Shadow Footprints

1. Article/Post

Why Public Speaking Is Good for You & Your Brand

Most freelancers and small business owners are required – like it or not – to spend a substantive amount of time on marketing. To ensure that the jobs and the clients keeping coming, we are constantly hustling – pitching new projects, updating our portfolios and CVs, and taking exploratory meetings. Yet, one of the best ways to build and promote your individual brand or company is one of the most oft overlooked: public speaking.

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For The Fallen
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

3. Comment

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity."
- Irving Kristol

4. List

10 Tips for Getting it Done Today

Most freelancers and small business owners are required – like it or not – to spend a substantive amount of time on marketing. To ensure that the jobs and the clients keeping coming, we are constantly hustling – pitching new projects, updating our portfolios and CVs, and taking exploratory meetings. Yet, one of the best ways to build and promote your individual brand or company is one of the most oft overlooked: public speaking.

The Benefits of Public Speaking

1. Know how long it takes.
2. No time like the present.
3. Challenge irrational thoughts and cognitive distortions in a daily journal.
4. All tasks can and should be broken down into parts.
5. Work backwards from a due date.
6. Keep track of it all in an organizer (or organizer app).
7. Keep a daily to-do list.
8. Start every day with a review of your day, week and to-do list.
9. Keep your schedule up-to-date.
10. Take back control and reward yourself when you finish a task.

5. Video

On a serious note you should watch Michael Specter talking at TED on The Danger of Science Denial

1. Article/Post

The Definitive Guide to Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolutions

Let’s face it: most of us fail when it comes to sticking to resolutions — so much so that many people swear never to make resolutions again.

And yet the rest of us are eternally hopeful when the New Year comes around, believing without any credible evidence that we can improve our lives, that change is possible, that we’re not going to be stuck in the same old rut again this year.

I’m here to tell you that you can do it. It’s possible. I’ll show you how.

The Problem with Most Resolutions
While I love the optimism of New Year’s Resolutions, unfortunately, the enthusiasm and hope often fades within weeks, and our efforts at self improvement come to a whimpering end.

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3. Comment

"What I love about the time between Christmas and New Year is sometimes I can't work out what day it is." -- SamNZed on Twitter

4. List

7 Tips for Taking Travel Photos Like a Pro

Travel photography seems so simple. What could be easier than traveling to an exotic location in a beautiful country with a camera and a handful of memory cards and taking some amazing photos? But, when you arrive at your location, you find that it's a lot harder to take a decent travel photo than it looks.

1. Use bright colors
2. Use late afternoon light
3. Look for a different take on local landmarks
4. Search for detail
5. Get off the beaten track
6. Use a polarizing filter
7. Take photos at night

5. Video

The Cougar

1. Article/Post

Coaching Is Not Training, Mentoring or Counselling

Coaching is not Training

While training and coaching both promote learning, they do so in different ways

Coaching is not Mentoring

There are some superficial similarities between coaching and mentoring, as they are both typically one-to-one conversations aimed at facilitating professional development, but there are also significant differences

Coaching is not Counselling

Again, there may be a superficial similarity in that both of these activites are one-to-one conversations, but their tone and purpose are very different

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"Failure to spend the [presentation] time wisely and well, failure to educate, entertain, elucidate, enlighten, and most important of all, failure to maintain attention and interest should be punishable by stoning. There is no excuse for tedium." -- Jay H. Lehr

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How to . . . build a winning team in business

It takes more than simple hard work to turn colleagues into a high achieving unit - here we examine the dynamics

1. Do you need a team?
2. Set conditions for success
3. Who is in the team?
4. Small is beautiful
5. Do great minds think alike?
6. Bring in a deviant
7. The launch is everything
8. Be a decisive leader
9. Team dynamics take time
10. Communicate properly

5. Video

Cell Phone Karma