The STU-PENDOUS BLOG!

Long drive yesterday… very long. I drove from Lloydminster all the way to Calgary. About 550 km’s or 5 and a half hours. As long as the weather is ok I really enjoy these drives. They give me time to think… and do I ever think. I take this time to reflect and take a mental inventory of my life. Where I have been, where I am and most importantly where I want to go.

During my very long drive I try and use the time to better myself. I am a firm believer in always trying to improve the leader that I am. I read many books on leadership and success, because of my job I am able to hear many different speakers and listen to many different messages. So, half way through the trip I arrived in Edmonton and stopped in at the local Chapters. I wanted to pick up an audio book, if you drive a lot or take public transit why not take some of that time and listen to an audio book. There are a ton of great books on cd. You can get books on leadership and success, you can get great biography’s and wonderful books of humour. I just listened to all of the Jon Stewart, America book … very funny and insightful.

I picked up an audio series called “Leadership”. It seemed like a good idea, I run a leadership training centre, I run a leadership summer camp and I speak to thousands on the topic of leadership. There are 14 CD’s and 13 different speakers all on the topic of leadership. During my drive I listened to 3 CD’s, 3 different speakers, 3 different approaches to leadership. They all talked about one common characteristic of any successful leader… any long term leader. Can you guess what it was? Intergrity… the ability to be honest and sincere. To have the ability to follow through and stand up for your beleifs…. integrity.

Earlier in the day I was listening to CBC Radio (always a great option) and they were discussing a recently released study that said the average person will lie 3 times every ten minutes. That is 18 times and hour, that is 252 times per day (based on being awake for 14 hours), that is an alarming 91,980 times a year… almost 100,000 times per year we are dishonest, we lack integrity. Here is the most alarming number… if you live for 80 years and we take out the first five years of your life, you will lie… are you sitting down… 8,898,500 times. That is almost NINE MILLION times in our life.

Now you might say… not me, I don’t lie… ever! Really? Are you sure? This study included those little white lies, lies to “save” people’s feelings, lies to get ahead, lies to look better at an interview or on an application. Lies that may “impress” a girl or a guy, lies to embelish accomplishments or simply to “fit in”. That doesn’t even include blatant hurtful lies.

Take one day… someday soon and make a list of every time you may have lied… even the little tiny ones. Can you stop? Did you really need to? Let’s all try and lead with integrity!

Mark Twain said…

“If you are always honest, you have nothing to remember.”

Today’s picture comes from Mundare, Alberta. I have found as I have travelled across Alberta that towns are always trying to attract tourists to see the biggest, the biggest Easter Egg, the biggest Duck and yesterday I found…. the biggest sausage.

Ever wonder what happens in a single moment? The way a life can change in a one tenth of a second. I was driving back from the training centre on Sunday to London when it happened to me. I glanced back to see three children, my children, in the back of my truck. All with headphones on watching a classic… toy story. Eyes wide, mouths slightly open… in a gaze.

Those three children have only a few days with me every month and in those 72 hours I try and cram as much life into our time together as possible. I was wondering as I watched them what part of that that weekend they would remember, what permanent memory had been created?

It has been written that every day should be lived as if it were your last and although that concept is so very true it is next to impossible. I wonder what would happen if it were mandated that each human had to actually live their days with finality? At the end of each day a “life judge” would decide whether you had truly lived each day to its fullest. Did you spend your day complaining or being so lazy that you got nothing done and simply took up space?

What are you doing to make each day full? What moments will you create that will stay with you forever or what moments are you creating for others. I hope years from now when my kids look back at their childhood they will say the moments that were spent with their dad were amazing and full.

If you want to make a change and start creating moments then take an inventory of what you do in a 24 hour period. I know there are a few hours a day that I simply waste. I am constantly trying to make each day fuller, not sitting by and letting outside influence (television, sleeping, eating) or other people bring me down. I am going to move forward and continue to find ways to create moments of joy and fulfillment.

Today’s picture comes from a trip to Niagara Falls a few weeks ago. These four wonderfull friends were creating moments… what will you do today to create moments for you and your friends?

So the most amazing thing happened during my very, very full weekend. After a long drive on Saturday to Niagara Falls I returned to camp and settled in for a long winters nap. One thing I try and do every day is go for an intense hike… not a stroll, but a hike. It usually is about 7-9km’s.

Sunday Morning started as any hike would, I had a great pace going it was mild and I was sweating. It is so important to keep yourself active. It is good for your mind and your body. After breaking out of the woods and onto my neighbours driveway I saw it. It swooped down right in front of me. At first I couldn’t tell what it was, it came so close to my face and flew so fast.

I turned to my right and there it was maybe 15 feet away. The Great Horned Owl that has been seen all around our camp. In fact last winter people would come from all over and park their cars along our property, they had super hightech camera’s. They would wait for hours to try and see this endangered bird. It was beautiful, I remember stopping my car once and jumping out and trying to snap a picture of it but it flew away.

I was now face to face with it, the owl slowly turned its head around and look right at me, maybe even through me. Incredible is all I could think… why didn’t I have my camera? He seemed so calm and so superior to me. I moved slowly closer to it. I ended getting about 6 feet away from it, it never moved. How ever bizarre it may sound I tried to speak to it. Why I was being so honoured with this opportunity?

“Are you here to give me a sign?” I asked…

He slowly and calmly turned and looked at me and then spread his wings and flew higher and then out of sight.

Was it a sign… if I choose it to be. I think it was meant to remind me of the motto in which my camp lives by… “Move You To Fly”. That is what I shall do… I will continue to work hard and pursue my dreams. The more people that benefit from the programs that I run… the higher I will be able to fly. Thank you Mr. Owl, thank you!

Today’s picture is from the end of my already fantastic day. To end the day I hit the slopes and did some snowboarding with our Director of Outdoor Education Hillary. Awesome night… it is great to be alive! What are you doing to spread your wings a little wider?

Very busy here at camp, with many people on holidays they all seem to want to come to camp for a visit… so on these cold grey winter days our buildings are filled with great people sharing great stories. It really is nice to be able to reconnect with so many people and bring a little summer into these January days.

Having said that… yesterday after a long day at our Barrie office I returned to a fantastic dinner that was cooked by our chef and then to my home. Although we had 8 people visiting last night I chose to spend some time on my own. It was a special night, a chance to watch some magic, to be part of a little history.

I watched the Canadian Junior Hockey team win there second straight gold medal. There is so much that could be said about this event beyond the sports aspect. There was the joining together of young Canadians from all over and there pure honest pride to wear the maple leaf on their chest. There is the huge crowd of fans (over 19,000) comprised of so many different ethnic backgrounds all cheering on these young men. You could talk about the bad attitude of some of the young American players or even worse, the way the Canadian fans booed the US National anthem. There are so many different angles this BLOG could take… but I choose only one.

The team… they were told that they were not supposed to win. They had only one returning player. There was no chance that they could win… not just the gold but not even a medal! These athletes did more then compete they never lost; the favoured two teams tried but could not defeat their passion for their goal.

Did you know the biggest motivator in the world is doubt, not self doubt but external. It is inherent that when you are told you can’t you want to. That can be used in a negative way or a positive way. Many times we watch children disobey their parents or teachers simply because they are told they can’t do something. We want to prove people wrong!

We should simply want to make our lives better and not need to be pushed but as humans we want to be rewarded. The reward in succeeding is proving the doubter wrong. I personally have used this motivation to make many steps forward. The only problem with it is if you are using the doubt to truly motivate yourself to succeed, or if you using it to spite or get back at the person or group who doubted you. The latter is never healthy.

One last thought, the bumble bee should not be able to fly… it is physically impossible. Its body is too large for its wings. We have all seen a bumble bee fly, so how does it do it? The only reason it flies is because no one has told it CAN’T!

Congratulations to the Canadian Junior’s you made me proud because as a team you won… you were the wiser… like the bumble bee!

Today’s picture is from last night… the big win! I did not take it… I tottaly took it from www.tsn.ca !

So it has been 11 days since my last blog on Christmas Eve… I took a break! I hope all of the BLOG readers had a great holiday. I know that I enjoyed a wonderful time with my kids and friends.

With the new year we are all asked by friends and family what are our New Years Resolutions? I am asked this almost every day before and after the January 1st  “deadline”. So this year I though long and hard about what my big changes were going to be and what on January 1st  I would start or stop doing. What did I decide?

The truth is I decided to make no resolutions. I decided that I would make small progressive changes every day of my life! Did you know that over 80% of all resolutions are broken within the first 15 days after New Years day? It’s true… the only people that truly benefit from this tradition are the workout gyms that see a massive spike in new members in January.

I have decided before the end of the year to start changing… I have taken on a vegetarian diet, 5 weeks ago, changed my sleeping schedule 4 days ago, changed the way I pay my bills yesterday. The goal should not be to change your life in one day, if you try to you are setting yourself up for failure. So the best thing to do is make small managable changes in your life that you can see, manage and reward.

Feel free to reply to today’s blog and let others know what you have planned. Not for the year, but for today!

Today’s picture is from our leadership training centre. Winter is a time to play outside, enjoy a hike, go boarding or skating. Get outside, these people are doing it!