Larger than life

Euro boost

• Roberta and I were in Europe in June and had a fantastic trip; We stayed with friends and family in a few cities and saw some new places we hadn’t been to before (For something unique and amazing, go to Matera and The Sassi in the south of Italy)
• I’ve traveled quite a bit in Europe and love the history, the culture, and the people
• Aside from the monuments and fine food, I love the people; I love how Europeans really live life and are passionate about their culture, their wine, and their pleasure
• Please excuse my grand generalizations, but too many North Americans are too caught up in their big houses, glamorous careers, and flashy cars
• Europeans to me (and maybe its that they’ve been around a lot longer and are more experienced), know how to enjoy life and live it with soul, especially those near the Mediterranean
• Even the Brits can relax at times ;) I miss the Friday afternoons where people with pints are spilling out of pubs onto the streets in the sunshine (We sat at Borough Market on a Friday afternoon and I loved the way that cars politely dodged the outdoor pub patrons; While in Canada a policeman would promptly be on hand should a customer step outside the door with a beer)
• I drove (a thankfully small car) on the Amalfi Coast in Italy which was exhilarating, while the regular negotiation of steep curves and narrow space between vehicles gave me a definite rush
• Throughout the trip we met so many seriously generous people; People that selflessly and genuinely offered us accommodation, vehicles, time, and gifts, just because they understood how giving just feels so good

Mr Enthusiastic

• I came back from the trip inspired; Inspired to be even more enthusiastic about my life and everything I've been blessed with
• Here I am quoting Dale Carnegie again and his statement of how enthusiasm is the little known secret of success
• I just can't agree more and I love how this continues to get reinforced on an almost daily basis
• Successful people are enthusiastic and their enthusiasm is usually infectious, which in turn draws more enthusiastic and driven people in (There’s that ripple effect again)
• One of my business heroes, Sir Richard Branson, definitely lives life enthusiastically; He is enthusiastic about life and combating mediocre service with his varied businesses
• Dean Moriarty, a main character in Jack Kerouac’s book ‘On the Road’, did have a number of issues going on, but he had a passion and genuine desire to embrace life
• The one common characteristic of all the people I really admire is that they are all simply enthusiastic
• They come from different cultures, cover a wide spectrum of monetary wealth, but their enthusiasm is so part of who they are, that you can't help admiring it

Give me space, man

• As complex and as powerful as the human mind is, we’re ‘driving’ it with limited abilities (Oh to tap into our full brain capacity…)
• As a result, we’ve only got a limited bandwidth to utilize and therefore thoughts and ideas crowd out other thoughts and ideas
• Polite suggestion: Avoid negativity because it is straight-up limiting your positivity
• Any time spent criticizing our colleague, condemning a law, or complaining about our job, is automatically time lost that could have been used to do or say something positive (And we all know how little time we all have)

Practically speaking

• Ask yourself, Am I enthusiastic enough? (If you answer yes, think harder(!) and make a conscious effort to replace negative thoughts/comments/ideas (however small) with positive ones; This is a powerful yet simple tip to jack up your enthusiasm and your life)
• Study Dale Carnegie’s idea that enthusiasm is the little known secret of success (Especially if you feel you’re not being particularly successful at the moment)
• Think about the most enthusiastic person you know and ring them up
• Stop talking about all the things you want, and go out and get it

In search of the passionate (wo)man

Not-so-new thinking

• I love the term revolutionary thinking

• I’d like to think I coined the term, but alas, I’m too young since revolutionary thinking has been going on since the days of DaVinci and earlier
• In the simplest sense, revolutionary thinking involves:
• Challenging the status quo
• Breaking free from conventional thinking
• Revolutionary thinking, whether from great minds or the more intellectually challenged, has over time brought about many great inventions, changes, and advances in the human race
• But even if you’re not the next DaVinci, throwing a bit of ‘revolution’ into your thinking can significantly enhance your life and the life of those around you (the ripple effect I’ve referred to before)
• Yet the inspirational revolutionary thinking is quite rare today and I’m uncertain as to why, since its this type of thinking produces such vibrancy and light in the world
• There is such a shortage of people today who step out and question how things are done and the corporate environment rarely does much to promote and encourage revolutionary thinking from its people

We've got a problem here...

• Typical hesitations found when it comes to challenging the status quo and thinking unconventionally are:
• My ideas will be shot down or seen as strange
• I don't have time for that
• I’ve tried and had no response
• I’m not creative
• The fear of failure
  
• Everyone’s circumstances are unique and some hesitations are legitimate and ‘acceptable’ at times, but come on… where has the spirit of living gone?!
• Humans by design are built to interact, motivate, and inspire one another; So why does the rather selfless desire to motivate and inspire others often slip to the back burner while self-preservation and control remain at the forefront?
• I participated at an event a few months ago where in a personal development exercise a number of participants approached me with tears in their eyes because they were unable to come up with any real response to the question “What excites you?”
• The fact that they were seriously disturbed about not being able to find anything that actually excites them, leads me to believe that the desire for passion and the true spirit of living hasn’t disappeared altogether, but has slowly dropped in the priority list of life

Craving for two

• I believe that to be human is to seek (and often crave) two things:
• Acceptance
• Primarily from other humans (thus the innate need to interact with others)
• Excitement
• Which comes in many forms, but most humans really love both engaging activities (from sky diving to backgammon) and opportunities to engage and stimulate their fellow man
• If my belief is true that acceptance and excitement are two fundamental elements of human nature, why do so many of us:
• Limit our exposure to other humans (e.g. choose to stay in and watch a movie rather than go to a cultural or social event or choose to chat online rather than meet someone for coffee)?
• Fail to regularly seek new and stimulating opportunities (e.g. try out a new sport or join a new social group)?
• These behaviors directly reduce the opportunities to both receive additional positive acceptance and get excited about new and interesting activities and opportunities
• The wonderfully bright light in this whole situation is watching people break through and re-grasp their spirit of life
• I’ve worked with a number of people both individually and in a group settings where although there may be some initial resistance and excuses, the combination of a little gentle persuasion combined with the envisioning of a grander and richer life, fires them up and helps them break free from their own chains (some heavy with large balls attached)
• This, my friends, is what I live for!
• Seeing this breakthrough in people (especially the stubborn ones!) fires me up more than anything else; And the wonderful part of it is that although many of us humans resist and make excuses and cuddle up to our own soft and cozy comfort zones, it really doesn’t take that much for people to get a glimpse of the light, and then actively pursue it
• And then you get that fine snowball effect that continues to build momentum in the person and propels them to the point where they look back and say, “Wow! Why did I wait so long?”

Practically speaking

• All is definitely not lost (regardless of your age) and I have a practical, easy-to-use, fun, and powerful tool to significantly enhance your levels of acceptance and excitement (ramp these up and you’ll be on fire)
• I use this tool with virtually every client and those that embrace it (those that truly dig in and make it a fundamental part of their lives) draw substantially elevated levels of acceptance and excitement into their lives

• The tool is visioning and its used extensively by successful people (both consciously and subconsciously) and is a core component in The Secret (Although The Secret doesn’t put enough emphasis on taking action on what you’ve envisioned)
• Visioning to me is the secret formula to living a fantastic life (Not everyone aspires to live a ‘fantastic’ life, but its my feeling that if you don’t, you’re selling yourself short as well as those close to you because you’re not living up to your job as a human in the departments of acceptance and excitement; Freely giving and receiving both)
• Anyone can (and many will) live their lives by just accepting what comes to them day-to-day, but it is those that recognize the power in identifying and then proactively going after their perfect life that will reap the acceptance and excitement that most of us crave
• So which path will you take? The easy one or the incredibly fulfilling one?
• If you want to explore and achieve your own incredibly fulfilling life (professionally and/or personally), I can definitely help you get there; And the bonus is that its an amazingly fun journey along the way
• Take the step now, before its too late and you’re sitting in your rocking chair on the porch regretting that you didn’t seek out more acceptance and excitement when you were a little more spry
• Note Its actually never too late…