Are You The Worlds Expert On Yourself?
Congratulations! You are the world's expert. That's right: you are the world's expert...on yourself, that is. Nobody knows more about you than you. Nobody can sell you better than you. And whether or not you realize it, your self-expertise is an invaluable tool that will transform the way you communicate in your business and personal lives. But what does the term "expert" actually mean? It seems like almost everybody is an expert these days! The word expert comes from the Latin noun expertus, or "person wise through experience." But remember, there are two kinds of experts: professional and personal. Professional experts are people who have tremendous knowledge, experience, accomplishments and accolades in a specific field, i.e., personal fitness or child psychology. There are tens of thoudands of these individuals around the world. And you might you read about them in articles, watch them on CNN or listen to them give a speech at an industry convention. Then there are personal experts, of which there are millions around the world. Personal experts are indivuduals who know exactly who they are, who they aren't, what they believe, which values and passions they hold dear and what their purposes are. These experts are the people others are magentized to. The people who carve out their names out in the minds of everyone they touch. These are the people who achieve the highest levels of success in their lives ? because they are experts on themselves. Finding Clues to Self-Expertise
Tang dynasty painter Wu Tao Tzu said "Knowing others is wisdom, but knowing yourself is enlightenment." So the question is: how can you increase your level of self-expertise? Let's examine three major clues. Clues are what some people might call epiphanies, moments of clarity, visions, omens, signs and the like. My first one was discovered during Thanksgiving of 2000. For the first time ever, I was about to tell my parents that I planned to wear a nametag all day, every day for the rest of my life to make people friendlier. As we sat down to eat, my dad just stared at that nametag on my shirt. I was shaking in my sandals. I thought he was going to throw the yams across the room when I told him. Sure enough, halfway through the meal my dad initiated one of those "We Just Want to Help You" type of discussions, starting with the following sentence: "Scott?we're your parents. So come on ? what's the deal with the nametag?" And then I uttered a sentence that I'm pretty sure has never been delivered in the history of the world: "Mom, Dad?I want to wear a nametag all day, every day for the rest of my life!" Not even the electric turkey carver could have cut through the uncomfortable silence that followed. Oh, how I wish you could have seen the look on my father's face! PRICELESS! Once he reattached his jaw, my dad looked back at me and had only one word to say? "Cool!" Cool? COOL?! I said. Dad, are you sure? "Oh yeah, I think that's cool! What a great idea! And it's perfectly in line with your lifestyle. You know Scott, it seems like you're really developing into your own person. So if you want to wear a nametag everyday ? go for it!" So I did. And I haven't taken it off in five years. CLUE #1: How do the people closest to you respond to your passions? A few years later a friend of mine asked if I might give a 20-25 minute talk to her Rotary Club about wearing a nametag all the time. My first thought was: what the hell is a Rotary club? My second thought was: oh my god! 25 minutes? That's an eternity! After weeks of preparation, the big day arrived. It was March 13, 2003, and I had never given a speech before in my life. By the time I arrived at the Rotary Club, my armpit stains were so dark, even the 90 year old man in the back could see them! When my friend Linda introduced me to the audience, I was still shaking. All eyes were on me. God help me! I thought. So, with the most courageous breath I could muster, I said, "Hello, my name is Scott..." And when those first words came out of my mouth, something magical happened. It felt like nothing else in the world mattered. The anxiety left my body. Everything was beautiful. And although I have absolutely no recollection of what I said that morning, it felt like the greatest 25 minutes of my life. After the speech was over, a man in the back stood up. "Scott, my name is Tom Jenkins, chairman of the Portland Rotary Clubs. I just wanted to thank you for speaking to us today ? we really enjoyed your talk." "Thanks!" I said. "But if you don't mind me asking...what do you do?" "Oh. Right. Well, right now I sell couches at this furniture store downtown." Then Tom said one word that changed my life forever... "Quit." The room fell silent. "Scott ? quit your job selling furniture. You need to become a professional speaker." Wow. So I did. And since then, I've become a professional speaker and have helped tens of thousands of businesses, organizations and students around the world become UNFORGETTABLE communicators ? one conversation at a time. CLUE #2: What do your "audience members" say about your talents? The last clue to self-expertise came to my attention about 6 months ago when I was giving a speech to a group of 7th graders. I started telling these kids about the two books I'd authored when one of them asked me, "Scott, when you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?" I told the students that when I was seven years old, I actually wanted to be an author! Not a writer, but an author. As in, "guy who writes books." Why I chose that career, I wasn't sure. Maybe I liked writing. Maybe I thought books were cool. Or maybe it was just the first answer I could come up with. But I think I was supposed to say that answer. Because right then, during that speech, it hit me like a ton of books. Yes, books ? not bricks. Oh my God! I thought. I really AM an author! How cool is that? CLUE #3: What did you want to be when you grew up? These three examples are just a few of many clues. If you'd like to explore 9 more exercises that will help you enhance your self-expertise, contact me below! © 2005 All Rights Reserved. Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, "The World's Foremost Expert on Nametags" and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He helps people MAXIMIZE their approachability and become UNFORGETTABLE communicators - one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions at http://www.hellomynameisscott.com.
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Pretending Your Life As You Want It - True Power Series
This is the sixth article in our "True Power" series. If you haven't been following the series, visit The ARTrepreneur to read the foundational material on beliefs before continuing.
All people live a structured existence that is entirely make-believe. For
example, though we act as if it's true, there is no such thing as days of the
week or hours in a day. These things are completely fabricated conventions. If
an alien were to visit New York, and someone said, "Well it's Monday morning,
everyone's off to work," the alien would nod politely and think, "How quaint.
They regulate their lives into compartments." The alien would in no way mistake
the custom for reality. He would recognize the custom as an idea. We pretend
it's real, but we could pretend other customs just as easily.
There is no such thing as time really ? no minutes, hours, days, weeks, or
months. We pretend they exist, and structure our lives accordingly, but we could
just as easily do it a different way. The day could be split in half and called
"up" and "down." Someone named some cycles. There are other cycles and other
names. Musicians, for example, often operate in a no-time zone. Lots of writers
have inverted or highly individualistic work schedules. Many artists have made
successful careers by following their own personal rhythms and beliefs. They
never fell for, "That's the way it is," because they knew it was all pretend,
and they could pretend their own structure just as easily as following someone
else's.
If someone says to you, "the music business is brutal," refuse to believe it. If
they want to pretend it's brutal, then they'll get that result. You won't be so
easily deceived. There are actors who have made careers quickly in Hollywood
because they didn't realize it was supposed to be hard. They weren't aware of
the convention. Realize that all conventions that we call modern society are
just ideas. Ideas are mobile. You can use them, discard them, and invent new
ideas. In reality, there is no movie industry or art industry. In reality, there
are never "Seven Steps to Anything." There are only ideas, and your ideas are as
valid as anyone's, and certainly more valid for you.
Pretending Your Life As You Want It Exercise
There are two ways to do this exercise. Choose a time everyday, and pretend your
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want to do the way you want to do them. This is much like the internal
visualization exercises. You try to trick your mind into believing you're
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happening. Have imaginary meetings, imaginary bank deposits, imaginary shows,
imaginary dinners out. Physically, you may be doing the dishes, but mentally
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negate the ideal, the less you say to yourself, "That's not realistic. I can't
have it," the easier and faster it will be produced. By thinking freely about
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ideal, and the pretend world and the actual world will begin to mesh.
Every successful person ignored the pretend circumstances outside themselves,
and pretended, instead, to be who they wanted to be and live how they wanted to
live. Pretending, then, is the essence of experience and, therefore, an
essential quality. Your life is a masterpiece composed of ideas that motivate
you to act. Be the creator of those ideas. Be moved by your own impulses and
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Most of your success in life will come from your ability to deal effectively with other people. Your success will be determined by the number of people you know, and who know you in a favorable way. Everything you achieve will be through other men and women. These are people who will be there to assist you at the critical junctures of your life. Your ability to influence other people to act in your best interest is one of the most important skills you can ever develop to achieve happiness and success.
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