Understanding life

When it comes to bad PowerPoint presentations, most people love to blame the tool or software. However, it’s interesting that many other people can use the same tool and achieve completely different results.

You might be able to rack up the different outcomes to a person’s experience and expertise, but I believe all ‘PowerPoint evil’ can be traced back to the simple issue of time - and how we manage it or choose to spend it.

Not convinced? How many times have you done one of the following because you simply didn’t have enough time?

1.Go with your first idea rather than the best idea

2.Jump into building slides without developing a central message or an outline/storyboard

3.Settle for an image that isn’t quite right

4.Use bullet points that are not succinct

5.Proceed with a template that is subpar

6.Re-use slides without making any adjustments for your new audience

7.Fail to produce a handout for your detailed slides

8.Decide not to thoroughly rehearse your slides

9.Don’t seek out new ways of improving your PowerPoint skills (e.g., training, books, blogs, etc.)

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Everybody does these things - yes, even PowerPoint ninjas (although you probably wouldn’t live to tell anyone if one admitted it to your face). We all find ourselves taking shortcuts with our PowerPoint presentations and doing things that are not in the best interests of our audience - violating the Golden Rule of PowerPoint.

There are two reasons why I feel this happens. First, right or wrong, we make choices - consciously or subconsciously - that sometimes favor our personal interests over those of our audience. We’re balancing multiple tasks and responsibilities in our work and personal lives, and as a result our PowerPoint presentations don’t always receive our best attempt or full attention. For example, another project may be more important to our career success, or we may value spending time with our kids instead of slaving away on some mundane PowerPoint slides.

Second, we may really want to create a great presentation for our audience, but we mismanage our time and then we’re left scrambling at the end — potentially leading to a death-by-PowerPoint experience for your audience.

Five tips for better managing your PowerPoint time

Your PowerPoint time is precious and finite so you can’t afford to squander it. Here are some tips for better managing your PowerPoint time and achieving a better result for you and your audience:

Perform triage: Take some time upfront to gauge how much work a particular slide deck will take to prepare. Weigh different factors such as intended audience, presentation length, topic familiarity, content availability, lead time, career/personal impact, other time demands, etc. in order to gain a realistic estimate of the time required and how much time you’re able or willing to invest in it.

Voice concerns (if necessary): You’ve determined there’s not enough time for what’s been asked of you. As long as you have legitimate concerns, don’t be afraid to let your presentation stakeholders (e.g., management, co-presenters, client contact, etc.) know about your concerns. You might be able to reduce the content covered, postpone other projects, get a deadline extension, or receive help with producing the slides. Nothing is more frustrating than an artificial deadline - make sure you’re not going to kill yourself for one.

Create a timeline: Having reviewed the full scope of the project and the key aspects which may require extra effort, you can build a plan and timeline for creating your presentation. This way you’re going to have a clear idea of what you can accomplish and what milestones you need to hit. Rather than discovering near the end of your slide preparation that you don’t have enough time, you will know at the outset what it is going take, how much time you have, and what adjustments need to be made at the beginning.

Schedule dedicated time slots: Block off time in your calendar to focus specifically on your slides. If you attempt to work on your PowerPoint slides between meetings or whenever you’re “not busy”, you’re going to find little interruptions sidetracking you from completing your slides.

Find your zone: There may be times of the day, locations, or mental states that will be more conducive to preparing your PowerPoint slides. If you can schedule your time slots before or after work hours, you may find you get more done. If you can close your office door (lock it even), work from home, or schedule a meeting room to yourself, you may accomplish more with the time you have. It may also be simple actions such as closing Outlook, logging out of instant messenger, turning off your cell phone, or putting on your headphones with some “creativity-inspiring” music. Find your unique “PowerPoint zone” and be your most productive self.
 

Thank you for your attention! 

Deadly Sin #5: Greed

“Speaking for more than your allotted time violates the contract you have with your audience, and that’s never a good thing.”

Greed is the deadly sin of excess, and is committed by a speaker who goes over time.

Does this sound familiar?

“Oh, is that clock correct? I’m only halfway through…”

“I haven’t gotten to the good part yet…”

“Are there any objections to cutting our lunch break in half so I can finish this?”

Speaking for more than your allotted time violates the contract you have with your audience, and that’s never good. People are busy and do not appreciate having their time wasted. Nobody will complain if you finish a few minutes early.

If you go over time, negative emotions begin to fill the room, making you more susceptible to experience…

Deadly Sin #6: Wrath

Wrath, or uncontrolled anger, is committed by a speaker who handles problems in the worst possible way.

As a speaker, you should always remain in control. No matter how bad your presentation is going, keep calm. Don’t let these frustrations provoke you:

1.When you make a mistake (even a big one), resist the urge to draw more attention to it by cursing yourself in an attempt to draw pity.

2.When an audience member is disrupting the room, resist the urge to “solve” it with sarcasm.

3.When the room or venue logistics fail, don’t start blaming the organizers or anyone else. Instead, roll with in and move on.

4.When an audience member is heckling you, do not take the bait.

Getting angry — whether at yourself, someone in the audience, or some other factor — is one of the worst things you can do. Your audience will feel uncomfortable and your credibility will be diminished considerably.

Finally, the first six speaker sins are all symptoms of the deadliest speaking sin of them all…

Deadly Sin #7: Pride

Pride is committed by a speaker who believes that public speaking is about them.

It’s not.

It’s never about you.

It’s never about your impressive accolades in your introduction.

It’s never about your dazzling delivery where you channel Churchill.

It’s never about your sumptuous slides which prominently feature your company logo beside dazzling 3-D pie charts.

Public speaking is always about the audience and the message you want to convey. Failing to put the audience first will kill any presentation. You need to perform audience analysis to discover how best to structure your presentation and deliver the message.

“It’s never about you. Public speaking is always about the audience and the message you want to convey.”

Avoid this sin by starting to analyze your presentation from the audience’s perspective. Amazingly, most of the other speaking sins will go away.

You’ll recognize that you need to prepare. (Sloth)

You will realize that you are uniquely capable of delivering your message to this audience. (Envy)

You will trim all of the fluff to deliver a message which is focused and easy-to-understand. (Gluttony)

You will respect the time your audience has given you. (Greed)

You won’t saddle your audience with your problems. (Wrath)

As for Lust when speaking, well… that’s just silly.

Thank you for your attention! 

Deadly Sin #1: Sloth

Sloth, or laziness, is committed by speakers who fail to prepare.

 Speaking in public, whether formally or informally, is an essential activity that requires effort. Yet, the majority of people expend no effort to improve their effectiveness as a speaker. Tragically, they are content to drift from one frustrating presentation to the next.

“Speaking in public, whether formally or informally, is an essential activity that requires effort.”

You can avoid sloth in a number of ways:
1.Enroll in a public speaking course
2.Read public speaking books
3.Read public speaking blogs
4.Join Toastmasters or another local speaking club
5.Study great speakers
6.Hire a speaking coach

(By reading this article, you’re making the effort to improve. Sloth has no claim on you!)

Failing to prepare for life by improving your speaking skills leads to a chain of excuses, characterized by…

Deadly Sin #2: Envy

Envy is characterized by a false belief that great speakers are simply lucky to have been born with natural speaking skills.

You’ve heard the excuses from your colleagues, haven’t you?

“She’s so lucky! She’s a natural speaker!”

“Hmph! It’s so easy for him to speak in front of people.”

“No, I couldn’t deliver the proposal. I’m not a speaker.”

People who are envious of the “natural” skills of others are more likely to apply misguided solutions

when confronted by an unavoidable speaking situation:
1.They steal stories and anecdotes from others rather than creating original ones
2.They copy PowerPoint slides from others even if they don’t quite apply
3.They mimic the oratorical style of others and lack authenticity

Because of bad habits like this, speakers suffer from lack of confidence. They know the stories, the slides, and the words are not their own. Nervousness results because they fear being exposed, and this nervousness leads to crazy behaviors like…

“Please don’t picture the audience naked, especially if I am in your audience.”

The lustful speaker attempts to calm their nerves by applying the common (yet terrible) advice to picture the audience naked!

Please don’t picture the audience naked, especially if I am in your audience.

In theory, picturing your audience naked makes them seem as vulnerable as you feel. It may provide a brief lighthearted moment to feed your teenaged appetite, but it won’t help you speak better.

More likely, it will cause an additional distraction and impede your efforts to connect with your audience. Consider this: how easy is it for you to communicate something meaningful to a room full of naked people? Can you inspire them? Impossible.

Nervous speakers who avoid this lustful deadly sin are, unfortunately, still prone to committing another deadly sin…

Deadly Sin #4: Gluttony

Gluttony is exhibited by speakers who believe that more is always better.

More slides, more bullets, more examples, more facts, more numbers, more details, more words — more of everything.

Packing all possible material into your presentation and then speeding through it is flawed, despite your best intentions to provide maximum value. More is (usually) not better. Cognitive research shows that people have a limited capacity to absorb information (see Kosslyn’s Clear and to the Point and Mayer’s Multimedia Learning). Overloading that capacity will reduce their ability to absorb anything at all! Quantity is no substitute for quality.

It is better to focus your presentation on your core message, select only the very best support material (facts, slides, anecdotes), and speak at a reasonable pace. Supplementary material, if necessary, belongs in a handout.

All of this gluttony — too many slides, too many stories, too many details — leads the speaker down a dark and dirty path towards…

To be continue. Thank you for your attention! 

When it comes to money, there's a lot to track, especially if you're doing all the right things. It starts out simple enough, with a checking account and maybe one for savings, too. But pretty soon you've got a credit card or two (or three or ten!), retirement investment accounts, other investment accounts, savings accounts for different goals, school loans, home loans, and more! It gives me a headache just thinking about it.

But doing the right things with your money doesn't have to be overwhelming. You can simplify your financial life just like you can simplify any other aspect of your life: by removing clutter, imposing order, and consistently putting things back where they belong.

Remove the Clutter

Money clutters our lives in a million ways. From the statements that fill our mailboxes and inboxes to the myriad of choices we have for each sort of account, it's amazing that we all don't just give up and walk away. If we're going to know where our money is and how it's working for is, we need to eliminate some of this fluff so we can see the true state of things.

To declutter your money:

Choose one time every week or month to spend on "money stuff." Don't look at anything financial, whether it's a statement, bill, or something else, until then.

Pick one or two credit cards that work best for you. Consider interest rates, perks, and where you can use your different cards. Whether you cancel the other cards or not, stop using them unless there's an emergency.

Consolidate locations as much as possible. If you can have all your checking and savings accounts in one place, that will be easier. The same goes for your investment and retirement accounts. Even if you don't consolidate entirely, having some accounts together is better than having each one with a separate institution.

Impose Order

Now that you've gotten rid of some of the extra clutter in your finances, things should look a little clearer. To help keep them that way, set up some structures in your life that will help keep your finances in line.

To impose order:

Track your money one way. Whether you use an online tool, like Mint.com, or software like Quicken, or you have a pen and paper way that works for you, do it. But try to avoid having more than one system going at a time. Make sure that the system you set up can handle all of your balances AND is something you're comfortable with.

Keep all of your money stuff in one place. This can include receipts, bills, statements, your checkbook, a calculator, and anything else you need to track your finances. Get your whole family used to depositing their receipts or any financial mail that comes in this place, so it will be there when you're ready to look at it.

Consolidate your due dates. Many credit cards, lenders, and other companies that bill you, can be flexible with when your bill comes due. If your due dates are scattered all over the place, talk to these companies to see what you can do about making them all come due at once, or a couple of times a month, so you're not constantly trying to figure out what needs to be paid next.

Find a method. Decide whether you're going to pay bills once or twice a month, whether you need to track spending weekly or if monthly is acceptable, etc. Write down your plan, and stick to it. Don't look at your money the rest of the time.

Tidy Up

Now that you're rid of the clutter and what's left is in order, all you have to do is maintenance work to keep it that way. If your efforts at decluttering were successful and your structures are good, this work should be minimal.

To tidy up:

Follow your plan. If you say you'll sit down for 30 minutes every week to assess your current financial situation, do it. Set up some reminders for yourself, whether it's time scheduled in your calendar to alarms on your phone.

Make sure your tracking is working. Be sure that all your important transactions are, in fact, getting tracked and that everything is consistently working the way it should. After the first couple of months, you won't have to do as much of this, but it's especially important at first.

Evaluate your method. After you've worked with your new structure for couple of months, decide if it's good for you as is or if there are some things you want to change. You can tinker with the details as much as you want until you find what works for you.

Make anything new fit into the plan. If you open a new investment account, try to use a company you're already working with. If you have a new bill, try to make it due at the same time each month as your current ones. Don't let new things take you back to that place of clutter and disorganization

Money doesn't have to be difficult and frustrating to tackle. If you can get your financial affairs simplified, organization is easy and you'll always know where your money is.

Thank you for your attention! 

Three and a half years ago, I was in a desperate debt situation. My lifestyle was tied desperately to spending far more than I was bringing in – and I was finally paying the consequences.

I had let money become the most important thing in my life. It drove all of my choices and decisions. It chose my career for me. It chose my specific job for me. It chose how I spent my free time – I did expensive things to escape from the debts and the pressure-filled work, usually with a device on my hip that chained me to that job.

I was desperate and unhappy. I was in a prison made of money – and I knew I had to escape it.

Today, I realize something much more compelling. Money is not the most important thing in life. In fact, in a healthy life, money often follows behind many other elements in your life. If you put your energy and time into other things more important than money, money will follow. It will find a way to work.

Here are fifteen things I’ve found that are more important than money.

Experiences Hug someone. Kiss someone. Write someone a letter telling them how you feel. Run (or walk) a marathon. Spend all day making an exquisite meal and eat it by candlelight. Make love to someone. Face the thing you most fear right in the face. The rush you get from experiencing something amazing is one of the best parts of being human, and most of the time the financial cost is minimal.

Wisdom If you think you know the answer, you’re far from wise. Keep learning. Wisdom comes from knowing how little you actually know. Spend some time learning something new, perhaps even becoming skilled at something. You’ll surprise yourself at what you gain, often far beyond the mere knowledge you hoped to attain.

Marriage Accepting another person wholly and intimately into your life is utterly life-changing. Opening up every part of yourself to another person is constantly challenging, but constantly powerful in how it changes you and makes you strive to be a better person.

Friendships The regular companionship and camaraderie of people you care about and share interests with is continually life-affirming. Friendships don’t revolve around the things you have or the activities you can afford – they revolve around people.and shared experiences.

Physical health Health can’t be bought, but it can be helped by the personal choices we make. Exercise. Eating better. Making choices that are less sedentary. Getting involved with activities that get us moving. Practicing proper hygiene. Money pales in comparison to the value of the physical health needed to enjoy life.

Mental health On the flip side of the physical coin is mental health. Expressing our feelings in a healthy way. Finding people to talk to and relate our problems. Addressing the issues that bother us. Seeking professional help when these options don’t change things for the better. Again, money is insignificant compared to the value of mental balance.

Personal passions What activities make you feel truly excited and fulfilled? Those things are the spice of life – every one of us wins by digging into our passions. The best part? Quite often, seeking out and following your passions often means that money will follow in the wake.

Communication The ability to express our thoughts and feelings to a receptive audience is truly invaluable. it enables us to share elements of our inner world with others, something that can’t be achieved by all of the material wealth on this planet.

Self-reliance Money comes, money goes. The ability to survive and even thrive with no money means that money becomes significantly less important. The ability to do things yourself reduces the need you have for money to solve your problems.

Security If we channel our efforts into creating a sefe and secure enviroment where we’re protected from our failures, we create a situation where our fortunes are much less tied to our ability to put money in our pocket. If we put effort into security now, we have true safety later, a type of safety that can’t be broken by ordinary material needs.

Helping others For most people, the action of helping others provides a great deal of personal joy and satisfaction, something that cannot be replaced by any sort of material item. Helping others often requires no financial resources at all and can sometimes generate financial resources – free meals and such – plus goodwill in the community. Good karma has tremendous value.

Personal growth Every single person has countless opportunities to improve as a person – their behavior, their beliefs, and so forth. Working to grow as a person only improves you and rarely costs anything, but it almost always improves your income potential for the future as well as naturally improving your outlook on the world and your self-confidence.

Thankfulness When you move from desiring the things that you do not have to being thankful for the things that you do have, your perspective on the world changes drastically. Your desire for having the latest things goes down while, at the same time, your contentedness with life goes up dramatically.

Hobbies If you can discover personally fulfilling activities to fill your time, you introduce happiness into your life. Many people fall into routines by default, never asking if their choices introduce authentic happiness, then they try to chase a sense of happiness by purchasing things. Step back from this. Try new things, and dig into the things you genuinely enjoy. Often, it’s the simplest things – playing a game with our partner, going on long walks, collecting rocks or leaves – that bring us the greatest personal satisfaction.

Spirituality Does our life have a purpose? Do we have a spirit? Is there something greater than we can comprehend all around us? Digging into these questions through reading, contemplation, meditation, and prayer can bring an incredible sense of calm, peace, and even joy that can be difficult to find in other avenues – and impossible to find with money.

The more of these elements you dig into and discover in your life, the lesser the role of money, materialism, and spending occupies. In the end, you’ll find that you’re no longer chasing money, but that instead money is following you on the path to a much better life.

Thank you for your attention!