Published on August 08, 2014
There are great mental gymnastics that go on for many who consider change. When should I quit smoking? When should I start doing my push ups? When should I commit to spending more time to my children? When should I take charge of my career and do what I know must be done daily to take me to where I want to go? We get misled into believing that "soon" is a remedy to the challenge.
A phrase was resurrected by Barak Obama in the U.S. during his first run at the presidency. Quoting words from the late Martin ...
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Published on August 06, 2014
She gave me the Spiderman coloring book and kept the Batman (Batman is both of our favorites, but she's 5 so I let her keep it). We both sat coloring for quite some time at his little craft table set up in the kitchen. Trading colors I did my best to color inside the lines. This is what we are taught, right? To color inside the lines. After some time I looked over at Faith's picture and every color spilled out onto the page. She looked at my picture and said, "Look at mine daddy. Mine is the best. Look at ...
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Published on August 05, 2014
Face it, we live in a world that attempts to put everything in a box and compartmentalize every aspect of our lives. We sleep for this many hours. The workweek is five days. The weekend two. The year weighing more heavily than a month or a week or a day. I will achieve this in the third quarter and reach my quota by days end. Not true. Here is what life is. When we are born we take in our first breath. When we die we let out our last. That's the only real measurement of our time here. That, ...
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Published on August 05, 2014
Where is the real prize? We all can get sucked down that rabbit hole chasing after what appears to be the shiny things only to learn far too late in life that most of it was just an illusion. The other day after my morning meditation my sister-in-law and I started talking (e-mailing really-she lives 2 hours away) about something and began to chat about how the truly great things in life get overshadowed by what we are told should matter. We are pushed to earn the money and to earn the power and to acquire the 'stuff' when the truth ...
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Published on July 28, 2014
"Do you feel that? The emotion? The connection when you listen to certain songs and artists?" Most everyone has a song or songs that are the triggers from our past. These songs generally have the capacity to conjure up events and people. Feelings and memories. Triumphs and tragedies.
Certain artists and certain songs allow us to feel the emotion that emanates from the speakers in our car or home. Artists like John Lennon, Josh Groban, U2, Marvin Gaye, Elton John and so many more have all touched me in the past and made me feel that. That thing called emotion. ...
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Published on May 28, 2014
Lessons from a not-so-dumb animal
Sadly, a very close friend is faced with having to take their dog to the vet tomorrow to face a battle at its end. I know its the great circle of life, but if it's your dog and they have been in the family for 15 years its hard. I know because I went through the exact same thing a few years ago. I was shocked how hard it was. What came of that experience was to reflect on Jessie's life (my dog) and what I could learn from it. Turns out there was ...
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Published on April 30, 2014
Faith and doubt live in the same house.
The cornerstone of all personal and professional growth comes down to this. Belief or doubt. Whatever you believe you are good at generally turns out well. Whatever you doubt generally does not turn out so well. "I really don't think I am a good public speaker and in fact I'm afraid of it" says the man; and so the speech goes poorly, stuttering and stammering and losing his way. "I am a great parent" says the woman and the child grows up tall and straight with passion and kindness and ...
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Published on April 28, 2014
Another Monday in the bowl of......jellybeans. Metaphorically speaking we all get one; a bowl of jelly beans that is. The jelly beans represent our days. What transpires in all of our lives is that we begin each day as an unknown. That's the fascinating aspect of life I guess. The not knowing. The anticipation of what each day and month and year and life will bring. I wrote about this quite a long time ago, when during a seminar I was attempting to illustrate how important each day is. How precious each and every moment we are ...
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Published on April 25, 2014
Stop stopping. During a group session we were talking about what it was that leads to the majority of failure. There is no question that each of us has the ability to make real what we imagine. What happens to us all along the road to success is that we stop. We stop the activity. We stop the forward motion. We stop doing what is required. For all those times when a goal was not met we can no doubt look back and point to the exact moment when we stopped. Quit. Ended the activity that we knew was necessary ...
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Published on April 03, 2014
Getting it right: Hiring keynote speakers in Canada. Throughout my entire career, here is what I have learned very clearly. That the person in charge of booking keynote speakers in Canada has the weight of the world on their shoulders to get it right and here is why. From the outset this is what is being asked of them. To clearly understand the goals and objectives of 50 or 100 or 1000 of their peers at a conference. Then scour Canada and go through all the keynote speakers available. Then they have to try and match background, topic, presentation style, experience, budgets, and ...
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