 December 22nd, 2010 IN SHORT: What is it that gets you up and out of bed, active and focused, every day? Duty? Work? Paying the bills? Guilt? Habit? … Or do you have a real PURPOSE to your life that can’t be diminished and instead seems more compelling as you live it out?
“I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.”
[Og Mandino, 20th-century American writer & psychologist]
“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”
[Satchel Paige, 20th-century American baseball player
& the 1st from the 'Negro League' to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame]
I want to introduce you to someone who’s been an inspiration to me at various points in my life. That’s not to say I agree with everything he does or says – quite the opposite at times – it’s more the way he goes about doing and saying those things, and basically his attitude to life that inspires me most. …read the rest… »
October 12th, 2010 IN SHORT: Life is a game of join-the-dots. Although you can’t change the facts of your past, you CAN change what you do with it, how you let it make you feel, and where you go forwards from it – you get to choose which dots you use!
“From now on, I’ll connect the dots my own way.”
[Bill Waterson, US author of the 'Calvin & Hobbes' comic strip]
(792 words, approx 5-8 mins to read)
(This month’s ‘slice’ sort of follows on from last month’s ‘Making Meaning’ article, and here we’re focusing more on what we do with strings of experiences rather than just individual ones.)
Do you remember doing join-the-dots pictures when you were young (or maybe even when you were older too)..?
…read the rest… »
January 7th, 2010
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This isn’t that new a tale – I first used it as part of a series of ‘Creating Calm’ stress-management sessions a few years back.
As always with metaphorical tales, it’s about whatever you take from it… enjoy! …read the rest… »
October 21st, 2009
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A tale of opportunity, potential, focus, action, investment, success and reward…
…read the rest… »
October 20th, 2009
“When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible.”
[Various attributions]
(1208 words; approx 6-9 minutes to read)
Have you ever been so focused on and driven by something it bordered on, or perhaps tipped into, obsession?
I’d assumed I’d written all I could about desire and focus for the moment, but then I found myself listening to an interview with Ellen Macarthur (now a Dame) – famous for her solo sailing exploits and many sailing-related records, including breaking the women’s world record for circumnavigating the globe solo at the age of 24, and both the men’s and women’s record four years later.
During the interview she talked about how she had become obsessed with sailing after her first time in a boat at the age of four. When she, later on but still a child, decided she wanted her own boat, she even saved the change from her school dinner money in order to buy one, making choices as to what she’d have for lunch based on maximising the change she’d get. …read the rest… »
September 1st, 2009
“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.”
[Anthony Robbins, US self-help expert, author and adviser to leaders]
(1066 words, approx 6-8 mins to read)
In our last ‘slice’ we talked about AWAY-FROM and TOWARDS types of motivation, and I made the assertion that the only way to achieve long-lasting, fulfilling and satisfying results was to make sure that your motivation was mostly, if not fully, of the TOWARDS variety.
If you still haven’t quite got why, even after a quick reminder by re-reading the last slice if you need to, imagine trying to drive using only your rear-view mirrors, or trying to run somewhere with your head turned to look behind you all the time. …read the rest… »
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Steve Wooding | 
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