July 2021

Strategies for Success Newsletter July 2021 Issue 187

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Published by Emily Huling Selling Strategies
www.sellingstrategies.com
Copyright 2021 Emily Huling. All rights reserved.

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In this July 2021 issue:

1. Thoughts from the Office
2. Thoughts from Home
3. Josmo’s Cafe
4. Stay Energized

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1. Thoughts from the Office

Mind your (table) manners

I wrote about the importance of practicing proper table etiquette in an earlier newsletter. Now that we’re resuming having meals with clients and colleagues, I thought the topic should be revisited. Proper table etiquette is as important to professionalism as competency and knowledge. Here are some helpful table etiquette hints.

• Place your napkin on your lap immediately upon being seated. If the silverware is wrapped in the napkin, place the silverware in the traditional position in front of you after you’ve unwrapped it.
• Your bread plate is on the left, glassware on the right. Here’s an easy way to remember that. Put your hands in front of you with the back of your hands facing up. Make an O with your thumb and index finger on each hand. Your left hand shapes a B for bread and your right hand shapes a D for drink.
• Bread eating has its own etiquette. Bread should be placed on the bread plate not on the dinner plate. Butter served from a serving dish should be placed on the bread plate, not directly on the bread. Bread should be torn and not cut with a knife. Using your bread knife, place the butter from your bread plate onto the bread.
• Maintain good body posture. Sit up straight in your chair with your feet on the floor. Keep your elbows and arms off the table. While eating and drinking, your non-dominant hand and arm should be on your lap.
• Most of us eat in the traditional American style. We cut a piece of food using a knife and fork, then lay down the knife, place the fork in our dominant hand, and take a bite. Do not cut your all your food at one time. It may not seem efficient, but that’s proper etiquette.
• When you have finished eating, don’t push your plate away from you or stack your plates.  Leave your plate where it is in the place setting. The common way to show the server that you have finished your meal is to lay your fork and knife diagonally across your plate. Place your knife and fork side by side, with the sharp side of the knife blade facing inward and the fork, tines down, to the left of the knife. The knife and fork should be placed as if they are pointing to the numbers 10 and 4 on a clock face.
• Once you have used a piece of silverware, do not place it back on the table. Do not leave a used spoon in a cup, either; place it on the saucer.
• Do not talk with your mouth full of food. The best way to remember this is to close your mouth when chewing. It makes it impossible to talk at the same time.

The casual table manners we have been using at home over the past 15 months will not serve us well in business. Demonstrate professionalism each time you share a table with a business associate whether in the breakroom or dining out.

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2. Thoughts from Home

The Power of Resilience

The Wall Street Journal recently published an inspiring column titled What Emerson Can Teach Us About Resilience by Mark Edmundson. Mr. Edmundson is a professor of English at the University of Virginia.

Our resilience, defined as the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens, has been tested over the past year. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ideas about how to deal with suffering and loss do not include self-care and healing as many in our current culture recommend. Instead, Mr. Edmundson says, “he offers an aggressive affirmation of the will and of work.”

The author refers to Emerson’s essay “Power,” in which Emerson contemplates how children who instinctively withdraw when they are slighted, miss the prize or lose the game will be at a serious disadvantage in adult life. “But if they have the buoyancy and resistance that preoccupies them with new interest in the new moment, – the wounds cicatrize, and the fiber is the tougher for the hurt.”

Emerson’s philosophy to recovering from loss came from his own experiences. He lost his 19-year-old wife Ellen to tuberculosis and his son Waldo died of scarlet fever at the age of 5. Emerson recovered by immersing himself in his work, his two surviving children and his second wife.

I like how Mr. Edmundson ends his column. He notes that Emerson “understood that we all must seek what is best for ourselves in our own way. But at a moment when loss, deprivation and suffering are fresh in our hearts and minds, he steps forward with a different mode of response. Don’t make yourself a patient, don’t plump the mattress or pickle yourself in Cabernet. Instead, make life more demanding than it has been. Be tougher on yourself; fill your mind with your tasks and go after them, hard. When we’re down, we need to get up and fight as best we can—not tomorrow, but now. Remember, “power ceases in the instant of repose.”

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3. Josmo’s Café

We love peach season! Peach Bundt Cake is the newest addition to our peach recipe list. It’s very easy to make. Our past peach recipes include Ina Garten’s Fresh Peach Cake and last year’s most popular recipe Peach Sorbet from Canned Peaches. I have canned peaches on my shelf right now to make it for our July 4 company.

John and I wish you a peachy-keen month of July!

Looking for more great recipes? We have over 100 recipes on our Josmo’s Café page on the website.

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4. Stay Energized

Our Energizer Minute for July is called Debrief after disappointment.

On the road again in the USA… After living vicariously when reading The Discover Blog for the past year, I’m finding it much more fun to read about places to visit while planning our next adventures. Two of my favorite blogs are 5 Essential Midwest Road Trips and The Best Road Trip in Each State. Even if you’re not traveling yet, the pictures on the blogs will transport you to beautiful places.

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Strategies for Success Newsletter is published by Emily Huling Selling Strategies. For further information, contact emily@sellingstrategies.com.

© 2021 Emily Huling Selling Strategies All rights reserved.