Archive for June, 2009
How To Conquer Your Fear Of Speaking
How to Conquer Your Fear of Speaking 3 Causes and 3 Choices
By Dr. Robert Portnoy
As professionals were frequently called upon to give both formal and informal presentations whether to customers colleagues bosses and even board members. Some of us are trained readily prepared and eagerly welcome or create the opportunity to inform demonstrate persuade inspire and motivate. Others of us run shirk and when absolutely necessary squeak by. And many of us are scared to death even though we may not show it. In fact statistics show that nearly 75 of the population has a fear of speaking. Its often said that when it comes to common fears the fear of speaking tops the list right up there with fear of snakes spiders and death itself. As Jerry Seinfeld said The average person at a funeral would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.
While certainly common the fear of speaking can be devastating not only to careers but to relationships. Communication is the crucial bridge that connects people and when its compromised by fear the connection is limited threatened and easily broken.
The extent of this fear runs along a continuum from normal and mild to severe and debilitating. Most everyone feels a bit nervous when getting up in front of audience or making an important presentation even if its only to a few people if those people can impact the speakers success. And this slight nervousness is easily managed and overcome once the presentation gets underway especially when the speaker is well prepared with a point and a purpose. But towards the severe end of the continuum the anxiety can be overwhelming and the physical manifestations can be significant including impact on blood pressure heart rate muscle weakness flushed skin sweaty hands and more.
Much has been written about the fear of speaking. And various practitioners ranging from selfproclaimed experts to highly trained professionals offer methods and remedies to help speakers overcome it. From an overview perspective there are three primary causes any one of which or in combination that lead to the fear of speaking.
The first type of cause is an anxiety disorder leading to a phobia. A phobia is defined as an irrational intense fear of an object or situation that poses little or no actual danger. At first glance a phobia may seem similar to a normal fear. It is the degree to which a person is affected that determines whether that fear has become a phobia. The fear of speaking is a type of social phobia a fear of being embarrassed in public. The key to both understanding and treating a phobia is recognizing that while the fear and anxiety can be intense and real there is little or no actual danger. There is nothing in the situation that can actually harm the person who is experiencing the anxiety. There is no snake that will bite no ladder that will fall no gun that will shoot etc. The danger is not real only imagined. Getting up in front of an audience for a person who has a fear of speaking is not imaginary. What is imaginary is the danger that the speaker believes lurks in the room. There is no real danger at least nothing that the speaker couldnt be trained to handle.
The second type of cause is faulty beliefs. The person who has a fear of speaking may believe that they are incapable or not good enough. These beliefs can often be traced back to situations in their past where their parents treated them in ways that made them doubt themselves and feel incapable. For example imagine the impact on a young child who repeatedly hears Whats the matter with you? or How many times have I told you? Coupled with a yelling tone of voice these messages can lead to beliefs that shape a childs selfesteem and impact the choices they make when trying to cope with lifes challenges. Consider the impact that a belief of Im not good enough could have on a speaker as he faces a hostile audience. Certainly fear and anxiety are easy to understand in light of these kinds of beliefs.
The third type of cause is competence. In many cases the difference between an average and an exceptional speaker is training. Effective speaking while a gift and an art for some comes down to learning experience and feedback for most. Learning to buiild and deliver a compelling presentation requires instruction guidance and time. Its only natural that less experienced speakers will feel more anxious than accomplished speakers.
Certainly these three types of causes may occur in any combination. An inexperienced speaker who has irrational fears and faulty beliefs is going to have much more trouble in front of people than a speaker who suffers from only one of the three conditions.
But there is hope. Any of these causal conditions can be changed and if not totally at least to some degree. Heres how.
Phobias can be managed through certain forms of therapy and medication. One approach that has been effective for many people with a fear of speaking is called Virtual Reality Training. Using this method the individual is exposed to the feared situation over and again in the absence of any real danger. To manage the fear of speaking the person faces talks to and gives presentations to a virtual audience. The trained practitioner controls the reactions of the virtual audience using specialized computer software. With repeated exposure the fear and anxiety diminish helping the person face real audiences with more comfort and confidence. For more information about this type of treatment contact me at greatspeakersaol.com.
When faulty beliefs are the cause the beliefs can be targeted and essentially replaced with new and more healthy beliefs. This approach is based on the notion that beliefs are just that beliefs. You cant see them you cant feel them and you cant show them to anyone else. They exist only in your head. The objective is to get them out of your head so they dont bother you anymore and then to replace them with healthy beliefs that are based in reality. This approach is now available through a selfstudy DVD program and has been validated as effective through university research. For more information contact me at greatspeakersaol.com.
Fear of speaking that stems from inexperience is relatively easy to overcome simply by learning how to speak effectively. There are many options including classroom training public seminars and corporate programs. A new option is now available that enables learners to develop their speaking skills through selfstudy. It is a multimedia program making use of speech instrumentation CDs DVDs and a professional library that allows learners to systematically measure and develop their presentation skills in the privacy of their own home or office. For more information about this learning method visit www.pstoolkit.com.
Speaking effectively is critical to connecting with people to professional development and to building and sustaining fulfilling relationships. When fear of speaking gets in the way personal and professional success can be tragically compromised. This article has provided a basis for understanding the causes of this fear and some choices that are readily available to help just about anyone speak with comfort and confidence.
Dr. Robert Portnoy is a licensed speech pathologist. He has helped hundreds of people overcome their fear of speaking and learn to speak effectively. Dr. Portnoy is the founder and president of Great Speakers Training Company www.greatspeakers.org and the developer of The Presentation Skills ToolkitTM www.pstoolkit.com.
About the writer: Dr. Robert Portnoy is a licensed speech pathologist who has been professonally trained to identify and treat discorders of communication. Applying this body of knowledge to the needs of business and personal success Dr. Portnoy has personally coached hundreds of business professionals to communicate more effectively. Over the years Dr. Portnoy discovered that learning to speak effectively is more about how to connect with your listeners than it is about telling them what you think they should know.
Grow Your Business To Its Fullest You Must Be Self Motivated
Grow Your Business To Its Fullest You Must Be Self motivated :
As a legitimate home based business opportunities owner it will be completely up to you to motivate yourself to action. Most of us have many things in our lives that we should do and many things that we like to do that make it easy to put off your home based business work until a later date. A home based business like any other business needs to be structured and part of that structure is going to work at set times. In order to work our home based business effectively we must learn to motivate ourselves. Below are 5 tips to help you in self motivation.
Five Self Motivating Tips
Tip Number One is to Involve The People You Know
This tip can be very difficult because it involves your pride and the feeling some people have that they must do it on their own or appear like they can do it on their own. If you are a person who lacks in self motivation you can build off the motivation of others. We all have friends relatives neighbors and other people we can involve to help us stay motivated. Let them know what it is you are doing and the projected goals you have set. Often if those people you hold closest have expectations you will not want to let them down. Make due dates for your projects and then tell others the date it will be completed so that they will have expectations of seeing your finished project.http://legitimateworkathometeensjobs.blogspot.com
This will actually do two things for you. First it will give you motivation to complete your project on the specified date because you now have people who are expecting to see it at a certain time. Secondly it will push you to do your very best on your project. No one wants to show their friends something they just completed but was only done half as well as it could be. Your pride will not let you do that. By involving others you are motivating yourself to be the best you can be and to do the best work you possibly can. Peer pressure even when you create it yourself is a very strong motivational factor
Tip number two Is To Set A Due Date
Like any business you have to have a set schedule that includes your legitimate home based business opportunities must have set business hours when you will work and when you will quit. You must also have set schedules and due dates for the completion of your projects and home based business building goals. When setting your time frames and due dates make a list of what this schedule will do for you and your business and of the consequences of not meeting the deadline.
For instance many people have a goal of accomplishing a project that will promote their business each week such as a promotional package or advertising campaign. Having an understanding that accomplishing this task at a set time will give your business a predetermined amount of exposure and build your business at an acceptable rate you can motivate yourself to completing the task on time.
Step Three Is To Treat Yourself
If you use a treat as a motivation to finish a task you are doing the same thing many of us have done with our families and what many employers do in the work place. It is common for employers to offer a bonus for completed task and attained goals. Employers do this because they know the motivation it causes will give them their desired results. Often the desired results are accomplished sooner than they had projected.
For employees knowing they will be rewarded for their efforts even when their work load is nearly doubled is one of the strongest motivations they can have. In the work place the reward is almost always monetary. In the legitimate home based business opportunities field it can also be monetary but it can also be anything you choose. Daily treats for finished task can be anything you desire whether it is a stroll in the park a large Ice Cream Sundae or a chance to watch your favorite sitcom. These can be the motivation you need to work a little harder at completing a task.
Creating a Positive Mindset Is Tip Number Four
Because legitimate home based business opportunities professionals are often alone with their businesses it is easy for them to slip into negative thinking. This can drag your business down and kill your motivation for completing your projects. If and when it happens you must stop it in its tracks. Luckily it is easy to stop. Change the atmosphere in your work area by putting some fun music on your stereo. Get some pictures of your family friends and pets and put them on your desk where they are easy to see.
Then when negative thoughts creep up simply look at those pictures and think about the good times you’ve had and the goals you have set for the future. You can even begin thinking about the last step begin thinking about the treat you will be giving yourself when you are finished. Negative thoughts can destroy your motivation but by turning those thoughts to positive you will increase your self motivation far above what it was.
The Fifth Tip Give Yourself A Break
Most employers understand that their employees must have breaks if they want them to remain productive. To do this they schedule breaks during the work day give them set days off during the week and schedule vacations for them throughout the year. They give them a set work schedule with set hours. As a home based business owner you must do the same thing for yourself and your business. Make a daily schedule for the hours you are going to work the times during the day when you will take breaks and most importantly the days you will be off work. Once you set these times do not break them except for an extreme emergency.
Like everyone the legitimate home based business opportunities owner has to have time to enjoy their lives. After all that is what they are working for a better life. By doing this you will refresh your mind giving you the motivation to approach your work with all the energy you have. It will give you the Friday Night motivation. You know you will be off work at a certain time and will be motivated to complete your task by that time so you can enjoy your time off being worry free.http://legitimateworkathometeensjobs.blogspot.com
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;HiI’m Boris.If you are looking for ways to make money and you want advice on the best work from home programs you have come to the right place. I was a researcher for Make Money Magazine for 11 years during that time I covered every make money program in the book. Five years ago when the How To Make Money market changed for the better because of the internet advances I decided to use the knowledge I gained from working for Make Money Magazine to quit this job and start up my own successful home business.I am now earning close to 90000 every month from www.genbucks.com/?divya the home businesses I setup so I havent looked back once. I have now devoted most of my life to the make money field and now I think its time to give something back so I have decided to write this review site to tell people about the best home business programs around and what programs are just scams.If you are looking to purchase a proven legitimate home business opportunity I highly recommend that you take a look at the programs I have suggested because out of the home business opportunities which I am currently using these are the ones which are making me the most money.Also my suggestions on how easy each program was to set up their success rate and which programs are best vault for money.http://www.onlinesfortune.com
Boris Tomson.
Rayon Fiber
First U.S. Commercial Rayon Fiber Production: 1910 Avtex Fibers Inc. Formerly FMC Corporation and American Viscose
Federal Trade Commission Definition for Rayon Fiber: A manufactured fiber composed of regenerated cellulose in which substituents have replaced not more than 15 of the hydrogens of the hydroxyl groups.
Basic Principles of Rayon Fiber Production In the production of rayon purified cellulose is chemically converted into a soluble compound. A solution of this compound is passed through the spinneret to form soft filaments that are then converted or regenerated into almost pure cellulose. Because of the reconversion of the soluble compound to cellulose rayon is referred to as a regenerated cellulose fiber.
There are several types of rayon fibers in commercial use today named according to the process by which the cellulose is converted to the soluble form and then regenerated. Rayon fibers are wet spun which means that the filaments emerging from the spinneret pass directly into chemical baths for solidifying or regeneration.
Viscose rayon is made by converting purified cellulose to xanthate dissolving the xanthate in dilute caustic soda and then regenerating the cellulose from the product as it emerges from the spinneret. Most rayon is made by the viscose process.
Viscose Process
Most commercial rayon manufacturing today utilizes the viscose process. This process dates to the early 1900s with most of the growth in production occurring between 1925 and 1955. In the early period production was mainly textile filament although the first staple was produced in 1916. High performance rayons such as tire cord did not appear until the late 1930s with the advent of hotstretching and addition of larger amounts of zinc to the spin bath. Invention of modifiers in 1947 brought on super tire cords and marked the beginning of the highperformance rayon fibers.
All of the early viscose production involved batch processing. In more recent times processes have been modified to allow some semicontinuous production. For easier understanding the viscose process is a batch operation..
Cellulose
Purified cellulose for rayon production usually comes from specially processed wood pulp. It is sometimes referred to as dissolving cellulose or dissolving pulp to distinguish it from lower grade pulps used for papermaking and other purposes. Dissolving cellulose is characterized by a high cellulose content i.e. it is composed of longchain molecules relatively free from lignin and hemicelluloses or other shortchain carbohydrates.
Steeping
The cellulose sheets are saturated with a solution of caustic soda or sodium hydroxide and allowed to steep for enough time for the caustic solution to penetrate the cellulose and convert some of it into soda cellulose the sodium salt of cellulose. This is necessary to facilitate controlled oxidation of the cellulose chains and the ensuing reaction to form cellulose xanthate.
Pressing
The soda cellulose is squeezed mechanically to remove excess caustic soda solution.
Shredding
The soda cellulose is mechanically shredded to increase surface area and make the cellulose easier to process. This shredded cellulose is often referred to as white crumb.
Aging
The white crumb is allowed to stand in contact with the oxygen of the ambient air. Because of the high alkalinity of white crumb the cellulose is partially oxidized and degraded to lower molecular weights. This degradation must be carefully controlled to produce chain lengths short enough to give manageable viscosities in the spinning solution but still long enough to impart good physical properties to the fiber product.
Xanthation
The properly aged white crumb is placed into a churn or other mixing vessel and treated with gaseous carbon disulfide. The soda cellulose reacts with the CS2 to form xanthate ester groups. The carbon disulfide also reacts with the alkaline medium to form inorganic impurities which give the cellulose mixture a characteristic yellow color and this material is referred to as yellow crumb. Because accessibility to the CS2 is greatly restricted in the crystalline regions of the soda cellulose the yellow crumb is essentially a block copolymer of cellulose and cellulose xanthate.
Dissolving
The yellow crumb is dissolved in aqueous caustic solution. The large xanthate substituents on the cellulose force the chains apart reducing the interchain hydrogen bonds and allowing water molecules to solvate and separate the chains leading to solution of the otherwise insoluble cellulose. Because of the blocks of unxanthated cellulose in the crystalline regions the yellow crumb is not completely soluble at this stage. Because the cellulose xanthate solution or more accurately suspension has a very high viscosity it has been termed viscose.
Ripening
The viscose is allowed to stand for a period of time to ripen. Two important process occur during ripening: Redistribution and loss of xanthate groups. The reversible xanthation reaction allows some of the xanthate groups to revert to cellulosic hydroxyls and free CS2. This free CS2 can then escape or react with other hydroxyl on other portions of the cellulose chain. In this way the ordered or crystalline regions are gradually broken down and more complete solution is achieved. The CS2 that is lost reduces the solubility of the cellulose and facilitates regeneration of the cellulose after it is formed into a filament.
Filtering
The viscose is filtered to remove undissolved materials that might disrupt the spinning process or cause defects in the rayon filament.
Degassing
Bubbles of air entrapped in the viscose must be removed prior to extrusion or they would cause voids or weak spots in the fine rayon filaments.
Spinning Wet Spinning
The viscose is forced through a spinneret a device resembling a shower head with many small holes. Each hole produces a fine filament of viscose. As the viscose exits the spinneret it comes in contact with a solution of sulfuric acid sodium sulfate and usually Zn ions. Several processes occur at this point which cause the cellulose to be regenerated and precipitate from solution. Water diffuses out from the extruded viscose to increase the concentration in the filament beyond the limit of solubility. The xanthate groups form complexes with the Zn which draw the cellulose chains together. The acidic spin bath converts the xanthate functions into unstable xantheic acid groups which spontaneously lose CS2 and regenerate the free hydroxyls of cellulose. This is similar to the wellknown reaction of carbonate salts with acid to form unstable carbonic acid which loses CO2. The result is the formation of fine filaments of cellulose or rayon.
Drawing
The rayon filaments are stretched while the cellulose chains are still relatively mobile. This causes the chains to stretch out and orient along the fiber axis. As the chains become more parallel interchain hydrogen bonds form giving the filaments the properties necessary for use as textile fibers.
Washing
The freshly regenerated rayon contains many salts and other water soluble impurities which need to be removed. Several different washing techniques may be used.
Cutting
If the rayon is to be used as staple i.e. discreet lengths of fiber the group of filaments termed tow is passed through a rotary cutter to provide a fiber which can be processed in much the same way as cotton.
About the writer: YarnsandFibers.comis the largest textile portal in the world. It also has a large collections of buyers suppliers and traders of yarns and fibers.