Don’t Fail!

Knowing that failing is a necessary part of success. If someone tells you not to fail, are they really saying that they don’t want you to succeed? No. What they’re saying is that they don’t have the slightest idea of what success is.

Telling someone not to fail is like a guy having unprotected sex with a girl, who’s not on the pill, and asking her not to get pregnant. There’s always a chance that it will happen.

Feeling Down?

If you're feeling down, the best thing to do is to get out of the house and go help someone else or say something good about someone. The good that you do helps you feel better about yourself and can get you out of an emotional rut.

Understanding your Partner

It’s impressive how long it can take to understand someone. It’s even longer if we don’t actively study people.

There’s many ways that one can learn about someone else. Asking is often a good way although not every one knows themselves good enough to tell you what they like and dislike.

The best way, I find, is the “try/error” approach. Do something and study the result. If the results are considered positive, then chances are that your partner likes it.

The Devil Hour

The devil’s hour is the name given to that time of the night where you wake up due to a worry or unfixed problems in your life.

“I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.” -Psalm 4:8

Though a person is suffering great distress, to wake up at night due to worry/problems could mean that they need to trust in God's endless concern for them. Some problems just won’t go away even if you worry about them.

A Kiss is Just a Kiss ... Or Is It?

"Beyond the romance and magic of kiss, chemistry and neuroscience are at work. When two people lock lips, they’re transmitting a flood of information indicating whether they would be a good match, writes research scientist Sheril Kirshenbaum, author of The Science of Kissing. A good kiss stimulates the neurotransmitter of dopamine, which is associated with desire, or the love hormone oxytocin, which helps create a special bond between people. A bad kiss can produce the stress hormone cortisol. Some research indicates kissing can help people subconsciously discern each other’s health, fertility and whether their immune systems are diverse, which could be helpful in producing healthier children. So keep all this in mind on Valentine’s Day… or maybe not, if you don’t want to spoil the moment."

-P.11 of “Success Magazine”, February 2014

Money Talks

In Canada, you have freedom of speech. Quite frankly, that doesn’t mean much in the business world since money speaks louder than words.

You can complain all you want about how high the prices are, if you continue buying the product, the company see it as being a good price.

On a more personal level, I remember when the price for map packs went up 6 bucks for a game on consoles. People were furious about it! When you look at the numbers, they actually sold more units with the new price than they did previously with lower price.

If you were the company, would you lower the price?

They don’t care what you say, they look for what you do with your money.

Is it Healthy?

Health is the “buzz” words these days and companies out there will go out of their way to make people believe that the products they sell is healthy.

They will play around the labels, make it look like it’s healthy when it’s not. Have you ever seen labels with “Low fat” written in glowing red on the front of the product? When you start reading on the back, you can see that the product has a high amount of sodium (which is also bad for you...)

It’s not a lie to say that a product is low in fat. They just try to put it in a way that will make us only focus on that and forget about the other “truth” that’s not so healthy. Read the labels :)

The Downside of Reading about Great Men

Reading about great people is a shortcut to success but it can have a down side. As human beings, we tend to compare our short comings with someone else's strengths. Reading about the great things a person did can be demoralizing if we compare their success with our failures.

When reading about great men, focus on the positive sides of things. Be inspired by the stories and think about your strengths.

The Business Community

"The best way to see how an organization is doing at building and maintaining community is to see how many are leaving. The leading indicator and predicator of the organization's future is to see how many people haven't yet left physically but have "left the building" emotionally." -Orrin Woodward

There are too many managers that "command" and not enough leaders that "lead" in the corporate world today. The popular belief is "if you can't inspire them, force them" and that doesn't create an happy work environment.

The Five laws of Stratospheric Success

The law of Value
Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.

The law of Compensation
Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.

The law of Influence
Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first.

The law of Authenticity
The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.

The law of Receptivity
The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

-Page 129 of "The GO-GIVER a little story about a powerful business idea" by authors Bob Burg and John David Mann.

The Vaccination of Children in the 1920s

In this Month's National Geographic Magazine, a picture of kids(below) is shown waiting in line for their Vaccine in the 1920s. I like how they dressed up for the event (or perhaps it was in a private school?), there's a sense of respect or thankfulness for being able to get rid of a disease. Are we taking Vaccines for granted these days?

Learn from Experience

Have you ever been told to learn from your experience? What’s even better is to learn from someone else’s.

Learning from someone else’s experience mean that if you see someone put their hand on the burning stove, you study the reaction and determine if you like it or not. If you do, you can do the same thing. If you don’t, you don’t do it.

Learning from your own experience would be you putting your hand on the burning stove.

There’s more than one way to learn from someone else experience. You can either listen to it on a cd, watch it (through association) or read about it. You never know what you can learn but the more you know, the more options will be available to you when faced with a situation in your life.

Once Upon A Time ...

Once upon a time there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until the uncovered some grains of wheat. She called her neighbours and said 'If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?"
"Not I, " said the cow.
"Not I, " said the duck.
"Not I, " said the pig.
"Not I, " said the goose.
"Then I will," said the the little red hen. And she did. The wheat grew tall and ripened into golden grain. "Who will help me reap my wheat?" asked the red hen.
"Not I," said the duck.
"Out of my classification," said the pig.
"I'd lose my seniority," said the cow.
"I'd lose my unemployment compensation," said the goose.
"Then I will," said the little red hen, and she did.
At last the time came to bake the bread. "Who will help me bake bread?" asked the little red hen.
"That would be overtime for me," said the cow.
"I'd lose welfare benefits," said the duck.
"I'm a drop-out and never learned how," said the pig.
"If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination," said the goose.
"Then I will," said the little red hen.
She baked five loaves and held them up for the neighbours to see. They all wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, "No, I can eat the five loaves myself."
"Excess profits," cried the cow.
"Capitalist leech," screamed the duck.
"I demand equal rights," yelled the goose.
And the pig just grunted.
And they painted "unfair" picked signs and marched round and around the little red hen shouting obscenities.
When the government agent came, he said to the little hen,
"You must not be greedy."
"But I earned the bread," said the little red hen.
"Exactly," said the agent. "That's the wonderful free enterprise system. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations production workers must divide with the idle."

And they lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, "I am grateful, I am grateful." But her neighbours wondered why she never again baked any more bread.

-Author Unknown

Have a minute?

In a minute you could...

Polish your shoes. It will polish your image.

Open the car door for your significant other. Little gestures can speak volumes

Collect the trash in your car. Throw it out (recycle!) and drive away in the clear.

Look away from your computer. Give your eyes a break from the glare of the monitor.

Jot a note to a long-ago mentor. Let him or her know what you are up to and thank them for their wise counsel.

-Page 17 of "Success Magazine: November 2009"

The Realization of a Father

Listen son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily wet on your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside.

These are the things I was thinking, son: I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face barely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor.

At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. And as you started off to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, "Good-bye Daddy!" and I frowned, and said in reply, "Hold your shoulders back!"

Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in, timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. "What is it you want?" I snapped.

You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither. And then you were gone, pattering up the stairs.

Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of reprimanding-this was my reward to you for being a boy. It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth. I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years...

It is a feeble atonement: I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours. But tomorrow I will be a real daddy.

-Page 104-105 of "The art of talking so that people will Listen" by Paul W. Swets foreword by Norman Vincent Peale Remember Names

Bodybuilding.com - Built by Science Series

Bodybuilding.com came out with a little series that explains how the muscles are connected and what are the proper exercises that you have to do in order to work them. Check it out here:

R.I.P Jackie Lewis

Jackie Lewis as been a member of TEAM/LIFE for about 16 years and I would often see her on stage or hear her on CDs. Jackie passed away yesterday at 10:30 am from complications due to kidney failure. My prayers go to Bill Lewis and their children.

For more details on this you can visit the website http://jackielewisblog.wordpress.com/

The Mind is like Ketchup

If you replace all the ketchup with mustard in a ketchup bottle. What will come out of the ketchup bottle when you squeeze it?

Our minds works the same way, what ever we put in is what will come out. We have to be careful what we put in, it affects how we see ourselves and in turn how others see us.

One chance

Life is a pretty weird place to be in and we can all debate on what life is. What we can all agree on, however, is that we only have one shot at it. We’re constantly bombarded with challenges that we have to overcome to get to the next one.

Goliaths, in life, are not to be feared but expected. Ignoring them won’t make them go away and overcoming them doesn’t necessary mean it’s the last you’ll see of it.

If it’s the last time you see today, wouldn’t it be a good idea to make the most out of the day? To eat right, to exercise, to be the best you for your friends?

Character include Integrity

Character is doing the right thing. Integrity is doing what you said you were going to do. You can have Integrity without having character but you can’t have character without having integrity.

Chris Brady defines Character and Integrity as follow:
“A little girl is being bullied. Integrity is not to join into the bullying. Character is not only not joining in the bullying, it’s also attempting to stop the bullying because it’s the right thing to do.”