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How to Read Body Language: 4 C’s to Understand the Meaning of Body Language

Want to know what people really think when they talk to you? Their words say yes, but their eyes and body say no. We pick up on these signals instinctively. Ever had a bad feeling about someone that turned out to be justified?

Human ability to understand the meaning of body language has been vital to survival. The earliest cavemen needed to know if others were friends or a threat, and reading their non-verbal cues quickly helped them decide. One Princeton study found it takes 100 milliseconds to form a first impression.

Body language extends beyond threat detection. It is human nature to protect ourselves. This often means masking our true feelings and intentions. Decoding these intentions helps you to recognize when a potential date is interested in you, a work relationship is going badly, or someone tries to take advantage of you. It won’t hurt as a party trick, either. Read more

4 Experts Give Their Best Tips to Improve Your Social Skills

You have the pleasure of listening in on four experts give answers to a variety of questions I asked. Get tips to improve your social skills, discover simple body language adjustments to be better with people, and be more compassionate with yourself seeing their own struggles and what they learned.

Each of these unique individuals have impacted my life in some way through what they teach. I’m excited for them to reveal their best tips right here. Read more

5 Steps to Develop a Charming Voice that’s Sexy

Josh: The Mafia had a gun pointing through a pillow jammed to my face. I muffled out a few incomprehensible words. That’s an image to help you understand what I use to sound like in every conversation before I came across speech coach Carol Fleming.

It’s hard to socialize if your voice is unclear, jagged, and plain boring – common vocal traits of shy people. A charming voice is sexy. It makes people listen to you.

This is a guest article from Carol, a friend of mine for two years. Carol runs her speech company out of San Francisco. She is the best voice coach I know. Read and most importantly practice what she has to teach in this article to develop a charming voice… Read more

How to Say No and Be Respected Without Feeling Guilty

Drugs, alcohol, energy vampires, greedy clients, persistent salespersons, and charity seekers. These are few of the many objects and people sucking your time, money, energy, focus, and life. For many reasons you do not say no and give in to them as you donate money, help another hour, remain at a venue, or answer a survey.

This is not just an article to help you be assertive – it is a complete guide about the psychology of saying no. Too many people struggle to decline an offer, say they won’t help out, or reject a dangerous substance with confidence. Forces like guilt, peer pressure, and an inability to assert oneself makes people say yes, which puts them in situations they later regret. Read more

Neuro-Linguistic Programming Presuppositions – 12 Rules to Change Your Reality

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) looks at how an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and actions produce the results they get right now. NLP is used for peak performance, overcoming phobias, and building unstoppable confidence to name a few of its endless applications. The technology can change how you live every second because it is based on the mental software that runs your brain.

NLP practitioners have a set of rules known as “NLP presuppositions” that form the foundations for the technology. They are beliefs that govern NLP. The presuppositions give you the foundation to understand how you perceive the world and presents you with the opportunity to change your reality. It is not that the presuppositions have been proven, but rather they give us opportunities and freedom to produce for effective living and better communication.

While few people agree on exact NLP presuppositions, the following presuppositions are ones I frequently stumble upon. They appear to be widely accepted. Though the presuppositions are simple, and hence can appear idealistic, think of how they can be applied to your life to change your reality: Read more

How to Make People Happy and Yourself Feel Great – The Science of Emotions

I just finished another midnight shift at a job I did not like. I smiled, my eyes were open, I felt good about myself. I said my usual goodbyes to a friend and sprung into my car. My friend reversed his car before I had the chance to leave my car park. He had beaten me this time. It was an unspoken game that took place each time we left work. I waited for him to get out of the way before I reversed to make my way home.

As I drove, the open car park gave me an invitation to have a little fun with my car. If landscapes could talk, this one was whispering into my ear that I should spin the wheels. “Besides, it’s late at night. No one is around. It’s an open car park with no danger. Do it!” Like a vulnerable teenager succumbing to peer pressure, I accepted the invitation.

My foot pressed the accelerator as I spun the wheel left to get quick around the first corner. The rear tires lost their stability as the car slide side-ways. The car became an extension of my body as it mimicked my ecstatic mood. I entered the next turn and spun the wheel right. The sound of screeching tires was water fertilizing my increasing smile. Smoke filled the rims of my tires and a shot of adrenaline filled my body.

Following the two consecutive drifts, I straightened the car and approached a set of traffic lights on the main road that would take me home. Had this been during the daytime, about seven cars would be in front of me before the upcoming traffic lights.

My friend who had left before me had passed through the traffic lights three seconds ago so the lights were still green. Keeping in the mood, I put my foot down to catch the green light. I would safely make it. I turned around the corner with a soft screech of the tires. 20 meters in front of me on the side of the road were two police officers beside their vehicle. Lucky me. Read more

Dirty Tricks of Psychology to Read People’s Minds

Let me tell you an interesting story you will relate to. One day I was walking the golf course, caddying for my older brother Nathan who is a professional golfer and playing in a regional qualifier for the Australian Open. He started the day strongly with a few shots under par, but the turning point came on the eleventh hole when he hit a bad two-iron from the tee on a par 4. Being a left-hander, he pulled the golf ball left where it ended out-of-bounds. Following that eradicate shot, his quality of play did not improve for the remainder of the day.

At the end of the round, he failed to qualify for the national tournament by two shots. In the clubhouse we had a drink then talked about what he did well and what he could have done better. “I was surprised by the quality of your chip shots and game around the greens,” I remarked. “Everything went within 2 meters of the pin.” Not to concerned about the disappointed day, Nathan replied, “Yeah, you’re right. My wedge game was strong today. Just…” to which I interrupted and said, “The eleventh 2-iron.” He echoed my words, “Spot on, the eleventh 2-iron.”

I let him continue to talk as his words almost perfectly described the words in my mind. Something happened between our minds. It was like a magic trick taking place. A mystical cable connected our minds, leading to strange psychological phenomena. Read more

The Greatest 15 Myths of Communication

Lies, deception, misunderstandings, distortions, and deceit is easier to accept than the truth. We are creatures of denial. Ignorance has a cushioning effect to soften the harshness of reality.

You can ignore the truth because it is uncomfortable to face, but other times you accept myths over truth because you know no difference. A relationship expert, counselor, psychologist, or even a communication trainer may have mislead you to believe a communication myth is truth. It is time to shake up your communication beliefs and shock your reality, allowing you to more effectively communicate. Read more

Review of The Sound of Your Voice by Carol Fleming

This is a review of Carol Fleming’s The Sound of Your Voice, an audio program created to improve your voice.

What better way to improve your voice quality than to listen to a speech expert teach the skills she learned for several decades. Carol Fleming has a doctorate in communication disorders from Northwestern University. She has ran her private speech communication consultancy since 1968 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fleming has made her vocal techniques, gathered over years of learning and teaching, available in her entertaining audio program. Read more

Review of Voice Power by Renee Grant-Williams

This is a review of Renee Grant-Williams’ Voice Power: Using Your Voice to Captivate, Persuade, and Command Attention.

How do some good communicators effortlessly grab people’s attention and make them listen to each word? These attention-grabbers have mastered their voice – and now you can do the same. If your voice isn’t what you want it to be, Renee Grant-Williams in Voice Power will show you how you can develop a charming and sexy voice by make it resonate with powerful clarity. Read more