Be a Hopeless Romantic on me!
I said I would run a contest to compliment my Google Keyword Challenge for the top “Hopeless Romantic” Spot, so here it is. The prize is going to be a gift certificate to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse valued at $50(or romantic restaurant if Ruth’s Chris is unavailable in your area). This one should be fun, because if you win, you are not just winning for yourself, but rather for you and your date. I like the idea because being a Hopeless Romantic is very selfless and by taking someone special to dinner that is just great.
The deal is, that if you win, you must plan a romantic evening for someone special and then send me your plan. I will review it and post it, so make it fun and entertaining. It must meet the requirements for a hopeless romantic evening by having it be somewhat of a surprise to your date. That means you must do something that your date doesn’t know about that will make the evening more exciting. On the date, take a picture of you and your date and send it to me. If you give me permission, I would like to post the picture, but I don’t have to.
HOW TO ENTER:
1.) Leave a comment about why you should win and what you preliminary plans for a hopeless romantic date would be. The contest will be judged based on your response.
2.) Digg and Reddit my story by clicking the links.(I can see if it was clicked), also Favorite Me on Technorati if you want.
3.) Tell all your friends internet savvy or not.
4.)Additional emphasis on entries for those who mention this contest on their blog using the following text.
Adam from TheAdamBox.com is making it easy for you to be a hopeless romantic for an evening by giving away a $50 gift certificate for a romantic outing. Enter Here.
The Contest will be run until I recieve at least 25 applicants.
Contest, dinner, evening, Hopeless Romantic, ruths chrisCreating a good image with your Body Language and Vocal tone
May 9, 2007 by Adam
Filed under Business and Productivity, Ramblings
In continuation of the Image is Everything series, today we bring you techniques on how to improve your image with your body language, vocal tone, and vocal wording.
Have you ever met someone and before you can even say “Jack Robinson” you feel extraordinarily comfortable with that person? Is it magic or is there a physical reason? Well today I am going to touch on the methods behind creating that sort of affect.
Let’s first set one thing straight. Knowing what I am going to tell you today will do you no good unless you practice so much that it becomes natural. I have known these techniques for a while and I am not sure if I am any better off, because I just don’t focus on practicing them enough. Maybe writing this article will give me a new energy to practice my body language, vocal tone, and my word choice. Know also that this is just the bare minimum information about this topic and there are many great books that touch on this in detail. Look down further to see my book suggestions.
Body Language
Some people say that what you have to say means a lot, but I would have to disagree. It isn’t about what you have to say, but rather how you say it. The very first way that you communicate is with your body. Almost anyone can tell what kind of mood you are in just by looking at you. So if you want to appear great, first you must have a good attitude and second you must show confidence and friendliness.
Showing confidence and strength is a very easy concept, but a very difficult task.
Would you believe me that by looking at someone directly in the eyes for just a fraction of a second too long can show enormous confidence? Yep, that is the key. Easy, right? Well, give it a try and see how easy it is to remember to do it. Unless you focus on doing it you will either forget about it or be afraid to do it. When looking at someone, let them be the first one to break eye contact and then you follow immediately after. From there on out, during conversation, use your eyes to show extreme interest by looking at their eyes more often than what is initially comfortable.
Now that you have the idea of eye contact, the friendliness comes from your smile. Doesn’t it feel good to know that someone is happy to meet you? When we see someone that has a smile that overwhelms their face, we subconsciously think “can they really be that happy to see me? I guess so, this is great.” The key to a great smile is a big and slow smile. A genuine smile is a slow and powerful smile. Look at someone in the eyes and then slowly smile HUGE. Practice a Huge smile in the mirror so that you know what a Huge smile feels like. I use to always find myself half smiling in pictures in which I thought I was full smiling. It is a feeling you have to train your brain.
The best way to get good at this stuff is to first practice in a mirror and then go out and focus on using these techniques with as many people as possible. Over time it will become more natural.
Vocal Tone and Wording
Vocal tone is the key to making someone feel that you are interested and on the same level as them. When someone is sad, a vocal tone of excitement will more than likely be unexpected and awkward. When some is happy, a sad vocal tone is really awkward and depressing. So the key is to match the person vocal tone and if necessary slowly make changes to control the mood of the conversation.
Again it doesn’t matter what you say, but how you say it. With the right vocal tone any topic of conversation can sound exciting, so speak with enthusiasm when talking about yourself. If you speak with enthusiasm then they get the impression that you are an interesting person.
Another key idea about sounding enthusiastic is to always have something interesting to say. This does take some practice, but you should have a list in your head about interesting facts about the city you live in and interesting facts about yourself. Next time someone asks you “Where are you from?”, you should respond with something interesting about your city relating to the person you are talking about. For example, I am from Reno, If I was meeting someone on a backpacking trip, I might respond with “I am from Reno, 20 minutes away from the great Lake Tahoe.” This opens up the conversation to talking about Lake Tahoe and the outdoors there. This same technique can be used for any normal question like “What do you do?” or “How did you meet?”.
When talking to someone it is good to repeat and compliment stuff that they say, because it shows you are listening and interested. Use phrases like, “That is great, that you are able to take a trip to Europe.”, if they were talking how excited they are to go to Europe.
All of these techniques are just the tip of the iceberg and will only get you so far. Using these techniques regularly will indeed improve your image which directly effects your success. So take the time to practice these techniques and then when you are hungry for more check out the following books.
attitude, body language, confidence, eyes, image is everything, Life, relationships, smile, success, vocal toneFree Hugs Campaign
May 6, 2007 by Adam
Filed under Business and Productivity, Ramblings
While I was reading the latest issue of Positive Thinking Magazine, I came across a small story about a guy who came across FreeHugscampaign.org in October 2006 and decided to try Free hugs in a busy shopping mall. The response was overwhelming and he has been doing every weekend since then. This is a very interesting campaign and I think I might just try it at the local mall just to experience the feeling of helping someone out. You never know who you might affect by your actions.
It does seem a little strange and it makes me nervous, but the success is unbelievable and the reward may be undescribable. All you have to do is make one persons day better and it will be worth it.
The power of a hug is huge and actually scientifically proven to lower blood pressure. More hugs means lower blood pressure. Interesting, eh?
If I do it then there will be pictures and a story probably sometime next month.
campaign, Free hugs, hugImage is Everything Series
April 26, 2007 by Adam
Filed under Business and Productivity, Lifestyle & Health, Ramblings
Today starts a series that is so important in terms of success. Almost everything we decide on is based on some reasoning taken from our ideal image or feeling about a topic. That is why when people say “Image is everything” they are so right. Take for example politians who will regularly shift their views slightly one way or the other to match the ideal image of their audience. This is why the term “Flip-Flop” was developed and to be fair to John Kerry, everyone does it. He just was in the wrong place at the wrong time. So no matter what we do in life, we have to look at how others feel and how best to present ourselves to increase our success. This concept is true even down to being a good parent. Suppose as a parent you swear and yell at your wife, but treat your kids like gold. Do you think their image of you if great, assuming that they truly love their mother?
In this series, I am going to dive into various examples of how image is so important and how to improve your image which eventually will lead to who you are as a person rather than just temporarily changing your image for a single event. Here are the topics I will be diving into.
- Introduction
- Career – Week 1 – April 30th
- Life -Week 2 – May 7th
- Relationships -Week 3 – May 14th
- Confidence
- Attitude
Look for the first section about Image in your Career on Monday April 30th.
attitude, confidence, image, image is everything, Interview, jobs, resume, series, success