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How to strengthen your Emotional Intelligence?

8 Incredible Ways to Increase your Self- awareness and Develop Courage!

Self awareness helps you understand your personality, values, and deepest desires. Additionally, learning more about yourself helps you create your best life and make positive changes to improve your weaknesses. Being self aware boosts your emotional intelligence, so it’s a valuable trait that might help you relate to others. Raise yourself awareness and develop Emotional Intelligence by learning about yourself, building and getting feedback from others

1. Rank your top 5-10 priorities so you know what’s important to you.

Make a list of the things you most value in life, such as your family. Then, choose 5-10 items on your list that are most valuable to you. Rank them in order of importance, with 1 being your top priority. This helps you understand what’s truly important to you. The process gives you a confidence that nothing important will be missed out by you. In turn it increases your courage.

2. Identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses helps you understand yourself so you can live your best life. Discover your strengths by assessing your knowledge, skills, and traits. Additionally, think of 3-5 times when you felt most successful in life. Then, make a list of areas where you want to improve to find your weaknesses. Start working on mitigating or eradicating your weaknesses. This is another step which will make you strong.

3. Write about your feelings and experiences in a journal.

Journaling helps you better understand your thoughts and emotions. Set a goal to write in your journal every day, even if you just write a little. Discuss what’s happening in your life and how you feel. Then, review what you’ve written to help you self-reflect. No daily experiences will surely help you to understand that how you should go about improving yourself in dealing with the day today problems. Understandably this develops your courage.

4. Allow yourself to feel your emotions so they pass.

Part of self awareness is being able to understand your emotions. Acknowledge how you’re feeling and give yourself permission to experience the emotion. This allows your feelings to pass. Don’t ever press any emotions. This is particularly so for feeling of sadness and remorse. You must remind yourself that these unwanted feelings are not going to help you in anyway. If you’re not going to hell why let them remain with you. Threw them out.

5. Determine what triggers you emotionally to understand yourself.

Think about the times you’ve gotten really upset in the past. Then, identify what was happening in that moment. This is an emotional trigger that you have. Knowing your triggers helps you better manage your emotional reactions to them. It’s important for you to understand your emotional characteristics. Do you have fear of failures? Or that of criticism. Remember failure is a part of success. No criticism is valid. Don’t worry what other people say but keep on improving yourself day after day.

6. Meditate for at least 10 minutes a day for a clear mind.

Daily meditation helps you calm your mind so you can think better. Additionally, it helps you stay relaxed so you’re better able to control your emotions. For a simple meditation, sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Then, focus on your breath. It has been scientifically proved that meditation has helped many people to overcome even the depressions. What meditation does this to cleans your mind and remove the clutter. The problems are resolved easier. Meditation surely gives you internal strength.

7. Ask people whose opinions you value to give you feedback.

Identify people in your life who you think will give you an honest, constructive evaluation of yourself. Then, ask them to tell you how they perceive you, what they think your strengths are, and how you can improve. Collect their feedback and review it to better understand yourself. Getting feedback from people whom you can trust is very helpful in developing your personality and enhancing your courage. While never depend on unsolicited advice because a free advice is often more expensive. But when you are asking feedback and also requesting them to be frank in their assessment, it’s going to be very helpful as this is other people’s perception about you. This process also makes you emotionally strong.

8. Pay attention to how others react to you.

Watch other people’s body language when they’re around you. Notice if they appear comfortable and approach you with ease or if they keep their distance or close them self off. Look for trends in how people act around you to get an idea about how you’re perceived. This is an effort to continuously improve yourself. You keep on noticing how people react to your conduct, to your speech, to your body language in to your actions; the process is enlightening and gives you immense knowledge to enhance your personality and become more courageous.

Thanks for reading.

How to be a good learner?

One needs to be a learner throughout his or her life. I suggest the following to be a good learner:

1. Always be curious to know things.

Always be curious to know things, to understand as well as assimilate. This is helpful in your wanting to know more. Curiosity, or the strong desire to learn or know something, originates from the Latin word ‘curious’ – eager to know, inquisitive. As children, we are born with an almost insatiable curiosity which, according to famous psychologist Jean Piaget, is critical for our cognitive development – for as children almost everything we encounter is a new experience. It is children’s need to make sense of the world that results in their incessant questioning – “why is the sky blue?”, “what makes it rain?” – And it’s their lack of self-consciousness that enables them to admit to their lack of knowledge or understanding.

2. Be focused.

In order that you enjoy the process of learning, be focused. If you focus you get the best out of your efforts of learning. Focus can help you accomplish a variety of professional and personal tasks, from studying for a test to finishing your work an hour early. There are various practical steps you can take to help yourself focus better and to stop checking your Facebook or phone every fifteen minutes. To stay focused on the task ahead of you, resist the impulse to give in to distractions, make a to-do list (which has built-in breaks) and resist the temptation to multi-task.

3. Never be afraid of failure. Never be afraid of criticism. It is only this fear that does not allow you to use your mind and soul into what you do. As a learner you have to be totally dedicated to what you want to learn and therefore be fearless. Fear is something we all experience, especially when setting out on any new undertaking. Failure is one of the most common and most damaging fears that many people struggle with. However, failure is often the first step toward success: highly successful people such as Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson are very vocal about how often they have failed and how that has shaped their success.

4. Learning is a serious matter. Learning is not fun. It’s a serious matter. Give the attention and the required time that the learning deserves. Be patient and try to look for the final details of any process or anything about the subject that you are learning. One of the best things about life is that we never have to stop learning. There are always new skills to learn and techniques for us to adopt. The best entrepreneurs in the world don’t act like they know everything. They all understand the fact that they have to continuously learn to be successful.

5. Whatever you learn you should make it your own.

Whatever you learn you should make it your own. You should not learn only with a short time goal like to pass the exam, the interview et cetera. You should learn with a view to imbibe you’re learning into your personality. What you learn, you must use. When you use what you have learnt. You reinforce your learning. It you have a chance you teach someone what you have learnt .In the process this knowledge becomes your own and you can use it when needed.

6. Question everything for thorough learning. A good learner questions everything. Simple because these are written words or somebody has said it; don’t just accept. Questions that come to your mind need to be answered. Consult your mentor, teacher or your colleague. Questioning is a revered teaching technique from the days of Socrates, but there are ways, some traditional and some a bit more radical, to increase its impact and better prepare students to move beyond school in a way that provides deeper meaning and encourages greater contribution. Asking a variety of questions and question types is key to student achievement, along with increasing the amount of time allotted for students to think about the questions, but it is also vital that we move away from teachers asking questions as a solution to student learning.

7. Share whatever you have learnt.

You should share whatever you have learnt. If anybody has some different opinion just don’t override with your assumptions. Listen to him or her and check out if they know better. Sharing knowledge, while it is a noble cause, helps you to identify if you have left any missing links. Besides, you may learn more from the person you share with. However, you need to share with the right people or group. For example, if you share any learning about HR on LinkedIn, your connections will very happy.

8. Listen to experts on the subject.

Listen to experts on the subject. Attend a lecture if it is possible or simple go to the YouTube where videos are available on all possible thinkable subjects. Today, we are fortunate. We have Google. We have Quora and a number of other platforms that provide great information on any subject. Above all, we have YouTube. YouTube in the second biggest search en give on the net. It you don’t like to read, you just listen. There are many classroom lectures ever.

9. Don’t multitask, for better learning.

Always follow the dictum of one thing at a time. Don’t ever do multitasking. That’s not the way a good learner should learn. Always follow the dictum of one thing at a time. Don’t ever do multitasking. That is not a way, a good learner should learn. You may have heard that multitask is bad for you, but new studies show that it kills your performance and may even damage your brain. Every time you multitask you aren’t just harming your performance in the moment; you may very well be damaging an area of your brain that’s critical to your future success at work.

10. Don’t expect too much for your efforts.

Don’t expect too much of your efforts. Real learning requires persistent efforts and sometimes you need to persevere. Be prepared for that. Why do we expect great things and end up crying over it, people tend to exert too much effort in some things that’s impossible and expect it to turn out in their favor. We must learn that a person can’t have all the things in the world.

11. Develop emotional intelligence.

Develop your emotional intelligence under guidance of a teacher or a mentor. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to tap into your emotions and use them to make your life better. Being in touch with your feelings allows you to manage stress levels and communicate effectively with other people, two skills that enhance your life both personally and professionally. Unlike IQ, which remains constant throughout your life, EQ can be developed and honed over time. Do all that you can to strengthen your emotional intelligence. It in an investment that will help you throughout your life. Daniel Goleman has made a yeoman’s service to the development of the society with his work on emotional intelligence.

If you follow above there is nothing that you can’t learn and you will really enjoy learning and be proud of it.

Thanks for reading!

Time Management

What are the effective time management techniques?

The major difference between successful people and mediocre ones is how they manage time in the daily life. What are the effective time management techniques? It’s a question that baffles many people .Time is the best resource of human beings, so the critical question is: how do you manage your time wisely? Daily, we have to perform many tasks. Some of these are routine, but others are very important. So, one needs to know how to prioritize one’s time. There are some, who question the very idea of time management and ask, “Should time be managed”?

While thoughts may vary but one thing on which we all agree is that we must get the very best out of our time .There are a number of popular strategies which management gurus have propounded on this very critical subject. One may evolve his or her system of time management by understanding the various elements of time management.

We run a very effective time management programme with proven techniques of prioritizing your daily tasks and maximizing the utility at time.

The details are as follows:

Analyzing the use of time

Accessing your typical day to costing your time, per hour per minute, making a time log with 30 minute intervals.

Estimating time taken on routine task, review of action and think in time, estimating efficiency.

Allocating time

Routine work 15 %

Ongoing project 25 %

Planning and development 60 %

We offer an effective training program that will take you through all aspects of Time Management and enable you to become a truly effective and productive Manager.

How you will benefit?

• Develop your personal effectiveness to get more done in the same amount of time.
• Develop your personal initiative and beat procrastination.
• Develop a positive mental attitude and use ambition as the motivator rather than fear.
• Understanding right perspective to reorganize your goals through time management
• Manage priorities without losing out on the important ongoing projects.
• Set up your group goals and priorities.
• Discover the time wasters and to eradicate and minimizing.
• Learning to improve your focus and concentration for increased efficiency.

Contents

• How to recognize key components of effective goal setting.
• How to create clearly defined goals for your position.
• How to distribute time on urgent and important task without compromising on important ongoing project
• Learn the difference between being “busy” and “productive”
• How to plan ahead
• How to handle interruptions
• How to maximize your personal effectiveness
• How to say “no” to time wasters
• How to delegate in the right way for the right reasons
• How to recognize key components of effective goal setting.
• How to create clearly defined goals for your position.
• How to distribute time on urgent and important task without compromising on important ongoing projects.

Who Should Attend

Management Trainees, Senior Managers and other Company Executives

Thanks for reading

How to control your negative emotions?

10 Steps to control your negative emotions and change your negative attitude

Feeling emotion is part of being human. Although you have to feel negative emotions sometimes, you don’t have to allow them control of your life. Learn how to cope with negative emotions in the moment by refocusing your attention and getting out of your head. Train yourself to break negative thinking patterns to improve your mood long-term. Finally, learn a few techniques to help you accept and understand negative emotions when they occur.

1. Do an intense physical activity.

Releasing negative emotions can be done just as effectively with your body as with your mind. If you are hung up on bad vibes, take a timeout and get active. Exercise is naturally good for you at any time. Right now, however, it can provide an outlet for negative feelings and promote a more positive mood state through the generation of feel-good chemicals, called endorphins.

2. Take a nap.

Being chronically stressed by negative emotions can place your body in “fight or flight” mode, in which you are primed for action around-the-clock. If you have been fighting negative feelings for some time, you may be racking your brain about what to do or thinking nonstop about what is going wrong. Doing this for a prolonged period of time can cause mental fatigue. Fatigue can worsen negative emotions or hinder your ability to cope with them in a positive way. Taking a nap can reduce stress by allowing your brain and body to rest and reset.

3. Use creativity.

Another way to release negative emotions is through artistic pursuits. With art, you can get out of your head temporarily and channel those feelings into a positive activity. Make a sculpture. Develop a fictional story. Grab some paints, crayons, or markers and create a picture. Direct your feelings into the lyrics of a new song. Turn on some music and express your feelings through dance.

4. Spend time with close family or friends.

A great way to get out of your head when you’re bothered by negative emotions is to hang with people who care about you. Friends and family who are understanding and supportive can help you to cope with and resolve painful feelings. Negative emotions are a necessary part of life, and they often allow us to grow and become stronger. Still, that doesn’t mean you have to carry the burden on your own.

5. Avoid dwelling on your problems.

Sometimes, when you feel bad, you may think about an upsetting situation over and over again, a concept referred to as rumination. Perhaps you tell yourself that you are trying to understand it better. Nevertheless, all this does is make you feel worse. Try not to blow things out of proportion by constantly dwelling on your negative feelings. If you find yourself ruminating, try one of the following techniques.

6. Challenge negative and irrational thinking.

The way you view certain circumstances can have a huge impact on your emotional state. It’s easy to fall into the trap of irrational or catastrophic thinking. Take a moment to think about how you are reacting to a situation, and try to identify and challenge irrational thoughts or beliefs that may be affecting your mood.

7. Replace negative thoughts with more realistic ones.

Frequently, you may feel trapped in negative mood states due to the words you are repeating in your head. Changing your self-talk, therefore, can also change the way you feel. The next time you notice one of those negative self-talk “tapes” playing in your head, make a conscious effort to replace the negative thought with something more realistic and hopeful.

8. Explore your feelings through mindful meditation.

Mindful meditation is a technique that allows you to focus on the moment and become more aware of what you are feeling. Take a few minutes to sit in a quiet, comfortable place. Close your eyes and breathe deeply, allowing yourself to feel and acknowledge your emotions and bodily sensations. Don’t judge or analyze what you feel—simply make note of it and let it be.

9. Tune in to your physical feelings and their relation to your emotions.

Learning to identify your emotions is central to gaining acceptance of them. When you are experiencing an emotion, physical and mental responses may come along with it. For example, fear may come with heightened sensations in your face and arms, in addition to shortness of breath and clenched muscles. Happiness may come with electric tingles that radiate throughout the body in addition to a feeling of lightness or buoyancy. You can learn how to identify these emotions by tuning in to your body through meditation.

10. Perform a letting go ritual.

It can be incredibly therapeutic to release negative emotions by engaging in symbolic rituals. Such actions give a tangible, physical presence to intangible, emotional experiences. There are many ways you can release emotion through ritual.

Social Media gives everyone a Level Playground

Befooling people in the age of social media is losing one’s own credibility. Social media is a platform where an ordinary man can express himself/herself without spending any money or without using any influence. One doesn’t have to depend on anyone in power to use the media. Because, no power is controlling it. Should the owners of any popular site decide to exercise any control or should they try to create some kind of influence on any issue, this is bound to be construed as personal agenda. Personal Agenda is against the spirit of Social media.

Social media is fast growing only because it is free and fair. Regarding freedom, I reiterate that if there were no freedom of expression, Social Media would never have achieved the popularity it has gained in such a short time. Another very important factor in its favour is that it is participative. Anyone can start a discussion, contribute to the existing one; start a group or join one already there. Besides, it is not just confined to exchange of views or ideas. We can share pictures, movies, audio/video files etc. Undoubtedly, Social Media encourages to be social, to be creative and effective. It is a boon in this Brave New World.

Earlier, Television gained its popularity because of the ease of entertainment without the arduous task of going out to the theatre one can watch a programme news or even a movie: all sitting in the comfort of your home. But it took quite some time. Where television swayed the mind of people, lots of program producer emerged. Training institutes for training programme producers also came into being. The channel owners provided the infrastructure and producers created such programmes as would engage the audience. Producers who applied their mind and understood the audience likes and dislikes could make such serials which continued for years. But there is a rub. Some people did find that these serials offer no value and were a ploy to engage them. The TV was termed an idiot for which I consider it is.

But so far as Social Media is concerned, it is also engagement, but it is of a different kind. Here each person becomes a participant if he/she desires to be one. There are always group of people who share their views. There are people who have comments to offer. And as said above, it is not limited to discussions. Sharing of pictures, videos, knowledge on different subjects are both engaging and entertaining. It is for each one of us to make full use of this unique Free Gift.
Thanks for reading.

TagsBenefits of Social Media, Growth of Social Media, Rise of Social Media, Social Media, Social Media in India

Retaining English As The Common Language Or Replace It By Hindi? Pros & Cons!

A lot has been said in favour of teaching English from the first standard itself. Many states including Maharashtra have introduced English from the first grade even in government / municipal schools.
Our professional colleges like Engineering, Medical and other higher technical education colleges have English as medium of instruction. In spite of that, often the students are not able to express themselves in English confidently.
The principle of a leading college of Architecture told me recently “Our students are excellent so far as the subject of architecture is concerned. They have great imagination. They can create excellent architectural designs. But the only problem is that they are not able to express themselves in English.”
In architecture, engineering, medicine or any other discipline of higher education most books available are only in the English language. Besides, the technical terms used in these subjects are also in English. Therefore the knowledge and the ability to express in English becomes necessary for all students of higher education.

Furthermore, with the coming of more and more FMCG Companies in India, the use of this language is increasing by the day. This has added to the difficulties of the employees, particularly in executive cadre. Those who cannot express themselves in English fluently and clearly are at a great disadvantage. They are good in domain knowledge and they are adept in performing their duties, yet the inadequacy of English hurts them hard.

BENEFITS OF RETAINING ENGLISH AS OUR COMMON LANGUAGE

Keeps Your Brain Sharp

Learning any language keeps your brain active and challenged. In fact, Your brain changes electrical activity and size when learning a new language. No matter what age you start at, there are benefits for learning a new language. When you decide to learn English, you give yourself an extra rigorous workout due to its complicated nature.

Make More Money

The world may not have a global language, but English is the default option for countless forms of communication across the globe. That’s why one of the benefits of learning English is that it significantly boosts your hiring potential.

One of the Best Languages to Learn For Travel

If you think English can only take you to places like the U.S., U.K., and Canada, we’ve got some great news: There are over 50 English-speaking countries around the world. And that doesn’t count for all over the world. In many cities, particularly in Europe, English is almost an unofficial second language where expats and tourists make up a significant portion of the community.

Helps You Get Into Great Schools

Like job applications, one of the best benefits of learning English is the educational opportunities. If you desire access to some of the best schools like Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge or MIT, then knowing English provides you an incredible edge. It’s expected that around 2 billion people around the world will learn English over the next decade.

Enjoy Classic Literature and Films in Native Language

Over the past few centuries, many of the world’s classic works of film and literature were created in English. While you can gain access to translated copies, something always tends to feel “off” about the final product. The same can be said for classic works translated into English. These sorts of botched translations make it difficult to appreciate some of the great works of English-speaking artists from Shakespeare to Stephen King. From Hitchcock to Scorsese, to truly feel a great work of film or literature it’s best to experience it in its native language.

Immigration Benefits

If you don’t Speak English, it could cause you to have a significant disadvantage. In the United States, to become a citizen,You must pass an English test. However, it isn’t just getting into the country where English is beneficial.

So what is the solution? Should most of the work be done in Hindi which is our Rashtra Bhasha? Should all higher education books be translated into Hindi? Or should English training be imparted to one and all as our National Mission. Commercial organizations in this case can organize English speaking training as a part of their efficiency promotional effort.

SUGGESTED SOLUTION

There should be 3 language formula for a vast country with so many language like ours. Mother tongue or the language of the state should be compulsory. Likewise, English should also be taught form grade One . The student should be asked to choose one more Language which could be any other Indian language ( From the list of Indian languages) Which could also be Hindi. It is likely that most people would choose Hindi there should be no imposition of Hindi . Rather it can be promoted as all languages of the country should be promotes

Pursuit of Happiness

**Happiness is your own individual decision**

Everyone in his/her life pursues various objectives and goals with the ultimate objective of achieving happiness. ‘Pursuit of the happiness’, these words initial used by US president Jeffereson Devis. Subsequently they were made popular by Martin Luther king in his famous speech ‘I have a dream’. No doubt, everyone has a right to pursue happiness in whichever way the person likes. However, very often we are so much involved in daily routine that we are carried away by the string of events. In the process, we lose focus on what we are trying to achieve. It will be a good exercise for each one of us to reflect on these words and work out and define what is how you plan to pursue your happiness.
Firstly, we must understand that happiness is not just momentary pleasures of life. I do not say that pleasures of life should not be there. But that these should be only a part of our larger plan, which should addresses some or all of the related features of happiness. The following aspects are of immense importance in an individual’s life.
Your attitude to life. One must have a positive attitude. Life is full of ups and downs. There could be challenges, successes and failures. Positive attitude means just to accept these as a part of life. You become a witness or an observer of what is going. At the same time, use your discretion to take decisions. It’s only then that we understand that we can remain composed and maintain our poise in turbulent times. In fact, it is necessary to maintain our poise even in the happiest time. None of the two situations last forever. Like every night is followed by the day. Every day is followed by night. But in life it may not be in the same order and the duration may also vastly differ.

Importance of your Goals: In order that you pursue happiness, you must define your goals: in all of the following aspects.

Health goals. Good mental and physical health is extremely important if you want to lead a happy life. Doing what is necessary to keep good health is everyone’s duty. Regular exercise, following proper food routine and maintaining positive attitude can ensure that you are moving towards your health goals from day to day. Yet, it is a continuous process to pursue throughout the life.
Career/ financial goals. If you are successful in your career it expected that you will also do your financial and remain comfortable but you have to find tune of your objectives and follow the plan as devised.
Your family is undoubtedly equally important and should feature in your pursuit of happiness, according to our own Indian tradition. The importance of finance and family are critical in your pursuit.
Then comes to your social goals. What do want to contribute to the society and what you actually do, determines how successful you are in following social goals. Here again, you need to define and then follow your plan of action. The amount of success you achieve in your social goals will add up in your happiness. It will also determine how the society perceives and respects you. In other words, it means your reputation is reflected by what and how you contribute to the society.
For leading a fuller, complete life you must pursue some hobbies. At least one. It could be music. It could be painting .It could be some sport. It could also be travelling, writing etc. But the important thing is that you have atlaest one hobby on which you able to spend some time. It must not only for name sake.
Last but not the least your spiritual goals are also important. We all know that no one has to stay here forever. Sooner or later we must depart. We don’t know where. This uncertainty needs your spiritual pursuit. Whichever religion you may follow, you must define your spiritual goals. These will eventually define how you are remembered after your departure.

Thank you for your reading.

BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER:

Everyone loves to enjoy beauty. The beauty of nature is captivating. but, what is beauty when it comes to human beings? Beauty is not something that comes from physical appearance. Physical attractiveness are deception; what matters really is the nature of a person. It is true that beautiful or handsome people are more appealing. But we can have a reliable relationship and long lasting trust only on the personalities of people. Physical appearance of a person might fade as years pass on; but their characters do not. So, we should nit judge anyone or anything by the appearance. It is a great wisdom to realize that “Beauty Is In the Eye of The Beholder”

If we all are familiar about the proverb “All that Glitters is Not Gold”, then we would be aware that we cannot believe someone by their appearance. When we are in the light of wisdom outer beauty of a person will not drive us. What makes a person attractive is the inner beauty.

People with inner beauty are those that love to make peace with everyone, take care of fellow beings and try to follow the path of justice.

How many of us remember the significance of physical beauty when we talk about King Maker Kamarajar? (Late Chief Minister Tamil Nadu).

Do we think physical appearance is important even after we hold Sports personalities like Sachin Tendulkar, Mary Kom, Maria Sharapova and many others as our role models? We do not see the appearance of these people to keep them high as our inspiration. Their talents and achievements are incomparable and that is what has made them world famous. If we think they have become famous by their beauty then it is our foolishness

The legends who have lived and made us realize the importances of inner beauty are: Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. Nelson Mandela is a great man known for his sacrifice Mandela was willing to sacrifice in order bring equality and get equal rights for the Blacks in South Africa. He is definitely a legend with inner beauty. Mahatma Gandhi, who fought till death for Free India is a man of inner beauty. If we learn the sacrifice Mother Teresa made in her life to serve the poor, we will agree that Beauty lies inside not outside.

Only when we know what real beauty is, we will understand what we see in the outside is just a projection. What matters is the character inside. Like how we see a jack-fruit as a hard and rough fruits outside, but a sweet and yummy piece of delight inside, it is true that “Beauty Lies in the Eye of The Beholder”.

Contributed by Pravin More, a student of our Public Speaking Course.

6 Language Techniques to Make Your Speech Excel

Public speaking has become extremely important today. While the content is the king, speaker has to be choosy about the language. We find that language used by some of the speakers is so compelling that listeners are highly influenced. I am detailing below 6 language techniques which make the speech highly effective:

1. Using clear spoken language: Spoken language is not the same as written language. Its sentences have to be short. The long sentences may work well if properly punctuated in the written essay but in speech short (or of medium length) sentences are better. Besides to make you speech interesting, vary the length of your spoken sentences. Further, concrete words should be used rather than the abstract ones. Verbosity needs to be avoided, totally. Above all, greater use of restatement is recommended. But the same should not be repetition the words which you have already used.
2. Concrete language: The language when the listener can create images in his mind. e. g. we say “the legs of speaker were shaking and repetitively he was wiping perspiration on his face.” The above statement is far more effective than saying that the speaker was extremely nervous and did not know how to proceed with a speech.

3. Specific words: It’s better to use specific words rather than generic. e. g. when we say a president of a company it is specific but if we just say manager though president is also a manager, but it is not specific. Manager is more specific than saying an administrator. Indeed, the manager is also an administrator.
4. Figures of speech: Use of any figure of speech makes the speech very interesting. There are number of elements which when used with discretion dramatically improves the quality of the speech. Figures of speech are:
i) Metaphor: metaphor is application of a name or description to something to which it is not literary related. For example, one may say, “life a camera. Just focus on what is important and capture the good times. Develop from the negative and if things don’t work take another shot.” Another example would be- so often we become so focused on the finish line that we fail to enjoy the journey. Such metaphors used appropriately are highly appreciated.

ii) Hyperbole: when we exaggerate anything for emphasis that would be known as hyperbole. The following are the examples of hyperbole in views.

An obvious and purposeful statement of exaggeration used for emphasis, dramatic effect, and to make a clear poem.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

iii) Personification: The attribution of human character to animals/inanimate objects or abstract notions is known as personification. Examples:

Time leaps forward
The starts winked at me
The Sun smiled on the city as a new day began.
The piercing look almost broke the glass

5. Art of restatement: The restatement is an extremely effective way of putting across your point. However, it is important that you should not use the same words or the same sentence again and again. Use language which expresses the same idea but in different words. Imagination and application of mind will do the trick.
6. Creating emphasis: The speaker may use contras. Rhetorical questions can be asked to create a dramatic effect on the listeners. Contras are when you talk of totally opposite things together. Likewise rhetorical questions are such, which leave the audience aghast.

One of the most popular speeches of 20^th century is ‘I have a dream’ by Martin Luther King. In this speech, he uses all types of figures of speech. In fact only their adept use has made the speech so popular, and so effective.

Is a Leader born or Leaders make themselves?

There has been always a debate whether the leader is born or they make themselves. There are many instances where a person born in a rich family or that of a leader but they failed miserably. It’s not that they cannot become leaders. But their birth does not guarantee that they will be leaders. There are no qualities which can be attributed towards the birth of the leader. On one side there are many examples where in spite of the advantage at birth people have not made any mark in their lives while on the other people born poor and deprived of all resources have made it big. While some can be held responsible for misusing all the opportunities the other create opportunities and leave a rich legacy.

An individual grows under influences. The influence of his/her parents is very important, and then teachers are important. They are also influenced by the friends, neighbors and the all they interact with. But no such influence is so dominant which can churn out a leader.
Leadership is acquired by choice. One becomes a leader when he/she is prepared to pay the price for leadership. Leadership does not come cheap. It requires your determination, your discipline, willingness to undertake hard work and more importantly consistency. It’s a strong desire and consistent effort to excel in any human ability which can create a leader.
There are many reasons why a leader must be consistent in his/her conduct, approach to life and belief and vision. Firstly the followers would feel secure under the guardianship only of a predictable consistent person. Secondly if the leader is not discipline he cannot control his behavior, attitude and even emotions. All these are responsible for the interpersonal skills of the leader. They may spoil the relationship by simple unpredictable mistakes. Besides, inconsistency wastes time of the leader as well as the follower. Above all if the leader is not consistent how can one expect the followers will be consistent. Indeed, nothing worthwhile can be achieved without consistency.
Now let’s look at the lives of some self-made leaders.
1. Andrew Carnegie the founder of Carnegie steel was born to poor parents in Scotland. Due to financial difficulties the family migrated to US. When he was 13 he was changing schools of threat in a Cotton mail- 12 hours a day. Going through various difficult jobs he finally became the owner of Carnegie Steel Corporation which was the largest in the world at that time.

2. Dhirubhai Ambani is another very well-known story. Initially it is said that he was doing small jobs in his village. He would also set up Bhajia stalls at village fairs. However his grit and strong desire to create something worthwhile enabled him to become the owner of one of the richest family in the world.

3. Walt Disney was a cartoonist. Often he was without job. Many a times he could not afford to buy a meal. Then he started animating his own cartoons. Our childhood without Walt Disney’s cartoon would have been dull. Today the entire world recognizes Disney for his contribution to society for entertaining children’s and adults both.

4. Mr. Soichor Honda the owner of Honda Company, In Japan is another example to support the statement that leaders are made and not born. When he grew up he wanted to work in a two wheeler factory but he could not get a job. He had undergone extremely hard times but his courage to face difficulties and his audacity to stick to his mission, enabled him to create Honda. We all know Honda today not only for the Motor Bikes but also for hot selling cars.

Thanks for reading.