It’s one of the biggest sectors in most book stores. It may be called self-development or self -improvement. It may be labelled body, mind and spirit. The name doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the books on those shelves all tell people that they can be happier or healthier in some way. They tell them that they can be achievers or lead more fulfilled lives. These books are, in fact, motivational and very popular. That means that motivational speeches are bound to be of interest to a great many people too. Your topic can be something as simple as motivating your audience to walk or to play an instrument. It can urge them to fix their focus and achieve their goals. It can urge them to be brilliant and achieve their potential or tell them that life is short and to make the most of it. Whatever topic you choose will strike a chord with at least some of your audience and by giving a motivational speech you will have helped them to turn their thoughts into actions.

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Employers should think more of their staff. They should also talk to them more. It will certainly pay if they understand your objectives and you have encouraged them to share them. You see companies don’t succeed in business, people do. So staff motivational or thank you speeches are critically important. After all everyone likes to be appreciated and that goes for your staff too. When you are talking to them you can urge them to make innovation their business. That’s something that is often forgotten because of the demands of everyday work. It would be unrealistic too not t speak about the recession and ways to overcome it. In fact it would be good to discuss how to cut costs… Communicating with your staff is very important and every boss should make time for it every week. So whether you are encouraging team creativity at work or urging them to accept the challenge of change in business what you say can make a difference to your staff and to your business.

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Be assertive not aggressive is good advice at home, at work or in your social life. Yet in every facet of our lives we meet people who don’t seem to know the difference. Take the colleague who seems to think the workplace gives him or her the ideal opportunity to get his or her own way by being nasty and pushy. The driver who exhibits road rage is another example. Aggressive people are sad people. Obviously they lack self-confidence because if they had that they would not need to be aggressive. Certainly all good leaders have that inner confidence that enables them to get their ideas and suggestions across in an inspiring way. They have self-belief. They are sure of their opinions but they are mannerly enough to get those opinions and needs across without hurting others. You may not know what knife to use dining in the White House but that’s just etiquette. What is really important is that you respect others and their beliefs whether or not you agree with them. Put briefly, even today, manners really matter.

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Life is a challenge-meet it. That’s the kind of message teachers need to give their pupils more often. Pupils spend so much time in school that teachers have more opportunity of inspiring those students than even their parents. So they can encourage them never to give up on their dreams or to strive for excellence. They can suggest that they look at things differently or suggest that they turn their thoughts into action. Of course parents teach by example but teachers have students in a more formal setting and they expect teachers to make inspirational or motivational suggestions. They are, if you like, a captive audience and something a teacher says may just strike a chord. Telling them to make a random act of kindness every day might just encourage them to make that a habit for life. Subjects like these are ideal topics for discussion and of course if you can get them talking about what they can achieve they could develop a totally different outlook on life. So if you are a teacher risk it, a risk is worth taking.

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Leadership is a quality we don’t all possess but it is one we can acquire. Many of us believe that it can only be something inherent but we can work on achieving it. Developing self confidence leads to feeling good about ourselves. To develop such confidence means being good at something or feeling valued for something we do. The army has, for instance warrior leadership courses to encourage the leadership skills needed to lead men in battle… We may be involved in, say, voluntary work and be valued for our work in community leadership. Such leadership skills are needed in every sphere of life. They are needed in the office and in sports and social clubs. It doesn’t mean being bossy, though, it means leading by example. It means giving encouragement to those who need it. A good leader convinces his followers that they are worthwhile people and shows them the vision of just what is possible in life.

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Now is the time for managers to be motivational. Ina time of deep economic depression we all need words of encouragement to overcome the problems faced by companies today. Most of us will always remember it when someone pays us a sincere compliment. We will remember it too when someone makes a suggestion that resonates with us. So words are critically important and in the work context they need to be motivational words. You might tell your staff how important it is to target your customers or how necessary it is to accept the challenge of change in business. You might share your belief that companies don’t succeed in business, people do. You could talk about cutting company costs or explain how important it is to make innovation your business. In other words what you should say to your staff should be about changed attitudes and different approaches. The recession won’t just go away. We have to find ways of overcoming it and managers need to motivate their staff to work with them for the benefit of all.

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Have you ever looked at something upside down? Whatever it is will look different to when it is the right way up. The same applies to your life. Look at things differently and you will be surprised at the result. We are living in harsh economic times and the outlook can look very bleak. Perhaps by looking at it from a different angle you could find that there are positives that can be taken from tough times. Taking things differently is another way of saying, “Open your mind.” It means being receptive to new ideas and a different outlook. It means seeing the positives rather than the negatives. Instead of things being black and white they may prove to be bright and colourful. It’s hard to change well established patterns of behaviour. It’s difficult to do things in new ways. It’s difficult too to change your mindset but it can be very productive. It’s up to you. Look at things differently and you may find it’s well worthwhile.

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Clear communications count. That’s true whether you are in a business or a family situation. If you are a public speaker, of course, it is even more important. When you give a speech your values, your principles or your goals have to be communicated clearly and concisely. That means that you have to prepare what you want to say so that it is clear in your own head before you start to speak. It means that you have to speak aloud clearly and, if necessary, use a microphone properly. Lack of such communications can cause havoc and it is no wonder that induction courses often stress the need for one person to give a message and the other to repeat it back to ensure that he has heard it as it was said. Quite often people only hear what they want to hear. So when you are ending your speech you have to ensure that you repeat the message you want to get across loudly, clearly and concisely.

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Journalists look at things differently when they are in war zones. They don’t follow the party line given out by dictators and their lackeys. They say what they see is happening on the ground. It’s a useful idea in everyday life too. We are often so absorbed in what we are doing that we fail to realise that we could do it differently. Maybe we should look at our lives the way an investigative journalist would and see what the outcome would be. Certainly having a fresh approach or a new slant to what we do or think can do no harm. It’s refreshing. So if you always work late trying to catch the boss’s eye or you play cards every Thursday of your life perhaps you should consider other options. There is nothing wrong with being orderly or having a routine of course. What is wrong is letting such a routine dominate your lifestyle. Maybe the hours you are working means that you are less efficient than you could be. Maybe your card playing friends would like to have a go at scrabble once a month instead of playing poker. So surprise yourself and others by standing back and looking at things differently.

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Does grammar matter when you are giving a speech? That is something that many speakers fail to take into account. Their own grammar may be faulty and they may not even realise that fact. So they could make mistakes such as saying, “There’s twenty ways to fire a gun” instead of “There are twenty”. If the speech is captivating and the speaker is enthusiastic he or she may get away with it. There will, however, always be people in an audience who will flinch and switch off. That’s a pity because all the speaker needs to do is to get someone in the know to check what he or she has written before giving the speech. After all if you were a chauffeur you would ensure that you knew the rules of the road before driving. If someone sets themselves up to be a public speaker the least they can do is ensure that they speak correctly. That is not to say that they cannot use local expressions in their speech. Then too writing for the spoken word is one thing while writing for the written is another. We speak more casually and pause in different places for effect. Being a good public speaker does not mean necessarily knowing the difference between a gradable and non gradable adjective. Nor does a speaker necessarily have to be able to define Appositive clauses. However much grammar changes over the years though there is still a difference between singular and plural and between past and present tense. So whether you are speaking about leadership or success it’s up to you to get the basics right.

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