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Gift giving can be a grueling task. I have spent countless hours trying to figure out what to give. What do you give to the person who has everything? How about the person that never likes anything?

After all was said and done, I use to choose lame gifts. Embarrassed by the receiver’s reaction, I typically promised to do better next time. That is until I finally realized that choosing the perfect present did not have to be such a demanding, time-consuming task.

There are three strategies I discovered that can help you pick the perfect present without the headache.

Learn Their Hobbies

Find out if the receiver has any hobbies. Many people collect items such as dolls or airplanes. Golf, chess, music, and reading are also popular hobbies. For these enthusiasts, a new doll for their collection or a new chess set would be the perfect gift.

For instance, I just discovered that a friend collects dolls. To my surprise, she has been collecting them since she was eight and has an extensive doll collection. I immediately made a mental note to buy her a doll for her collection the next time I give her a gift.

Listen For Needs Or Desires

Listen carefully in conversations with the receiver to see if they reveal something they need or desire. Often in conversation people mention an item they need but never got around to buying or an item they want. This item makes the perfect gift.

I purchased the perfect gift for a friend last year using this strategy. In my eyes, he had everything. So in the months leading up to his birthday I listened carefully during conversations with him. One day he mentioned an item that he saw on an infomercial that he wanted. I knew it was the perfect gift for him when he talked about it. He was very pleased when he opened it. The perfect gift!

Determine If There Is A List

Determine if the receiver has made a list of things they need or want. People sometimes make a list to ensure they don’t receive gifts they will not use. We have all received gifts that we either had no use for or just didn’t want. Usually I either re-gift or give the item away. To prevent this from happening, I now keep a running list of things I need and want.

Take Action

Now that I have shared these three strategies with you, it’s time for you to take action. Make a list of people you have to buy a gift for over the next month. As you interact with them make note of any hobbies, needs, or desires. You may even discover that they have a list. Then use what you learn to pick the perfect present.

Choosing the perfect present does not have to be a difficult, time-consuming task that produces lame gifts. Just use the 3 strategies mentioned. You will be glad you did.

So what are you waiting for? Start shopping for the perfect present now!

So, there you are, ready to step out and make your carefully prepared presentation. You step on stage you welcome your audience and then you bring out the big opening, you tell them your best joke. The one you always tell to get a laugh. Well you better be sure it’s a good one or you are about to blow your credibility out of the water.

Are you sure your joke isn’t offensive to anybody in the audience? Will everybody understand the punchline? Will most people laugh? Have you got the delivery right? If you aren’t one hundred percent certain of the answer to any of these questions (and please double check even if you are sure) then ditch the joke.

Telling jokes is risky business in a presentation. Although people definitely want to be entertained and informed by your presentation, telling jokes may not always be the way. The problem with jokes is that they can polarise an audience. While one section of your audience may find your joke hilarious, others will think both you and the joke are dumb and another section may find both you and the joke offensive. With your first sentence the whole audience will have formed an opinion about you and your subject based on a joke that may not even be related to your subject.

When you open your presentation you are looking to make an impression that engages your audience in your subject and arouses their interest. So even if you are blessed with the ability to tell jokes and can choose appropriate humour, save it for the body of the presentation, use the opening lines to make an impact that is key to your subject.

Your opening line should challenge, surprise, intrigue or shock your audience. Make a bold statement about what they will get from your presentation (as long as you can back it up) and grab their attention. Tell part of a relevant story (even if the relevance is not immediately obvious) and leave them on a cliffhanger with the promise of the rest later.

Whatever strategy you use, your opening line needs to grip your audience and make them want to pay attention to see if your presentation lives up to the opening. Don’t let the dangerous business of telling jokes spoil the impact of your whole presentation.

How can you stay in the present (mentally) – or get to the present? Here are 5 strategies:

1. Breathe. The idea is that you breathe in. Then you breathe out. This helps you to get centered – and somewhere I read that the space between breathing in and breathing out – that’s the present. So actually, right now, breathe. In. Out. In. Out. It’s amazing that we need to be reminded.
2. Stand up straight or sit up straight (if you are physically able to do so). Just pull your head up, straighten your spine, pull in your stomach, and of course, breathe. It’s interesting how making sure we are doing all of these behaviors just pulls us to the present. Apparently there is no chance of multi-minding when we are focused – just for a moment – on standing up straight, pulling our head up and our stomachs in – and, oh, yeah…breathing. Those four tasks take all our concentration and are sometimes enough to break us out of whatever past tense, future tense, or too tense thinking we were in just before.
3. Say, “One thing, right now.” It’s a calming phrase. It helps you to get centered again. “One thing, right now.” “One thing, right now.” “One thing, right now.” Say it over and over as needed. Let people around you know that if/when you get into a “state,” they might help you by saying, “One thing, right now.”
4. If you have an object that helps you focus on the present – then use that. It might be something physical, it might be a picture, it might be a quote. It’s whatever will calm your mind enough to focus on now – just now.
5. Make marmalade. This recommendation comes from D.H. Lawrence’s suggestion: “I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It’s amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.” The idea, of course, is to take up an activity where you need to be focused. Making marmalade, doing repair, engaging in some kind of intricate work….all of these activities require your focus and that you be present. Figure out what your marmalade activity is.

I promised that these were simple – and they are. Yet, we often don’t apply simple solutions. Give one or more of these a try when you need to bring yourself back to NOW – and see if you aren’t more focused and much more peaceful, too.