Know They are More Scared than You by Max Garcia

I recently attended a celebration of the Marine Corps Birthday. Somehow during conversation the subject of personal confidence and people approaching strangers came up. Oh, I remember now...I had a couple VIPs as my guest and at first only a few people approached and asked us for pictures. The VIPs and my wife were wondering why? I instantly said people were still building self confidence with a couple drinks to walk over. I told the VIPs and my wife that they were intimidating to the personal confidence of others. Of course I got the crazy look. So I went on to explain that despite the appearance of most people, they severely need to improve confidence. For most people this comes from previous programming. Everyone has things happen during their lifetime (usually childhood) that wound their personal confidence. The sad part is that people neglect to improve confidence despite their major accomplishments in life. I told the VIPs that people were in the process of debating and building self confidence in their own minds and that we should probably break up our little circle and move around to make us more approachable.


Most people will not feel comfortable approaching a group of due to the fear of being rejected and or humiliated, especially alone. If a guy walks past a group of girls and hears a few of them laugh what is the first thing that goes through the guy's mind? You guessed it! ARE THEY LAUGHING AT ME??? Folks, if this is you start building self confidence today! Do what ever you need to improve confidence. I have lots of free things on my web site www.themaxgarcia.com to help you get started.

Higher Self Esteem Through Better Posture by Max Garcia

It probably has never occurred to you that you could improve confidence through your body posture. When building self confidence just making some simple body changes will create dramatic results. Most people want to improve confidence but most people don't actually take action to do so.

When trying to improve confidence instantly on the spot (say on a date, job interview ect) follow these rules for your body. First do not play with your feet by rubbing your shoes on the ground, lightly kicking something or anything similar (no cracking knuckles, tapping fist in to your palm ect). These will only hurt personal confidence despite what ever you think about biting your nails ect. Those things may have helped your personal confidence as a kid because someone else did it but you are well past that now.

Instead, when building self confidence practice planting both feet shoulder width apart equal weight on each leg. You want to be as tall as possible. Raise your chin to the point where you are almost looking at the ceiling. Smile as often as possible, smile like you know something great that no one else knows. This will telegraph to others that you have something great going on in your life and you will naturally improve personal confidence. Make it a point to stop dragging your arms along and instead exaggerate swinging your arms in a powerful manner. This will make you look and feel unstoppable.

Remember, building self confidence is easy for anyone if you just know what to do. Like I said, most people want to improve confidence but most do nothing. I'll give it to you straight, no salt or lemon. If you are really serious about feeling better about yourself take a leap of faith and purchase my download called "have confidence" at http://www.themaxgarcia.com/ . It has many tactics that you can start using today. Or you can just continue down the same path you have been on since childhood. The choice is yours.

Think Positive by Max Garcia

I once bought a series of motivational speeches by a Christian speaker named Norman Vincent Peale. The series was called "The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. Since listening to the motivational speeches on the CD set I have become a big fan of the Christian Speaker. I have even quoted many of his sayings when I need a motivational leadership line.

One particular story that sticks with me is when the Christian speaker said he was playing golf and got his ball in to the rough (forgive me if I miss use the golf jargon as I am not a golfer). Like most people Norman started to complain that he was "in the rough". His friend who is also a Christian speaker instantly asked him "didn't I see something about positive thinking in your book?" Of course Norman grumbled back while his friend gave him a motivational leadership lecture from his own book. The friend stated that the "rough", "is only as rough as you make it" (along with some other motivational speeches). The friend then gave him some motivational leadership in golf by pointing out what club he should use, why he should use it and how he should swing it.

Norman Vincent Peal managed to get out of the rough with ease. The moral of the story is that the "rough" is only as rough as you make it out to be. Many of us in life make our challenges worse than they actually are, especially when we don't seek mentorship from others. If you think positive things then your brain will lead you to the answer. People will appear in your life just to help you.

Prioritizing Tasks by Max Garcia

It doesn't matter if you are a realtor or a sales speaker, prioritizing is the key to time management. Let's say you have a sales motivation speech or some type of business speaking engagement in the next couple weeks. You may be tempted to do your easier tasks first in preparation for your event. I learned from a gentleman by the name of Marshall Sylver a rule of thumb he called worst things first.

If you are a sales speaker some of your easier tasks may be to check your e mails, pick out what you will wear and invite your friends to the event. You may be tempted to put off the harder tasks such as researching information on business speaking for this type of event or creating an invitation to invite another sales speaker. If you are doing a power point you may not feel like working on it as those are not too much fun. Before you know it, the day has come for you to give a sales motivation pitch and you are nervous because you didn't prep enough. We all know by now in business speaking prep is everything, especially in sales motivation or any kind of public speaking.

Marshall at sylver.com suggest in his teachings to do your worst things first because you are always more productive during the first part of the day. This is the reason so many professional athletes and military members start so early in the morning. Have you ever noticed that if you don't get to the gym in the morning, no matter what happens you won't make it in the afternoon? Since learning this I reply to e mail from friends and family in the afternoon when I am not under the time gun. In the morning I always seem to be on top of things but in the afternoon I get burned out. For this, I tackle my hardest tasks in the morning.

Preparation is Key by Max Garcia

You may have seen my recent post about how important it is for business speakers and inspirational speakers to thoroughly rehearse several times before actually speaking in front of others. I recently also realized that even if a business speaker is just reading in front of people he should still rehearse what he or she is reading. I recently experienced the benefits of pre reading the other day. In the Marine Corps, every month I have to read promotion warrants out loud in front of everyone in a formal manner for those who are getting promoted.

Every month I have to read the same thing and execute the same routine with my Commanding Officer. I must say though, regardless of how repetitive it gets if I don't read the warrant at least once out loud in my office by myself I will not sound as good live and in color. I also make it a point to rehearse with the Commanding Officer to ensure we look proficient as leaders in front of the company.

The same should apply for business speakers and inspirational speakers. If a business speaker sounds like he is hooked on phonics then he or she will instantly lose credibility. Inspirational speakers must be able to inspire by first acting like they themselves are on top of the world. Business speakers or leaders in any capacity must display competence in the area of expertise so people will want to follow them anywhere. A business speaker will be much more confident after rehearsing his or her speech out loud so that they can hear what they sound like and make adjustments. For more ways to become confident in any area of your life listen to some of my free pod casts at http://www.themaxgarcia.com/

Conduct Off Work by Max Garcia

As a leadership speaker, your conduct off work can and will affect your success in any business. Many people only think ethics and leadership characteristics apply while they are at work. The reality is that today is the information age. Your followers will know what kind of person you are off work. Word gets around fast. Don't be surprised if someone in your company sees you during your off time with out you knowing it. If you are acting outside the same leadership characteristics you preach and expect during the day your motivational leadership will lose credibility. People talk, I'm not saying it's fair but it's fact. It would be nothing in today's world for someone to e mail all their co-workers if they saw a leadership speaker acting like a fool outside the work place.

I once remember a work function we had where the senior man in the company sitting at the head table clearly had too much to drink. He kept making so much noise with his laughing and loud talking. It was a sight, it was funny. This is the same guy who preached leadership characteristics and ethics to us in such a motivational leadership style. He eventually had to be escorted by his staff away to avoid further embarrassment for everyone. I ran in to this guy several years later and that was the first thing that came to mind when I saw him. I couldn't help but to tell the people I was with. How is that for motivational leadership?

A leadership speaker of any kind must lead by example both on and off work.

Confidence Through Gratitude

Gratitude is the quickest way to anything you want in life. Personal confidence is no exception to the rule. When you feel the butterflies in your stomach and you want to improve confidence because you are about to give a presentation, go on a date, ask for a date, ect., start by saying thank you to your God for giving you powerful personal confidence. Give thanks to the universe or what ever works for you, just say thank you while you are building self confidence for any occasion.

You may start by being grateful and giving thanks for how much you have been able to improve confidence from your past, acknowledging you have come a long way. Then directly after that say thanks for what ever you are about to need personal confidence for ("thank you, thank you for building self confidence in me so I can deliver a presentation that improves lives", "I am so happy and grateful for my ability to improve confidence and rise to the occasion"). Regardless of how the presentation, date, test, ect. goes ensure you express gratitude, this will put in motion your success at what ever is next while bringing more good your way.

These are just a few examples of what you can do when building self confidence. For more ways to instantly improve your confidence in a big way check out my web site at www.themaxgarcia.com

The Right Music for Your Business by Max Garcia

I once heard a Christian speaker give motivational speeches about how listening to the right music can improve your life. He pointed out that when you listen to songs that talk about how "the wife left me, the dog died, my truck broke down" ect. something happens in your brain. The Christian speaker (sure wish I could remember his name) went on to explain how your subconscious mind hears those things and can put you in the same pattern. If anything you are at least going to feel similar to the artist that wrote the song. The not so good part is that like attracts like, so you surely are not going to attract the love of your life if you are listening to broken heart type love songs.


The Christian speaker later mentioned that positive songs could also do the same for you. Often when I am running and feel tired I start singing the song "I feel good, da da, da da, da da, da". If I feel myself getting bummed out for no reason I start singing "And I'm feeling... good da dat da dum da dat". Instantly I feel better.


If you are in a position where using motivational leadership is the key to your business you should always be pumping something positive in to your brain because your people will feed off of you! When you feel powerful your motivational speeches will come out of your mouth naturally and seem more genuine. If you have ever watched a movie with a killer soundtrack like "Rocky" and felt like you can conquer the world afterword know your motivational leadership style and motivational speeches can do the same. You may even want to consider playing up beat music in your work place, chances are it will increase production.

Believe in Your Product and Sell by Max Garcia

If you are a sales speaker and you are not selling at the volume you want to, could it be that the challenge is you and not the customer. Most people in business speaking think there employees need sales motivation. While sometimes that is the case for those who are lazy or with out incentives, but for many it is the connection between the product or service and the sales speaker. Point blank, if the sales speaker does not have his heart in it then he will not be effective. You can send him to as many business speaking classes that are available, it boils down to the sales speaker believing in the product. Sales motivation lies in the product. If you were selling the cure for swine flu how much would your heart be in making sure the right people got the product. How's that for sales motivation?

Have you ever been to Best Buy? Of course, we all have. You ever notice how strong some of those employees feel about some brands over others? They don't hesitate to tell you with emphasis there opinion. Usually this opinion causes most people to listen to the employee and purchase the recommended product. The funny thing is that these people don't go to business speaking seminars or sales motivation speeches. Best buy just hires people who are passionate about electronics. They don't even make commission. The moral of the story is this... Sell only products you believe in, if you are selling anything else get out.

More on the Power of Prayer by Max Garcia

In reference to the last blog posted I will go a little deeper on the importance of prayer for business speakers and especially inspirational speakers. You see, as a business speaker a few minutes of prayer will do wonders for your business, especially if you say the right things in the prayer. Not only will it connect you with the supreme power before you begin your speech or presentation, just the silence in your mind alone for a few minutes will work wonders for any business speaker. The more the merrier on this. Like I said before, a little prayer or meditation through out the days you are in preparation so you have your God guiding you but also the day of. When you pray or meditate the day of you are opening up your ability to hear God's messages and guidance. This will also help business speakers and inspirational speakers alike calm down, think clearly and deliver a power punching presentation.

Inspirational speakers may want to pray something like "God, thank you for helping me to increase life in others today", thank you for helping me to enrich their lives through you in your name". Business speakers might also want to say the same depending on the circumstances. A business speaker might go bold by saying "God, I thank you for showing me the way to a career better than I ever thought possible". Last and most important, notice I never said to keep asking God over and over again. Ask once and then re affirm your faith by stating thank you for what ever it is you want even though you don't see it yet. Yes, this is how you demonstrate faith.

Pray before you spray by Max Garcia

If you are a leadership speaker of any kind, there is one ingredient you must include to ensure a successful speech.... PRAYER. I fully realized this just a few days ago when I spoke at the Non-Commissioned Officers leadership course at Marine Corps air station Yuma, AZ. It was an honor to be asked to give these young leaders some motivational leadership, and teach a little bit about leadership characteristics.

I must admit, this morning I was nervous to the point of nausia to speak in front of so many students and so many guest since it was at the graduation. There was a lot of high ranking officers and Sr Enlisted present. As a leadership speaker who harps on leadership characteristics and motivational leadership, I always pray before speaking to a group of people. If it is a longer presentation I will also pray several days in advance while in preparation, especially the night before. This time I prayed and asked God to expand my territory and give me the ability to enhance the lives and abilities of our nations leaders as their leadership speaker.

I know that prayer always helps but this time I really know that it did because I even prayed in the back of the room before getting introduced. I don't know how to explain it but something just came over me and powerful words of leadership characteristics and motivational leadership flowed like water out of my mouth. I was shocked during the speech myself. I also received incredible feed back from many high ranking Marines. Stay tuned to my website www.themaxgarcia.com as I am considering posting some of the speech up for view!

Affirmations for Self Esteem by Max Garcia

Once again I always get so much feed back when I teach affirmations I will give you a couple for building self confidence. Many people want to improve confidence but those same people go around saying things like I'm shy, I feel embarrassed to call him or her. Personal confidence starts in the mind and is re enforced by the words that come out of your mouth. For example, when building self confidence to start a new job or anything that requires meeting new people, or before a party you might say an affirmation like "People love me, people are interested in every word I say, I am a people magnet". Say that a few times when you are wanting to get a date at the party and see what happens to your personal confidence once you actually start speaking to people. Something will come over you like magic.

As always, when trying to improve confidence don't question the affirmation you are saying, as long as you say it with out judgement your subconscious mind will act on it regardless if you want it to or not. That is why it is so wrong for us to say things like I am shy, I feel stupid ect (forget you even read those words). Building self confidence is something that so many people defeat themselves in before they even get started.

You can get as creative as you want with affirmations to improve confidence. By now, if you are thinking you want some affirmations to listen to for a bigger effect along with some other solutions for personal confidence check out my new DVD called have confidence http://www.themaxgarcia.com/DVD.html

Filling a Space in Your Brain for Success by Max Garcia

I always get such good feedback on the affirmations I decided to give you a little more. If you are a Christian speaker giving motivational speeches or you just want to improve your motivational leadership style, affirmations are great! Basically, all an affirmation does is give you a way to engage your subconscious mind and the law of attraction easier. For this reason I call it filling a space in your brain. Now stay with me here. When you speak something positive or negative your brain does not know if it is true or not. It will act on your statements regardless.

The famous Christian speaker Norman Vincent Peale suggest that you start off every day saying "I believe it's going to be a great day". He does not say this just for general purpose in his motivational speeches, he says it because when you say something of that nature your brain will look for things through out the day to make it a "great day" causing you to have better days. I use this as a motivational leadership tool all the time with my Marines. Big inspection coming up from higher, I will start saying things to them like "we are the best at prepairing for inspections, the inspectors always love us". They think I am just using motivational leadership to pump them up by giving motivational speeches. In reality they have no idea I am talking directly to their brain. My favorite christian speaker Joel Osteen does the same in every one of his motivational speeches. Of course his affirmations also help you get in touch with God which is amazing. I will discuss that and the law of attraction later. For now start speaking what you want to happen.

Affirmations to Increase Sales by Max Garcia

This one is for the sales speaker trying to increase business. I am going to give some affirmations anyone can say at any time, not just for sales motivation but for no joke shifting the universe to get you more money through sales. Many people hired to do business speaking will try to increase sales through simple sales motivation incentives. Here's the deal, the person doing the business speaking can give bonuses and incentives all he or she wants but if the sales speaker is not projecting the right signal in to the universe nothing will happen.

This is a law of attraction issue, just trust me on this one. If you are the sales speaker actually knocking on doors or presenting a product to a group of people say these words out loud (say it even if you don't believe it): Everyone wants my product (with emphasis)! I am the best salesman/woman in the company! Selling is easy for me (move your body when you say for increased results)!

If you are the one doing the business speaking teaching others sales motivation say these words with emphasis: I have the best employees! My employees are increasing sales everyday. My sales associates love me! They want to work for me! They are selling more and more every day because of my teachings. You must program your brain and send telepathic messages to their brains. That is exactly what you do when you use affirmations like these.

Meditate for Success

I'll get straight to the point on this one. If you are a business speaker and have not learned to meditate yet you are behind the power curve. So many business speakers have no idea how much better they would do if they only meditated on occasion. Most inspirational speakers will tell you that they always meditate and/or pray before going on in front of a crowd. We all know that what business speakers do everyday people fear the most, public speaking.


Public speaking is the number one fear among adults. People would rather play with snakes or sky dive than give a five minute speech to their peers. I just spoke with a good friend of mine today, an author named Jose Quezada who told me in college when given a choice students would pick writing a long paper over a five minute presentation. So if you are a business speaker or those that are inspirational speakers congratulate yourself. What most adults don't realize is that if they could just stop the chatter in their head for a few moments they would be more confident and effective when given the task to speak.


If you are a business speaker and have not learned meditation don't worry I have you covered for now. Just find a quiet place you can sit for a few minutes with your eyes closed and think nothing. It will probably be hard for you to think nothing the first time but you are still getting great benefit. Inspirational speakers like Marshall Sylver will tell you that it is just your conscious mind letting go. I will give more instructions for business speakers on meditation soon.

Patience and Leadership by Max Garcia

I know it can be so hard to be patient sometimes. Patience is one of the leadership characteristics most people lack. Most people choose to blame the employee or the boss for everything. This is not motivational leadership, this is simply not accepting responsibility.

A great leadership speaker once told me that an effective communicator takes responsibility for both sides of the communication. This leadership speaker named Marshall Sylver said "like it or not, it is your responsibility to communicate clearly, and it is also your responsibility to ensure the other person understood you correctly". That is motivational leadership.
The Marines took that one step further with the leadership principal that states "ensure the task is understood supervised and accomplished". When things fall through the cracks these are the type of leadership characteristics I bring up.

The leadership characteristics you choose to take on will make or break you and your company. People are quick to play the blame game in business. Businesses who encourage leadership characteristics like team player while using words like united we stand divided we fall, always bounce back. When you use motivational leadership over bull headed leadership people will want to work for you. A real leadership speaker will tell you that an effective manager does not have to use fear to get his or her point across.

Confidence at work by Max Garcia

Do you have trouble with personal confidence at work? Most people do suffer from low self esteem but do little to improve confidence for themselves. How often at your new job, seminar, or family reunion do you run out of things to talk about. I will give you some ways for building self confidence starting today. As with most things I teach, preparation is key for building self confidence. As I am driving to work, the seminar, or the dinner if I am by myself I am talking to myself the whole way. Most people talk to themselves inside their head but it is usually negative talk. This does not improve confidence, in fact it kills personal confidence and self esteem. Trust me on this now... You need to be saying things out loud to yourself while driving to your event or while getting ready. You can say positive things in your head but it will not improve confidence as much as speaking out loud. You must say things like "people love me, people want to give me money, people want to do things for me, I always have great conversation with the right people"! This will sub consciously give a major boost to your personal confidence. Remember, building self confidence is totally mental, your brain does not have a choice to respond to your words.

Confidence With the Opposite Sex and Cigars by Max Garcia

Last weekend I went to a cigar event in my local cigar store. When I first got there I have to admit my personal confidence was not where it usually is. It ended up being a lesson in building self confidence that I will be able to teach in my next DVD. My wife ran next door to the grocery store to get some beer. While she was gone I had no one to talk to, like many people I felt uncomfortable. It was only a few minutes but it felt like hours. I thought wait a second, I teach people how to improve confidence. What can I learn here to teach others. As soon as I thought that I noticed to young ladies purchasing a couple boxes of nice Drew Estate cigars. As a big fan of all drew estate cigars I was dying to know what they purchased. Now that I had something to talk about my personal confidence instantly improved. We spoke for a while on the subject even after my wife returned and was introduced.

I realized, this is a way to improve confidence for single people. Go to a cigar event or other event you are interested in to meet other singles. Because we had something in common I knew that they knew I was not hitting on them and that alone was building self confidence in all of us. I thought to myself there is definitely something to this. For anyone single looking to improve confidence when dealing with the opposite sex, forget bars and clubs where women especially have their guard up ready to wound your personal confidence. Instead, look to meet people in your comfort zone while you are building self confidence in dealing with the opposite sex.

Preparation Tips for Speaking

It doesn't matter if you are an inspirational speaker or a business speaker, preparation is key. Many business speakers think they are good enough to just "wing it". Now for everyday leadership or just passing word for the next day second nature will carry you through. However, if you are an inspirational speaker trying to move people emotionally or a business speaker giving professional education to your company it is a must that you have an effective plan for preparation. It is very obvious when business speakers don't plan ahead and they lose instant credibility in their audience.

Here is one huge tip for any speaking engagement that I do often. First and most important, every business speaker must rehearse. When I say rehearse I mean you must execute the whole thing like it is game day. If you are using a slide show then you must go through every slide and discuss the different topics out loud to yourself. This will help you to avoid talking to the screen during your presentation and allow you more eye contact with your audience. Not only that, you will be able to make sure every slide looks how you want it to in the slide show mode but also the editing mode. This is very important if you are an inspirational speaker as you need to be enthusiastic, not confused about your own media. You may have a slide or two hidden and not even realize it. You also must run through every slide an hour or so before you actually go on using the actual gear and personnel that will be utilized. You will be surprised at how many surprises you will catch ahead of time. It is a fact that many CEOs and upper management are not good business speakers or people type people. If this is you get help, check out my trailer on confidence. http://www.themaxgarcia.com/Products.html

Increase Your Sales by Max Garcia

This article is for the sales speakers out there. If you are trying to generate sales motivation through incentives and plain business speaking you need to re think your strategy. Incentives are great but if the ability is not there then no matter how much sales motivation your employees have your results will stay the same. Your sales speakers need to educate them and teach them sales techniques. They are used to the same old business speaking pitch about how much extra money they can make selling more product. Your sales motivation speakers need to show them the how.

I will give the sales speakers reading this a technique they can teach at the next seminar. I recently learned what I call the rejection technique from Master Peter Brusso. Peter is a master in the martial arts field, business speaking and marketing field. You can find him at infocard.cc. With the rejection technique it is basic reverse psychology. A client comes to you and says "I am interested in the investment house you have for sale". After making some small talk which is very important in business speaking, you say something like "have you ever done an investment deal like this?" "I would love to sell you the place but wouldn't want to put you in something you couldn't handle". People want what they can not have so many times when I state something like this the other person will immediately start justifying why they should be able to purchase the deal. This only enforces their want for what ever I am selling as they state the reasons the deal is right for them. In sales motivation I call this taking the person from being interested to wanting! If you are a sales speaker experiment with this next time you have to sell something to someone one on one.

Put Yourself In the Right Frame of Mind First by Max Garcia

It is essential that you start your day and continue your day in the right frame of mind. When you are in the right frame of mind you will get more things done and you will deal with challenges or disappointments more effectively. Here are some ways you can start getting more out of your life today.

Motivational Speeches to the rescue. Giving yourself a motivational speech out loud will make any situation better. I start my day mentally giving myself little motivational speeches. Usually I am too tired to say them out loud when I first wake up but if you can do that you will dramatically increase your happiness. A powerful Christian speaker by the name of Norman Vincent Peale says start every day by saying "I believe today is going to be a great day". Another Christian speaker by the name of Joel Osteen has amazing free podcasts I like to listen to while I run on my tread mil. After listening to his motivational speeches I feel like like the challenges in the back of my head are not so big after all. Really I feel like I can conquer the world after listening to him. It is a great thing to not only be able to learn about God and different verses in the bible but when it makes you feel unstoppable that is just the icing on the cake. I don't care to listen to a Christian speaker on the radio that talks about nothing but doom and gloom in the world.

Even as a leadership speaker myself I get discouraged sometimes just like anyone. As a leadership speaker your subordinates or audience will feed off of you. So when I get to work I will listen to something that empowers me. If you simply you tube affirmations for money, success, confidence or whatever you need. You can find plenty of things for free to listen to that will get you moving in the right direction. If you are a leadership speaker or boss in any capacity and you are grouchy don't blame your people when work is not happening the way you would like.

Be Flexible in Business by Max Garcia

In the U.S. Marines, sometimes a leadership speaker will utilize a common phrase to keep the junior Marines motivated during times of uncertainty. That phrase is “Semper Gumbie” meaning, always flexible! This motivational leadership comes from the Marine Corps motto of “Semper Fidelis” or “Semper Fi” meaning always faithful. Being flexible is one of the most important leadership characteristics a leadership speaker should build on in any business. It never fails, every time there is a change in plans it is usually for the worst. When there is a change some leadership speaker will always crack a joke by saying “Semper Gumbie”. It is good motivational leadership but annoying at the same time. The reason for this humor is that no mission, task, or any daily work gets completed with out an annoying change.

One instance in Iraq our platoon got tasked with a mission that was supposed to take 72-96 hours. What this means to us is grab the bare minimum and leave everything else at the firm base. So now were talking maybe a sleeping bag or not, hygiene bag, minimal combat load of ammunition and a couple changes of clothes at the most. For such a short time out what is brought basically depends on how lazy you are that day. For some it may be just the clothes on their back depending on the leadership characteristics of those in charge.

Well, to make a long story short, after about four weeks we realized, just how flexible are job requires us to be. We started from the border of Syria and ended up going all the way to Al Fallujah with almost no parts, support, re-supply of ammunition, food, or clean clothes. Times like these challenged my motivational leadership and helped me to understand why Marines want to fight. We eventually made it back to the Syrian border to get showers and creature comforts after five weeks of 110 degree weather and nothing but each other. The moral of the story is that we were flexible for weeks making the mission a success. The same applies in business.

Three Rules for Confidence II by Max Garcia

The second Rule. If you want to move up, you must master your current role and improve confidence to prepare for your next senior position. Too many times I see new Marines avoiding the undesirable task. Sometimes it is because they are lazy but other times it is because they don’t understand how to complete the task and do not possess the personal confidence to inquire. Before you know it a couple years goes by and that person is due to get promoted. Now you have a newly promoted manager who is lost, building self confidence at the last minute. I tell my people, “How can I promote you if you don’t have strong personal confidence of your everyday duties. If you’re in a leadership position you should be building self confidence in other people. They will be coming to you for answers. You don’t want to be the Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) that causes a Marine say, I’ll ask someone else because he won’t have a clue. The judging does not get any nicer with the subject of proficiency. Lower level workers must understand that they don’t rate a promotion just because of time. They must prove they are ready to be junior leaders. The time to improve confidence in their job field is not after the promotion. This theory is backed up by the twelfth leadership trait in the Handbook For Marine NCOs. This trait is Knowledge (Estes 1995)

Speaking, the Number One Fear

Most inspirational speakers will tell you that speaking is the number one fear among people. People would rather face snakes, or earth quakes than become a business speaker. If you think all the way back to your childhood you will realize the reason most people avoid business speaking is due their past experiences. We were embarrassed, made fun of or teased by teachers, students, family, friends and the list goes on. Even if it only happened a couple times it can have a lasting effect if you don’t learn how to deal with it. Some inspirational speakers call this previous programming. What they mean is that the experience programs the mind to have negative association for future experiences. This is why we usually hear people say that they hate being in front of people. These same people avoid any business speaking at all. Do you avoid saying what is on your mind during a meeting because you fear you might sound foolish? Do you dread having to give a presentation as a business speaker yourself? If so think back to what happened in the past that may have caused this feeling.

The same happens when someone has a bad relationship experience, the person involved fears the possibility of repeating the process so they avoid a potentially great relationship. This also happens in business relationships where the boss is lied to and taken advantage of by an employee they trusted. The next time the boss gets a new employee he or she will have their mental guard up right from the start, making it harder to establish trust. The same goes for the business speaker who messes up one presentation and so he or she avoids doing future presentations. If you have fears about business speaking I have a new program on confidence you want to look at http://themaxgarcia.com/Products.html or enroll in one of my personal coaching programs. The good news is that you can be the best business speaker your company has ever seen regardless of how you feel now. You just need a coach that can teach you how to change the way you speak to yourself. I have learned some great tactics from inspirational speakers over the years that everyone should know. I am dying to share.

Measuring morale in Business by Max Garcia

What do you and your business speakers do to determine the needs, wants, and satisfaction of customers? Of the employees? What would you do in sales motivation to improve gathering, distributing, or applying such information? What words would you choose as a sales speaker? Is Sales motivation even needed?

In most organizations, there is no way to determine the satisfaction of its members. If there is a good sales speaker in place, he or she can take the time to put in any plan or policy they choose. For me personally, I have meetings with my Non Commissioned Officers (working, lower level managers) about once a month. During this meeting I send away all the Staff Non-Commissioned officers (supervisors), and talk with the Non Commissioned Officers about different issues. Kind of like an upper manager who does sales motivation talking directly with the shift managers to find out the real scoop. For me the Non-Commissioned Officers are usually on their third to fifth year in the Marines with one or two overseas deployments worth of experience. They are the first person in the chain of command to the lowest level of workers. They are responsible for a twenty-six ton vehicle, all the Marines it carries, maintenance, and weapons employment. Needless to say their opinion is not taken lightly. One of the first things I do and what you can do as business speakers is point out that what is said in the meeting, stays in the meeting. Business speakers could do the same with the people they want to motivate. In fact, any sales speaker can do the same.

This is their opportunity to inform you as the CEO about any issues that need to be addressed. Most people will not ask business speakers their question in front of everyone. For me it is also a time to ask questions about certain workers that I am concerned about. If I noticed one Marine is not himself lately then I can ask someone who is closely working with that person. During these meetings things are not as formal to enable smooth communication. No matter what is said I do not react with anger or frustration because I am in fact asking for the information. This form of communication has been very effective for my unit as a whole.

The Power of Technology and the Inspirational Speaker by Max Garcia

Is the ever growing speed of technology good or bad? For the last ten years of my life as a leadership speaker technology has completely changed everything. In some ways it has made life better, but in other ways it has made every day life nothing but stressful. From the Verizon Internet, to cell phones, to pocket personal computers, and on line colleges, I hope life does not get any faster for me. A well-known psychic and inspirational speaker named John Edwards once said that we live in a “Mcdonalds, want it now society”. Everybody wants everything “right now”. I have been no exception to that theory. Just today I stopped at an auto body shop to get estimates from an accident. After nicely asking if I could get the estimate done now, I mentioned the quote from the inspirational speaker and everyone in the office started laughing. The manager stated that he talked about changing the company motto to something similar due to the impatience of customers. I must say that technology did help me today, as I was able to fax the paper work to the insurance company of the driver at fault.

Sure it is nice to have a cell phone, but it’s not so nice when the boss can conveniently call you back to work on the drop of a hat. As a leadership speaker, now that I have a cell phone, I can’t live without it. I used to get several phone calls during the workday from the boss. Whatever the task, of course needs to be done “as soon as possible”. In the early 90s’, once the meeting was over and everybody went to work outside, if the company staff needed something else they had to drive out to the work spaces and look for that individual or wait until the next day. Those were also the days of handwritten paper work and verbal reports.

As a leadership speaker I prefer to use a pocket personal computer to take notes in the meetings and pass word to subordinates. It keeps everything very organized, holds all my recall rosters, blood type rosters, to do list, and phone numbers without messy papers. I know a wide variety of people in different professions use them for the same. A Christian speaker can easily keep track of what he has talked about to each group. This same Christian speaker can write his next lecture while waiting in line at the DMV. At the same time the Christian speaker may have to speak about the rise of internet predators, a very serious subject. Is technology growing too fast? We know that if the internet were to go away any inspirational speaker or Christian speaker would surely struggle. You decide!

Micro Managing, Not So Good Leadership Characteristics by Max Garcia

“During a local security patrol the fourth vehicle was hit by an Improvised Explosive Devise and small arms fire causing injury to four Marines and Mortally wounding the Platoon Commander. Despite his inexperience, while Cpl Buckley's Squad leader was calling in a Medical Evacuation he immediately took charge of the squad and the tragic situation by applying first aid to three of the Marines. Cpl Buckley was able to stop the bleeding from one Marine that Doctors later confirmed would have surely bleed to death had he applied first aid incorrectly. (Fallujah Medical Officer 2004) As the helicopter was leaving with the casualties the company was hit again, this time with incoming mortars. While his squad leader ran to stop the helicopter for more casualties, Cpl Buckley took charge of the Squad and placed them in to a safe position to better defend the company preventing further casualties. Ok, enough motivational leadership stories…
This is only one example of how empowering your junior managers through motivational leadership along with the freedom to make decisions will benefit the whole team. Any leader regardless of billet needs to use initiative and not be afraid to make a decision with out permission from the next supervisor. Likewise, if you are that next person in charge and you don’t leave specific instruction for your subordinate leader when you step away then you have no room to criticize any decision they make unless it is unsafe or unethical. Too often the supervisor steps away for a meeting and the time comes to execute something as simple as scheduling. It never fails, many times the Boss comes back and changes the decision the shift manager made in his or her absence despite the lack of instruction. These daily decisions lead to loss in morale, productivity and more important, loyalty. These types of leadership characteristics are seen far too often. Instead of giving motivational speeches or a pat on the back the senior manager makes the junior managers feel as if their position means nothing.
In my units the most junior Non-Commissioned Officer knows he has my support to make a decision if left with out instruction. Using these leadership characteristics has kept me alive in combat and kept my sanity when over tasked. I have had more than one instance where I forgot to do something and my next man in line was right there to pick up the slack. Had I trained them only to act like robots then certain task would have surely fallen through the cracks due to my forgetfulness. When they cover for me like this I always make sure to give quick motivational speeches to those involved to re enforce their loyalty for next time.
So, the next time you take a vacation and you assume your subordinate leader has “got it”, ask yourself if that person knows he or she has your support to make a decision and exercise their own leadership characteristics. Will you use motivational leadership and support their decisions even if you are not crazy about them? Or, will you step on your “right hand” man causing them to hesitate in the future when you really need them the most. Chief Executive Officers, remember this when giving your motivational speeches to your lower level business managers. In short, let them know you have their back and they will have yours.

3 Rules for Confidence by Max Garcia

It doesn’t matter whom you work for or what your occupation is. I tell all my new people when they check in that I have three rules for building self confidence. These personal confidence rules I made up when I was a Drill Instructor at Parris Island, South Carolina. I told every platoon I graduated and now I tell every new member of my current companies. The three rules for building self confidence are: personal appearance, learn your role as quick as possible, and last but not least, always, no matter what happens, always be respectful. These rules of personal confidence I live by and train others to live by. I guess you could call these my tools to improve confidence because so many people feel inferior when starting a new job. I call them the three rules for success. The fact that I brief these rules to every new join has saved me time, frustration, paper work, and has made my Marines stronger. I believe this is fact only because of my three rules for success. To apply these when building self confidence in the corporate world some complimentary thinking will be needed. For now we will discuss the first rule.

The First Rule:
Improve confidence through a first impression. A first impression is a lasting impression. From the second you walk up to hand in your resume, to your first day on the job up until the day you leave, everybody is judging your personal appearance. Despite that it’s against what we are taught in school, not to judge a book by its cover, the fact remains people are judgmental creatures. You can have stellar performer, but if their personal appearance is lacking no one is going to promote them to a position where they have to deal with upper management. That’s just fact. If you are in a position of leadership then this rule should be gospel to you when it comes to personal confidence.
Everyone regardless of position or occupation is critical of those senior to them. The last thing you want is to be known by your subordinates as the sloppy or eccentric boss. It doesn’t matter how great you “know your job”, you lose prestige if you don’t look sharp in the eyes of those junior to you. Not only that, when you look good you feel good. When you feel good you will perform as such resulting in solid personal confidence. We will talk more next time about building self confidence using my other two rules. I want you to first improve confidence for your self by first assessing your own appearance. If you are in a leadership position, ask yourself if your people would work better if they simply dressed sharper?

Motivation vs Brains in Sales by Max Garcia

Well, what would you rather have on your team, someone with knowledge or someone with lots of sales motivation but knows little about the sales business? In sales, we have several types of people, and each one of these people require different types of business speakers to unfold their potential through sales motivation seminars. I believe the ability or skill level lies within the sales motivation of that person. As always there are certain exceptions when it comes to level of education and learning ability. This is why a business speaker or trainer must know his or her audience ahead of time (we will talk more about that another time).
When it comes to selection for a billet in the sales department, some leaders select based on previous performance with total disregard for the sales motivation of that person. I used to work as a Drill Instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina. For a short period of time my job was to identify recruits that were not physically strong enough to start recruit training and identify the challenged ones that still had potential. We would send the rest packing to physical conditioning platoon. Physical conditioning platoon kept them for several extra months until they either passed the physical requirements or quit. I would talk to each kid separately, and the first thing I would do is ask them if they would rather go home at this point or go to physical conditioning platoon knowing they would be in boot camp longer. Some recruits would instantly state they want to go back home to Mommy, while others will violently yell “No Sir” stating that they will stay longer if needed. My psychological trick was that the ones who genuinely seemed like they wanted to be a Marine got to come to my platoon to train, while the ones that wanted to just quit got dropped to physical conditioning platoon because I did not want their lack of motivation. Many times once properly instructed the recruits who came to my platoon uncovered their talent and ended up becoming good Marines. At the same time some that came in physically fit were unsuccessful because they had no motivation.
The same goes when sales speakers try to improve a company through sales motivation. Professional athletes don’t become the top five percent of the sport they play naturally. They have to work extremely hard for years and they have to have the right people help them get recognized. Many of them took lessons or received coaching there whole lives. That sounds like learning to me. I could care less how much “brain power” someone has if they don’t have a strong work ethic and drive. Whatever and whoever it is, good sales speakers can teach them if they really want to learn. You may want to think twice before hiring someone just because the have a certain qualification.

The Power of an Inspirational Speaker by Max Garcia

Through dedication, hard work, good luck and bad luck, any company can improve in any situation if they have a good inspirational speaker. Someone who gives good motivational speeches will not only create an up beat work environment, he or she will help the workers change their thinking pattern. When people shift their thinking from can’t, don’t know and try to we can, we will, we are the best it doesn’t matter what the odds are improvement must take place. We will take for example Andrew Grove.
Although he is not one of Intel's founders, Grove was a powerful force in the company almost from the start. Grove developed as a leadership speaker based on integrity. He is known by his employees as an honest person and a motivating boss to work for. Once during the 1980s hard times came when the company produced some products with flaws. Quickly Grove was able to discover untapped markets to help the company recover. Again in the 1990s the company was struck by major disaster when flaws were found in Pentium microprocessors. Once again Grove was able to react saving the company from possible failure when he launched the famous “Inside Intel” campaign. Of course he didn’t do all these things by him self. He had to deliver motivational speeches that would inspire the company to push forward. These are just a few testaments to Mr. Grove as a bold leadership speaker. The right inspirational speaker can get anyone to do anything. Regardless if we believe it or not motivational speeches are used on us all the time by politicians, commercials, and sales demonstrations.
Where most people would have folded, Grove inspired the company to be stronger. It was due to this time period that Wharton and Nightly Business Report named Andy Grove the "most influential" among the other Top 25 leaders profiled (Business week 1997). In 1997 Time Magazine named Grove “Man of the year”, the same year in which he became chairman and CEO of the company (Neff & Citrin 1999).
The lesson that we can learn from an inspirational speaker like Andrew Grove is that no matter how bad a situation is a company can recover if they have the right leadership speaker in place. A Marine Leader named Staff Sergeant Young once said: “It’s not how bad you “screw up”, “it’s how good you recover”. I respect that Mr. Grove was such a hard charger that he recovered remarkably from cancer at the same time as financial loss. Many people are hesitant to start their own business because they say things like: “it’s risky” “nine out of ten businesses fail”. Well to me that means if I start ten businesses one of them well make a million. You must be willing to make horrible mistakes, wealthy recoveries and learn from both. We all must keep in mind that no one makes it to the top and stays with out going through the hard times first.

Preventive Maintinance Leadership by Max Garcia

In my opinion there is no different level of difficulty between processing a do or don’t do order, the difficulty is within the business speaker. The only difficulty is if the person doing the business speaking for upper management forgets or doesn’t know exactly what needs to happen. It is difficult to remember to pass every step to completing the task but if you forget something specific then you can not complain when it is not completed the way you would do it. That is the only difficulty in the “do instructions”. It is a motivational leadership failure if you only state what you desire as an end result and then complain about how it was achieved.
The business speaker or leader needs to do what I call “Preventive Maintenance”. If you know there is a project coming up then you need to start writing down all the things that helped you achieve or not achieve results from before. Then you must give a quick brief. Your brief should include what specifics you want to see happen. Without focusing too much on the negative you should firmly state the things you don’t want while maintaining your motivational leadership style. This will keep your people on your side. I will give you an example.
Let’s say you are cleaning up your work area and checking your paper work for an inspection of upper level management. While business speaking you can not just simply state, “our inspection is coming up”. “The place needs to be immaculate and the paper work needs to be perfect”. A good business speaker for the boss will do preventive maintenance by stating, “every desk needs to be cleaned free of dust, loose papers, pictures, and all trash taken out”. If desk are your major concern, then you know you just covered it and everyone should be taking note of what you just said. Next you might want to cover paper work by stating “everyone needs to check his or her own log book for mathematical errors and then hand it in to the shift managers for further editing”. Then you can state what you do not want as long as your tone is of a motivational leadership style.
An example of that would be mentioning that how you don’t want to see any white out on the pages or pen scribbles. Now you have just covered what you want and what you don’t want. You may also want to mention that if anyone can think of anything else feel free to bring it up to your shift manager. Now, your people are thinking outside “the box”. If you forget something they will use their own initiative because you used motivational leadership while asking their opinion. The last thing a boss ever wants if for his business speaker to run a dictatorship where they act like robots because then you have no room for error.
If during your inspection a desk has outdated paper work and some of the paper work is sloppy you have a solid ground to informally counsel your employees with anger. If you just said “I want the place cleaned up and all the paper work straight”, then you have no room to counsel anyone because you did not specify.
Keep in mind that it is not any easier while business speaking to process a due instruction, it is just easier for people to complain that it isn't the way they wanted it. It takes guts to get up in front of your people and clearly articulate the objective at hand (Captain Handon 1999).

Choosing the Right Leadership Characteristics by Max Garcia

When developing your leadership characteristics you want to pay close attention to the various styles of leadership. Your style of leadership can and will greatly affect the results of your employees. Those affects, negative or positive will be a direct reflection of your leadership characteristics. Most people are familiar with two forms of leadership, persuasive or athoritative. The truth is that there are as many styles of leadership as there are characteristics of leadership. Every leadership challenge is going to call for different styles. Some subordinates are very easy to work with, show up on time, take initatiave, work hard and never question orders. These employees allow you to display relaxed leadership characteristics and courtesy. Other subordinates wait for you to give them an inch so they can take a mile. These co workers tend to be more disrespectful, question directions and require more supervision. The characteristics of these employees may call for you to use more force and athority. The key, is finding balance between the two. My father Dan Garcia, who retired from the Marine Corps, called this firm but fair leadership.
Many leaders, particularly those in the military feel that you always have to be consistent and treat every one exactly the same. This is true to some degree however, if you treat your best guy like your worst guy he won't be your best guy for long. If you have someone who knows exactly what your intent is and follows it to the letter wheather you are there or not enjoy it. Don't micro manage that person like they are incompetent and they will most likely continue on that path. I'm not saying don't supervise, in fact you should always inspect what you expect. Just keep in mind those that micro managed you in the past when you were doing excellent. Did you resent them to a certain degree? Did you feel as if they didn't trust you despite your consistent results. I know I totally resent any micro management, especially when in a leadership role. Why give someone a promotion and then stand over their shoulder? You might as well lead for them.
The moral of the story is to deal with each leadership challenge according to the situation, not just a standard style of leadershp characteristics you read in a book. Some bosses have fun simply being mean to their employees. They run the show out of fear and laugh about it. Sure they will work because you say so or else! They may even move a little faster when you are around. But, let there be no doubt if your subordinates hate you it will adversely affect you in the long term. They will only do the bare minimum, they will not take initatiave and they will probably stab you in the back the first opportunity they get. You will have no loyalty what so ever. This style will not improve confidence as a leader, in fact it displays a lack of personal confidence in one self. I once was about to make a huge mistake, one that could have possibly gotten me fired. Fortunately for me I had plenty of loyalty in my unit. One of the subordinates quickly pointed out the mistake for me, saving my butt. I said thank you and let him know how much I appreciated him having my back. This warning came from a subordinate that I had to firmly counsel on more than one occasion. That is where the firm but fair part comes in. If someone needs corrected, correct them. If the situation calls for a little harshness, make it harsh. However, if someone deserves a pat on the back you should be just as fast to do that with much more enthusiasm. Leadership characteristics like these go a long way and will assist in building personal confidence while in a postition of authority. Stay tuned for more articles like these or visit my website at http://www.themaxgarcia.com/

Leadership Characteristics by Max Garcia

What are the most important leadership characteristics? Leadership is defined in the english dictionary as a person who rules, guides, or inspires others. What qualities stand out most when observing someone who is a successful leader? For this article we will touch heavily on personal confidence, the characteristic that challenges most people. Despite their outward appearance most people question their own abilities and decisions all the time. Even top performers doubt themselves on a daily basis.
Confidence has to be one of the most important leadership characteristics there is. Now I didn't say cocky alpha males, I said confidence! With out confidence who ever you are leading will not follow you for long. If they're required to follow you due to your employment position they may have to do as you say but they surely don't have to respect you. You see, you must first be confident in yourself before you become confident in what ever area you are leading in. If you are comfortable in your own skin, it won't matter if you are the new boss that doesn't fully understand the policies in place yet. You will feel just fine kindly and confidently asking the advice of others instead of trying to fake it. In fact, your subordinates will respect the fact that you are humble enough to ask them. If you are comfortable with your own abilities in general, all the other leadership characteristics will come naturally. If you have challenges with this characteristic there is help.
Thats right, even if your fellow employees, subordinates, bosses, friends and family disrespect you on a daily basis there are some things you can do in your every day activity to help re establish your self. First and most importantly change the inner voice in your head. If you are the type that sees two people talking in the hallway and the little voice in your head tells you that they are talking bad about you change the voice inside your head. Now you have to trust me on this. The next time you catch yourself thinking something like, oh no my employees are laughing and looking at me, I want you to stop your self.
As soon as you stop yourself replace your thoughts with words that empower you instead. My employees love me, I have all the characteristics of a great leader. My family loves and respects me to no end. My friends think I'm cool no matter what I do. I am a confident and powerful individual. By the way, you need to say these statements even if you don't believe what your mouth is saying. If you have watched my DVD on confidence you will understand how this works. For now you just have to trust me. Do this just a few times and you will notice a change in the attitudes of the people around you ultimately helping you to become more confident in what ever area you are leading in. Build on the leadership characteristic of confidence and all other things will fall in to place. When you are looking to improve confidence and building self confidence in others stay tuned for more articles like these or visit my website at www.themaxgarcia.com

When angry dont

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog of best kept secrets. You may have heard my recent pod cast called "when angry don't". http://bestkeptsecrets.blip.tv/file/2211956/

Negative things happen every day. The second you learn to take control over yourself when these things happen, the second you control your life. We all get the pleasure of experiencing a computer that is being stubborn, a person who dares to cut us off on the freeway, a spilled drink, a dropped cell phone and the lovely fax machine just to name a few.

The question you need to ask yourself when these things happen before you get angry and lose your cool is.... Do I really want this to happen more often? If you like these situations then go ahead and curse, use God's name in vain, throw things, put up the middle finger ect because you will surely get more of that. If you are really lucky you will get a chain of bad events right away.
The opposite is true though if you just continue like nothing ever happened.

This does take discipline and practice but pays off many times over. If I am stuck in traffic or get a flat tire I will automatically assume that God has made this happen for me so that I will not be in an accident up ahead. Notice I said for me. You must have the attitude of thanks that everything happens for you, not to you.

You are in complete control of where you are now and where you go from here. I will explain more of this in my future blogs and pod cast. In the meant time. Have a blessed day.

Max Garcia