My Top 10 Helen Keller Quotations

Helen Keller was born blind and deaf  and yet she overcame these extreme difficulties to produce some truly astounding work. Here are my favourite 10 of her many quotations: -

1. Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
2. No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.
3. No one has a right to consume happiness without producing it.
4. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.
5. Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
6. Life is either a great adventure or nothing.
7. I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.
8. Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.
9. People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.
10. It is hard to interest those who have everything in those who have nothing.

Learn more about Helen Keller here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller.

 

 

GYLB – #2 Do more of what makes you feel energised

photo credit: SarahDepper via photopin cc

I have a friend who recently went to Japan. Whilst there he met a Buddhist monk who happened to be leading their meditation session. Now the thing with my pal was he had a big question he wanted answering, perhaps one that we all want to be answered “despite having it all why don’t I feel contented?”.

Having come this far he thought it would be a shame not to ask the question so he did. The monk thought for a while and then said “do more of what makes you feel good about yourself”. Simples eh?

For me this translates from the original Japanese into “do more of what makes you feel energised”. This message kind of supports something my father told me years ago: “don’t divide your life into work and play son; look at it as things you like doing and things you don’t”. Wise words Poppa, thank you.

So how does this help to get your life back then? Well I think we all end up doing things that take energy away from us (for God knows how many reasons) and not doing enough of the things that turn us on.

So here’s the skinny. Start looking at your life as being made up of a number of conductors: those that channel energy towards you (and make you feel better) and those that suck energy away from you (and, guess what, make you feel worse).

This takes a bit of doing actually but when you get the hang of it three things will happen: -

1. You will work harder to avoid engaging with the things that are negative conductors – more on this when we explore saying “no” in the next GYLB blog in the New Year.
2. You will more easily spot those positive conductors that make you feel good about yourself.
3. You will begin to take a longer term view of those stubborn negative conductors that you can’t get rid of easily and how to position yourself to get more of the positive conductors that won’t just drop into your lap.

That last point is the one to focus on. Have you heard this one? “when you’re up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that you are there to drain the swamp”. Cheery thought eh?

All of us, especially me, spend a good deal of our time and energy on the here-and-now and soon-to-be: if it isn’t pressing and proximate (and biting our ass) we just don’t have the time for it. This means that change, which takes planning and thought (just like draining a swamp does, I would imagine), does not come readily which just leaves us with those alligators snapping away.

With the New Year almost upon us why don’t you start by identifying your positive and negative conductors and doing something about them. Here are some of mine: -

• People – I am going to actively see less B1 and B3 and more B2 and B4 people (see #1 http://wp.me/pY2x4-7o)
• Work - more speaking, more writing, more small group coaching, more client liaison (B2 and B4 only), less coaching the subjects I don’t like and avoidance of work I just know is going to be trouble from the start.
• Self – I really like exercise but don’t make enough time for it. I think this must stop. I will treat exercise like a client meeting: booked and honoured.
• Home – clutter drains energy from me more than pretty much anything else. I am going to dejunk big style!

In the final analysis we won’t do more of what energises us unless we have control of our lives. That control won’t happen without our intervention and that intervention won’t happen unless we make time for it. That leads nicely into the next instalment ”saying NO”.

photo credit: SarahDepper via photopin cc

Purple Time + LinkedIn = Dosh?

I know we are all busy most of the time. Connected to our business all day, every day even when we are frying by the pool. Is being that connected all that cool? Well in some ways it is but the torrent of information we send and receive can mask the real issue – no time to reflect which is definitely NOT cool.

I have blogged about Purple Time before on more than one occasion and I have no intention of doing so again now but I wanted to share a real instance of how investing Purple Time for yourself  can result in an increase in business.

This morning I travelled to London on the train. I could have fired up the magic box and done some emails or worked on the design of my new website or countless other operational activities but I didn’t.

What I actually did was think about a specific challenge I have around LinkedIn: how can create an ethical revenue stream from my LinkedIn contacts without being salesy or unprofessional?

Well in between drinking coffee, reading the paper and staring into the darkness a solution suddenly came to me. Simple, with integrity and yet oh so doable. I have written it down and intend to test it out over the coming weeks and if it works I will be blogging it on my other blog (mikesbigonlineadventure).

I can’t say for sure it will work (although I think it will) but what I can say is that if I had spent the time in operational mode instead of letting myself have some Purple Time I wouldn’t have the chance to find out.

Give yourself some Purple Time today and see what happens!

What a swell party it was!

Nothing to do with work but I always like to recommend anybody that does a good job and these people did a fantastic job at my 50^th birthday party on Saturday so here goes.

Rob Chapman – table magician who kept the guests entertained as they arrived.  He really was brilliant.  I watched him close up and couldn’t see the sleight of hand that made the tricks into magic.  Also at the end he did a card trick just for me that I swear must have been real magic and yes, I was sober at the time. http://robchapman.weebly.com/

Arden Pig Company – did the BBQ and considering it was for 120 people it was all served on time and was absolutely delicious. It is the second gig they have done for us, the other being a pig roast,  and both were perfect. http://www.ardenpigcompany.co.uk/

Shakers – ran the Tikki bar and were exceptionally good. The pre-event administration was exceptionally good with nothing being too much trouble and on the night the cocktailiers were very entertaining. An excellent team I thought. http://www.shaker-events.co.uk/news.cfm

Oceans 3 casinos – arrived after the steel band left and ran a really good show. We had black-jack and roulette but I think they offer other kit as well. Everybody was issued with chips and then the winners each received a prize. Great fun! www.oceans3casinos.com.

The Steel Band – it being a Caribbean party and all. They kept the whole thing going during the early part of the evening – all very Caribbean even if the weather was not. www.steelpansoloist.co.uk.

All round great event I thought and precisely what I wanted thanks to Mrs Ames and some very thirsty guests – it made being 50 almost OK! A bit sluggish yesterday morning though.