36525 days to live

37 % of Canadians are giving some of their personal time in one way or another. It can be for sports and leisure activities, for social services and education or it can for religious activities. On average, each Canadian gives 166 hours every year of volunteer work. That is quite a lot considering our busy schedules. This represents 4,75 work weeks based on a 35 hours a week schedule.

Another surprising number is that 58 % of young people between the age of 15 and 24 give some of their time compared to 36 % of people over 65 years old.

I would have lost my bet on this for sure…

What are the activities ? Participation on  some Board of Directors and in social clubs, raising funds, serving and distributing food, coaching sports team, helping elderly people and the list goes on. There is a link below that will make you more aware of the needs and different community organizations.

When we put our attention on supporting other people. It may or may not always come back to us from the people we help specifically, and that’s okay. We want to do our best not to “keep score,” as many of us often do, but instead to look for opportunities to genuinely help those around us. When we do this, we remind ourselves of the power of support.

How much time do you invest for others?

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Here is a link for residents of the Montreal Metroplitan Area.

More than a thousand community organizations are looking for volunteers.

http://cabm.net/en 

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“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?

Life seems like a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. And sometimes it hurts.

On January 25 th, 2011, I had a very good day at work. I came home on time and helped my youngest daughter with her homework.

After this, I thought I would have time for myself to relax…

It was about 19:15 in the evening.

Suddenly, I started to feel a sharp pain in my flank , lower abdomen and groin. My face became white as a ghost and my hands turned blue as a dead corpse. I started to tremble and was feeling cold all over. The physiological changes in my body were happening so quickly that I asked myself: What is happening to me right now?

It felt like I was watching a movie in slow motion and experiencing every painful moment vividly.

Since I was alone with my 11 year old daugther, I decided to call  an ambulance because I wasn’t able to drive myself to the hospital.

Once I was in the hospital, the pain started to intensify and I was vomitting abundantly. For a full hour, waiting for my medication, I experienced the most intense pain I had ever felt in my life. Apparently this kind of pain is almost as horrible as what a woman experiences while giving birth. After receiving the IV ( intravenous injection), the pain was slowly going away. The doctor told me that I was experiencing “a textbook case of kidney stone “.

When someone like me writes everyday about the value of time and life, an experience like this really hit me right at the center of my being because I couldn’t help but ask myself:Is my time coming right now? Is this it ?     (Ignorance makes us more afraid than we should be…)

As I was living through this adventure, I realized that it only reinforced my commitment to keep writing on the subject of time and life as long as it will be possible.

Each lesson provides a path to the future.

Never stop learning. Never stop experiencing. Look for further education in all areas of life. Even when It hurts…

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The next day, after being stabilized, I started to read on Wikipedia about kidney stones and my readings confirmed everything I had experienced the night before.

I discovered that I share at least one thing in common with Isaac Newton, Isaac Asimov ( was afraid to get addicted to morphine), Francis Bacon and Benjamin Franklin.

What?   Well if I can’t share their fame… I can share some of their pain .     🙂

I feel a little bit better now…

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The little history of kidney stones.

The existence of kidney stones has been recorded since the beginning of civilization, and lithotomy for the removal of stones is one of the earliest known surgical procedures.^[61] In 1901, a stone was discovered in the pelvis of an ancient Egyptian mummy, and was dated to 4,800 BC. Medical text from ancient Mesopotamia, India, China, Persia, Greece and Rome all mentioned calculous disease. Part of the Hippocratic oath suggests that there were practicing surgeons in Ancient Greece to whom physicians should defer for lithotomies. The Roman medical treatise De Medicina by Cornelius Celsus contained a description of lithotomy, and this work served as the basis for this procedure up until the 18th century.^[62]

Among the famous leaders who were kidney stone formers are Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor Napoleon III, Peter the Great, Louis XIV, George IV, Oliver Cromwell, and former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Other notable individuals who endured stones include Benjamin Franklin, the philosophers Michel de Montaigne and Sir Francis Bacon, the scientist Sir Isaac Newton, the civil servant and diarist Samuel Pepys, the physicians William Harvey and Herman Boerhaave, and the anatomist Antonio Scarpa.^[63] Interestingly, astronauts seem to have a higher risk of developing kidney stones during or after long duration space flights.^[64]

New techniques in lithotomy began to emerge starting in 1520, but the operation remained risky. It was only after Henry Jacob Bigelow popularized the technique of litholapaxy in 1878 that the mortality rate dropped from about 24% down to 2.4%. However, other treatment techniques were developed that continued to produce a high level of mortality, especially among inexperienced urologists.^[62][63] In 1980, Dornier MedTech introduced extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy for breaking up stones via acoustical pulses, and this technique has come into widespread use.^[65]

Kidney stones were once referred to as gravel or gravel disease during the 1800s in the United States. One such example is documented in the Oak Ridge Cemetery records for Charles Muir Campbell who died 13 Oct 1874 in Springfield, Sangamon, Illinois, USA

Source, Wikipedia,  January 27, 2011.

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For those of you who like Seinfeld… A little bit of humor with Kramer who gets a kidney stone.  🙂

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xk6mr_kramer-gets-a-kidney-stone_news

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”

George Washington Carver

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We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-63)

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If someone is watching a reality show about dancing on TV, aren’t they using time as a couch?  If someone is taking dance lessons with a friend or partner, aren’t they using time as a tool?

If someone is watching a reality show about singing, aren’t they using time as a couch? If someone is taking singing lessons, entering a karaoke contest or joining a choir, aren’t they using time as a tool?

If someone is watching hockey or golf on TV, aren’t they using time as a couch? If someone is playing hockey or golf with friends, aren’t they using time as a tool?

 Is your satisfaction in the watching or in the doing?

Are you a spectator or an actor?

Which one will make you grow as an individual?

“Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them”

Dion Bousicault ( 1820-1890)

Irish-born actor & dramatist

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How could anyone in their right mind want to kill time? To want to kill time, in my opinion, is a confession of imbecility because time is what life is made of. Sometimes, we are at work thinking of what we will do on the weekend. However, when the weekend comes, do you ever find yourself doing nothing? So you wasted productive time at work because you were daydreaming, and now you are wasting free time because you did not plan in advance. You are caught off guard at the last minute.

I have a  personal example that happened to my wife and I a few times. We have 3 young children who still need a babysitter when we go out. Sometimes, we had the chance to find a babysitter at the last minute. This was great, but since we had only about 60 to 90 minutes of free time together, our options were limited. By the time we agreed on what we both wanted to do, 20 to 30 minutes had already gone by.

So I asked myself; how can I avoid this kind of situation when our time is so limited and so precious?

Solution: I made a list of dozens of activities that require very little time and that are enjoyable. When  the opportunity to have time together knocks on our door, we are ready. Since then, we can use these precious minutes in a smarter way.

Exception:  If you are a person with an extremely busy schedule, it is important NOT TO FEEL GUILTY because you need to relax once in a while and in this case, it’s not a waste of time.

When we know exactly what we want and what we like, it’s easier to use our time in a smarter way.

Do you often find yourself “killing” precious time ?

Every day, I witness too many people who are complaining. (myself included)

If only we would realize how short life really is, we would stop complaining and stop wasting precious time.

Since our time is so limited, doesn’t it make sense to figure out what we really enjoy and try to spend as much time as possible doing what we like? 

We all have responsibilities, but we also have spare time, and it is in that spare time that we can improve our quality of life.  

One of the ways I found to minimize my own complaining is to count my blessings every day. When I focus my attention on what goes well in my life, I notice that there is much more good than bad. If you have time today, take a piece of paper, make two columns, one for the good stuff and the other for the bad things.

Chances are that you will write much more on the side of “good stuff”.

Good health, good friends, healthy family members, good food everyday, living in a safe country, able to give money to charity, easy credit to buy the dream house, the big screen TV or the new car.

And the bad things…

Personally, I am not able to jot down a single thing this morning. Huh, perhaps a little discomfort in my neck…

Since I  have started doing this exercise many years ago, it has helped me realize that there is more good than bad for most of us, most of the time…if we choose to look at things this way.

It is an exercise that has to be repeated every day when possible, or as often as possible. When we neglect counting our blessings, there is a chance that people around us will notice it in our attitude. I could compare it to taking a shower, if we skip it for too long, someone somewhere will notice…

Do you find yourself complaining too much?

Don’t you think it’s a waste of time and energy?

Will you try to write down a list of the good things in your life?

Francois Henri “Jack” LaLanne (September 26, 1914 – January 23, 2011) was an American fitness, exercise, and nutritional expert and motivational speaker who is sometimes called “the godfather of fitness” and the “first fitness superhero.”^[1] Until age 15 he craved junk food and had behavioral problems, but he “turned his life around” after listening to a public talk by a well-known nutrition speaker.^[1][2][3] During his career he came to believe that “physical culture and nutrition — is the salvation of America.”^[4]

Decades before fitness began being promoted by celebrities like Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons, LaLanne was already widely recognized for publicly preaching the health benefits of regular exercise and a good diet. He published numerous books on fitness and hosted a fitness television show between 1951 and 1985. As early as 1936, at age 21, he opened the nation’s first fitness gym in Oakland, California, which became a prototype for dozens of similar gyms using his name.

LaLanne also gained recognition for his success as a bodybuilder as well as for his prodigious feats of strength. Arnold Schwarzenegger once stated, “That Jack LaLanne’s an animal!,” after LaLanne, at 54, beat a 21-year-old Schwarzenegger “badly” in an informal contest.^[1] Lalanne invented a number of exercise machines, including leg-extension and pulley devices. Besides producing his own series of videos, he invited women to join his health clubs and told seniors that they should exercise despite their limitations.

He was inducted to the California Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Source Wikipedia,  January 25, 2011

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Eight Lessons from the life and work of Jack LaLanne     by Seth Godin…

1. He bootstrapped himself. A scrawny little kid at 15, he decided to change who he was and how he was perceived, and then he did. The deciding was as important as the doing.
2. He went to the edges. He didn’t merely open a small gym, a more pleasant version of a boxing gym, for instance. Instead, he created the entire idea of a health club, including the juice bar. He did this 70 years ago.
3. He started small. No venture money, no big media partners.
4. He understood the power of the media. If it weren’t for TV, we never would have heard of Jack. Jack used access to the media to earn trust and to teach. And most of what Jack had to offer he offered for free. He understood the value of attention.
5. He was willing to avoid prime time. Jack never had a variety show on CBS. He was able to change the culture from the fringes of TV.
6. He owned the rights. 3,000 shows worth.
7. He stuck with the brand. He didn’t worry about it getting stale or having to reinvent it into something fresh. Jack stood for something, which is rare, and he was smart enough to keep standing for it.
8. Jack lived the story. He followed his own regimen, even when no one was watching. In is words, “I can’t die, it would ruin my image.”

He died last week at 96 ( 35185 days approx.). I don’t think he has to worry about ruining his image, though.

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?”

Paul Cézanne]; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavor to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and the early 20th century’s new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism. The line attributed to both Matisse and Picasso that Cézanne “is the father of us all” cannot be easily dismissed.

Cézanne’s work demonstrates a mastery of design, colour, tone, composition and draftsmanship. His often repetitive, sensitive and exploratory brushstrokes are highly characteristic and clearly recognizable. He used planes of colour and small brushstrokes that build up to form complex fields, at once both a direct expression of the sensations of the observing eye and an abstraction from observed nature. The paintings convey Cézanne’s intense study of his subjects, a searching gaze and a dogged struggle to deal with the complexity of human visual perception.

Source, Wikipedia, January 19, 2011

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He lived approximately 24 725 days…

Here are some of his creations. There are more to admire on Wikipedia.org

Most of the happiness and success you enjoy in life will be determined by the quality of your relationship with yourself. 

However,  relationships with others do matter as well.

Building relationships takes time because it is all about the development of trust. 
 
“See first to understand, then to be understood.”

“Do your best to be there when they really need you.”

Concentrate on building a high level of trust. One decision at a time.

Protect your long term reputation.

Your quality of life will be enhanced by it.

Let time work to your advantage. Be patient.

Most of us probably overspend during the Holidays Season. Thanks to plastic money, we realize this at the end of the month when we receive our credit card statement.

So what do we do? We start paying the balance and we slow down with our spending habits for a couple of months. If possible, we try to increase our personal income. If not, we take more time and try to learn the lesson for next time.

This is quite easy to undertand when it comes to money. Not so easy to put in practice…

So like I said in the title: Don’t be afraid of your credit card statement!

Fear this instead… It is more dangerous in my opinion.

The way in which we manage our time is very similar to the way we manage our finances. And this is not good for many of us. Money slips through our fingers the way time flees from our lives. The difference, however, is that with time we can only make withdrawals, we cannot make deposits. Each one of us is given exactly 1440 minutes (24 hours) everyday.

At midnight tonight, these minutes are gone forever… and there is no way to create more minutes.

We can always make more money, we cannot make more time.

What will you do in 2011 to avoid wasting these precious minutes?

What will you do to protect your most valuable currency?

Life is similar to lying in bed; it’s easier to hit snooze and delay what you must do.

Whenever you get that hit-the-snooze feeling, try do go against your natural response, try to get out of your comfort zone. Sometimes it is as hard to  do what we must do as it is to get out of bed in the morning.

No more delay. No more hesitation. Stand up and start your life.

Are you ready?

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 still fascinated or frustrated with life?

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. King is often presented as a heroic leader in the history of modern American liberalism.

A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. There, he expanded American values to include the vision of a color blind society, and established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and stopping the Vietnam War.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986.

Source Wikipedia, January 15, 2011.

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 Here are some famous quotes for King…

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.
 Martin Luther King Jr.
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Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
 Martin Luther King, Jr.

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We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.
 Martin Luther King, Jr.

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We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
 Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
 Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
 Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”
 Martin Luther King, Jr.

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“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, “Too late.”

“Start living now. Stop saving the good china for that special occasion. Stop withholding your love until that special person materializes. Every day you are alive is a special occasion. Every minute, every breath, is a gift” 

Mary Manin Morrissey

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It seems to me that Natasha Richardson had almost everything going for herself. She seemed to be happily married to Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson. She had two sons. She came from a famous British family of actors and actresses. I assume that she was financially wealthy. She left this world unexpectedly at the age of 45 (16747 days).

On 16 March 2009,  Natasha Richardson sustained a head injury when she fell while taking a skiing lesson at the Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) from Montreal. The injury was followed by a lucid interval, when Richardson seemed to be fine and was able to talk and act normally. Paramedics and an ambulance which initially responded to the accident were told they were not needed and left. Refusing medical attention, she returned to her hotel room and about three hours later was taken to a local hospital in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts after complaining of a headache. She was transferred from there by ambulance to Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur, Montreal, in critical condition and was admitted about seven hours after the fall. The following day she was flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she died on 18 March. An autopsy conducted by the New York City Medical Examiners Office on 19 March revealed the cause of death was an “epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head”, and her death was ruled an accident.

Source Wikipedia, January 14, 2011

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It reminds me of an incident that happened to me on October 1 st 2005. I was coaching at the hockey school. I wasn’t wearing my helmet that morning… I fell on the ice and hit my head really hard. My wife was sitting on the bench and heard the sound of my head hitting the ice. (do you remember how noisy it is at the arena?) I didn’t hear a thing but I sure felt it. I was completely dizzy. It took me a good 30 minutes to start feeling normal again. When I read Natasha’s story, it makes me realize that what happened to her could have happened to me.  I am so thankful that my life was spared that day.  

This is another reason why I try to live each day like it’s the last.

Does this make you realize how fragile your life really is?

If your answer is YES…

Start living now!

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?

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?

In 1996, I  have read a book which had a profound influence on my  personal time management. The title of the book is “The 7 habits of highly effective people”.The reason why this book had a greater influence than other books is that I systematically put into practice its content. I used to work with  daily to-do lists and when my day was over, I was very frustrated that I did not accomplish what I wanted. So here is what I learned from this book.

One of the great messages of the book is to plan every week in advance, preferably the Sunday before the workweek begins. Then, review your planning every day in advance, preferably the night before. When you make a list of everything you have to do the following day, your subconscious mind works on that list all night long. When you wake up in the morning, you will often have ideas and insights to help you accomplish the items on your list. 

Sometimes in our daily routine, things can get out of control and we end up not doing what we were supposed to do. This is why when we plan a week in advance, it gives us the opportunity to organize most of our tasks throughout the week. It gives us a better way to deal with the unexpected situations.

Another key message is to separate the urgent from the important. In the process of managing your time, you must separate the urgent tasks from the important ones. Urgent tasks are determined by external pressures and requirements. You must do them immediately. Once you took care of the urgent tasks, it gives you the freedom of mind to give your full attention to the important ones.

If you feel frustrated at the end of your days with the impression that you never have enough time to do all you want, I recommend that you try this very simple technique of planning a week in advance.

One more thing, leave some free time in your agenda to have time to deal with the unexpected situations. There will be some.

It’s not too late for new year’s resolutions!

But…

Some people don’t like new year’s resolutions because they don’t think it works for them.

It’s not a reason to neglect taking a close and honest look at your life.

Socrates said many years ago “A life unexamined is not worth living”  

Well, why is it that so many people don’t take the time to quiet their minds and take a look at their lives?

Why don’t they  ask themselves some important questions like;

Who am I? 

What do I want to do with my life? 

What are my natural talents or skills?       

What makes me happy or unhappy?         

What am I afraid of and why?    

Why do I think I’m too old or too young?                 

Who do I like to spend time with?              

What can I do to improve my circumstances? 

Do I have a tendency to blame others for my own failures or limitations?

You don’t have to call it a new year’s resolution. But you can still make some changes or improvements.

The real question is:  What will I do in 2011 to make a difference in my life?

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In 2011, if you really want to achieve most of your goals and become what you are capable of becoming, you have to get your time under control. A sense of control over your time should reduce your stress level and increase your overall well-being.

One of the first things you must do is to clarify your priorities. It is impossible to do it all. I know because I tried and I failed miserably. In the past, I planned to accomplish too many goals and objectives at the same time only to become frustrated.

Recently, I focus on 3 or 4 important goals only, and I do everything I can to follow through.

To choose or not to choose!  This is today’s question.

Will you be a victim of the over-abundance of possibilities or will you choose to focus on what is most important for YOU?

Do you have the ability to set clear goals for yourself ?

Have you develop the ability to get yourself organized and work on your most critical tasks, every minute of every day?

Do you have a way or a system to measure it?

Your choices and decisions have combined to create your entire life to this moment. To change or improve your life in any way, you have to make new choices and new decisions that are more in alignment with who you really are and what you really want. 

Do you know who you are?

Do you know what you want?

Have you CHOSEN what you really care about?

Have you written it down?

Do you review it DAILY?

Begin with a list. These lists drive my wife crazy…because she knows that I will stop at nothing to get them done.

The fact is that we can’t manage time; we can only manage ourselves. That is why time management requires self-discipline and self-control. Time management requires that you make the best choices and decisions necessary to enhance the quality of your life and work. Then you follow through with your decisions. 

Make a list of everything you would like to be, do, or have in the months and years ahead. Analyze your list and select those items that can have the greatest possible consequences in your life.

Oh before I forget… REVIEW YOUR LIST OF GOALS AND OBJECTIVES DAILY.

Hey I know it’s not very sexy, but guess what, IT WORKS !!!

Here are the lyrics of a song from Bon Jovi.

What Do You Got?

Everybody wants something, just a little more 
We’re making a living, and what we’re livin for 
A rich man or a poor man, a pawn or a king 
You can live on the street, you can rule the whole world 
But you don’t mean one damn thing

Chorus: 
What do you got, if you ain’t got love 
Whatever you got, it just ain’t enough 
You’re walkin’ the road, but you’re goin’ nowhere 
You’re tryin’ to find your way home, but there’s no one there 
Who do you hold, in the dark of night 
You wanna give up, but it’s worth the fight 
You have all the things, that you’ve been dreamin’ of

If you ain’t got someone, you’re afraid to lose 
Everybody needs just one, someone… to tell them the truth 
Maybe I’m a dreamer, but I still believe 
I believe in hope, I believe the change can get us off our knees

Have A Nice Day!

“Life is too important to be taken seriously.”
 

Oscar Wilde

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Oscar Wilde was a writer, playwright, humorist, satirist, and astute observer of the human condition. What does he mean by, “Life is too important to be taken seriously?” Is it just a simple joke?

Many times, we have a tendency to make a big deal out of small things.

Today, try to ask yourself this simple question; what will this mean for me 1 year or 5 years from now?

If the answer is “not much”. Why worry today?

Life is too short not to be joyful and celebrate each day.

I will post something every single day in 2011!

Good luck… to me.

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These are the statistics that I received from WordPress.com on december 31, 2010.

My year 2010 in blogging. 

Happy New Year from WordPress.com! To kick off the year, we’d like to share with you data on how your blog has been doing. Here’s a high level summary of your overall blog health:

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,900 times in 2010. That’s about 7 full 747s.

In 2010, you wrote 288 new posts, not bad for the first year! You uploaded 18 pictures, taking up a total of 8mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

Your busiest day of the year was April 20th with 78 views. The most popular post that day was The fear of death.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Gandhi

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Every time I read this quote, I become energized and very enthusiastic.

Happy new year to all of you!