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.

It is important to know exactly what we want and we must act on what we want. Action is what will transform our circumstances towards 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.

“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

______________________________________________________________________

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?

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?

Did you ever notice how daring young people are? They are not afraid of taking risks.

Why?  Because they are not afraid of dying. Personally, I don’t remember thinking of my own death before the age of 30.

One of the things that stands between us and our quality of life is the underlying fear of death. From the moment we don’t fear death anymore, we don’t fear life either. When we get rid of the fear of dying, we get rid of a lot of other fears with it.

The moment that we become almost fearless, we can enjoy life to its fullest because of our willingness to take risks.

Yes but what if I fail? Try again.

And what if I fail again? Try again , and again, and again.

And what if my friends laugh at me? Ask yourself ; what risk are my so-called friends taking?

Did you take time to identify your own fears?

“The future will depend on what we do in the present”

Mahatma Gandhi

(1869-1948)

__________________________________________________________________

We all know this, it is so simple to understand when we read it. However, the challenge is not only to read it and understand it, the real challenge is to practice what we understand so well.

Yes, practice it day in day out, especially when you have distractions, a bad day or a good day.

Whatever is your dream, your project, your goal, pursue it relentlessly without wasting time.

You need a burning desire to keep you absorbed and focused, even when you have so many responsibilities and distractions.

Will you?

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. ”

Mark Twain (1835–1910)
American humorist and writer

_______________________________________________________________________

Whenever someone is trying to discourage you by saying you are crazy, do not believe them!

For when they say you are crazy, there is a real possibility that you are on something reaaaalllly good.

Did you know that some critics said that Wayne Gretzky was too small and too slow to make it in the NHL. But, by the end of his 24 year career as a player, “The Great One” had amassed 60 records, including the record of the most goals : 894 in 1 487 games.

Oh by the way, does anyone remember the names of the critics?

Drama coaches told Lucille Ball she had “no talent for acting”. But she refused to give up a dream and became one of America’s beloved stars of her generation.

Who were those drama coaches again?

Other famous examples

Madonna was fired from Dunkin’ Donuts.

As for Walt Disney,a newspaper editor told this cartoonist he wasn’t creative enough.

JK Rowling (Harry Potter) was a secretary who got a pink slip for daydreaming too much about story ideas.

Jerry Seinfeld was fired from a small bit role on the sitcom Benson.

The New Yorker fired this copy boy. His name? Truman Capote.

This person was fired as president of FORD motor company. Lee Iacocca, who went on to rescue Chrysler

This guy was fired from Western Union because he spilled acid on the floor. Who was he?  Thomas Edison.

This Baltimore news anchor was removed from her job because her boss said she was, “unfit for television news.”

Who was this last one?  Oprah Winfrey

Trust your instincts and follow your heart…

Even when many people think you are crazy.

Why?

Because, you would be crazy not to.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

P.S. I have read a very inspiring book recently about the story of Zappos.com.

The title is 

I recommend that you read this book if you want to be inspired by a great entrepreneur  (Tony Hsieh) who had to overcome many challenges in order to pursue his dream.

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.

“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to site than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.”

Marcus Aurelius

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Chinese people say that we can never step in the same river twice. I believe this is so true because even if we meet the same people and even when we encounter similar circumstances in our lives, it is different every time.

Why?

Because each one of us is changing and evolving constantly. This is a good thing. This is how we grow. If it were not, we would still be living in caves and caverns.

It is difficult, however, for people who insist on resisting change. Resisting change is simply a display of our fears. It makes us very uncomfortable and very worried about the unknown.

One man who I recently saw, age 94, responded to my question, “So how are you doing?” with the following: “I have some aches and pains, you know, but at my age, everyday is a bonus.”

What a great attitude!

This is an attitude that I rarely witness with a lot of younger people.

This man of Polish descent is a first generation immigrant.

He had to face many challenges during his lifetime.

Yet, he’s still going strong.

I have seen him exercising regularly for the last 25 years.

Even if he has been retired from his regular job for many decades, he chose to be more physically active than many people half his age.

We don’t have to wait until we reach age 94 to appreciate the fact that every day is a bonus.

Why?

Because every day IS A BONUS… even for a toddler.

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.”

Carl Sandburg

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our time is like a bank account; every day we each have 1440 minutes that we can withdraw and we choose to invest as we want, the difference with a financial bank account is that we cannot make a deposit, only withdrawals.

What will you do with your withdrawals today?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

P.S. I will be at the Bell Center tonight for a hockey game between Montreal and Boston. It will be a good use of my time…I’m following the advice on the white T-shirt.

BE PREPARED… The Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared” is good advice for all of us; regardless of age.

In a sense, to be prepared, for a Boy Scout, simply means that he is getting ready to deal with whatever happens.  It is exciting that in the process of preparing he is learning how to attain his goals. Most of the goals, at that point, are short-range but if the overall goal is to be an Eagle Scout, he literally is setting a “big” and “long-range” goal. Setting and reaching goals prepares a Scout for life and for whatever endeavour he might choose.

The athlete must prepare for the upcoming competition and the musician for the next concert.  The habit of preparation is one of the  benefits that come from being a Boy Scout. That’s the reason Scouting is so beneficial in our society today and is especially helpful for young kids.

When we are prepared, we actually save of lot of time, worries and frustrations. Do you remember when you were cramming in school, most of us manage to move up in the school system by cramming before our exams, but do you remember the feeling when (or if) you prepared thoroughly before the exam and found it so easy?

It is the same in life, preparation saves us more time in the end.

A friend of mine told me I should read this excellent book from Jacques Attali. And I did. This book is all about facing realism and finding ways to be prepared to whatever might be coming our way in the coming years. I recommend that you read this book and try to find ways to be ready, to be prepared. Try to adjust its content to your own personal circumstances.

So if you want to reduce the stress and frustration in your life, BE PREPARED!

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!

“Procrastination is the thief of time.”

Edward Young (1683-1765) British poet

____________________________________________________________________________________

A lot of people are afraid to lose their health.

In most cases, we can and will regain our health.

A lot of people are afraid to lose their friends.

We can always make new friends.

A lot of people are afraid to lose their money.

But we can always earn more money.

Very few people are conscious of the time they are wasting

Procrastination robs us of our time, life is short.

In which area of your life are you procrastinating?

Why ?

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

Building relationships takes time because it is all about the development of trust.

“Seek 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.

We all have three  very important  days in our lives.

One is the day you are born.  You don’t get to decide that one.

One is the day the curtain falls for the last time. Most of us won’t choose that day or necessarily know when it comes.

And after this one, there are no more chances to be or to do more.

But you and only you get to determine the third important day…

The day you decide why you are here.

“Nothing is too difficult, you only need to know how”

Yiddish proverb

______________________________________________________________________________________

When I was about 14 years old, an older person once told me that most of us learn at least one thing every day.

Being 14 and somewhat skeptical, it took me a while to fully grasp what he said.

I realized later that it was absolutely true. In fact, we can learn much more than one thing every day, we can learn and re-learn many things every single day.

There are two conditions;

The first one is:  we must have the right attitude towards change and learning.

The second one is: we must pay attention.

Yes but it takes so much time to learn…I hear some of you say.

And my answer is: What about the time we waste by refusing to learn?

I wonder which one is more costly.

You CAN do anything you put your mind to.
The phrase I CAN’T is what limits you from doing everything you want to do.

What will you learn today?

In July 2009, Lee Lipsenthal was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. As he and his wife, Kathy, navigated his diagnosis, illness, and treatment, he discovered that he did not fear death, and that even as he was facing his own mortality, he felt more fully alive than ever before. Hear his story in his own words.

We can all learn from this inspiring story!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Click on this hyperlink to listen to Lee himself.

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/enjoy-every-sandwich

“Time is like money, the less we have of it to spare the further we make it go.”

Josh Billings

________________________________________________________________

When I was 5 years old, I couldn’t care less about time.

When I was 15 years old, it seemed to me that everything was always taking too long to happen.

When I was 25 years old, it seemed like I was always so busy and running out of time.

When I was 35 years old, with a wife and children, a business to run, and bills to pay, I really had less and less time.

Now at 45 years old, I know that we never have enough time to do everything but we always have time to do the most important.

The more pressure we have with time, the more productive we seem to become.

Are you making the most of the time you have?

“The fault is NOT in the stars, but in ourselves.”

Shakespeare

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Who’s fault is it?

How many times do we blame others for what happens or what doesn’t happen to us?

When we point our finger at someone, did you ever notice that at least three of them are coming back towards us?

Confucius used to say; “Don’t complain about the snow on your neighbor’s roof when your own doorstep is unclean”

When you complain about something, 80% of people don’t care about your complaining and some of the last 20% are happy about your misery. Why? Because the first 80% are too preoccupied with their own lives. The remaining 20% are simply envious of you and that makes them secretly happy when something bad happens to you.

What was the question again? Oh yes, Who’s fault is it? Sorry folks, but it’s almost always your fault.

And what if it wasn’t ? Well, it’s your responsibility.

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 only to discover after a while the same problems they were experiencing in the previous relationship. It seems to me that what they are trying to avoid comes back to them in another form and with a new label.

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.

Isn’t this frustrating? I will be more accountable with strangers than I will with myself.

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.

Enough rambling…

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?

About two years ago, I received an email that challenged me in a very simple way. I kept the email in front of me to look at it everyday  and remind myself to act on it. The email contained the following quote:

______________________________________________________________________________________________

 “Do one thing every day that scares you.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

____________________________________________________________________________________

The things that scare each one of us are different:

for some of us, it could be to call a big prospect,

for others it could be to say “I love you” to someone

for others it could be to say “I’m sorry”.

It could also be to go bungee jumping or skydiving.

It could be to speak in front of a large audience you don’t know.

Each one of us have unique fears.

 It doesn’t have to be big fears either.

If you practice confronting small fears, you will strengthen your “courage muscle” and it should be easier to face bigger challenges later on.

Am I making you feel uncomfortable?

Do you find it too challenging or demanding?

If you do…, let’s try to see it from another angle.

     “Today is a day to open your eyes to the unfamiliar.”

     “Today is a day to let go of the familiar”

     “Today is a day to get out of your comfort zone”

Will you try ??????

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

____________________________________________________________________________________________

What is the difference between efficient and effective?

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

Tallulah Bankhead

_______________________________________________________

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.

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

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?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

If
by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream, and not make dreams your master;
If you can think, and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings, nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

One of the great illusions in our life is to be addicted to busyness, it gives us the feeling of being productive, but are we really? There are so many demands in our lives that it becomes very easy to lose focus.Then there is the information overload or all kinds of other activities, this is especially true in the Summer Holiday season. It’s not always easy to SAY NO to less important activities when we should  SAY YES to our most important projects. It requires constant vigilance.

The time that we waste will never come back.

I repeat; the time that we waste will never come back!

It is a sad reality but it is also a great wake-up call.

How do you make sure that you don’t waste too much precious time?

How do you keep the focus on your most important projects?

How do you know that you spend your time on what you really care about?

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?”

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?

Does this make any sense to you?