Adversity

Ever hear of Pete Strudwick? Born circa 1930, with legs that ended in stumps just past the ankles, a left arm that had only one thumb and a finger, and a right arm ending at the wrist, after his mother contracted Rubella - he has gone on to become a marathon runner who has already run 25, 000 miles. How was Pete Strudwick able to successfully run Pike’s Peak, one of the most difficult marathons in the world, even though he had no hands and no feet? While at the other extreme, people who had fabulous successes like Marilyn Monroe or Ernest Hemingway ended up destroying themselves.

Recently, researchers in several different fields have discovered that people who have experienced seriously adverse events frequently report that they were positively changed by the experience. The research suggests several processes that may account for these reports of benefit: purposeful changes in life structure, changes in views of others and the world that result from the experience of vulnerability, the receipt of needed support, and the search for meaning in adversity. ‘Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant,’ Horace.

In Pete’s book, Come Run with Me, which is a diary of his training for the 1972 Pikes Peak Marathon, Chapter 3 starts like this: ‘The man who will make the most progress is the man who is willing to pay the biggest price. In racing, as in life, good genes help, but they only get you just so far. Rich parents are handy too, but they can only buy you so much. Beyond that point, every improvement carries a price tag, and in distance running, it’s counted in miles of training. You pay in advance for speed and endurance.’

So I ask you, what’s the difference between the haves and the have-nots? What’s the difference between the cans and the cannots? What’s the difference between the dos and the do nots? Why do some people overcome horrible, unimaginable adversity and make their lives a triumph, while others, in spite of every advantage, turn their lives into a disaster? Why do some people take any experience and make it work for them, while others take any experience and make it work against them? What’s the difference that makes the difference in the quality of life?

People who succeed do not have fewer problems than people who fail. The only people without problems are those in cemeteries. It is not what happens to us that separates failures from successes. It is how we perceive it and what we do about what ‘happens’ that makes the difference.

‘Things do not change; we change,’ Henry David Thoreau.

Do your homework

I cannot stress how important it is to do your own homework when making decisions in life. Two years ago I trained a man who introduced me to the stock market. This is something that I absolutely had no idea about. I was like a sponge absorbing every bit of information I was told by this guy. It sounded too good to be true. Doubling your money on a stock within a few months and then putting your profits into the next stock was the belief I had about the stock market; or at least what I was told. He told me that I cannot start an account with him since he dealt with larger accounts; however was directed to start up with an account with his brother. I decided to go to the bank and take out $3000 and start off small since I did not fully trust that it was just that easy to play the stock market. Within 10 days my $3000 was worth over $5000. Wow $2000 profit in 10 days. I did not tell my family or friends and decided to go big on the next stock my broker got me into. I was laughing in my head thinking this is so easy. I decided to borrow $5000 from my mom, add in the $5000 I have accumulated and add in some of my saving funds from another account into the next stock my broker got me involved with. This deal sounded so good that I was now floating on cloud 9. Today where is that money? If I took my money out of my brokers account I would have absolutely no money in it; or very little. What happened to the promise I was told.

Now looking back at what went wrong:

· I did not do my own homework or research.
· I did not ask for advice, nor did I ask questions about the broker I was involved with.
· I gave my money to a guy I did not know or trust.
· When things sound too good to be true, be skeptical. Life just isn’t always that easy.
· Invest money in something that you believe in or a company that has built success over
time.

Twelve years ago, I worked at an outdoor school and recreational camp. That's me, second from the right - "Young Guns" theme.

So, as I went into my last year of work there, the Calgary YMCA decided to make the camp "smoke-free". I was fairly indignant - I felt that this was a ridiculous and unenforceable regulation that would create an entire sub-culture of people sneaking off to smoke, causing a massive mess in the forest as well as creating a fire hazard. In my opposition, I went so far as to write the CEO of the Calgary YMCA, and state my position - highlighting the fact that, while we were preaching a healthy lifestyle, we continued to feed kids hamburgers, french fries, and other nonsense that just heightened our hypocrisy.

However - and here's the key point - while I was writing these letters, I was always careful to point out that although I may not agree with this direction, I recognized that I had a choice... I was under no obligation to work there. I further told them that while I may disagree vehemently with their stance, if the decision was put through despite it's complete illogic... I believed in the place and what it stood for, and would ultimately support their position.

And that's what I'm getting at.

You always have a choice. If something comes down from your supervisor/manager/general manager/CEO/owner that you don't like, it's as easy as submitting a resignation. This would always be better that having the back and forth where the employer continues to try and convince the employee why their right, only the have the employee continue to resist.

It's simple - when it's your company, you call the shots. Until then, either do the job that you're asked to do, or find somewhere else to work. Stop trying to change the rules to fit you - the real world doesn't work that way.

Remember the words of George Bernard Shaw: The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

Which are you?

~Guy

Nice Bosses Get Better Results

A new way of managing is emerging. Some of the world’s most successful companies are realizing that the better they treat their employees, the more productive they get. College opportunities, flexible schedules, advanced health care plans or transparency between ranks are only a few examples of a new phenomenon known as leading with kindness.

Businessmen and professors William F. Baker and Michael O’Malley have travelled across the country seeking the kindest companies and leaders. They found that the better employees were treated, the most successful companies were. The rule applied both to big companies like Google and small family businesses where kindness is part of the owner’s culture. Now they have put all their experiences into “Leading with Kindness. How good people get consistently better results”, a book that will be published in August.

Baker’s and O’Malley’s quest for kindness has also inspired a documentary that will take Thirteen’s viewers into some of the better companies to work for. The documentary, which will be aired this fall, includes portraits of Google, where an internal rule says no employee should be more than 150 feet away from food.

It also portraits Pitney Bowes, a multinational mailing company that pays college to some of its employees. The documentary visits clothing manufacturer Eileen Fisher, where meetings usually start with a 3-minute relax exercise and Mitchell’s, a family-owned clothing retailer with the motto “hug your people.”

Leading with kindness is also a website designed for anyone who wants to become a better leader. It includes video interviews with managers who put kindness into practice and employees who have benefited from this practice. You can also find weekly tips on management and describe your own experiences as a manager or as an employee in our forum.

William F. Baker is President Emeritus of New York City’s channel Thirteen/WNET, where he has served as CEO and President for 20 years. He is also Executive in Residence at Columbia University Business School and Professor at Fordham University. Baker received his Ph.D. in Communications and Organizational Behaviour.

Michael O’Malley is a psychologist who has over 20 years of consulting experience with Fortune’s 500 companies. He is the author of “Creating Commitment: How to Attract and Retain Talented Employees” and “Are You Paid What You’re Worth?.” O’Malley is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University Business School and the Executive Editor for Business, Economics, and Law at Yale University Press.

On the heels of this information, isn’t it reassuring to know that when our group speaks about personal/professional growth/development from the past quarter, that the general consensus quotes personal support and trust.

The overall transparency and support within the team is truly progressive. We are surrounded by those who care. Our teams’ sole purpose seems to be to teach, lead and release us into our future. The most encouraging portion of the formula is that we are consistently in the position ‘to enhance the quality of people's lives by supporting physical challenge, adversity and victory’

so

Progressive Companies and Happy employees = Successful Companies and Satisfied Customers

What are you happy about?

Feeding the Homeless

Unfortunately all over the world there are people who are living in the streets, without a roof over their head every night or food in their stomachs. They have fallen on tough times and their reasons for there unfortunate situation could be anything, from a lack of affordable living, unemployment, substance abuse, mentally ill, a natural disaster, eviction – the list goes on. The problems continue to rise even once they get to this stage, i.e. reduced access to health care, limited education, suffering violence and abuse, discrimination, unsuitable for employment, and no access to banks to save money. In 2005, Canada had 150 00 homeless people and reports suggested that this number would triple by 2010.

So, what do we do about this growing problem on our streets? Do we drive past the lower income neighborhoods watching these temporarily “shanty towns” being erected right in front of our eyes, do we relax in our warm houses, watching our 20` flat screen TV while a poor lost sole’s main objective is to stay warm that night.

Should we blame our government who has done nothing to fight the homeless situation? The Vancouver City Land Use bylaw says people cannot “ ... cause to be constructed, erected, placed, deposited, maintained or occupied any structure, tent, shelter, object, substance or thing on city land without the permission from the city.”

Yes, we have the 2010 Olympics coming in less than 2 years and we watch the transformation of our city with these multi-billion dollar buildings being erected, in order to accommodate all the sport sites and visitors. How will it look when the spotlight is on Vancouver and we have drug abused homeless people sleeping on the park bench when our government has done nothing to improve the affordable living situation.

How do you feel when you drive down east hastings and see the panhandling, the drunks crossing the street oblivious to oncoming traffic, or watching the squeegee kids come up to wash your car window.
Do you automatically lock your car door?

Do you try not to make eye contact and drive through that area as fast as possible?
Do you think to yourself - how can one get in that situation? Do you personally do anything about it?

My answers to all those questions were YES until Friday and it took a fellow co-worker to open my eyes and actually help the situation.

Josip, Nicola and I went out on Friday night and served food to the homeless. Josip’s Church organizes this on every 3rd Friday of the month. They go down to Cobs bread the night before, retrieve the bread that did not sell and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They serve the food out of a truck and with the sandwiches they also get cookies, crackers, juice, and coffee.

Interacting with these people was quite an eye opening experience. Yes, most of them were high on something or intoxicated but they all said thank you and were extremely happy that they had some food inside them. You always wonder how they got to this state and sometimes you might be lucky to find out their story. In the end we are all humans, some are luckier than others are but if we all help each other out then we can make this world a better place to live and be grateful for what you have.

History Lesson

‘A man is either trying to live up to his father’s expectations or to make up for his mistakes,’ says Barack Obama, who met his dad once, in 1971. ‘In my case, both might be true.’ ‘We’ve created stability for our kids in a way that my mom didn’t do for us,’ says Barack. In 1967, he moved to Indonesia with his mom, stepdad and stepsister, Maya before he was sent back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents in 1971. ‘If you have somebody that is absent, maybe you feel like you’ve got something to prove when you’re young, and that pattern sets itself up over time.’

The past reaches into the present, and programs the future, by your recollections and your internal rhetoric about what you perceived to have happened in your life. You entered the world with certain core qualities and characteristics, but almost immediately the world began to write on the slate that is you. You have been both an active and a passive participant in its creation. To some extent, your self concept was forced on you by others, and to some extent you have just automatically accepted it, even elicited it.

A renowned psychologist Alfred Adler observed this tendency we have to form mental pictures of ourselves based on our history. He noticed that our minds condense all of our experiences around those happenings that are most important. One of Dr. Adler’s favorite techniques was to ask the patient what their earliest recollection was. However the patient responded, Adler would complete the patient’s description by saying, “And so life is.’ His point was that this relatively small portion of the patient’s life was critical to their present perception of self.

What is true about you in your mind, you will live. If you believe that you are inferior, inadequate, worthless, incompetent, you will live down to that truth. If you believe that you are the opposite of all that you will live up to that truth. You cannot change what you do not acknowledge. Know your history, so you can walk out of it.

Some people believe that any thought tied to emotion that we think and feel for more than 15 seconds starts to connect up with all the other times we felt that way. This can be true for painful memories, too, so focusing on something painful may bring up other times we felt that way, and may reinforce those feelings or make us feel worse.

Sometimes, when we're feeling awful, we need to be able to shift our mood. Being able to shift our moods in the personal training industry is extremely important since our customers want to leave a workout feeling happy; rather than feeling awkward because of the vibe we are giving off. This is something we all can do with practice. A great example was used in our staff meeting this week. Kris had us all close our eyes and think of something that really pisses us off. Then he cranked up the volume and blasted some happy music and started dancing around like a jumping bean. Within seconds all the other coaches joined in and were all smiling. This just shows how fast we can change or emotional state with music.

The following are some techniques you can use to shift your emotional state to a lighter or happier one:

• Do something physical that requires concentration. Try balancing yourself on one leg, with your arms held high above your head. If this is easy to do, try a position that is harder for you to balance in, such as holding one leg straight out in front of you, or another pose altogether. Doing something physical that requires your concentration can help to shift your thoughts and mood. Also if a customer is grumpy, add some balance into their workout.
• Go for a walk, and temporarily change your environment. If you are inside, go outside for a nice little walk and pay attention to everything that surrounds you; especially the finer details. This way for your next training session, you’ll feel all refreshed.
• Close your eyes and think of a person or of people who love you. Try to see their faces clearly in your mind, their eyes smiling at you with love. Try to feel that love, and remind yourself that that person/people care about you, and that you are loved. Try to do this for more than 30 seconds at a time.
• Please use your sense of smell. I personally like to think of home baked goods. It clears the negative thoughts in my mind and fills it up with positive thoughts.
  Find a way to laugh: jokes, movies or tv, funny books, playing with your pets and watching their silly antics, being silly with a friend. Laughter is an effective way of changing your mood, and can help your body as well as your emotional state. Be a goof.
• Reframe your thoughts. Put 10 paperclips in your left pocket. Each time you have a negative thought, remove a paperclip from your left pocket and put it in your right pocket. See if you can keep all the clips in your left pocket.
• Change your body posture and breathing. Your body store emotions, and your body also often show how you feel—you might slump when you feel depressed or tired; curl inward or protect your abdomen/stomach when you're feeling vulnerable; tighten your hands, jaw, shoulders, or neck when you're feeling angry; breathe shallowly.
• Blast your favorite tunes and dance around.

Sparring

A lot of people that I know now aren't aware of this, but up until about 7 years ago I was a fairly serious student of the martial arts. I began training in traditional Tae Kwon Do at 12, and in university studied Wing Chun Kung Fu. After I moved to Vancouver, I further supplemented this training with 2 years in jujitsu.

Why, might you ask, am I telling you this?

Simple. So you don't mess with me.

Okay, seriously though - it's actually because last night I was having a conversation, and an experience that I had through the martial arts suddenly became a metaphor for things nowadays.

You see, at around 17, I had one friend who also studied the martial arts - and we constantly went back and forth about which of us studied a better one. Finally, we decided it was time to find out the only definitive way - we'd "spar". So we went into the basement, moved all the furniture out of the way, strapped on the "protective gear" (foot pads, mitts and mouth guards) and proceeded to beat the living hell out of each other for 90 minutes. In the end, it's hard to say who came out better off, what was important was the fact that it didn't matter how hard we hit each other there was a mutual respect. Instead of getting angry when we were hit, we realized that the only reason that the punch or kick got through was because of an inherent weakness in our style... it forced us to get better.

Do you see where this is going yet?

While there are times where feedback can seem a little pointed, we have to realize that when we're having that weakness highlighted we should not be upset with the "messenger"... all they are doing is pointing out something that we clearly need to work on.

In the end, regardless of their motive or delivery style - if we can just take the feedback and learn from it, then we can only be better than we were before.

~Guy

feedback

“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”

Do you remember your mother or father telling you this when you were a young child. I can still remember fighting with my older brother in the back of the family mini van and hearing those words come out of my mother’s mouth. As I get older, I am finding it harder and harder to listen to this age old saying. As a personal trainer, I often find myself in situation’s where I have to have the “hard talks” with a customer. The hard talks include telling someone they really need to lose 50lbs because they are putting themselves at risk for type 2 diabetes, cancer, osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease, heart disease and stroke. Telling them is hard because they do not realize that they are in “that bad of shape” and you risk hurting their feelings. I have had to tell people that I can not help them anymore until they start to help themselves. Some customers ask you to make them a program, to hold them accountable to their program, for them only to repeatedly not follow it. They will give you every excuse in the book as to why they just couldn’t do it. You put all your time and energy into that person and they give you nothing back. As someone who hates making people feel sad, it is part of my profession and I am only doing it to let that person realize their reality. I want them to be happy and healthy and if I risk hurting their feelings, then so be it. I know in my heart I would be mad at myself if I didn’t say anything at all.

“You want to know the truth, you can’t handle the truth”

It is sometimes challenging telling someone what you really think about them. Sometimes it goes over well and sometimes it doesn’t. You risk having that person be angry with you. Being able to take feedback is one of the most important things you can do. I remember being a young child and having coaches and teachers give me feedback. I always fought it and I always denied the truth. I think most of the time I did this because in my head I knew it was true and that made me sad. I look back now and I know they were just trying to make me a better athlete and student. If I had realized it back then, I would have saved myself a lot time and tears. I used to be afraid of conflict. I was afraid of people disliking me. I lacked self-confidence and self-esteem. The last thing I wanted was a friend to be mad at me.
As I have gotten older I have developed a great sense of self and am full of self confidence. I have my own values and beliefs and I belong to a wonderful support network of friends and family. I am much more willing to take risks. If I have to provide a friend, co-worker, or family member with feedback, which I know they may not like, I have the ability to do it without worrying what my outcome is. If they dislike me after, then fine. It is truly not my loss. That person needs to take a good look in a mirror and realize what they are truly mad at. Most of the time, they are mad at themselves. They know what you said was true and they just weren’t ready to handle it.

When receiving feedback here are some tips that might help:

- Listen to what the person is telling you
- Say thank you for the feedback
- Do not react with emotion, you will regret it later
- Take time away from the person to think about what they said to you
- Understand that what the person was telling you was intended to help you not hurt you
- If you really didn’t agree with what was said, communicate that back in a calm and controlled manner and work through the problem and come up with a solution.

In today’s society, no one is perfect and we all make mistakes. To become better at what we do, we need constant feedback from friends, family, and employers. This Feedback will allow us to grow both personally and professionally. It is important to use this valuable information to improve on what we already know. Don’t fight it; use it to your advantage. It’s basically free information on how YOU can be better.

Written by Nicola Gildersleeve

The Duke of Edinburgh Award

During my high school days, I took part in the Duke of Edinburgh program, which had a huge influence on me throughout my adolescent years. The Duke of Edinburgh himself, Prince Phillips, established this program in Great Britain in 1956. This award is designed “to help young people develop a sense of responsibility in themselves and their community by exploring their horizons” It gives a chance for teenagers to get involved in the community, to explore, to become a leader and to improve on ones life skills. The program is made up of five sections: Community Service, Skills Development, Physical Fitness, a Residential Project and an Expedition. The award consists of three stags: Bronze, Silver and Gold.
Community Service: This section was all about making a difference to other people’s lives. The volunteer aspect can be anything you want to do from helping children with special needs, feeding the homeless, or coaching a soccer team. For each level, you have to acquire so many hours to achieve that level.
Physical Activity: This section was all about getting active. You did not have to be the star athlete, you just had to be active and clock your hours.
Residential Project: This section involves spending 5 days and 4 nights away from home on a shared activity with people you have never met before. It was a chance to be out of your comfort zone, spending time away from home and making friendships with people all over the country. This project could be anything from a leadership conference, helping out at a children’s camp or learning a language in a different country.
Skill Development: This section is allowing yourself to try something completely new or perfecting a skill that you might have already tried, for example, playing a musical instrument, painting a picture or driving a car.
The Expedition: This Section was where the true adventure began. With your team of approximately 10people, you would plan your expedition, decide on a location, train and be fully prepared in what you about to encounter. Depending on what level you are, will depend on how long your expedition will be. For the gold level, you had to hike 80km in 4 days. Once you had completed your expedition you would have to do a presentation about your experiences and your achievements. This section is probably the most memorable as you learn hands on experiences from teambuilding, leadership skills and confidence.

Each section must be done for a minimum period of time. All of the sections must be monitored and then assessed by someone with knowledge of that particular activity to achieve an Award. As you progress from Bronze, Silver and Gold the level demands more time and commitment from participants.

The popularity of this award continues to grow all over the world. Today over 275,000 young people take part in DofE programs in groups which are run in over 11,000 DofE centres throughout the UK alone. Centres range from youth clubs and schools to voluntary organization meeting places, businesses and Young Offender Institutes.

The principle guidelines for this award are simple.
1. Non-competitive
2. Achievable by all
3. Voluntary
4. Personal development
5. Personalized
6. Balanced
7. Progressive
8. Achievement focused
9. Demand commitment
10. Enjoyable

On a personal note, this program were the building blocks of who I am today. I was fortunate to go to a school where a lot of these activities to accomplish this award were already set up, i.e., the volunteering aspect, the physical activity section and the residential project. I learned a great deal from this program and I got to explore unknown places, be physically active, get involve in the community and develop as a better person and leader. Personally the best part was completing the expeditions. I loved trekking through the wilderness and being miles away from civilization. There are so many memories, friendships and personal development that were built by doing this Award!

Jump ahead 5 years and I am now working in an environment that represents most of what this award means. Through IF I have jump to the next level of perfecting my personal growth, my leadership, my professional development, and leading others on amazing trips or on their own personal growth. This is just the beginning and I know the growth will only continue to grow here at IF.

The Story of Mr.Honda

Edison – “Every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward”

It all began with one man making a decision. In 1938 when Mr. Honda was still in school he took everything he owned and invested it in a little workshop where he began to develop his concept of a special piston ring that he wanted to sell to the Toyota Corporation. He worked day and night up to his elbows in grease and slept in his machine shop because he believed he would achieve his result. He even pawned his wife’s jewelry to stay in business. When he’d finally produced the piston ring he was told that it didn’t meet the standards of Toyota. He was sent back to college for two years where his fellow students and instructors laughed at him. Rather than focusing on the pain of his experience, he continued to focus on what he wanted rather than what he didn’t want. After two more years Toyota gave Mr. Honda the contract he’d dreamed of. His passion and belief had paid off because he knew what he wanted. He kept changing his approach until he got what he reached his goal. NEW PROBLEM. The Japanese government where getting ready for war and wouldn’t give Mr Honda the concrete he needed to build his factory. He didn’t quit. He didn’t focus on unfairness because it wouldn’t have made it any better. His dream didn’t die. He used the experience to make another strategy. He and his team developed their own process for making concrete and built the factory. During the war the factory was bombed twice. He called his team together to search outside for the gas canisters that the U.S fighters had discarded. He called them ‘Gifts’ from President Truman because they provided him with the raw materials for his factory which were unavailable in Japan. Then, an earthquake leveled the factory. Honda had to sell his piston operation to Toyota! He had clearly made a strong decision to succeed, he had a passion and a belief in what he was doing, and he had a strategy. He took massive action. He kept changing his approach but he had still not produced the result he was committed to. Anyone else would have quit but not Mr.Honda. He persevered. After the war there was a tremendous petrol shortage in Japan and Mr.Honda could not drive his car to get food for his family. In desperation he attached a small motor to his bike. His neighbors asked him if he would make a ‘motorized bike’ for them. One by one they all asked for one of these ‘bikes’ until He completely ran out of motors. He decided to build a plant to manufacture his new invention but he had no money. He was going to find a way no matter what. He appealed to 18,000 bike shop owners in Japan, and wrote each a personal letter saying that they would revitalize Japan through the mobility that his invention would provide. He convinced 5,000 people to advance the money that he needed. His motorbikes only sold to hardcore bike fans because it was too big and bulky. Mr. Honda made one final adjustment and made the bikes lighter. His scaled down version was called the ‘Super cub’ and it became an overnight success. He won the ‘Emperors’ award and started exporting his bikes (and now cars) to Europe and the United States in the 70’s. Honda now employs over 100,000 people in the United States and Japan. They are now one of the biggest car manufactures in Japan outselling all but Toyota in the USA. There were many times when Mr. Honda could have given up. He chose to remain focused on what he wanted in life. He reached his goal.
Anthony Robbins concluded the following formula from this story and called it the ultimate success formula,

1.clearly decide what you want
2.take action
3.notice what’s working and what’s not
4.if things are not working change your approach till it works

Maintaining a Positive Outlook

At times it seems easy to let ourselves become overwhelmed with the stresses of our day-to-day lives. With extra workloads, personal relationship drama or even economic/ financial stress, some people can find their own problems too much to handle. Sometimes we don’t have control of the external factors of our lives, but what we do have control over is how we conduct ourselves during times of difficulty. Do we remain positive and happy, or do we let our problems get the better of us?

Letting go of our emotions completely and focusing on the negatives in our lives creates a sense of hopelessness and has potential to lead to depression. Even with mild cases of depression, it has been proven that an individual’s mental state has a significant effect on one’s productivity. How many times have you sat down to do work after having a bad day and say to yourself “I do not feel like doing this right now.”? People who are under a lot of stress also put their immune systems in risk as well, making themselves more susceptible to illness. More illness leads to more sick days, leading to even less productivity.
In contrast, people who are generally happy and who maintain a positive outlook on life have been proven more productive. A more productive worker is more likely to be noticed for advancements at work and has potential to earn more money. Happy people’s bodies also produce beta-endorphins and enkephalins which block sensations of pain to the brain and can help fight off illnesses. Meaning that happier people also end up healthier. The biggest difference between the two scenarios in most cases is CHOICE.

For the past two months I have been following updates on a customer’s friend who’s 4-year-old son has been battling cancer for the past year. This concerned father described in great detail how his son was battling pain far beyond anything that we could comprehend and spent a majority of the past year in and out of hospitals. He was on 350 times a regular dose of opiates for a child his size on top of enough Ketamine to knock a grown man out for major surgery, and still it did nothing for his pain. For a child of this age to go through this is heartbreaking, and to read how this father stood helplessly as his son writhed in pain is heart-destroying. This man had every right to be frustrated at the world and to be overwhelmed by grief and sadness. However, the most beautiful part of reading this man’s story was that he made the choice to express all of the great and amazing things that he and his family were able to experience throughout every month. He compiled a list every month from A to Z of all of the great moments of laughter that they were all able to share, the wonderful times at Canuck Place, or even the chance to fall asleep cuddling his son. The strength that this man possesses to maintain a positive outlook is not only inspiring but infectious, spilling over to his family, friends, complete strangers (myself) and mostly onto his dying son as everyone tries to deal with this situation.

This story really put into perspective how small any of my problems really are. It highlighted that dwelling on being upset is useless and that no matter how bad I think I might have it there is always someone who has it 100 times worse. So although it may not always be easy, I CHOOSE to stay happy.

Cory MacDonald

spare change

I park my car at the corner store. I hop out and walk towards the door. As I approach the door, a homeless man opens the door for me and says, ‘here you go’‘thanks’, I reply as I look him directly in the eye. There was no secret to our next conversation…
I bought my few items and used my debit card.

As I turn away from the counter and head towards the door, I see the homeless man prepare to open the door. As before, I come to the door and it opens itself with the street fellow on the other side. ‘There you go’, he says. ‘Thank you for the offer’, I respond. ‘Do you have any spare change?’ he queries.
‘Sorry, no change – I used plastic’, I retort as I get into my car.
‘Have a nice day’, he replies with a victim like manor.

Now I could be wrong when I say he used a victim like manor, but it seemed as though he was trying to make me feel guilty that I had more. But now, what does he know? Seriously, I have that is different is more responsibility. Everything else just falls into place when we choose to do instead of ask.

As I drove home I actually said out loud…
Why don’t you go to a shelter?
Why don’t you go and volunteer?
Why don’t you go get a part time job?
Why don’t you join a support group?
Why don’t you get a roommate?
Why don’t you contribute?
Now I stopped myself there because I was getting nowhere by thinking out loud and I wasn’t going to go back and tell him this…

I remember back in the late ‘90s – I would always offer any homeless person (within reason) a job. I was always hiring labour at this festival tent company I worked for. I remembered that I had asked dozens of people if they wanted a job and only one ever said yes. Unfortunately, they never even called me after I had given them my card.

I don’t want to offend, but I have always thought that homeless people should get to work – do something…now I will allow for an odd exception to the rule here and there…but now I’m thinking – possibly the US better kick their production up before they too become homeless…

Would you work harder if?
You knew you would become homeless if you didn’t
Or
You knew you could get a home in the long run?

It most likely comes down to work ethic…you either have it or you don’t

I am not going to lie, when I am busy with work, my training and my social life, I tend to be forgetful. My mind is racing and I am always thinking about other things rather than the simple fact to pick up my jacket from the chair or my wallet from the table. I have been fortunate and lucky that nothing significant has been taken when I have left it or it is still there when I go back to collect it. I get mad and frustrated at myself for leaving these things behind and I am constantly working on it.

Two weekends ago, low and behold I left my wallet at a restaurant. Due to my forgetfulness, this is why I do not carry cash in my wallet. Unfortunately, my friend had just paid me back $200 in cash (20’s to be exact) the night before and it was still in my wallet, plus all my credit/debit card, care card and driving license. I did not realize I had left my wallet at the restaurant until a couple hours later. After turning my house and car upside down looking for the wallet, I called the restaurant to see if it was there. IT WAS. Thank Goodness! I told the owner I would be down to the restaurant in 15min to pick it up. I arrived at the restaurant, was handed the wallet and everything was there except the cash. I was devastated. $200 is a lot of hard-earned money. The owner could see that I was upset and did not know what to do. Fortunately, a waiter was still at the restaurant that was there when the wallet had been handed into another waiter. She specifically said that she had seen the money and had put the wallet in a draw out of sight. So now what? I now know that when the wallet was handed in the money was in there; the owner also realized this and is now in a very difficult position. The owner called the other waiter who had received the wallet, and she admitted that she had seen the money in the wallet. The owner made the executive decision that the two servers would split the money to pay me back. I felt bad as these girls had worked an 8hr shift and had to give there hard-earned tips away. Once the other waiter returned to give me back the other half, she was much more determined to keep her “money”, she questioned my story, she guilt tripped the owner to suggest that I had gotten half of it back which was good enough, who then went on to say that these girls worked hard for their $1 tips. I was flabbergasted, as the owner had done a complete turnaround due to this one server. I held my ground as I felt it was unfair for one server to pay and the other not to pay. What was I to do? Eventually the server took a nonchalent attitude, pulled out a stack of 20's and gave me $100. This whole situation is crazy and nothing matched up. I was extremely suspicious of this second waiter because she had given me her $100 in $20 bills (which looked identical to what my money looked like), where the other server gave me her tips in $5 and $10 dollar bills. In addition, the reactions of the two waiters were completely different. The first waitress was close to tears when she gave me her money and the second waitress did not care at all (she had gained $100 out of it)
Before I left, the second server gave me the number of the customer who had found the wallet on the table. I immediately phoned her, as I honestly did feel bad that they had given me there tips especially the first server. She began to tell me that she did see the money in the wallet and is why she gave it in right away. She said she new exactly who had stolen it, as her server was the second waiter. She told me that she was going to go back to the restaurant and explain her situation from her side.

The following day the owner called me and apologized for his actions. He had handled the situation very badly and had fired the second server. I appreciated his phone call and that lessons were learned on both sides of the situation.

First Lesson:
Never have a large amount of cash in your wallet.
Second Lesson:
Remain calm and confident when you come across conflict. Listen to all sides of the situation and provide your response in an ethical manner.
Third Lesson:
Always inform your manger or boss of difficult situations, whether it is a wallet being handed in, a customer complaint, or a problem with a fellow co-worker. They are in that position for a reason.
Fourth Lesson:
Whenever I leave a place, I will always to do a mental checklist to make sure I have everything. I am extremely lucky and the next time I may not be as fortunate.

Questers

You don’t stop learning when you grow old; you grow old when you stop learning. It’s been said that life is about living. In addition, life is about learning, life is about happiness and life is about love. Despite these seemingly different opinions, the basic premise is the same. Life is about continuing on in all aspects of our lives. This includes education. It is about utilizing all of the ‘things’ you’ve learned to date; however, unless you continue to learn and increase your knowledge, the ‘things’ become stagnant.

The author of Dare to Change Your Job and Your Life, Carol Kanchier says there are two broad types of people: those who embrace and seek change and those who resist at all costs. She calls the former ‘questers’ and the latter ‘traditionalists.’ After interviewing hundreds of employees while studying these two groups, she's noticed some fundamental characteristics about both.

"The need to grow and the desire to have challenges is greater in ‘questers’ than the desire to have security and a high income," Kanchier says. "People that are traditionalists have those qualities, too, but it's a matter of priorities. Traditionalists are more interested in prestige," she says.

Questers also generally anticipate and embrace change in preparation for the next leap, while traditionalists need to push themselves out of that comfort zone to explore what would make them happier.

We are all born with a thriving curiosity but the older we become the more fearful we are of learning. Embrace the challenge of learning new things - by adopting an open minded outlook you actually open yourself to learning and improve the odds of your success. As Eugene S. Wilson said, ‘only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.’ Curiosity is the mother of knowledge and our quest for it is a life long journey, so don’t stop learning.

‘I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma,’ Eartha Kitt Life.

Inner voice

While we are all familiar with our external speech or voice, we also have another voice that we work with and interact with daily. This is our "inner voice". While at first glance you may think: "what inner voice"? But when you come right down to it, we are all familiar with our inner voice. Our inner voice is that small utterance that comes from deep within us, whose job it is to provide us with guidance. This kind of communication is going on throughout our brains all day long and sometimes into the night.

Remember those days when we were children and never feared failure or rejection. We would attempt to try anything. Our inner voice would tell that anything is possible. Kids are brave and take risk (maybe that is a reason why physically we hurt ourselves). As we grow older, sometimes this inner voice can prevent us from following our dreams or taking risks in life. The inner voice is shaped from years of successes and failures; it also is affected by what other people say to us over the years. If you experience many environments growing up which do not support you. eg. People saying your not good enough, you can't do it, your dumb", then these start to shape what your inner voice says to you. Therefore, this can limit you in your future and prevent you from stepping out of your comfort zone and challenging yourself. You may hear two voices; a voice that says yes I can do it and another voice yelling back saying no, you can't do anything. You can really do anything you want in life so do not let the evil voice prevent you from making the most of your life.

Economic Uncertainty?

To be clear - I am the farthest thing from economically-minded.

I remember, actually, back when my entire focus was acting... my dad was dabbling in day-trading. And when I say "dabbling", I mean it... in fact, not sure if he ever put any money into it, or just did one of the simulated versions - not unlike how I enjoy playing online poker.

But I digress.

My dad was having fun with this, and would sit me down and talk about what he was doing - and I would immediately glaze over, because, quite frankly, he may as well have been speaking another language. In fact, my mental state at these times was not unlike the ones I suffer when he recites his almost autistic retelling of a golf game he played, whether it's yesterday or two years ago... by the time he reaches the third hole, I'm sleeping with my eyes open.

Fast forward.

For the last year, I've been watching what's going on in the economy like a hawk - because I'm no longer a passive participant. Now, my future plans are contingent on what is going on out there, and it's forced a diligent level of attention to the rest of the world. I still don't understand a lot of it... so I ask questions. I read. And I try to become confident in coming up with my own opinion, because I'm going to hear so many different ones that it could make my head spin.

Here are the three rules of money management that seem to be universal:

• Money doesn't come easy. If it does, then you've sacrificed something (possibly your ethics) in order to achieve it... and don't kid yourself, if you've made this kind of sacrifice, you've given up more than you would have through hard work - and it's something you can never get back.
• Spend only what you have. When we go into the banks and borrow money, it's easy because it's a faceless entity that's handing it over - we have no sense of accountability, until suddenly our bank accounts have dwindled.
• Save. Put 10% of every paycheque aside. Yes, I know you've heard this a thousand times before - but do you do it? If so - nice work. If not - start.

As I said at the start - I am the farthest thing from a financial wizard that you can be... but through all of the readings I do, and from all of the lectures I've seen, these three tenets continue to come up. And in the type of economic climate we seem to be sitting in - wouldn't it be comforting for you to know that a) you have a job, b) you have no debt, and c) you've saved 10% of everything you've earned for the last five years?

~Guy

ready - set - go!

About 2 weeks ago a customer told me they wanted to lose some weight. ‘Ok’ I said, ‘let’s get out for a short run - see you Thursday’
‘See you them’, they replied.

After our run on the Thursday I told them to sign us up for the 5km Run for the Cure – a charitable run benefiting the race to find a cure for breast cancer.
With little resistance they accepted. All I told them was the by-product of training for and completing this run will burn a great amount of calories…
We ran 1 more time before the Sunday – an easy 4km walk/run.
2 days before the run the customer calls me up and asks, ‘what time do I go to bed, what time do I get up and where do I park?’
Instantly I replied, ‘get to bed before 11, get up at 7:30 and pick me up at 8:15!’

Awesome

My alarm went off on Sunday morning – 7:45 – I reach over and grab my phone – ring ring – ‘heelllooww….’ The exhausted voice answers…I was silent…’just kidding!’ she yells – laughing. ‘I’m on my way to your place!’
‘Wow, way to go!’ I respond, ‘see you soon’

Within the hour we were gathered along with around 12,000 runners’ downtown – it was amazing – the sun came out for the start and the energy was light – very calm.
As the start gun went off, the participants migrated towards the start line and slowly poured into the streets. A loop of china town, around Science world, over the Cambie bridge and back past BC place – a lovely little course.

We ended up running the majority of the distance – only stopping 2 times to walk for 30sec. With arms high in the air we raced through the finish line! Smiles everywhere, it was a great moment.
The next day she asked, ‘when’s the next event?’
‘It’s in 2 weeks’, I reply ‘you will need to run 4 times by yourself to get you there – Ill run the race with you’
‘let me know how far and when – I’ll see you at the start line’ she answers back…

Confidence/Motivation + Education/time with = Physical Success

Do you know how it feels to share a customers’ finish line moment?

Technology

How many times during the day do we use technology in some shape or form. Cars, computers, cell phones, electricity, microwaves, ipods, treadmills, ellipticals, the list goes on and on and on. What happens when one of theses technical devices do not work? Do we get frustrated, mad at the world, swear, yell, punch something, annoyed, impatient or aggravated. Can we do anything about it? Most of us do not have the knowledge to fix it and we rely on the experts.

So we sit and wait, we get on with our lives, and live without a certain device for a day or too.

Our world has become so dependant on technology. The electricity in Park Royal this weekend shut off, half the shops had to close and businesses lost money. Customers were annoyed, employees were disappointed but what could they do. Even if they were to remain open, in our modern day society how many people could work without a cash register to know the amount of the purchases or to give exact change back. Not many – they would need a calculator!

When a device goes wrong, a computer freezes, a car doesn't start or electricity goes off, the best reaction is patience. Nothing will change the situation by getting angry, frustrated or annoyed. We must take the device back, wait for it to unfreeze or sit in candlelight reading a book instead of an email.

Self - Confidence

Self-confidence is freedom from doubt, belief in yourself and your abilities. It is the difference between feeling unstoppable and feeling scared out of your wits. Your perception of yourself has an enormous impact on how others perceive you. Perception is reality — the more self-confidence you have, the more likely it is you’ll succeed. Self-confidence can be developed if you are willing to greet all challenges as steps that get you closer to the future that you want. Self-confidence is the memory of success.

How many times have you surprised yourself and did things you didn’t think you could do? Probably many, right? The truth is you are bigger than any obstacle or challenge. You have a certain amount of self-confidence already within you, the trick, though, is to use any challenge that you come across to help you grow and expand on that self-confidence, in other words, use it to ‘impress yourself.’

Set a short-term goal to achieve, once that goal is reached, take a moment to consider what you did, and you will see immediately that your efforts make a difference. Set a new and slightly more challenging goal, and reach or exceed it as well. You will find that accomplishments grow and multiply. Practice achievement and you will boost your self-confidence.

In many ways, self-confidence can be described as self-respect and enjoyment of life's challenges. And ‘impressing yourself’ simply put, means doing something that makes you happy and proud of your achievement thereby building your memories of success. As Thomas Carlyle said, ‘nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.’ So, what have you done today to impress yourself?

Opportunities

1.) Your a new coach and you would like to get a road bike for biking season; however your funds are running low. Solution: Start referring customers to IF and take out the demo bikes with customers and get them dialed up onto a bike. For every bike and apparel you sell, you will receive approx 7% John Henry dollars.

My experience: Last year I wanted new biking gear for my road bike. Over the course of my training for STP 90 days I sold eight bikes and had earned over $600 at J.H. All my gear for STP was free, including a nice helmet.

2.) You are in need of a new pair of shoes but you keep on putting it off as you have tons of other expenses at the moment. Solution: Refer customers and educate them on proper footwear. Let them know about North Shore Athletics and you FYI you can even purchase shoes online for customers. If you refer customers you’ll get great deals.

My experience: I have purchased three shoes at NSA over the past 2 years and since I have referred many customers over this time frame, the shoes I have purchased were pretty much at cost.

3.) The weather is getting wet outside and you need to hold yourself accountable to get your spinning in over the winter months. Solution: Be the coach who makes an A-Z for a spinning class on Sunday’s. Pass on the message to customers and all staff. Once you get the ok, then you are ready for getting a great workout in on Sunday as well extra cash in your pockets. My experience: Last years spin classes were put on by Richard. He had an above average turnout and customers loved it. He also made some extra money.

4.) Your knees are sore and your body is in need of a good tune up. Solution: Take a look at the benefit package we are provided with at IF. Once you have been employed at Innovative Fitness for 3 months and you have completed your probation period, then your benefits kick in. My experience: Last year I used $500 massage, $500 chiropractor, $500 physiotherapy, $300 acupuncture and was reimbursed 100%. There are many more things we are covered for get your copy of your benefit package.

5.) You are dreaming of doing the Grand Canyon in 2009; however you are debating about going since you do not want to pay the price. Solution: Start talking about this destination and hype it up. Remember if you sign up 10 customers for any destination, you go for FREE. My experience: Josh signed up 10 people for the Moab trip in October and is going for free.

"Suck it up, Princess..."

About 10 years ago, this catch phrase was pretty popular between my brother, sister and I. Now, it was used in jest, but the truth is, it helped me put things in perspective. See, if any of us were ever complaining about a trivial thing, or worse, complaining without making the effort to improve our situation, one of my two favorite siblings would "call me out" by saying the above to me... and believe me, I would do the same for them.

I think there needs to be more of this happening these days.

Have you ever noticed that the people who complain the most, often have the least to whine about? The thing is, there are a lot of people who have it worse than me, and I know that. If not today, then sometime in the past they've had to deal with a lot more adversity than I have - and for me to complain, when I've got a good job, a roof over my head, my health, family and friends... well, to do that would be an insult to everyone who isn't so fortunate.

So to those of you who feel so terribly hard done by, and want to make sure that we all know how tough your life is, I have some suggestions:

• If you can't afford where you live, move.
• If you're tired, sleep.
• If you're injured, get help.
• If you're hours are low, build them.

Honestly, if you have a problem and need help, I will do everything I can to do so. But if you come to me and I offer solutions, and you choose to ignore them all without even trying simply so that you can continue to whine about how hard done by you are...

...then suck it up, Princess.