I had the great opportunity to take the 3 day Dale Carnegie Immersion Course from June 3rd to 5th. It is an intense 3 days where you don't get to sit back and be a wall flower, trust me I tried.
The course teaches you how to remember people's names, great for those networking meetings, how to disagree agreeably, communicate better-to get you point across clearly!, and the biggest thing for me was to be better at public speaking.
Yikes! I know, that dreaded speech or presentation that you have to do; This course helps you step WAY outside your comfort zone. My comfort zone was small, but it has gotten a little bigger since last week.
I had to get up in front of 15 people and act silly, exaggerated and animated to sell my point. I had to do this twice. The first time I wasn't sure lunch was going to stay down.
I did observe the look on everyone else's face and they felt the same uneasiness as well. It helped knowing that I wasn't alone in my fears, but it still was hard for me to let loose.
It was very nice to learn that I was already doing some of the techniques they teach. I do tell great stories about people's rugs and I imprint my passion for area rugs on some of our clients. I enjoy sharing my knowledge and getting people excited about area rugs.
The BIGGEST things I got from the course were Confidence and that is okay to be ME. I like to think that I hide the real me behind a mask, but one exercise we had to do on day 3 was to honestly tell two other people what we appreciated about them.
Side note: Appreciation isn't passed out nearly enough, flattery is but that is different. Flattery is telling someone you like their shoes or their car, stuff like that.
Appreciation is much deeper and more personal, such as, 'Jean, I really admire the way you handle difficult customers. You can smooth out any problem and make the customer feel heard and important'. That is appreciation.
When it was my turn in the hot seat I was a bit uncomfortable because I didn't know what to expect. I didn't hear things I haven't hear before from people who knew me, but these two ladies were strangers I knew for 3 days and they saw the same things as my friends do.
That showed me that no matter how hard I think I try to hide myself I shine through, so I just have to embrace that. Plus the real me isn't a horrible evil unlikable person. Yes I have issues and now you know them!
Please when the opportunity comes your way to take a Dale Carnegie course GRAB IT! It is so very worth it! The knowledge taught is priceless.
Thanks for reading, RugloverMary
