I hope you are finding ways to enjoy one of the longest, coldest and snowiest winters on record!
Charismatic and natural
Personally, I like winter as it is a great time to reflect, decide what’s missing, and learn new skills to close the gaps that can make a big difference in my life.
One area my clients want to close gaps on is how they communicate. They want to be understood, they want to be more natural, more authentic, more charismatic. Yet they get stuck, stumble on their words, feel incongruent or hold back out of fear of being rejected or misunderstood.
If you want to get unstuck, feel congruent, be more interesting and charismatic my training partner Jeff Skinner, Actor and Owner of Actors’ Training Centre of Manitoba (ATCMB) and I are hosting a workshop entitled “Focusing Your Charisma”. Workshop dates: May 26, June 2, June 9, 2014, 6pm – 10pm
Early booking deadline is May 1, 2014. Secure your space now!
This newsletter is on how you can learn to tap into your own natural charisma to communicate more clearly, congruently and authentically.
Can you remember having a conversation or telling a story and feeling a bit weird as the other person wasn’t showing interest? At the time maybe you felt the person just didn’t ‘get you’. Or maybe you walked away wishing you could have been more interesting, more engaging, more charismatic?
“The reason we’re successful, darling? My overall charisma, of course.” ―Freddie Mercury
Did you know every time you speak you are not only sharing your words – you are also exposing your private inner feelings and state? Every gesture, tone of voice, eye movement, tension in your body, and even your breathing pattern is telling a story. If you are feeling fearful, lack confidence, or are unprepared – your feelings will flow outside your body for the world to see. In Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) this is called Behavioural Manifestations of Internal Representations – or BMIR’s for short. People pick up on BMIR’s quickly and make judgements on whether you are being authentic and truthful.
You may have a strong and important message to share. However, when your words don’t match your internal state – it can feel phony, like you are not being your true and authentic self. And it’s difficult to be charismatic when you are not feeling confident, congruent and authentic, isn’t it?
If you are curious how being authentic and charismatic works in challenging circumstances, read on how seasoned actor Jeff Skinner of the Actors’ Training Centre of Manitoba managed his internal state while acting under pressure in a live performance in Winnipeg.
“It was 2009 and I was doing a performance of Danny Schur’s musical “Strike”. I was playing the lead role of Mike Sokolowski, the character which I originated. The production was part of the MayWorks celebrations and we were performing in front of Winnipeg City Hall on a Sunday afternoon.
The crowd was so large that we had to close off both southbound lanes of Main Street to accommodate all of the seating. We had an audience of about a thousand people all standing on the street surrounding the stage.
We were competing with traffic sounds which were less than ten feet behind the audience. Everything from motor cycles, to ambulances and fire trucks, you name it – we had it. It was not the most conducive atmosphere for an intimate musical.
None the less, we persevered.
At the most critical point of the story, Mike has to make a decision as to whether he is going to join forces with those he considers his enemy or to stand and fight against them.
With over thirty years of experience as an actor, I intuitively knew how to capture and hold an audience’s attention, even under these very difficult circumstances. As Mike struggles with his decision, I knew exactly what timing was required and where my focus needed to be in order to get the maximum reaction out of the audience.
At that critical moment you could hear a pin drop even with all of the traffic noise and when I shook my enemy’s hand I heard open sobs coming from the audience. It was a powerful experience for me as the actor and for the audience.
All of these decisions I made were intuitive for me because of all my years of experience acting on stage.
In hindsight, now that I am skilled in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), I reflect back on that day and realize that everything that I did that took me decades to learn was something I now know from a relatively short period of time learning NLP. I can’t imagine where my skill in acting would be today if I had learned the NLP approach to acting some thirty years ago.”
Watch a clip of the 2009 outdoor musical on the 1919 Winnipeg ‘Strike’ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sBnTv_ifVo
Be more authentic in how you communicate, feel congruent and charismatic. Attend our upcoming “Focus Your Charisma” workshop. Early booking deadline is May 1, 2014.
Whether on or off stage we all have the ability to determine the state we are in. Each state contains inherent behaviours. When you decide to be in a specific state as an example confident – your behaviours will match the state. You will find it easy to approach people you have never met. You will find it easy to talk about your opinions, share ideas and carry conversations. If you choose to be charismatic – your behaviours will again match your state. You will be charming, interesting, and find it easy to engage with people and hold their attention.
If however you choose to be fearful – your behaviours will match that state. You will shy away from speaking to people, find ways to avoid conversation and may even have trouble concentrating as your body will be signalling fear, and the fight or flight response can overwhelm you.
There are dozens if not hundreds of different states and you can access them all – if you know how.
One of the most useful states for presenting, speaking and engaging with people is the state of being charismatic.
Every person is born as a charismatic human being and every person can access their charisma. If you have ever influenced another person – you used your charisma. If you have ever inspired another person to go beyond their comfort zone, you did this by evoking your charisma.
And you can have access to instant charisma. If you want to be more authentic and charismatic come to“Focusing Your Charisma” workshop. Early booking deadline is May 1, 2014. Pick up the phone and call Jeff Skinner 204- 957-0061 or myself 204-480-8667 to secure your space now!
Client Excellence:
“I am thrilled to recommend Jacquie Nagy as a trainer. Thanks to her, I have improved my body language, energy and rapport with others. Her workshop was fun and full of enjoyable and rewarding exercises. The lessons have remained with me since the workshop and I experience the benefits everyday.” Paul Hesse, Lawyer at Pitblado Law and Liberal Candidate – Fort Rouge, Winnipeg