Taking Inventory… Sailing Adventure… Jan 7th, Here We Come…

December 20, 2011

Time is ticking and it is getting close to the start of our big adventure.  If you’re not aware of the big sailing adventure, I’ll fill you in.  My wife and I are taking our 3 boys out of school for 8 months so that we can sail around the Eastern Caribbean.  Very exciting!  This has been in the works for quite a while and we’re so excited.

A large portion of the fun of this adventure has been the planning, as it is with so many things.  And, the nice part of this was that it fit so nicely with one of my mantras… you’ve got to take inventory.  If you don’t have a good sense of where you are and what you’ve got, it’s going to be a lot harder to get where you want and need to go.  Every step of the way along our journey to getting to this point has involved some element of taking inventory.  Whether it’s figuring out what we physically need to buy or acquire, or perhaps some additional knowledge or training that we need, we knew what it was that we needed by having done inventory.  All this helped us to be ready to make it happen.

Now that our adventure is about to start, we will continue to do inventory.  We need to know what equipment needs to be replaced, or what supplies might need to be replenished.  The same is true with our businesses, our personal and professional lives.

So, keep taking inventory and keep pushing to make your plans come true… whether it’s sailing, building a business, nurturing a family, or just living the dream.  And, then, make it happen.  For us the adventure down south starts January 7th.  More news to follow.

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Posted by Paul Frazer

What You Don’t Know Can’t Hurt You…. Huh?

December 7, 2011

Have you experienced the situation where someone has bad news to give you and yet they don’t say anything. They feel that because it’s bad news, there’s some good reason to procrastinate or not tell you about the bad news. They believe that what they are doing is actually being nice. Or, perhaps they feel that somehow by waiting they’ll be able to have more time to make the news go away or maybe they’ll even be able to fix the problem.

Quite likely, you’ve experienced this situation and you’ve likely been frustrated when you found how long they took to tell you. There are good reasons for this. You likely feel upset that your colleague didn’t believe that you could handle the news. And, you may now feel time crunched to deal with the situation. Most significantly, you likely knew something was up and didn’t feel in control which is a significant issue.

People are often in situations which are unpleasant, but, if they feel that they are in control of their own destiny, even if it doesn’t look good, then they are in a much better situation. This reinforces the importance of the concept of “control” to our success and our lives and work.

So two final questions…. Are you not telling someone something that they should hear right now! And, where do you feel in your work or personal life that control is missing. This is likely an important area to review.

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Posted by Paul Frazer

A Crime… Possibly Your Crime

June 30, 2011

Many people have experienced crime of some sort.  Perhaps you had something stolen from you.  Hopefully nothing worse.

I was thinking about a crime the other day that likely goes unreported.  And, I expect that it may be prevalant.

The crime that I’m talking about is loss of dreaming, the disappearance of aspirations.  I think it is a terrible when people loss their ability to dream of what else they can experience or become.  And, I wonder if there are not a lot of people who over time lose the ability to step out of the status quo and experience where they could possibly go.

For example, I believe that there may be people with wonderful talents that are not being used.  And, I’m not talking about in work necessarily.  Although that may be true.  I’m also talking about extracurricular activities or volunteering.  Also, I wonder if people don’t get so caught up in their lives with the normal that they forget about all of the things that they want to do in their life.

So, my question to you is have you thought about the stuff that you want to do in life recently?  Have you added to you life list or bucket list?  I hope that you have or that you do soon…. no one else will do it for you.

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Posted by Paul Frazer

Genius or Practice

June 7, 2011

I’m part way through an interesting book called The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle.

It’s based on some interesting research which has implications that can benefit everyone. The Talent Code deals with how hotbeds of talent arise and what are the factors in the creation of real talent or some might say “genius”.

Daniel Coyle shows how the truly talented and world class tend not to be genetic flukes or anomalies but that they are likely the result of good genes, a good environment and specifically the result of hours of “deep practice”. You may have heard the statistic that people who are world class in their specific area tend to have been in that area for 10 years or so. Another similar kind of stat that speaks to the message of The Talent Code is that experts tend to have 10,000 hours of critical practice. The author shows how this is the case with tennis stars, Renaissance painters, etc.

Where this research meets neurology is that those who “deep practice” end up having built and reinforced their myelin connections in the brain – the white matter, which is now becoming more well understood and more highly regarded. In fact, the myelin is what allows us to have learned a skill or talent and to keep it.

Without going into the details of what ‘deep’ practice is, consider that it involves a lot of intense trial and error, where failing is as important as getting it right. And, where breaking things down or chunking them is very important.

The main message that this gives us is that we can all be world class in our chosen arenas, or at the very least excel in a certain area, if we give it the right amount of “deep practice”. So, when you see someone excelling it is likely because they’ve spent a lot of time practising, failing, trying again until they are at the very top of their game. And, so can you be…

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Posted by Paul Frazer

It’s what you do… isn’t it?

January 31, 2011

Listen.  That’s one of the best actions one can take to discover more about oneself.

A colleague once asked me why I wasn’t listed under a certain topic area in a directory.  I responded that I was actually under other areas.  Her response was eye-opening, or perhaps… ear opening.  She said… “Isn’t that what you do?”

That was a big comment.  And, fortunately, I was listening and open to the message.  I thought I was in a certain business, and in fact, I was being told that I was actually in a slightly different business.  It was a slight variation that had an important impact on how I perceived my business.  And, most importantly, she was right!  In that moment, she had more insight into my business than I did.

What was reinforced for me that day, on top of the new information on my business, was the real need to be listening to what others are saying about you.  Not just for business but also personally.  Listening to what others say about you may just be what you need to hear. 

And, if no one is talking about you, then maybe you just need to ask the question… “Tell me what is it that I do?”

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Posted by Paul Frazer

The Scarcest Resource of All…

December 24, 2010

We often hear about the scarcity of many of our natural resources.  Maybe it’s oil, precious metals, minerals.  There are however other resources which are generally in short supply.

Probably one of the scarcest resources in the world is…  calm.  When you spend a little time thinking about your life, you will likely be like most people and agree that you do not have a lot of “calm” in your life. 

And, this time of year is an especially “un-calm” time of year for many.  If you are in a holiday season right now, how much calm are you experiencing.  Any chance of introducing a few more moments of calm into the next few days.  How much of a priority is “calm” for you?  What can you do to introduce a little bit more calm…. The best thing you can do is to plan for it.  Just be aware of it and then make time for it.

No matter how your days are right now, if you are celebrating a holiday season, have a wonderful time!

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Posted by Paul Frazer

I need a BBQ

April 14, 2010

Okay, apart from sharing some personal stuff, what’s so exciting about needing a BBQ?  Well, I do love to BBQ and I was really excited to get a new BBQ since the old one was on its last legs.  But, the really interesting thing I learned was in the shopping process.

You see the process of shopping for a BBQ could have been a really painful process.  For some people, they just go into one store, look around and then pick a BBQ.  For me, it’s not so simple.  I want to get the perfect BBQ for me.  If I were to just go into a store, I’d get overwhelmed and probably a little lost. 

In this case, I can say that the experience was a good one and here is why…… I knew what I wanted.  I took inventory of what was important to me, did some research as to what were the reasonable options and then when I went shopping, I knew what to look for, I’d narrowed down my search and I had a great deal more focus.  Does this sound like something that applies to only BBQ’s?  No!  Of course not.  This is the recipe for creating a powerful business, a powerful life, a powerful organization, even a powerful family. 

Knowing yourself is a wonderful tool in being content, being more successful and in general, being your best.

It’s exciting and in this case, it means that I have the right tool for the job… yum.  Here’s to a successful BBQ season (which is basically year round for us).  And, here’s to a successful season for all of your endeavours too.

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Posted by Paul Frazer

Who Do You Think You Are?!?

March 30, 2010

I saw an interesting title in the last couple of days.  In fact, it’s for a new tv show called, “Who Do You Think You Are?”.  I believe that the show is about celebrity geneology.  Interesting.  We’ll see if it does well. 

For me what was interesting was not that there’s a new show coming out but the title itself.  Normally, we think of it as being an imperative question we might ask a child who is misbehaving…. Who do you think you are Johnny?

Who Do You Think You Are?

But, for me, it conjured up a more introspective exploring question.  Who do I think I am?  As many of you know, that is something that I think is an important question for everyone to ask.  Who am I?  When I take inventory what things do I list off?

To perform and succeed, one needs to ask a few questions:

  • Who am I?
  • Where do I want to be going?
  • Do I believe that I can get there?

Paraphrasing some work that two Harvard psychologists did, these are also the things that determine if you’re happy or not.  Generally happy people know who they are, know where they want to go and believe that they are on the path to do just that.

So, have you asked yourself…. Who do I think I am?

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Posted by Paul Frazer

Be Happy Or Else

February 10, 2008

Research and reporting on happiness is everywhere. One article I read recently discusses the elusiveness of happiness. There was a discussion about nature versus nurture – are you born happy or can you become happy. As with many arguments, the research still suggests that you are born with a level natural happiness that you can alter throughout your life.

One interesting point which was being made was the issue of goals on one’s happiness. The argument was that people who strongly “link” their happiness with goals achieved can be quite disappointed when their goals don’t materialize. Strong “linkers” like this tend to be on average less happy because generally we have many trial attempts at success before we get it right and this just leads them to strong disappoint a lot of the time. I found this interesting because people often talk about goals when they talk about success. In my speaking programs and workshops, goals always come up as a measure of success. So, reading that goals can be a negative got my attention. The truth is that the argument makes sense. We have to have goals defined in our lives and businesses in one form or another. The problem is when we attach happiness directly and only with goals. And, of course, any discussion of happiness including “getting” more stuff or more money is absolutely not true. Much research has shown the emptiness of that argument and we know that when we stop and think about it.

So, be careful if you are obsessively focused on goals and goals alone. You might want to stop and take inventory if you are in this situation.

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Posted by Paul Frazer

Franklin & the Art of Team Building

January 15, 2008

I have 3 children and as part of my world, I get to watch a lot of children’s television.  Now, some of it is awful but much of it is very good.  Often there is a moral or a learning point.  And, yes, these learning points are pretty basic but everyone needs to keep hearing them over and over, kids and adults alike.

So, I was watching a show called Franklin (with my kids :-) .  The show is about Franklin a turtle and this story revolves around Franklin’s soccer team (football for most of the world).  It seems that they just couldn’t even score let alone win a game.  This was obviously very frustrating for Franklin and his friends.

Does any of this ring a bell for you?  It does with many teams I know.

At one point after the game the ball was coming at Franklin and he head butted the ball.  His friend Bear was very impressed and I guess that knock on the head was just enough to give Franklin an idea. 

Again, sometimes we just need to give our heads a shake.  :-)

His idea was that they weren’t using their strengths.  Franklin was good at head butts, Rabbit was really fast with great big feet for kicking, Goose was awesome but only at stopping balls with her wings, and Beaver had a great tail for passing the ball.

When they all played their natural positions and emphasized their strengths, they came together as a team.  Rabbit was a forward up front.  Goose played goalkeeper.  And, Franklin and Beaver played mid-field.

Did they win the next game?  No but they did score goals and more importantly they felt like a team and knew they were now working like a team. 

There’s a lot of wisdom in their for the teams that we are a part of day-to-day, whether they be work teams, volunteer teams, sports teams, etc.  So, go find out what position you play best and have fun!

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Posted by Paul Frazer

Mentors

October 24, 2007

Everyone looks up to someone.  Who do you look up to?  I was watching the Canadian Ironman Triathlon the other day and have the greatest respect for those athletes (including a friend of mine who was in the race).  I have done triathlons before but of a much shorter duration so these high endurance athletes have my greatest respect.  So, there are a couple of things to think about here.  First, who do you look up to?  Who do you respect greatly?  And, second, and more difficult, who looks up to you?  Who out there needs you and your expertise?  Have you ever thought about that?  You might be surprised at what you discover when you spend some time reflecting on this.

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Posted by Paul Frazer

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