Saturday, October 29, 2011
Ice your fears of public speaking
For many people, public speaking is a paralyzing exercise: sweaty palms, an errant leg shake or the sudden inability to speak coherently.
But in the business world, speaking confidently in public is a must-have skill for many professions. It's also key for any worker who is eying a leadership role, is looking for a job, has customer-service duties or is considering consulting work.
Workers can soothe public-speaking jitters with constant practice, good preparation and help from others, experts say.
And embrace the jitters. Speech skills sharpen over time, but seasoned public figures still flub or get nervous. Remember Gov. Jan Brewer's widely discussed pause during a televised 2010 gubernatorial debate? An Oscar-award-winning movie, The King's Speech, delves into King George VI of Britain's quest to nail an important speech.
Mastering her fear of talking in front of a crowd helped Karen Dolyniuk, now a manager at Pinnacle West Capital Corp., move up within the company, she said.
But that confidence came with time. Have you been to a staff meeting when the boss asks everyone to say their name and what they do at the company?
"My palms used to sweat, just doing that," Dolyniuk, 49, said with a laugh.
"It's hard to explain. I used to think, 'Do I have something to say that people would want to listen to?'" She later added: "I knew that I had to do something about it."
Public speaking is an essential workplace skill. Even a technology worker who spends hours behind a computer screen may have to train people or explain an issue to higher-ups at some point, said Jessica Pierce, executive director of Career Connectors, a non-profit networking group that serves Phoenix-area job seekers.
"As you are working your way up the corporate ladder, you will have to present a staff meeting, you will have to present yourself to customers," Pierce said. For job hunters, the skill is even more critical. Volunteering to speak to groups about their area of expertise helps job seekers build their personal brand in the community, which can help them land a job.
Also, more employers are doing group interviews to save time -- but some job candidates can't handle situations where they must sell themselves to several company officials at once.
"I know so many people more than qualified for a job, but if there are more than two or three interviewers in a room, they completely bomb it."
That's where practice comes in. Don't wait until a big speech rolls around. Volunteer to make a small presentation to your team, introduce a new employee or speak up at a club meeting. That will make you more comfortable with it, Pierce said.
Preparation also helps, added Fred Doidge, who calls himself the "doctor of public speaking."
An ordained minister for 40 years, the Scottsdale-based consultant teaches authors, lawyers, housewives and whoever else approaches him techniques for speaking more effectively.
He said the speaker must first be well-prepared and practiced, have a well-organized presentation, design the presentation specifically for the intended group and pick a specific style to use.
"Never write a speech. Design it and build it," Doidge said. "What are you trying to do? Inform people, motivate people. ...What's the intention?"
For many people seeking to hone their public-speaking skills, groups such as Toastmasters offer a chance to practice and the benefit of moral support.
Since 1924, Toastmasters has helped nervous public speakers work through their troubles and learn.
The non-profit has 13,000 chapters globally with more than 270,000 members.
The group meetings tend to vary in length but often last between 60 and 90 minutes, have 20 to 40 members and charge a $36 fee every six months.
"I just wanted to do Toastmasters because I always was uncomfortable speaking in public, and I would like to be a good speaker in general," said Judy Blum, 59, a caseworker and recent member of Toastmasters.
The organization has seen steady growth over the past decade, during the economic downturn, too. In 2000, Toastmasters had about 176,000 members but has grown by almost 100,000 people in 2011.
Dolyniuk, the Pinnacle West manager, joined Toastmasters in 1989. Over time, she become a more confident speaker and took on more leadership roles in the company.
As a loaned executive for Valley of the Sun United Way, she spoke to groups of up to 100 people.
Before she conquered her fear, Dolyniuk said, she used to sit in the back row at similar gatherings and marvel at the speaker.
"I used to think 'Wow, how do they do that? I could never do that.' "
by William D'Urso and Jahna Berry The Arizona Republic Oct. 29, 2011 01:21 PM
Ice your fears of public speaking
But in the business world, speaking confidently in public is a must-have skill for many professions. It's also key for any worker who is eying a leadership role, is looking for a job, has customer-service duties or is considering consulting work.
Workers can soothe public-speaking jitters with constant practice, good preparation and help from others, experts say.
And embrace the jitters. Speech skills sharpen over time, but seasoned public figures still flub or get nervous. Remember Gov. Jan Brewer's widely discussed pause during a televised 2010 gubernatorial debate? An Oscar-award-winning movie, The King's Speech, delves into King George VI of Britain's quest to nail an important speech.
Mastering her fear of talking in front of a crowd helped Karen Dolyniuk, now a manager at Pinnacle West Capital Corp., move up within the company, she said.
But that confidence came with time. Have you been to a staff meeting when the boss asks everyone to say their name and what they do at the company?
"My palms used to sweat, just doing that," Dolyniuk, 49, said with a laugh.
"It's hard to explain. I used to think, 'Do I have something to say that people would want to listen to?'" She later added: "I knew that I had to do something about it."
Public speaking is an essential workplace skill. Even a technology worker who spends hours behind a computer screen may have to train people or explain an issue to higher-ups at some point, said Jessica Pierce, executive director of Career Connectors, a non-profit networking group that serves Phoenix-area job seekers.
"As you are working your way up the corporate ladder, you will have to present a staff meeting, you will have to present yourself to customers," Pierce said. For job hunters, the skill is even more critical. Volunteering to speak to groups about their area of expertise helps job seekers build their personal brand in the community, which can help them land a job.
Also, more employers are doing group interviews to save time -- but some job candidates can't handle situations where they must sell themselves to several company officials at once.
"I know so many people more than qualified for a job, but if there are more than two or three interviewers in a room, they completely bomb it."
That's where practice comes in. Don't wait until a big speech rolls around. Volunteer to make a small presentation to your team, introduce a new employee or speak up at a club meeting. That will make you more comfortable with it, Pierce said.
Preparation also helps, added Fred Doidge, who calls himself the "doctor of public speaking."
An ordained minister for 40 years, the Scottsdale-based consultant teaches authors, lawyers, housewives and whoever else approaches him techniques for speaking more effectively.
He said the speaker must first be well-prepared and practiced, have a well-organized presentation, design the presentation specifically for the intended group and pick a specific style to use.
"Never write a speech. Design it and build it," Doidge said. "What are you trying to do? Inform people, motivate people. ...What's the intention?"
For many people seeking to hone their public-speaking skills, groups such as Toastmasters offer a chance to practice and the benefit of moral support.
Since 1924, Toastmasters has helped nervous public speakers work through their troubles and learn.
The non-profit has 13,000 chapters globally with more than 270,000 members.
The group meetings tend to vary in length but often last between 60 and 90 minutes, have 20 to 40 members and charge a $36 fee every six months.
"I just wanted to do Toastmasters because I always was uncomfortable speaking in public, and I would like to be a good speaker in general," said Judy Blum, 59, a caseworker and recent member of Toastmasters.
The organization has seen steady growth over the past decade, during the economic downturn, too. In 2000, Toastmasters had about 176,000 members but has grown by almost 100,000 people in 2011.
Dolyniuk, the Pinnacle West manager, joined Toastmasters in 1989. Over time, she become a more confident speaker and took on more leadership roles in the company.
As a loaned executive for Valley of the Sun United Way, she spoke to groups of up to 100 people.
Before she conquered her fear, Dolyniuk said, she used to sit in the back row at similar gatherings and marvel at the speaker.
"I used to think 'Wow, how do they do that? I could never do that.' "
by William D'Urso and Jahna Berry The Arizona Republic Oct. 29, 2011 01:21 PM
Ice your fears of public speaking
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Interview: Johnny Depp on 'Rum Diary,' Hunter S. Thompson
Try and live normal...Stay for a drink
Johhny Depp rarely gives interviews.
Chris Pizzello/AP Johnny Depp, a cast member in the film "The Rum Diary," poses for a portrait in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Oct. 12, 2011. Based on the novel of the same name by the late Hunter S. Thompson, the film is released in theaters on Oct. 28.
Johnny Depp doesn't just star in "The Rum Diary," director Bruce Robinson's rum-soaked film about a reporter working and drinking in Puerto Rico in the 1950s. Depp found the manuscript for the novel on which the screenplay is based -- literally found it -- while visiting writer Hunter S. Thompson.
Depp's character in the film is a fictionalized version of Thompson, whom Depp also played in the film version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." The two were close, and Depp spoke recently about Thompson, who killed himself in 2005, as well as what the guy who has played characters as dissimilar as Capt. Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka and Edward Scissorhands looks for in a role.
Question: Watching "The Rum Diary" (which opens Friday) actually makes you feel as if you have a hangover. How do you convincingly play a drunk?
Answer: Well, uh, let's see, uh, uh, uh -- sense memory. (Laughs.)
Q: Ha. Of course you're not really drinking when you're shooting.
A: No. We'd still be shooting if we did that. Especially Bruce and I. It's just observation. I've certainly been drunk in my life now and again. It's just watching people and sponging that up, as much as you can. It's not that difficult. You just sort of allow your spine to get a little bit looser. I think the main thing, when people get drunk they try to not be drunk, and that's the sort of key. They start to blink more, they try to sit up.
Q: Kemp, your character, is based on Thompson, but it's not the gonzo version many people know.
A: Kemp is the younger version of Hunter. He's the Hunter who is on the road to try to find out who Hunter was, to try and find his voice. It was more of a sort of boozy crawl than a psychedelic experience.
Q: Don't you think his reputation as such a wild man takes away from recognition of his talents as a writer?
A: Most definitely, yeah. There was certainly that side of him that was, you know, as he called it, "It's time to break out the too-much-fun club." And basically that was when Hunter was happy and in a good mood and let's go nuts and do irreverent things and absurd things and have a ball, and there were no repercussions and we couldn't give a rat's about them. There was that side of Hunter.
But there was also a side of Hunter that was made of very strong moral fiber and a Southern gentleman to the very last. Chivalrous. Truly a gentleman and hyper, hyper, hyper sensitive -- hence the self-medication. And that's a side that not many people know or got to see. He was shy, so at a certain point his safety was just assuming the character, in a way.
Q: You can't write as much as he did without some degree of self-discipline.
A: This is a guy who sat at a very young age and typed out "The Great Gatsby" multiple times because he wanted to know how it felt to write a masterpiece. That's supreme commitment.
He had studied all these writers that he adored. Hunter and I would sit and talk for hours and hours, because I have this fiendish kind of obsession with writers of the 19th and 18th centuries, so we would talk for hours about these guys. It was probably one of the things we connected on, probably because he couldn't believe some (expletive) actor knew who Nathanael West was. ...
He was deeply, deeply in love with words, and he found a way that no one's capable of copying to this day, found a way to express himself with the greatest command of language.
Q: He had a way with words, certainly.
A: The guy was capable of wonders. I called him after he saw the film of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," to give you an example of how this man's mind worked. And I thought he would hate me, I really did, because I thought maybe I've done something too close to home for him, maybe he would find it uncomfortable.
I said, "All right, you saw it." He said, "Yeah, I saw it." I said, "Do you hate me?" He said, "No, man, no, no. Christ, it was like an eerie trumpet call over a lost battlefield."
And that just (expletive) blurted out of his mouth. He just spewed it.
Q: Kemp talks that way. At first it sounds false, but then you think, oh, some people do talk that way.
A: Well, they do. He did. "The American dream is a piss-puddle of greed," yeah. That was Hunter.
Q: Is it different playing someone you knew and were close to?
A: It's very different. Fortunately the one thing with Hunter is, I had a head start. He was so generous with me, and we got so close that I was able to sponge up as much of him as I possibly could. I had the luxury of kind of knowing him inside and out.
Q: You actually found the manuscript for "The Rum Diary" yourself, right?
A: Yeah, stumbled upon it, yeah. I was preparing for "Fear and Loathing," and we were in the war room (at Thompson's house) looking through boxes for the manuscript of "Fear and Loathing," which included, like, cocktail napkins and cherry stems and bandages, and all the weirdest stuff in the world. Suddenly I happened upon this other box that I broke open and, right on top there, stuffed amongst these papers, was "The Rum Diary." And we started reading it, the two of us, cross-legged on the floor. And I said, "Hunter, you're insane, man, this is (expletive) great writing. You need to publish this. I don't care when you wrote it. Let's publish it."
And he said, "You're right. However, I think we should produce this movie together." And that's when it really began.
Q: It's set in the late '50s, but in some ways the financial struggles of the newspaper Kemp works for are timely. Was that coincidence or happy accident?
A: I don't know if I'd call it a happy accident. ... I think it's an accident, for sure. But even the idea, at that time, in 1959 and 1960, Cuba became what Cuba became, and still is, so it was off-limits to Americans. So the next focus was Puerto Rico. It was the despoliation of a paradise. I think that was something that enraged Hunter. ... There are a lot of issues that correlate with what is current.
Q: You've played so many eclectic roles. What is a Johnny Depp role, and how do you know when you've found one?
A: It's pretty simple. I just read the thing, and I'm looking for that moment that sparks, that something that lights me up. The idea that I see something in a character that maybe I can bring something new to, maybe I can try something different that hasn't necessarily been done to death. It's really just kind of that. When I read a script, and I get a script that I really like and a character that appeals to me, I start getting these waves of images. It could be anything. It could be people I've known. It could be dogs I've had in the past. It doesn't matter. I just get these images and start to apply them to the character. Really, that's kind of it.
What I like, and what I think is important in terms of being an actor, is that first and foremost, to bore your audience is like the worst thing you can do. Always try to keep them guessing. Always try to send them something out there that they're not necessarily expecting. And always try to challenge yourself as an actor. The idea that I could have fallen flat on my face in terms of a couple of these characters is the very reason I did it. If you're not prepared to fail miserably, then you're just sort of walking through, aren't you?
Enjoy the Larry King special with Johnny Depp too:
by Bill Goodykoontz The Arizona Republic Oct. 25, 2011 08:20 AM
Interview: Johnny Depp on 'Rum Diary,' Hunter S. Thompson
Johhny Depp rarely gives interviews.
Chris Pizzello/AP Johnny Depp, a cast member in the film "The Rum Diary," poses for a portrait in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Oct. 12, 2011. Based on the novel of the same name by the late Hunter S. Thompson, the film is released in theaters on Oct. 28.
Johnny Depp doesn't just star in "The Rum Diary," director Bruce Robinson's rum-soaked film about a reporter working and drinking in Puerto Rico in the 1950s. Depp found the manuscript for the novel on which the screenplay is based -- literally found it -- while visiting writer Hunter S. Thompson.
Depp's character in the film is a fictionalized version of Thompson, whom Depp also played in the film version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." The two were close, and Depp spoke recently about Thompson, who killed himself in 2005, as well as what the guy who has played characters as dissimilar as Capt. Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka and Edward Scissorhands looks for in a role.
Question: Watching "The Rum Diary" (which opens Friday) actually makes you feel as if you have a hangover. How do you convincingly play a drunk?
Answer: Well, uh, let's see, uh, uh, uh -- sense memory. (Laughs.)
Q: Ha. Of course you're not really drinking when you're shooting.
A: No. We'd still be shooting if we did that. Especially Bruce and I. It's just observation. I've certainly been drunk in my life now and again. It's just watching people and sponging that up, as much as you can. It's not that difficult. You just sort of allow your spine to get a little bit looser. I think the main thing, when people get drunk they try to not be drunk, and that's the sort of key. They start to blink more, they try to sit up.
Q: Kemp, your character, is based on Thompson, but it's not the gonzo version many people know.
A: Kemp is the younger version of Hunter. He's the Hunter who is on the road to try to find out who Hunter was, to try and find his voice. It was more of a sort of boozy crawl than a psychedelic experience.
Q: Don't you think his reputation as such a wild man takes away from recognition of his talents as a writer?
A: Most definitely, yeah. There was certainly that side of him that was, you know, as he called it, "It's time to break out the too-much-fun club." And basically that was when Hunter was happy and in a good mood and let's go nuts and do irreverent things and absurd things and have a ball, and there were no repercussions and we couldn't give a rat's about them. There was that side of Hunter.
But there was also a side of Hunter that was made of very strong moral fiber and a Southern gentleman to the very last. Chivalrous. Truly a gentleman and hyper, hyper, hyper sensitive -- hence the self-medication. And that's a side that not many people know or got to see. He was shy, so at a certain point his safety was just assuming the character, in a way.
Q: You can't write as much as he did without some degree of self-discipline.
A: This is a guy who sat at a very young age and typed out "The Great Gatsby" multiple times because he wanted to know how it felt to write a masterpiece. That's supreme commitment.
He had studied all these writers that he adored. Hunter and I would sit and talk for hours and hours, because I have this fiendish kind of obsession with writers of the 19th and 18th centuries, so we would talk for hours about these guys. It was probably one of the things we connected on, probably because he couldn't believe some (expletive) actor knew who Nathanael West was. ...
He was deeply, deeply in love with words, and he found a way that no one's capable of copying to this day, found a way to express himself with the greatest command of language.
Q: He had a way with words, certainly.
A: The guy was capable of wonders. I called him after he saw the film of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," to give you an example of how this man's mind worked. And I thought he would hate me, I really did, because I thought maybe I've done something too close to home for him, maybe he would find it uncomfortable.
I said, "All right, you saw it." He said, "Yeah, I saw it." I said, "Do you hate me?" He said, "No, man, no, no. Christ, it was like an eerie trumpet call over a lost battlefield."
And that just (expletive) blurted out of his mouth. He just spewed it.
Q: Kemp talks that way. At first it sounds false, but then you think, oh, some people do talk that way.
A: Well, they do. He did. "The American dream is a piss-puddle of greed," yeah. That was Hunter.
Q: Is it different playing someone you knew and were close to?
A: It's very different. Fortunately the one thing with Hunter is, I had a head start. He was so generous with me, and we got so close that I was able to sponge up as much of him as I possibly could. I had the luxury of kind of knowing him inside and out.
Q: You actually found the manuscript for "The Rum Diary" yourself, right?
A: Yeah, stumbled upon it, yeah. I was preparing for "Fear and Loathing," and we were in the war room (at Thompson's house) looking through boxes for the manuscript of "Fear and Loathing," which included, like, cocktail napkins and cherry stems and bandages, and all the weirdest stuff in the world. Suddenly I happened upon this other box that I broke open and, right on top there, stuffed amongst these papers, was "The Rum Diary." And we started reading it, the two of us, cross-legged on the floor. And I said, "Hunter, you're insane, man, this is (expletive) great writing. You need to publish this. I don't care when you wrote it. Let's publish it."
And he said, "You're right. However, I think we should produce this movie together." And that's when it really began.
Q: It's set in the late '50s, but in some ways the financial struggles of the newspaper Kemp works for are timely. Was that coincidence or happy accident?
A: I don't know if I'd call it a happy accident. ... I think it's an accident, for sure. But even the idea, at that time, in 1959 and 1960, Cuba became what Cuba became, and still is, so it was off-limits to Americans. So the next focus was Puerto Rico. It was the despoliation of a paradise. I think that was something that enraged Hunter. ... There are a lot of issues that correlate with what is current.
Q: You've played so many eclectic roles. What is a Johnny Depp role, and how do you know when you've found one?
A: It's pretty simple. I just read the thing, and I'm looking for that moment that sparks, that something that lights me up. The idea that I see something in a character that maybe I can bring something new to, maybe I can try something different that hasn't necessarily been done to death. It's really just kind of that. When I read a script, and I get a script that I really like and a character that appeals to me, I start getting these waves of images. It could be anything. It could be people I've known. It could be dogs I've had in the past. It doesn't matter. I just get these images and start to apply them to the character. Really, that's kind of it.
What I like, and what I think is important in terms of being an actor, is that first and foremost, to bore your audience is like the worst thing you can do. Always try to keep them guessing. Always try to send them something out there that they're not necessarily expecting. And always try to challenge yourself as an actor. The idea that I could have fallen flat on my face in terms of a couple of these characters is the very reason I did it. If you're not prepared to fail miserably, then you're just sort of walking through, aren't you?
Enjoy the Larry King special with Johnny Depp too:
by Bill Goodykoontz The Arizona Republic Oct. 25, 2011 08:20 AM
Interview: Johnny Depp on 'Rum Diary,' Hunter S. Thompson
Prosperity is possible in tough times
During economic downturns, most folks are content to maintain the status quo, not expecting to really get ahead.
Turns out, a defeatist mind-set like that stops people from living the way they really want to live. A terrific new book will change attitudes and inspire people to "Prosper," as the book is aptly titled.
Authors Ethan Willis and Randy Garn are well-qualified to offer this life-changing advice. Together they are founding partners of Prosper, a company that has mentored more than 75,000 entrepreneurs since its inception in 1999. Willis co-authored the best-selling book "The One Minute Entrepreneur" with Ken Blanchard and Don Hutson, and he has founded or co-founded six businesses in the past 12 years. Garn has founded several companies that are industry leaders in online marketing, including AdCafe.com, which has more than 2 million subscribers.
What I find particularly refreshing about their book is that it doesn't concentrate on how to just survive an economic downturn. It challenges readers to make choices and take action that will be sustainable for a lifetime.
They write: "We know that it is possible for people to have a life that balances the pursuit of prosperity with happiness. It's not easy, but it's not as hard as you may think it is.
"Some people did it by creating new businesses that allowed them to make money doing the things they are passionate about. Others worked within their companies to carve out lives of balance, meaning and increased compensation. Some finally came to understand what they are really good at, then expended their talents to create new careers. Still others learned new expertise, which made it possible to reinvent themselves in areas they had tremendous passion for."
The authors define prosperity by the equation "Money + Happiness + Sustainability = Prosperity."
By money, they mean income sufficient to support one's goals. How much money is enough? "Enough to support your financial dreams in a way that honors your deeply held values and principles, but not so much that your money distracts or alienates you from those very values and principles," they say.
Happiness includes:
- State of mind: "having positive feelings about ourselves and the world."
- Authenticity: "living a life consistent with our deepest beliefs, values and principles, and knowing that our earnings are aligned with our passions and purpose."
- Commitment: "adhering to what we most value."
- Health and wellness, in mind and body.
Sustainability boils down to four questions: "Can I feel good about it? Can I sustain the work required over a long period of time? Is the prosperity I contemplate ethical, beneficial to others and environmentally sound? Does it offer lasting value?"
To help readers get started, Willis and Garn offer a prosperity assessment (available at prosperbook.com/assess ment). This tool is a 10-minute evaluation that you can complete, and you can invite others to answer based on their views of your level of prosperity. You will receive a personalized report identifying strengths and areas to develop. You can repeat the assessment as you put their practices into action. And it's free!
The real work begins with the authors' six prosperity practices, which are described individually in separate chapters. I won't give away their secrets, but I will tempt you with the six practices:
- Locate your polaris point.
- Live in your prosperity zone.
- Earn from your core.
- Start with what you already have.
- Commit yourself to your prosperity path.
- Take profound action.
This isn't cookie-cutter advice. Rather, it is solid information based on honest self-study that will help you transform your life. I wholeheartedly recommend their practices, because I know it is possible to prosper in any economic times. It's not just about the money.
As the authors say, "Prosperity is not a recreational activity but a lifestyle that you have to choose and renew."
My favorite section of the plan, however, is what happens once these practices start to bear fruit. The authors write, "You know you are really living in the Prosperity Zone when your passion shifts from accumulating to giving. It's no coincidence that the most prosperous people in the world have committed to giving the bulk of their wealth away."
Mackay's Moral: The journey to prosperity is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as the headlights, but you make the whole trip that way.
Mackay's Moral: If you've got what it takes, take it to the top.
by Harvey Mackay Oct 23, 2011
Prosperity is possible in tough times
Turns out, a defeatist mind-set like that stops people from living the way they really want to live. A terrific new book will change attitudes and inspire people to "Prosper," as the book is aptly titled.
Authors Ethan Willis and Randy Garn are well-qualified to offer this life-changing advice. Together they are founding partners of Prosper, a company that has mentored more than 75,000 entrepreneurs since its inception in 1999. Willis co-authored the best-selling book "The One Minute Entrepreneur" with Ken Blanchard and Don Hutson, and he has founded or co-founded six businesses in the past 12 years. Garn has founded several companies that are industry leaders in online marketing, including AdCafe.com, which has more than 2 million subscribers.
What I find particularly refreshing about their book is that it doesn't concentrate on how to just survive an economic downturn. It challenges readers to make choices and take action that will be sustainable for a lifetime.
They write: "We know that it is possible for people to have a life that balances the pursuit of prosperity with happiness. It's not easy, but it's not as hard as you may think it is.
"Some people did it by creating new businesses that allowed them to make money doing the things they are passionate about. Others worked within their companies to carve out lives of balance, meaning and increased compensation. Some finally came to understand what they are really good at, then expended their talents to create new careers. Still others learned new expertise, which made it possible to reinvent themselves in areas they had tremendous passion for."
The authors define prosperity by the equation "Money + Happiness + Sustainability = Prosperity."
By money, they mean income sufficient to support one's goals. How much money is enough? "Enough to support your financial dreams in a way that honors your deeply held values and principles, but not so much that your money distracts or alienates you from those very values and principles," they say.
Happiness includes:
- State of mind: "having positive feelings about ourselves and the world."
- Authenticity: "living a life consistent with our deepest beliefs, values and principles, and knowing that our earnings are aligned with our passions and purpose."
- Commitment: "adhering to what we most value."
- Health and wellness, in mind and body.
Sustainability boils down to four questions: "Can I feel good about it? Can I sustain the work required over a long period of time? Is the prosperity I contemplate ethical, beneficial to others and environmentally sound? Does it offer lasting value?"
To help readers get started, Willis and Garn offer a prosperity assessment (available at prosperbook.com/assess ment). This tool is a 10-minute evaluation that you can complete, and you can invite others to answer based on their views of your level of prosperity. You will receive a personalized report identifying strengths and areas to develop. You can repeat the assessment as you put their practices into action. And it's free!
The real work begins with the authors' six prosperity practices, which are described individually in separate chapters. I won't give away their secrets, but I will tempt you with the six practices:
- Locate your polaris point.
- Live in your prosperity zone.
- Earn from your core.
- Start with what you already have.
- Commit yourself to your prosperity path.
- Take profound action.
This isn't cookie-cutter advice. Rather, it is solid information based on honest self-study that will help you transform your life. I wholeheartedly recommend their practices, because I know it is possible to prosper in any economic times. It's not just about the money.
As the authors say, "Prosperity is not a recreational activity but a lifestyle that you have to choose and renew."
My favorite section of the plan, however, is what happens once these practices start to bear fruit. The authors write, "You know you are really living in the Prosperity Zone when your passion shifts from accumulating to giving. It's no coincidence that the most prosperous people in the world have committed to giving the bulk of their wealth away."
Mackay's Moral: The journey to prosperity is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as the headlights, but you make the whole trip that way.
Mackay's Moral: If you've got what it takes, take it to the top.
by Harvey Mackay Oct 23, 2011
Prosperity is possible in tough times
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