Positivity

I have just had someone take a look at my branding and we have now come up with some new designs which I’m pleased with. When I was younger I was often teased with names like ‘Duracell’. The battery with a copper coloured top. And before I go any further I have to point out that I have ginger hair. I hated it when I was younger but I love it now. Anyhow we now have a copper coloured top on all the new materials, business card, pop up banner, email signature etc.


The thing about a Duracell battery, and any other battery for that matter, is that they have both a negative and a positive and both are needed in order for it to work. As a motivational speaker I often talk about the importance of having a ‘Positive Attitude’ when those negative things happen in our lives. How much easier life could be if we accepted that we will have our fair share of both negative and positive events in our lives.

If I look back over my life I could probably draw a graph going up and down tracking the positive and negative life events which have occurred. After every negative thing which has happened there has definitely been a period of recovery until finally I would be in a good place again.

Last week it was announced that we are still in recession. There was definitely a negative flurry of headlines for a couple of days afterwards but what none of the headlines seemed to point out was that the negative growth experienced during the last quarter was less than the previous quarter which meant that if things continued at this rate we would soon return to growth. If the media had reported that we are now heading back to growth (which we are) and sang and danced about it as much as they do when they report something negative then possibly that would have encouraged people to get out there and begin spending again and we might have returned to growth even sooner.


As I said today when I gave my Thought Provoking Presentation at a networking event in the North East...Focus on the Positive.

Service Stations: You can either love or hate them.

Hi Folks
Hope all is well in your world. Going great guns here (whatever that means) and I returned earlier from speaking in Manchester where a great time was had by all. On the way back I found myself at the back of an 8 mile traffic Jam on the M62. Just as I was about to become very annoyed (to say the least) I decided to chose a better attitude. And as if by magic a sign appeared as we all crawled along the motorway. It was the service station. "Perfect" I thought. I took the slip road, parked the car and entered and ordered my food. I wont comment on the food as that's another story but I ate what I ordered, enjoyed my tea and gathered my thoughts for a short while. I returned to my car around 40 minutes later, joined the motorway and hey presto, the traffic jam had disapeared.

As I often say in my work as an Inspirational Speaker, "we cant turn back the clock when things happen around us but we can decide what we are going to both do next and the meaning we apply to what goes on around us".

I made a recent observation about time spent in service stations and you can hear what I had to say here.

Deepak Chopra goes Deep

What a lovely weekend. Yesterday I gave a talk to 200 of the lovely folks at the Samaritans Annual Conference in York. I was so pleased that no one fainted as happened five years ago when I gave a talk to them on what was a scorching day.

Although I do enjoy doing a book signing afterwards I was conscious that I had to drive all the way to Manchester to see one of my hero's Deepak Chopra. I sold and signed so many books that I was 20 minutes late for his address. It was still amazing.


One of the most interesting things I heard him talk about was the notion that the Universe is actually us. We are the universe, we are not in our body but that our body is in us. That the whole Universe is in us. (Deep I know) The thing was that it reminded me of a time when I was a young boy, soon after mum had been murdered, when I remember feeling so bad about what had happened to mum, as well as all the other things which were taking place at home, and despite this I imagined that what I was experiencing was not real. That it was some kind of film or play and I was the observer. An observer watching everything that was taking place but that those things were not reality. I was reality. What was happening around me and to me was all being orchestrated. Having listened to Deepak last night I was taken back to that time. Although apparently there is no such thing as time..

Afterwards I bought a couple of books and went to get them signed by him. I was refused by his security team. They said that Deepak had decided not to do anymore. Just four hours earlier I had made myself late to watch him as I stopped and signed every book that my audience had requested. I didn't take it personally. Deepak is an acclaimed international speaker and author who was jetting off to Japan to give another talk. One day I might even get there myself. My first book is published in Japan so one never knows.

Until next time:

Richard

We cant predict everything:

It just goes to show you that in life, often when we least expect it, things can happen that take us by surprise. No one knows whats around the corner, of what will occur tomorrow, when we will get the news of a disaster, a job loss......life is like that. We can't turn back the clock but what we can do is dust ourselves down and start again. Which is just what happened after I had taken this video. I stopped rolling as I thought Skye had injured herself. She will love this in years to come.

I was Boo'd from the stage

Hi Guys/Girls
Today was a 1st for me. I dont know if you have come across Audio Boo but if you have yet to experience it its micro podcasting from your iPhone. Its new to me but I thought about creating some mini Boo's from the stage in my work as a Motivational Speaker and today I tried it out. I was speaking at Spen Valley Sports College to around 200 year 9 students and we tried it out live. I suppose we just have to bite the bullet and try new things. In fact that what we all need to do from time to time. Who knows where it will lead.

Click this link to hear how I got one of the more interesting guys up on the stage to do something he would never have dreamt of had I not inspired him to adopt an 'iCan' attitude.

Zak Singing:

And here we have my close at the end:

And finally I thought on my feet and captured some of the student feedback afterwards: Listen out for the reference to Ginger Massive>

If you want to download Audioboo yourself then click this link:

You Loser!!

Hi Folks
As the iCan Tour continues around the UK I am often amazed at what I see. The life of a Motivational Speaker allows me insights I would have otherwise have missed. As well as speaking to adult audiences I often find myself inspiring students within schools. I could not believe what I witnessed recently as I sat waiting to speak to 200 students. They students were getting a pep talk from a member of the Physical Training staff about the Sports Day to take place in the coming weeks. I cant remember exactely what he said but he was urging each of the house teams to pick their best team for each event. He was ranting and raving about how dissapointed he would be at anyone finding themselves on the losing teams.

Now i'm all for encouraging each of us to be the best US that we can be....but what if someone is more talented that us in an event. They will achieve better results than you or I and does that mean we should feel bad about not winning. Maybe we will win at something elese. He really was giving it to them and I couldnt help but thing about my own children and how I want them to grow at school. Its Ok not to Win.......Get over it. Most of us will not win at sports day. I dont think I ever did. And I was terrible at football and was always on the bench. I dont recall Mr Pointer the PT Instructor being dissapointed at me. Its just wasnt my thing. Now get me on a stage speaking in front of 200 of my class mates in the school public speaking event....That I did win. It doesnt mean to say the others who took part were losers (although technically they were).

I received this email from a young person who makes the point perfectly.

Hey! I don't know If you will get this or not but I just wanted to say thank-you for such an inspirational speech at the MIDAS confrence in Harrogate on tuesday. That afternoon I actually took part in the MIDAS speaker competition. I was terrified before but your speech helped my confidence and although I didn't win, I feel like I accomplished something by standing up in front of my pears and speaking on the topic of 'Youth Culture'. I even had the confidence to again put myself forward to speak in another activity the next day! You probably get messages like this all the time from people so I'm sorry if I'm being repetetive! Many thanks again! Liam Bracey

Yes winning is great and to be encouraged but if we dont win (this time) as long as we gave it our best shot we wont be going far wrong.

Yorkshire Forward

Further to the earlier post: I just received this in from the event organiser. Maybe I should send it to the psychologist who told me I couldn't get over the fear of speaking (in so many words).