Session 4 Preview

Next Week: Session 4A - Put Stress in Perspective

The unproductive areas of our lives (and we all have them) tend to be the most stressful. Some can be very stressful. Next week, we'll tackle that challenge together. Identify an area of your life causing you a disproportionate amount of stress. It may be worthwhile to consider the following questions:

1) What about this situation is causing the stress?
2) What impact is this having on achieving my vision?
3) Which of the principles listed in Dale Carnegie's Golden Book (and in your student manuals on pages 4.5 - 4.8) will help me most effectively handle this stress?

Then, we'll commit to deal more proactively with that area. In a few weeks, we'll have a chance to report on the progress we've made.

Next Week: Session 4B - Motivate Others and Enhance Relationships

Human Relations - We just finished talking about achievements. In this session, we continue building on the power of living intentionally. In Session 2, we committed to apply a couple of Dale Carnegie's Human Relations principles to improve a particular relationship. In Session 4, we'll have the opportunity to report on the status of our commitment.

Magic Formula - We've worked on beginning our talks with an incident to capture their favorable attention. Now, we're introducing an effective way to end our talks to move people to action. This ability, so arresting and interesting to our audience, helps lower the walls of resistance so our message(s) are not just heard, but listened to.

KEY TO SUCCESS: As our time to get our message out is often limited, in business and in life, one of the MOST effective ways to grab our listeners attention is to begin, immediately, with a mental picture of us involved in some action our audience can visualize. Not only does it grab the attention of our listener(s), it helps us relax, and it keeps us from wandering down those tempting "rabbit trails" which waste time for our listener.

Reading: In this week’s readings, Dale Carnegie writes about four ways to develop speech material that guarantees audience attention, and about how Ben Franklin’s whistle helped him live life with less stress.

See you next session.

P.S. Don’t forget the booklets in the back of your participant manuals – Remember Names, Speak More Effectively, and The Little Recognized Secret of Success. They are great resources – and easy to read.