The Sykes Group's OnPoint

NFL Legend Bruce Smith Talks About Health

We are honored to be involved of the third annual American Cancer Society's African American Men's Health Forum at the Marriott Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, VA on April 19th. As a volunteer for the American Cancer Society, I implore everyone to be proactive in taking care of their health. As Co-Chairman of this important event, I am especially happy that NFL Legend Bruce Smith has become a spokesperson for this event. See the following commercial with Bruce:

For additional information, go to www.cancerhealthforums.org. Get the information to make a difference for your love ones and for yourself.

American+Cancer+Society Bruce+Smith African+American+Men's+Health+Forum Norfolk+VA

Success Lessons I Learned on the Way to NCAA Championship Game!

If you are a basketball fan like I am, then you have given up all your worldly goods other then your television set, and have been watching the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments, otherwise known as "March Madness." The best college basketball teams in the United States compete to play in the men's and women's NCCA Championship Game. The winner of that men's NCAA Championship Game played tonight and the women's NCCA Championship Games are declared the 2008 NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Champions, respectively, and receives all the glory with this very special win.

As I watch NCAA basketball tournaments, I realized that the teams exhibited many success techniques that can easily be applied to your business, your career, and your life. The following are many of the success techniques you can use by watching the NCAA Championship Games tonight and tomorrow:

• Develop a Powerful Mission Statement for Success

• Visualize Your Goals for Success

• Create Passion for Success

• Practice, Practice, Practice for Success

• Organize Yourself for Success

• Learn from Every Setback

• Develop a Strong Sense of Team

To learn how to apply these success keys to your business, your career, and your life, go to Success.

You know where I will be tonight and tomorrow. I will be watching the NCAA Championship Games at 9 p.m. EST. May the best teams win!

NCAA+Championship+Game success men's+basketball goal+setting teamwork

March Madness is Here!

March Madness is here! I am not talking about the NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament. I am talking about the free bonuses offered with our new success e-book, "Jumpstart Your Greatness!"

Find out more about this success system and bonuses at Success.

March+Madness success successful+people Jumpstart+Your+Greatness

Coming to 0rder: Five Public Speaking Lessons Learned from Judge Judy

If you have watched T.V. lately, you’ve probably noticed a growing popular genre - reality courtroom shows. These shows are centered on litigants bringing small-claims court cases in a televised forum. Some of the cases can get pretty racy and you might think there is little you can gain unless you plan to go to court yourself. What if I told you that watching Judge Judy can not only expand your understanding of the law, but teach you how to make better presentations? The following are five public speaking lessons you can learn from following courtroom protocol and procedures:

Lesson 1 – Concentrate on I and Why
Every plaintiff, before proceeding into a courtroom, needs to be able to answer one simple question, “Why am I here?”

The same is true in public speaking. When you give a speech, you need to focus not only on the “I” but the “why” of the program. You need to know the purpose for your speech and clearly be able to answer:

Why is this talk important?
Why should the audience listen to me?
Why should the audience put my talk into action?

When you choose to focus on the “I” as well as the “why” of your presentation, you are more likely to connect with your audience and increase the overall value and effectiveness of your speech.

Lesson 2 – Dress for Success
Imagine walking into a courtroom and attorneys are dressed in pajama pants, a polo shirt, and worn fuzzy slippers? What about drooping pants and a top with a plunging neckline and bulging cleavage? You may laugh at the thought, but odd and outlandish attire choices seem to be more of the norm for many who are not court officers. Why is this so important?

One universal truth we know to be true is that people are strongly influenced by visual cues. Your attire can accentuate or detract from your message. How? In thirty seconds or less, the audience will assess your look and decide whether or not you “appear” worth listening to. Choose to make a strong impression as you increase your credibility quotient; always choose polished and professional apparel.

Lesson 3 – Get to the point
The calendar of any court judge is full daily with no time to waste. Time is a precious commodity. If you waste the time you’re given, you risk being cut off by the judge and left wondering how you lost your case.

When you address an audience, it’s important to remember that their time is precious. Waste time and the audience will choose to tune you out and you will lose their attention and the ability to make your points. Plan, prepare, and practice your speech with information that is relevant, interesting, and concise.

Lesson 4 – Make Eye Contact
The eyes have it - truth is in the eyes. “Don’t look up there or look over there; look at me!” is a common admonishment you’ll often hear the popular Judge Judy often extol. Eye contact is the connection that helps judges and audiences alike to connect with the speaker. Audiences are more likely to believe what you say when you are able to look them in the eye without wavering. Make eye contact with your audience often and watch your credibility and connection with your audience go up!

Lesson 5 – Speak Up
Mumbling in court is not optional. Fail to speak up in court and you risk others speaking over you and drowning out your opportunity to make your case. What good is testimony if the judge, court reporter, attorneys, litigants, jury and court observers can’t hear it? When you make a presentation, ensure that the eloquence of your message isn’t lost. Use your voice and be sure to maintain an appropriate volume for the venue in which you speak. Speaking to a conference room full of your peers will require a different need that giving a keynote given at an industry conference. Make the choice - choose to speak up.

Apply these five public speaking secrets and you will always give outstanding presentations and be in control of any room.

public+speaking public+speaking+skills presentation+skills Judge+Judy

Revealed: The Ten Secrets to Career Success in Any Economy!

Economic times constantly change and organizations adapt to these changes. For you to find career success, you must be pro-active about your job. What are the career secrets of those who soar to the top in their careers no matter what the economic environment is in the world?

The following are ten career secrets you can use to "recession proof" yourself and find career success no matter what the situation is:

1. Find Out What Your Organization Needs for Career Success
   Invest the time to investigate and understand your organization's mission, goals, and values. Your organization may be facing challenges and the person who can tune into what the organization needs to be successful and provide the solution can write his/her own career success ticket.
   
   Remember, to get what you want in your career, you must help your organization, your department, 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.

2. Be a Change Agent for Career Success
   Organizational change will change the way you do your job. There is no escaping the changes that are happening around us all the time. Learn to embrace these changes so that you can learn how to take advantage of the career opportunities available from being a change agent.
   
   How do you do this? Be pro-active and ask questions about the change. How does it affect the organization? What challenges will there be implementing the changes? How will these changes affect the way you do your job? And the most important question, "What can you do to help implement the changes?"
   
   Once you receive the answers to these questions, and are able to act on the answers, you are way ahead of the "change curve" and will be looked at as someone who can "make things happen" within the organization. This will lead to countless career opportunities.

3. Be the Master of Your Job for Career Success
   Invest the time to learn as much as there is to know about your job. Many times, employees will become complacent and master only the few tasks that they do 80% of the time. Then when a career opportunity comes up, this employee doesn't have the skill set to take advantage of a promotion or raise.
   
   Take the time to read trade journals, go on the Internet to job related sites, and ask questions to master the understanding of your job. With the wealth of information there is in the 21st century, there is no excuse for "not knowing."

To read more go to Career

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Create a Great Funeral Day!

Today is "Create a Great Funeral Day!"

Why would I be talking about this day? Well, about five years ago I had the pleasure of helping a client through a challenging situation. This client was a major university who was just starting a Funeral Services Management program and degree. The instructor, who was teaching the business side of funeral services, had other priorities come up and had to leave. The client asked me if I would step in and teach this course for the seminar. To say the least, I was quite surprised. The only information I knew about the funeral business was the men in the black suits, the open caskets, and the limousines.

After great consideration, I accepted the challenge and took the course book and researched everything there was about funeral service management. My classes were alive (Ha! Ha! That's the joke) with interaction and involved the students as they were looking to jump into the business. I had guest speakers who were in the business come in to speak to the students. I also took the students on field trips to funeral homes to learn what goes on behind the scenes to make a successful funeral.

I enjoyed teaching this course as I could see that the students were absorbing the information. I went on to teach the course for a total of three seminars until they actually found a Funeral Director/Instructor to teach the course. Out of the five Funeral Services Management courses taught during this period, my courses were consistently rated the highest.

What did I learn from this experience? I learned the following:

• When you do quality work for your client, they will have confidence in you for other areas.

• Opportunities in one area with prepare you for other opportunities in other areas.

• You can perform a good quality funeral for only three to five thousand dollars. Anything more than that is just extras/add-ons.

• Funeral directors perform their jobs to the best of their abilities to give great customer service.

What an experience! I am so glad I accepted the opportunity to teach at that time. The client and university regarded me in a whole new level of respect and hired me for additional projects. I can see how this past experience helped me today to give even greater service to my clients.

Create a Great Funeral Day!

Create+a+Great+Funeral+Day management success opportunity

The Secret to Living Your Dreams: Five Success Techniques to Achieving More Success in Your Life!

How many times in our lives have we said the following?

If I had more time, I would have acted on my dream...
If I didn't need this job, I would have pursued my dream of...
If only I had (you fill in the blank) ten years ago, I would have achieved my dream of...

I am sure you can add a dozen more "If I" dream statements. There are people going through life everyday working at jobs they hate, in situations they tolerate, and living a life that they disown because they settled for an "If I" mindset.

What is the secret between the person who is achieving his/her dream life and the person who is just wishing for a dream life? The following are five techniques for living your dream and achieving more in life:

1. Understand Your Options and Live Your Dreams
   We have options in our life. Do we follow the road everyone else is taking or do we travel the road less traveled to achieve our dreams? We have the option to look at life's challenges as a way to find creative solutions or to look at challenges as a negative barrier to achieving one's dreams. Take the positive option to develop yourself and achieve your dreams.

2. Fight Your Fears and Live Your Dreams
   Most fears we constantly think about and which sometimes paralyze us never happen. Yet we will spend 75-90% of our thoughts on our fears. F-E-A-R is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real. Get the facts and act accordingly. Let's "flip our mental script" and concentrate on the upside of any situation so that we can concentrate on achieving our dreams. Fight though your fears and build your courage to live your dreams.

3. Concentrate on Your Goals and Live Your Dreams
   If you are not living your dream, you are living someone else's dream. How do you make your dreams come true? Create and concentrate on your goals to achieving your dreams. Start with your main goal and then break this goal down into smaller pieces so that you can digest and act on these goals. Most importantly, write down your goals and keep them in a place where you can see and read them any time of the day. This is important because there will be times you will feel you are not achieving your goals and will need a "dream booster shot" to keep you motivated toward achieving your goals.

4. Eliminate Barriers to Living Your Dreams
   You need to eliminate barriers to living your dreams. This could be eliminating expenses, gaining knowledge, or gaining the technology for living your dreams. One of the biggest barriers to eliminate could be very close to you. This barrier to living your dreams could be your family, your friends, and your co-workers who create reasons why you shouldn't live your dreams. They may not even realize they are a barrier to your dreams by their words or actions.
   
   Some people are living in their own misery and want you to give up your dreams and join them in their misery. Remember, some people may not have high expectations for themselves, much less for you. So when you express your lofty dreams, they will look and speak to you expressing their low expectations for you. Break away from them and their misery so that you can live your dreams. Bond with people of like mind so that you can form a synergy and have a positive group of people who are helping each other and moving toward their goals and living their dreams.

5. Act on Your Dreams!
   Your dream will be just that...a dream unless you act on it. An amazing thing happens when you keep acting on your dreams. You will keep growing stronger and will become better prepared to achieve even more in life.

Take the time to apply these five techniques for living your dreams and you, too, will achieve more in life.

dreams dream the+secret self-help

The Secret to Living Your Dreams and Achieving Your Goals!

The secret to living your dreams? Do what you fear most. Watch this very inspirational video, focus on your goals, and achieve your dreams!

living+your+dreams the+secret goal+setting self+improvement self+help

Develop an Attitude of Gratitude! Show Your Gratitude on World Gratitude Day!

Take the time today to develop an attitude of gratitude. Take the time to do it not because you want to keep score, because it is the right time to do. Take the time to show your appreciation to someone in your life: your family, your friends, your co-workers. You will never know what a difference it could make in someone's life when you take the time to say "thank you," "job well done," or "I appreciate you and everything you do."

Don't want till tomorrow or next year, do it today and make a difference in someone's life.

World+Gratitude+Day Appreciation Gratitude Attitude+of+Gratitude Appreciate

So Much Reading, So Little Time, What is One to Do? RapidReader Increases Reading Speed in Minutes!

"Help! I need to increase my reading speed now!"

If you're like me, you have information coming at you 24/7 from a variety of sources: e-mails, books, special reports, magazines, training manuals, vendor information, etc. and it keeps growing. We are under pressure to quickly assimilate this information so that we can make business, career, and life decisions better and faster than ever before.

I have tried various speed reading programs with very little success. I have learned the systems, scanned the pages, used the "index finger" to keep myself on track and not increased my reading speed at all. The problem with these programs is that they force us to learn a reading system that is not natural to us, thereby causing us to fail.

Then it happened that I was exposed to the solution. A vendor, who wanted me to quickly read his product information, explained in his follow-up e-mail that he understands that I am busy and offered a win-win solution---the RapidReader program. The very first time I used RapidReader I fell in love. I found that I was able to instantly increase my reading speed and read the vendor's manual in a matter of minutes.

RapidReader is based on a ten-year research project by John Hopkins University which studied barriers to faster reading. The results revealed that for over 5,000 years we humans set ourselves up for failure by requiring our eyes to move to where written words are instead of letting the words that we read come to us. Not only do we work too hard to read when we must move our eyes to read a page, but we also increase our risk of being distracted during the reading process, both resulting in slower reading speed. RapidReader eliminates the two main barriers to reading speed: eye movement and sounding out words.

RapidReader's "Speed Reading on Demand" is software that easily integrates into applications you use the most, including Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Outlook, and Web Browsers. RapidReader can be installed on your personal computer, laptop, Palm, or mobile phone. Once installed, you simply select a document to read, select the desired reading speed from 100 to 950 wpm, sit back, and your document is converted into a moving panorama of flashing words, much like looking at a movie. The John Hopkins study found that subjects who read text flashed like a movie in one location on a screen read at incredible speeds of up to 1200 wpm. A similar study at the University of Southern California revealed that 86% of subjects significantly increased their reading comprehension over reading on paper when using RapidReader at 300 wpm.

RapidReader takes reading into the 21st century to help us meet today's demands to process information at a breakneck pace. I highly recommend RapidReader for business owners, executives, managers, students, teachers, and anyone else who must process huge amounts of information to succeed. See for yourself by trying a free trial copy of RapidReader at Free RapidReader Trial.

timemanagement time+management time+management+techniques Speed+Reading reading+speed speedreading

Ed Sykes Motivating African American Men to Take Control of Their Health on National Public Radio

As mentioned before, I am volunteering as spokesperson for the American Cancer Society's African American Men's Health Forum coming to Norfolk, VA on June 16, 2007. I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed about the forum on National Public Radio's HearSay program. The following is the audio segment from the show.

Please click on the banner below to register for the forum or go to the American Cancer Society's web site to find out how you can take control of your health!

American+Cancer+Society National+Public+Radio African+American+Men+Health+Forum Ed+Sykes Motivational+Speaker

Are You Building Your Foundation of Success: Six Secrets of Motivating Yourself for Success

Are you creating your foundation of success? Are you motivated to take on challenges that others are not willing to do? The following is a story of someone who did and achieved great success in his life and how you can, too!

There once was a young man who grew up in Crawford, Mississippi. His father worked as a brick mason building home foundations. Everyday after school and during the summers, this young man would help his father build foundations. It's not the most glamorous job by any stretch of the imagination, but it's an honest, backbreaking, and low paying job that put food on the table and paid the bills. The father would start by throwing bricks towards the son in the area where they would build a housing foundation. Under the hot, sweltering Mississippi sun, his son would catch brick after brick with his hands, day after day. While most other kids were enjoying their summers or working in less strenuous jobs, this young man was motivated to work long and hard with his father, while catching those bricks and building a foundation for success in more ways than one.

You see, each time that young man caught bricks, he was not only making his hands stronger, he was building character and the foundation for success in his later years. With each brick he caught, he was even more determined to be successful in life. When he wasn't helping his father and going to school, he was pushing himself through football workouts to be better than any other football player. You see the young man's name is Jerry Rice, and he went on to become the most successful NFL All-Pro wide receiver of all time with the San Francisco 49ers. Some of you non-football fans may know him as a contestant from the television program, "Dancing with the Stars."

The following are the six success secrets that Jerry Rice used that can easily motivate you to achieve success in any aspect of your business, career, and life:

1. Motivate Yourself to See Opportunities in Every Challenge
   Jerry could have looked at the job of catching bricks as a chore that was a waste of his time. But he saw the big picture and made the chore more enjoyable by developing games out of the activities. Many times in life, we are thrown bricks and complain and miss the opportunity it presents to us. The person who can find solutions in the challenges they are faced with can write their own ticket for success. When you take on a challenge, it's preparing you for an opportunity in the future. You may not know when the opportunity is coming, how it is coming, or what the opportunity will look like, but it is coming; and will you be prepared? Embrace your challenges so you will be prepared.

2. Motivate Yourself to See That It's Normal to Experience a Little Pain
   As Jerry was experiencing the pain of catching bricks each day, this pain was actually building him to becoming a stronger person. Each brick was fueling Jerry's internal desire to be successful. Think of some situation at work, in business, or in life that was painful. Your pain may be an embarrassing moment, it may be a learning experience, and it may be a setback. How can you use this setback to motivate you to become more successful? We achieve success in our businesses, careers, and life when we develop the success tools of using our "pains" as a learning experience and a springboard to success.

3. Motivate Yourself to Take on Unpopular Tasks
   Catching bricks all day is not the most glamorous job in the world. Many times we are thrown bricks in life and avoid them like the plague. Volunteer to catch these bricks while others decline. This will allow people of influence to see your special skills and offer you opportunities for success. It is what I always say, "It's not what you know, it's not who you know, it's who knows what you know." When you volunteer to catch those bricks, you allow others to now know and see the special skills and talent you exhibit.

4. Motivate Yourself To Take Action
   Just the simple act of taking action will make you more successful than 98% of other people. Many times people are waiting for "just the right moment" or "more resources." Motivate yourself to take action where you are at today and make the appropriate corrections as needed.

5. Motivate Yourself to Go the Extra Mile
   Jerry Rice's off-season personal football workouts were legendary. He would train six days a week running five miles, along with running wind sprints up the steepest mountains in his community. He didn't need to do this grueling workout, but he wanted to be in better physical shape than any other professional football player. He went the extra mile to be the best.
   
   What are you doing to go the extra mile? Do you have a continuous learning program in place? Do you give of yourself to make your employees better? Do you give your clients something extra to show appreciation of their business? These are all opportunities to put you above the rest and to succeed in your business, in your career, and in your life.

6. Motivate Yourself to Create a Masterpiece
   Jerry Rice wanted to be the best professional wide receiver ever in football, and he achieved that title. He was motivated to pay the price to achieve that goal.
   
   Are you motivated and ready to create a masterpiece? Do you have a vision of what your business, career, or life masterpiece looks, feels, or sounds like? Are you willing to sustain the quality effort, attitude, and determination to create your masterpiece? What are you willing to give up in order to achieve your masterpiece? Until you are ready to answer these questions, you can't lay the foundation for achieving your masterpiece.
   
   After you answer the above questions, create S-M-A-R-T-E-R goals as your roadmap for success. If it's not on paper, your goals don't exist. Be motivated to create, write, and act on your goals.

Follow these six success secrets and you, too, will be motivated to lay the foundation for your success.

motivation motivate bricks+of+success foundation+of+success success motivate+yourself

Motivate Your Employees to be Healthy and Fit!

Motivate your employees to be healthy and fit everyday! Today is National Employee Health and Fitness Day. When you motivate your employees to be healthy and fit, your organization will benefit in the following ways:

• Increased energy and productivity

• Increased self-esteem and self-worth resulting in better personal, sexual, and work relationships

• Decreased heart problems (look at the passing of Yolanda King at age 51 from heart failure)

• Lower health insurance costs

• Better customer relationships

• Increased bottom line

Need I say more?

We are working with the Hampton Roads American Cancer Society to bring awareness to the ever increasing challenge of cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Overall it is a big concern and especially in the African American community where the cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes rates are substantially higher than other ethnic groups. Please click on the following link for additional information on the free African American Men's Health Forum coming to Norfolk, VA and information on other programs to keep everyone healthy:

Get motivated, go give someone you care about "the boot," and encourage them to see their doctor, eat healthy, go to the gym, ride their bike, or simply take a walk around the block or building. You will be amazing how simple it is to get started and the benefits are enormous.

National+Employee+Health+and+Fitness+Day running healthy activities fitness Hampton Roads American Cancer Society

Get Motivated to Live Your Passions!

Today is Dance like a Chicken Day! How many times have you wanted to "cut loose" and just dance like a chicken without a care in the world? Most of the time in life we are told what not to do and that only staying between the lines is right, and you can do that if you wish. But, I say to dance like a chicken. Every time I dance, my daughter covers her eyes, puts her hand up, and pleads with me to stop dancing like a tormented chicken. But, it doesn't actually need to be a "dance." You can do anything you have passion about just because it feels good.

Passion Motivation Motivated Self+Improvement Self+Help Dance+Like+a+Chicken+Day

We are Hokies, We Are Virginia Tech!

Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia has declared that we observe a moment of silent and a statewide day of mourning for the fallen students of Virginia Tech University. As I understand it, many other states are joining Virginia in the moment of silent. Even though I am a Blackbird (Long Island University), since this tragic happened, I am a Hokie.

We went to the gym early this morning and many people were wearing the Hokie colors. Afterward, we went to the supermarket and the grocery bagger was wearing a Hokie t-shirt that read "Hokie Hope."

Hope is the common theme of today and every day going forward. We hope and pray that the families, friends, and community will find the strength to overcome the tragic loss of loved ones. We hope that our freedom to live life will not be eliminated the act of one troubled soul. We hope the heroic stories are not forgotten. We hope that we will learn from this tragic situation so that we become a better, stronger society by taking the time to help all those who are weak and in need of help.

The following was written and read by Poet Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of English Nikki Giovanni at the convocation held the day following the tragedy at Virginia Tech:

We Are Virginia Tech

We are Virginia Tech
We are sad today
And we will be sad for quite a while
We are not moving on
We are embracing our mourning
We are Virginia Tech
We are strong enough to stand tall fearlessly
We are brave enough to bend to cry ...
And sad enough to know we must laugh again
We are Virginia Tech
We do not understand this tragedy
We know we did nothing to deserve it
But neither does a child in Africa dying of aids
Neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by a rogue army
Neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory
Neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water
Neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of night in his crib in the home its father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destablized
No one deserves a tragedy
We are Virginia Tech
The Hokie nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds
We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid
We are better than we think
and not quite what we want to be
We are alive to the imagination and the possibility
We will continue to invent the future
Through our blood and tears
Through all this sadness
We are the Hokies
We will prevail
We will prevail
We will prevail
We are Virginia Tech

We are Hokies, We are Virginia Tech!

Virginia+Tech+Day+of+Mourning Governor+Tim+Kaine Virginia+Tech Nikki+Giovanni overcoming+adversity

Take Time Out for Success in Life, Work, and Family!

Today is Time Out Day!

With the chain of recent events, we all need to take a time out of the "Rat Race" and recharge our mental and emotional "batteries." When you a take time for time out, you will find the right solutions, make better decisions, control stress, develop better relationships, and achieve a new level of success.

Take a time out at least once a day. You can a take time out by doing the following:

• Meditate

• Turn off the noise

• Disconnect from technology

• Take a walk around the building

• Eat lunch in a park

• Try Yoga

• Listen to classical or other relaxing music

• Read a book

• Enjoy the clouds (I know what you are thinking)

• Take a long walk

Take a time out to improve your life!

Time+Out+Day stress+management control+stress rat+race meditate

Happy St. Patrick's Day! - Eight Secrets to Creating Your Luck Everyday

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day is associated with having luck as in "the luck of the Irish." Well, you don't have to wait until St. Patrick's day to create your own luck. Everyday has a pot of gold waiting for you. The following are eight secrets to creating your own luck and receiving your pot of gold everyday:

• Expect the best and prepare for the worst

• Develop a pleasing personality

• Seek knowledge and understanding

• Take action and make things happen

• Develop your goals and move toward them and others will help you

• Appreciate every blessing and challenge

• Create balance in your life

• Look at every setback as a learning experience

Apply these secrets in your life and you too will achieve success and everyday find your pot of gold!

Success St.+Patrick's+Day luck Positive+Attitude luck+of+the+Irish Goal+setting

Speak for Success!

Today is National Speak Up and Succeed Day! Great communication skills will set you apart from the competition and new opportunities will open up for you. Read the following article to find out how you can speak up and succeed:

"Career Advice: Three Secrets to Telling Your Story for Career and Job Success"

presentation+skills presentation speaking+skills success

December 29th is Tick Tock Day! Are You Mastering Your Time Management Skills?

Tick tock, tick tock, time marches on as we see the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007. Are you ready? How well do you management time?

Benjamin Franklin said, "If we take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves." One minute. It doesn't seem like much. However, never underestimate the cumulative effect of each minute we live.

Let's suppose, for example, a minute is worth one penny. You see a penny lying on the street but pass it by because it is hardly worth the effort of leaning over to pick it up. But suppose you began to double that penny each day for a month. At the end of a week, you would only have sixty-four pennies. I know that's not much but at the end of a month you would have 536,870,912 pennies. Translated in dollars, that's $5,368,709.12.

The value we place on each minute of every day will have a cumulative impact on the remainder of our lives.

Take the time to improve your time management skills. For additional time management information, go to Time Management.

time+management

What is the Secret to Having a Great Conversation?

Watch as Joy shares the secret to a great conversation.

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Conversation communication+skills listen listening +skills Joy+Fisher+Sykes

Make Winter a Powerful Tool for Success

December 22nd is Winter Solace Day. Winter is a wonderful time of the year to "recharge you emotional, mental, and physical batteries." Winter presents a special stillness or quietness that is not present during the rest of the year. Use this wonderful stillness or quietness to connect with your inner self and enjoy more success in life.

The following are seven ways to recharge your batteries and make everyday Winter Solace Day:

1. Wake up one hour earlier each morning, find a quiet place in your house, and take time to...think. You will be amazed with the answers that come to you.

2. Go for a brisk walk. I find it especially peaceful and mentally rejuvenating taking a walk at 8 or 9 p.m. during the winter.

3. Read a challenging, inspirational, or interesting book you normally wouldn't find time to read during the year.

4. Listen to classical, jazz, or new age music to enhance your thinking, writing, or reading.

5. Take time to enjoy an afternoon bath. Soak up the afternoon winter sunlight as you immerse yourself in a warm bath.

6. Take time to learn yoga. Yoga increases your ability to meditate, your ability to breathe correctly, and increase the flow of oxygen to the brain.

1. Take time to write down your accomplishments, blessing, and challenges you have overcome.

Apply just one of the above suggestions and you will enjoy a wonderful life.

stress+managment success winter+solace+day

Sharing a Great Holiday Stress Management Message for Work Life Balance

Next time we feel stressed (whether holiday stress or other stress) and need to complain about life, think of the following message:

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, and some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

After all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress."

"Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it's just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups, and then began eyeing each other's cups."

"Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, houses, cars, things, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

God brews the coffee, not the cups . . . enjoy your coffee.

"Being happy :) doesn't mean everything's perfect, It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections"

Live in peace and peace will live in you.

Think of this story during challlenging times at work or as you travel during the holidays.

Holiday+Stress Life+balance work+life+balance Self+Help Self+Improvement Stress+Management

It's "Make a Difference Day!"

Make a difference today and everyday by doing the following:

• Motivate your employees to go the next level

• Volunteer for community activities

• Volunteer in your local school

• Volunteer to mentor students, employees, family members

• Take time to exercise your mind and body

• Call or visit a friend or family member just because you want to say hello

• Share a smile or joke with someone

• Do a random act of kindness

• Take time to appreciate your spouse or love one

• Tell your children that they are destine for greatness in their lives and that there is responsibility that comes with this greatness

• Take time to think

• Take time to read behind the news headlines to get the facts and don't accept the "spin"

• Get involved in the process

Each act to make a difference will not only enrich others, but also prepare you for future opportunities.

success motivation motivate difference motivate+others self+help self+improvement

October 3-9 is "Get Organized Week." Take time to organize yourself to achieve more success in your business, your career, your life!

Take time learn how to be more productive, less stressed by listening to my recent interview with organizing expert Brian Hill, His clients in the leaders in business, government, newscasters, and actors and actresses.

He was recently on the Martha Stewart sharing his unique secrets with Martha discussing how to be more productive in life.

Please click on the following link to listen to our interview: Organize

It's Take a Long Walk Day!

Take time to take a long walk today. This walk can be leisurely or brisk.

The benefits are countless. For me it's an opportunity to "check myself" mentally, physically, and recharge my batteries. It's amazing how many good ideas come to me while walking.

Take thirty minutes to escape the rat race and take a long walk!

Today is "Write Your Own Headline Day!"

Today is "Write Your Own Headline Day!" Be your own newspaper, letter, radio or television news. Instead of reading other people's headlines, live your own headlines. The great thing about creating your own headline is that you don't need to wait until 6 or 11 p.m. to "get the full story" because you are the story. The following are some headlines to give you a few ideas:

Manager (your name) Motivates Team to New Level of Success!

(Your name) Wows Customer with Outstanding Customer Service Techniques!

Business Leader (your name) Creates a Fun Environment While Exceeding Goals!

(Your name) Creates a Lasting Moment With Daughter/Son!

(Your name) Helps Stranded Motorist on Highway to Safety! (This happened to me yesterday)

High School Freshman (your name) Makes the Right Decision!

We are creating exciting headlines everyday by creating positive moments. Go out and write your own headlines!

Why is 9/11 Positive for Me?

As we remember 9/11/01 and those we lost in that terrible event, I have a much more positive memory of 9/11. The 9/11 I'm talking about relates to my Aunt Alvenia. She was born on 9/11 over sixty years ago and has been making a difference ever since.

She truly is a person, as a young girl in the South living without indoor plumbing, who walked five miles each way to a one room school house to obtain her education. The same schoolhouse our great-grandfather donated the land and built by hand.

From this little town with only two stores and one gas station, Alvenia decided to go the "big city" of Norfolk, VA to pursue her college education at Norfolk State University (NSU). She overcame many challenges at NSU to receive her degree in education.

She became a special education teacher in the Virginia Beach School System. For over thirty years. she has made a difference for children with special challenges. In 2000, she was recognized for her teaching efforts by the City of Virginia Beach and earned the "Teacher of the Year" award. Today, she works as a school administrator looking to improve the conditions of special education teachers throughout the school system.

What impresses me most is the energy and time she gives to any activity in which she is involved. Whether it is running marathons, volunteering for school and community activities, or giving her time and energies to helping the next generation, she gives 110%.

She has the qualities that keeps our country strong. That's why 9/11 is positive for me.

Happy Birthday Alvenia!

Ernesto Puts Rain, Rain Everywhere...But I Don't Care!

Ernesto has hit us! This is what I saw when I looked out the front door in an attempt to go to the office.

That is O.K. It's Friday of a holiday weekend and a good time to do some writing, reading, and heat up a tasty bowl of soup. But especially, if the electricity stays on, watch a good movie with popcorn with Joy and our daughter. If Joy has her way, it would be any Dentzel Washington movie.

By tomorrow I may be able to inflate the raft and float into the office.

Everyone be safe and enjoy the holiday weekend!

August 31st is "Eat Outside Day!"

Today is Eat Outside Day!

We have so much to do and so little time to do it. Sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves by trying to please so many others.

Take the time to get away from the chaos, create balance in your life, and go "eat outside." So for today, take your meal and go to the park or backyard, turn off your laptop, iPod, boombox or television, and enjoy the "moment."

While you are eating outside you can read the following article:

Set Yourself Free
by Joy Fisher-Sykes

Lilly Tomlin said, "The problem with the rat race is even if you win, you're still a rat." A lot of us are running a rat race - feeling caged into a life of running and giving to everyone else FIRST, sometimes at your own expense. We are pulled in so many different directions - work, family, finances. It is time we put our foot down and stop feeling controlled - by people and circumstance.

Well, it's time to set yourself free. Today, begin to take stock of life and decide what is most important to you. Evaluate the benefits and the losses of certain lifestyle choices. In this quest to lead a fulfilling and quality life, here is my action plan to begin to set us free. Read more...

Today is Sit Back and Relax Day!

It's August, it's hot, and it's summer. It must be Sit Back and Relax Day!

Take the time to sit back and relax and take a "productivity break" from work and life. Take a few minutes to manage your stress, recharge your batteries, and stir your creative juices.

Take the time to read how to sit back and relax in our stress management session of this blog.

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!