Blog
by Cie Murray
Keith Harrell, Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker, "22 Guaranteed Standing Ovations" speaker, and a master of keynote speaking would have celebrated his 58th birthday on December 12, 2013. He went to his heavenly home three years ago, but he didn't leave without making a tremendous impact on my life and thousands of others. For more than a year, I had the privilege and honor to have been mentored by Keith. As
busy as he was, every month we would have a conference call for a minimum of one hour. Keith would answer my questions and share his wisdom on the business of keynote speaking. I can never express enough gratitude to him for the great impact he has made on my life. So I decided to share a portion of what I learned from him. Here are three lessons I learned from Keith that can be of benefit to anyone, regardless of the type of presentations you may need to make.
by Cie Murray
You may be thinking I don't have time to play at work. I have a business to run or I have to make sales calls. The truth is you can't afford not to play at work. So many of our workplaces are filled with stress and anxiety that are hindering us from being fully engaged, fulfilled, and productive. Although stress often creates anxiety which resides within us, we do have the ability to reduce and eliminate the affect it has on us. How you may ask? By turning your work into play.
All of us participated in play activities as children. What kinds of play activities did you do? What was it exactly that we were doing when we engaged in play? We were connecting with others. We were taking risks, living in the moment, being spontaneous, adventurous, curious, solving problems, and even dealing with pressure. Play was showing us how to live life more joyously.
by Cie Murray
As I was walking out the door to make sales calls, my district sales manager at Del Monte would shout out to me, “Give ’em steel, Cie. Give ’em steel.” At first, I wasn’t sure what he meant. Later, I learned he was telling me to “pound hard” to bring in business. But I didn’t need that kind of push from him to drive sales—I was intense in my sales efforts all by myself. I worked excessively—nonstop, all day, every day. I was like the Energizer Bunny, getting up early, going to bed late. By the end of that first year with the company, my region went from the worst in the country to #1. I got a promotion and was moved to a different region with a larger account responsibility. And while it was exhilarating, what I didn’t know was that I was headed toward burnout.
Remember when you got the phone call from your hiring manager, offering you your current position. You were so excited and delighted to be going to work for 1-2-3 ABC Inc. You texted all your friends to arrange a gathering at your favorite meeting place or you treated yourself to the latest tech gadget to celebrate. You use to float into your office with a smile every day. You not only got to work on time, but you got there a little early and stayed a little later. Now that it's been over a year, your work life doesn't quite give you that spark. Sometimes you wonder why you took this job in the first place. How do you re-capture some of that affection and delight you once had? Here's a tool to help you get your joy back.
Sometimes to go up or lead others up, we have to BACK UP. That has been a hard one for me because so many times I think I need to have the next thing to do lined up, perfected, and ready to go. I grew up hearing don't just sit around, do something. However, I have learned that when I'm sitting I am doing something. I didn't have a bigger and better newsletter when I chose to stop writing my previous newsletter. Yet, I knew I needed to pause, reflect, and re-evaluate my business strategy and how the newsletter would fit. Only then could ideas open up to create a newsletter that would provide greater value to you. Is there some activity that you need to back up from doing?
