Adjusting our expectations may be a part of doing business now, but also, there are many things that we can do that can help us adjust. We just need to have a strategy and get and stay prepared for what may or may not come.

1. Keep focused on moving forward. You need a plan that will keep you in a good mental place every day… for instance, turning off the TV and stop listening to the doom and gloom, and create a future for you and your business that will be of immense value to the marketplace. You probably need to spend some creative  time thinking about your new plan, and you might need to meet with new people to help you create this plan, but be for sure, you need to have a new plan that will keep you motivated to moving forward.

2. Decide to be a LEADER in your life, business, industry and community. What does that mean to you and how do you do it? It takes effort and practice, but at this time in our economy, people  NEED to stand up and decide to be a leader. Don’t live with others’ expectations on you. Be assertive and create answers, and create solutions to the problems that now plaque us. Turn into an investigator, learn the new ropes, study and evolve, so you can pass along this information to others and they can see you as the shining star that you are.

3. Practice Strength. How do we do that? Well, in the gym, you work out every day to increase your muscle strength, and over time your muscles start to emerge and show up where fat used to take place. So evaluate yourself- mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Where is the fat? Where can you start building strength that will balance your whole life so you can emerge as a stronger individual that will be a leader for others.

4. Get Current! Get on the social networking sites. If you don’t, you’ll be looking like a complete dinosaur in the next year. Jump  on the technical bandwagon and stop saying you’re not technical.. just do it and learn it! Talk about it, spend time doing it. It’s not going away, so engage with it and have fun with it!

5. Have FUN. If you’re having fun, then other people will have fun around you. Spend time getting out of the box, and getting creative and learning new things. The new economy is forcing people to go in new directions so be excited about it, and create new opportunities for yourselves and others. Think about new ideas that will draw people to you and your organization, offer fun times and offer sources of learning. People will engage with you personally and professionally, if you’re offering to take their mind off of things for a while

This new economy is really an exciting time! But you have to decide to  do it, and then keep focused on a path that will allow yourself to grow  and change and show yourself as a leader. It can end up being, the best
time of your life if you let it, and not your worst, as so many people  are seeing it now.

Everyone in our world is dealing with Stress. There is no way to remove the stress from our lives. As a matter of fact, eliminating all stress in itself is stressful. But we have to learn how to recognize the stressors in our lives, and learn to say NO to ourselves and to others so we avoid certain stress.

The human body is designed to handle fear or danger. Any time it senses fear, it reacts defensively. For instance if your child is running out in the road, your body will kick into action and take whatever steps necessary to go into action. It will automatically take defensive measures, such as secreting adrenaline, in preparation to handle the crisis or to avoid it.  This is called Fight or flight. Your body is preparing to stand up and face the situation. This is how we’re able to do super human tasks when in danger.

Also, you don’t have to be in a life or death situation for your body to react. Just thinking or dreaming aobut something can cause your body to produce the same physical, mental or emotional responses. Lets try it out.

You were brought here to do a workshop on avoiding stress. But, in reality, you are all about to do a public speaking course. Each one of you is going to give a speech today about your favorite hobby.

JUST joking! The power of the mind or thought is just as real as the physical realm. So, we should make every effort to ward off stress and worry every day.

Effects of Stress:

What happens when you have something stressful is that it sends impulses to the brain.  The brain combines, integrates, emotions with reasoning.  With this process, the person reacting to the stressor analyzes the situation and if it’s scary then the body continues in the flight or fight response.

The nervous system responds in 3 ways. It directly stimulates certain organs- the heart, muscles, and respiratory system, with electrical impulses to cause a quick increase in heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension and respiration.  It signals the adrenal medulla, a part of the adrenal gland, to release the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline, which alert and prepare the body to take action.  This reaction begins a half-minute after the first but lasts 10x as long.

The nervous system also stimulates the hypothalamus in the brain to release a chemical that stimulates the pituitary gland.  The pituitary gland releases a hormone releasing adrenaline and noradrenaline and to begin releasing cortisol and corticosterone which affect metabolism, including the increase of glucose production.  This third, and prolonged reaction helps maintain the energy needed to respond in a threatening situation.  Nearly every system of the body is involved, some more intently than others, in response to the stressor.

Therefore, every time we get upset or excited, or stimulated, even tho we don’t realize it, our entire system is gearing up either for fight or flight to defend itself from the perceived threatening or dangerous situation.

Then, when we calm down we get out of that emergency state and start to function normally again, in the way that we’re supposed to normally.  Then, if we get stressed again, the whole process starts over again and then we calm down and it goes back to normal.  The effects of that excessive stressing and unstressing has long lasting consequences.

Challenges and difficulties affect everyone differently. Often times we carry around the stress in our moods. We’re moody and don’t know why. Often times we’re rushing through life so fast we haven’t taken time to slow down to even process events that happen. Sometimes, as caretakers of kids and families, we are just physically drained.

Other times, unresolved issues from childhood and beliefs we developed, conduct how we live our lives. If we had an overly dominant parent, we may view people in authority with distrust. This simple attitude may cloud relationships that otherwise could have been productive in our lives.

Studies show that our own health is affected by our emotional baggage. Blood pressure can be elevated, physical symptoms of disease manifest, and our immune systems break down.

The grace and gratitude workshop can be the breakthrough in people’s lives that they need! It’s the chance to evaluate their life in a positive way and to take past hurts, turn them around to see them in a new and different, more positive way.

In this workshop:

This workshop can be the start of the participants living a new life of freedom and joy. And while this workshop can address serious issues and relationships in life, the participants coach each other through. Conversation abounds and is fun and full of energy.
Here is a recent comment:
”We feel especially grateful to have found you and heard your story. It effected me personally and has me considering why I eat the way I do…..I feel a big change coming on.” Carolyn – Orlando Fl

These people become speakers. And with any luck, hard work and persistence, they become professional speakers!

The path of being a professional speaker up until now has had two distinct career paths. Since the beginning of time, experts, former politicians and business leaders and professional athletes have shared their wisdom from the stage. These people get the big bucks and are now represented by celebrity agencies in the major cities.

The other path, are the speakers and trainers who study personal development, organizational development, sales or customer service and enjoy performing. These speakers write trainings which become books, and usually have a business model that combines speaking, coaching and consulting.

I see a third level of speaker who is about to emerge on the scene and it should scare the current motivational speakers and should leave them shaking in their shoes.

I believe that in the future, actors will replace speakers to deliver the latest content available in the universe. These actors will be trained to retain and deliver dynamic information which is entertaining, funny and interactive. These performers will be paid a day rate, and will be highly specialized speakers yet will not have ever worked in business. Content providers and researchers will hire these actors to present their material.

Speaker bureaus who now work with a barrage of professional speakers, will offer another tier of speaker. Performer to deliver keynote, workshop or Training. Union scale will apply. Ads for actors will read: Multiethnic performer/female, age 30s to deliver motivational speeches of adventure, fulfilling potential and excellence. 30 all expenses paid vacations a year paid by corporations. Spokespeople/models encouraged to apply.

Companies will pay $700 for these actors to deliver a highly motivational and exciting speech. The actors can mingle after or during the reception as the “person who climbed the mountains” and take on the whole persona of an outdoor adventurer. Later that night, she’ll climb back in bed and get up the next morning to shoot a movie or a commercial. She’ll be a speaker for hire. An actor. And she delivers up to date, engaging information.

The speaking business is now highly computerized. Anyone can make themselves out to be an instant celebrity by understanding internet marketing and how to build name recognition as an expert. The information is available on the internet for anyone to sound like an expert with an hour or two of study.

I believe as a result we’re not far away from the Milli Vanilli’s lip sync scam from the 80’s who performed on stage in front of thousands around the world who bought the group’s music which earned the group a Grammy. Later, Americans learned they’d been scammed by a record label and that the two in the group couldn’t even sing. They lost their Grammy and their credibility. But the reality was, was that the audience didn’t seem to mind. They loved the music they were hearing, and loved the looks and the moves of the performers. It was entertainment and it was successful.

Will corporate audiences care who delivers the content? Will meeting planners care who researched the material that is delivered? Won’t they care more that their staffs are updated on current information and wouldn’t it be a bonus if the spokesperson on stage is nice to look at? Professional meeting planners won’t have to answer phone calls or even speak with speakers. They’ll just search for an actor who can deliver exactly the message they need at the moment.

Already, companies hire young actors to travel to the high school circuit to deliver inspirational messages. These actors have to be certified and memorize 2-3 speeches but then service their immediate city along with many other actors to reach the masses.

Motivational speakers beware. More and more people are pursing their passion of speaking and this competition is going to drive the price of a no name motivational speaker down. But a notice to all of the up and coming actors: Here is a new gig to consider! So get out your suits, polish your shoes …. You’re now a Motivational speaker who has a live crowd to motivate today!

Written by Mary Gardner, Speaker, Coach and TV professional. She can be located at www.marygardner.com. Send for her 10 ten necessary tips for new speakers or review her new ebook: “Prosperity Journal for Professional Speakers” which provides a system to save speakers hundreds of hours of time in learning the business of professional speaking.