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Read Minds to Improve Communication, like Mentalist Christopher Carter
Quote of the Day: The premise: “We all can achieve whatever we set our minds to.”
Guest of the Day: Christopher Carter is from a suburb of Chicago. He is a mentalist who reads minds (which is really reading body language), and he is a keynote speaker. He has developed and presents the programs: “Student Body Language,” “Achieving the Impossible,” and “Power Listening Series” globally.
Passion: Christopher’s passion is people, and teaching people that while it does require change, they can achieve what they set their minds to. He feels that by teaching the power of communication, people are able to take control of their destiny.
Challenges: “My first challenge was that I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And, so that was the first step for me, to start to ask other professional entertainers, ‘How do you do this?’ And some are very forthcoming and some are not, but…I needed to dip at least enough of a foot in the water that I was going to get wet in this process. That I was going to begin to understand the ins and outs of the business. And the second thing is that I realized I needed a product. Because, you know, I understand intuitively that it is not just show but also business. And if it’s a business, you have to have something to sell…” Christopher sums it up by saying that it was finding out what he did not know and then setting up some kind of infrastructure of a business.
Learned About Self: “The most important thing that I’ve learned is that I will never have perfect knowledge of what it is I don’t know, but that’s no excuse not to do something. I think the single most valuable thing I learned is that action is always better than inaction. It is always so easy to over plan. To say, ‘I’m not going to start until I have everything in place.’ And, that is, to my mind, a fatal mistake. You learn as you go.” He also says that he learned “It’s OK to be bad for a while, because that’s the only way you’re going to get any good at it.”
Suggested Resources:
- Student Body Language by Christopher Carpenter
- What Every Body is Saying by Joe Navarro
- Search Amazon for text book body language resources
To become an entertainer…
Envision: Picture yourself as a confident, self-actualized person who is confident in their own skin, because you cannot focus on your audience if you are focused on the voices in your head. When you’re not worried about what others are thinking about you, you can put your focus on them.
Explore: Books, classes, and TED Talks. For body language, view Amy Cuddy’s presentation titled “Power Poses.”
Execute: Take a little bit of action every single day. And with body language, you can select an aspect each day or week, such as: eye behavior or hand gestures. Make sure to spend ten-fifteen minutes with a very specific goal of studying the body language of others, or of studying your own and/or how people respond to you.
Advice to Listeners: “…communication is empowering when we understand why people communicate. People communicate in order to change other people. It’s really the only reason we communicate. We want to achieve some kind of change. Sometimes it’s a specific behavioral change, sometimes it’s a self-referential change, like we want to be liked or appreciated or valued. But we always communicate in order to achieve a certain goal. Empowerment comes when you understand that fact and then you act on that goal. You give the person what they want. You respond to them. When you can combine those two elements you’re golden. You have influence.”
Motivational Go-Do!
Start to listen and stop moving forward in your head by preparing what you want to say next. Really listen to others.
How Motivate Me! Ultimate Support System can rally around Christopher Carter:
Twitter: @ESPChris
Linked In: Christopher Carter
Website: www.christophercarter.com
Facebook: Christopher Carter Fan Page
And, as always, on the Facebook page: Motivate Me! Ultimate Support System
CLICK HERE to listen to Christopher’s interview.
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