“PR is talking to media on behalf of a client.” An important means to an even more important end – communicating, as planned, with target audiences in order to alter their perception and modify their behaviors.

“PR is art and science of helping clients or employers communicate more effectively and persuasively with audiences that impact them.” Good, as far as it goes. But, it would be better if it said “the science of helping clients or employers achieve behavior modification they REALLY want,” rather than stopping at interim communications step.

And finally, “PR is ability to influence public opinion.” Which displays a trait common to most of these pronouncements – it stops short of a clear description of what people who are paying for public relations really want.

Employers and clients are not primarily interested in our ability to schmooze with media, communicate or paint images. Nor are they especially fascinated with our efforts to identify target audiences, set public relations goals and strategies, write persuasive messages, select communications tactics, et al.

What they invariably DO want is a change in behaviors of certain key audiences which leads directly to achievement of their business objectives. Hence, emphasis in this article on careful planning for altered key audience perceptions and modified behaviors.

Which is why quality planning, and degree of behavioral change it produces, defines success or failure of a public relations program.

Done correctly, when public relations results in modified behaviors among groups of people important to an organization, we’re talking about nothing less than its survival.

end

Bob Kelly, public relations consultant, was director of public relations for Pepsi-Cola Co.; AGM-Public Relations, Texaco Inc.; VP-Public Relations, Olin Corp.; VP-Public Relations, Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; director of communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, and deputy assistant press secretary, The White House. mailto:bobkelly@TNI.net

The ideas you come up with will be worth hundreds of times any income you may lose in those ten days.

(I like to schedule this one around end of calendar year, when things are usually slow anyway.)

THE REWARD

Whenever you have made some goal, reached some new accomplishment, done something you're proud of, take a few days off to congratulate yourself.

After finishing a web development project, I always take a couple of days off in which I do absolutely nothing, not even think about any new projects, even when I have another contract waiting to be started.

There have been times when I had less than three months living expenses in bank and I had no idea when or how my next income would come in. Even then, I resisted temptation to frantically go out and try to solve my financial problems.

Inevitably I found myself so refreshed after a couple of days of leisure that I was able to generate an endless stream of valuable ideas almost effortlessly.

You owe it to yourself to provide your creative mind with an opportunity to prove to you that leisure time pays off - physically, emotionally, and financially.

Just in terms of health, you can't afford not to take it easier. Learning to eliminate stress from your life can add five years onto end of it.

So next time someone asks you why you're taking day off "for no good reason", just tell them, "I'm eliminating stress from my life, developing a lot of new valuable ideas, and enjoying myself right now - in present moment!"

Read biographies of some of great achievers in history and you'll see many of them have been basically lazy.

To have freedom of mind just to let go of goal orientation is a major breakthrough for most people.

The creative mind needs a state of relaxed calm to really get going, and working hard is one way to deny and avoid your own creativity.

THWART THE GUILT-TRIPPERS!

Taking leisure time will inevitably create hostility in people who don't want you to have more fun than they do. These folks will try to make you feel guilty. Let them in on secret! Show them you're having so much fun that you're not susceptible to their guilt trip.

Someone who has ability to relax, play and let creative mind work freely, and freedom to exercise that ability on a regular basis, has kind of self- confidence that can succeed in any endeavor and enjoy life to fullest.