It was a nice summer day. I had gone roller blading for the very first time in my life at Piedmont Park in Atlanta Georgia. I was not an intuitive skater – in fact I was not even a poor skater, I was somewhere beneath that.

I was descending a long hill when a toddler, probably only three years of age wandered onto the path ahead of me. From riding a mountain bike for some time with a speedometer on it, I would estimate that I was probably traveling at somewhere between 20 and 25 miles per hour. Not only did I not know how to stop, I didn’t even know how to slow down! I did know that if I hit that small child, the impact would probably kill her.

I wrenched my body to the left and hit a ten foot tall, vine covered dirt bank at full speed. It really hurt! I was dazed. I picked myself up and picked the dirt out of my face and eyes and coasted down to the water fountain to get a drink and wash myself off. The only way to describe how I felt was strange. Then my chest began hurting. My first thought was that I had cracked some ribs. The pain became very intense and I took my skates off and started walking back up the hill in my stocking feet to the entrance of the park. When the pain kept increasing I thought that maybe I had fractured my sternum. As I approached the entrance to the park the pain became unbearable and I collapsed. My heart had decelerated so fast against my sternum, that I had suffered a heart attack East Inflatable Rentals.

The next thing that I remembered was riding in the ambulance and seeing the overhead light in the ambulance appearing to be getting smaller and smaller. I heard the attendant speaking to the hospital. “Piedmont he’s 70 over 50 and dropping.” A little while later, “Piedmont he’s 50 over nothing.” A few moments passed, “Piedmont we’ve lost him.” After that, they applied the defibrillator paddles and that kept me alive until when we reached the hospital.

I was in the most intense pain of my life. I was scared. Really scared. I knew that I was probably going to die. A man with a very kind face appeared alongside the gurney as I was being wheeled into the emergency room. He took my hand between both of his and said in a voice that exuded confidence, “I’m Carl Jacobs. I’m the best cardiologist that there is. I have the whole “A” team working with me, and they never work weekends. You are going to be just fine.” Whether he knew that I would be okay or not wasn’t the point. He spoke those words with authority and confidence. That was twenty years ago this year. Dr. Carl Jacobs is an incredibly intelligent and talented cardiologist. I have absolutely no doubt that his knowledge and skills saved my life that weekend…. so did his confident voice. A voice that spoke with calm authority. I didn’t know whether I would live or die. But his voice convinced me that he knew, and so I relaxed, knowing that I would live.

Sometimes I have occasion to treat children that have not been trained to behave well, and often show no manners or respect whatsoever. Rodney and his parents were in my office and Rodney was all over the place and his parents were powerless to make him behave. “Rodney – sit still.”  “Rodney what did I just tell you?” “Rodney if you behave we’ll go to Dairy Queen.”“Rodney, when you get home you are going to have a time out.” If parents cannot control their child at the age of four – how do they expect to be able to do it at fourteen? Anyway, Rodney finally got down off his mother’s lap and began to pick up something off of my desk. I said in a firm voice to Rodney, a voice that was confident and that I expected Rodney to obey -“Rodney stop. Don’t touch that. Get back up on your mother’s knee.” He did. The amazed parents ask why he would listen to me and not them? I said “my voice conveyed confidence and authority and he knew that I expected him to obey me.” I said to them – “children know when someone is serious by the tone and strength in their voice. If you are not firm and if your voice is not full of confidence, don’t even expect him to obey you.”

A confident, self assured voice of authority works wonders whether you are advancing your point at the office, a civic group, church and especially if you are delivering a speech. If you are on a conference call or a meeting and you use a negative modifier – then you have just lost the ability to influence anyone. Something like this sabotages you. “This might sound like a dumb idea but… “If you think that you have an idea that is dumb… why would anyone else think that it is a good one?

If you feel that you could use more confidence to raise your children, to excel at public speaking, in grow in your career, call Bob Crow at 404.277.1827 for a complimentary consultation.

Bob Crow is a behavioral therapist board certified in clinical and medical hypnotherapy. He practices in Atlanta Georgia working with those wishing to overcome stress, panic, phobias, procrastination and fears. With those that wish to perform better in sports, sales, public speaking, to stop smoking, to lose weight permanently, to quit sabotaging relationships and any other area of behavioral change that would make life more enjoyable.

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