How to make Personal and work Life Balanced

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance

This article’s title is a partial quote of Thomas Merton (1915 ~ 1968), a Trappist monk who was a major contributor to modern Roman Catholic thought. The full quotation is as follows: "Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony."

Did you ever feel like a tightrope walker trying to keep your balance as you follow your life path? Pope John Paul II describes the feeling: "Man always travels along precipices. His truest obligation is to keep his balance." You see, we take on many roles in life, each of which allows us to express a different dimension of our being. It is these separate roles that need to be balanced. Here are some examples. If you are doing well in your career, but your family is complaining that you’re not spending enough time with them, your life needs balancing. If it is not only your career, but also your body size that is ballooning, your lifestyle needs balancing. Finally, if you get to prove your skill in chess, bridge, or mahjong every night, but have no time to fix the leaky faucet, mow the lawn, or clean the garage — your life needs balancing.

There are two main ways to balance life. Since life coexists with time, the first way to balance life is to balance time. To learn how to develop your time management skills, there is no finer book than "The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life management" by Hyrum W. Smith (Warner Books, 1994). The second way to balance life is by balancing our attitude, perspective, or worldview. And we do that by avoiding extremes and taking the middle path. For instance, extreme political views, whether to the right or left, are divisive, but moderate or centrist views are unifying.

We move ahead in life by setting goals and we live a balanced life by setting goals for all our roles. Let’s start by looking at our major roles in life and follow that by steps we can take to get better balance. CAREER: provides us with the opportunity to earn income, express our personality, and develop our potential. FAMILY: provides us with the chance to express love, assume and share responsibility, and contribute to society. SPIRITUALITY: an opportunity to tap into a power greater than ourselves and a source of inspiration. An appreciation of morality, the arts, wonder, awe, and nature will heighten our awareness of the spiritual dimension. FRIENDS: an opportunity to practice sharing and caring, as well as baring our soul. SOLITUDE: quiet time to recharge our batteries, meditate, and make plans. Also, a time to work on improving our emotional and intellectual development. A time set aside to work on self-improvement. FINANCIAL: here’s where we plan for the purchase of a car, home ownership, family vacations, and a retirement income. LEISURE: fun and recreation release steam and provide opportunities to socialize and develop new skills. HEALTH: an important component of mind, body, and spirit balance. Exercise, a proper diet, and sufficient sleep are the ingredients to success in this area.

Now, for some steps you can take to increase the balance in your life. 1) List your various roles and show by percentage how successful you think you are in fulfilling that role. For example, CAREER, 80%; FAMILY, 60%; HEALTH, 40%, and so on. Bringing the present state of imbalance into your awareness is the first step in changing the situation for the better. The areas with the lowest percentage are the areas that need the most work. The areas with the highest percentage show where you are devoting most of your time.

2) Decide how you can divert time from high percentage areas to low percentage areas. As an example, you may want to divert time from your CAREER to your FAMILY. You can do this by eliminating wasted time, developing your time (life) management skills, working more efficiently, and wresting control of your job rather than letting it control you.

3) Whenever possible, perform several roles at once. For example, if your family joins friends for a volleyball game at the park, you can fulfil several roles at once: LEISURE, FAMILY, FRIENDS, HEALTH (exercise), and SPIRITUALITY (by getting in touch with nature and enjoying a sunset in the park). Moreover, if your friend is from work, you would also develop your CAREER role as well.

4) Take control of your life by making deliberate choices. Carefully weigh the costs of living with imbalance. Take corrective action where necessary, and regularly monitor and fine-tune your progress.

5) Remember, we are all unique. It is unreasonable to expect everyone to perfectly balance each role in life. After all, part of our uniqueness lies in how we interpret what roles are the most important to us. Great artists, for example, may be consumed by their craft, spending little time elsewhere. Yes, their lives are imbalanced, but of great value to society. So, the important lesson is not about balancing our lives perfectly, but about balancing them in a manner that best expresses our potential and role on earth.

6) Follow the simple laws of BE, DO, and HAVE. You’ve got to BE self-disciplined to DO the necessary steps to balance your life. And when you do so, you will HAVE balance, peace, and contentment.

7) Here is some good advice taken from "How to Be a Happy Parent...In Spite of Your Children," written by Fred G. Gosman, "Finding the perfect balance is getting harder and harder. We need to teach our children to be cautious without imparting fear, to learn right from wrong without being judgmental, to be assertive but not pushy, to stick to routines without sacrificing spontaneity, and to be determined but not stubborn."

What happens if you’re on a plane with your child and oxygen masks suddenly pop in front of both of you? The answer is, put on your mask first, then your child’s. After all, an unconscious parent is no help to a child. Because we can not help others until we help ourselves, it is important to balance our lives. It is only after doing so that we can maximize our contribution to our family, friends, and society. How do you know when your life is balanced? If you can die today, contented with your life, it is balanced!

After this let’s have a look on how we can balance our life and the work:

Top 10 Ways to Balance Life and Work

Committed fathers love spending time with their children, but with today’s pressures of work and other priorities, it can be challenging to find ways to make quality and quantity time with the kids. Here are some important resources for fathers to help make more time, and better time, with the family.

1. Pace Yourself

Four of my five children have been cross country runners in middle school and high school (the other one is into competitive ballroom dance). All of them have learned the importance of pacing to maximize their effectiveness. The same rules apply in life as we work to make time for all of our important priorities.

2. Say No to the Unimportant

One of my favorite stories from management guru and mentor Stephen Covey is about the gracious way his wife has learned to say “no” to the mountain of requests she gets to help with worthy causes. Learn ways to set priorities on the things that matter most and to say “no” to the things that matter least.

3. Take Care of Yourself: Health and Wellness Tips for Dads

Sometimes, the things that suffer in our busy lives have to do with our own personal health. Fast food, while a convenient time saver, can lead to weight and health problems. Find out the keys to improving and maintaining your personal health and wellness.

4. Get a Checkup

Speaking of the importance of health and wellness to finding balance in your life, it’s important to stay in touch with your physician as well. Check our checkups calendar to see if it is time for a physical, and what kinds of questions and tests you should anticipate and expect.

5. Stop Being A Workaholic

If you have already found yourself in an addictive pattern with your job, it is time to get out of that habit and commit more time at home. Learn the warning signs of workaholism and the best ways to climb out of that rut and find yourself at home more.

6. Simplify Your Life

Life tends to get pretty complex, especially for fathers trying to balance so many demands. I was inspired recently by a friend and his wife who set about to simplify their lives and to make more time for the things that were really important to them. This article talks about the whys and hows of getting back to a simpler approach to daily living.

7. Find a Family Friendly Workplace

I am always inspired when I read about workplaces that recognize that their employees are real people with real needs—that they are “humans” not just “human resources.” Find out how to identify and select an employer which will be friendly to your family commitments.

8. Eat Together

We have always tried in our family to make sure we eat at least one meal a day together. It doesn’t always work, but we try hard. Learn more about the benefits and methods for making a mealtime together work for your family.

9. Join a Fathers’ Support Group

Feeling like you need a little emotional support or connection with other dads? Being a part of a fathers’ group can help you find ideas for better balancing demands and reducing the stress of parenthood.

10. Start Having Family Night

For many years, our family has set aside one night a week to be together—no interruptions, no excuses. We have modified work schedules, set aside other demands and spent the evening together. Find out why the family night concept works and how to make it happen in your family.

A Quantitative view to one’s Work / Life balance

Is Your Life in Balance?
Work/Life Balance Quiz

Everyone faces the issue of time management at one point or another, but as more and more people deal with working at one or more jobs, fighting long commutes, managing a household, attending school or other training, raising one or more children, responding to increasing work and time pressures of the shrinking workplace, and dealing with aging parents, the days often seem to last long into the night and vacation and leisure time seem to be consumed with issues other than relaxation and personal fulfillment.

In fact, a recent study of more than 50,000 employees from a variety of manufacturing and service organizations found that two out of every five employees are dissatisfied with the balance between their work and their personal lives. The lack of balance “is due to long work hours, changing demographics, more time in the car, the deterioration of boundaries between work and home, and increased work pressure,” says the study’s author, Bruce Katcher, president of the Discovery Group, a management consulting firm.

How much is work invading your personal life, and how much of your personal life is affected by the stress of trying to balance all the many responsibilities in your life? Take our Work/Life Balance Quiz and see for yourself.

Directions: Answer true or false to each statement below.

I find myself spending more and more time on work-related projects.
True
False
I often feel I don’t have any time for myself -- or for my family and friends.
True
False
No matter what I do, it seems that often every minute of every day is always scheduled for something.
True
False
Sometimes I feel as though I've lost sight of who I am and why I chose this job/career.
True
False
I can’t remember the last time I was able to find the time to take a day off to do something fun -- something just for me.
True
False
I feel stressed out most of the time.
True
False
I can’t even remember the last time I used all my allotted vacation and personal days.
True
False
It sometimes feels as though I never even have a chance to catch my breath before I have to move on to the next project/crisis.
True
False
I can’t remember the last time I read -- and finished -- a book that I was reading purely for pleasure.
True
False
I wish I had more time for some outside interests and hobbies, but I simply don’t.
True
False
I often feel exhausted -- even early in the week.
True
False
I can’t remember the last time I went to the movies or visited a museum or attended some other cultural event.
True
False
I do what I do because so many people (children, partners, parents) depend on me for support.
True
False
I’ve missed many of my family’s important events because of work-related time pressures and responsibilities.
True
False
I almost always bring work home with me.
True
False

After completing this questionnaire one can easily access how much their work life is balanced.

Here is software which can help you to stay organized and making your work life easier

Download Life Balance at http://www.llamagraphics.com/downloads/start/windows.php

Life gets really busy. Every day there are conflicting demands on your time from work, family, and half a dozen other sources.

How do you achieve a lifestyle that works for you?

Life Balance™ is personal coaching software that helps you to decide what to work on, so that you can put your effort into the goals, projects and tasks that really matter to you.

Benefits:

Get Organized — goals are easy to break down into projects and tasks
Prioritize — know your time is well spent where it will count the most
Be Flexible — get started quickly, then move, add and revise details as projects evolve
Get Realtime Feedback — to do list changes dynamically in response to what you get done
Stay Focused — long term goals don't get lost in the shuffle
Be Efficient — routines schedule themselves and patterns are easy to change
Relax — carve out time in the most hectic schedules to relax and have more fun

Easy way to earn Dolors through Successful Online Business

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Internet is a tool which can make to millionaire as well as can ruin your life. All depends upon how u use it.People are earning million dolors sitting at home and using internet.

here is a very good article from Steve Pavlina which put insight on some aspects of online business :

Why an online business?

In the age of the Internet, I think almost everyone should have an online business... if only for the growth experience. It doesn't cost much to start one, but it will teach you so much. Perhaps the greatest benefit is that you'll learn you do have something of value to share with the world, something that can generate income for you for the rest of your life.

In a way I'm jealous of the teenagers and 20-somethings who are growing up so Internet savvy. Any of them could start their own online businesses and get ahead financially at a young age. I would have loved to have been doing this in high school or college. It's terrific that some people are becoming millionaires at such a young age, but I think the real success stories come from those who find a way to generate just a few thousand dollars per month, enough to cover their expenses.

My kids are only 4 and 7 years old, but I'm already thinking about how I might help them start their own websites soon. My daughter is very artistic, so who knows? Imagine if by the time she becomes an adult, she already has a steady stream of cashflow from websites she created during her teen years.

Building traffic

Running an online business is deceptively simple. Look at my web site, for example. The structure isn't very complicated. It's mostly just a lot of content and a lot of ads. But it consistently generates a nice five-figure monthly income. Anyone can do it, right?

Unfortunately, not everyone can do this. People try and fail all the time. The success stories get a lot of attention, but there are orders of magnitude more failures.

The key factor in building a successful online business is traffic. If you can't build sufficient traffic, you won't be able to generate much, if any, income. And unfortunately most people are really bad at building traffic. They apply completely inept strategies that don't work, and they usually give up within a few months after starting.

Building traffic is not remotely easy for most people. This problem isn't unique to the web though. You see it in every field. Some authors sell millions of books, while the average book doesn't even sell 5,000 copies. Lots of people can write a book, but relatively few know how to sell a book. Lots of people can create a web site or blog these days, but few know how to attract large amounts of traffic.

If you can successfully build lots of traffic, it's fairly easy to generate income from it. You also have time to figure it out. If you can grow your traffic, you can maintain your traffic, and that gives you time to figure out how to monetize the traffic.

In the past I've written articles trying to teach people how to build successful online businesses, including How to Make Money From Your Blog and How to Build a High-Traffic Website. Those were long, detailed articles, and both have become extremely popular in the blogosphere. I didn't charge any money for this content -- it's all free. Those articles inspired a lot of people (hundreds that I know of) to enthusiastically start their own websites. Some of those people are doing quite well now, but most that I've been aware of have failed miserably.

Why most people fail

Why did most people fail? I think the reason was that the whole process of running an online business is just too complicated for most people. There are lots of ways to screw it up. It pained me to visit some of those sites and notice a dozen glaring mistakes within the first few seconds -- blogs that didn't enable permalinks, cutesy headlines with no keywords in them, bad choice of topics, page titles that still used the WordPress default format, hideously suboptimal ad layouts, hidden or missing contact info, etc. Any one of those mistakes could cripple a site's results. More than one is a practically a death sentence. Such mistakes cause problems both for human visitors and search engines.

But at the same time, there were teenagers humming along just fine, generating four figures in monthly income after working on their sites for 6-12 months. They didn't necessarily get everything right, but they were Internet savvy enough to fix the big problems early.

What bothered me most about this was that people were too often failing because of the technology. Many of them had great ideas and very good content. It was a shame to read some of their articles and think to myself, This is great stuff... too bad no one will ever see it.

The cruel and unfair part of online business is that if you aren't very Internet savvy, you'll make mistakes on the technical side that you're totally oblivious to. You may get the content side right, but the technology will bite you and cripple your results.

In my "How to Make Money From Your Blog Article," I did correctly identify this problem and suggested that 99 out of 100 people would fail because of it. But it's still a pretty unfair situation. There are people who can write great content who really deserve to be getting a lot of readers, but because they don't understand permalinks, RSS feeds, pinging, or other technologies, they're doomed before they start.

Once I saw this happening, I basically decided I'd better shut up about encouraging people to run an online business. People kept asking me for new articles on the subject, but I didn't think it was a good idea. I was concerned I'd be doing more harm than good.

A new solution

Recently I came across a vastly superior solution to this problem -- a way for people to build a successful online business that doesn't require them to become technology gurus.

What I recommend is a service called Site Build It! -- it's an all-in-one solution for creating and building an online business. You pay an annual fee for the service, and they provide you with all the tools you need to build an income-generating web site. They host the site for you, they help you register your domain name, and they provide integrated tools like point-and-click page generators, built-in blogging, form builders, RSS feeds, and lots more. Many of these details will be handled for you, so you don't have to worry about them.

You still create your own content, and you use their tools (or your own familiar tools) to create a site based on your unique ideas. You focus on the content side. They help you with the technical implementation side.

I don't recommend this solution for everyone. If you've already built a successful website that generates thousands of dollars a month for you, you won't need this. I don't need it myself. But if you're one of those people that have been held back by the technical complexity, then this is definitely something you should look at. This is the kind of solution I'd recommend in a heartbeat for my non-programmer friends who want to get something going online but quickly become lost in a sea of jargon.

Extra benefits for StevePavlina.com visitors

I was able to work out a special arrangement with Site Build It! for StevePavlina.com visitors. From now until Feb 22nd, you can get 3 months free if you sign up for their service. That's 15 months for the price of 12. Also, for just a few more days, they're running a Valentine's Day special as well.

There's a lot to explain about this service and why I think it's a great idea for most people interested in building a successful online business. So I wrote a whole separate article about that here:

Build Your Own Successful Online Business

That article is my personal impression of the Site Build It! service, and it contains many links to their site for more info. The most important link is their 30-minute video tour. If you have even a slight interest in running an online business, it will be worth your time to watch it. It starts out mostly motivational, but it becomes more educational as it goes along. Even if you're not interested in their service, I think you'll get something out of it. I especially liked the segment on monetization strategies.

If you're interested, just be aware that it will take some time for you to look into this service and decide if it's right for you. The Site Build It! site has a lot of detailed information on it. In my article I'll provide you with some ideas for where to get started to find the most critical pages. If you really like to do your homework before making a decision like this, you'll find no shortage of details.

An extra benefit for those who already have successful web sites

Site Build It! also has one of the most generous affiliate programs on the Internet. Some of their affiliates earn more than $10,000 per month. I recently became an affiliate myself after seeing what a great service this will be for people. If you're looking for new income sources for your web site, just read the last section of Build Your Own Successful Online Business, which will explain why this affiliate program is so strong.

Running an online business can be a wonderful growth experience, and the income and freedom it can provide is certainly nice too. People really shouldn't be deprived of this opportunity for technical reasons. The self-publishing power of blogging technology has gotten us partway there, but it's only one piece to the puzzle. I encourage you to take a good look at Site Build It!, since I think you'll find that their system fills in the remaining gaps, putting online business success within reach of most people.

This is by no means a get-rich-quick program. You'll still need to put in the time and energy to create quality content for your web site, but at least you won't have to worry as much about the technical side.

Magic of Team Work

Monday, February 11, 2008

Here is an article by Sam Pitroda, Chairman & CEO of World Tel - a special one for Indians.

(One Indian = 10 Japanese; 10 Indians = One Japanese)

Lack of teamwork and co-operation is one of the most serious problems affecting progress in all areas of India and wherever Indians work worldwide. The key problem in India is always implementation, not lack of policies. We have great policies and ideas about how to do things, but severely lacking teamwork.

When the Japanese came to work in India to develop the Maruti Suzuki car, a joke went around that one Indian was equal to 10 Japanese: Indians were very smart, capable and dedicated individuals. But 10 Indians were equal to 1 Japanese: Indians lacked team spirit and co-operation.

What makes matters even worse is our “crab” mentality – if someone is trying to climb higher and achieve more, the others just drag him down. The signal that the others send out is, “ I wouldn’t do it; I wouldn’t let you do it; and if by change you start succeeding, we will all gang up and make sure that you don’t get to do it.”

The question is: Where does this attitude come from, and how do we recognize and handle it?

Hierarchical System

Part of the problem is our cultural background. We’ve had feudal and a hierarchical social system in which whoever is senior supposedly knows best. This was fine in earlier times when knowledge and wisdom were passed on orally; but in modern society, there is no way that one person can know everything. Today, you may find that a young computer-trained person has more answers for an accounting problem than a senior accountant has. Until we understand how best to leverage this diversity of experience, we will not be able to create and fully utilize the right kind of teams.

Sam Pitroda: “In my younger days in the US, I attended an executive seminar for Rockwell International, where about 25 senior company executives had congregated for a week for strategic discussion. In the evenings, we would break out into five different groups of five people each. In those group workshops, someone would delegate tasks, saying: “You make coffee; you take notes; you are the chairman; and you clean the board”. The next day, there would be different duties for each group member. No one ever said, “But I made coffee twice or I cleaned the board entire day”. I thought to myself, if this were happening in India, people would be saying, “But I’m the senior secretary – why should I make the coffee and you be the chairman?” Hierarchy comes naturally to our minds.

What Derails a Team?

Group work requires a thorough understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of individuals irrespective of their hierarchy. Because of our background, we often don’t learn how to exercise and accept leadership- to lead and to follow – simultaneously. Some gravitate toward exercising leadership, and others gravitate toward accepting the lead of others. But in true teamwork, everyone needs to do both.

Being a good team player implies respect for others, tolerance of different points of view and willingness to give. The ability to resolve conflicts without either egotism or sycophancy is a very important aspect of being a team player: You have to agree to disagree. I find that people in India somehow tend to focus on achieving total agreement, which is almost always impossible. So before work begins people want everyone to agree on everything instead they should say OK. This is what we agree on, so let’s start working on this. What we don’t agree on, we will resolve as we go along”. For things to move forward, it’s important to work on the agreed-upon aspects and not get bogged down in the areas of disagreement. Yet another snake that kills teamwork is people’s political agendas. You’ve got to be open, clear and honest to be a good team player. Most people though, have a hidden agenda – they say something but mean the exact opposite. I call it “split-level consciousness”. To say and mean the same thing is a very critical part of a good work ethic.

Criticizing the individual or the idea?

When Sam was working in C-DOT (400 employee size company), if someone had not been doing well, Sam used to tell the person directly to his face in a general meeting. The employees said that was insulting and they should be pulled aside individually to be told of the inefficiency. But in today's world, you cannot afford to do that every time. Besides, Sam figured that criticizing someone in a meeting was for the benefit of all present, and everyone could learn from that individual's mistakes. It was then that Sam learned how Indians do not differentiate between criticizing an idea and criticizing an individual.

So in a group, if you tell someone that his idea is no good, he automatically takes it personally and assumes that you are criticizing him. No one can have a good idea everyday on every issue. If you disagree with my idea, that does not mean that you have found fault with me as a person. Thus, it is perfectly acceptable for anyone to criticize the boss - but this concept is not a part of the Indian System. So from time to time, it is important for an organization's Chief Executive to get a report on the psychological health of the firm. How do people in the team feel? Are they stable? Confident? Secure? Comfortable? These are the key elements of a team's success. For a boss to be comfortable accepting criticism from subordinates, he must feel good about himself. Self-esteem is a key prerequisite to such a system being successful.

Mental Vs. Physical Workers

Another serious problem facing India is the dichotomy and difference in respectability between physical and mental workers, which seriously affects team performance.

Mr. Sam had a driver named Ram, who he thought was one of the best drivers in the world. He used to open the door for him whenever he entered or exited the car. Right in the first few days Sam told him " Rambhai, you are not going to open the door for me. You can do that if I lose my hands". Ram almost started crying. He said, "Sir, what are you saying? This is my job!" Sam told him that I didn't want to treat him like a mere driver. He had to become a team player. Sam told him that whenever he was not driving, he should come into office and help out with office work - make copies, file papers, send faxes, answer phone call or simply read - rather than sit in the car and wait for me to show up.

Diversifying tasks increases workers' self-esteem and motivation and makes them team players. Now, even If Sam calls him for work in the middle of the night, he is ready - because Sam respects him for what he does. Team Interactions unfortunately, when good teams do get created, they almost invariably fall apart. In our system today it is very difficult to build teams because nobody wants to be seen playing second fiddle. It is very hard in India to find good losers. Well, you win some and you lose some. If you lose some, you should move on! You don't need to spend all your time and energy of different cultural backgrounds, religions, ethnicities and caste groups - a fertile ground of diversity in the workplace. We should actually be experts in working with diversity. But it can only happen when we get rid of personal, caste and community interests.

There could be a 40-year-old CEO with a 55-year-old VP. It has nothing to do with age; capability and expertise are what counts. But you don't yet see these attitudes taking hold in India. Managers in the US corporate environment who work with Indians - and in fact, with Asians in general - need to recognize that these individuals have a tendency to feel that they are not getting recognition or are not being respected. It must be realized that these individuals have lower self-esteem to begin with and therefore have to be pampered and encouraged a little more because they need it. This makes them feel better and work better. No Substitute for Teamwork. Teamwork is key to corporate and national governance, and to get anything done.

The fundamental Issues are respect for others, openness, honesty, communication, willingness to disagree, resolution of conflict, and recognition that the larger goal of the team as a whole rumps Individual or personal agendas.

Don't be afraid of pressure.
Remember that Pressure is what turns a lump of coal into a diamond.

5 Reasons Y Enthusiasm is better than Confidence

We all want to be confident, do not we? It's a word that crops up fairly often in coaching sessions, even with people who are very talented and successful. We are all human, and for most of us there are times, places, audiences and situations where we feel we'd like to be a little more confident. For creative professionals, these typically include high-pressure performance situations, such as presentations, pitches, interviews, auditions and stage shows.

Of course we want to perform at our best in these situations, but I think the word 'confidence' creates more problems than it solves. I usually advise clients to change the word to 'enthusiasm'. Here's why:

1. Confidence is about you - enthusiasm is about your subject
As long as you are focused on 'being confident', you are the focus of attention. And when it's all about you, it's very easy to get caught up in self-doubt ("Am I really up to this? Will I be able to do it?"). But when you focus on a subject that's important to you - the work you're presenting, the information you want to share, the message you're trying to get across - then chances are you'll find yourself overtaken by enthusiasm. You will be energized, your voice will sound stronger, your hands will start gesturing, and you'll find your whole body moving as you warm to your task. You will lose your self-consciousness and be lost in the work itself, in the words and ideas you want to get across.

2. Confidence is about you (again) - enthusiasm is about others
I repeat - when you are trying to be confident, your attention is on yourself. But when you focus on your audience - whether one person, a roomful or a whole stadium - you stop worrying about your own performance. Instead, your attention is on the audience's experience: How are the ideas coming across? How do they look? Engaged? Confused? Intrigued? Have they 'got it' yet? If not, what can you do to help them? What feedback are they giving you? How can you use this to make it easier for them to learn, to enjoy or to see your point of view? How can you get them to share your enthusiasm?

3. Confidence is impressive - enthusiasm is infectious
How many times have you watched a presenter or met someone and been impressed with their confident manner - but without really warming to them? Confidence can be impressive, but beware the kind of impression you are leaving. Enthusiasm on the other hand, is highly infectious. Think of a time when you heard someone talk about a subject you had previously no interest in, but they were so enthusiastic about it, you could not help being intrigued, even fascinated. There is something contagious about the body language of enthusiasm - when you see someone talking excitedly, smiling, gesturing, full of energy and keen to share what they know, you can't help responding. It is as though at some level we look at an enthusiastic person and think "That looks good, that looks fun" and can't resist the urge to join in.

4. Confidence is certain - enthusiasm is creative
You can feel confident when you know what you are doing, and are sure you can do it well. There are lots of times and places for this kind of confidence, but too much certainty can be stifling. With enthusiasm, there is always an element of uncertainty, the excitement of not knowing exactly what you are going to say next and looking forward to surprising yourself. That is why scripted speeches are so dull, and why the atmosphere at an improvised show is electric. Accounts of the creative process abound with stories of images, ideas or words 'popping into' someone's mind - and invariably, the subject or medium is one for with the person has huge enthusiasm.

5. Confidence is serious - enthusiasm is fun
When you start talking or thinking about being confident, you are likely to start taking things a bit seriously. When you want to be confident about doing something, it is because you think it is important. And when something is important, it means Bad Things can happen if you get it wrong. Thinking about Bad Things is enough to make anyone serious. But when you're enthusiastic, importance translates into passion - and the whole thing becomes fun. There are few things more enjoyable than talking enthusiastically about something you are passionate about, and feeling others share your enthusiasm.

I will climb off the soap-box now. Enthusiasm is one of my enthusiasms. What are yours?