Tag Archives: Goals

Fanatical

Posted on by

can_80851The other day we were talking about the World Jr’s.  For those who don’t know the World Jr’s are the International Ice Hockey Federation World Under 20 Championship which is an annual event organized by the IIHF for under 20 year olds for hockey teams around the world.  It’s held on Boxing Day and ends early January with the gold medal game.  People go crazy by either attending the event or by watching it.  Some would say people are fanatical about it and watch it every single year, myself included.  I used to play semi-pro hockey for those that don’t know so I’ve always got a eye for Hockey and enjoy watching it.

For a hockey player, they too are fanatical or have to be in order to make the World Jr. teams.  It requires a lot of dedication and time away from friends and family.  It means a missed Christmas and New Years for those kids who without a doubt would give that up to play on a world stage like the World Jr.s  I remember that like it was yesterday, the practices multiple times a week (early morning and late night), the games, the travel all over the province(s), the many broken sticks, and on and on.  I enjoyed it and sometimes look back and miss it, I miss that competitiveness and that devotion to the sport of hockey.  I gave up a lot during my childhood to play hockey and so did my parents, but it was something I’d never give up as it built my character and leadership qualities that I have today.

 

Hockey

My brother and I playing on the same team back in Midget AA.

A very rare photo. I’m on the left as Captain and my brother is on the right.

 

So what is the definition of fanatical and why am I talking about it?   Fanatical is the adjective of Fanatic and Fanatic is “marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion”. A synonym of Fanatic suggest excessive or overweening devotion to a cause or belief. Devotion is exactly what I applied to hockey and for me it was excessive.  I ate, slept, played hockey for my whole childhood.  You have to be in order to play the level of hockey that I did when growing up.

Being fanatical about Hockey or any other sport is great and wildly accepted.  People don’t look at you funny or criticize you for that at all because that is accepted by society.  However if you turn that fanatical behaviour to your life, dreams, goals, personal growth, finances, etc… your looked upon with scepticism and considered to be weird.  Why is that?  Being fanatical about the possibilities of things you can accomplish in life should be celebrated and not looked down on.  If more people actually cared about things that really matter instead of things that don’t matter and don’t move our lives forward we’d be a lot better off.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love watching hockey and some sports however I won’t put those ahead of my family or things of more significance.  They help release some of the stress of life and is a form of entertainment.  Its just a matter of putting things in check and saying to yourself what’s more of a priority.  You need to figure that out for yourself, I cannot and will not tell people what those priorities should be. 

Its time people start being more fanatical about their lives instead of other peoples lives (Survivor, Jersey Shore, Saskatchewan Rough Riders, etc..) Again to each their own, but something to think about.

Fitness Goals

Posted on by

Fitness

I smell fitness in the air!  Yup, it’s that time of year where the gyms are singing people up at lighting speed and where people are looking to get into shape.  People tie this losing weight into their New Year’s Resolution and sad fact is 78%-88% fail to obtain those goals.  I’ve had a gym membership for a year now and I’ve used it maybe 50%. I had a really good streak going from March for 5 months where I had a personal trainer.  It was the birth of my son that helped derail me and while that’s somewhat of a valid excuse for awhile, it’s not an excuse almost 6 months later.

I’ve been inspired again not only by the new year but by one of my friends and his challenges with getting into shape.  He posted yesterday here on Bisonweb.ca his transparency with the battle as well as his new workout called Insanity.  He’s back on track and I wish him huge success this year.

So what’s up for me then?  Getting back to the gym and being consistent.  I’m no longer intimidated about the gym as I was before going earlier this year.  Having used the personal trainer I paid for has instilled a lot of knowledge in ensuring I use proper form and doing the exercises properly instead of going to “bang out a few reps”.  I’ve also been able to figure out a time that works best for me which may not be the ideal time any more since that time is the only time I get with W during the week.  When I get home from work I see W between 5:30 and 7pm which is my time with him.  On a side note, that’s quite sad out of the whole day that’s all I get to see him? If I work late or work OT, I won’t see him at all. 

With that I’ll be working out either during his naps on the weekend or in the evenings after dinner or when we are not out showing the plan or meeting new people.  I will get to my goal of under 200 lbs. with a reduction of 10% body fat.  I’ll increase my muscle mass as well (not sure how much yet) and I’ll feel a 100x’s better with more energy.  That’s something I felt right away last time I worked out, a huge energy uplift.  I’ll also eat more healthy as W is now on a pretty decent schedule that will allow us to make better meals with proper prep time. 

Regardless of what your goals are this year if you follow these few steps in creating your goals you’ll be 10x’s more likely to reach them then if you don’t.  Its basic success principals you’ll read anywhere and not specific to just our business.

  1. Make your goal specific
  2. Make your goal realistic
  3. Make your goal known – (Like what Liam did on his blog, letting people know!)
  4. Make your goal measurable by time
  5. Make your goal fun and rewarding

The last point is probably the best one of all.  We are creatures that require reward for our accomplishments.  Make sure you do this step otherwise if you never reward yourself you’ll end up falling off track and probably miss your goal all together.

Success brings more success, so what are you waiting for?

Happy New Year!

Posted on by

HappyNewYear20122012 was definitely brought in with a different flavour this year.  Our son is now 5 1/2 months old and that changes everything.  We rang in the new year at home watching some movies and just having some quality time with my family.  When I think back to all the things I’ve done for New Year’s, I have no regrets and enjoyed those days, but I would never trade that in for what I have now.  Having children elevates these kinds of experiences and its such a great feeling.

I love the first day of the New Year because its really a hard tangible “line in the sand” to start over.  While success principals will teach us that we should be able to draw a line in the sand at any point in the year, the New Year is that pretty obvious line that anyone can get behind and I love that.  Besides it’s a great way to kick the post-Christmas blue’s that I typically get.

In looking ahead you need to take a quick look back and reflect on the year that was.  The things you did, the things you accomplished, and the things you set out to accomplish but didn’t.  There is nothing wrong with nanakorobiyaokinot accomplishing things because that’s where you grow and learn and reset your goal for the next year.  People who don’t understand success principals will look at you and say well you didn’t do that like you said you would.  So?  At least you get up and try again. A Chinese / Japanese proverb comes to mind – “Fall down 7 times, get up 8”  It doesn’t say fall down 7 times and stay down, it says GET UP.  That’s where successful people succeed and those not willing to “get up” fail.  It’s proven many times but those who are successful in any type of industry.

So this year we will reset some of our goals that were missed and look forward to the new goals that we want to achieve.  Our focus as always is to build a great life for our growing family and all decisions we make will be towards that focus.  I’m excited for a lot of things but the largest is being debt free with cash in the bank so that we avoid the next downturn in the economy that is being predicted by credible sources.  If anything has taught us over the last two years that’s to get as liquid as possible.

I hope that all of you out there reflect on the things that went on in 2011 and that you look forward to 2012 with anticipation that it will be the best year of your life.  Whatever it is that you have set out, write it down, keep it in the forefront, put it on your fridge, whatever.  You’ll be more likely to achieve them if you do so.  All the best to you and yours in 2012!

2012 New Year Target

Goals, Dreams, and Aspirations oh my!

Posted on by

I’ve always been a goal setter even before getting involved with World Wide Dreambuilders and Amway.  However I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is putting those things in the forefront.  My post today is actually inspired by @KimLiving who’s blog is http://www.mynaturebaby.ca/blog/.  She posted last night that she was working on building a life board.  Check it out here.  Kim, I hope you don’t mind me sharing, however you did publish it publicly so I figure that’s okay. 

Anyway I love seeing things like this and it’s the same concept of having your goals and dreams done the same way.  Having what you want out of life and making it visual will only make it that much more real and that much more easier to obtain.  Things like “celebrate every moment”, “be your best”, and this one “make a lasting impression” are amazing quotes of affirmations.  Kim, you have actually inspired me to revisit some of the things around our house and update and add to what we have already on our walls and fridge.  So thank you!

I fully believe everyone who is serious about the goals, dreams, and aspirations they have in life should make them visual.  Pick up a success book of any kind and when you talk about these things they all say to write them down or make them visual.  They all have different percent’s of how much more likely you’ll achieve them but any percent above 0 is good in my books.  It’s kind of a no brainer however some people will just make fun of you for doing it.  That’s fine, your not building your life for them, your doing it for you so just ignore the naysayers and as I like to call them “dream stealers”.

We actually have a budget for magazines so that we can do something like what Kim has and since it’s now September we are going to head down to Whyte Ave, probably to http://www.hubnews.ca/ and check out some new magazines to expand our dreams and things we want.  Thanks Kim for the added inspiration.

Follow other bloggers for this year’s Summer Blogging Challenge here:

Zita of Ignite Strategic Solutions, Cliff of Peer Pressure Works, Tammy of Tam I Am, Peter of Crazy Wookie Cookies, Chad of The Daily Grind, Vlad of Analog Coast, Robb of Blogging Life, Kim of Nature Baby Bloggings, Liam of ln The Now, Natasha of Natural Urban Mamas, Earl of My Name is Earl (J. Woods), Brad of Kick Me Out Soon

Also follow this on twitter with the “Official” hash tags #SBC #SummerBlogChallenge

Possibility Thinking

Posted on by

We got back earlier today from Saskatoon where our new Emeralds Dean and Marcie Whalen did their very first regional in the test market of Saskatoon.  Saskatoon is booming right now and because of that World Wide Group has decided to test it out with a regional.  I’ve never heard Dean teach or do a boardplan so that was one of my biggest reasons for going, I wanted to get around one of the fastest moving leaders in World Wide Dreambuilders.  The way Dean teaches and talks with such boldness yet everything is from the heart is pretty cool, definitely took some nuggets away from Saturday that I’ll be applying to our business.  Dean and Marcie are perfect examples of possibility thinking which leads me into the topic of my discussion and just happens to be backed up by one of John Maxwell’s great books “Thinking for a Change – 11 ways Highly Successful People Approach Life and Work”.

I just happen to be reading this John Maxwell book right now and I’m getting a ton out of it, the biggest chapter that really hit me this week was called ‘Feel the Energy of Possibility Thinking’.  There is a section in this chapter that discusses how to have possibility thinking working for you and they are:

  1. Stop Focusing on the Impossibilities
  2. Stay Away from the “Experts”
  3. Look for Possibilities in Every Situation
  4. Dream One Size Bigger
  5. Question the Status Quo
  6. Find Inspiration from Great Achievers

All six of these are pretty self explanatory on their own and really make sense if you put them into practice.  If you want more details on those you need to go buy the book but I’ll summarize a few in my own words and also some of what I took out of last night as well.

We tend to always focus on the impossibilities, those “wish”, “maybe”, “hope”, or “can’t”.  We pretty much need to remove these words from our vocabulary.  I hear all the time that people wish for this or that, how about put a plan of action together and go out and get it.  Stop leaving things to chance and grab control of your life and just DO IT!  Nothing is impossible if you think with success, pick up this book or any other success books and you’ll see I’m not making this up. 

Negativity, oh this is a fun one.  We’ve had a few postings and some great “discussion” on this before as well as on other sites out there on the interwebs.  Removing the negativity from your life isn’t something that comes from “Amway” or from “World Wide Dreambuilders”, it’s a bloody success principal.  Half the books I’ve read all talk about negativity and removing it from your speech, your thoughts, and removing it from your association.  I get a kick out of people who say “we” teach people to stop all negative thoughts and so on and so forth.  We didn’t make it up, pick up a book and read it yourself, as I said it’s a success principal.  Negativity is something you can control, you control what you read, listen to and associate with, if it’s negative get away from it and or dismiss it and move on.  If you happen to be in a negative situation why not try and find the positive in it, there always is.  See successful people don’t dwell on or associate with negative things or people and that goes for all walks of life be it building this business, building a traditional business, working for a business or just hanging out with people.

Dreaming bigger, I love this one yet its the hardest one to do.  You actually need to constantly work at your dream muscle because for the most part people don’t dream big enough, we dream small.  Get out to events like the Edmonton Boat & Sportsmen’s Show, or the upcoming Edmonton Motorshow and check out the high end cars and boats.  Work the dream muscle and start opening up your brain to possibilities.

"Make your plans as fantastic as you like, because 25 years from now they will seem mediocre. You will wonder why you did not make them 50 times as great"
— Henry Curtis

Set huge dreams and goals, even if you don’t think they are possible (remember this is about possibility thinking so anything is possible), if you do it will cause you to grow in ways to achieve what it is you want.  This kinda takes me back to a post I wrote during the 2010 Summer Blogging Challenge about dream stealers.  Who cares what others think about your dreams, fight for your own dreams.

Keep the “Possibility Thinking” at the forefront and you’ll be a heck of a lot more successful than if you are always saying it “can’t be done” or any other negative connotation words.  Again these are success principals that we apply to our life and just one of the many things we love teaching to our team.  It’s not something we made up, but it’s something we apply because we are inspired buy great achievers in our lives both in this business and outside this business.

m79possibility-emily-dickinson-posters