How are you? And yes, I wish you and your family a happy and refreshing New Year 2025! It’s time to welcome 2025 with open arms and maybe a little nervous laughter—it's ok. Nervousness during public speaking shows you care about the speech. So is life. When you reflect on your past year, how do you feel? If it was great, fantastic, keep it going. If not, think of 2024 as the “prequel” to the blockbuster year that 2025 is going to be. Even if some chapters were messy (trust me, I know it...
20 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader How are you doing? Hope you are looking forward to the holiday season. I certainly plan to chill out and reflect on the year that went by. If you are not planning to travel, take some time off the routine. It just helps! Today, I want to share a few key strategies where you can use storytelling and motivation to drive results. I had a coaching call today, and I wanted to share some insights that could benefit you in your journey as well. It's regarding Storytelling. If you think...
30 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader Yesterday, I stumbled upon one of my old speeches where I talked about my perspective on getting married. I was 10 years younger then. My son was playing and I asked him if he wanted to watch a speech. He said "Yes," and we both watched it. Watching that humorous speech with my son (and my wife tagged along) was lovely. My son started laughing along. My wife asked, "Did you even understand?" He goes, "Dida is saying funny things and people are laughing." While the moment was awesome...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
How are you doing? 2024 is already coming to a close, and I want to take a moment to thank you for being a part of my world. The end of the year is often a time of reflection, and I encourage you to look back on how far you’ve come. I'd encourage you to look at any accomplishments, challenges, and moments of growth. It could be big or small. For example, I started running towards the start of the year. I even sent it out to the community (one of the most liked newsletters. You may want to...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader Last week, I interviewed Raj about his experience competing in his first humorous speech contest. This week, I want to share two additional thoughts on mastering some fundamental skills for delivering humorous speeches. a) Classify the speech into intentional building blocks of "Premise" and "Punch". Make sure that every sentence you have written down can be classified into building blocks of "Premise" and "Punch". This is a critical step. You need to have a goal about what part of...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader How are you doing? I finished editing the video interview that I did last week, and I'm pretty excited to share this with the community. Today, you'll see the interview with Raj, who recently won a humorous speech contest despite having a fear of strangers and stages. We covered questions such as: What's your biggest problem with public speaking? How would you rate yourself when it comes to humor in public speaking? What's the process you followed? How did you manage the stress of...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader How are you doing? I know. I know. It's been a while since I shared the newsletter with you. I was only doing one thing for the past few months. And of course, I was also helping my coaching clients. This 'one thing' started as one but ended up with many. The one thing I'm referring to is editing (re-editing) my fiction book. I thought I had finished it and even sent it out in an earlier newsletter (a while ago!). Then, what happened? This is what happened. Shout out to my coaching...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader Can public speaking make you rich? I keep wondering about it, and I guess I have an insight to share with you. Before we get into my take on this, what does 'rich' mean to you? Think for a moment. Does being rich mean having more money? I know. I know. I hear you say, "Duh. That's right." Ok. So here are some questions to think about. Does being rich mean having a great family? Does being rich mean having friends whom you can count on? Does being rich mean having meaning to the work...
5 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader How are you doing? So the largest democracy in the world started voting, and I did cast my vote. To be honest, in my 20s I never really bothered. I felt my vote would not matter in the larger scheme of things. I know I was wrong. So I did exercise my vote. That's a right. And you'll be wrong if you don't exercise it. Now, what about the rights you earn as you grow in life? Whoever you have become: an educator, a teacher, a salesperson, a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer, a business...
9 months ago • 2 min read