How to kiss, get a job and other stuff you need to know.

  I’m speaking at the TIME Convention on October 30^th about how to amplify your influence and how to deal with change before it deals to you. Along with the humour and energy I’ll be making some serious points about how to influence the people and the world around you.

On Moderation:
When I was a child we had a thing called ‘parents’ because ‘caregivers’ hadn’t been invented yet. I don’t think many parents of older generations would’ve considered themselves caregivers anyway. They weren’t giving the care; they were exchanging it for the assumption of receiving reciprocated care in their retirement years. (Good luck with that!) My mother said something incredibly useful on the subject of diet, “Moderation in all things.” Unfortunately she also said a lot of other things like, “Tidy your room,” “Were you born in a barn?” and “You’ll go blind” so her moderation gem was kind of drowned out with all the rest of her white noise. Bear in mind that people who said that kind of thing about moderation lived in a time of import controls when you could only get two kinds of packet spaghetti at the supermarket so it’s not like being overly immoderate was a realistic option for many.

On Happiness:
If you ever think at any point in your life, “Wow, this is it, I’ve finally made it,” that statement alone, if you truly believe it, will pretty much prevent you from being happy in the long-term. Happiness isn’t a club with lifetime membership. We’ve evolved as a species because we’re collectively and genetically unable to maintain happiness. Our survival and progress as a species has been reliant on dissatisfaction. Necessity is the mother of invention but unhappiness, failure and dissatisfaction are the three guys who might be the father.

On Stress:
Any book on stress management or personal development that doesn’t cite Viktor Frankl is inadequate. To cut a long story short, he was a Jewish Austrian psychiatrist who was put into a concentration camp by the Nazis during World War Two. (Look it up. It was big news before Paris Hilton.) You’re never going to find a greater location for unhappiness in human history. (The war, not Paris Hilton.) People like Frankl had every reason to be messed up. But Frankl observed that some people survived and coped. What was it about these people that made them different?

Terry Williams is a Trainer / Speaker / MC / Comedian and is author of ‘THE GUIDE: How to Kiss, Get a Job and Other Stuff You Need to Know’, described by Radio NZ National as “…an essential family resource, like a dictionary or an atlas.”

http://www.terrywilliams.info/

http://www.timeconvention.co.nz/terry-williams