish far more than any individual member could possibly hope to achieve independently.

Hill recommends forming a round table of ideally six to twelve like-minded individuals who will support your chief aim, who are in complete harmony with each other, and who are willing to meet with you regularly to help you accomplish that aim. You must offer each group member something in return that will reward their participation in your Master Mind.

Whether you choose to develop a formal alliance or not, the Master Mind principle will still have a powerful influence over your life for better or worse. It is said you are the average sum total of the people you spend the most time with which will either help or hinder you. Choose your friends and associates carefully.

Principle # 2: A Definite Chief Aim

Without a definite purpose backed by a definite plan one is as lost and hopeless as a rudderless ship in the middle of the Atlantic. Good intentions and hard work are not enough. You need a Purpose, a Plan, and Perseverance backed with a burning desire to achieve your definite chief aim in life.

To realize your Chief Aim, Hill suggests writing out your WWWH and reviewing it daily: “know what you want, when you want it, why you want it, and how you intend to get it.” Also include what you plan to give in return for reaching your dream.

By reviewing your manifesto daily, with intense feeling, you will begin attracting the people and circumstances in your life to make your wildest dreams come true.

Principle # 3: Self-Confidence

To be self-confidant you must know. Know yourself and know your business. Know your strengths and weaknesses, your greatest fears and deepest desires. Those who do not know live in constant fear and anxiety. A leader must know.

Keep a log of all your accomplishments and all the praise you receive and review it frequently. Use auto suggestion or self-talk to tell yourself daily about how you are growing as a leader in your field.

Fill your mind with positive, inspiring thoughts. Surround yourself with people who will empower you. Have faith in others and see the good in people because how you view others is a reflection of yourself.

Principle # 4: The Habit of Saving

Pay yourself first by developing the habit of consistently saving a portion of your income. Hill and many others suggest saving at least 10% of your earnings. (Tip: if you’ve accumulated high-interest debts such as credit card debt, it’s a good policy to allocate 80% of your savings to paying down the debt in order to avoid that debt from growing faster than the rate of return you’re getting on your savings).

Those who have will be given more. Having even a modest savings account will increase your self-confidence and will attract many opportunities that would normally not come your way without that extra cushion.

Successful people will be more willing to back your idea or promote you within their enterprise if they see that you yourself have developed the self-discipline of saving.

Hill recounts several instances in his book where people who had built up a little savings account were able to invest in new business opportunities, attract financing for their ideas, or enter into partnerships that would later result into untold millions.

Principle # 5: Initiative and Leadership

“Do the thing and you shall have the power.” Emerson

According to Hill, leadership is “doing the right thing without being told.” Leadership is ultimately about taking initiative and getting things done. Bottom line: leaders get paid for results.

By always providing additional service without any expectation for pay, you will build your initiative muscles.

Leadership requires self-sacrifice. Leaders are givers. Inspire and help others and you will be rewarded in direct proportion to your efforts. As American self-help icon, Zig Ziglar, likes to say, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

I hope you enjoyed Part I of this “Law of Success” series. For Law of Success Part II, you can visit: http://tinyurl.com/yqxca9

In the meantime, share these principles with your peers, discuss the concepts and teach other people what you’ve learned. There’s no better way to learn than by teaching others.

To get your copy of Napoleon Hill’s “Law of Success: The 21st Century Edition” visit: http://tinyurl.com/2a2cuk

Make eye contact. It signifies your interest and desire to be honest and credible.

Posture and gesture are also effective ways to communicate your message.

Dress Appropriately. How you look is also important. Your appearance should convey a message for dignity and respect.

Be conscious of other people’s space.

Keep your message understandable and straightforward. Remember, “Less is more.” Clarity is important because it affects all areas of your message. Avoid using jargons. Use words that your audience can understand.

Why “Less is more”? First and obvious, is to avoid information overload. Speaking involves great concentration. If you provide too much information, chances are your audience will not listen to you anymore.
Second, clarity and pausing allows your audience to understand and acknowledge what you are saying.

Be prepared. Remember the 6 W’s:
Who? – Determining your audience’s age, gender and interest are among the ways you can classify them.

What? – What topic would you like to discuss? Usually, when you get an invitation to speak in public, follow their theme and purpose.

How? – How can you communicate your message? Language and non-verbal cues are important. Proper choice of words helps your audiences understand you better.

When? – Obtain a logical timing of your discussion. Learn how to pause when necessary.

Where? – If you have time, visit the area where you will conduct your speech. Determine the best seating arrangement according to the type of your audience. You also need to consider the temperature, space and lighting conditions of the area. Visiting the area also helps you determine where to place your visual aid.

Why? – Convey the advantage and purpose the will gain if they will listen to you. Preparing a list objectives can help you narrow down the key points you need to emphasize.

Do not overwhelm your audience with numbers and statistics. You can put this information in handouts for easy reference in the future.

Use visual aids to support your message.

Establish dialogue and rapport. Allow your audience to participate in the discussion. You can also create rapport by call your audience by their names.

Speaking in public would be more effective if it is listened to. The following are effective tips to maintain that necessary contact with the audience.

Greet them

Minutes before your actual speaking engagement, you could walk around the venue and familiarize yourself with the people who will be listening to you. As the people and the attendees arrive, give them a warm greeting. It is so much easier to deliver a speech to a group of people whom you consider as friends than to a bunch of anonymous faces.

Be positive

Honestly, people expect and want you to succeed. Audiences want to be as informed, stimulated and entertained as they could be. If you fail, they cringe with you. Succeed and your audience benefits just as well from your great speaking performance.

There is nothing to be sorry about

If you mention to the audience that you are nervous or if you express your apologies to any problems you think may exist about your speech or your speech delivery, you may be setting them up to focus on that thing you are apologizing for. You do not have to mention this to them, chances are they haven’t noticed this until you brought it up. Relax and be silent. Your audience will relax with you.

Establish eye contact

Connect with your audience, appear natural. Or better yet, be as natural as you can be, without overdoing it of course. You should be able to get the audience to nod their heads as an acknowledgement of what you are trying to convey. Do not breeze through your speech. Pause for a while or for a brief moment, especially at those points you want to emphasize. This is also a good time to establish eye contact with your attendees as well as to catch that much needed breath.

Do not debate

If during the question and answer part of your speaking engagement an audience expresses disagreement with any part of your message, you need not aggressively prove your point to him or her. A debate is not just a futile means to get your point across but it could just as well never be resolved. Get that attendee to talk with you after your speaking engagement, never during.

Phobia is defined as a persistent or intense fear of a certain object, activity or situation.

Fear of public speaking is one type of social phobia which is often associated or developed through a person’s adolescence.

How would you react if your boss suddenly tells you that you have to do a presentation in front of your colleagues?

If the mere thought of having to stand and speak in front of a crowd is enough to give you panic attacks, then you have this type of phobia.

As with all types of fears, you can learn to cope with your public speaking anxiety by recognizing the symptoms first.

Who knows? Once you are up there, you might eventually realize that you are good at giving speeches or addressing the public, and even make a living out of it.

People are always hungry for information and there is no to better way of keeping them informed than by conducting presentations and giving out speeches about certain topics which you have already “mastered”.

First, take a look at the physical and mental manifestations of a person who experiences fear of public speaking.

>Nervousness

Being nervous before the day of your speech has several physical symptoms, which are as follows:

1. You have butterflies in your stomach.

2. Your palms are sweating.

3. Your hands are shaking.

4. Your knees are also shaking and you feel as if your legs are about to collapse.

5. Your heart beats much faster than normal.

6. You experience a slight dizziness or you have a “fainting” feeling.

7. You have a stomach disorder.

6. Your face is flushed and your mouth is dry.

7. You have “cold sweat” all over.

8. ‘Panicky’ thoughts.

Any of the above symptoms are quite normal, in certain situations. However, if you experience them in excess, you might have to seek professional help.

Public speaking anxiety would also lead to a lot of ‘panicky thoughts’.

You might be afraid that someone in the audience knows more about the topic than you do.

You are afraid that there is a question to come up that you are unable to answer.

You are afraid of committing a blunder for everyone to witness.

You can actually channel these negative thoughts into a more positive output, resulting in a spontaneous, very informative and even humorous speech.

By recognizing the symptoms and learning how to deal with your fear, you will eventually learn how to address the public and make it enjoyable and informative, both to yourself and your audience.

Naturally, the condition is frustrating for the patient as it not only hampers his/her ability to communicate well, it also opens him/her to perceptions that he or she is slow and stupid. There is no direct link between stammering and mental capacity. Studies show that speech defects like stammering are usually brought on by bad speech habits developed in childhood.

Can stammering be cured?

The answer is an overwhelming yes. Since the condition is primarily caused by habit, given enough time bad habits can be unlearned and replaced with the proper ones leading to correct speech.

How can you get help?
- If you (or someone you know) stammer, consult with a speech pathologist.
This is so that proper assessment of the condition can be made and verified whether stammering is the problem. The speech pathologist will have you read aloud a series of sample sentences or paragraphs, which is usually recorded for further analysis.

- Next a speech therapist will prescribe a series of exercises to correct the defect.
It’s been discovered that stammering is not merely a speaking defect but one that involves listening as well. So listening exercises may very likely be prescribed alongside breathing and relaxation exercises in addition to the ones for speech called oral motor exercises.

How can you help yourself?
- When working with a speech therapist, you may need to make several and frequent visits at the beginning of the treatment, which tapers off towards the later part as improvements set in. But the exercises should continue and be done diligently even outside these visits.

- Experts recommend that the minimum duration in treating stammering is 3 months of consistent therapy. To ensure permanency of results, six months to a year is prescribed.

- The optimum age in carrying out speech therapy is around the ages of 15 and 25. This is because young children may forget what has been learned and revert while older adults may have difficulty unlearning established habits.

Finally, there is nothing wrong with asking for positive reinforcement from friends, family and co-workers when you undergo the measures to cure stammering. It’s only right to do so and those who respect you will only be too willing to help you.

With patience, diligence and some time, the problem of stammering can be solved leading to a fuller and more productive life for you and everyone around you.

Perhaps, among the creatures especially endowed with the power of communication, humans make use of them more intensely and with a purpose that each speech made has had some effect on the people who hears them.

Not only do humans use communication in everyday survival but uses it for a variety of reasons. It is used to inspire and to deliver important messages in a well-structured and equally measured manner.

Public Speaking

In a recent survey, more than 90% among the 1000 American individuals interviewed are afraid of hosting a speaking engagement. 20% of them have at least done such acts and never want to do it again while 75% commented that there are people who are endowed with such skills and that public speaking should be reserved solely to them.

In a monologue lecture, one has to inform, influence, and convince people. This can only be done through the use of speech that is well crafted, revised and edited.

The above criteria can only be met if the speaker has a main purpose in mind, a tool to convey the very same purpose with a full consideration of the recipient audience.

In order for your speech to become as effective as you want it to be, you have to consider the four elements of the above activity, and tailor activities and strategies that will effectively drive your audience into believing everything you have to say.

Who/whom Your audience is your best resource when considering in what manner you would want to conduct your speech. You should deliberately come up with a verbal address that is appropriate to your audience. Consider their age, level of education, place in the society, and your level of relationship with them.

Ron Kurtus, an experienced speech master, commented that your first and primary purpose of speaking is to communicate ideas that you think your listeners would like to hear; something that they want to internalize and be part of their lives and something which can they can use for their daily living and gain rewards along the way.

What Your topic will provide you an effective idea and help you develop a talk which is most appropriate, timely and equally-relating to your listeners and spectators. Your topic can be as complicated as you want it to be as long as your audience is aware of the main topic at hand.

When As you go along making your speech, you may want to ask yourself if the subject of your talk is timely or something which your audience could probably relate to.

You do not want to explain the science behind Alzheimer if you are talking to business folks who are looking for ways on how they can develop a procedure for managing their business and get warranted results.

In a sense, one has to consider if one has the opportune time to talk about things to their audience that will make a direct impact on how they view the world and the concepts surrounding your topic.

How As today’s world becomes a place for entertainment, people expect their speakers to be lively and use strategies that will arouse their interest and help them better understand the complexities by which your topic is founded.

Dr. Stephen D. Boyd says that a 20 or 200 person audience is similar in terms of maintaining their interest on what you have to say. Speakers battle on the external factors which play in getting the attention of your listeners.

Listeners expect their client speaker to speak with vigor, humor, vitality, confidence, and animation. This can be in the form of creating something catchy like a surprising and unusual story, an unbelievable figure and/or your personal experiences.

If you are tired and emotionally stressed, your listeners can feel it. It is evident in your voice, in your actions and the way you move your hands and body. You will be physically restricted and repressed and could hardly do more to stir excitement among your audience.

While these and other factors affect the way you conduct your speech, it is important to follow several recommendations that will help you combat the consequences of your audience finding out your true physical state.

Vary your pace of speaking
Pause to make a point
Demonstrate gesture that is relevant to the idea that you are trying to point out
Employ facial expressions
Make sensible and purposeful movements

If you are very much in comfort with it, use humor. Just check it first if it fits, serving as a breaker between sections or emphasizing a certain point. A funny and great line, or a comment that is irreverent can help liven up the presentation that you have and will help people to remember the things you have said. Of course any joke must be related to the topic that you have in some way. If you are not sure about something, you could also use a humorous photo or cartoon (with the permission of the photographer or illustrator, of course) in your slides.

Aside from making jokes or humor in your speech, you could improve your public speaking with these other tips.

- You should be able to grab your listeners’ attention even right at the start. That is why it is important that you start correct confident posture, eloquent speaking style, controlled voice tonality and impact, and a nice, well-thought speech from you.

- The information in your message should be organized clearly and logically, making it easy for your listeners to follow what you are trying to say. Keep things easy and simple. Divide the information into smaller blocks and work from there. Highlight the points that you want your audience to remember.

- Your most crucial point should be the conclusion, bringing the speech to a close. The conclusion sets the tone of the speech, and lets the listeners think about and ponder on the things you have just said. Literary devices, such as quotes, stories, rhetorical questions, or surprising facts, can be used for concluding a speech, although of course, these devices should relate well to the topic of your speech.

- Deliver the conclusion that you have clearly and slowly. Keep eye contact with your listeners as you speak. Smile at them, thanking them for the time that they have given you.

- You should remember all these tips and in due time, you would be surprised to see how these techniques have helped you in your future speaking presentations. Your listeners will eventually understand the information you have given them and respect you for your ability in delivering that information.