Coach Natalie's Blog

Snow, ice, cold, presents, food, family, holiday cards, kids, pets, wrapping, money....

 

Breathe...  1001, 1002, 1003  breathing in and 1001, 1002, 1003 breathing out. 

 

As much as you would like to control the next couple of weeks, you cannot change the fact that the holidays are here.  What's a person to do who is really mentally too busy to enjoy this holiday?  You don't have less time anyone else.  You just have a mindset that says you have no time.

 

If you can learn to breathe during the holidays with all that is going to go on anyway, you can learn to breath easily with all the rest going on in your life.  Breathing deeply can change any moment immediately because breathing deeply tells your body that everything is either ok or going to be ok.

 

Our breath is our life.  When we don't breathe easily because we are stressed, our body struggles to relax at all. 

 

Here is a horrible stat that might help you understand the true value of breathing deeply and taking the time to breathe.  The evidence is in:  by the time you are 70 years old, many people have only 50% capacity use of their lungs because they have been not breathing deeply.  Your habit of breathing fast, in a shallow way or holding your breath, can make your lung act like it has been ill.

 

Its easy to breathe deeply.  It might not be easy to remember to breathe deeply.

 

Put up signs.  Post it to your Outlook Calendar or Task List to Breath Now! 

 

Count 1001, 1002, 1003 in and 1001, 1002, 1003  out.  In fact, do it right now while you are reading this note. 

 

Breateh through your days and evenings and feel better than you have in years.  Have wonderful holidays.  2011 is going to be a Remarkable year for you. 

Happy Holidays!  Most of the time when you wish someone a nice holiday, they smile.  However, I am running into some serious eye rolling because of the holidays and all that they involve.  Yes, they are here again. 

 

First of all, the holidays come at the same time each year.  Yet, we seem awfully grumpy that they showed up and we have to get all the stuff done in time and with grace.  Maybe we need reminders in our mobile devices in October that yup, they are coming again.

 

Personally, this year I am completely grateful that the holidays are here...right in my face.  I have decided to take a good long look at what they mean and have meant to me over the years and revisit the possible magic that might bring. 

 

Take decorating:  my family saved everything and every decoration that anyone ever made or bought.  The process of decorating the tree and our home involved unwrapping hundreds of tissue paper things, large and small; dusty and damaged; unreadable and smooshed.  It all was used.  The conversations that took place during the unwrapping were like this:  "remember when you drew that in lst grade and cried when I spilled milk on it?"; remember when we all decided that orange was a great color and all the new ornaments would be out of orange construction paper?";  "remember, this one was the one from gramma's last Christmas with us."

 

Holiday Cards:  I have friends and relatives that have their cards done at the end of October, addressed and stamped ready to go out.  They know who they are and it is annoying.  However, these are the very same people that if you need an address, they know where the people moved to, how many kids they have and how they are. 

 

Food:  Everyone is trying to serve new food.  What's wrong with Turkey?  Or Ham?  What is this vegetable stuff that shows up on the table with no calories?  Ok, so it is good for me.  I get it.  Yes, I do have some pounds to lose in 2011, so thanks.  However, if you are tempted to provide a high calorie thingy on the holiday table, I promise to take a small portion.

 

See what I mean about being grateful?   I am going to say thank you to all the people who celebrate the holidays their way and include me.  I am going to take some time and some deep breaths to see what it is that I can contribute to your holiday so you can be grateful too. 

 

Like I said.  Happy Holidays. 

 

 

 

It seems all you have to do is mention the holidays coming up and everyone rolls their eyes.  And please don't make the mistake of asking them why.  Gads, they will keep you busy listening to their woes of years gone by that involve:

I've noticed that we are truly surprised by the holidays continuing to show up.  Well, its like someone thought they had more time than they do.  The calendar does not lie...the holidays are pretty much the same each year and we continue to be annoyed and surprised that they are here again.

 

As a Holiday Stress (elimination not supplier) Expert for the past 20 years, I have talked to hundreds of holiday lovers to find out why they get dreamy and soft when you mention the holidays.  I've asked them their tips for not only get through the holidays, but enjoying them.  You are in luck.  I am going to share these tips with you because you deserve to have a lovely holiday season.  You really do. 

 

And there are only 17 days until Thanksgiving.  Just a heads up. 

There are times when we all need to do the simple customary things in our lives.  Change the battery in the smoke alarm.  Inflate your tires to the proper pressure.  Get a carbon monoxide monitor for your home. 

 

Let me share with you what I discovered today in my very nicely constructed home office in the basement of my home. 

 

When I moved into my 1930's bungalow 5 years ago, I decided that I wanted to use a good portion of my basement for my home office.  I found a someone with vision that could construct the space the way I wanted it.  Lots of light, great storage, big wide open spaces for think and work in.  I have two fire alarms in the space.  I even have a fire extinguisher for the "just in case" moments.  But I did not install a carbon monoxide detector and I really should have. 

 

Each fall I have my furnace looked at and cleaned.  Thank goodness I did this before cold weather because the exhaust from the gas had no where to go.  I had a new roof put in this spring and the construction caused a collapse in the furnace piping.  The furnace guy found high levels of CO in my office and basement.  Fortunately it has been warm here in TN and I have not turned on the heat.  If I had, I could have easily just died.  That is how serious the problem was.

 

My message to you is...be very careful.  Cover all your bases.  Get a CO monitor today and put it in your basement and the main living area of your home especially if you heat with gas or propane.

 

I am a very very lucky girl who is writing you this note.  Now that I know the issue with the CO poisoning, I had manifested symptoms for several months.  But I just thought it could be handled with diet, or prayer, or exercise.  I did not know I was being poisoned. 

 

Please take good care of you and your home.  Do an inventory today of the safety measures you need to take in order to be well.  Do that today!

 

Did you know that 47% of people are more afraid of public speaking than dying?  Now that is a stat that does not have to be true.  You can greatly reduce your "speaking terror" by simple preparation.  September is a time we reinvigorate our efforts at learning and promoting our products and services.  In order to do that, we need to engage people and interest them in what we have to offer.

 

Public speaking happens every time we open our mouths.  Whether you are getting ready for a presentation to your staff; a prospect or an association meeting, you can create success by remembering just a few key points.

 

When you know the outcome you want to create from your speaking/selling, it helps you prepare more easily.  Determine what it is that is important for you to accomplish and the prep time will be easy.  Knowing who your audience or prospect is and what they value guarantees that you will provide them with content filled and immediately usable information.  We are all too busy to waster our time with information that will not serve us.  Choosing the format of the presenting or controlling the format provides a comfortable selling/presenting setting for the audience/prospect and for you.

 

After 24 years of keynoting and presenting to thousands of people, I know when I am prepared, know my audience and can provide the format for the presentation of the information, I sell more; get more bookings; provide high value content and feel really good about the information presented. 

 

And what a terrific time we live in with such an excellent variety of technology to support your learning.  45% of my coaching and consulting for presentation skills training is on Skype (web cam technology) with people all over the world.  With the cam and real time technology, I can immediately see what you need in your presenting techniques; discuss the issues; help you feel confident and help you compose content in real time.  By the time we are done, you have a presentation and know how to deliver it with impact and confidence. 

 

I love helping people get clear, confident and effective.  

We are a whole body communicating machine even when we think we are saying nothing. 

 

However, first and foremost, every time you open your mouth you are in public speaking.  You need to know how you sound and are perceived in one-on-one conversations as well as when you take your information to the lectern and a larger group.

 

Your body language says infinitely more than your mouth ever says.  All humans on this planet learn to "read" body language as an infant.  If you are a parent of a new born you will know exactly what I mean.  You spend such intense time trying to get that baby to smile or laugh at you.  We use our bodies and face to get that little kid to react and smile.

 

Well as you grow you learn to read others and they learn to read you.  So when someone sees you coming down the hall, what do they see?

 

Confidence?  Confusion?  Annoyance?  Interesting?  And they read that before you even have a chance to say anything to them.

 

Our own personal "brand" can sometimes be decided for us as we move through our days.  I bet you would like people to think of you as a clear, confident and effective leader and speaker right?  Maybe we should take some time together and see if that is how you are coming across.

 

The "whole body" communication is yours to develop.  Don't miss the chance to feel and appear exactly the way you want your brand to be.

 

Success to us all . 

 

   

Why bother indeed!  Are any of you as tired of poor written communication as I am?  Lets put texting aside for one minute and just take a look at how we are communicating on a regular basis.  I do know that my senior English teacher, Mrs Cook, would be so disappointed with how we are treating the King's English (or any other language we are using).

 

Because we are all moving so quickly through our days to "get things done" we have many times forgotten the joy of the language.  How about picking just the right adjective to describe a nuance of a situation?  Or that oh so sassy remark placed in a remarkable position that is eye catching and provocative in it's meaning.

 

We need words.  We need language.  We need to set context when explaining to people so they get what the content of what we are trying to share with them. 

 

Ok, maybe you don't need it.  Maybe it is just me.  But what about the use of our incredible languages?  There is just so much that we can convey with the spoken and written word that is so many times just lost because of the speed of our work, lives, deadlines, travel...

 

My dear friend Annie is one of those people that worbles great speaking.  She just is in the middle of terrific syntax all of the time.  Maybe I could just hang around her more often and get my eloquence and sense making fix.

 

Here is a challenge.  Treat the next email you send as if it is a handwritten card you are sending to a very important person.  Take time with the writing and the words so you say exactly what you want to say exactly the way you want to say it.  See if you don't just struggle a bit before you get into the mode of writing well, not just fast.

 

Email can be efficient and fast.  It also has taken over my life and runs my day.  Even with very good time management tools, email has consumed me and my business.

 

So if I can't stop the email and control it easily as I would like, the least I can do is be memorable and clear when I do write you an email. 

 

But, I so wish you interesting and lively word use along with effective, clear and sprizzily business correspondence conversations.