Grief is undoubtedly stressful. It typically involves a long time of sadness or sorrow, but often other 'negative' feelings such as anxiety, guilt or anger.  The idea that our lives would be better without grief seems misguided.  People assume it's good to try to prevent others from suffering. But in the case of grief, most of us would be hesitant about trying to wipe out the grief of a bereaved friend. Not experiencing grief at all thus seems worse than experiencing grief.

Grief should not be avoided, despite feeling bad

Those with whom we have close relationships are not interchangeable commodities that can be replaced. So we grieve ultimately for how others’ deaths are losses to us. We do not grieve the deaths of everyone but only those with whom we have a relationship that is central to our understanding of ourselves and of what is most important to our lives. These deaths can also evoke a kind of identity crisis ('I've lost a part of myself').

Grief can cause a kind of identity crisis

Our emotions can inform us about what we value. In the case of grief, what we feel notifies us about what we value in our relationship with the person who is now deceased.  Grief allows us to appreciate how that person contributed to our day-to-day lives, shaped our goals and commitments, and showed traits we might emulate or avoid. The hurt we feel causes us to notice and reflect on these things.  Grief drained of all painful emotions would not be very valuable, as it would deprive us of critical information about what we have lost. The pain of grief is essential to understanding loss.

Grief signals loss

Because grief is distressing, it motivates us to learn how to live in light of the loss.  Our relationships cannot continue the same way as before. Grief offers us an abundance of information about how to change the relationship. For example, widows and widowers often must decide whether to continue to live in the same willing they had shared with their spouse, which belongings to retain or give away, and which charities should receive the deceased's assets.

Grief helps address the loss

Not every manifestation of grief is helpful. Sometimes the pain of grief is unbearable.  Grief is stressful, but not a shameful state that we should hope will resolve as quickly as possible. It is a potentially powerful tool for adapting to the loss.

Grieving is a tool

Grief feels bad, but that doesn’t mean we’d be better without it. By highlighting what we value, it can help us adapt to loss

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

There is consolation in a philosophical approach to grief | Psyche Ideas

<ul><li>Fear is fear of an existing threat. If you have a knife to your back or a gun to your head, that is fear because there is a real and existing threat. </li><li>Anxiety is worry about the unknown which is radically different. Worry is out of your control, and the unknown is out of your control. </li></ul>These two elements are the heart of anxiety so when thinking about that upcoming presentation, you are most likely wrestling with anxiety because you worry about whether people are going to like you and your message and their reaction is all unknown at this point. It’s a classic case study in the subject of anxiet<warningtag>y.</warningtag>

Fear vs Anxiety: The Difference

<ul><li>Visualization: Visualize how you are going to be in front of the room, how the audience is going to react to you positively, and how it is going to look when you conclude your talk. This will build your confidence and make you feel as though this is the second time you have given this talk making it easier and more effortless.</li><li>Breathing: Inhale and take 4 seconds to do it. At the top of your breath, wait for 4 seconds and now exhale and take 4 seconds to do so. Now, wait for another 4 seconds at the bottom of your breath. Rinse and repeat. This will lower your heart rate and calm you down.</li></ul>

Overcome Public Speaking Anxiety

communication

Communication

Presentation and Public Speaking Anxiety: How to Manage Your Nerves

In the world when anyone can complain about any business failure in a public manner, any business is vulnerable. A reputation crisis is always around the corner. And it is even more challenging in a B2B industry where buying journeys are longer and past failures are harder to erase. B2B customers are good at researching their options, comparing businesses and making informed decisions. Any past reputation crisis may be standing in your way to success for years to come.

The B2B Business Sales Challenge

When it comes to B2B, sales demos are often the only way to close a sale. It is the only way to demonstrate how your product is solving your prospects’ pain points and prove that your platform is worth investing in. <ul><li>Product demos are central to any software sales process.</li><li>Product demos can turn a prospect into a customer, a customer into a believer and a brand advocate.</li><li>Professional product demos can rank for your brand name and set positive expectations about your brand. </li><li>Using your product demo on your landing pages makes you look like a serious and reputable company.</li></ul>

The Importance Of A Sales Demo

Using online tools like Walnut, you can create and embed your demos on various landing pages allowing your site visitors and prospects to use interactive features to try some features and get to know your product better.   Demonstrating your product demo on your website/landing pages makes you look like a serious and reputable company. This is especially helpful to smaller businesses, as you enable product-lead-groth (PLG) with your prospects which in turn, makes you appear to be a bigger brand.

Strengthening Your Online Reputation

Using your demos for reputation management means turning them into the top-of-the-funnel content assets. So instead of treating your demos as private assets, start looking at them as your branded digital media and make them searchable by Google. Get your sales team involved in the process as they will likely offer a great deal of insight into your probable decision makers and buyer personas behind each search query. Collaboration is key for success here.

Treat Your Demos as Content Assets

Innovating your sales demos comes with lots of benefits including a happier sales team and more sales. It may come as a surprise but sales demos can also boost your brand and solidify your reputation as a reliable niche solution.

The Bottomline

Looking for ways to solidify your B2B business online reputation? The solution may be in adjusting your sales demonstrations.

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

business

Business

How to Use Sales Demos to Strengthen Your Online Reputation

If you’d like to be good at something, the first thing to go out the window is the notion of perfection.

Know that your response to a mistake defines the audience’s response. 
If you respond to spilling water on your pants as if it were the sinking of the Titanic, the audience will see it, and you, as a tragedy. But if you're cool, or better yet, find it funny, the audience will do the same.

Your Response

It’s often the case that the things speakers obsess about are the opposite of what the audience cares about. They want to be entertained. They want to learn. And most of all, they want you to do well.
Many mistakes you can make while performing do not prevent those things from happening. It’s the mistakes you make before you even say a word that matter more. These include the mistakes of not having an interesting opinion, of not thinking clearly about your points, and of not planning ways to make those points relevant to your audience.

What The Audience Want

If you pretend to have no fear of public speaking, you deny yourself the natural energy your body is giving you. Anxiety creates a kind of energy you can use, just as excitement does. 
Ian Tyson, a stand-up comedian and motivational speaker, offered this gem of advice: “The body’s reaction to fear and excitement is the same… so it becomes a mental decision: am I afraid or am I excited?

A Little Fear Is Good

I don’t practice to make perfect, and I don’t memorize. If I did either, I’d sound like a robot, or worse, like a person trying very hard to say things in an exact, specific, and entirely unnatural style, which people can spot a mile away. My intent is simply to know my material so well that I’m very comfortable with it. Confidence, not perfection, is the goal.

<ul>
<li>Getting to the venue early so you don’t have to rush</li>
<li>Doing tech and sound rehearsal well before your start time</li>
<li>Walking around the stage so your body feels safe in the room</li>
<li>Sitting in the audience so you have a physical sense of what they will see</li>
<li>Eating early enough so you won’t be hungry, but not right before your talk</li>
<li>Talking to some people in the audience before you start (if it suits you), so it’s no longer made up of strangers (friends are less likely to try to eat you).</li>
</ul>

Ways to Reduce Physical Stress and Nervousness

We can minimize most of these fears by realizing that we speak in public all the time. 
You’re already good at public speaking — the average person says 15,000 words a day.

Minimize Your Public Speaking Fears

People come because they:
<ul>
<li>Want to learn something</li>
<li>Wish to be inspired</li>
<li>Hope to be entertained</li>
<li>Have a need they hope you will satisfy</li>
<li>Desire to meet other people interested in the subject</li>
<li>Seek a positive experience they can share with others</li>
<li>Are forced to be there by their bosses, parents, professors, or spouses.</li>
</ul>

Why People Come To Hear Someone

You can say, “I have 30 minutes to talk to you, and five points to make. I will spend five minutes on each point and save the remaining time for any questions.”
That takes about ten seconds to say, but for that small price, you continue to own the attention of the room because they know the plan.

Tell The Audience Your Plan

Get the audience involved:
<ul>
<li>Ask for a show of hands.</li>
<li>Quiz them with trivia.</li>
<li>Give them a problem to solve.</li>
</ul>
When you enforce a popular rule, you re-engage everyone who supports that rule. You restore your power and earn the audience’s respect. So, don’t hesitate to cut off a blowhard, silence the guy on his cell phone, and interrupt the table having a private but distracting conversation. As long as you are polite and direct, you’ll be a hero.

Own The Audience

Scott Berkun’s Confessions of a Public Speaker is a practical and hilarious book that presents these powerful and evidence-based techniques that many people can borrow to share ideas with others and eventually become great communicators: continuous improvement, efficient preparation, practice, and getting timely feedback.

In this hilarious and highly practical book, author and professional speaker Scott Berkun reveals the techniques behind what great communicators do, and shows how anyone can learn to use them well. For managers and teachers -- and anyone else who talks and expects someone to listen -- Confessions of a Public Speaker provides an insider's perspective on how to effectively present ideas to anyone. It's a unique, entertaining, and instructional romp through the embarrassments and triumphs Scott has experienced over 15 years of speaking to crowds of all sizes. With lively lessons and surprising confessions, you'll get new insights into the art of persuasion -- as well as teaching, learning, and performance -- directly from a master of the trade. Highlights include: Berkun's hard-won and simple philosophy, culled from years of lectures, teaching courses, and hours of appearances on NPR, MSNBC, and CNBC Practical advice, including how to work a tough room, the science of not boring people, how to survive the attack of the butterflies, and what to do when things go wrong The inside scoop on who earns $30,000 for a one-hour lecture and why The worst -- and funniest -- disaster stories you've ever heard (plus countermoves you can use) Filled with humorous and illuminating stories of thrilling performances and real-life disasters, Confessions of a Public Speaker is inspirational, devastatingly honest, and a blast to read.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

books

Books

Confessions of a Public Speaker

In the era of social media and texting, our conversations seem to be impatient, distracted, and often rude. We tend to talk at one another instead of with one another. Conversations are a chance to connect, laugh, and learn from others. If you don't make it all about you, you'll become a remarkable conversationalist.

Poor quality of conversation

<ul><li>Egocentric people like conversations to be about them and their favourite topic: themselves. </li><li>Reserved people tend to listen more but don't share and are often steamrolled in a conversation.</li><li>Overconfident people tend to interrupt with everything they think they know.</li><li>Insecure people need to go one better than whatever accomplishment was shared.</li></ul> The best conversations move past the initial chit chat and delve into a deeper engagement of recent struggles or successes or ideas.

Competition disguised as conversation

<ul><li>Do more listening than talking. People love a great listener. It gives a sense of validation when someone listens closely to you.</li><li>Stop trying to be right.</li><li>Stop hogging the conversation. Our personal stories are not always fascinating to others. That is okay.</li><li>Stop the one-upmanship. It is often seen as intellectual snobbery or as being insecure.</li><li>Ask questions. If we want to learn more about people and life, we should see each person as a remarkable interview opportunity.</li><li>Give reciprocity. Talk about yourself but also ask about the other person.</li></ul>

Tips for better conversations

Years ago I suffered an exercise-related injury. My doctor referred me to a physical therapist. On my first appointment, the physical therapist welcomed me and introduced himself as Michael. He…

Do You Make This Mistake In Conversations?

Pop-ups are a more Versatile version of folders and help you organize and tidy up your home screen. They can contain Apps, shortcuts, Notifications, and even Widgets.

Making Niagara Launcher feature-complete

With Niagara pro, you can add Pop-Up Widgets and get timely information at a glance while keeping your home screen clean. Pop-ups are fully Customizable, too; you can add any action you want.

App pop-ups

With Niagara pro, you can even move folders to your App list to categorize all your Apps. With folders, Niagara launcher has every typical launcher feature but always with a little twist. But that doesn’t mean we’re stopping improving the home screen App, we’re just starting.

Pop-up Folders

Last year, we introduced <a href="https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/38-folders" target="_self">swipe actions</a>; this year we’re upgrading them to pop-ups. Swipe right on an app to open its pop-up and access their notifications, closely related apps (or any really), and shortcuts. What’s new is that with Niagara Pro, you can add pop-up widgets and get timely information at a glance while keeping your home screen clean. Moreover, a pop-up now shows notifications for all of its contents.

Widgets

<ul><li>fully customizable app pop-ups </li><li>pop-up widgets </li><li>pop-up folders in the app list </li><li>expandable notifications for every app listed in the pop-up </li></ul>

Pro version

With V1.2, we’re offering an early preview for Niagara pro members. It will also be fully integrated with Niagara’s Pop-Up system. A Subset of its features will also be available to users of the free version.

🎈 Bonus: Customizable Niagara Button

[📝To access all of the following features right away, download the latest Niagara Launcher Beta build. Because it’s brand-new, it can be unstable. We’ll distribute it through Google Play after…

Pop-Up-Date

Organizing Apps should fulfil the following criteria:<ul><li>✅ Find quickly my apps when I need them. </li><li>✅ Implement a method that works even with my hundred apps. </li><li>✅ Maintain a logic with my organization. </li><li>✅ No need to change everything each time I add/delete an app. </li></ul>

The best way to organize your iPhone Apps

The method is really simple but it's the most efficient I ever found. You just need to scan the right part of your screen, to quickly find the category, then the desired App. If you want to add or Delete an App, this method does not break your configuration. I find it really satisfying when I mix Apps of the same categories in the same line, or if there is no logic in how my Apps are displayed.

The Method

There is nothing fancy here, this is a mix between the default home screen configuration of the iPhone and the apps I use the most.You’ll see that the next pages follow a strict organisation, and I did not want to apply this method for my first page.Select the apps you use often and you need to find quickly, or the apps that do not match in the following method.

The Home Screen

I’ve been using the iPhone since I acquired the fantastic iPhone 4 eight years ago. And for a long time,  I was frustrated. I was never satisfied with my apps organization, and I bet I’m not the only…

With new innovative measurement tools, I’ve also been able to explore the predictive age of my brain. Astonishingly, not only did I reverse the age of my brain, it is now nearly 10 years younger than that of a normal man my age.Below I describe how our brains can change, and then I discuss the 12 age-reversing habits that made mine 10 years younger.

Turn Your Brain 10 Years Younger

Our brains are malleable, like playdough, and our experiences determine their shape. This process is best compared to physical exercise. For example, thirty reps lifting weights won’t make your muscles bigger, but thirty reps every day for a year will. The same is true for your brain, and over time, its shape will change.

The Brain is Playdough

The brain is affected by any negative feelings, thoughts, and emotions. Whatever you rest your mind upon, be it anger, self-doubt, or fear, your brain will eventually take that shape.Thankfully, you can shape your brain in a much more positive direction. For example, by harnessing the power of neuroplasticity via regular <a href="https://medium.com/mind-cafe/mindfulness-without-the-fluff-b29582757a62">mindfulness practice</a>, you can become more resilient, develop sharper focus, and manage your emotions more effectively.

Mindfulness

‘Self’ <a href="https://medium.com/mind-cafe/you-are-not-your-thoughts-c7ef6d4ec361">means your self-concept</a>, your story — who you think you are. If you are suffering in some way, like I was with anxiety, disconnecting from ‘self’ will give you the freedom to experience a greater sense of well-being.<a href="https://medium.com/mind-cafe/you-are-not-your-thoughts-c7ef6d4ec361">Self-observation</a>, which is a form of meditation, helps you to do just that. It involves mindfully observing your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations.

Observe Without Engaging

<ol><li>What Part of This Situation is Under My Control?</li><li>What Is Being Constantly Avoided?</li><li>What Would My Mentors Think About This?</li><li>What Would Tomorrow-Me Think?</li><li>If I Am Saying Yes to This, What Am I Saying No To?</li><li>Does This Align With My Values?</li><li>What’s the Worst That’ll Happen if I Attempt This?</li></ol>

 7 Questions

Have you ever felt completely shaken and overcome by fear? I have. I was easily overwhelmed before and during my addiction — it was my default. Daniel Goleman calls this an <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/amygdala-hijack">emotional hijacking</a>, where your amygdala — the fear centre of your brain — screams like a siren.Through self-observation and meditation (see point 4 below), the rational part of the brain — the cortex — appraises the situation. I soon realize that my life is not in danger. The cortex then deactivates the amygdala, which in turn, inhibits the secretion of cortisol via the hypothalamus, reducing anxiety.

Eliminate (Or Reduce) Emotional Hi-jackings

Sleep is important <a href="http://v/">for many brain functions</a>, including how neurons communicate with one another. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24136970/">Recent findings</a> also suggest that sleep plays a vital role in removing brian toxins that build up while we are awake.Ever since I found recovery, I get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep, and by having a structured routine, I don’t have a problem sleeping. Unfortunately, most people find that they can’t shut their minds off when they go to bed.

Tighten Up Your Sleep Routine

<ol><li>Don’t get into bed until you’re actually sleepy. Let your body, not the clock, dictate when you get into bed. If you go to bed before your body’s ready for sleep, you’re likely to end up worrying, which makes it even harder to sleep.</li><li>If you can’t sleep, get out of bed until you’re sleepy. If you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back asleep, don’t lie there fighting it. </li><li>Pick a consistent wake-up time. When we continually change our wake up time, we contribute to what’s called social jet lag, which leads to the same symptoms as real jet lag. </li><li>Don’t sleep in.</li></ol>

How To Sleep

The simplest solutions are often the most powerful. Sadly, because they’re so simple, most people overlook them. When it comes to brain health, these basics include what we put into our bodies and what we put into our minds.I don’t take drugs or drink alcohol anymore. Alcohol, in particular, <a href="https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-2/125-133.htm">can damage our brains in many ways</a>.

Limit Your Alcohol Consumption

What you put into your head is just as important as what you put into your body. When I found recovery, I became obsessed with learning.Fascinated by concepts such as awareness, meditation, and self, I devoured every book I could find. I became a student of life… and went back to college to study psychology and philosophy.

 Feed Yourself With Good Quality Brain Food

Challenges can be used as fuel. You don’t just want fuel — you need it for growth. Resilient people know this. Instead of merely coping with what life throws at them, they lean into adversity and use it for growth.If you want to practice this habit, you need to focus on progress when life throws you a curveball. It doesn’t have to be a major setback — opportunities for growth are everywhere.

Use Challenges As Fuel For Growth

If you want to get over your fears, the best thing to do is lean into them. If you’re afraid of heights, do a bungee jump. If you’re nervous about a difficult conversation you need to have, go and speak to that person. If you’re afraid of failure, fail greatly and learn from the process — it’s the best way to succeed.Don’t let your emotions define your reality. The biggest gains in life are often on the other side of fear.

Lean Towards Your Fears

This habit directs me to bring joy, energy, and present moment awareness into my encounters with others. Even if I don’t feel like it, I just ‘life it up’, and the energy it creates is astounding.I recently extended this habit after reaching out to one of my favourite thought leaders, <a href="https://tim.blog/2018/06/21/adam-robinson/">Adam Robinson</a>. Adam suggests we should ‘lean into every moment and encounter expecting magic and miracles.’ What a way to live.

Life It Up

Societies rules don’t always apply: “You’re not supposed to do that.” That’s a bit weird.” “You can’t say that.” Says who? Society? Do we even know who that is?If you’re following your heart, and you’re not breaking the law, don’t be afraid to challenge societal norms. Follow your passion when people think you should play it safe. When the crowd go one way, you go the other. If it feels right, go with your gut.

Listen To Your Heart

We all have a story, and it is written with the words we use. If you tell yourself you procrastinate, you’re going to act accordingly. If you tell yourself you can’t cope, it’s likely that you won’t.This is backed by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212144718300437">research</a> which shows that language is a vehicle for emotion. As a result, how you think, and the language that you use <a href="https://medium.com/better-humans/a-complete-guide-to-the-science-of-self-talk-9da0c478fe62">determines how you feel</a>. It is therefore critical that you choose your words carefully, especially when talking to yourself.

Write A New Story

Ever since I was a child, I was consumed by anxiety and tormented by my mind. As I got older, my anxiety got worse, and so did my urge to escape it. I began using drugs when I was 14 years old, and…

There is consolation in a philosophical approach to grief | Psyche Ideas

Presentation and Public Speaking Anxiety: How to Manage Your Nerves

How to Use Sales Demos to Strengthen Your Online Reputation

Confessions of a Public Speaker

Do You Make This Mistake In Conversations?

Jonathan Morse