“Winners are people with definite purpose in life.”

In 1912, Dale Carnegie started teaching public speaking at the 125th street YMCA in New York.  The building is gone now, but I found these amazing old photos of the original "classroom" for the young Dale Carnegie.

Dale Carnegie was an avid Lincoln fan.  He collected his signatures, a chair that once sat in the Oval office during his administration, and even a casting of his face and hands.  He wrote two books about Lincoln; the first, he decided not to publish, and the second, "Lincoln, the Unknown", he published in 1932.   Here is a picture of one of only a handful of copies of his first book on Lincoln:

I have a first edition copy of "Lincoln, the Unknown", signed by Dale Carnegie.  It is a treasure.


Abraham Lincoln once said, "All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind." 

I've always liked this quote:


"Never say you don't have enough time... You have exactly the same number of hours per day That were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas JeffersonAnd Albert Einstein" 


People need to "make time" for the things that are important, and taking time to get the most out of life requires us to live a more intentional life, a life where we are proactive, instead of reactive.


As we move into session 3 of the Dale Carnegie Course, set aside a time to review what we have done, and prepare for what we are about to do.  Remembering names, becoming a better conversationalist, making a good first impression in how we say our own name, or simply being more enthusiastic in the way we greet others can go a long way in making better relationships or good first impressions.


Remember to work on our commitment to applying a few of the first 9 human relations principles with someone that you want a better relationship with.  Come to class with victory on your lips - share the experience of trying out these new tools and let us know how you did.  Leave us with an action to take, based upon your experience and let us know the benefit if we take that action.


We've begun to build confidence; now we are going to build courage!


-David

Congratulations to our first two award winners from Session 2!

Breakthrough award goes to Cheri Larson!

Outstanding Performance award goes to Todd Snyder!

We will continue to post award winners on this blog each week!

Here's a photo from deep down in Havasupai - the river that gurgled and wound its way through the campground where I was camping.  At night, there were thousands of stars and on a moonless night, satellites clearly crossed the sky from horizon to horizon.

Forward to our Instructor Manual:

"I beg of instructors not to think of this as a public speaking course. Think of it as a course in destroying fear and building self-confidence.  Think of it as a course in human relations. Think of it as a new way of life.  For it is often just that. When people banish fear and develop confidence, their ceilings will become higher and their visibility unlimited." - Dale Carnegie

Any goal worth achieving can be achieved through visualization and mapping out a clear path from here to there.  Running a marathon may seem huge when thinking about the distance of 26.2 miles, but it is not so huge when thinking about a training schedule that starts with 1 mile at the end of the first week, then 2 miles at the end of the second, and so on, until what was unthinkable becomes possible.

In this class, we will start small, and build from week to week on the skills we learn in class and practice outside of class.   Soon, that which seems huge will become possible!

Tip: In the back of your green binder is booklet called "Remembering Names".  This summarizes the steps we practiced in class.  Page 1.6 in your binder reminds us to focus on people as individuals, rather than focusing on using tricks to learn their names.  We want to become better listeners and build better relationships.

This is a photo I took on the trail up from the Grand Canyon a couple of years ago - these two rams were posing for all of us as we looked up at this amazing sight!

Happy Friday!  It's a great day to be living in Arizona; we must enjoy this wonderful weather before it disappears!

This blog is for you - our current class - exclusively!  There will be tidbits, helpful hints, and information that will help you become successful in your goals.

Here is a summary of the Conversation Stack of items - please remember the questions that you can ask when reminded of these items, and explore this during this weekend and the days before our next session - you will be amazed at the results!

1. Lightning
2. Name plate
3. House
4. Windows with children playing
5. Chimney with a hand wearing a "workman's glove"
6. The gloved hand is holding onto an airplane
7. The right wing has a rotating tennis racket instead of an engine
8. The left wing has a light bulb, flashing on and off.

We practiced name-remembering techniques:

Listen - to the name
Impression - get a good impression of the person, while thinking of the name
Repetition - repeat the name in your head, and use it in conversation with the person
Appearance - associate the name with something that is tangible, such as another person with the same name, or a business described by the name, or an action that the name brings out.

Here are pictures with names attached; please let me know if you have any changes for me to make:

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon--instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.” --Dale Carnegie 

Dale Carnegie, with his latest book - "How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age"

Now, more than ever, Dale Carnegie's wisdom is needed to connect people effectively.  We have many more methods of communicating with each other; Skype, Twitter, Blogging, Facebook, email and Linked'In, to name a few.  Yet we fail to capitalize sometimes on this - we say much, but mean little, or we say too little, and we fail to reach our audience.  This new book, coming out in Dale Carnegie's 100th year, is a modern tool to help us utilize time-tested Dale Carnegie principles in the modern era.

Dale Carnegie once said that "you can make more friends in two months by becoming genuinely interested in other people, than in two years of trying to get other people interested in you".  Wise words!  Would you rather be surrounded by people asking for help, or people who would stop at nothing to help you?  Helping others achieve their goals is a surefire way to achieve yours, and the rewards that come from focusing our energy on others is immense.  Be the change that the world needs, be the solution and not the problem, and in return, people will genuinely like you for who you are - a giver, not a taker.