3 words - Canucks must Win.

End of story.

The city of Vancouver was devastated when the Canucks lost this past Saturday. I can say that most of us were simply shocked that we let this young Chicago team come into our arena and win an extremely important game 5. Blame whoever you want; bad refereeing, stupid penalties, veteran mistakes or the Chicago youngsters not backing down.

Most of Vancouver will be glued to a TV set somewhere nervously watching this game tonight. Can they do it, can they bounce back, will the Swede stars come out and play, will they stop getting penalties, and will Burrows show us the hero recognition he deserves?

Obviously, as fans when our team doesn't perform they way we want them to we become negative and blame others. Let’s not forget they are father than 22 of 30 teams in the 2008-2009 season, half way through January there were losing 9 straight and it was thought that they may not make the playoff, let alone win the Northwest Divisional Title. They set records this season with most straight home wins, the most sell out crowds at GM Place and the first goal captain in the NHL.

Ryan Johnson says it perfectly "There's no easy ride in the playoffs. There's nowhere to hide as a team or as an individual. You can't hide in the Stanley Cup playoffs. This game is nothing to be [afraid of]; there should be no hesitation. This is exciting. There's nothing to fear here. This is why you play the game -- to have to go into someone else's barn and steal a game and come back home. You don't win a Stanley Cup without having to deal with these things."

Lets hope/pray (however big a fan you are) that they play there A+ game that we have been waiting for and play like they want to win the Stanley Cup.

Puck drops at 6.

Go Canucks

6 Thinking Hats

Many successful people think from a very rational, positive viewpoint, and this is part of the reason that they are successful. Often, though, they may fail to look at problems from emotional, intuitive, creative or negative viewpoints. This can mean that they underestimate resistance to change, don't make creative leaps, and fail to make essential contingency plans.

Similarly, pessimists may be excessively defensive, and people used to a very logical approach to problem solving may fail to engage their creativity or listen to their intuition.

I recently read an article about looking at problems using the 6 Thinking Hats technique. 6 Thinking Hats is a good technique for looking at the effects of a decision from a number of different points of view. It allows necessary emotion and skepticism to be brought into what would otherwise be purely rational decisions. It opens up the opportunity for creativity within Decision Making. It also helps, for example, persistently pessimistic people to be positive and creative.

To use 6 Thinking Hats to improve the quality of your decision-making, look at the decision "wearing" each of the thinking hats in turn. Each "Thinking Hat" is a different style of thinking. These are explained below:

• White Hat: With this thinking hat, you focus on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take account of them. This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate from historical data.


• Red Hat: Wearing the red hat, you look at the decision using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how other people will react emotionally, and try to understand the intuitive responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.


• Black Hat: When using black hat thinking, look at things pessimistically, cautiously and defensively. Try to see why ideas and approaches might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan or course of action. It allows you to eliminate them, alter your approach, or prepare contingency plans to counter problems that arise.

Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans tougher and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that often they cannot see problems in advance, leaving them under-prepared for difficulties.

• Yellow Hat: The yellow hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it, and spot the opportunities that arise from it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.


• Green Hat: The Green Hat stands for creativity. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas.
  Blue Hat:The Blue Hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings. When running into difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking, and so on.
  

The Relationship Program

There has been much discussion about relationships in the past and some excellent advice has been passed on. I would like to share some insight in regards to marriage from a customer that I hold in very high regard. It conveys a similar message simply presented differently. During a run with the gentleman a few weeks ago I made an attempt to get him to commit to a destination; the problem is that he is out of town nearly every weekend at his family’s cabin. I continued to press the issue and insisted that he simply needed to stay in town for a single weekend so that he could complete the run / hike / or whatever he was interested in. His response: “There’s a lot more to it than that. The expectation from my wife is that we will go to the cabin every single weekend unless an emergency presents itself. And I’ve got to keep her happy”.

This individual is on his second marriage but has now been happily married for over 20 years. He certainly has a myriad of experience when it comes to business, athletics and relationships so I thought I would take the opportunity to pick his brain and receive some counsel. I extended the question: “If you could give me one piece of advice about marriage what would it be”? Not even a second later he responded with one of the most succinct and clever answers that I have ever heard.

His message about marriage:

A relationship is similar to a health and fitness training program.

If you stop working on the relationship progress will not only end, the strength of the bond will regress. Similar to a muscle a relationship will hypertrophy if you are consistent and follow an appropriate protocol. If you stop working out and overloading a particular muscle it will atrophy. In other words if you fail to devote time to improving your relationship continually you will become stagnant, get bored and eventually lose interest.

It’s all about the little things (sound familiar!?) It would be excruciating if your workout regimen consisted of squats and push-ups every single workout. Variety, progression and challenge reduce the risk of plateau. Furthermore it’s imperative that you plan surprises for your loved one and keep things exciting. Routine is nice because it’s comfortable and easy but it’s even better to be suprised by something that was absolutely unexpected. Plan surprise dates, give your loved one a card just to say how much they mean to you and remember that there doesn’t have to be a reason to do something nice.

There will be temptations to find the path of least resistance and take the shortcut to success but this will be your demise. Performance enhancing drugs are undoubtedly effective when it comes to results but the risks outweigh the reward. What’s the point of being bigger, stronger and faster if you are cutting your lifespan short by 20 years due to health complications? Not to mention the increased risk of injury and moral/ethical issues. Similarly, there may be times when you wonder if the grass will be greener on the other side but unfaithfulness is a cop out. It will not address the deeper, suppressed need that you may be feeling and misinterpreting.

I challenge you to analyze the relationship that you are in (or have previously been in) and compare the dynamic to that of a training program. We are all very knowledgeable when it comes to applying principles of physiology, biomechanics and programming so you will likely be able to come up with even more parallels between the two. Often the depth of understanding is deepest when you can apply concepts to different situations that are most important to you so give the topic some thought and see what you come up with.

Wisdom Teeth and Popcorn

When I was 21, I needed to have my wisdom teeth taken out. Well, I went in for my appointment and they told me that I wouldn't be able to eat popcorn for the next year because of the holes in my gums. I was dismayed - then realized that I rarely ate popcorn. Suddenly, though, losing the option made me appreciate popcorn that much more...

I think that the same thing could happen if you suddenly found that the government took away your democratic privilege of voting. How would you feel if suddenly, the government said "I know best - I'm just going to make the decisions for you, and you're just going to have to live with it"? How would you feel if suddenly you were living in a dictatorship, benevolent or otherwise? Well, according to our latest statistics - at least 35% of you shouldn't care at all, because you haven't bothered voting in any previous elections and clearly don't give a damn how the country's run. But I'll bet if this were to become a reality - then all 35% of you would bang your fists on the table, grab a self-righteous placard or two, and march on the government buildings demanding the right to be heard.

So - if you're not interested in living in dictatorship, why are you not taking part in the democracy that's right there in front of you?

A year's a long time without popcorn - a lifetime without being heard is unimaginable.

Get out and vote this weekend.

~Guy

.5th of may.

Mexicans are truly festive; any excuse gives way for a celebration! Some of the most important and exciting historical Mexican dates are the 16^th of September, Independence Day and the 5th of May, Cinco de Mayo. They are good occasions to show the pride of being Mexican, the love of the Motherland, and the certainty of being a free country thanks to the many men and women whose struggle made history. 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862.

The quest for independence started on the 16^th of September 1810, following the will to become a free nation, no longer submitted to Spanish rule. The struggle went on for 10 years. Finally, in 1821, the first independent Mexican government was established.

No celebration can be complete without food. A few days before the big event, hundreds of stalls start aligning on the streets near the plazas of all the towns. Restaurants all over offer the most representative of Mexican cuisine: Mole Poblano. A thick spicy sauce that comes from blending more than 40 ingredients is spread on top of turkey or chicken and Mexican style red rice. Mole is so popular that it is served on nearly every important occasion.

Cinco de Mayo ends with the traditional shouts of ¡Viva Mexico! and people looking forward to the next National Holiday: El 16 de Septiembre Día de la Independencia de Mexico, ” where we’ll have the chance to celebrate once again”

Running with a Purpose.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of running the first half of the Vancouver Marathon with a customer who was doing her very first Full Marathon. Your main objective when you are the coach leading a customer during a long endurance race, is to keep there mind off of the pain, distract them of the thought of the long race ahead and to keep them motivated.

During our 22km run, we talked and chatted like we were just on an early morning run taking in the beautiful day. The best part about our run was when Michele mentioned that her main purpose for doing this race was for her kids to see her running! She mentioned that when she was younger, she never had the opportunity to do these events and play sports as much as her kids do today. She wanted to set an example for her children and to one day for her to watch them running a marathon or actually doing it with them.

To me this is what it is all about. Paying it forward. As leaders we must take the time to motivate, to challenge, to do the challenge with them and then eventually for that customer to lead another special person on a similar journey.

The Soldiers and the Trench

The story goes that sometime, close to a battlefield over 200 years ago, a man in civilian clothes rode past a small group of exhausted battle-weary soldiers digging an obviously important defensive position. The section leader, making no effort to help, was shouting orders, threatening punishment if the work was not completed within the hour.

"Why are you are not helping?" asked the stranger on horseback.

"I am in charge. The men do as I tell them," said the section leader, adding, "Help them yourself if you feel strongly about it."

To the section leader's surprise the stranger dismounted and helped the men until the job was finished.

Before leaving the stranger congratulated the men for their work, and approached the puzzled section leader.

You should notify top command next time your rank prevents you from supporting your men - and I will provide a more permanent solution," said the stranger.

Up close, the section leader now recognized General Washington, and also the lesson he'd just been taught.

(This story is allegedly based on truth. Whatever, similar examples are found in history, and arise in modern times too, so please forgive the mythical possibility of the above attribution; the story's message is more important than its historical accuracy.)