About This Site. This site is the website of motivational speaker Craig
Harper. A constantly updated, one-stop
information, inspiration, education and motivation
station. Unlike many similar sites, it is a totally
free resource for anyone who is serious about moving
from mediocre to amazing in any area of their
personal or professional life. With hundreds of
articles covering a wide range of subject matter,
great interviews with cool people and inspirational
video posts, there's more than enough brain-food to
keep you busy for hours. Okay, days!!
Enjoy.
Click play above
to
see one of Craig's weekly segments on national
television. (9AM with Kim & David - Network Ten)
Attention Website Owners!
How would you like to become an online business partner with
Craig? Click
here
to find out how to become an affiliate of craigharper.com
Life Coach
Melbourne - Craig Harper
If
you are interested in maximizing your potential,
stepping out of that 'holding pattern' and being
privately coached by Craig click here.
Business Coach Melbourne -
Craig Harper
If you're a personal trainer, gym owner or studio owner
who is interested in growing your business and/or your
career, then mentoring with Craig could be a valuable
part of your overall success strategy and professional
development journey.
Biological Age Testing
- Craig Harper
In a recent test, Jan Frazer, who has a chronological age (the
number of years she's been on the planet) of 67 did a biological
age test which showed she has the body of a 37 year old female.
Pretty Impressive! How old is your body! Find out here.
Nutrition Melbourne -
Craig Harper
Many nutritional
experts are confusing people with jargon and pseudo-science.
Craig's HPN Service provides remote access to Craig's Director
of Nutrition to cut through the dietary confusion and
contradiction.
Public Speaking Melbourne - Craig Harper If you've ever
thought about becoming a professional speaker or
improving your public speaking then you can be privately
coached here.
Fattitude
- Craig Harper
While many books focus on food,
Craig Harper teaches that creating life-long change is more about the
dieter, than the actual diet. This book is perfect for people who have a
history of 'almost' getting in shape.
DVD
or CD - Renovate Your Body - Craig Harper In this entertaining presentation, Craig discusses the
notion of Renovating Your Body - once and for all. Many of us have a curious
ability to be able to get in shape for events (weddings, parties, reunions
and birthdays), if only we'd get in shape for life.
Craig Harper is a leading
motivational speaker
and educator. He is a highly
sought-after corporate coach and is considered to be
a leader and pioneer in the areas of personal and
professional development. Working with hundreds of
teams, companies and a wide variety of organisations
on numerous continents over the last twenty years
has given Craig a unique insight into, and
understanding of, human performance and all its
variables. Craig has an ability to educate, inspire,
challenge and make people laugh all at the same
time!
In my second year of high school I had a teacher named Mr Ryan. I went to an all boys college and us blokes called him 'Big Al'. While other teachers would reprimand us if we even dared use their first name, Big Al seemed to revel in our respect and affection for him. He was my all-time fave teacher and was universally loved. By us students anyway. Interestingly, for a teacher he wasn't particularly academic. Or even very articulate. He often wuddled his mords. I mean, muddled his words. He always got the job done but his methodology was different to that of his counterparts. His teaching style was... no style. But it worked very well. He was the only teacher that my buddies and I actually wanted to be around and wanted to work for. He had a skill of balancing work and play; what we had to do (academically) with what we wanted to do (be teenage boys).
Rules Schmules
Being a private boys college, we were subjected to an inordinate amount of rules, regulations, standards and codes of conduct. Unlike his uptight, stuffy, by-the-book colleagues, Big Al viewed the rules as... open to interpretation. Somewhat restrictive perhaps. Within reason, he allowed us to express ourselves. We loved that about him. It was his flexibility, his normality and his communication style which connected him to us stinky teenage boys.
Talking to, not at
While all the other teachers lectured us, Big Al spoke to us and with us. He understood how us teenage boys were wired and he tapped into that. He was still the boss, but he spoke our language. And because we liked him, we didn't want to disappoint him, so our schoolwork actually improved. The irony being that some of the most educated, academic and articulate teachers at my school, were the worst communicators. Plenty of talk but no communication. Their attitudes, their personalities and their teaching style got in the way of our learning and development. And any meaningful communication. Many of them had no idea how to connect with, interact with or even hold a normal conversation with us teenage boys. And if you're teaching at an all boys school, you'd think that ability to communicate might be a desirable, if not prerequisite, skill. Call me wacky.
Without doubt, the most important day-to-day life skill is communication but the crazy thing is that many people who should be connecting, teaching, directing, motivating, encouraging and leading on a daily basis (that includes you and me) are horrible communicators. Who cares if you've got an I.Q. of three hundred and a PhD. in everything, if you can't communicate effectively with your audience, team, employees, family, partner.. etc.
Back to Big Al
When class was finished and the official stuff was done Big Al would hang around and talk to us boys about anything and everything; sport, girls, career, parents, cars... life. He didn't simply clock on and off. Before he became a teacher, he was was a cop. He had seen plenty and done plenty and while he wasn't as academic as most teachers, in many ways he was much more educated. He understood people. He knew how to create rapport, trust and understanding. He knew how to engage people. He knew how to read people. He knew how to build relationships. He knew when to be tough and when to have fun. He knew when to talk and when to be quiet. He knew that talking a lot didn't necessarily translate to effective or meaningful communication and teaching. He understood how to get the most out of us teenage boys because he knew our language. He spoke with us, not at us.
Over the years I have thought about Big Al often. And while I appreciate what he endeavoured to teach me about geography and biology (sorry Big Al, I forget it all), what I really appreciate is what he unintentionally and unknowingly taught me about communication.
A Summary of What I Learned From Big Al...
1. Talking ain't necessarily communicating or connecting. Some people have a gift for alienating, confusing and intimidating people. They disconnect far more than they connect. Every day I ask myself this question ten times... "how do I need to communicate with this person, in this situation to create connection, understanding and a positive outcome?"
2. Sometimes listening is the best way of communicating. What we don't say often has the most impact in a situation. We don't need to speak to convey a message, change a situation, make a point or have an impact. Sadly, too many people have verbal diarrhea and love the sound of their own voice.
3. To be able to consistently create rapport, understanding and connection we must consciously and practically develop our communication skills. Like any other skill we need to work at it. It's amazing that many of us will enrol in a course to learn how to build a website, start a small business or massage a body... but we won't consciously and methodically work at becoming more effective communicators.
4. Speaking perfect Chinese to someone who's from Italy is a waste of time. Kind of amusing to watch... but ultimately pointless. Effective communication is not about how articulate we are, it's about whether or not we're speaking the right language. Just because you and I speak English doesn't necessarily mean we speak the same language or we're communicating effectively.
5. Learning to make others feel good (important, valued, loved, wanted) ain't the worst communication strategy! Some people have an amazing ability to turn every conversation into a monologue about themselves and their fabulousness (a word). If you know how to make people feel valued (etc.), you'll have connection and you'll have their attention. "Tell me again how good I am Craig...."
So Big Al... If you're still about and you happen across this article, I just want you to know that I didn't end up in the big house making number plates, I haven't killed anyone (recently), I still haven't figured girls out and you made a big difference in my life by speaking my language.
Thanks Mr. Ryan.
Leave a comment or tell me about your 'BigAl' by clicking on the comment thingy.
DVD
- Renovate Your Body - Craig Harper
In this entertaining presentation, Craig discusses the
notion of Renovating Your Body - once and for all. (Also
available on CD).
Fattitude
- Craig Harper
While many books focus on food,
Craig Harper teaches that creating life long change is more about the
dieter than the actual diet.
Food for thought
- Craig Harper
In this book, Craig Harper
walks the reader through his 21 rules to Permanent Weight Loss.
So you've decided you want to get in shape (again)
- Craig Harper
Imagine a pocket-sized fitness book that takes just twenty minutes to
read. Craig Harper addresses the REAL getting-in-shape issues.
