Podcasts about rehearse

Speaker: Adam GodshallSeries: 2 PeterText: 2 Peter 1:3-4Theme: In Christ, We Have All We Need to Live the Christian Life One: God gives everything necessary for life and godliness... Salvation - repentance and faith for a rescue from sin and to _ Sanctification - God's continued work of transforming us to the character of Jesus Two: ...through the knowledge of Christ... Three: ...as known through the promises... Four: ...so that we can be holy in sinful world. Conclusion Believe that you lack nothing. Pursue knowing Christ. Rehearse the promises. Choose to do right. All things that pertain to life and godliness ~ 2 Peter 1:3

In this episode of The Choral Director's Toolbox, host Dr. William Baker advocated to "Rehearse with the End in Mind," adapting Stephen Covey's timeless principle to the art of rehearsal planning. With practical wisdom drawn from decades on the podium, Dr. Baker discusses time management, strategic pacing, and the discipline required to prepare an entire program within limited rehearsal hours without creating unnecessary stress for singers. This week's listener question comes from Dale in San Diego, who asks how to respond when a performance does not go well. Drawing inspiration from Olympic figure skating and the joyful artistry of gold medalist Alysa Liu, Dr. Baker reflects on humility, resilience, and the professional grace required in both triumph and disappointment. To submit your question to The Choral Director's Toolbox, write to us at Toolbox@FestivalSingers.org. Today's inspiration is Thomas Tallis' "O Lord, in Thee Is All My Trust," performed by The Tallis Scholars under the direction of Peter Phillips, a luminous and fitting selection for the Lenten season. Join us for an episode on preparation, perspective, and the enduring pursuit of excellence in choral art.

You kick off this week with Dan Ray by reframing failure as a tool, not a verdict. Instead of obsessing over the “vanity listen” after a gig or rehearsal, you do the check-in listen and extract the lesson. You learn to fail fast the right way by making small bets that generate real data quickly, including testing demand before you invest rehearsal time. That mindset carries into band direction changes and the leadership realities that come with them: different people want different levels of ownership, and the job is to be a benevolent dictator who listens widely but decides cleanly. You also get practical about managing public perception and egos, taking cues from bands that protected the brand by being intentional about roles and visibility. Then you dig into Dan's origin stories and the nuts-and-bolts that keep working musicians moving: starting a band young, landing monthly gigs, and learning obvious-in-hindsight lessons like not running a vocal mic through a guitar amp. You hear how scrappy tools like a Tascam 4-track can solve real problems, why running a PA from the stage demands discipline, and why the room you rehearse in changes what you think you're hearing. From there it gets wonderfully nerdy with quick hits that matter in real life, like using low-pass filters aggressively and remembering that time alignment starts with where sound sources physically live. You close in the feels with theater life and the emotional punch of closing night, a reminder that the tech and the business serve the same goal: show up ready, stay present, and Always Be Performing. 00:00:00 Gig Gab 521 – Monday, February 16th, 2026 February 16th: National Rationalization Day 00:02:08 Guest co-host: Dan Ray Last visit: July 19, 2020 for GG 265 and CBC 100 00:03:23 Having a productive relationship with failure Failure can a lesson you lean into After gigs or rehearsals: the check-in listen vs. the vanity listen Fail fast the right way: “make a bet” by setting up something that you can quickly get data from 00:08:47 Transitioning a band's direction Dan's Big in the 80s band 00:10:10 Test your market before committing too much Book the gig before you rehearse the songs. Make sure there's demand and interest. If not… move on! (You failed fast!) Cover Band Confidential 00:12:52 AI solves the blank page problem – use it often! 00:14:28 Leading bands (and people) Be ready for people who want to engage with different levels of ownership Learning how to be a benevolent dictator… but also learn to be the leader, and the decision-maker, the ultimate arbiter. Don't do it in a vacuum, but I'll be the last word. The Pork Tornadoes are a democracy-ish. But decision-makers are pre-decided by a healthy division of labor. Learning to manage the public perception of your band (and your egos) like R.E.M. and RUSH did. 00:22:37 Do you name your band after yourself? My Thanks to Our Sponsors 00:25:09 SPONSOR: Claude.ai – Ready to tackle bigger problems? Sign up for Claude today and get 50% off Claude Pro, which includes access to Claude Cowork, too, when you visit Claude.ai/giggab 00:26:50 SPONSOR: Factor, America's #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Kit, can help you fuel up fast with flavorful and nutritious ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door. Visit FactorMeals.com/giggab50off and use code giggab50off for 50% off! 00:28:38 First kid in high school to start a band Grew out of the school-run rock band Decided to play some originals and covers at home, and got a gig! The school librarian booked them monthly! Lesson: don't put a vocal mic through the guitar amp Tascam 4-Track cassette recorder to use as a mixer 00:33:27 Dan Manages the PA from the stage We rehearse in a 15×20 indoor, climate-controlled storage unit 00:36:32 Quick Tip: Use Low Pass Filters on everything 00:37:35 Time Alignment: A reminder that sound source locations matter Check out the 16-minute mark of this episode with Robert Scovill for more 00:40:36 Having theater kids Stagelights in Greensboro, NC 00:43:05 The emotions during closing night in musical theater 00:50:12 Gig Gab 522 Outtro Follow Dan Ray @DanRayMusician @CoverBandConfidential Contact Gig Gab! @GigGabPodcast on Instagram feedback@giggabpodcast.com Sign Up for the Gig Gab Mailing List The post Cover Band Confidential's Dan Ray: Test the Market, Then Rehearse – Gig Gab 521 appeared first on Gig Gab.

God has not run out of mercy—not for you, not today.February 14 takes us to Psalm 103, and this is a worshipful gut-check. Titus 3 told us the truth: salvation doesn't flow from merit—it flows from mercy. Psalm 103 turns that doctrine into doxology.David starts by talking to his own soul: “Bless the Lord, O my soul… and forget not all his benefits.” Translation: worship isn't always spontaneous—sometimes it's intentional. And if we're honest, a lot of us don't have a worship problem… we have a forgetting problem.Here's today's challenge: stop casually remembering God. Because you will never consistently worship a God you casually remember.Psalm 103 forces you to remember what you keep overlooking: He forgives. He heals. He redeems. He crowns. He satisfies. He doesn't just pull you out of the pit—He puts a crown on your head. He doesn't just erase your sin—He restores your soul. And if you're waiting to “feel” worship, this psalm says: start remembering. Write it down. Rehearse it. Preach to your own heart.So today, don't scroll past grace. Don't yawn at mercy. Don't forget the benefits.Read all 22 verses. Slow down. Let each line hit you. And then live like someone who's been forgiven, healed, redeemed, crowned, and satisfied—because you have.Remember Him. And worship like you mean it.

For more, visit www.BishalSarkar.com or WhatsApp our team: https://wa.me/918880361526In this episode of the "I Love Public Speaking" podcast, Bishal Sarkar shares how to rehearse your speech effectively while still sounding natural and authentic.Join Bishal Sarkar as he discusses how to balance preparation with spontaneity, ensuring that your speech flows naturally even after practicing it.Learn how to use rehearsal techniques that allow you to memorize key points without sounding scripted, creating a more engaging and authentic delivery.Tune in to the "I Love Public Speaking" podcast with Bishal Sarkar to discover how to master your speech with preparation while maintaining a genuine and natural speaking style.

Q&A isn't the awkward add-on after your talk — it's where you cement your message, clarify what didn't land, and build trust through real interaction. Why is the Q&A the most important part of your presentation? Because Q&A is your second chance to make your best points land — and to fix any confusion in real time. It's also the moment the audience decides if you're credible, calm under pressure, and worth listening to beyond the slides. In a post-pandemic world of hybrid keynotes, Zoom webinars, and town-hall style sessions (especially since 2020), audiences often judge a speaker less by the polished talk and more by how they handle unscripted questions. This is true whether you're addressing a Toyota-style conservative leadership crowd in Japan, a fast-moving US startup all-hands, or a European industry conference panel. Q&A lets you reinforce your "headline ideas," add extra content you couldn't fit into the talk, and actually connect as a human. Do now: Treat Q&A as part of the performance, not the afterthought. Plan it like a second close. How do you set Q&A boundaries without sounding defensive? You set boundaries early — calmly and confidently — by stating the time limit before the first question. That single move protects your authority and prevents a messy exit if the room turns hostile. When you say, "We've got 10 minutes for questions," you're not being rigid — you're being professional. In leadership settings, especially in Japan where time structure signals respect, this reads as disciplined. In more combative environments (political forums, union meetings, angry shareholder sessions), it also gives you a clean way out: "We've now reached the end of question time," and you move into your second close without looking like you're running away. Do now: Announce the Q&A duration before inviting questions, then keep the clock visible and stick to it. What should you say to invite questions (and avoid dead silence)? Ask for the first question as if questions are guaranteed — and if none come, ask and answer one yourself. This breaks the ice and prevents that painful "crickets" moment. A subtle phrase like, "Who has the first question?" signals confidence and expectation. But if the audience freezes (common in Japan, and also common in senior executive rooms anywhere), you don't wait for permission. You jump-start it: "A question I'm often asked is…" and then you deliver a strong, useful answer. This technique works brilliantly in sales kickoffs, compliance briefings, and internal change-management presentations, because people often do have questions — they just don't want to be first. Do now: Prepare 2–3 "seed questions" you can ask yourself to get Q&A moving immediately. How do you handle hostile audience questions without losing control? Stay calm, stop "agreeing" body language, paraphrase the sting out of the question, then redirect your attention to the whole room. Hostile questioners feed on spotlight — your job is to cut off their oxygen. The instinct in polite society is to nod while listening, but with a hostile question that can look like agreement. So: look at them steadily, don't nod, hear them out. Then shift your gaze to the wider audience and paraphrase their point in a softened, neutral way (e.g., "The question is about staffing…"). That buys you thinking time and removes the emotional framing. Give the first few seconds of your answer with brief eye contact to the questioner, then stop feeding them attention and address everyone else. In 2025-era public speaking, this matters even more because a single heckler can hijack the room (or the clip). Do now: Practise "neutral paraphrase + audience redirect" until it's automatic under pressure. Should you repeat the question word-for-word, or paraphrase it? Repeat neutral questions so everyone hears them — but paraphrase hostile questions to remove the invective and control the framing. You're not censoring; you're translating chaos into clarity. If someone asks a fair question and parts of the room didn't hear it, repeating it word-for-word is helpful. But if someone asks an aggressive, loaded question ("Isn't it true you're sacking 10% of staff before Christmas?"), repeating that sentence becomes a public amplification of the attack. Instead, you paraphrase in a deliberately weakened way: "The question is about staffing and timing," or "The question is about workforce planning." This does two things: it gives you 5–10 seconds to think, and it reframes the issue on your terms — critical in high-stakes contexts like listed-company updates, restructures, or crisis comms. Do now: Build a "paraphrase toolbox" (staffing, strategy, timing, budget, risk) to neutralise loaded questions fast. How long should your answers be, and how do you finish the Q&A cleanly? Keep answers concise so more people can ask questions — and always engineer a strong ending with a "final question" and a second close. Long answers reduce interaction and increase the chance you say something you'll regret. In executive communication, brevity signals confidence. It also helps you manage the room, especially when time is tight or questions are wandering off-topic. If you need time to think, use a "cushion" phrase that's neutral: "Thank you — I'm glad you raised that point." Then answer clearly, without rambling. To finish with authority, announce it: "We have time for one final question. Who has the last question?" Answer it, then deliver your second close so the audience leaves with your message — not the last random question. Do now: Use "final question + second close" every time. It turns Q&A into a controlled finish, not a fade-out. Conclusion: the Q&A is where your credibility gets tested If the talk is your planned message, Q&A is your proof of competence. Set time boundaries early, seed questions if the room is quiet, paraphrase hostile framing, and redirect attention to the broader audience. Keep answers short, protect your authority, and end with a deliberate "final question" followed by a second close. Next steps for leaders, executives, and presenters Pre-write 10 likely questions before every talk (including 2 hostile ones). Rehearse neutral paraphrasing and "attention redirect" as a muscle memory skill. Script your Q&A opening line, cushion phrases, and final-question close. FAQs How do I stop one person from hijacking Q&A? Limit their attention, paraphrase neutrally, and address the room instead of debating them. You control the spotlight. What if I don't know the answer to a question? Acknowledge it and commit to a follow-up path, not a vague promise. "I don't have that figure here — my team will confirm it after the session." Should I allow off-topic questions? Briefly bridge off-topic questions back to the core theme whenever possible. It keeps momentum and protects relevance. Is it okay to answer my own question if the room is silent? Yes — it's a proven ice-breaker that gives others permission to speak. Prepare 2–3 seed questions in advance. Author Bio Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. Greg also publishes daily business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews, which are widely followed by executives seeking success strategies in Japan.

To the Praise of his Glory Ephesians 1:3-14 by William Klock We'll be looking this morning at Ephesians 1:3-14.  It never ceases to amaze me the riches that come from simply slowing down as I read the Bible.  Over the last several months I've taken multiple occasions to just sit down with Ephesians, to read it slowly, to pay attention, and to be immersed in it.  To pay specific attention to Paul's choice of words and his grammar.  To notice how his choices of words and phrases bring echoes of the Old Testament into his letter and to meditate on how what Paul says here fits into the great biblical story of Israel's God and his people.  As I said last week, in Ephesians Paul gives us the view from the mountaintop.  He shows the whole panorama of the great story of redemption. Verses 3-14 are an invitation into that story.  I think a lot of us—especially if you're a theology nerd—a lot of us reading these verses easily lose the forest for the trees.  We see words like “election” and “predestined” and they stir up modern controversies over whether or not God chooses us or we choose him; over whether God elects specific people for eternal life or if he also positive elects others for damnation.  This is the fuel for heated arguments.  And, I suspect, were Paul to hear these arguments he'd ask something like, “Wait?  That's what you got from what I wrote?”  Because I think the thing that Paul wants us to notice here, what he wants to centre us on, is the praise of God in light of that great story.  In fact, I'd never noticed before, but in Paul's Greek, this whole section is one long sentence proclaiming the mighty and saving deeds of God.  It's like Paul wanted us to hear one, beautiful, heart-stirring musical chord, or get a single amazing impression from a beautifully painted image, but since words and language don't work like that, since you have to express them one at a time, Paul composed this as one, single rush of words meant to move us to praise.  Consider how be begins in verse 3, “Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.”  Blessed be God.  It's not meant to just be a factual statement that God is blessed.  To really get the sense of it in English it might be better to say, “Let us bless God.”  Because, Brothers and Sisters, that's Paul's real point here. Pagans praised their gods.  But Jews did something more: they blessed the God of Israel.  In fact, the word that Paul uses is one that for the Greeks simply meant to speak good of someone, but the Jews gave it a much fuller and deeper meaning to translate their Hebrew words for bless and blessing.  To understand this takes us all the way back to the beginning of the story.  When God created the world and filled it with life, he blessed that life that it might be fruitful, that it might multiply, and that it might fill the earth.  The fish, the birds, and eventually the man and the woman.  God blessed them.  And in the Hebrew worldview, it was God's blessing that brought human flourishing and that provided all that is good in creation.  And so, in return, the Jews blessed God.  Obviously, human beings don't have the ability to grant the goodness and flourishing with our blessings that God can with his, and so to bless God took the form of praise and thanksgiving for his goodness, for his faithfulness, and most of all for his mighty and saving deeds in history.  And all that is summed up in those words, “blessed be God”.  To this day, Jewish prayer begins with the words Barukh Attah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh ha-Olam, Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe.  But then when we unpack it, what we find is that at the heart of blessing God is telling his story, not just to rehearse for ourselves his greatness, but to proclaim it to everyone else.  Read through the Old Testament and you see God's people praising him first and foremost by telling the story of his mighty deeds: sometimes what he'd done for the person giving the praise, but more often for his creation and his providence, and most of all for his recuse of Israel from their Egyptian slavery.  The Exodus was the great act of God in history that showed his blessing and for which his people blessed him in return. When the people of Israel gathered together, they rehearsed what God had done, whether it was Israelites in the days of David, sitting around campfires and hearing those stories faithfully passed down from generation to generation, or the people of Paul's day reading the scriptures in the synagogue, they told the mighty deeds of God as an act of praise.  Brothers and Sisters, the same goes for us.  I suspect a lot of us hardly ever think of it this way.  We read the Bible for knowledge.  We read the Bible to win arguments.  We read the Bible because we know it's a good thing to do or because we hope God will speak to us.  But, first and foremost, we read the Bible—in public worship and in private worship—to rehearse the mighty and saving deeds of God as an act of praise and as a call to praise.  Just read the psalms and see how they proclaim the great story as an act of praise and a means of blessing God.  The modern trend in worship, I think, gets this precisely backward.  We begin our services with praise—I often hear people say it's to get us in the right frame of mind—and then we hear scripture, then we receive the Lord's Supper.  The biblical model is the other way round: To read and to hear scripture is the first act of praise, everything else follows in response.  Thomas Cranmer, the architect of our liturgy, understood this.  In Morning and Evening Prayer, we first hear the scriptures, and then we sing the canticles (which are themselves mostly scripture).  At the Communion, we hear the scriptures, we receive the Lord's Supper, and after all that, we sing the Gloria in praise and thanksgiving.  So this is what Paul's getting at in verse 3: “Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah! He has blessed us in the Messiah with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.” But why?  Because, in Jesus, God has already blessed us.  With what?  With every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.  That means, with the life of the Spirit, that foretaste of the age to come and the day when we, ourselves, will be resurrected to life with God just as Jesus has been.  Because, in Jesus and the Spirit, God has blessed us by making us heaven-on-earth people.  Through Jesus and the Spirit, God has begun the work of bringing heaven and earth, God and man, separated by sin, back together—in us. But Paul doesn't just leave it at that.  He tells the Jesus story, the church story, but he does it in a way that echoes the bigger story all the way back to creation.  He never mentions Adam or Abraham, the Exodus or the Exile.  Instead, he describes what God has done for us in the Messiah using the words and phrases that Israel typically used to tell those stories. Now, because this whole passage is one long sentence and because it's clear Paul wants us to hear it sort of like a music chord, let me read through the whole thing in one go starting with verse 4.  Here's what he writes: “He chose us in him before the world was made, so as to be holy and without blemish before him.  In love, he foreordained us for himself, to be adopted as sons [and daughters] through Jesus the Messiah, according to the purpose of his will.  So that the glory of his grace, the grace he poured out on us in his beloved one, might receive its due praise.  In [the Messiah], through his blood, we have deliverance—the forgiveness of sins, through the riches of his grace, which he has lavished on us.  With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his purpose, just he wanted it to be and set it forward in him as a blueprint for when the time was ripe.  His plan was to sum up the whole cosmos in the Messiah, everything in heaven and on earth in him.  In him we have received the inheritance.  We were foreordained to this, according to the intention of the one who does all things in accordance with the counsel of his purpose.  This was so that we, we who first hoped in the Messiah, might live for the praise of his glory.  In him you too, who heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and believed it—in him you were marked out with the Spirit of promise, the Holy One.  The Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the time when the people who are God's special possession are finally reclaimed and freed.  This, too, is for the praise of his glory.” So Paul begins with the language of having been chosen.  It's almost like he's rehearsing the Passover story.  Being chosen resonated with the Jews.  Their father, Abraha, had been chosen and called from the paganism of Ur.  In the Exodus, the Lord had declared Israel to be his chosen.  Paul wants that mighty act of God's goodness and mercy to echo into our story—to hear the Lord declare to Pharaoh that Israel was his beloved, his firstborn son.  Paul writes in verse 5 that we've been marked out as sons and daughters of the Father because of his love for us—love poured out in Jesus, love poured out at the cross as he shed his blood—blood that has marked us out as holy and washed us clean of sin.  Blood that has united us with Jesus, his son, and made us his children by adoption. And the language of deliverance and redemption in verse 7.  This is what Paul's getting at.  Again, his choice of words is important.  The word he uses is the one used most often in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to refer to the deliverance, the redemption of his people from Egypt.  It's a word that often carries the idea of buying a slave so that he can be set free and in the Bible it very often and more specifically recalls the image of Israel being redeemed from Pharaoh's slave market and being set free by God—a freedom through which Israel was meant to proclaim and to live out God's amazing and redeeming grace.  But there's also an echo of Israel's long-hoped for deliverance from exile—an exile the people were still living out when Jesus was born.  And, unlike the Exodus, the exile was the result of Israel's sins.  And so the prophets, like Isaiah, had spoken of a new exodus, a deliverance from exile, but this time round it would be an exodus that had to address, that had to deal with Israel's sins. And that's why Paul writes of blood.  The blood of the Passover lamb was for the purification of the people.  Somehow blood would have to be shed to purify Israel and to and the long exile, so they could once again live in his holy presence and so that they could once again be fit to serve his purpose as priests and stewards of his temple.  This is why Jesus so often did things that echoed the Passover theme.  He was calling to mind this doubled tradition: The first exodus, deliverance from slavery, but also the promised and hoped-for second exodus in which God would somehow redeem his people from their sins and from the effects of that sin.  So when Paul, in verses 7 and 8, writes of the blood through which we have deliverance and the forgiveness of sins, when he writes of the riches of God's grace and how it's been lavished so richly on us, he wants us to see these layers of the great story: of creation, of exodus, of exile, of forgiveness, of redemption.  He wants us to see the glorious cross of Jesus, but he also wants us to see how the whole story has been one act after another, one great drama unfolding through history that shows us who God is, that reveals his grace and mercy, his goodness and faithfulness that then find their full fruit, that explode in one great act of glory in the events of the new exodus.  All these notes coming together a beautiful, harmonious chord. Why?  Because Paul knew that without this, we're prone to forgetting our vocation, just as Israel had.  That's why Paul goes on to talk about God making known the secret of his purpose—the great mystery—with all wisdom and insight.  In Paul's day the Jews—many of them at any rate—associated the idea of torah—of Gods' law—with the idea of God's divine wisdom.  This fusion of torah and wisdom was God's great design for life and for flourishing and not just that, but for life and flourishing that would cause his people to give him glory.  Brothers and Sisters, the gospel isn't just the good news that we've been forgiven and promised eternal life.  The gospel is also about vocation—a vocation that goes all the way back to Israel—even to Adam and Eve.  It's about being freed from our bondage to sin and death so that we might live to the glory of God as heaven-on-earth people, as the firstfruits of his new creation, as pockets of the age to come in the here and now. And Paul reminds us in verse 10 that this was God's plan, his blueprint all along, one that would be fulfilled in the “fullness of time”—when the time was right.  None of it was an accident.  What we so often take in as disconnected Bible stories, was all along one great drama, setting the scene, establishing the plot, so that at the cross and the empty tomb, God could reveal his glory by leading his people in a new exodus.  As Paul puts it here, the plan was to sum up the whole cosmos in the Messiah—everything in heaven and on earth in him.  Restoring the creation we see in Genesis, where heaven and earth and God and man were one.  Bringing to fruition the image evoked by the tabernacle at the end of Exodus: of God once gain dwelling in the midst of his redeemed people.  That image at the end of Exodus in which the people complete the construction of the tabernacle and the shekinah, the great cloud of God's glory, descends to fill it is one of the  most powerful images in all of scripture—looking back to how things are supposed to be and looking forward to a day when human beings really are fully restored to live in God's presence—no veil, no sacrifices, just life in his awesome presence.  This is what Paul describes as an act of praise, the climax of the great story, a new exodus, a Jesus-shaped Passover—all now to be at the heart of Christian praise. But God's presence entering the tabernacle wasn't the end of the story.  Remember, once God had set apart his people and made them holy and taken up his presence in their midst, they were ready for him to lead them into the promised land—to receive the inheritance that he had promised to Abraham.  And in verses 11-14 Paul shows us how life in Jesus and the Spirit is the realisation of what that was pointing to all along.  Psalm 2, for example, was pointing this way all along.  That's the psalm where God says, “You are my son and today I have begotten you.  Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your inheritance.”  The promise land and the promise of it was always pointing to something greater—to God's claim on all of creation, on all the nations, on all the peoples.  The story proclaims: someday the entire earth will be God's holy land. And here in Ephesians, Paul is saying that in Jesus and the Spirit, God has now given us—given those who are in the Messiah—this inheritance.  “Everything belongs to you,” he says in First Corinthians.  And here he says that the gift of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling, the tabernacling presence of God in us is the earnest, the down payment, the guarantee of the full promised inheritance.  Sometimes it seems like we think of the Holy Spirit in every way except for the very thing Paul tells us over and over that he represents.  Brothers and Sisters, the gift of the Spirit is the guarantee that what Jesus began when he rose from the grave, he will surely one day finish.  It's the guarantee that God's work of renewal and new creation in Jesus will, without a doubt, put a final end to sin, to sorrow, to corruption, to decay, and even to death itself.  It is the guarantee that the reunion of God and man that began when God took up his residence in the tabernacle, and that went a step further at Pentecost when he took up his residence in his people, will be fulfilled in the ultimate tabernacle of a new heaven and earth.  It's the guarantee that that the fellowship between God and human beings in the garden at the very beginning of the story will also be the end. It's easy to forget.  As Paul writes in Romans, the whole world is groaning under the weight of our mismanagement.  We still live with the effects of sin and corruption, of decay and death.  Like the Israelites when the spies returned from Canaan and warned that there were giants in the land and heavily fortified cities.  They gave up.  They became overwhelmed.  They forgot the promise.  They begged Moses to take them back to Egypt.  The things they feared were no joke.  But they forgot that the God who was with them is the God will one day dill the whole earth with his glory.  The tabernacle—God's presence with them—was meant to remind them of that truth and that inheritance.  And, Brothers and Sisters, the Spirit in us serves the same function.  In him we have the full title deed, even if we don't yet have the whole earth.  But that title deed, that earnest, that guarantee has been given to us by the Father to empower us to go out as his gospel people—to be heaven on earth, to bring his presence into the darkness, to challenge the corrupted principalities and powers of the old age, and to bring the light and life of new creation into the old.  And all, Paul finishes, the final notes in the chord, “is for the praise of his glory”. Brothers and Sisters, to live in assurance and hope of God's promise of life is to live a life of praise.  It's to live a life that blesses God and that makes his glory known in the earth.  That means that if we want to know what the life of the Christian and what he life of the church should look like, maybe we should work backward from that goal.  We should be asking ourselves what it is that we can do that makes God's glory known.  Asking ourselves what we can do that shows the world our sure and certain hope in the inheritance—the new creation—in which we live.  Not running back to Egypt in fear, but ready to march around Jericho and to blow our gospel trumpets and trust God to do what he's promised.  I think if we work backwards from the goal of filling the earth with the knowledge of the glory of God, it becomes a lot easier to ask whether what we do, what we value, what we invest in, how we treat others displays our hope in God's kingdom to the world around us.  So, Brothers and Sisters, let us bless God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.  Let our lives be one great shout of praise.  Rehearse and proclaim the great story of redemption that proclaims his glory.  And let this Passover-shaped, this cross-shaped, story of redemption and renewal transform you so that you—that we all—might live for the purpose of filling the earth with the knowledge of the glory of God—to the praise of his glory. Let's pray: Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, through whose blood you have forgiven our sins, made us sons and daughters by adoption, and brought us into the great drama of your people, shape us, we pray, with your story.  Fill us with faith and assurance in the knowledge that, having plunged us into your Spirit, you have given us assurance of the promised inheritance that we might live faithfully in hope and to the praise of your glory.  Amen.

Talking Stones #RTTBROS #NightlightWhen Stones Tell StoriesI drove out past Hollister today and came across the crumbling remains of an old lava rock building standing alone in a winter field. The walls have mostly fallen, the roof is long gone, and frost clings to the dark stones. It's a ruin now, but somebody once built that structure with intention and effort. Somebody had a story there.It made me think of an old question from Scripture. In Joshua 4, after God miraculously stopped the Jordan River so Israel could cross on dry ground, He told them to take twelve stones from the riverbed and set them up as a memorial. Then He said this would happen:"When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over... That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever." (Joshua 4:21-24)What mean these stones? It's a question meant to spark remembrance, to keep alive the testimony of God's faithfulness for the next generation.Those lava rock ruins out in that frozen field don't tell me about Israel crossing Jordan, but they do remind me that every believer has stones of remembrance in their own life. Moments when God showed up. Times when He made a way. Seasons when His faithfulness held you together when everything else was falling apart.Don't let those memories crumble into forgotten ruins. Rehearse them. Tell them to your children. Speak them to yourself when doubt creeps in. Let the stones testify: God was faithful then. He is faithful now. He will be faithful tomorrow."Hitherto hath the LORD helped us."(1 Samuel 7:12)Prayer: Lord, help me remember Your faithfulness. Let my life be a testimony to the next generation that You are mighty to save and faithful to keep. Amen.Be sure to Like, Share, Follow and subscribe it helps get the word out.https://linktr.ee/rttbros

Success isn't an accident, it's a rehearsal. Kris Krohn breaks down the exact 10-minute morning routine he uses to cultivate a powerhouse mindset, featuring deep grounding, "gratitude stacking," and the immersive "Mind Palace" technique. Learn how to trick your subconscious into believing your goals are already achieved so you can walk through your day with the confidence and clarity of a billionaire.

Most business careers don't stall because people lack IQ or work ethic — they stall because people can't move other humans. If you can command a room, energise a team, excite customers, and secure decisions, you compound your influence fast — especially in the post-pandemic world of hybrid meetings, Zoom pitches, and global audiences.  Does persuasion power matter more than technical skill for promotion? Yes — technical skill gets you into the conversation, but persuasion power wins you the job. In most organisations, the higher you climb, the more the work becomes "people deciding" rather than "people doing". This is why brilliant engineers, finance stars, and operational legends can still hit a ceiling. They're exceptional in the engine room, but when it's time to sell a strategy to a board, rally a division, or win internal funding, they can't land the message. In Japan's consensus-heavy corporate culture, you often need influence across multiple stakeholders; in the US, you may need crisp executive presence in faster decision cycles; in Europe, you might need stronger narrative and risk framing. Same game: decisions move when people feel clarity and confidence. Do now: Identify one upcoming meeting where you must persuade (not "update") — and design it like a pitch. Why are so many senior executives surprisingly bad at speaking? Because nobody trains them for "stage time" — they get responsibility, not rehearsal. Many leaders are promoted for performance, not persuasion. You see it everywhere: high-status, high-stakes people who can't string together a five-minute case for themselves or their ideas. They've been rewarded for competence, reliability, and execution — then suddenly they're expected to represent the brand, defend strategy, and inspire others. That's a different profession. Startups often over-index on charisma early; multinationals over-index on process and tenure — both can produce leaders who are undercooked when they're in front of customers, boards, or a chamber of commerce AGM audience. Do now: Treat speaking as a core leadership skill, not a "nice-to-have" — schedule training and practice like you schedule finance reviews. How do you self-promote without sounding cringe or arrogant? You self-promote best by making your value useful to others. The trick isn't "talk about me"; it's "here's what I learned, here's what it changed, here's how it helps". Personal brand isn't your logo — it's your reputation at decision time. The strongest self-promotion is evidence-based: outcomes, lessons, frameworks, and how you'd repeat the win. Use story, but anchor it in business reality: customers, revenue, safety, quality, speed, retention. In B2B, credibility often comes from clarity and risk management; in consumer, it's momentum and narrative. Either way, you're building trust. You can also borrow structure from Aristotle's ethos/pathos/logos: establish credibility, connect emotionally, then land logic. Do now: Create a 60-second "value story" with: problem → action → result → lesson → next step. What changes when you present to a global audience like TED or online? The upside is massive — but the downside lasts forever. A local talk fades; a recorded talk can follow you for years. Online audiences behave differently: they're less forgiving, more distracted, and they can replay your weak moments. But if you deliver professionally, your credibility scales globally — especially if you're known for communication, training, sales, or leadership. Post-2020, many leaders now "present" via webinars, town halls, podcasts, and investor updates more than they do in ballrooms. That means your persuasion power is constantly on display. TED's own guidance to speakers is blunt: rehearse repeatedly and treat preparation as part of performance. [1] TED ted.com Do now: Assume every important talk will be shared — build it to survive replay. What's the fastest escape hatch from speaking disasters? Rehearsal — not talent — is the catastrophe escape hatch. You don't get confidence by "hoping"; you get it by seeing yourself succeed in practice. Most business talks are delivered once: one-and-done. That's like launching a product without QA. Effective rehearsal isn't memorising every line; it's building a structure you can drive under pressure. Harvard Business Review makes the same point: rehearse a lot, but don't trap yourself in robotic scripting — aim for confident flow and strong openings/closings. [2] Harvard Business Review Harvard Business Review Do now: Rehearse the first 60 seconds and last 60 seconds until they're unshakeable — that's where trust is won or lost. How do you rehearse and get feedback without getting crushed? Ask for feedback that builds you up and sharpens you — never invite a vague judgement. "How was it?" is a confidence grenade. Use a two-part prompt: "What did I do well?" and "What's one thing I can improve?" This keeps feedback specific, actionable, and survivable. Then rehearse in layers: content, timing, and delivery (voice, gestures, eye line). Dale Carnegie advice on rehearsal commonly emphasises practising for timing and delivery — not just slide polishing. [3] Dale Carnegie dalecarnegie.com Here's a simple rehearsal loop: Rehearsal round Focus Output 1 Message + structure Clear beginning, middle, end 2 Timing + transitions Fits the slot, smooth flow 3 Delivery under pressure Voice, pauses, gestures, presence Do now: Book 3 rehearsals in your calendar before the event — and collect feedback using the two-part prompt above. Final wrap Persuasion power isn't decoration — it's leverage. The people who rise fastest aren't always the smartest or the busiest; they're the ones who can make others see it, feel it, and back it. If you want the bigger role, the bigger client, and the bigger stage, don't wait for promotion to "learn speaking". Build the skill first — then let it pull you upward. FAQs Yes — rehearsal beats talent for most business speaking. Talent helps, but rehearsal makes you reliable under pressure. Yes — technical experts can become persuasive speakers. With structure, practice, and feedback, "engine room" people can lead the room. Yes — you can self-promote without being arrogant. Make it outcome-based and useful: lessons, impact, and what you'd do next. Yes — online talks raise the stakes. Recordings scale credibility or embarrassment, so design and rehearse accordingly. Next steps for leaders and executives Audit your next 3 presentations: where do you need a decision, not applause? Build a "talk ladder": small internal talks → customer updates → industry events. Rehearse in three rounds (structure, timing, delivery) and capture feedback each time. Train the top team — your brand is on stage every time they open their mouths. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. Greg also publishes daily business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews, which are widely followed by executives seeking success strategies in Japan.

It is honor to repeat prophecy to the next generation

Main idea: God's people should remember and celebrate God's greatness. 1. Remember what the Lord has done 2. Rejoice in what the Lord has given 3. Rehearse the story of the Lord's Greatness Discussion Questions 1. When you look back on your own life, why do you think gratitude tends to fade even after clear answers to prayer or seasons of deliverance? 2. Where in your own life are you most tempted to interpret present circumstances without reference to God's past faithfulness? 3. What would it look like for your celebration of Christmas to be more intentionally God-centered? 4. What is one practical way you could “write it down” or mark God's faithfulness this year?

A spiritual battle rages all around us. Are you aware of it? Are you engaged? Most importantly, are you WINNING?You should be! We all should be. There's much we can learn from successful military campaigns. Join me for today's Daily World & Prayer to learn more.Scripture Used in Today's MessageEphesians 6:10-12Proverbs 21:22To find Tom on Instagram, Facebook, TiKTok, and elsewhere, go to linktr.ee/tomthepreacher

Season 14, Episode 382 reviews chapters 4–7 of Think and Grow Rich for Sales, showing how autosuggestion, specialized knowledge, imagination, and organized planning transform inner belief into consistent sales results. This episode explains practical steps to program confidence, build authority, paint future outcomes for buyers, and design repeatable sales systems that create certainty and close deals more naturally. Today EP 382 PART 2 of our Think and Grow Rich for Sales Series, we will cover: ✔ Chapter 4: Autosuggestion: How Your Inner Script Becomes Your Outer Results  Sales Application (Practical Use) Pre-call priming: Speak your outcome out loud before every call (“I bring clarity and certainty to this conversation.”) Language audit: Eliminate soft phrases (“I think,” “hopefully,” “maybe”) from your sales vocabulary. Repetition builds belief: Read your sales goals twice daily as if already achieved. Emotion matters: Read goals with feeling—belief is emotional, not intellectual. Interrupt negative mindsets: Replace “They won't buy” with “I help people make confident decisions.” Consistency over intensity: Daily repetition beats occasional motivation. Key Insight: Belief is built deliberately, not accidentally. ✔ Chapter 5: Specialized Knowledge: From Information to Authority  5 Sales Application Tips Organize your expertise into simple frameworks buyers can easily follow. Know their world better than they do—pain points, language, pressures, timing. Stop overloading: Say less, but say it with authority. Borrow brilliance: Use mentors, subject experts, and masterminds to extend your knowledge. Teach while you sell: Authority grows when you help buyers understand, not when you impress them. Key Insight: You are not selling information. You are selling guidance. ✔ Chapter 6: Imagination: Where Sales Innovation Is Born 7 Sales Application Tips Paint the “after” picture: Describe life, work, or outcomes post-solution. Use sensory language: Help them see, feel, and experience the result. Rehearse success aloud: Walk the buyer through implementation as if it's already happening. Normalize the decision: Familiarity reduces fear and resistance. Tell transformation stories: Stories activate imagination faster than facts. Slow the moment down: Imagination needs space—don't rush the close. Anchor certainty visually: “Imagine six months from now…” becomes a mental commitment. Key Insight: People don't buy solutions. They buy who they become after the solution. ✔ Chapter 7: Organized Planning: Putting Desire Into Action 6 Sales Application Tips Create a repeatable sales process you trust and follow consistently. Plan the work—then work the plan, even when results lag. Refine the plan, not the goal when setbacks occur. Prepare for objections before they arise—confidence comes from readiness. Track behaviors, not just outcomes (calls, follow-ups, conversations). Use structure to eliminate emotion-based decisions during the sales cycle. Key Insight: A plan creates certainty. Certainty creates momentum. Welcome back to our final series of SEASON 14 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren't taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I'm Andrea Samadi, and seven years ago, launched this podcast with a question I had never truly asked myself before: (and that is) If productivity and results matter to us—and they do now more than ever—how exactly are we using our brain to make them happen? Most of us were never taught how to apply neuroscience to improve productivity, results, or well-being. About a decade ago, I became fascinated by the mind-brain-results connection—and how science can be applied to our everyday lives. That's why I've made it my mission to bring you the world's top experts—so together, we can explore the intersection of science and social-emotional learning. We'll break down complex ideas and turn them into practical strategies we can use every day for predictable, science-backed results. Connecting Back to Our 6-Part Think and Grow Rich Series (2022) For today's EP 382, we continue with PART 2 of our Review of Think and Grow Rich for Sales, connecting back to our 6-PART Series from 2022[i]. Back in 2022, we didn't just read Think and Grow Rich—we lived inside it as we launched our year. Over a 6-part series that began the beginning of January 2022, we walked through this book chapter by chapter, not as theory, but as a personal operating system for growth, performance, and results. At the time, the focus of our 6 PART Series was broad. We covered: Personal development Mindset mastery Vision, purpose, and belief We covered the BASICS of this book that my mentor, Bob Proctor studied for his entire lifetime (over 50 years) that can be applied to whatever it is that you want to create with our life. Today, we are going to look at this timeless piece of knowledge, through a new lens. What we're covering today—PART 2 of our Study of Think and Grow Rich for Sales—is not new material. It's the application of this series, towards a specific discipline. You could apply this book to any discipline, but this one, I have wanted to cover for a very long time. How the 6-Part Series Maps DIRECTLY to Sales Mastery Here's the reframe that matters: Every principle we covered in 2022 becomes a sales advantage when applied correctly. Each of the 10 chapters explains how to further improve our inner state, and then we walk through how to make this change occur in our outer world, connecting each principal for the salesperson. And just a reminder that you don't need to be in sales for these principles to work for us. Think and Grow Rich for Sales How Inner Mastery Becomes Sales Results Inspired by Think and Grow Rich Through a modern neuroscience + sales lens   Chapter IV: Autosuggestion The Inner Script Behind Every Sales Call Core Idea: Your subconscious mind is always selling—either for you or against you. Sales Application: Language patterns that leak doubt Why we program confidence before the call Why tone matters more than technique Listener Takeaway: The buyer responds to your energy, not your words. Chapter IV — Autosuggestion How Your Inner Script Becomes Your Outer Results Autosuggestion is the bridge between what you think and what you experience. I first learned this concept while working with Bob Proctor in the seminar industry, and it fundamentally changed the way I understand my own personal results—both in life and in sales. At its core, autosuggestion is about creating order in the mind, (first) so your inner script consistently produces your outer results. The visual model that explains this in one simple view is the stickperson diagram, originally developed by Dr. Thurman Fleet in 1934. You'll see this image in the show notes, labeled A, B, and C. Here is what this diagram means. The Three Parts of the Mind IMAGE IDEA: From Dr. Thurman Fleet 1937 with his idea of Concept Therapy. A — Conscious Mind (Thinking Mind) This is the part of your mind you use when you are actively thinking: reading studying learning solving problems consciously making decisions This is where logic lives. B — Non-Conscious Mind (Emotional Mind) This is the most powerful part of the mind—and the most misunderstood. The non-conscious mind: accepts whatever enters it does not judge truth from falsehood operates primarily through repetition and emotion This is why: who you surround yourself with matters what you listen to matters what you repeatedly tell yourself matters Your non-conscious mind becomes the program that runs your behavior. C — Body The body is the instrument of the mind. Your body inherits what your mind expresses: thoughts affect emotions emotions affect physiology physiology affects behavior and results This is why mindset impacts: health energy confidence performance And why our thoughts, feelings and actions ultimately determine our results. They create our conditions, our circumstances and our environment. Why Autosuggestion Matters (Real Life Example) Because I learned this before I had children, I became extremely intentional about what was playing in the background of our home. News, negativity, and fear-based messaging go straight into the non-conscious mind—especially when the mind is in a submissive state, such as: early childhood (when your mind is wide open) right before sleep also while eating when relaxed or emotionally open This state of mind doesn't just affect children. It affects adults too. What we repeatedly hear becomes how we feel—and eventually how we act. This is why autosuggestion is not wishful thinking. It is mental conditioning. Autosuggestion and Alignment (Praxis) When your thoughts, feelings and emotions are aligned, you enter a state called praxis—the point where belief and behavior match. How do we enter this state? By: writing your goals reading them aloud repeating them twice daily you gradually impress belief onto the non-conscious mind. Over time: belief strengthens faith develops behavior shifts automatically Eventually, you don't have to force confidence. It becomes natural. Beyond the Five Senses: The Higher Faculties Before moving into Chapter V — Specialized Knowledge, it's important to introduce one of the most overlooked ideas Napoleon Hill emphasized: It's the 6 higher faculties of the mind. If you revisit Episode #67[ii], I explain how living only through our five senses can limit results. Our five senses are connected to the conscious mind. But beyond them lie six higher faculties, including: imagination intuition perception will reason memory Hill believed intuition and imagination were so powerful that he devoted entire chapters to them. These faculties allow us to: access deeper insight perceive what others miss gain a competitive advantage Intuition: A Sales Superpower If I had to choose three higher faculties most useful in sales for us to develop, they would be: intuition perception will Let's focus on intuition. Intuition is the mental tool that allows you to feel truth: a gut sense an inner knowing a subtle emotional signal It develops with practice—and trust. Putting Intuition Into Action (Sales) When you're presenting to someone, intuition answers questions like: Are they engaged, but holding a question? Do they need more information—or less? Is it time to continue… or time to ask for the decision? Highly intuitive sales professionals can sense: certainty hesitation trust resistance —even without being in the same room with this person. Sales at Its Highest Level This brings us back to Paul Martinelli's reminder: “Sales at its highest level is the transference of emotion. And the primary emotion is certainty.” When intuition is developed, you know: when certainty has been transferred when the buyer is ready when the close is natural Eventually, as your higher faculties become conditioned through autosuggestion, you access them automatically—without effort or overthinking. Closing Thought — Chapter IV: Autosuggestion Autosuggestion is not about forcing belief. It's about training alignment. When your thoughts, emotions, and actions match: confidence becomes automatic intuition sharpens results follow naturally Your inner script always becomes your outer results. And that's why autosuggestion is not optional. It's foundational. Chapter V: Specialized Knowledge Why Authority Always Outsells Enthusiasm Core Idea: Knowledge only becomes power when it's organized and applied. Sales Application: Moving from “presenter” to trusted expert Leading the conversation instead of reacting Why winging it destroys certainty Listener Takeaway: Mastery creates calm authority. Chapter V — Specialized Knowledge Why Expertise—Not Information—Creates Sales Success To further refine what we want to achieve, Chapter 5 of Think and Grow Rich introduces a critical distinction: not all knowledge is created equally. Napoleon Hill explains that it is specialized knowledge—not general knowledge—that separates you from everyone else and makes you valuable. Knowledge alone, Hill reminds us, is only potential power. “Knowledge (general or specialized) must be organized and intelligently directed, and is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action and directed to a definite end.” (Chapter V, p. 79, TAGR) In other words: Information does nothing on its own. Application is everything. Why This Matters (Education vs. Application) This becomes clear when we think about formal education. Much of what we learn in school is general knowledge—useful only if we apply it in a specific way. Hill calls this the missing link in education: “The failure of educational institutions is that it fails to teach students HOW TO ORGANIZE AND USE KNOWLEDGE after they acquire it.” (Chapter V, p. 80, TAGR) This insight alone explains why so many intelligent people struggle to produce results—especially in sales. They know a lot, but they haven't organized that knowledge into a repeatable system of action. Henry Ford and the Myth of ‘Not Being Educated' Henry Ford is Hill's perfect example. Ford famously said he had a row of buttons on his desk—buttons he could press to access any knowledge he needed. He didn't need to personally possess all information. He needed to know: where to get it who to ask how to apply it Hill wrote: “Any person is educated who knows where to get knowledge when needed, and how to organize that knowledge into definite plans of action.” (Chapter V, p. 81, TAGR) Through his Master Mind, Ford had access to all the specialized knowledge required to become one of the wealthiest men in America. This is a critical lesson for sales professionals: You do not need to know everything. You need to know what matters most, and how to apply it. Why Some Ideas Succeed and Others Don't This principle explains why some books—and businesses—succeed at extraordinary levels while others, though insightful, fall short. Take Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Its impact wasn't just the ideas—it was the framework. Covey gave readers clear steps for how to apply each habit in real life. Contrast that with Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now. An incredible book, (I love this book- I own it-and it's on my bookshelf). It's rich in insight—but for many readers, it's difficult to apply without additional guidance or structure. The difference is not wisdom. It's organized, specialized knowledge. “Knowledge is not power until it is organized into definite plans of action.” (Chapter V, p. 80, TAGR) What ‘Educated' Really Means Hill reminds us that education does not mean memorization or credentials. The word educate comes from the Latin educo, meaning: to draw out to develop from within An educated person is not someone with the most information—but someone who has developed the faculties of their mind to acquire, apply, and direct knowledge effectively. This is where Specialized Knowledge intersects with: imagination intuition perception will —faculties we explored earlier in the series. Chapter V Specialized Knowledge Applied to Sales In sales, Specialized Knowledge looks like this: Knowing your customer's world, not just your product Understanding patterns in their world that match with yours, not scripts that lack meaning Being able to simplify complexity for the buyer Organizing your knowledge into a repeatable sales process This is what creates authority. When something comes naturally to you—but amazes others—you are operating in specialized knowledge. That's where confidence comes from. That's where trust is built. That's where sales success compounds. How to Use Specialized Knowledge to Reach New Heights (Sales Tips) 1. Identify What You Do Naturally Well Ask yourself: What do people come to me for? What feels obvious to me but confusing to others? That's your starting point for specialization. 2. Organize Your Knowledge into a Framework Turn what you know into: a process a checklist a conversation flow Frameworks build confidence—for you and the buyer where you can point to them clearly where they are in the process, showing them how to move to where they want to go. 3. Learn Continuously—but Selectively Don't collect information. Acquire purposeful knowledge aligned to your goal. Ask: Does this help me serve better? Does this help my buyer decide? 4. Use a Master Mind No top performer succeeds alone. Surround yourself with: mentors peers coaches Borrow knowledge, insight, and certainty with every action that you take. 5. Apply, Review, Refine Specialized knowledge compounds only when used. Apply what you learn. Review results. Refine your approach. This is how expertise is built. Final Insight — Chapter V: Specialized Knowledge Sales success does not come from knowing more. It comes from knowing what matters, organizing it into action, and applying it consistently. When Specialized Knowledge is combined with Imagination, it creates something powerful: A unique and successful business. And this brings us naturally to the next chapters—where imagination, planning, and decision transform knowledge into results. Chapter VI: Imagination Selling the Future Before the Close                  Core Idea: People buy future identity, not features. Sales Application: Painting the “after” state Emotional buy-in before logical justification Don't quit when you are at “3 Feet from Gold” (Chapter 1, TAGR, Page 5). Listener Takeaway People don't buy solutions. They buy who they become after the solution. And it is the salesperson's role to activate the buyer's imagination—to help them see themselves on the other side of the decision. This brings us back to Paul Martinelli's reminder: “Sales at its highest level is the transference of emotion. And the primary emotion is certainty.” Imagination is what creates that certainty. Before a buyer can feel certain, they must first imagine the outcome: life after their problem is solved success after the decision is made themselves operating at a higher level When imagination is engaged, certainty follows. And when certainty is present, the decision becomes natural. Can you see how all of these success principles tie into each other? Like the colors of the rainbow. Chapter VI: Imagination Review of Chapter VI — Our Imagination “Imagination is everything,” according to American author and radio speaker Earl Nightingale, who devoted much of his work to human character development, motivation, and the pursuit of a meaningful life. Every great invention is created in two places: first in the mind of the inventor, and then in the physical world when the idea is brought into form. Our lives reflect how effectively we use our imagination. When we reach a plateau of success, it is not effort alone that takes us to the next level—it is imagination. Imagination allows us to see beyond our current circumstances and envision what is possible next. This is why creating a crystal-clear vision is so important. When we write and read our vision twice a day, we intentionally activate our imagination. Writing and reading that vision in detail stimulates recognition centers in the brain. What may initially feel unrealistic or even like a “pipe dream” begins to feel familiar. Over time, the brain accepts it as something possible—something achievable. Eventually, what once felt distant becomes something you can see yourself doing. And then, one day, what you imagined becomes your reality. When you look at the world through this lens, it's remarkable to consider how much has changed in just the last 50 years—and how quickly that pace is accelerating. These new innovations began in someone's mind first. The most recent leap forward is with artificial intelligence, but it follows the same pattern as every major breakthrough before it. Someone first imagined a world where: Amazon would dominate retail while owning almost no physical stores Uber would transform transportation while owning almost no cars Facebook would scale globally while creating no content Airbnb would become a hospitality giant while owning no real estate Netflix would redefine entertainment without being a TV channel Bitcoin would create value without physical coins Each of these began as an idea before evidence—a vision before execution. The same principle applies to our goals, our careers, and our success. Everything we create begins with imagination. When imagination is paired with belief, intention, and action, it becomes a powerful force that shapes not only individual outcomes, but the direction of the world itself.   Closing Thought — Chapter VI Imagination is not fantasy. It is the starting point of all progress. What you are able to imagine clearly today is what you are capable of creating tomorrow. How to Use Imagination for Sales Success Turning Possibility into Certainty 1. Understand the Role of Imagination in Sales Imagination is not fantasy. In sales, imagination is pre-decision certainty. Before a buyer can decide, they must first: see a different future feel themselves in it believe it is attainable Your job as the salesperson is to guide that mental rehearsal. People don't buy products. They buy the future version of themselves (with the certainty that you paint for them). 2. Imagine the Outcome Before the Buyer Does Top sales professionals do not start with features. They start with vision. Before the call, ask yourself: Who does my buyer become after the purchase? What changes in their day-to-day life? What problem is no longer taking up mental space? How you can support and guide them in this process. If you cannot imagine the outcome clearly, your buyer won't either.

2025 Has been a year of discovery! We've discovered a lot about ourselves! In this episode, we will be discussing: "The journey itself is a classroom. Just like a classroom, we need to: 1. Sit up 2. Pay attention to the teacher 3. Listen carefully 4. Take notes! 5. Set aside time at home to understand what each problem presents 6. Rehearse the solution until it's embedded in your heart and mind7. And when the test is given, you'll be able to handle the test! And pass the test! And through this journey our great teacher (God) is providing the abundant life that we need in order to fulfill our purpose!

Foot Drop Solutions After Stroke Without an AFO: Ken Kerns' “New Way to Walk” (Plus Aphasia Recovery After a 10-Day Coma) Ken Kerns didn't just wake up from a stroke. He woke up from a 10-day medically induced coma after an AVM brain hemorrhage, facing a reality that would shake anyone's identity: right-side paralysis, aphasia, and the exhausting work of rebuilding everyday life from scratch. And then, because stroke recovery loves a twist, one of the nurses kept calling him Frank. That moment might sound funny now, but in the early days of brain injury, it landed like a true identity crisis. Ken would later turn that experience into a book title: Anything But Frank—and into a bigger message that matters for every survivor and caregiver: recovery isn't one problem to solve. It's dozens. And you solve them one by one. This episode covers the full story (AVM, coma, aphasia, purpose). But it also includes something many survivors are actively searching for: foot drop solutions after stroke without an AFO—specifically, a practical tool Ken found that helped reduce falls and made walking feel more natural again. The day everything changed: an AVM hemorrhage at home Ken's stroke happened early in the COVID era, when work had shifted home and hospitals were under intense strain. He was preparing for a meeting when he went to the bathroom and collapsed. His wife, Carrie, couldn't open the door—he'd fallen behind it. She called emergency services. Ken has no memory of those moments. Like many survivors, he had to rebuild the story from what others told him. What followed was terrifying uncertainty. A neurosurgeon reviewed imaging and initially feared a tumor (Ken had a history of kidney cancer years earlier). Carrie was allowed into the emergency room to say goodbye because it wasn't clear Ken would survive surgery. But in surgery, the cause became clear: an arteriovenous malformation (AVM). The surgeon removed it, and Ken was placed into a medically induced coma for 10 days. Aphasia: when your brain is fast… and your mouth won't cooperate When Ken woke, his deficits were immediate and brutal: Paralyzed on the right side Unable to speak Had to relearn swallowing Severe aphasia that improved over time One of the most honest parts of Ken's story is how confusing aphasia can feel from the inside. Ken described it like this: his cognition is there, answers are forming—yet the “path” to speech is obstructed. “My brain works much faster than my mouth.” “There used to be a direct path… and now that path is worn… covered by weeds.” That metaphor matters because it reframes aphasia as a communication access issue—not a lack of intelligence. Ken found a major turning point through a Minnesota-based communication group: Minnesota Connect Aphasia Now (MNCAN). Practicing weekly conversations (with support from a speech-language pathologist) rebuilt something more than words. It rebuilt confidence. He went from relying on Carrie to order food or check in at airports… to speaking up again in real-world settings. And eventually, he didn't just participate—he stepped into leadership and became president of the board. If you're living with aphasia, this is one of the most powerful “hidden wins” in recovery: you don't have to wait until speech is perfect to start practicing in the world. “Anything But Frank”: identity, emotion, and meaning after stroke In the hospital, a nurse repeatedly called Ken “Frank.” It sounds like a paperwork mistake—but for someone fresh out of coma, it triggered fear and confusion: Did I die? Am I someone else? Who will I FaceTime? When the iPad finally turned around and he saw Carrie, he cried—not from sadness, but relief. Later, Ken's siblings did what siblings do: they turned the story into a running joke. They called him Frank. Ken's response became a line that carried him forward: Call me anything but Frank. That phrase became the title of his book and a symbol of what recovery often is: reclaiming identity while your body and brain renegotiate who you are. Ken also spoke candidly about emotional recovery. In rehab, he felt intense anger—then shifted into a daily question that gave him structure: “Guide my day. Show me the purpose.” Whether you share Ken's faith or not, the takeaway is universal: When recovery feels chaotic, survivors need a meaningful frame to keep going. Foot drop solutions after stroke without an AFO: the “new way to walk” Ken found Foot drop is one of those stroke problems that seems “small” until it isn't. It can quietly steal independence through trips, falls, and fear—especially on stairs, uneven ground, and (in Ken's case) Minnesota snow and ice. Ken described classic foot drop challenges: Difficulty lifting the foot Frequent falls Trouble on the stairs Reduced confidence walking He used an ankle-foot orthotic (AFO), which helped. But later, he discovered a product that—for him—became a workable AFO alternative: Cadence shoes. Ken's experience was specific and practical: The shoe design helped his foot glide during the swing phase Then grip when the weight shifted forward He reported no falls since wearing them He said he no longer needed his AFO He felt stair descent improved because the shoe gripped rather than sliding off the step This is crucial: this isn't “one weird trick.” It's a tool that matched Ken's exact pattern of movement, environment, and needs. If you're exploring foot drop solutions, here's the smart way to use Ken's story: Treat tools as experiments, not guarantees Trial safely (with your physio/OT if possible) Test on the surfaces that actually challenge you (stairs, carpet edges, outdoor paths) Measure results: falls, near-falls, fatigue, confidence, walking speed Ken also used another independence tool: a left-foot accelerator to return to driving while his right ankle remained immobile. That's a reminder that “walking recovery” isn't only rehab—it's also smart adaptation. What to take from Ken's story (even if your stroke was different) Ken's recovery wasn't a straight line. It was many small wins, stacked over time. If you're in the thick of it, consider this simple plan: Name the real problem (not “I'm broken,” but “I trip when my foot drags.”) Practice communication in community (groups like MNCAN show what's possible) Choose tools that reduce risk today (falls steal momentum) Rehearse what matters (Ken practiced speeches until they were automatic) Protect your inputs (Ken avoids depressing “poison” media that drains recovery energy) And if you're a caregiver: the biggest gift is often helping your person keep experimenting—without pressure, without shame, and without rushing the timeline. Keep going with the full episode Ken's “new way to walk” is a valuable segment—but the whole episode is the real promise: AVM stroke recovery, aphasia progress, identity rebuilding, and the meaning that can emerge after trauma. If you want more stories like this (and practical tools survivors are actually using), you can also check out Bill's book and support the podcast here: Book: The Unexpected Way That A Stroke Became The Best Thing That Happened Patreon This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your health or recovery plan. Ken Kerns: 10-Day Coma, AVM Stroke Recovery, Aphasia Progress & Walking Confidence Ken woke from a 10-day coma after an AVM stroke, unable to speak or move his right side, then rebuilt his voice and his walking confidence for life. Book – Anything but Frank: A Journey of Healing, Patience, and Rediscovery Archway Publishing Amazon (U.S.) Amazon (Australia Additional Resources: Minnesota Connect Aphasia Now (MnCAN) Cadense Adaptive Shoes The Transcript Will Be Available Soon… The post Ken Kerns: 10-Day Coma, AVM Stroke Recovery, Aphasia Progress & Walking Confidence appeared first on Recovery After Stroke.

Jen Wilkin, JT English, and Kyle Worley answer questions submitted by listeners!Questions Covered in This Episode:Can you talk to the value or lack thereof of being a credential holder in any particular fellowship or denomination? Are there any secondary beliefs your denomination holds that you don't agree with?Why is it good that denominations have core confessions?Do you think there will be salt in the new heavens and the new earth since there is no sea or no tears?Jen, what is your favorite classical music?Can you share thoughts on what your church requires of members? How does your church handle discipline?I have heard that Old Testament prophecies have an immediate fulfillment and another fulfillment in the future. Can you explain that?Is any of the content in the Deep Discipleship Program in conflict with Lutheran beliefs? (or other denominations)After the episode on therapeutic language, I wonder if you are going to talk about the fascination with “New Age” practices?What is going on with Women's Bible Study? How do you evaluate curriculum?Did Jesus ever make mistakes during his earthly life?Does Jesus display the imcommunicable attributes?Is the incarnation itself an accommodation?Did God the Father love the Son at the moment of the crucifixion?Do you have resources for the “false stories” you talk about on the podcast?What would you tell someone about tithing who is in deep debt?Should we as Christians celebrate the feasts given to Israel?How is orthodoxy determined? How do we explain differences among believers?Where would you start a scope & sequence for college students and young adults?Resources Mentioned in this Episode:Deep Discipleship ProgramBFM 2000Westminster ConfessionNicene CreedThe Creed of ChalcedonApostles CreedHandel's MessiahVivaldi The Four SeasonsKnowing Faith: Has Therapeutic Language Invaded the Church?Jen Wilkin's Instagram Highlight of bible StudyKnowing Faith: Does God have Emotions with Ronni Kurtz“Remember and Rehearse” by JT English“Formed for Fellowship” by Kyle Worley Follow Us:Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | WebsiteOur Sister Podcast:Tiny TheologiansSupport Training the Church and Become a Patron:patreon.com/trainingthechurchYou can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway's Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.To learn more about our sponsors please visit our sponsor page.Editing and support by The Good Podcast Co. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Some speakers have "it". Even from the back of the room you can sense their inner energy, confidence, and certainty — that compelling attractiveness we call charisma.   This isn't about being an extrovert or a show pony. It's about building presence and appeal in ways that work in boardrooms, conferences, online presentations (Zoom/Teams), and hybrid rooms where attention is fragile and cynicism is high.  What is "presenter charisma" in practical terms? Presenter charisma is the audience feeling your energy, certainty, and credibility — fast. You can be sitting "down the back" and still sense the speaker's confidence and surety, because their delivery is controlled, purposeful, and consistent.  In business—whether you're speaking to a Japanese audience in Tokyo, a sales kickoff in Singapore, or a leadership offsite in Australia—charisma shows up as: decisiveness in your opening, calm control of the room, and a message that feels structured rather than improvised. The point is not to act bigger. The point is to remove uncertainty so the audience can relax and follow you. Do now: Charisma is engineered. Decide what you want the audience to feel in the first 10 seconds — and design for that.  Why do charismatic presenters never "rehearse on the audience"? Charismatic presenters don't practice live on people — they rehearse until the talk is already proven. Too many speakers deliver the talk once and call it preparation, but that's just using the audience as your rehearsal space. Professionals do the opposite: they rehearse "many, many times" to lock in timing, high points, cadence, humour, and the small details that make a talk succeed.  They also seek useful feedback: not "what do you think?", but "what was good?" and "how could I make it better?". Then they use audio/video review to improve, even using a hotel window as a mirror while travelling.   This is how "effortless" happens: it's not talent, it's refinement. Do now: Record one rehearsal and review it like a coach. Fix one thing per run — pacing, pauses, gestures, clarity.  What do charismatic presenters do differently at the venue? They arrive early and eliminate uncertainty before it can infect their confidence. The speaker is already there about an hour ahead, getting a sense of the room and checking how they look from the "cheap seats" — not just from the front row.  They ensure the slide deck is loaded and working, they know the slide advancer, and they've sorted microphone sound levels — without the amateur routine of bashing the mic and asking "can you hear me down the back".   They also manage the environment: lights stay up (so the audience can stay engaged), and the MC reads their introduction exactly as crafted to project credibility.  Do now: Do a "cockpit check" 60 minutes early—room, tech, lights, intro, sightlines. Confidence comes from control.  How do charismatic presenters build connection before they start speaking? They work the room first, so the audience feels like allies, not strangers. They stand near the door as people arrive, introduce themselves, and ask what attracted them to the topic.   Then they listen with total focus—no interrupting, no finishing sentences, no "clever comments"—and they remember names and key details.  This matters even more in relationship-driven cultures like Japan, and in senior-room settings where rank and scepticism can create invisible barriers. By the time the speaker steps on stage, they've already demolished that barrier and banked goodwill across the room.   It also gives you a powerful tool: you can reference audience members naturally later and make the session feel shared, not performed. Do now: Meet five people at the door. Learn two names you can reference in the opening.  What do charismatic presenters do in the first two seconds on stage? They start immediately — because the first two seconds decide the first impression. When the MC calls them up, they don't waste time switching computers, loading files, or fiddling with logistics — that was handled in advance by support.  They know we live in the "Age of Distraction" and the "Era of Cynicism," so they protect that tiny two-second window and make the opening a real grabber that cuts through competition for mind space.   One simple method is referencing people they spoke with earlier ("Mary made a good point…"), which instantly signals: we're one unit today.   That move collapses distance between stage and seats and makes attention easier to earn. Do now: Script your first two sentences so you can deliver them cold — no admin, no warm-up, no drift.  How do charismatic presenters keep attention — and control the final impression? They project energy with structure, then they take back the close after Q&A. In delivery they project their ki(energy) to the back of the room, while keeping the content clear, concise, well-structured, and supported by Zen-like slides.   The key message is crystal clear, evidence feels unassailable, and eye contact is disciplined: about six seconds per person, creating the feeling you're speaking directly to them.   What they say and how they say it stays congruent.  Then they manage Q&A like a second presentation: they set the time, paraphrase questions for the full room, don't dodge hard questions, and if they don't know they say so and commit to following up.   Finally, they seize back the initiative with a second close so the last thing the audience hears is the key message — not a random off-topic question.  Do now: Plan two closes (pre-Q&A and post-Q&A). Never surrender your final impression.  Conclusion Charisma isn't luck. It's what happens when you stop rehearsing on your audience, arrive early to remove uncertainty, work the room to build goodwill, protect the first two seconds, deliver with high energy and clarity, and then control the final impression with a deliberate second close.  Next steps for leaders/executives: Rehearse until timing, cadence, and high points are locked (video + audio review).  Arrive 60 minutes early and run a full room/tech/intro check.  Work the room at the door and learn names before you speak.  Script the first two sentences and design a second close after Q&A.  Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012).  As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results.  He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業) and Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人). Greg also publishes daily business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. 

The vexing difficulty of finding the perfect gift. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Host Ira Glass goes to a busy Target store one week before Christmas. Most shoppers he talks to don't think any of their gifts will be returned. (3 minutes)Act One: Ian Brown tries, after decades of failure, to give his mother the perfect Christmas gift. He and his brother attempt something they haven't done since they were kids: Rehearse and sing her a program of Christmas carols. (19 minutes)Act Two: We play a 1959 original recording of Truman Capote reading his holiday story A Christmas Memory. (18 minutes)Act Three: Caitlin Shetterly reports on a true-life holiday fable from rural Maine, complete with a misunderstood recluse with a heart of gold, a deserving family in need, and a very special Christmas tree farm with secrets of its own. (16 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.

Episode SummaryIn this Think Thursday episode, Molly explores why December feels so emotionally intense and why anticipation plays such a powerful role in our thoughts, feelings, and habits. Anticipation is not just psychological. It is driven by the brain's predictive systems that simulate the future long before it arrives.Using findings from neuroscience, including research highlighted in Neuron, University College London, Stanford University, and studies on dopamine and reward processing, Molly explains how imagining the future changes our emotional state in the present. She shows how anticipation can create craving, heighten anxiety, and influence behavior before anything even happens.Importantly, she connects this science to behavior change. When we understand anticipation, we gain the ability to shape our emotional experience, support our habit goals, and build a stronger relationship with our future selves.What You Will LearnWhy the brain is not reactive but predictiveHow the prospection network simulates possible futuresWhy anticipation activates the same regions involved in memory and emotionHow dopamine spikes during anticipation more than during rewardWhy the holidays intensify emotional forecastingHow the brain treats future you similarly to a strangerHow anticipation contributes to cravings, stress, and anxietyPractical strategies for using anticipation intentionally in behavior changeKey Insights from the EpisodeAnticipation is a physiological experience. Heart rate, dopamine, and emotional readiness all shift based on prediction.December amplifies anticipation because the brain is projecting ahead using vivid emotional memories from past holidays.Many habit patterns with alcohol, eating, and spending are anticipatory rather than reactive in the moment.The medial prefrontal cortex becomes less active when imagining the distant future, which explains why future you feels separate.Mental rehearsal activates the same neural pathways as actual behavior and can support intentional change.Anticipatory framing can influence how stressful events are interpreted afterward.Practical Tools from the Episode1. Anticipate the emotional landscape, not the event. Shift from worrying about what will happen to planning for how you want to feel.2. Rehearse your chosen identity. Imagine yourself acting in alignment with your values to strengthen the neural pathways that support follow-through.3. Shorten the distance to future you. Ask questions like:What will tonight's me thank me forWhat does tomorrow morning's me need4. Anticipate urges with curiosity. Recognize that urges are forecasts of relief, not emergencies.5. Create micro anticipations that ground you. Examples include expecting the first sip of warm tea, a quiet step outside, or the feeling of waking up proud the next morning.Studies and Sources Mentioned2023 review in Neuron on the prospection networkUniversity College London study on dopamine release during anticipatory uncertaintyStanford University research on future self representation in the brainStudies from the University of Michigan and Max Planck Institute on dopamine and anticipation2024 Psychological Science study on anticipatory framing and stress interpretation ★ Support this podcast ★

ABOUT THIS EPISODEIf you've ever felt guilty for wanting more — more peace, more softness, more support, more money, more joy — this episode is going to feel like someone finally turned the lights on inside your spirit. We're diving deep into the worthiness wound: the invisible identity ceiling that makes you crave abundance while bracing for disappointment. If receiving feels uncomfortable, if expansion feels scary, or if your dreams feel “too big” for the woman you were taught to be… whew, you're in the right place.In this conversation, we're unpacking the nervous system patterns, inherited beliefs, and emotional conditioning that convince you you're “not allowed” to want more — and how to dismantle those patterns so you can actually receive the blessings you keep praying for. This is where mindset meets healing, where identity meets expansion, and where self-worth becomes the foundation for abundance, confidence, and aligned manifestation.If you're ready to break cycles, rewrite your internal rules, and step into the version of yourself who knows she is worthy of more — more love, more opportunities, more money, more capacity, more alignment — this episode will feel like a homecoming. KEY TAKEAWAYSThe real reason you struggle to believe you're “allowed” to have more isn't mindset — it's nervous system conditioning that learned to associate expansion with danger.Your worthiness wound didn't come from brokenness; it came from environments that made “less” feel safer than “more.”Defensive worthiness — staying small to stay safe — is not who you are anymore; it's who you became to survive.You start expanding the moment you stop protecting the old rules and start practicing emotional safety around receiving.When you believe you're allowed to have more, confidence becomes effortless — it shows up as the identity of a woman who is rooted, deserving, and done shrinking.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction: The Truth About Wanting More01:06 Understanding the Worthiness Wound02:04 The Journey to Transformation03:31 Identifying the Invisible Ceiling05:53 Breaking Free from Conditioning07:47 The Main Character Identity Shift09:26 Healing Through Journaling10:45 Rehearsing a New Reality13:53 The Self-Love Two Step15:16 Embracing Your Expansion19:53 Conclusion: Walking Boldly into Your Worthiness EraTHE SELF-LOVE 2-STEP — Repair the Worthiness Wound in Real TimeFriend, this 2-Step is your gentle-but-powerful daily practice to shift from survival mode into receiving mode. It's simple, soulful, and designed to help you embody the woman who believes she's worthy of more.✨ Step 1: Name the Ceiling You've Been Living UnderIdentify the belief whispering, “This is all you get.” Naming it pulls it out of the shadows and breaks the old safety rule that's been running your life.

ABOUT THIS EPISODEFriend… let's get real — people don't respond to your words — they respond to the energy beneath them. And when your energy is rooted in self-doubt, fear, or “please choose me” vibes, your relationships will reflect that. But when you upgrade your energetic self-respect? Everything — literally everything — shifts.In this episode, we're unpacking the unseen, soul-level frequency behind self-worth, boundaries, dating patterns, and relational alignment. We talk about the subtle ways we leak power, override intuition, and negotiate our standards without even realizing it. This is the episode you listen to when you're ready to stop talking about your worth… and start embodying it.If you've ever wondered why certain relationships drain you, repeat themselves, or fall out of alignment, this conversation is the clarity you've been craving. We're going deep on energetic boundaries, self-respect, identity shifts, and the emotional posture that changes how every person in your life experiences you.KEY TAKEAWAYSPeople don't respond to what you say — they respond to the self-respect (or lack of it) behind your energy.Desperate energy doesn't attract love; it attracts emotional debt and unbalanced dynamics.When you raise the internal standard you have for yourself, your relationships recalibrate instantly.Embodying your worth requires becoming the woman who matches the energy she's calling in — not performing it.The moment you stop negotiating with your value, you start attracting connections aligned with the woman you're becoming.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction: The Power of Energy00:44 Understanding the Impact of Energy02:56 The Shift: Raising Your Frequency05:26 Defining Self-Respect07:34 Practical Steps to Self-Respect09:10 Main Character Energy10:00 Self-Respect in Relationships10:44 Self-Respect in Friendships and Family12:03 Self-Respect in Career and Personal Life15:05 The Self-Love Two Step17:38 Final Thoughts: Embodying Self-RespectTHE SELF-LOVE 2-STEPAlright Friend, you know the vibe — this is where the transformation gets practical. The Self-Love 2-Step is your mini reset, your quick realignment, your “wait… let me check my energy” moment.✨ Step 1: Where Did You Shrink?Identify the last moment you softened your truth or silenced your intuition to keep someone else comfortable. Name it honestly — awareness is empowerment.

TED and TEDx look effortless on stage, but the behind-the-scenes prep is anything but casual. In this talk, I pulled back the velvet curtain on how I prepared for a TEDx talk—especially the parts most people skip: designing the ending first, engineering a punchy opening, and rehearsing like a maniac so tech issues don't derail you.  Is TED/TEDx preparation really different from a normal business presentation? Yes—TED/TEDx forces ruthless compression, because you've got a hard time cap and a global audience. In my case, I had up to thirteen minutes, with restrictions on topic and format, and the whole "ideas worth spreading" expectation sitting on your shoulders.  That changes everything compared with a 45-minute internal briefing at a conglomerate or a client pitch at a fast-moving startup. Every word is gold, so you can't "talk your way into clarity" the way you might in a boardroom. You need a single thesis, clean structure, and a delivery plan that works under lights, cameras, and nerves.  Do now: Treat TED like a product launch—tight spec, tight runtime, tight message. If it doesn't serve the thesis, cut it.  How do experts choose a TED talk topic and central message? Start with a topic that fits the format and can travel across cultures, industries, and countries. I chose "Transform Our Relationships" because TED talks are broadcast globally, and the theme has universal relevance—whether you're leading a team in Tokyo, selling in Sydney, or managing stakeholders in Europe.  Then you lock the central message until it's unmistakable. In my case, the title basically was the thesis: "transform your relationships for the better." That clarity prevents the classic mistake of drifting into clever side quests that feel interesting but dilute the point.  Do now: Write your thesis as one sentence you'd be happy to see quoted out of context. If it can't stand alone, it's not ready.  Why should you design the ending before the opening? Because your close is your compass—if you don't know the ending, the middle becomes a junk drawer. I started by deciding how I wanted to finish, then designed everything to land there cleanly.  I also linked the close back to remarks from the start, so the talk could "tie a neat bow" and feel complete. TED format usually means no questions, so you're not designing multiple landing zones—just one strong finish that nails the central message.  Do now: Draft your final 20 seconds first. Then reverse-engineer the talk so every section earns the right to exist.  How do you build the middle of a short talk without rambling? Use chapters, not vibes: pick a small set of principles and make each one a complete unit. I used Dale Carnegie's human relations principles, but there are thirty—way too many—so I selected seven (and later had to drop one when rehearsal exposed the time blowout).  Each principle became a chapter, which made construction easier and cutting less emotional. I then added "flesh on the bones" with story vignettes—some invented to illustrate, some real. To bridge into the principles, I used recognisable anchors like Gandhi ("be the change…") and Newton's action–reaction idea to make the "change your angle of approach" concept instantly graspable.  Do now: Build 5–7 chapters max. Make each chapter removable without breaking the whole talk.  How do you craft a TED opening that grabs attention (without clickbait)? Your opening has one job: make the audience lean in and think, "Wait—where is this going?" I researched what others said about transforming relationships and found a report ("Relationships in the 21st Century") with conclusions I felt were obvious—perfect for a debunking-style opening.  A slightly controversial start can be an attention grabber, but I left the final design of the opening until the end—because once the ending and structure were solid, I could engineer an opener that set up anticipation without gimmicks. If the report had contained something genuinely profound, I would've used it as authority reinforcement instead.  Do now: Write three openings: (1) contrarian debunk, (2) authority-backed insight, (3) personal story. Choose the one that best tees up your thesis.  What rehearsal system stops you bombing on the day (especially with tech problems)? Rehearsal isn't "practice"—it's risk management under a stopwatch. I rehearsed until timing and flow were locked: I recorded the full script and replayed it about ten times to absorb the structure, then did live rehearsals, editing to stay under the thirteen-minute limit.  Right before delivery, I did five full-power rehearsals the day before, then ten full-power rehearsals on the day at home—checking time every run. That repetition gave confidence when there were technical issues with the stage screen, and later a last-second delay (four seconds before going on) that could've wrecked concentration. I used breathing control, avoided green-room chatter, checked mic placement, even used a backstage mirror to keep my gestures sharp—karate-finals mindset.  Do now: Rehearse to time, at full power, and assume tech will fail. If you can deliver without slides, you're bulletproof.  Conclusion TED-level performance looks "natural" only because the prep is engineered: thesis first, ending first, chapters next, opening last, and rehearsal so deep you can survive delays, nerves, and broken screens without losing your place. If you want your talk to travel—across Japan, Australia, the US, or Europe—build it like a system, not a speech.  Next steps for leaders/executives (fast checklist): Write the last line of your talk today (your thesis, in plain English).  Break the body into 5–7 "chapters" you can delete without re-writing everything.  Rehearse to the real constraint (time cap, camera, mic, slides).  Build a "tech fails" version: no slides, same impact.  FAQs How long should a TED-style talk take to memorise? It depends, but scripting plus repeated audio playback can lock in flow faster than brute memorisation.  Do you need slides for a TED talk? Not always—slides can help navigation, but you should be able to deliver confidently without them. What's the easiest way to cut time without weakening the talk? Build chapters so you can delete one complete section rather than watering down everything.  Author Credentials  Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー).  Greg also publishes daily business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews, which are widely followed by executives seeking success strategies in Japan. 

Isaiah 43:14-44:8 | Ricky ShipeLearn more about Redeemer Kansas City by visiting redeemerkc.church Come visit us every Sunday morning at 10am

Rehearse Redemption's Song

Rehearse Redemption's Song

 Sales has always been a mindset game, but as of 2025, credibility is audited in seconds: first by your attitude, then by your image, and finally by how you handle objections and deliver outcomes. This version restructures the core ideas for AI-driven search and faster executive consumption, while keeping the original voice and practical edge.  Is attitude really the master key to sales success in 2025? Yes—your inner narrative sets your outer performance curve. From Henry Ford's "whether you think you can or can't" to Dale Carnegie's focus on personal agency, top performers engineer their self-talk under pressure. Post-pandemic, the volatility of B2B buying cycles and procurement scrutiny means sellers in Japan, the US, and Europe face more "no's" before a "yes." Adopt deliberate mental scripts before client calls ("You can do this") and after setbacks ("Reset, learn, re-engage"). Layer temporal anchors—quarterly targets, weekly pipeline reviews—to keep momentum objective, not emotional. In startups and SMEs, the founder-seller's mindset colours the whole team; in multinationals, it influences cross-functional trust with legal, finance, and delivery. Do now: Write a 30-second pre-call mantra and a 60-second post-call reset. Repeat both for 30 days; track conversion lift in your CRM. How do I bounce back fast after rejection without losing my edge? Counter-programme negativity with immediate, structured inputs. After job loss or a blown deal, flood your cognition with high-quality content the way athletes use tape review—books, playbooks, and leader debriefs instead of doom-scrolling. Think "input replacement": replace rumination with skill-building (objection patterns, pricing frameworks). Firms like Toyota or Rakuten institutionalise retrospectives; emulate that at team scale. In APAC vs. US contexts, timelines to re-pitch can differ—use a 24–48 hour window to reframe, then re-engage stakeholders. Treat every rejection as data: log cause (timing, budget, political capital) and countermeasure (proof, pilot, reference). Do now: Create a "rejection to routine" checklist: 1) log cause, 2) choose countermeasure, 3) schedule next touch, 4) upgrade enablement asset. Which people should I avoid—and which should I seek—when my pipeline wobbles? Avoid the "whine circle"; seek performance environments. Misery compounds in sales teams when negative talk becomes a daily ritual. Protect your focus like revenue: step away from low-agency chatter and toward deal rooms, peer reviews, and customer-back sessions. The classic Glengarry Glen Ross contrast—Ricky Roma selling while others complain—remains instructive, even if your 2025 "bar" is a Zoom room. In Japanese enterprise sales, senpai-kohai norms can pressure you to join the gripe; politely decline and book a customer discovery call instead. In US/Europe, use enablement Slack channels for pattern-spotting (what's working now vs. last quarter). Do now: Time-audit one week. Replace 2 hours of complaint conversations with 2 customer conversations, a reference call, or a pilot design session. Does my image still matter when most buyers research online first? Absolutely—executive presence accelerates trust in the first 90 seconds. "Image" isn't just suits and watches; it's congruence: neat dress, crisp opening, concise agenda, and credible artefacts (case studies, pilots, references). Think "BMW energy" without the bravado: quiet competence, simple visuals, punctuality. In conservative sectors (financial services, manufacturing), formality signals reliability; in startups and creative industries, smart-casual with clean slides signals agility. Japan versus US norms diverge in attire, but converge on preparation and respect: arrive early, name roles, confirm outcomes. Keep a repeatable first-impression kit: one-page credibility sheet, short customer video, and a 15-minute discovery plan. Do now: Build a 3-item presence kit (attire checklist, one-pager, discovery plan). Rehearse your first 90 seconds until it's muscle memory. How do I sound fluent without sounding "slick" or manipulative? Use structured clarity, not theatrics. Buyers fear the "too smooth" pitch; answer crisply, invite scrutiny, and show your working. Use a simple objection map: acknowledge → clarify → evidence → confirm. Anchor with entities (benchmarks, standards, regulations) and timelines ("as of Q4 2025, compliance rules changed"). In enterprise deals, suggest a small pilot to lower risk; in SME deals, offer a 30-day milestone plan. Keep language plain English with Australian spelling—short sentences, verbs first. Record and review your calls like athletes; look for hedging, filler, and jargon. Replace with specifics and proof. Do now: Write 5 top objections with one-sentence answers and one proof each (metric, customer name, or pilot result). Practise aloud. What proves credibility over time when problems inevitably arise? Calm accountability beats charisma after the contract is signed. When delivery hits turbulence, credibility is measured by cadence (weekly updates), transparency (risk log), and persistence (closing loops). Map stakeholders: executive sponsor, user lead, procurement, security. In Japan, escalate with harmony (nemawashi) before the formal meeting; in US/Europe, publish a written corrective plan and owner names. Tie each update to outcomes (uptime, cycle time, ROI proxy). Startups: emphasise speed of fix. Multinationals: emphasise governance and documentation. The goal is partner status, not vendor status. Do now: Implement a two-line status format in every email: "What changed since last week" and "What will change before next week," plus a single risk with owner. Quick checklist — first 90 seconds with a new buyer Confirm time, agenda, and outcome. One-sentence value prop, one credible proof. Ask one context question, one metric question, one timing question. Conclusion — the three pillars work together Mindset, image, and delivery are a system, not a buffet. Get your inner voice aligned, present like a pro, and then prove it under pressure. Do those three consistently, and 2025's buyers—whether in Tokyo, Sydney, or New York—will pick you when it counts.  FAQs What should I change first if I'm overwhelmed? Start with a pre-call checklist and a 30-second mantra—both are fast and compounding. How formal should I dress in Japan vs. the US? Japan skews more formal; the US tolerates smart-casual—match the client's culture and the meeting's stakes. How do I track mindset ROI? Tag calls where you used the routine; compare conversion rate and cycle time vs. prior month. Next steps for leaders/executives Install objection maps and first-impression kits across the team. Run weekly deal reviews focused on clarity, not theatre. Standardise pilot templates and two-line status updates. Author credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー).  Greg also publishes daily business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews, which are widely followed by executives seeking success strategies in Japan. 

For more incredible rock 'n' roll interviews, hit the subscribe button! Also check out Lipps Service with Scott Lipps podcasts on Spotify, Apple, or your favorite podcast player. #train #producing #podcast #music #top5 #interview #rocknroll CREDITS (Instagram handles) Host @scottlipps Podcast Manager @picklesmother_ Edited by @toastycakes Music by @robbyhoff Intern @kaylah._b Recorded by Fringe Podcasts NYC at Silver Lining Lounge 00:00 - Start 01:30 - 25 years of drops of Jupiter 02:37 - Growing up 05:00 - Finding his voice 08:05 - Zeppelin 09:11 - The move to San Fran 10:25 - Forming train 15:03 - The first big break 17:25 - “Drops of Jupiter” 22:00 - On the lyrical shift 23:53 - Jonathan Daniel 0:25:00 - “Hey Soul Sister” 28:38 - Butch Walker 33:10 - The new record 36:00 - Billy Joel 37:00 - The new tour 38:00 - Comedy and golf 40:41 - Uniting fans with music 42:00 - The perfect album 43:00 - Supergroup 44:09 - Top 5 Train songs 45:11 - Top 5 Zeppelin songs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember painful online rehearsal? Lutefish fixed it. Backed by Wenger and built for serious musicians, the Lutefish Stream delivers real-time online collaboration with crystal-clear 48K audio and low latency. Just plug into your router and play like you're in the same room. The Lutefish Stream https://lutefish.com/products/lutefish cuts down audio delay for remote music sessions by directly connecting audio sources, networks, and outputs, making sound travel incredibly fast, up to 30ms or less—like you're just 30 feet apart on a big stage or rehearsing in your garage! No more sitting in traffic on your way to practice. Rehearse more, meet new musicians in our free online community and create music together... all remotely. Real feel. Real time. Real music.

In the first seconds of any presentation, your audience decides whether to lean in or tune out. This guide shows you how to design those opening moments—before you speak and through your first sentence—so you command attention, create immediate relevance, and set up the rest of your message to land. What makes a powerful presentation opening in 2025? Your opening starts before you speak—and the audience decides in seconds. In a smartphone-first era, those first seven seconds determine whether people lean in or drift off. The "silent opening" (walk, posture, eye contact) forms a first impression before a single slide appears. Conferences, town halls, and startup pitches now feel like a live feed—attention is earned fast or lost. Do now: Plan the pre-speech moment (walk, stance, pause) as deliberately as your first words. Decide what you want people to think before you speak, then choreograph for that outcome. How do I control first impressions before I even speak? Pre-stage signals set expectations—own your bio, the MC intro, and foyer chats. Event pages, LinkedIn blurbs, and the MC's script shape the audience's mental model. Brief the MC with a single, crisp positioning line ("Built Asia-Pacific revenue from ¥0 to ¥10B") and avoid laundry-list CVs. In B2B, hallway conversations are part of the show; in government or academic settings, your written session abstract becomes the first "slide" attendees see. Do now: Write a 20-word positioning line for the MC; update the event blurb; greet attendees with energy to "seed" a positive narrative. What should I physically do in the first 10 seconds? Walk briskly, take centre stage, pause, then project your first line. Movement signals confidence across cultures; a slight, purposeful pause lifts anticipation and quiets side-chatter. A strong first sentence delivered at higher vocal energy breaks through device distraction. Australian audiences prefer relaxed authority; Japanese audiences value elegant poise and clear structure; US audiences reward pace and punch. In all markets, eyes up—don't bury your face in the laptop while fumbling with HDMI. Do now: Rehearse a "no-tech" start: walk → plant → 1-beat pause → first line with 10–15% more volume than normal. How can I hook executives with a captivating statement? Open with an analogy, a bold fact, or good news—then explain the relevance. Analogy makes complex issues tangible ("Launching this strategic initiative is like learning to drive—lots looks simple until you're in traffic.") Bold fact creates a pattern interrupt (e.g., demographic shifts, cost-of-delay, risk concentration). Good news reframes the room: cite an industry uptick, an R&D milestone, or a customer win to signal value early. Startups often lead with traction; corporates often lead with risk or opportunity size—choose the frame that matches your audience. Do now: Draft three openers (analogy, fact, good news). Pick one that best answers your audience's "why this, why now?" Should I start with a question—and which ones actually work? Use questions to gather info, drive participation, or create agreement—sparingly. Hands-up questions give you a real-time snapshot and wake the room. Physical prompts ("Stand if you've led a cross-border project since 2023") add energy in offsites and leadership programs. Rhetorical questions align minds without calling for a reply ("What costs us more—slow decisions or rework?"). In high-context cultures, rhetorical alignment often outperforms cold-calling; in US sales kick-offs, rapid polling can boost momentum. Do now: Script one of each: (1) hands-up, (2) physical prompt, (3) rhetorical alignment. Choose the lightest touch that fits the room. How do I keep phones down and attention up from the first sentence? Design an attention moat: short sentences, elevated volume, and immediate relevance. Open with the outcome your audience cares about ("By the end, you'll have a 3-step opening you can deliver tomorrow"). Use names, dates, and entities to anchor time and credibility. Contrast markets (Japan vs. US) or sectors (consumer vs. B2B) to create novelty. Then promise—and deliver—one fast, valuable tactic before your first slide. Do now: First line = outcome; second line = entity/time anchor; third line = quick win. Keep each under 12 words. The simple checklist to design your opening this week Follow this 7-point "First 30 Seconds" checklist—then rehearse twice. Bio/MC line set. Walk-plant-pause mapped. First sentence bold. Choose one hook (analogy/fact/good news). One question type ready. Relevance statement tied to current priorities (growth, hiring, AI, cross-border). Fallback if tech fails. Pro tip: keep a printed one-page run-of-show; use it when slides go rogue. Conclusion Openings are a system, not a sentence. When you control pre-stage signals, choreograph the first 10 seconds, and deploy a deliberate hook, you earn permission to lead—whether in Tokyo, Sydney, or New York. Rehearse the system this week and make it your default. About the author Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He has twice won Dale Carnegie's "One Carnegie Award" and received Griffith University Business School's Outstanding Alumnus Award. A Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg delivers leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs globally. He is the author of Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, Japan Presentations Mastery, Japan Leadership Mastery, and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training, with Japanese editions including 『ザ営業』 and 『プレゼンの達人』.

On this episode of Lipps Service, Scott sits down with the one and only Orville Peck, the masked cowboy who's redefined modern country music. The two talk about Orville's incredible journey, from his early days and musical influences to how the mask came to be and carving out his own lane in country music. Orville opens up about the business side of music, the making of his debut album Pony, and navigating his career. They also get into sobriety, fame, and reading social media comments, plus his collaborations with legends like Willie Nelson, Elton John, Noah Cyrus, and Lady Gaga. They chat about his new EP, Appaloosa, his love for Broadway, his performance in Cabaret, his own festival, and even a little about his appearance in the upcoming live-action film Street Fighter. The episode closes with Orville listing his top 5 Broadway shows of all time. Tune into an amazing chat with the coolest cat in country – Orville Peck! For more incredible rock 'n' roll interviews, hit the subscribe button! Also check out Lipps Service with Scott Lipps podcasts on Spotify, Apple, or your favorite podcast player. #orvillepeck #producing #podcast #music #top5 #interview #rocknroll CREDITS (Instagram handles) Host @scottlipps Production Coordinator and Booking Manager @whitakermarisa Edited by @toastycakes Music by @robbyhoff Intern @kaylah._b Recorded at Fringe Podcasts NYC 00:00 - Start 00:30 - Catching up 02:03 - Upbringing and being friends with legendary artists 05:00 - Musical influences 06:00 - David Bowie 09:00 - Defying the boundaries of country 11:25 - How the mask came about 15:00 - The finances of music 18:00 - Pony 20:00 - Subpop 20:35 - Fake it to you make it 22:01 - “Dead of Night” 23:35 - Journals and manifesting 24:25 - Cabaret 26:25 - “Drive Me Crazy” 27:52 - Sobriety, fame, and reading the comments 29:50 - The country co-sign & Willie Nelson 33:00 - Elton John 35:20 - Noah Cyrus 36:15 - Lady Gaga 37:49 - Appaloosa new EP 40:22 - Street Fighter 41:12 - His festival, “Rodeo” 42:37 - Top 5 most iconic singers 44:30 - Top 5 Broadway shows --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Remember painful online rehearsal? Lutefish fixed it. Backed by Wenger and built for serious musicians, the Lutefish Stream delivers real-time online collaboration with crystal-clear 48K audio and low latency. Just plug into your router and play like you're in the same room. The Lutefish Stream https://lutefish.com/products/lutefish cuts down audio delay for remote music sessions by directly connecting audio sources, networks, and outputs, making sound travel incredibly fast, up to 30ms or less—like you're just 30 feet apart on a big stage or rehearsing in your garage! No more sitting in traffic on your way to practice. Rehearse more, meet new musicians in our free online community and create music together... all remotely. Real feel. Real time. Real music.

Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! CLICK HERE TODAY -- When grief spikes—anniversaries, rooms that hold their echo—having a beginning and an ending lets your body know you're not trapped inside the moment.Journal prompt: “My threshold ritual will be…”Hard moments deserve structure. Begin with a flicker that signals you're entering on purpose—touch a photo or step outside and name the sky. Move into rebuild with a simple be-in-it container: time-box twenty minutes, breathe a long exhale on the minute, keep a touchstone in your hand. Then step out with a deliberate close: blow out the candle, wash hands or face, step outside and say, “I'm done for today.” Rehearse the three beats once on something smaller (scrolling photos, one phone call) so your body recognizes the exits when it counts.Choose-your-energy menu:Hollow (low): Do only the Close after a hard moment—wash hands, step outside, say “I'm done for today.”Healing (medium): Use Open + Close around one task (light candle → do the thing → blow it out).Becoming (higher): Run all three beats on a planned event; set a timer and jot one line afterward about what helped.To end today: Thresholds aren't superstition; they're trauma-aware choreography. When suicide loss surges, your body loses track of time—starts feel like ambushes and ends feel impossible. A simple open/close tells your nervous system, “There's a door here.” You get to enter remembering on purpose, be with it for a finite span, and then leave with your dignity intact. If someone doesn't understand why you wash your hands after scrolling or blow out a candle after a hard conversation, that's fine—the ritual isn't for them. It's a breadcrumb trail for you, a way to keep love close without letting pain run the whole house. Practice on small moments now so, on the big ones, your feet already know the way out. Exhale. Keep what serves you; leave the rest. I'll be here again tomorrow.

In this episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, host LA Williams sits down with Brandon Anderson, Vice President at Dealer Synergy and Founder of Anderson Athletic Academy, to discuss the parallels between high-level sports and success in automotive sales!  “To me, the mindset has to be, how can I be better immediately, not six months from now.” – Brandon Anderson They delve into how principles such as discipline, consistency, and effective coaching transcend industries, offering insights into achieving greatness regardless of one's field. Brandon shares his experiences and the mindset required to excel, drawing comparisons between preparing athletes for the NFL and coaching salespeople to reach their full potential. “Preparation always meets opportunity, right? So when you're prepared, you're ready to cash in on the opportunity.” – Brandon Anderson The discussion emphasizes the importance of viewing sales as a professional sport, requiring the same dedication, preparation, and competitive spirit. Keywords like "high-level performance," "sales coaching," and "competitive mindset" underscore the techniques and strategies necessary to elevate sales effectiveness! Brandon illustrates how having discipline and an unwavering drive can turn ordinary efforts into extraordinary achievements, whether on the playing field or the sales floor. The episode concludes with advice for sales managers on transforming their teams through accountability and effective coaching, urging them to embrace a culture of continuous improvement.   Key Takeaways: ✅Discipline and Consistency: Brandon emphasizes the role of preparation and consistent effort in achieving success, whether in sports or sales. ✅Competitive Mindset: Embracing competition and striving for better results is crucial in any field. ✅Importance of Fundamentals: Mastering basics are essential before advancing to more sophisticated techniques in sales or sports. ✅Coaching and Accountability: The significance of having a strong coach to guide, motivate, and hold teams accountable is highlighted. ✅Continual Improvement: The episode promotes a culture of learning and adapting through regular review and analysis of performance.   About Brandon Anderson Brandon Anderson is an exceptional individual known for his multifaceted background in athletics and business coaching. As an All-American defensive back, Brandon has thrived in competitive sports, later transitioning into coaching, where he focused initially on training athletes for the NFL through his establishment, Anderson Athletic Academy. Today, he serves as a performance coach at Dealer Synergy, translating his deep insights from the athletic world into actionable coaching strategies for sales teams. Brandon is recognized for his unique ability to cultivate both individual and team potential, leveraging his expertise to spearhead transformation within the automotive sales industry!   Bridging the Gap Between Athletic Mindsets and Car Sales Success Key Takeaways Repetition and Consistency for Mastery: Just like athletes practice relentless repetition, sales professionals must adopt the same discipline for success. Mindset Overcomes Barriers: A competitive and resilient mindset can transcend different fields, motivating continuous improvement regardless of past performance. The Importance of the Hidden Grind: Private preparation—away from direct supervision—fuels public performance, driving success both in sports and sales.   Repetition: The Athlete's Secret to Sales Mastery Repetition and consistency underpin the journey to excellence in any field, be it athletics or car sales. Athletes dedicate countless hours to perfecting their craft through unwavering repetition, an approach directly applicable in other sectors. As Brandon Anderson emphasized, "Greatness is consistency… It's boring because you got to do the same thing over and over." The same principle applies to sales professionals, where mastery is achieved through consistent practice and process adherence. Understanding the necessity of repetition allows salespeople to bridge the gap between ordinary performance and extraordinary success. Anderson notes, "Practice doesn't make perfect because we always can be better, but it makes permanent." While this might seem mundane, enduring repetition integrates skills and processes into a salesperson's daily routine, driving efficiency and expertise. This disciplined approach fosters a deep understanding of sales tactics, ultimately leading to improved conversion rates and career advancement. Cultivating a Competitive Mindset Across Industries A central theme of the discussion was the transformative power of a competitive mindset in achieving success, regardless of the field. LA Williams highlighted, "If salespeople… looked at themselves as an athlete, what are some of the changes you think folks… would change for people?" The answer lies in adopting the athlete's tenacity and drive to excel beyond the status quo, as Anderson underscores with, "Do you want to be the best or you just want to be here?" This mindset shift involves a relentless pursuit of excellence and the willingness to push past current limits. Whether managing a challenging sales month or underperforming in a game, the key is bouncing back stronger and more determined. As Anderson states, "In winners, that doesn't exist because if you had a bad half, you're ready for the second half." A competitive outlook encourages continuous self-improvement and the resilience needed to tackle setbacks head-on, converting challenges into opportunities for growth. The Hidden Grind: Private Preparation Drives Public Performance Behind every public performance is a wealth of private dedication and unseen effort. Williams and Anderson highlight the importance of this "hidden grind"—the silent, tireless work away from the spotlight that truly fuels success. Anderson articulates, "The private grind is more important… that private grind, you're watching film, you're trying to see tendencies, you're trying to see what's going on." This preparation is essential for both athletes and salespeople, where those extra hours of work cultivate confidence and capability. Sales professionals who engage in this hidden grind—a combination of practice, strategy review, and personal growth—equip themselves to overcome challenges and excel under pressure. In the dealership context, this might involve reviewing sales calls to identify improvements, studying trends to refine pitches, or dedicating time to personal development. As Williams notes, "Rehearse in private so that you can perform in public," reinforcing how this critical preparation distinguishes high achievers from their peers. Viewing these insights together, it's evident that the synergy between an athlete's mindset and a sales professional's success creates a powerful blueprint for personal and professional growth. Emphasizing repetition, fostering a competitive mindset, and committing to private preparation offers sales professionals a holistic framework for achieving excellence. By harnessing these principles, individuals can transcend perceived limitations, achieving results that redefine their career trajectories and set new benchmarks for success. The journey to greatness—whether on the field or the sales floor—demands dedication, resilience, and a relentless pursuit of improvement.   Resources + Our Proud Sponsors: ➼ The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group: Join the #1 Mastermind Group in the Automotive Industry with over 29,000 members worldwide. Collaborate with automotive professionals, learn the best industry practices, and connect with top mentors, managers, and sales leaders. Join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today! ➼ Dealer Synergy: The automotive industry's #1 Sales Training, Consulting, and Accountability Firm. With over 20 years of proven success, Dealer Synergy has helped dealerships nationwide build high-performing Internet Departments and BDCs from the ground up. Our expertise includes phone scripts, rebuttals, CRM action plans, lead handling strategies, and management processes; all designed to maximize your people, processes, and technology! ➼ Bradley On Demand: The automotive industry's most powerful Interactive Training, Tracking, Testing, and Certification Platform. With LIVE virtual classes and access to a library of over 9,000 on-demand training modules, Bradley On Demand gives your dealership the tools to dominate every department—Sales, Internet, BDC, CRM, Phone, and Leadership. From sharpening individual skills to elevating entire teams, this platform ensures your people are trained, tested, and certified for maximum success. Equip your dealership to sell more cars, more often, and more profitably with Bradley On Demand!

Leaving the house, turning off the tablet, starting homework—why does something so small spark such big meltdowns? If you're exhausted from what feels like Groundhog's Day every morning, afternoon, and bedtime, you're not alone.Here's the truth: it's not bad parenting—it's a dysregulated brain. And once you understand the real reason transitions are so hard for your child, you can begin shifting from constant battles to calmer, smoother days.In this episode, I explain the brain science behind transition struggles, why many children fight tooth and nail against even non-preferred activities, and practical steps you can use to make transitions easier at home, school, or even heading to dance class.Why does my child melt down during transition time?Many parents are shocked by how strongly their kids react when asked to switch from one activity to another. But the root cause isn't stubbornness—it's biology.During transition time, the brain has to “shift gears.” For a dysregulated child, this is exhausting and overwhelming.The brain's CEO (prefrontal cortex) goes offline under stress, making switching tasks harder.Kids with ADHD, anxiety, or sensory sensitivities struggle more because flexibility takes extra energy.Triggers like hunger, fatigue, and sensory overload often go unnoticed but make transitions harder.Behavior is communication. When your child melts down at the moment of change, they're really saying, “This is too much for me right now.”What are the hidden triggers that make transitions harder?One mom reported that mornings before school felt like a war zone. Her son ended up in tears on the floor while the family scrambled to get him out the door. Sound familiar?Here are the triggers many parents miss:Unpredictable routines – Sudden schedule shifts cause anxiety.Demands that feel rushed or critical – Even a few minutes earlier than expected can trigger stress.Overstimulation from screens – Coming off the computer or tablet without a reset makes kids crash.Emotional load – Stress at home (like divorce or conflict) amplifies reactivity.Think of yourself as a dysregulation detective. Instead of asking, “Why won't they just listen?” ask, “What's the root cause of this reaction?”If you're tired of walking on eggshells or feeling like nothing works…Get the FREE Regulation Rescue Kit and finally learn what to say and do in the heat of the moment.Become an Dysregulation Insider VIP at www.drroseann.com/newsletter and take the first step to a calmer home.How can I make transitions easier for my child?Good news: with a few practical steps, you can shift from chaos to calm. These small adjustments work whether it's bedtime, leaving the house, or starting a non-preferred activity like homework.Preview and prepare – Give 5-minute warnings with visual timers. Kids need predictability.Co-regulate first – Let's calm the brain first. Sit together, breathe, squeeze a hand, or offer water. Your calmness teaches their nervous system safety.Build in micro resets – A stretch, a sip of water, or movement helps kids reset between activities.Offer limited choices – “Do you want to walk or skip to the car?” reduces resistance while giving healthy control.Practice when calm – Rehearse routines during low-stress moments. Like a learning curve in gymnastics class, repetition builds new brain...

AP correspondent Julie Walker reports the Radio City Rockettes practice for the 2025 Christmas Spectacular.

What happens when you forget who you are in Christ? In Identity, Ruslan KD unpacks Ephesians 1 to reveal how our true identity isn't achieved by performance—it's received through Jesus. When we lose sight of that truth, it's like being locked out of the life God designed for us.Discover how to:

David Kibler's message on Sunday, October 12th, 2025 at Catalyst Christian Church.

The Feast of Tabernacles is going to be Celebrated at the Millenium…Let's Rehearse for that Coming Season!La Fiesta de Los Tabernáculos va a ser Celebrada en el Milenio…Ensayemos para esa temporada venidera!#bestrongingrace  #Grace #StrengthInChrist #Faith #ChristianMotivation

Over the coming months and through our study of the book of Hebrews, we aim to meditate frequently on the glory of Jesus Christ. May our souls be revived by a constant view of his glory - in this book which invites us to consider Christ Jesus, the exalted Savior of weary pilgrims like us. This week we look to Hebrews 10:32-39.Six Ways We Can EndureKeep your eyes on the supremacy of Christ.Deny yourself worldly pleasures that diminish your appetite for Jesus.Fuel your faith with joy in God.Feed your faith with God's Word and prayer.Stop comparing yourself to others.Rehearse your future reward.Life Group Discussion Questions: lifechurchnc.com/hebrewsLife Church exists to glorify God by making disciples who treasure Christ, grow together, and live on mission. Salisbury, NCFollow us online:lifechurchnc.comFacebookInstagramYouTubeTwitter

Rebecca welcomes Jen Wilkin, JT English, and Kyle Worley (Knowing Faith) to explore why every believer is a theologian, how women and men learn together in the church, and how practices of grace form us for fellowship with God and one another. They discuss You Are a Theologian, Deep Discipleship, Formed for Fellowship, and Remember & Rehearse—along with church-as-family, Priscilla & Aquila (Acts 18), and helping new Christians live inside God's big story.Resources mentioned:You Are a TheologianDeep DiscipleshipFormed for FellowshipRemember & RehearseTraining The ChurchKnowing Faith PodcastSign up for weekly emails at RebeccaMcLaughlin.org/SubscribeFollow Us on Instagram and XProduced by ⁠⁠⁠⁠The Good Podcast Co.⁠⁠⁠⁠

In this episode of the Dementia Researcher Podcast, host Adam Smith (Programme Director at UCL) is joined by Dr Sam Moxon, Dr Lindsey Sinclair, and Dr Ece Bayram to explore the art of delivering lightning talks. Together they share practical advice on structuring short presentations, handling nerves, designing impactful slides, and engaging diverse audiences. With personal anecdotes and strategies from their own conference experiences, this discussion offers valuable guidance for early career researchers preparing to present their work with clarity and confidence. -- Takeaways • Lightning talks are concise presentations, usually under five minutes. • Strong preparation is essential for success. • An engaging delivery leaves a lasting impression. • Slides should support the message, not overwhelm it. • Rehearse to the clock to stay on time. • Personal touches help connect with the audience. • Focus on one key message instead of overloading with detail. • Use clear, accessible language throughout. • Treat the format as a teaser that sparks curiosity. • Lightning talks are excellent opportunities for early career researchers. -- If you would like to deliver a lightning talk at the ARUK Conference or AAIC Neuroscience Next Conference in February 2026 – get your abstracts submitted by October 22nd 2025. https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/research/for-researchers/research-conference/abstracts-2026 https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/aaic-neuroscience-next-2026-manchester-uk/ -- Find more information on our guests, and a full transcript of this podcast on our website at: https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/podcast -- The views and opinions expressed by guests in this podcast represent those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect those of NIHR Dementia Researchers, PIA membership, ISTAART or the Alzheimer's Association. -- Follow us on social media: https://www.instagram.com/dementia_researcher/ https://www.facebook.com/Dementia.Researcher/ https://www.twitter.com/demrescommunity https://www.linkedin.com/company/dementia-researcher https://www.bsky.app/profile/dementiare…archer.bsky.social -- Download and Register with our Community App: https://www.onelink.to/dementiaresearcher

We often find ourselves stuck in our own stories: stories of defeat, stories of pain, stories of discouragement. But when we worship, we're thrust back into God's story. All of a sudden, our stories are re-contextualized and we see our stories in light of God's grander story. This week, we study the Passover festival and learn how we can worship today.

Build Confidence in Real Estate by Practicing Before Client MeetingsAre you a real estate agent struggling with confidence during client conversations and negotiations? In this episode of Life at Ten Tenths, Matt Bonelli and Garrett Frey break down why practicing and rehearsing your real estate skills before client meetings is essential to success.Learn how to:Prepare for key conversations and negotiations without risking your client's experienceUse role-playing, mental rehearsal, and peer practice to sharpen your skillsAvoid common rookie mistakes that can hurt your reputationBuild authentic confidence that shows up in every interactionLeverage tools and techniques to simulate real-world scenarios before “game time”Whether you're a new agent or a seasoned pro, these strategies will help you bring your A-game to every client meeting, reduce stress, and close more deals with confidence.

What are you mentally rehearsing all day? In this bold spiritual talk, Rev. Lee Wolak, author of The Power in You, reveals how your repeated thoughts shape your reality. Drawing from Zen wisdom and Religious Science, this talk dives deep into the unseen power of mental rehearsal and how it programs your subconscious to either expand or limit your life. Discover how to consciously rewire your inner dialogue, align with Universal Mind, and embody the life you truly desire. This is not theory—it's a direct path to transformation. Sign up for my daily thought and weekly newsletter by clicking this link: https://www.agapespiritualcenter.com/free-affirmations If you find value in what Agape offers—spiritually, emotionally, and in community—consider becoming a supporting member. Your recurring contribution helps us continue to share truth, healing, and transformation with the world. Click here to become a supporter: https://www.agapespiritualcenter.com/recurring-contributions/

You've worked hard on your presentation and it's time to rehearse for readiness. In this episode in the series on their book DELIVER UNFORGETTABBLE PRESENTATIONS, Mark & Darren share tips for adding the final touches before taking the stage. This episode covers Step #7: OWN YOUR STAGE.   SNIPPETS: • Use your script to indicate emotions, stage movement, pauses, and more   • Create a stage plan   • How you use your stage will enhance your audience's experience   • Don't memorize your talk; internalize it   • Your audience wants you to be present, not perfect   • Walk through your presentation   • Rehearse for a live audience and CRAVE FEEDBACK   • Use slides as guides   • Well-chosen props and illustrations clarify, solidify, and edify your message   • Get a qualified coach   How to Write Your Own Introduction: https://markbrownspeaks.com/set-up-your-success-with-your-introduction/   Work with Mark and Darren: https://www.stagetimeuniversity.com/get-a-speaking-coach/   Check Out Stage Time University: https://www.stagetimeuniversity.com

In Round 81 of the Tactical Transition Tips on the Transition Drill Podcast, this episode explores the often-overlooked challenge of navigating change and uncertainty during career transition. For military veterans and first responders, few challenges feel as overwhelming as navigating change and facing uncertainty. Whether you are counting down the final weeks of your career or still deep in the daily grind, the truth remains the same, transition is inevitable. And it rarely arrives on your schedule. This episode explores the real cost of avoiding the unknown and the powerful outcomes that can emerge when you meet uncertainty with strategy instead of fear. Whether transition is right around the corner or still years away. Through thoughtful insight and practical mindset shifts, the conversation addresses how to reduce fear, build clarity, and create forward momentum. If you are seeking purpose beyond the uniform and want to approach life after service with intention, this episode delivers the foundation to move with confidence into your next chapter.• Close Range Group (transitioning within the next year): Convert uncertainty into actionable questionsTurn stress-inducing unknowns into clear, answerable decisions about salary, schedules, and mission fit, so you can move forward with clarity instead of fear.• Medium Range Group (about five years from transition): Rehearse your leavingPlan and rehearse your exit now while continuing to lead with impact, leaving behind systems, mentorship, and professionalism that will define your legacy and boost your future resume.• Long Range Group (a decade or more from transition): Take transition seriously, even if it feels far away.Early mindset development and studying the path of those ahead can reduce future shock and help you define success beyond your current role or rank.The best podcast for military veterans, police officers, firefighters, and first responders preparing for veteran transition and life after service. Helping you plan and implement strategies to prepare for your transition into civilian life.Get additional resources and join our newsletter via the link in the show notes.CONNECT WITH THE PODCAST:IG: WEBSITE: LinkedIn: SIGN-UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER:QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS:SPONSORS:Brothers & Arms USAGet 20% off your purchaseLink: https://brothersandarms.comPromo Code: Transition20Trident CoffeeGet 15% off your purchaseLink: https://tridentcoffee.comPromo Code: TDP15GRND CollectiveGet 15% off your purchaseLink: https://thegrndcollective.com/Promo Code: TRANSITION15

In this episode, host Corey Nathan explores how we can navigate difficult conversations around politics and religion with more grace and effectiveness. Drawing on personal experiences, spiritual grounding, and practical techniques, Corey shares what to look out for when a conversation is going sideways and how to communicate better even in the most challenging moments. What Is Discussed: How to recognize when a conversation is escalating Common communication traps and how to avoid them How to prepare your heart and mind to actively listen What it means to “rehearse” understanding instead of comebacks Why identifying shared values can change the entire conversation Episode Highlights: [00:00:50] Signs of emotional escalation and how to spot them [00:05:00] A simple tool to slow down: breathing [00:07:00] The mistake of rehearsing a verbal takedown [00:09:30] A better way: Practice being a great listener [00:13:00] Why “shoulding” on people makes things worse [00:15:00] The dangers of mischaracterizing entire groups [00:21:00] Are you really listening—or just waiting to talk? [00:24:30] Avoiding ad hominem attacks and gaslighting Featured Quotes: “When the emotion is so heightened that I can no longer think… that's something to recognize before it gets out of hand.” “Don't rehearse the perfect burn. Rehearse listening.” “You can reverse the neurochemical reaction of anger and fear—and induce the feeling of being heard and loved.” “If your goal is to cause pain in a conversation, this program isn't for you.”

JT English and Kyle Worley discuss their new books, “ Remember and Rehearse” and “Formed for Fellowship,” and how they are valuable tools for discipleship.Questions Covered in This Episode:What were you thinking when you were trying to build a theological education department in the church?What is “You are a Theologian”?What's different about Remember and Rehearse?What did you learn about the story of the Bible while you wrote this book?What's different about Formed for Fellowship?What did you learn while writing this book?What's the value of books for Christian discipleship?Resources Mentioned in this Episode:Deep Discipleship Program“Remember and Rehearse” by JT EnglishRememberandRehearse.com“Formed for Fellowship” by Kyle WorleyFormedforFellowship.com“You are a Theologian” by Jen Wilkin and JT English“Drama of Scripture” by Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen “Delighting in the Trinity” by Michael Reeves “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life” by Donald S Whitney Follow Us:Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | WebsiteOur Sister Podcasts:The Family Discipleship Podcast | Tiny TheologiansSupport Training the Church and Become a Patron:patreon.com/trainingthechurchYou can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway's Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.To learn more about our sponsors please visit our sponsor page.Editing and support by The Good Podcast Co.

I'm on a Zoom call with one of my private clients. She is a powerhouse executive and is preparing for a TED-style keynote. Her ideas are solid, and her story is incredible; it's emotional, has high stakes and everything you would want in an opening story. And the rest of her Talk? That's epic as well. Plus, she's done the work and is ready to go.  We start rehearsing and everything… falls flat. Her delivery is kind of robotic, and there's no energy in her voice. Even the transitions between her story and her insights kind of feel like speed bumps. She is reciting her script but isn't truly owning her message, and I can see it in her face - she's frustrated. She feels the pressure, and the doubt starts creeping in. I stop her right in the middle of the rehearsal and say, “All right, let's forget the script. Instead, just tell me your story and share your Talk with me as if we're at dinner.” So she starts over, and everything changes. Even her body shifts and changes. Her words flow, and her transitions feel human. Instead of presenting, she's now actually connecting with me. That's the difference between reciting a Talk and owning every single moment of it.  In this episode of the Storytelling School Podcast, I discuss how truly effective rehearsing isn't about memorizing a script, why emotionally and physically integrating your message can truly connect you to your audience, and so much more. You'll get answers to questions like: What makes presence so much more important than perfection? How does mental rehearsal increase confidence and clarity? How can you rehearse in a way that helps your audience feel that you're speaking with them instead of at them? What you will learn in this episode: Why rehearsing effectively means integrating your message and not just memorizing your words How to strengthen your emotional connection to prevent your Talk from falling flat Why it's essential to rehearse your full Talk and not just your story to create maximum impact A little about me: Hi there. I'm Kymberlee. As a Speaking Strategist and founder of Storytelling School, I've had the pleasure of working with over 500 speakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs worldwide for over a decade. No matter if those folks were getting ready to take the TED or TEDx stage or preparing for a high-stakes presentation with everything on the line, my specialty is High Stakes Short Form Communication. I've seen what works when influencing change and what doesn't. It turns out storytelling is one of the most powerful tools you can have in your arsenal. That's why I'm building a movement of master storytellers to affect change in the world on a global scale to help people tell real stories that have influence and impact. With effective storytelling, you change people's lives. Since competition for potential client attention is fierce, a story can make the difference between being memorable or irrelevant. You'll find me sharing my matcha tea mishap to discuss perfectionism, my quest for Bruce Lee and Hello Kitty art to explore kindness, or, as I discuss in this episode, the six months of live blade training I underwent to illustrate presence. I spend my days showing the power of using stories to help cement ideas and bring lessons to life and teach my clients to do the same. If you think business owners can't tell stories or don't have stories to share with their clients, staff, donors, followers, or investors, I invite you to reconsider your perspective. There's no better place than in business to tell your stories so audiences, no matter how big or small, can understand how you think and what you value. Now it's your turn... If you're ready to become a master storyteller and effect change in our world, you've come to the right place. Links and Resources Storytelling School Website @storytellingschool on Instagram @storytellingschool on Facebook

Mid-Year Reset: Strategies to Transform Your Life in Six Months To create your best six months ever, it is essential to start by defining what "best" means for you personally. This involves taking the time to reflect on your desires, aspirations, and what success looks like in your life. Tonya Leigh emphasizes that many people fail to define success clearly, which can lead to feelings of dissatisfaction and confusion. By asking yourself, "If I woke up six months from now and said this was my best season yet, what would have made it so?" you can gain clarity on the specific outcomes and experiences you want to achieve. Tonya reflects on the halfway point of 2025 and encourages listeners to evaluate their feelings about the year so far. She shares her personal experience of needing a reset after feeling off track and discusses the importance of shifting one's perspective to create the best next six months.   Tune in for insights on becoming more of your authentic self and setting the stage for an empowered second half of the year. Talking Points: 00:34 - Mid-Year Reflection: How Are You Feeling? 03:21 - The Importance of Becoming an Energetic Match 06:10 - General Tips for the Next Six Months 08:07 - Tonya's Social Media Breakthrough 13:05 - Stepping into a New Role 17:27 - Stop Giving CPR to Your Past 20:31 - Rehearsing Your Future 24:47 - Deciding to Have Your Best Six Months Ever Quotes: "The real secret is you being an energetic match for what it is you want, to be aligned with what you want." "It is going to be a complete energetic expansion. It's going to be you deciding to step into a whole new role." "Stop giving CPR to your past." "When you expand your self-image, you immediately expand what's possible for you." "Rehearse your future until she feels so familiar." "Let's all decide right now that we are about to create our best six months ever." Useful  Resources: Click HERE for The Calm Ritual Click HERE to join the Membership  Click HERE for a FREE download  Click HERE to sign up for our newsletter, The Edit   Connect with Self-Image Coach Tonya Leigh: Click HERE to follow our Instagram Click HERE to visit our website Click HERE to visit our Facebook group Click HERE to follow our TikTok Click HERE to subscribe to our YouTube channel   

Jen Wilkin, JT English, and Kyle Worley have a conversation about the meaning, significance, and different views of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.Questions Covered in This Episode:Why have baptism and the Lord's Supper been so contentious historically?What is the best argument for believers' baptism?What is the best argument for infant baptism?What are the dangers of not fully understanding each of these positions?What about churches that acknowledge both positions of baptism?What is baptism?How does the Lord's Supper connect to baptism in a way that is complimentary but distinct?What formative value does the Lord's Supper have in the weekly gathering?What is happening at the Lord's supper? What are the different views?Helpful Definitions: Baptism: "baptizo" (βαπτίζω): to immerse, submerge, or plungeTransubstantiation (Catholicism): The elements convert into the physical body and blood of Christ.Consubstantiation (Lutheranism): The substances both of the body and blood of Christ and of the bread and the wine coexist in union with each other.Spiritual Presence (Reformed): Christ is spiritually present in the elements.Memorial (Anabaptist): The elements are purely symbolic.Resources Mentioned in this Episode:Acts 2, Romans 6, Matthew 5:6, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34“Remember and Rehearse” by JT EnglishRememberandRehearse.com“Formed for Fellowship” by Kyle WorleyFormedforFellowship.com“You are a Theologian” by Jen Wilkin and JT EnglishDeep Discipleship Program Follow Us:Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | WebsiteOur Sister Podcasts:The Family Discipleship Podcast | Tiny TheologiansSupport Training the Church and Become a Patron:patreon.com/trainingthechurchYou can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway's Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.To learn more about our sponsors please visit our sponsor page.Editing and support by The Good Podcast Co.