SUCCESS Comes... When You Turn INDECISION And FEAR Into POWER and ACTION!

Written by Noel Peebles


"We have nothing to fear but fear itself." Franklin Roosevelt

How many times have you had a really great idea or wanted to take a risk and try something new, only to have a little voice inside your head shout:

"It wouldn't work!" "You couldn't possibly do that!"

or "What a silly idea".

Everyone, at some point in their lives has listened to their little voice cautioning them against following a certain action. If you frequently question what you do and think, and veer away from making decisions, then you may be stopping yourself from reaching your fullest potential. You may be slowly squeezingrepparttar special creative energy and inspiration inside of you that makes you unique, into a tight knot that needs to desperately unravel.

So what motivates that niggly little voice? What is stopping you from making that important decision or trying something new?

One ofrepparttar 106578 most common answers is FEAR. Fear isrepparttar 106579 greatest single barrier to success in our personnel and professional lives. The emotion of fear is intended to warn us of danger and to act as a cautionary tool. It should make us stop and think before taking action.

The Great Dictator?

What fear shouldn't do is dictaterepparttar 106580 course of action we take. It shouldn't control our thoughts or relationships with other people, and most importantly fear shouldn't shape who we are or what we want to achieve in our lives.

On a conscious or subconscious level all of us have feltrepparttar 106581 impact of fear in our lives. Whether it is repparttar 106582 fear of making a decision,repparttar 106583 fear of failure, a fear of what other people will think, orrepparttar 106584 fear of success -repparttar 106585 consequences arerepparttar 106586 same.

If left to fester and control our lives, fear eventually leads us to stop trying new things. Our comfort zone pulls tight around us and is rarely pushed further out than it needs to be. We feel stale, lethargic and wonder what's missing in our lives. Our creative energy is replaced with a survival instinct. On a subconscious level we start to really believe that we aren't good enough, or that there's no way possible that we can achieve something new or take a risk. On a conscious level our body and mind responds to being fed negative statements and responds by firmly stating -

How Do You Explain Public Relations To A Non-Public Relations Audience?

Written by Robert A. Kelly


Here’srepparttar way I’d explain it:

First, I want to give you a quick overview of where I believe public relations is today. And second, an equally brief run-through of how I believerepparttar 106577 process can work torepparttar 106578 advantage of your organizations.

Now, in case you just asked yourself, what am I doing here?, let me say that I believe deeply that public relations, properly executed, can be crucial torepparttar 106579 success of ANY organization. So, this is a topic that must be of interest to a non-public relations audience whose members care about their organization and, hopefully, who work productively with their own public relations people. I hope you will agree atrepparttar 106580 end ofrepparttar 106581 talk.

Let’s start with a few givens.

The fact is that NO organization – business, non-profit or public sector – can succeed today unlessrepparttar 106582 behaviors of its most important audiences are consistent – I guess we say “in-sync” these days – with its objectives.

So, for most of your organizations, that means public relations professionals must modify somebody’s behavior if they are to hit their objective and earn a paycheck – everything else is a means to that end.

Which is why, when public relations goes on to successfully create, change or reinforce public opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-action those people whose behaviors affectrepparttar 106583 organization, it accomplishes its mission.

So, if your organization isn’t gettingrepparttar 106584 behavior changes it wanted atrepparttar 106585 beginning ofrepparttar 106586 program, its wasting its public relations investment. Onrepparttar 106587 other hand, one way management can increase its comfort level with that investment, is to make certain those behaviors ARE modified as agreed upon up front. That way, management KNOWS it’s getting its money’s worth.

Here’s why I say that. People act on their perception ofrepparttar 106588 facts, and those perceptions lead to certain behaviors. Which means that, atrepparttar 106589 end ofrepparttar 106590 day, management must keep its eye onrepparttar 106591 end-game becauserepparttar 106592 main reason we do public relations inrepparttar 106593 first place is to changerepparttar 106594 behaviors of certain groups of people important torepparttar 106595 success of our organization.

While onrepparttar 106596 way to this goal, we insure that our activity nurturesrepparttar 106597 relationships between those target audiences and our organization by burnishingrepparttar 106598 reputation of its products and services. Yes, we’ll do our best to persuade those audiences to do what our organization wishes them to do. But, while seeking that public understanding and acceptance, we’ll insure that our activities not only comply withrepparttar 106599 law, but clearly serverepparttar 106600 public interest. It is then that we pull-out all tactical stops to actually move those individuals to action.

But where does it all begin? For emphasis, let me repeat something I said a moment ago. The practice of public relations is based upon three realities:

0 People act on their perception ofrepparttar 106601 facts; 0 Perceptions lead to behaviors; 0 Something can be done about those perceptions and behaviors that leads to achievingrepparttar 106602 organization’s operating objectives.

But, too many of us – inside and outsiderepparttar 106603 public relations business – don’t think of public relations in that broad a context. Instead, public relations is defined by only one or two of its components: ”PR is all about publicity,” or ”PR is really crisis management” or ”PR is primarily special events” when, in fact, it’s based uponrepparttar 106604 three realities above.

All of which brings me to a leading question: What IS a public relations home run?

My answer to that question is short and sweet and, by now, you probably can anticipate it: The public relations professional must modify somebody’s behavior as agreed upon atrepparttar 106605 beginning ofrepparttar 106606 program. When accomplished, THAT is repparttar 106607 public relations home run, and that isrepparttar 106608 way we earn our paychecks – as noted above, everything else really is a means to that end.

What I want to do here, is demonstrate a logical progression in public relations problem solving withrepparttar 106609 emphasis on a clear, defined result that meets a key business objective.

And byrepparttar 106610 way, one reason I define a public relations home run that way is because I believe very few general management people, including those in this room, ever think about PR this way. I want to get your attention by announcing that, in public relations, a home run can mean nothing less than survival when it successfully changesrepparttar 106611 perceptions and, hence,repparttar 106612 behaviors of certain groups of people important torepparttar 106613 success ofrepparttar 106614 organization.

In other words, when those changes clearly meetrepparttar 106615 original behavior modification goal set atrepparttar 106616 beginning ofrepparttar 106617 program,repparttar 106618 public relations effort is successful.

Do I expect this general management audience to question whether public relations is REALLY equipped to do that? I certainly HOPE you will!

Answer? Yes, because our roots are planted deeply in repparttar 106619 principle that people act on their own perceptions ofrepparttar 106620 facts. When public relations successfully creates, changes or reinforces public opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-action those people whose behaviors affectrepparttar 106621 organization, its mission is accomplished.

Aha, you will ask, but does it work out inrepparttar 106622 REAL world? It does, and here’s how:

First, we identifyrepparttar 106623 key operating problem to be addressed. For today’s talk, I’ll userepparttar 106624 example of a national marketer of furniture imported fromrepparttar 106625 Far East. Let’s say we receive news reports and other input, amplified by competitive trouble-making out inrepparttar 106626 trade, about rumors circulating to repparttar 106627 effect that serious quality problems have cropped up in repparttar 106628 company’s factories in Southeast Asia.

Here, we verify whetherrepparttar 106629 allegation is true or false. We want to clearly understand how vulnerable we may be. So, becauserepparttar 106630 company’s sales have leveled off and are starting to decline, public relations counsel and staff, working closely withrepparttar 106631 company’s manufacturing people here and abroad, establish conclusively that reports and rumors of declining quality are without foundation, and simply untrue. Obviously, were they true,repparttar 106632 major corrective responsibility would fall torepparttar 106633 manufacturing and international marketing people inrepparttar 106634 company.

But sincerepparttar 106635 rumors are NOT true, we want to verifyrepparttar 106636 status of both consumer and trade perceptions ofrepparttar 106637 company’s product quality. Again, we want to be certain about this step because, here, we establishrepparttar 106638 specific public relations problem.

But, a surprise! Probing consumer opinion through personal contact and informal polling out inrepparttar 106639 market place, counsel and staff determine that, in fact, there really IS a disturbing perception out there thatrepparttar 106640 company’s furniture line is “of low quality and is overpriced.”

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