February 8, 2011

Are You Wasting Valuable Reading Time ?

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Most of us manage to find time for the things we really like. Where the ambition is, there is time.

Reading is one of my favorite activities. I like spending time with people, I like the outdoors, arts and music, I like to travel and discover new places but somehow, it seems to me that I can always find time for reading.

Why? I’m not sure, but I know it is the activity that inspires me the most. This is one of my best source for new ideas. Not that I don’t find inspiration in other activities, I do, but reading keeps me energized and motivated, especially when life gets in the way.

One of my young daughters used to read a lot, and then came Facebook, YouTube and the iPod … now reading has become a boring activity for her. I keep trying to convince her to start again, and so far I have been unsuccessful. I hope that one day she will re-discover the joy of reading.

Someone who doesn’t read is a little bit like someone who cannot read.

What can I suggest to people who don’t like to read?

Try to read on a subject that you are passionnate about. This is one way you could have a chance to turn reading  into a regular habit.

Read, read all  you can. If you keep practicing, you will soon acquire a taste for reading. In time, it will give you a lot of satisfaction and pleasure.

 

January 18, 2011

Are you scared of your credit card statement ?

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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?

 

 

 

August 30, 2010

Death sentence

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“In truth, each one of us since the moment of our birth has been given a death sentence, only the date is unknown. However, the fact of death is always present in the deepest part of our subconcious mind. Between the time of birth and the time of death , we do the best we know how.”

Chin-Ning Chu

Writer

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June 24, 2010

Are You Stucked in The Middle?

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“People always make time to do the things they really want to do.”

Stephen Lafond

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How creative do we become when we really want to do something? It is too bad we are not as motivated when we have to do something. Then again we are extremely motivated when we must.

So is it possible that only intense desire and extreme fear are the most effective motivators?

In the middle, aren’t we just bored?

What do you think?

 

June 19, 2010

Equal opportunity employer

Posted by stephenlafond under 36525 days, Aware, Awareness, Choices, Clarity, Consequence, Control, Important question, Life leadership, Procrastination, Results, Success, Time, Time magagement, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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“Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can’t buy more hours. Scientists can’t invent new minutes. And you can’t save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you’ve wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.”

Denis Waitley

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May 31, 2010

Power of contrary thinking.

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

Gandhi

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This wraps up my whole philosophy in 2 very wise sentences. Stick this quote on your door, so that every time you leave the house you apply this philosophy.

 

May 26, 2010

Avoid the killers of time

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“Avoid with fury the killers of time “

Og Mandino

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Most of the time, we are not even aware of how we waste our time.

One of the ways that I found to avoid repeating the same mistake too often is to write it down after becoming aware of it.

The more I become aware of something, the more I will increase the chances of correcting the undesired behaviour.

Have you identified your “killers of time” ?

 

May 4, 2010

Why would people waste their time criticizing others?

Posted by stephenlafond under Choices, Complaining, Criticism, Important question, Kvetching, Serenity, Time, Wasting time, Wisdom | Tags: , , |
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What do most people get out of criticizing others? I simply can’t understand that.

Sometimes, I still find myself doing it . I hate it when I do this.

What a waste of time. Live and let live.

Do you often “catch” yourself criticizing others?

Shouldn’t we learn to appreciate others?

What do we get out of it ?

 

May 1, 2010

Seneca & Benjamin Franklin

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