Decision

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December 15, 2010

Why are we so stubborn ?

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Choices, Consequence, Courage, Criticism, Decision, Illusion, Important question, Life expectancy, Life leadership, Procrastination, Time, Time magagement, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , , , |
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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.

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?

 

December 14, 2010

Do you appreciate your life ?

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Aware, Choices, Complaining, Consequence, Courage, Criticism, Decision, Important question, Life leadership, Time, Time magagement, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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“What a wonderful life I had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner”

Colette

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Life is not always easy! Sometimes, life throws a curve at us and we have a hard time dealing with it.

This is why it’s important to remember our blessings, especially when things don’t go our way. Because, most of the time, even when things are not as good as we’d like, there is still a lot going well. It’s important to take the time to be thankful EVERYDAY for the good things in our lives.

In 1985, I had a car accident and I was immobilized without being able to walk for about 6 weeks, then after I had to go to physiotherapy for a couple of months. That was the bad side of the accident. The good side of it is that for the first time in  my young life, I took the time to read good books and spent time all alone away from the distractions of the world.Time to ponder upon what I was going to do with my life.

This was the beginning of a process of introspection that lead me to question constantly what I was going to do at almost every moment of my life. As Socrates once said, “A life not examined is not worth living”,  from now on, I would question myself and question others continuously. I would start to doubt common beliefs and confront them. it was not because everyone said something that it was necessarily true.

As we question ourselves and others, it is tempting to become sarcastic, but this is when it’s important to take a long-term perspective and realize that something bad in the short term might turn out to be a good thing in the long run. Many curses are opportunities in disguise. It’s up to us to learn how to recognize them.

Everyday we must look at the good things in our lives even when everything seems to be hopeless.

Everyday we must count our blessings and try to minimize our sorrows.

This is one of the ways to appreciate how wonderful life really is.

Will you count your blessings today?

 

December 7, 2010

Hurry! Hurry! Make new mistakes!

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Aware, Awareness, Choices, Courage, Criticism, Decision, Failure, Fear, Important question, Life, Life leadership, Procrastination, Risk, Success, Time | Tags: , , , , , |
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“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.

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

 

December 3, 2010

Wisdom from Peanuts!

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Aware, Awareness, Choices, Consequence, Courage, Death, Decision, Fear, Illusion, Important question, Life, Life expectancy, Life leadership, Now, Procrastination, Serenity, Time, Time magagement, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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“I have a new philosophy. I’m only going to dread one day at the time.”

Charles Schulz, Peanuts, cartoon

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A while ago, a lady went to a restaurant in downtown Montreal to celebrate her birthday with her husband , as they entered the restaurant, apparently they asked the hostess for a seat near the window to get access to a better view…

This is an excerpt of the Montreal Gazette July 17, 2009

“MONTREAL – One minute Thursday night, a couple was quietly celebrating a birthday inside the Mikasa Sushi Bar on Peel St.; the next minute, a concrete slab crashed through the glass skylight above them, killing the 33-year-old woman instantly.

Her husband of two years, also 33, lay next to her lifeless body screaming, “Ma femme! Ma femme! Stay with me!”

He pleaded for help, but other diners and staff were paralyzed with shock. Minutes later, sobbing and screaming, the man was loaded into an ambulance, his right hand wrapped in a blood-soaked napkin, two single tracks of blood running down his cheek.

“Her birthday was Monday, that’s what they were celebrating,” said the nurse, who spoke on condition that her name not be published. The concrete panel from the 18th floor of the Marriott Residence Inn crashed through the sloping glass ceiling of the restaurant, which lies directly below at street level, and hit the woman “directly” – while she was seated at her table, said Montreal police Constable Olivier Lapointe.”

The last thing this couple was expecting on that evening was a piece of concrete to fall on the woman’s head…  33 years old.   (12 045 days)

The reason why I bring up this story today is to show that when we have regrets about the past or worries about the future, we waste precious time and energy. We must focus on the present.

This is where our attention should be because this is where we have a little more control over what happens to us. This lady didn’t have much control over what happened to her that night.

Today, try to focus your attention on what you can influence and the rest will take care of itself.

I agree with the creator of Peanuts; we should only “dread one day at a time”

How many days to you “dread” in advance?

 

November 24, 2010

Who was your favorite teacher?

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Aware, Awareness, Choices, Clarity, Courage, Decision, Important question, Life, Life expectancy, Life leadership, Serenity, Success, Time, Time magagement, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |
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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 to the fullest..

What did Time teach you recently?

What would you do differently if you learned that you had 3 months left to live?

Oh really!    

Why wait?

 

October 18, 2010

Do you remember Forrest Gump?

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Choices, Courage, Decision, Life, Life leadership, Procrastination, Time, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , , |
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“My Mama always said you’ve got to put the past behind you before you can move on.”

From the movie Forrest Gump

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July 8, 2010

Before my cancer…

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Aware, Awareness, Courage, Death, Decision, Fear, Life, Life leadership, Now, Procrastination, Results, Serenity, Time, Time magagement, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , , , , |
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“Before my cancer, I was often afraid to try new things or do something different. But I just began singing lessons and this summer I’m off on my first kayak camping trip. I have a chance at living again, and I try to take a moment every day to really appreciate just being alive.”

Joshua, 24 years old, testicular cancer, 2-year survivor

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July 7, 2010

Live a long life or die young?

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Aware, Awareness, Choices, Death, Decision, Fear, Important question, Life, Life leadership, Now, Procrastination, Serenity, Time, Time magagement, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , |
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“Live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse.”

Author unknown

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I don’t know who wrote this, but he or she probably had some hedonistic tendancies or a good sense of humor.

It brings to my mind the following questions;

It is better to live a very long  life and experience illness, old age and slowly losing  most of our physical and mental capacities or is it better to live fully and die younger before we experience all these inconvenients?

I don’t know, what are the pros and cons?

What do you think?

Which one would you prefer?

 

June 18, 2010

Making the most of the time we have.

Posted by stephenlafond under 1, 36525 days, Aware, Awareness, Choices, Clarity, Decision, Illusion, Important question, Life, Life expectancy, Life leadership, Now, Procrastination, Results, Time, Time magagement, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , , , |
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“Time is like money, the less we have of it to spare the further we make it go.”

Josh Billings

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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 almost 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?

 

June 13, 2010

Sweat and Struggle

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“Don’t feel entitled to anything you don’t sweat and struggle for”

Marian Wright Edelman (1939- )

American activist and founder of the Children’s Defence Fund

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Did you ever hear the saying “Easy come, easy go”? There seems to be an unwritten law in nature that takes away what we don’t deserve or what we didn’t work hard enough for. There is no way to prove it, but we can witness it over and over again in the form of people winning the lottery and spending everything very quickly, or children who inherit from rich parents without having to work for their money. Another variaton of this is when people have such an easy life that they are unable to cope when disaster strikes.

Do you often try to take some shortcut in order to get what you want?

 

May 17, 2010

How to manufacture Time ?

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“To choose time is to save time”

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

English philosopher

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It’s all about choices! At every moment, we must choose.

Choose to eat well. Choose to sleep enough. Choose to be physically active. Choose to learn some new skills. Choose to teach to younger people. Choose to be friendly. Choose to be patient. Choose to give. Choose to relax. Choose, choose, choose.

We each have to make our own choices individually.

Which choice will you make today?

 

 

May 9, 2010

Why not forgive NOW?

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Control, Courage, Criticism, Death, Decision, Procrastination, Serenity, Time, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , , , |
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“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?

 

May 2, 2010

Change! Change! Change !

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Choices, Complaining, Consequence, Courage, Decision, Important question, Life, Life leadership, Procrastination, Results, Time, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , |
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“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.”

— Maya Angelou, poet

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Good luck with this one. Have a nice day.

 

May 1, 2010

Seneca & Benjamin Franklin

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“It is not that we have a short life to live but we waste a lot of it”

Seneca

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Sometimes we waste our time because we don’t have much control over what is happening to us. In this case, there’s not much we can do about it.

At other times we waste our time because we lack a definite purpose in our lives.
This we can do something about. We must take the time to ask ourselves the important questions, the ones that concern only us.

It may look like a waste of time at first, but in the long run, it will save us time.

Benjamin Franklin used to ask himself these important questions every night before he went to sleep.

What did I do wrong today?
What did I do right ?
What can I improve tomorrow?

Apparently, he did this for most of his life.

If you want to learn more about this, I recommend that you read his autobiography. It will make you realize that even if he had lived more than 250 years ago, he was facing similar challenges like the ones we have to deal with today.

Great weekend to all of you!

 

April 29, 2010

Under which influence are you living ?

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Aware, Awareness, Choices, Clarity, Decision, Here, Important question, Life, Life leadership, Results, Time, Time magagement, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , , |
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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!

 

April 28, 2010

Consequences

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Aware, Awareness, Choices, Clarity, Consequence, Decision, Illusion, Results, Wasting time | Tags: , , , , |
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We have control over our choices, but we don’ t have any control over the consequences of our choices.

What this means is that we don’t always know how things will turn out.

What it means is that we can’t always predict how people will respond to our decisions.

That is why we should be aware of our choices as much as possible if we want to improve our quality of life.

Sometimes our decisions can result in big mistakes that will be costly in time.

From the moment that we know clearly what we want, it becomes easier to make the best possible choices for ourselves. These decisions are unique for each one of us.

Do you ever think of the big difference between your choices and the consequences of your choices?

 

April 26, 2010

The road to Hell

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Choices, Consequence, Courage, Decision, Procrastination, Results, Success, Time, Wisdom
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“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”

Proverb

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This is one of my favorite proverbs because it summarizes so well all the excuses
that we create to justify our inadequacies in so many areas of our lives.

The time and the energy that we often spend to make up these excuses could be invested in doing what must be done.

Life seems to tell us ” Whatever responsability that you try to avoid, I’ll figure out a way for you not to escape it”

Yes, but it’s not my fault…

I meant to do it, but then…

I was very ill, so I couldn’t …

If I had more money…

If I were younger…

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Do I really have to keep on writing?

Are you on the road to hell with YOUR “good intentions”?

 

April 10, 2010

Unimportant Things

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Choices, Consequence, Control, Courage, Decision, Important question, Life, Life leadership, Results, Serenity, Time, Time magagement, Wasting time | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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“No matter how small and unimportant what we are doing may seem, if we do it well, it may become the step that will lead us to better things.”

Channing Pollock

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This is encouraging and inspiring ! Why ? Because there is always room for improvement

Don’t you think so?

 

April 9, 2010

Stay hungry , stay foolish

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Aware, Awareness, Courage, Death, Decision, Fear, Here, Important question, Life, Life expectancy, Time, Time magagement, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , , , , , |
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 I really enjoyed this clip and I’m sharing it with you.

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April 6, 2010

Life is what happens to you… Was inspired by John Lennon.

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Choices, Courage, Decision, Here, Life leadership, Now, Results, Time, Wasting time | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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“Life is what happens to you while your busy making other plans”

John Lennon (1940-80) British rock musician

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We often say things like, “when I’m older, I’ll do this; if I had more time, I would start this project; when my children are grown up, I’ ll have more time to take  care of myself.” If, If, If, when, when, when…are just excuses to test our determination.

When we really care about someone, we do what we must do.

When we really care about something, we become very creative in order to get what we want.

What we can be, we must become, ultimately, it is one of the best ways to be at peace with ourselves.

Stop waiting and Start acting NOW.

 

What are you waiting for?

 

March 31, 2010

Marcus Aurelius

Posted by stephenlafond under Consequence, Decision, Illusion, Important question, Life leadership, Thing | Tags: , , , , , |
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“The first rule is, to keep an untroubled spirit.”

“The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.”

Marcus Aurelius (121–180)
Roman emperor and philosopher

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When I try to live each day like if it was be my last, it gives me “an untroubled spirit” because of the satisfaction of having done the best that I could with the resources and the opportunities that were given to me.

When I try to look things in the face, it forces realism on me, it is not what happens to me, it is how I react to what happens to me.

Do you find it difficult to look at things for what they really are?  

                                                 OR                                             

 Do you INSIST on seeing things AS YOU WANT to see them? 

 

March 28, 2010

Happy or unhappy?

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Choices, Consequence, Decision, Important question, Results | Tags: , , , , , |
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Why do a lot of people keep doing the same things over and over even when it makes them unhappy? They complain but change nothing.

They focus on the externals and neglect what is going on inside their minds.

They invest money on their houses, on their cars, on their swimming pools, on their boats and don’t invest money in their minds, on their skills and on their personal development.

They sit on their couch in the living room watching other people on television live their lives  and make money doing it when they could be living their own lives fully.

They talk about diets and health  endlessly without realizing they are sitting on the couch with a bag of chips and soda. All talk and no action.

This is just a personal observation.

And then again, without being aware of time going by…

What is YOUR relation between happiness and how you invest your free time?

 

March 15, 2010

What Control Do You Have Over Your Daily Choices?

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I must figure out what I have control over and what I don’t have control over.

So what do I have control over?

I have some control on the choices that I make here and now.

In every 24 hour period, I try to make the best choices possible with the knowledge, the resources and the opportunities that I have.

Every minute, well not every minute but as often as possible, I try to become aware of my thoughts and my decisions. When I try to choose correctly at every moment, I should have a good and productive hour, when I try to choose correctly every hour, I should have a good and productive day, when I try to choose correctly every day, I should end up with a good and productive week, and month, and year and decade ….

What control do you have over your daily choices?