I put  out a report on Communicating with Power and Influence and I just wanted to add a few things to that to help you with this skill.  You can get the free report at http://blog.thejourneyweave.com/2010/01/07/are-you-ready-to-learn-and-communicate-with-power-and-ifluence.aspx if you have not yet recieved yours.

This can help you in your marriage or on your job etc.  Below are some competences and some developmental tips. 


 

Influence Skills

wielding effective tactics for persuasion

People with this competence

 Are skilled at winning people over

Finetune presentations to appeal to the listener

 Use complex strategies like indirect influence to build consensus and support

Are masterful storytellers, grabbing the attention of others and imparting information that grabs attention and makes people want to hear more

 Orchestrate dramatic events to effectively make a point

 Are able to persuade, convince or impact others to get them to support their agenda

People lacking this competence

 Work independently and at times, against the group

 Do not leave a positive or memorable impression

Are ineffective in persuading or convincing others of a common vision and direction

 Do not respond to their audience, even tend to alienate


Are unable to successfully defend their ideas if challenged


 Fail to inspire confidence or earn respect

 Come across as opinionated and dull

Development tips

Identify influence opportunities; discuss influencing strategies with others (especially those who are skilled at influence); listen and be open to learning new approaches to communicating with others about these opportunities

  Learn how to develop a rapport with others so they will be more open to your communications

  Know when to be assertive, when to make suggestions and when to ask questions.

Identify what motivates others, and craft a message that appeals to those motivations

Be clear about what exactly you want to influence, and plan your messages ahead of time

 Develop ways of expressing what you want to say at key points in an influencing conversation

 Frame your messages to appeal to and make sense to the other person

 Consider in advance what some objections might be, and how you might overcome them

Use data, statistics, and endorsements from credible, respected authorities to help make your case.

Make your thinking transparent – there are undoubtedly good reasons for your proposal

“There is only one way to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other

person want to do it.” Brian Tracy

      

This is a great reminder to live your life to the fullest, to always remember what's most important to you, and to make time for the little pleasures of life that mean so much.

Want to hear the story? Then read more    

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes".

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, " I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things in life. Your family, your children, your health, your beliefs, your friends, and your favorite passions - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.

The sand is everything else, the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the garbage disposal.

Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend

      

  I was just sitting here tonight just thinking about how much my family  and I love where we are going to church. The Work of God Chruch in Mitchell, Indiana is awesome.  The worship experiences on Sunday mornings are powerful, moving and spirit filled.  Our pastor challenges us often and not that I always like my toes stepped on it does make me think and work on making myself better.  I am looking forward to what God has for me this year and what I will be doing in the church.  There are several areas of need and I am going to be open to what God has for me. 

  We are seeing several needs in our church and they are not getting filled.  I have noticed people do not just jump in and volunteer. Don't wait for someone to ask to fill the need look around and see what you can do. 

 So I challenge you with these questions.  

  What is it that you like about the church you are at now? What would you change? What are you doing to make a difference at the church you are at now? What can you do? What will you do?

 

      

 

Whether you are talking to your spouse, boss, co-worker, or your child, you need to get your message across to them. You need to be heard, but just as important, you need to hear.

 

Communication is a Two-way Street.

Are You Ready to Learn the Rules of the Road?

Are You Ready to Learn

How to Communicate With Power and Influence?

 

How you communicate has a direct impact on your career, your family life and your relationships. In fact there is nothing  in human relations that you do more than communicate.

 

It’s about connection. We have a need to feel understood by others. We have a need to communicate our hopes, dreams, ideas, desires and needs when necessary. We have a need to be heard.

 

And so does the person you are talking with. Once you understand this, you will start to connect with that person.

 

People who know how to connect are known as powerful communicators. They are successful.

 

If you want to learn how to communicate successfully and really connect with others, sign up for my special article:

 

How to Communicate With Power and Influence.

 

This article will explain in detail:

 

• What is 5 times more effective in getting your message across than the words you are speaking.
• What will make the hearer disbelieve you, even if you are telling the truth!
• What makes up 55% of the message your listener receives, and it has nothing to do with the words you choose.
• What role your voice plays in communicating.
• How to control your voice to become a powerful communicator.

 

That is the first half. The other half goes into what makes people seem charming, polite and unforgettable. What will make you charming, polite and unforgettable to others!

      

I wanted to share this story with you that my friend has written about how her 3 year old.  Its amazing how such a young child understands the Law of Attraction. 




Do you remember the Pink Bike from my original popcorn story?

Well I wanted to tell you how that worked out and how my little tiny daughter put this simple principle of the law of attraction to work in her life.

How it started.

You know from reading my original popcorn story that when I was teaching them about their dreamseeds we pretended that we were playing with the toys that my children said they wanted.

That's where it started. My daughter was 2 years old at that point. A young 2 to boot. But she is a GREAT pretender and she spent a lot of hours pretending that she had a pink bike.

The Red Bike.

When my son got his first bike with training wheels we got him a red bike. This was was a little too big for my daughter when we got her brother a bigger one and passed it down to her, but she was determined to make it work, and she's tall for her age so pretty soon she was mastering riding a 2 wheeler with training wheels.

You probably think I'm going to tell you that we spray painted the bike pink or something, don't you?

Well, we thought of that. I even had the paint in my shopping cart at one point, but my husband didn't like the idea as much as we did so we put it back and kept dreaming.

Abandoned.

It was her 3rd birthday and we had been house hunting for a few months by then. She LOVED to house hunt. So we scheduled to see a few homes on the evening of her birthday.

We only liked to take our kids with us when we looked at houses that were unoccupied so that's what we saw that day. Shortsales, or bank owned homes that had been torn to shreds (angry at the banks I imagine.) and had abandoned stuff in the garage and basement.

The second house we looked at had a little 3 year old sized 2 wheeler abandoned in the garage with a bunch of other junk. It had flat tires and needed some work. But it was PINK!

My sweet little daughter fell in love with it immediately.

"Mom! It's my pink bike!"

I was so excited for her that I had to fight back some tears. That girl had really put her faith to work for nearly a year and now she had exactly what she wanted.

We fixed the tires right before the first snow of 2009 and we are looking forward to spring so she can ride her new pink bike when we go on family walks.

It really works.

I hope you'll remember this story and how simply it happened just using her pure little mind and imagination if you run into a roadblock that seems to prevent you from getting what you want.

EnJOY your journey!

      

2010 is right around the corner....

Are you ready?

This Wednesday is going to gear you
up for a KILLER 2010…

We'll be digging into the 7 most vital
things you need to implement into YOUR
business TODAY if you want to make 2010
your most profitable year to date.

Join us this Wednesday night at 9 Eastern.

Put in your name and email for link to this training.  It is FREE.

To Your Success,
Kim Powell, The Journey Weaver Life Coach

Name

Email

 9PM Eastern
8PM Central
7PM Mountain
6PM Pacific

 

 

      

  Has 2009 been successful for you? 
 
  I know that 2009 has hit everyone hard.
 
  Are you having trouble seeing around your failure and feel that there is nothing that you can do.

  I want this video to encourage you in what can happen when you fail.  You must press on. 

Look for the opportunities around,  they are there. 

To your success in 2010!

The Journeyweaver
Kim Powell

      

This story touched my heart and I wanted to share it with you. 


White Envelopes

It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas. Oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it, overspending, the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma, the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way. Our son, Kevin, who was 12 that year was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended, and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church.

These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in the spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat. Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them." Mike loved kids, all kids, and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse.

That's when the idea of his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition, one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on. The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents. As the children grew, the toys ga ve way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there.

You see we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more.

Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope. Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.

Nancy W. Gavin

This story is a true story and inspired four siblings from Atlanta, GA to start The White Envelope Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting this tradition and charitable giving. The White Envelope Project founders are regularly in touch with the family in the article and are thrilled to have their support. The Gavin family and now thousands of others continue to celebrate the "white envelope" tradition each year. For more information about The White Envelope Project or to honor a loved one through a "white envelope" gift this year, please visit their website: www.WhiteEnvelopeProject.org