July 2006

It's Always Live Better Than Yesterday Day!

Today is Always Live Better Than Yesterday day! Here are ten tips to living your life better than yesterday:

1. Set goals and create passion

2. Look at any challenge as a learning opportunity

3. Constantly ask yourself, "How can I do it better?"

4. Embrace education and stay ahead of the curve

5. Give back to your community, friends, and family

1. Create wealth for yourself and others

7. Create balance in your life

8. Learn to forgive and move on

9. Make your health a priority

10. Always take time to appreciate someone

Take time to follow these success tips and you will always live better than yesterday!

Outstanding Presentations Start in the Mind: Five Secrets for Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety

Public speaking presents such a challenge for many people. In the Book of Lists, public speaking anxiety and making a presentation constitute the number one fear; the fear of dying is number two. Like the old saying goes, "People would rather be in the grave than make a presentation." You see people sweat, shake, and quiver while they are speaking. Sometimes, employees bypass promotions, and business owners bypass business opportunities rather than give a presentation. I saw a manager who was on the corporate fast track quickly become derailed because she couldn't complete her presentation in front of senior management.

So what do great speakers do to prepare themselves to be great presenters? They prepare their minds to give a great presentation. That's right; it all starts in your mind. How can you develop a great speaker's mindset and start giving outstanding presentations? The following are five secrets for powerful public speaking:

1. Believe It So That You Can Achieve It
   I am approached by people who say, "I can't speak in public," "I am a bad speaker," or "I could never speak in public." Without hearing them speak, I say, "You're right." Because once you make those negative statements, they become self-fulfilling prophesies. When you say, "I am a bad speaker," your subconscious mind is thinking, "Well, he or she said it, so it must be true; so I will act like a bad speaker." Positive speaking attitude (PSA) is one of the first things I work on during my presentation coachings. Replace the negative speaking attitude with a PSA to master your self talk and improve your presentation skills. Instead of saying, "I am a bad speaker," say the following:
   
   
   • "I am improving my public speaking abilities everyday in everyway."
   • "Every opportunity to make a presentation is an opportunity for success."
   • "I am a good public speaker today; and, with continued practice, I will be a better public speaker tomorrow."
   • "I am mastering my presentation skills everyday!"

   When you make these positive affirmations, your subconscious mind hears it and says, "Yeah, I am improving," or "Let me speak because it is an opportunity for success," or "I am mastering my speaking skills."

   Manage your self talk for a PSA. You will feel a new confident attitude concerning public speaking.

2. Think About What You Want to Accomplish
   I will ask the question, "What do you want to accomplish with your presentation?" Many times I will be on the receiving end of a blank stare or the student might say, "I just want them to listen to me."
   
   Take time to think about what you want to accomplish by giving your presentation. Is it that you want to entertain the audience, do you want to persuade them on an important issue, or maybe you want the audience to take action after hearing your presentation. Going into your presentation knowing what you want to accomplish creates focus and is a big confidence builder.

3. Visualize Success
   Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at an association conference with over five thousand people in the audience. Joy, my wife, was sitting in the audience with our friend Jim who came to hear me speak for the first time. As I was about to speak, Jim leaned over and asked Joy if I was nervous speaking in front of such a large group of people. Without blinking an eye, Joy said, "He was born for this day. He saw this day coming when he first started speaking."

   I visualized that day long before it happened. Whenever I give a presentation, I take time to visualize a successful presentation and positive outcome. The more details I include in my visualizations, the more vivid and real it becomes for me. The night before the presentation I will find a quiet place at home or, if I am on the road, a hotel room, and meditate to start the visualization process. I will visualize my drive to the event, greeting the host and audience, and how my powerful presentation will sound and look on that day. I will also visualize the audience's positive response to the presentation.

   Take time to visualize the details of giving a great presentation. Like the old saying goes, "Fake it 'til you make it." If you visualize you are a great speaker, you will take the steps and create opportunities for yourself to become a great speaker.

   Visualize that the audience wants to hear your message and they want you to do well. Remember, it's their time also and they want to receive value out of your speech.

4. Own the Room
   Whenever I speak, I "own the room." I mentally tell myself that for the next thirty minutes, hour, etc., I own the room. The corporation, association, or government may own the building or venue I am speaking in, but during the time I am speaking, I am the owner of the room and the audience will be my guests, my friends. That way I am always in control to give an outstanding presentation.

   Think of your speaking area as your house, your home, your castle. When you invite friends into your home, aren't you in control and want to provide a safe, entertaining environment for your guests? The same is true for your speaking audience; you want to provide a safe, entertaining, and enriching experience for them.

   I always say, "Giving presentations is not about me, it's about you (the audience)." What I mean is that if I am constantly thinking about how I sound, look, and feel while I speak, I am not thinking about what I can share with my audience. Concentrate on the value you will give to your audience members and you will never go wrong.

5. Eat the Elephant
   Many times I hear the following:

   "I could never speak in front of a group of people, but one-on-one I am fine."

   Well, I ask, "How do you eat the elephant?" Break the elephant into smaller pieces. It is the same when you "digest" the audience. Don't think of the audience as a whole, think of the audience as individuals ready to hear your message. Concentrate on thinking of your audience as individuals, and your message will come across that way to the individual audience members.

Follow these five secrets for creating a positive mindset for confident public speaking. Overcoming your public speaking anxiety will improve your presentation skills and create new opportunities for you through public speaking.

Ed Sykes and Joy Fisher-Sykes are Featured Leadership Speakers at Toastmaster International Convention

Ed Sykes and Joy Fisher-Sykes will be featured speakers at the 2006 Toastmasters International Convention held at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, on August 26th. The title of their presentation is "The Business of Toastmasters: How to Create a Vibrant, Motivated and Profitable Club."

Ed Sykes and Joy Fisher-Sykes will share secrets for treating your club, association, or group as a growing business. Ed and Joy, while volunteering for Toastmasters as Club Extension Specialist and District Public Relations Officer, respectively, have created and mentored five new clubs in 2006: Norfolk Naval Shipyard HRSC, GEICO, Booz, Allen and Hamilton, Verizon, and Johnson Controls, with vibrant starting memberships of over thirty plus and growing. They are currently working with State Farm Insurance to start a new club. These organizations realize that outstanding communication skills improve employee morale, customer relations, and, ultimately, better performance and bottom line.

"Many non-profit groups act like they are non-profits," says Ed Sykes. "However, they have an obligation as leaders to market, provide the product or service guaranteed in their "contract" (the membership application), and take care of their "customers" (the members). "Just like a corporation," says Joy Fisher-Sykes, "you are responsible for working with your "shareholders" (your area, division, and district officers) to provide the best product or service for your customers to grow your "business" (the organization).

Career Advice: Five Career Advice Secrets for Being the Perfect Employee Everyone Wants on Their Team - Part 2

The following are five career advice secrets for being the perfect, motivated employee that everyone wants on their team, putting your career on the fast track, and creating great relationship with management:

1. Be Enthusiastic
   Be known as an employee who has a great attitude and is enthusiastic about his/her job and work. Enthusiasm is contagious and spreads quickly in the workplace. Just the opposite, constantly whining and complaining deplete valuable resources of energy in the workplace. Think of people you know at work and ask the following questions:
   
   
   • Who energizes me at work? Who has a can do attitude?
   • Who drains the energy out of the day? Whom do I hate to see come through the door in the morning?
   • How do my co-workers and managers see me?
   
   
   Positive and negative employees, when presented with the same situation, have two different ways of handling the situation. The positive employee looks for the positive solutions. The positive employee is a proactive person who looks at change and challenges as opportunities to grow and develop new skills. The negative person looks at the same situations as being taken advantage of and has the "why is this happening to me" attitude. The negative employee tends to gossip and participate in unhealthy competition. Obviously, management feels more confident with the positive, enthusiastic employee with the "can do" attitude. Be known as the positive employee who creates solutions.

2. Know Management
   You will avoid career landmines and be favored by management by taking the time to "manage your manager." Find out and understand your manager's strengths and weaknesses, priorities and communication style, and how he/she manages people.

   When I was rising up the corporate ranks, I worked for a vice president who was uncomfortable speaking in front of a group of people. Whenever he had a department meeting, you could always see he was nervous and tense, especially when he had to persuade us to accept a very challenging situation. There would always be a team member who would challenge this vice president in front of the group. To say the least, this did not go well for the employee who challenged him. However, I recognized the vice president's weakness, never questioned him in public, and waited until the meeting was over and went to his office to discuss the challenging situations of the day. Behind our closed-door discussions, this same vice president was very open, conversational, and confident. We were able to create solutions for the company and when it came time for promotion to vice president, my name was at the top of the list.

   Remember, to get what you want in your career, you must help your manager succeed. Focus on what is important to your manager and provide the solution. If customer service is important, speak with your manager in terms of creating customer solutions. If your manager is a numbers person, quantify all your results, etc.

3. Walk the Talk
   Show integrity in everything you do at work. Be the employee that management can depend on to get things done. When you prove you are an employee who consistently delivers on his/her promises, this will impress management and you will go to the top of the list for choice assignments and promotions. If you are someone who is known as undependable, you will lose the respect of management, and your opportunities for promotions will decrease.

   Also, the employee with integrity owes up to his/her mistakes. The employee that doesn't have the courage to own up to his or her mistakes and take responsibility is very frustrating for managers. If you make a mistake, do the following:

   • Own it
   • Apologize for it
   • Explain what you learned from the mistake
   • Ask your manager for input
   • Tell what actions you will take in the future so the mistake won't happen again

   This benefits you because it shows you have integrity, you take ownership for your actions, you can learn from challenges and mistakes, and you are developing a relationship with your manager by asking for input and assistance.

   Last, but not least, integrity is also not taking credit for someone else's work. Take credit for your own work and acknowledge others for their accomplishments. Fellow employees have a long memory, and you may need these same people when it comes time for a promotion.

4. Take Risks and Grow Rich
   There are employees who do a good job everyday and do not advance in their careers. The employees who stretch themselves and their abilities are the ones who advance in their careers. Risk takers are comfortable with the challenges of taking the risk and know how to adapt to job situations when they arise. They also know that there may be some challenges that they may not accomplish the first time. However, they will take responsibility for the results, learn from these challenges, and prosper in future opportunities.

   The following are some ways to take risks and grow rich:

   • Volunteer for high exposure, high risk projects
   • Get agreement and an understanding as to the resources needed to succeed
   • Combine questions with solutions in meetings
   • Actively find work challenges and provide solutions

5. Be the Team Player
   Managers look for employees who are not only talented, but work to make the entire team better. Team players work well with other team members and support them emotionally. Team members are proactive about pitching in when and where needed.
   
   They also understand what the team mission is and work with other team members to accomplish its goals and values. Because of this understanding, team players are competitive for the team not within the team.

When it comes to your career, talent helps but is not the sole factor for success. Take time to apply these five career advice secrets and you too will be the perfect employee everyone wants on their team.

Happy National Get Out of the Dog House Day!

July 17th is National Get Out of the Doghouse Day! Are you in someone's doghouse? Is someone in your doghouse?

Being in the doghouse or keeping someone in the doghouse leads to the following:

• Added stress and anxiety to your life which leads to illness and disease

• Lost concentration and focus

• Lost of career and life opportunities

Make the effort to get out of the doghouse. Take the first steps to:

1. Talk it out

2. Apologize, if needed

3. End with a promise for improvement

If you put someone in the doghouse, ask these questions:

• Is it worth all the physical and mental energy to keep this person(s) in the doghouse?

• What am I getting by keeping this person in the doghouse?

• Is my pride getting in the way of reconciling our relationship?

• What's the big picture compared to why this person is in the doghouse?

Remember, as a good friend recently told me, life is way too short to let disagreements get in the way of good relationships.

Take the steps to get out of the doghouse or let someone out of the doghouse!

Click here to read additional information on how to empower yourself or others.

Ed Sykes and Joy Fisher-Sykes Receive Award from School for Youth Leadership and Mentoring Program

Ed Sykes and Joy Fisher-Sykes, Co-founders of The Sykes Group, received an award from Seatack Elementary School in Virginia Beach, VA, for volunteering and leading the Toastmasters International Youth Leadership and Mentoring Program. They led a group of third through fifth graders on an eight-week program to improve their leadership, presentation, and motivation skills.

At the Seatack graduation ceremony, Ed and Joy were presented with an award from Principal Katherine Everett for outstanding contributions to the enhancement of public education. Ed Sykes and Joy Fisher-Sykes, in the Toastmasters International Youth Leadership Program, coached and mentored the participants in officer elections, Robert's Rules of Order, how to run a meeting, presentation skills, thinking on your feet skills, and how to give positive evaluations. By the second session, the participants are running the sessions with coaching from Ed and Joy.

"We find that our participants will always raise to the high bar we set for them in leadership, presentation skills, and evaluation skills so that they are more confident as students and leaders, and are ready to become global citizens," says Ed Sykes. "They are like little sponges and they instantly absorb new skills, many times much better than many adults." Joy Fisher-Sykes says, "We know our efforts are worth it when we see immediate results or when the participants ask us to come back next year. One young program participant said that it was difficult growing up as a child. Our program allowed her to voice her concerns about growing up as a kid and feel comfortable doing it."

July 11th is Cheer Up Day

Today is Cheer Up Day!

Take time to motivate and cheer up yourself and others by doing the following:

• Look at every challenge as a learning opportunity

• Compliment others on their habits, appearance, and how they make a difference

• Treat yourself to extra break, if permitted

• Help someone who needs help without being asked

• Take a moment to sit back and think of something you recently did especially well

• Say your blessings for the good things that you have in your life

• Do something special for someone who seems a little under the weather

• Call your spouse and say, "I love you"

• Go play with your children

• Be as silly as possible while reading "Cat in the Hat" or "Green Eggs and Ham" to your children or to yourself

• Listen to your favorite upbeat music

• View an inspirational movie

• Read a motivational book

• Play your favorite song and dance like you don't care who sees you

• Remember the saying, "This too will pass."

• Remember the saying, "If it doesn't kill me, it makes me stronger."

• Stretch or do some form of exercise

• Jump out of the "rat race" and take time to meditate

When you cheer up, others around you will cheer up. You never know the difference you may make in another person's life.

Today is Father Daughter Take a Walk Day!

Take the time today and celebrate Father Daughter Take a Walk Day! It's a wonderful way to strengthen the bond between your daughter and you. Take time to stop, jump off the "rat race," leave all technology at home; iPods, cell phones, and Walkmans for us older folks, and find out what is going on in your daughter's life and how you can make a difference.

That's enough for now. We're out the door so that I can walk along the oceanfront with my daughter and our dog and create a special moment. You can too!

It's Workaholic Day!

Today is Workaholic Day. However, the workaholics are too busy working to notice or enjoy the day.

Find time to take the CareerJournal.com quiz at the following link to see you might be a workaholic:

CareerJournal.com Workaholic Quiz

If you are a workaholic, relax. I really mean it, relax! The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute states that workaholics, especially those with Type A habits, are prime candidates for stress-related illnesses including ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart attacks.

Take steps to create more balance in your life and reduce stress. We have some stress management, stress relief, and relaxation tips and techniques in our stress management catagory you can apply today.

Please post to this article and share you workaholic stories with us. Please relax because we want you around for a while.

Happy 4th of July!

Take time to remember family, friends, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy of independence.

Have a wonderful 4th of July for everyone!

Joy Fisher-Sykes is Television Spokesperson for Real Estate Investment Company

Joy Fisher-Sykes of The Sykes Group was hired as spokesperson for a leading real estate investment company based in Virginia Beach, VA. The commercials can be seen during Oprah on ABC, the Today Show on NBC, and Fox News on the Fox television station.

Joy will be the main television spokesperson for Sierra Home Solutions, a leading real estate investment company in the State of Virginia. Sierra Home Solutions specializes in purchasing properties from motivated sellers and, after investing in the properties, reselling the properties or renting them to potential clients.

"It's an important service that helps both buyers and sellers. Many times, due to divorce, military reassignment, career relocation, or other life situations, the sellers need to quickly sell their property," says Joy Fisher-Sykes. "The sellers are able to receive a fair offer and immediate cash for their property, while Sierra Home Solutions receives investment property to serve their clients."

Press play button to watch commercial