Have you attended meetings where you wanted and were expected to contribute and simply did not dare to get up and be heard? Have you toyed with idea of giving workshops to increase your business, but shied away because you were too scared to get up in front of an audience?

Why is it that so many us, who have worthwhile contributions to make, avoid getting up in front of a group of people, to put our thoughts into words? Why is it that small vocal minorities often seem to get their way? Why is it that Toastmasters International attracts over 170,000 members every year? Because many people are afraid to address an audience.

A U.S. publication, "The Book of Lists" reports that greatest fear of people in North America is to get up in front of a group of people to make a presentation. You are not alone!

And what do most of us do to overcome this fear? We simply decline invitations to speak. In other words, we throw away opportunities for career advancement or increased business. We choose to remain in our comfort zone.

If we do accept to speak to an audience, we have a tendency to hide behind electronic wizardry rather than making our speech a promotional platform for ourselves and we fervently hope that audience does not notice our shaking knees, trembling hands and quivering voice.

Real communication takes place when one human being reaches out to others by using his or her own natural wizardry. All email, faxes and multi-media equipment in world will not be able to replace human voice, body language or emotion in communication.

Let's face it, unless you're naturally gifted, making a success of anything involves a whole lot of hard work. A lot of time, work we're faced with is often boring and monotonous. Wouldn't it be great if it were fun? Ding, dong! Are lights starting to flash, and bells starting to sound inside your head yet?

I'm tempted to carry on rambling at this stage, but I know your just itching to find out what a GOOBI is. Am I right?

Well I'll put you out of your misery right now! GOOBI is simply a mnemonic for Get Out Of Bed Inducer. It's that thing that gets you out of bed in morning and puts a spring in your step. It's also been described elsewhere, as your "Friday night essence". Think about it, what would you happily spend Friday night working on instead of dining with friends or watching a movie?

I was reminded of GOOBI concept recently, whilst watching a film. The title of film escapes me, which is probably best because it was rubbish. If I was to tell you title you'd only go watch it, and then you'd be saying why did he mention that film it was rubbish.

Anyway, at one point in film, leading character made a statement that struck a chord with me. He said "The secret to success is to find something you love doing, and do it for rest of your life!" Of course, he was talking about finding your GOOBI.