Happy New Year!

I hope the start of 2013 finds you well-rested, rejuvenated, and ready to embrace new challenges!

I had a great 2012, so I was a bit sad to see it end. But one thing I wasn't sorry to see go: the year-end frenzy of "resolutions" articles in all media. Every year, it's the same. Once again, according to the website Statistics Brain, the number one resolution is "lose weight". Many Americans are overweight and could stand to tone up a bit for health-related reasons. But as a country we are obsessed with "perfect bodies." Having dealt with these issues in the world of professional theatre for too many years to count, I can testify to the insidiousness of our collective goal to achieve an unattainable standard of physical perfection.

Frank Bruni wrote in the New York Times on this very topic on Christmas Day, and I found his argument compelling. He was writing in context of the movie The Sessions (which I am looking forward to seeing soon), and concludes: "We're so much more than these wretched vessels that we sprint or swagger or lurch or limp around in. . .We should make peace with them and remain conscious of that, especially at this particular hinge of the calendar, when we compose a litany of promises about the better selves ahead, foolishly defining those selves in terms of what's measurable from the outside, instead of what glimmers within."

You can't judge a book. . .

It's not news that many of us bemoan our less-than-perfect physical selves in the new-year-new-beginnings-season. But if we return to the Statistics Brain site, we see that when grouped into categories, the stats tell a different story. More of us -- 47 percent -- make resolutions that are self-improvement or education-related than the 38 percent who make weight-related promises. I suppose that is why my Acting Workshop classes always have more students in January than in the fall.

My speaker-training/communications coaching practice also benefits from this urge to polish up tired skills or acquire new ones. And my clients are most successful when they do what experts say is the only real way to make a resolution stick: start small, mastering a discipline one step at a time. They practice, and let the training unfold. Mental changes and attitudinal shifts take place as their expertise increases, but all this takes time. So if you think you might need skills development or training anytime in 2013, take advantage of the cyclical urge to master something new. Resolve this year to become the best communicator you can be. Develop your own effective, dynamic technique NOW - before you have an urgent need to do so. And find a new way to  "glimmer within."

Tips you can use!

Consult the experts
My friend Paula Tarnapol Whitacre has just published a free e-book, Ease in Writing, that is chock-full of quick and useful writing tips. See ideas I shared with her in Chapter 20!  
 
Don't begin with "so"
"So" has become the new filler-word with which to begin an answer. This inappropriate use of "so" makes you sound like you have been carrying on a conversation in your head, rather than listening. Don't do it!  
 
or "OK"
"OK"  is often coupled with "so" ( "so, OK!") as a first response. Why do you need to approve the question? It makes you sound much more informal -- and less compelling. Avoid this unless you are going for a very causal style.