36525 days to live

We can increase our efficiency and our effectiveness by becoming better and better at our key tasks. One of the most powerful of all time management techniques is for us to get better at the most important things we do. Our core competencies, our key skill areas, the places where we are absolutely excellent at what we do, are the key determinants of our productivity, our standard of living, and the level of achievement we reach in our field.

Think of all the great achievers for a moment. Albert Einstein apparently couldn’t remember his own phone number. Why ? because it wasn’t important to him. He said that he never bothered to remember things he could find in a reference book. He didn’t want to clutter his mind with non-essential information.

Now think of Céline Dion. Does she know how to cook? Yes, of course she knows how to cook. But cooking is not her greatest talent. Singing is HER GREATEST TALENT. So for the last 30 years, she invested most of her energy on her greatest talent.

Me? I run a small business, and if you ever managed a small business, you know that we always have limited resources compared to big corporations and the public sector. I used to try to do it all, try to know it all and not sleep at all. But not anymore. Why? Because it’s impossible. For the last 10 years or so, I have been working and using mostly my talents. What I don’t like or what I’m not good at, I try to find people who can perform these tasks better than I ever will. The book that really woke me up to this fact is this one;

I recommend each one of you to read this book and fill up the online questionnaire to get to know your own strengths.

Thinking of yourself now: what is the single skill ( if you developed and focused on it completely) that would have the greatest positive impact on your life?  What is the one skill that determines the speed at which you complete your major tasks and achieve your goals?

Hints ? Usually it is something that you enjoy doing very much and it doesn’t feel to you like it’s a job

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What is the difference between efficient and effective?

The real question for me is : Is There A Life BEFORE Death ?

When they asked  Henry David Thoreau his opinion on the afterlife, he answered to them: One Life At The Time.

Sometimes , it seems to me that some of the people who worry the most about the afterlife are often the ones who don’t know what to do with this one.

Why should we worry about the unknown, why should we worry about something over which we seem to have very little control?

I hear many people talking about faith and yet, at the same time worrying constantly, how can they worry and have faith at the same time?

Isn’t worrying the opposite of faith?

Do you spend too much of your time worrying about things over which you have no control?

A good exercise to do regularly is to make a list with 2 columns. On the first column, write down the things over which you have control and on the other one, the things on which you have absolutely no control like the weather, the attitude of others around you or the choices that politicians make.

This exercise is good because it shows us clearly where we should focus our attention and invest our efforts.

On the things we can influence or have a certain level of control.

The other column?

Just let it go!

Really?

Yes really. Just let it go!

This way, perhaps you will improve the quality of your life while you are alive …

“If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.”

Tallulah Bankhead

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It’s good to make mistakes!!!

Repeat after me,

It’s good to make mistakes!!!

Forget about what others will say.

You will experience failure many times in your life. Not all the time, but you will. If you don’t fail enough, it’s probably because you don’t try new things very often.

We can do this with our dreams; wish them away, let them slip away because we are afraid to fail, afraid to get started or because we are waiting for the right moment. The right moment? Most of the time, is an excuse or at best, an illusion.

I make so many mistakes all the time. Am I a slow learner? It’s possible, however, it’s the only way to improve anything. Every time I take a chance to make a mistake, I also get a chance to do something right.

An exemple?  The top scorer in the NHL will miss his shots more often than he will score a goal, but we don’t remember when he misses, we add up the goals.

We will always miss 100 % of the shots we don’t take.

Some of you may argue that we should learn from what we are doing good, and I agree. We should always repeat our good experiences to the extent that we benefit from them.

However, we should not let ourselves be paralyzed with inaction because of the fear of making mistakes. The young baby who is learning to walk will fall. The one who is learning to swim or to dance will not be very elegant at first. The failing is part of the learning process.

There are no mistakes in life, only lessons.

Will you risk making a mistake today?   At least one…

Fascination is one step above interest. You will learn more from being fascinated by life than you will from being frustrated by it.

In the last couple of years I have developped a childlike fascination with life and people.

I’m fascinated with so many things like foreign cultures, technological innovations, scientific discoveries, the vastness of the Universe, art and music styles, books, movies, and people from all walks of life.

What frustrates me every day? To know that I will not be able to see it all, to experience it all, to learn it all.

I guess this is why my biggest fascination for the last couple of years has been about the brevity of life and how limited our time is as humans. This is how I turned my frustration into fascination.

To make sure I keep myself fascinated, I keep a list of more than 140 goals and dreams to accomplish. These include books to read, cities to visit, new countries to discover, new skills to learn, old ones to re-learn, investments to make, new people to meet. I’m interested in so many different things that it would be too long to enumerate.

Today’s question for you is the following:

Most of the time, are you fascinated or frustrated with life?

I know a lot of people who say they don’t have time to read. ( Although we always seem to find time to do what we really enjoy)

I don’t understand this.

I don’t have the time to read all the books I’d like to, but it seems that I always to find the time to read the most important content.

But here is the good news for all of you who don’t like to read.

There  are more and more book summaries of the Web. This is one way you can get an idea of the content of the book while saving time.

There are more and more audio books available that you can listen while you drive your car.

If you prefer videos, you can watch the TED conferences online. Many great authors are public speakers as well.

To me, investing time to read or to watch great thinkers is a great investment of my personal time.

And it isn’t what the book costs; it’s what it will cost if you don’t read it.

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot”

Michael Altshuler

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A lot of people talk about time management. There is no such thing as time management. We cannot manage time. We can only manage ourselves.Time manages itself very well without us.

We should talk about life management in relation with the time that is given to each one of us. This starts with checking on our priorities.

Did you clarify your priorities recently?

Some of us live under the influence of alcohol.

The influence is good as long as we are under the influence. The next morning, the influence can be quite different.

Some of us live under the influence of shopping, and the influence is good until as we receive the credit card monthly statement…

Some of us live under the influence of gambling, and the influence is good until as we realize that the house always wins against most of us.

Some of us live under the influence of buying expensive toys to impress others who don’t care at all. This influence is gone when we realize that we become a slave of this habit.

Some of us are under the influence of a new religion, and the influence seems to disappear when that special God of ours doesn’t answer our requests.

Some of us indulge in sexual escapism, and the influence is gone when the temporary thrill is over.

Some of us will study philosophy and believe that they have found the Way, only to wake up later and realize that their particular philosophy can fail them.

Some of us will swear by the world of reason and science, only to discover the actual limitations of our understanding. At least at this point of our evolution.

Some of us will invest in the joy of parenthood only to realize later that our kids will be entitled to their own lives.

Some of us will want to earn a lot of money until they realize that money can’t buy love.

And while most of us live under one kind of influence or another, Time goes by.

Under what kind of influence are you living ?

Is this the kind of influence that you enjoy?

It’s up to you!

The magic words for a great relationship are:

“I love you just the way you are”

It reminds me of a story I read somewhere many years ago.

A wife was taking some kind of self-improvement class with other women.

The teacher gave each woman an assignment to bring home.

They were to ask their partners an honest question: Could you tell me 5 things that you would like me to improve?

One of the husbands thought about it for a couple of days and when it was time to give the answer to his wife,

He said: “I couldn’t find a single thing that I’d like you to improve, I love you just the way you are”

These were the magic words…

And these came with the magic words too.

This was a smart move from the husband. If the wife had anything to improve, I’m almost sure she was already aware of it.

I suspect that after a gesture like this one from her husband, she even made a little extra effort.

What do you think?

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“Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils”           

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) French composer

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Time is a great teacher when we dare to make mistakes.

Time is a greater and more effective teacher when we accept to learn from our mistakes.

Time is the greatest and wisest teacher when we learn from the mistakes of others and avoid to make them ourselves.

Time will eventually kill all of us, and since we don’t know when, one of the most important lessons Time can teach us is:  To live each day like if it was our last .

What would you do differently if you learned that you had 100 days left to live?

If you can find YOUR right answer to this question,  Why wait ?

Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto 15 July 1848 – 19 August 1923), was an Italian engineer, sociologist, economist, and philosopher. He made several important contributions to economics, particularly in the study of income distribution and in the analysis of individuals’ choices. “His legacy as an economist was profound. Partly because of him, the field evolved from a branch of social philosophy as practiced by Adam Smith into a data intensive field of scientific research and mathematical equations. His books look more like modern economics than most other texts of that day: tables of statistics from across the world and ages, rows of integral signs and equations, intricate charts and graphs.” The pareto principle was named after him and built on observations of his such as that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule the law of the vital few) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

Source; Wikipedia, January 10, 2011

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I discovered the pareto principle about 16 years ago when my company started a quality system initiative. Amazingly, this principle can be applied to many fields of endeavour and many different contexts. For example 80 % of the World wealth is controlled by 20 % of the people. If you start paying attention in your environment, you ‘ll discover many areas where the pareto principle works.

When it comes to time management, the worst use of your time is to do what need not be done at all. The Pareto principle says that 20% of your activities will account for 80% of the value of your activities. This means that, if you have a list of ten items to accomplish, two of those items will be worth more than the other eight items together.To be really productive, you must always be concentrating on the small number of activities that contribute the greatest value to your life.

The value of anything in your order of priorities can be measured by evaluating the consequences of doing it or not doing it. Something that is important has significant consequences in your life.

You must ask yourself as often as possible, “What is the most valuable use of my time, right now?”  

Whatever it is, work on that. Your ability to discipline yourself to work on those few tasks that can make the greatest difference in your life is the key quality that makes everything else possible for you.

Imagine that you are going to receive a  $ 25 000.00 bonus at the end of the month if you can work on your highest priority items every minute of the day.

How would that change your behavior?

What would you do differently?

Each one of us will experience disappointments and failures at some point in our lives. Most of the time, it will be unexpected.

When we face a challenge, we should try to focus on the future instead of the past. Instead of worrying about who did what and who is to blame, we should focus on where we want to be and what we want in life. It’s a much better use of our time.
It is important to know exactly what we want and we must act on what we want. Action is what will transform our circumstances toward a more desirable future.
Let’s use our past experiences to guide us; while being appreciative of our present conditions, let’s dream of an outstanding future for ourselves, our family and friends and the rest of humanity.

Every day is a new beginning when we focus on what we control.

Every time we face a challenge, it is an opportunity to turn the curse into a blessing.

I always liked the quote : “If life throws you a lemon, make lemonade. “

Personally, I have faced many failures in many areas of my life so many times that it doesn’t even bother me anymore.

The question is not: “Will I fail again”

The real question is more like: ” What lesson will I learn from this failure?”

It seems to me that we are stubborn students of life.

Life seems to tell us; here is a situation you need to face for your own developpement, and yet, most of the time, we will try to avoid the lesson. Why? Because it’s too damned hard! The curious thing about this is: the lesson we try to avoid seems to come back to us in many unexpected ways. Somehow, we can’t escape it. We have to meet the challenge.

An example?

I know some people (actually quite a lot of them) who move from relationship to relationship or from job to new job, only to discover after a while, the same problems they were experiencing in the previous relationship or old job. It seems to me that what they are trying to avoid comes back to them in another place and with different actors.

Personally, I start too many new projects and I don’t finish all of them. I know it, I’m aware of this but somehow, it doesn’t seem  to change. I have to admit I can’t do  it alone. When I face this kind of situation, I try to find a coach, a mentor or a personal trainer to make sure I am accountable to someone.

When we focus on the moment and accept to face what we have to, it can be difficult, but it is one of the best ways to grow, to outgrow the challenge.

What does this post have to do with time?

If we do what WE MUST do when WE HAVE TO do it, the day will come when we will do what WE WANT to do WHEN WE WANT TO do it.

The sooner we understand this concept and we put it in practice, the more time we will save to do other activities that we really enjoy.

Will you try it?

“Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, … you’re wasting your life.”

Jackie Robinson

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Do you prefer to watch “So You Think You Can Dance” or take dancing lessons with your partner?

Do you prefer to watch ” Property Virgins” or to invest your time taking care of  your own property?

Do you prefer to watch a “NHL game” or to go play hockey with your friends?

Do you prefer to live your life or watch other people live their own?

Personally I prefer the acting part…because life is in the living.

What do you prefer?

“With money you can buy a clock but not time”

Chinese proverb

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With good health, we have the energy to be productive,
When we are productive, we can earn a good living,
When we earn a lot of money, we can afford more things,
With more things or resources, it can improve our quality of life, ( up to a certain point)

When our quality of life improves, we can become more generous,
When we become more generous, we feel good about ourselves,
When we feel good about ourselves, it contributes to our general well being and health.
If I keep reasoning this way, it seems that all this should have a positive effect on our longevity.
But sometimes it doesn’t.
Why?
It is difficult to admit or to accept, but we don’ t have control over a lot of things.

One of the thing we don’t have much control over is: Time.

So money can buy us a lot of things, but not Time.

But do you take good care of your time?

“Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others”

Morrie Schwartz  (  Tuesdays with Morrie p.164)

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Why is it so important to forgive ourselves? Why is it so important to forgive others as soon as we can?

Forgiving ourselves and others is an act of letting go, it is also an act of selfishness because when we let go, we let go of the emotions that are poisoning our day. Who needs these emotions? Shouldn’t we use our limited time and energy for more exciting activities?

Morrie said “Forgive yourself and others before you die”.

But since we don’t know when we are going to die, why not forgive NOW?

If we know that we will eventually forgive, why wait?

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Anonymous

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Goals are great because they cause us to stretch and grow in ways that we never have before.

In order to reach our goals we must become better.

We must change and grow.

Also, goals provide long term vision in our lives.

We all need lots of powerful, long term goals to help us get past short term obstacles.

Life is designed in such a way that we look long term and live short term.

We dream for the future and live in the present.

Unfortunately, the present can produce many difficult obstacles.

But fortunately, the more powerful our goals, the more we will be able to act on them in the short term.

What are your goals or dreams for 2012?

“ Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend. ”

Theophrastus (372 BC – 287 BC)
Greek philosopher

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Theophrastus (Greek: Θεόφραστος; c. 371 – c. 287 BC^[1]), a Greek native of Eresos in Lesbos, was the successor toAristotle in the Peripatetic school. He came to Athens at a young age, and initially studied in Plato’s school. After Plato’s death he attached himself to Aristotle. Aristotle bequeathed to Theophrastus his writings, and designated him as his successor at the Lyceum. Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for thirty-six years, during which time the school flourished greatly. After his death, the Athenians honoured him with a public funeral. His successor as head of the school was Strato of Lampsacus.

The interests of Theophrastus were wide-ranging, extending from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics. His two surviving botanical works, Enquiry into Plants^[2] and On the Causes of Plants, were an important influence on medievalscience. There are also surviving works On Moral Characters, On Sensation, On Stones, and fragments on Physics andMetaphysics all written in Greek. In philosophy, he studied grammar and language, and continued Aristotle’s work on logic. He also regarded space as the mere arrangement and position of bodies, time as an accident of motion, and motion as a necessary consequence of all activity. In ethics, he regarded happiness as depending on external influences as well as onvirtue, and famously said that “life is ruled by fortune, not wisdom.”

Source: Wikipedia January 11, 2012

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We are where our attention is!

While we are home our thoughts are still absorbed with solving the challenges we face at the office.

And when we are at the office we find ourselves worrying about problems at home.

We go through the day without really listening to what others are saying to us.

We may be hearing the words, but we aren’t listening to the message.

We go through the day and we find ourselves focusing on past experiences or future projects.

We are so involved in yesterday and tomorrow that we don’t even notice that today is slipping by.

We go through the day rather than getting something from the day.

We are everywhere at any given moment in time except living in that moment in time.

To pay attention is learning to be wherever you are.

To pay attention is capturing each moment so that it becomes a new part of who we are.

To pay attention is something we do; better, it is something we experience. Fully.

And until we learn to be where our attention is, we will never really enjoy the moment. Fully.

Where is your attention now?

What will you do today to remind yourself to pay attention?

The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.

Sydney Harris

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There is so much wisdom in this short and simple quote.

The hands of the clock of time are moving fast.

We cry out…Wait ! Stop!  but time does not hear our cries.

It is later than you think!

Wake up ! Take possession of your own mind while you still have enough time to become that which you would have liked to have been in the past.

Make the most of your present inventory of time.

You have been warned!

Now the responsibility is yours.

There is a simple test by which you can evaluate  whether or not you have been using your time to best advantage.

If you experience peace of mind and  have enough control over your personal time, chances are that it has been properly used.

If you are always racing and out of breath, your time has not been properly used, and you should begin now to look how you could improve your circumstances.

Tic toc, tic toc, the pendulum of the clock of time is swinging rapidly!

The time has come for everyone to stand up and be counted.

Technologies has speeded up the clock of time so rapidly that the next 50 years will reveal to humanity more opportunities for self-improvement that have been revealed during the entire past of man’s existence.

Your share of these vast opportunities may be taken advantage of, and used only by the way you relate yourself to TIME!

What will you do about it?

You will never find time for anything.

If you want time you must make it.

 Charles Buxton

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Charles Buxton (18 November 1823 – 10 August 1871) was an English brewer, philanthropist, writer and Member of Parliament.

Buxton was born in Cobham, Surrey, the third son of Sir Thomas Buxton, 1st Baronet, a notable brewer, MP and social reformer, and followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a partner in the brewery of Truman, Hanbury, Buxton, & Co in Brick Lane, Spitalfields, London, and then an MP. He served as Liberal MP for Newport, Isle of Wight(1857–1859), Maidstone (1859–1865) and East Surrey (1865–1871). His son Sydney Buxton was also an MP and governor of South Africa.

Source : Wikipedia, January 05, 2012

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Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.

Groucho Marx

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A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people.

When it comes to relationships with your loved ones;

Love is spelled  T-I-M-E.

So I’ll do just that for the next 2 weeks.

I’ll be back next year!

Happy New Year!

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware,

 joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.”

Henry Miller (1891-1980) US novelist

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When I am completely aware and living in the NOW, it is easier for me to accept the things as they really are and not as I want them to be. It’s when I’m preoccupied with the potential problems of the future that I lose most of my awareness. This is why it is so important for us to put things in perspective, especially a long-term perspective. If I ask myself questions like the following ones;

What will I think of this particular problem in 1, 5 or 10 years?

How will I feel about this frustration a week from now?

Why am I so annoyed with this person?

How can I keep my calm when I’m stuck in a traffic jam?

Who cares if this stranger is insulting me?

… you can continue with your own questions here.

When we think of it, it is often these petty annoyances that disturb us the most.

After we take the time to answer these questions with a long term perspective in mind, we can start to live in the NOW again, and that improves our quality of life. Awaress is in the NOW .

Why does it take so much time to so many of us to understand this simple reality?

Or if we understand it, why is it so difficult to practice in our own lives?

Time Flies! Use your time well by avoiding meaningless busy work.

At every instant of every day, you are making a choice of how you spend your time.

You have a very limited amount of time, so your time is extremely valuable.

You can’t do everything you consider doing, or everything others demand of you.

You establish your real priorities in life by your choices of how you allocate your time.

Whenever you spend time on some mindless activity you have chosen your priorities…

but have you chosen well?

Do I do my best every day with the resources that I have?

If I only give you 60 % of myself today, I cannot give you 140 % tomorrow.

Why?

Because it’s impossible to give more 100 % of yourself.

Period.

The nature of life is constant change.

The world is not the same today as it was yesterday, and it will be different still tomorrow.

We can be victims of that change, or we can drive change.

Benjamin Franklin used to say:  Drive your business or your business will drive thee.

Think about it, he wrote this thought almost 200 years ago.

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The steps towards reaching your goal and overcome your resistance to change.

Visualize the end result.

Plan.

Take action.

Obstacles will appear.

Persevere.

Receive feedback.

Adapt your plan.

Take action again.

More obstacles will appear.

Persevere.

Celebrate victory. Reward yourself.

Don’t be afraid of change!

“Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.”

Zig Ziglar

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How much time and worrying would we save by adopting this attitude in life?