The STU-PENDOUS BLOG!

I try and journal every day! I read once a great quote that says…

“If your life is worth living it’s worth recording.” - Tony Robbins

I take some time in the morning to reflect on my day gone and the day that is about to happen. I was reading what I wrote yesterday, I ask myself a series of questions so as to push myself to reflect and keep me on my life path.

One question that I asked yesterday to myself is “What’s holding me back?”. What are the obstacles that are keeping me from living the absolute perfect life that I have envisioned for myself. In my answer I discovered that the main challenge I had was staying 100% focused on every aspect of my life. What I needed to find was a reason to have laser like vision that will keep me on track.

What is it though? Is it the need to have lots of money? The need to have lots of material items? The need to have a beautiful wife or girlfriend? The need to have power, be in a high position? After I really thought about it, I closed my book and found it. There on the inside cover was one of my favourite pictures of my kids. One of my staff had found the pic while cleaning up and gave it to me, it is a very cute picture from a few years ago.

If making the best life for my children, creating abundance for them and become a father that they can look up to with unwavering pride isn’t enough then I am in trouble.

I have found my purpose, I have a reason to fire up the laser! What is yours? What is holding you back and what do you need to do to stay on track. Find that reason that makes you excited, that gives you that feeling in the pit of your stomach! Do it now every day wasted is simply another day that could have been a building block in your ulitmate life!

Today’s picture is my passion… well at least one of them. Matthew, the coolest five year old on the planet (every parent should say that) is doing some reflecting at our home. I am away right now and looking forward to seeing my children on Monday, they are my passion!
 

Got to be quick… my battery is low on my computer and I want to do a quick BLOG. I am sitting in a little Starbucks in Toronto. I just took a mini adventure and took myself to a Blue Jays Game. I am a huge Jays fan and love the team this year.

A few things I learned from the game tonight that you might draw some motivation from:

The Sky Dome, now known as the Rogers Centre is fantastic. The stadium was not a very nice place to be a couple of years ago. Rogers Communications bought it and re-did the whole place and continues to work on it. New field, signage, outlets even television screens in the washrooms make the centre a much more welcoming place to come to. It is like yourself… you can with only a few changes reinvent yourself, not change who you are, but make yourself better. It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild a stadium in 2006, but the changes are small in dollar value but HUGE on impact. What could you do today to make a small change to improve your life tomorrow?!

Take a vacation… maybe it’s a staycation (thanks Corner Gas). I really enjoyed myself tonight. I got to be on my own, cheer on a team, watch a team work together closely (I was only a dozen rows behind home plate) and come out feeling good!

Change of routine… tonight I noticed at least five things that I could bring back into my life and my business. Get out of your little world and look around! You don’t have to go very far to find ideas, motivation and a new source of inspiration!

Today’s pic is not a pic at all from my folders… thanks TSN for the pic. Roy Halladay pitched an incredible game tonight. To watch a Cy Young award winning pitcher (the best you can be for non baseball fans) is a sight to behold. I will cover that later in an upcoming BLOG.

Just a quick BLOG today. I have been so busy of late, my days are full and my nights are short. That’s ok because I am full of discovery. My days are full of JOY! Why? Because I have opened myself up to Discovery… I get to learn every day! I get to be better every day and each I am only a few hours away from another day of discovery. WHAT A CHANCE!

I was chatting with one of my staff and she said that she would like to spend time as a group letting each other know ways we could improve ourselves. She got this idea because I asked our staff to tell me something that I could do to make myself better… they were a little shocked at first that I would ask them to critisize me, some sadly were a little excited!

Why would I do this? Why would I ask others to tell me what I need to change or do differently? Because I am only as good as my fellow workers and friends think that I am. It’s not about being all things to all people, but it is about discovering what it is that makes you who you are and how you present yourself, your beliefs and your ideas to others.

So let the disvovery in… it’s a chance to grow and learn and most important, be better!

Children are the champions of Discovery! They jump at the chance to do it. Today’s picture is from my daughter and her friend’s day of discovery. They collected objects from around our leadership centre and then made a museum for the staff to go through… fantastic… what a brilliant demonstration of discovery!

I remember reading the book “Who Moved my Cheese!” and was in shock to find out that it was a huge seller. It wasn’t a bad book, but it was a SIMPLE book, one that was designed in a childlike format. I was really interested in trying to learn why and how people were so crazy about the impact of change.

I have experienced change my whole life, my parents divorce when I was 12, my own divorce the shock of finding out different, very serious issues would have a MASSIVE impact on my life (I will save those for the book).  I have moved, I have taken massive risks, I have succeeded and failed so many times that change is part of my life… perhaps it should be my middle name.

People need to be prepared to change, they want as much warning as possible. They want someone to say to them…

“We are going to make some changes in a few weeks and if that is good with you then we can go ahead with it. If not we can always hold off and wait until you are ready!”

People, this doesn’t happen… it will never happen. We need to embrace change as an OPPORTUNITY! With every new change we can decide to accept, take it on and succeed. Or, we can whine, gripe and complain and hope that we don’t have to make any new changes to our comfort zone.

Some people simply don’t change because they are LAZY, and do not want to take the time or the energy to adapt and even get excited. Well if you are one of my many young readers, then you better get ready for change and a lot of it. It is 2006, we change on an hourly basis, technology, laws, politics, firends, downsizing, upsizing and so much more. For my more mature readers, if you want to stay relevant and continue to succeed then keep adapting!

Today’s picture is from my camp. Spring is like a NEW clean sheet of paper, you can write, draw or create anything you want to. Watch the flowers and leaves emerge from the winter slumber… I am so glad that nature isn’t afraid to change or it would be a long and cold year!

So I am sitting in a Starbucks enjoying my favourite latte and I am excited. Not just because I am able to get on the internet and enjoy some soy, but also because I just had a another great day full of learning and excitement.

Today I had a chance to meet with the entire management of the Tourism London department in London. Each year we host the largest youth leadership conference in the Province. The Ontario Student Leadership Conference is celebrating it’s 27th year. Every year I complain that I the city of London where we host the event does nothing to support us. I have made a couple of calls before but got nowhere.

Now when I look back at the situation I have to say that I haven’t really tried in the past. I have not really been persistent. Well today I actually called and got a meeting with them at their office. How did it go you ask? It was fantastic. I started by meeting with one manager and ended up meeting with all the managers! The ideas were flowing and was it ever fun! The city is so excited to help and have many more ideas then I could of ever thought of.

Here is the point… and I have always known this. You never know unless you ask, and you should never be afraid to ask! Today, I have made our conference even better then it was before. I also have a renewed belief in me and my ability to communicate the same passion and excitement that I have to others.

You will not know unless you try! So give it a shot today!

Today’s picture is from the past… a long time ago, 1989 in fact. I had the pleasure of having a great mentor in school. My high school principal. Who always encouraged me to really believe in myself and my dreams! Thank you Mr. Hodgson (I now call him Ric). This picture is our students’ council, I am the highly sexy guy on the right with the pnk shorts and the hockey hair! Ric has the mustache.