Podcasts

Nearly two years ago, I was up on top of my house on a chilly Sunday afternoon putting up Christmas lights. Around the house, I typically don't work without my phone and headphones on. I remember sitting on the edge of my roof clipping strands of lights to my shingles while Dave Ramsey was speaking to me about ways to better run my company.

Wait....

What?

It was right at two years ago when I discovered podcasts. For those unfamiliar with podcasts, this is sort of an audio blog. I use iTunes for downloading my podcasts, though I'm sure there are other programs.

Since then I have come to value podcasts as a way of my ongoing professional development. The two professional podcasts that I subscribe to are free and thus, offer me tremendous value. For this blog entry, I simply want to share with you the two professional podcasts (though there are others I enjoy) that help me the most with leading our agency.

Dave Ramsey's 'Entreleadership'

I have been a fan of Dave Ramsey's work for a long time. My family and I use his principles from Financial Peace University and I use what he teaches in his book 'Entreleadership.' 

Currently, his podcast is hosted by Chris Hogan, part of Dave's speakers group. This podcasts focuses on various parts of Entreleadership and most of the podcasts feature a portion of Dave speaking at Entreleadership events. After that, Chris will typically interview an author, speaker or business leader to gain insight into how that person runs their company or performs his/her job.

Entreleadership is typically podcast a couple of times each month and is a free download on iTunes. It's actually from this podcast that I was introduced to.....

Michael Hyatt's 'This is Your Life'

Michael Hyatt, former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, was being interviewed on the Entreleadership podcast when his book 'Platform: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World' came out. In that interview, I was motivated to purchase his book and have since recommended it everywhere that I've been able to speak since.

Michael's podcast is called, "This is Your Life" and he focuses on intentional leadership. Typically produced once each week, Michael focuses on a different aspect of leadership. My favorite thing about his podcast is that, I believe without exception, he gives the listener specific action items to take to become more intentional in his/her leadership. Michael also answers listener questions on the podcast.

Michael's podcast also feels very relatable. He is very honest with his listeners when he modifies the format of the podcast, is going out of town, struggling with a specific issue, etc. In addition to his podcast, he also interacts regularly on Twitter (@michaelhyatt). 

I mentioned earlier that I do like listening to podcasts other than these two, but as far as my growth as a leader goes, these are my 'go-to' listens. Where else in the world could you get two authors who are as successful as these two are and the wealth of experience and knowledge they bring to the table for free?  I appreciate their work and that they offer this gift to folks like me that could use every ounce of help that we can get!

Keep First Things First

This may blow your mind:

Some people in this world make decisions based upon what makes them happy.

At first glance, you may look at that statement and think, "Well, that seems okay.  Why not do things that make you happy?  Why not avoid decisions that make you unhappy?"

The truth is that happiness is based on circumstances.  Happiness is fluid.  Happiness isn't an anchor.

The truth is that ten years ago, I was happy.  I was in college and I loved to party.  I didn't care about class.  As long as I could hang out with the guys, I was happy.  I worked just enough to pay rent and buy food and buy booze.

If I wanted to make decisions based on what made me happy, I would still be that guy. 

Fortunately for me, I got over that phase in my life and re-examined my priorities and started to build a life based on my priorities and not what made me happy.

As I've grown and matured, my list of priorities hasn't changed much.  I use my priorities as an anchor in my life and I make my decisions based on them.  What I've found is that I have found a more fulfilling happiness when I make decisions that are consistent with my priorities.

Here's mine:

1.  God.  If I lose everything else in my life, I'll be okay as long as I'm a child of God.  I'm committed to Him.  Not only am I committed to living a lifestyle that's pleasing to Him, but I am also committed to being a worker in His church.  Hopefully, one day I'll have the opportunity to serve as an elder for the congregation that I attend and will bear the obligation of overseeing His flock and accounting for those souls.  God reigns supreme in my life. 

2.  My wife.  Initially, my instincts are to lump my kids in here as well but until I'm faced with the unlikely movie scenario of having to chose to save the life of my wife OR the life of my children, I can afford to segregate the two.  Here's my point--my wife is my sister in Christ, my best friend, my lover, and favorite person on earth.  One of the best things I can do for my kids is to love their mom like crazy--and I do!

3.  My kids.  I have two living outside the womb and one living inside the womb.  I realize that right now, my time with my babies is finite.  I will only have a limited number of baseball and softball games to attend.  I will only have so many birthdays and Christmas mornings.  I only have a few days that I get to take them to school in the mornings.  I'll never get this time back and I know that I have to enjoy it while it lasts.

4.  My family.  I'm a son, brother, grandson, nephew and cousin.  I only have the one family and as hard as it is sometimes, I have to make sure that I can contribute to the well being of my family and make them proud of me.

5.  My job.  It's my means of providing a living for my family.  It's my way of giving back to the community.  It's my way of growing as a professional.  It makes me proud. 

Whenever I want to make changes in my life, I must base that decision on the above mentioned priorities.  For example, I was offered a job opportunity that was going to be a good deal for me professionally (Priority 5).  It would have made me happy.  Awesome!  The problem was that I'd have to work from 1-9 p.m. and on weekends.  I would lose my ability to go to church (Priority 1) and I'd lose the time I get to spend with my wife and kids (Priorities 2 &3). 

The deal had to be a no-go. 

No drama, no indecision, no difficulty.  Easy decision. 

When you establish and live by your priorities, decisions become clearer and easier.

What are your priorities?

3 Tips to a Better Speech

I love public speaking.

Seriously....I really love public speaking.  I've been in speech contests since I was in seventh grade.  I've been preaching at church since I was 14.  I prefer to work at places that let me be a public speaker. 

I don't have many talents but public speaking is one of them.

Because public speaking comes naturally to me, it used to be difficult for me to understand why people are apprehensive about it.  Of course, as I've matured, I have come to understand that a lot of people are afraid to speak in front of a group.  Some people's personalities don't lend themselves to being a speaker just as my personality doesn't lend itself to me being a doctor or lawyer.  There's nothing wrong with that at all.

However, regardless of how you feel about public speaking, you are likely to face instances in which you are called upon to speak as a subject matter expert.  Whether in front of an audience of 1,000 or a board room of 5 people, you need to develop good public speaking habits.

There are volumes of books that you can read, classes you can take and videos you can study that will help you become a better speaker.  But on my platform, I'd like to simply give you three pieces of advice that will help you become a better speaker. 

1.  Have confidence-No matter what the situation is, you have been asked to speak because you are the expert.  Are there people in the world or in your industry that are smarter than you?  Sure.  Are there people that would have been a better choice to speak?  Maybe.  The thing to remember is that you're the one they asked for.  The folks that asked you to talk are interested in your point of view.  They want to hear your experience.  They want your perspective.  They want you. 

Take some pride in that thought. 

Have you ever had to sit through a speech or presentation by someone that lacked confidence?  I have.  You have to listen to them apologize constantly during the speech.  They don't talk loud enough to be easily heard.  Usually it is a pretty poor experience. 

2.  Know your audience-I realize that this isn't always possible but most of the time it is.  I have a different presentation method depending on whether I'm talking to teenagers at a local high school, colleagues, employees, bosses, donors, etc.  You can use the general outline that you've prepared but you can add things to make your speech more effective.

Example:  I have a 'canned' speech that I use when I talk about my agency.  However, depending on the audience, I add in different elements to the canned speech.  If I'm talking to a group of high school kids, I'm going to add in stories about people that we've helped.  If I'm talking to a group of donors, I'm going to emphasize how donations are used.  If I'm talking to an older audience that is really conservative, I'll focus on how our work saves money for taxpayers.  My main body of the speech is the same from group to group but depending on the audience, I add in elements that will be appropriate to the audience.

3.  Take a FEW notes-Contrast this idea with writing your speech out word for word.  The more notes you take, the more time you're typically going to spend reading from them.  No one in the audience enjoys being read to.  Use only a basic outline format when you're speaking.  This will encourage you to speak from the heart rather than a prepared statement.  (Obviously there are situations where legalities are incredibly important and using a prepared statement is a MUST but overall, this won't be necessary). 

Take this blog for instance.  I have written all my 'notes' out for you to read word for word.  If I was using this as a speech, my notes would look like this:

Intro-Love public speaking, different personalities

I.  Have confidence
    A.  You're the expert
II.  Know your audience
   A.  Examples of tailoring a speech
III. Take a few notes
   A.  Awesome visual aid

Conclusion-Watch other speakers

That's it.  That's all I would take up there.  When you spend more time reading your notes word for word than making eye contact with the audience and speaking from the heart, you come off as insincere and it looks like you didn't work very hard preparing. 

Finally, (as per my conclusion) one of the best things you can do is to watch other speakers that you enjoy listening to (authors, preachers, colleagues) and take notes about what you liked about their speaking and what you didn't like.  Be specific with your notes.  Don't just write "he was awesome." Write about what makes him so awesome.  Did he use a visual aid? Was he a story teller? 

Try to replicate the things you like and avoid the things you didn't like. 

How about you?  What are some things that you enjoy about listening to a great public speaker?