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Happy Friday!

It has been a quiet week, the likes of one I've craved for months. It involved time with my daughters, including lots of talk about tooth fairies and the Easter bunny. There was much time devoted to dog walks and getting my hands dirty in a yard full of native plants and fruit trees.

This morning I thinned my peach tree, which reliably produces hundreds of peaches just before summer. Thinning this tree is a painful, yet necessary process. The first year we had it, I left it alone. I was determined to keep every peach the tree could produce. Sure, the branches were heavy, but the fruit looked great! I braced the branches, supported it everywhere I could and hoped for the best. One day, upon returning home from running errands, I found one of the largest branches split and destroyed due to the weight of the fruit. The tree was injured and lopsided, but fortunately survived. By harvest time, I found the remaining peaches weren't able to reach their full size due to overcrowding, and they weren't very sweet. Imagine my family's expressions when we tried our vomit-flavored peach wine. How's that for sensory imagery? Blechhh. Anyway, now I thin the tree. I free it up of more than HALF of its weight in fruit so that what's left can reach its full potential and give me perfect, delicious peaches.

This reminded me of the process of helping a speaker craft a talk, myself included. I can be long-winded, and I don't always have the shortest, fastest, most succinct way of making my point. The same is true for many of us. We have great stories, important research and data to share, other information that feels important. I get it. What it means, though, is that we sometimes include too much information for people to absorb. If we truly want to connect with others, we need to trim things down in order to highlight what we want people to hear. Pauses, moments of silence between our points, negative space; all serve to amplify the words we choose to keep. It's up to us to choose them wisely.

I'm not a savvy enough marketer to have some shiny course or product to help you through this yet, but it's in the works. In the meantime, I'm doing private coaching and sharing free tools here. I have a scattered variety of resources to share today, all results of meetings with friends, clients, and projects I'm building. Enjoy!

• Teaching a client how to incorporate breathwork and meditation to tackle stage fright
• Going through my favorite meditation program for the second time in two years
• Hosting mastermind groups with my speakers to help them manifest joyous projects
• Assisting the TEDxSanDiego curator with management of the video editing process
• Helping an old friend find people making change inside big companies - I sent him this​
• Sharing this program (which I'm just finishing) with a friend trying to reverse his diabetes
• Assembling a list of storytelling resources for a client building a keynote speech
• Working on my improv speaking skills with my supportive, hilarious, *free*, weekly speaking group​

That's all for now. If you're seeking a resource for anything related to this list, let me know. Your curiosities and interests often become sources of my inspiration, so, bring it on! In the meantime, have a great weekend. I'll be back next Friday.