Challenge

Challenge. It may be defined as a demanding or stimulating situation that tests someone's abilities. It offers people the opportunity to find deeper powers within themselves and to discover things about themselves that they never really knew; they are what force us to go beyond the norm. But, ‘life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are,’ Bernice Johnson Regan.

Everyone understands the benefits of being challenged and most of us recognize that we need it in order to become better in the long term, but what no one mentions is how difficult it is on a daily basis, to be constantly pushed to be better than you were yesterday. It is uncomfortable. As health professionals we do it everyday, demanding more from our customers than their perceived best, but when is it enough?

Never. People challenge you because they care; they see your potential and want to help you reach it. They believe in you. If you let them down you are letting yourself down, because they demand no less than your best. And even if you can’t appreciate it right now, they genuinely want to see you succeed.

Work hard to not let these people down. Be glad that they see something worth challenging. And don't let the challenges paralyze you; use them to discover who you are.

Your Bible to Life

Your daytimer is your bible to lIFe.

We had a staff meeting last week focusing on organization skills; hence daytimers. Many of the daytimers were incomplete and did not even have the basics in it (week plan, playbook, little things for the week, tasks for the day etc). Kris and a few others had a very well planned out week in their daytimers. That is why those particular coaches are more productive throughout the week. On occasion there is a coach who can get away without using their daytimer; however that is rare. Yesterday Kris and I came across a daytimer which was been sitting in the management office for a few days. Why was nobody claiming it or even asking teammates if they have seen their daytimer? Obviously the coach who it belonged to was not using it as we opened up to see who it belonged to. It had limited details with pages ripped out; no name on the daytimer and it took us a few minutes to figure out what coach it belonged to. In my head I’m thinking, how do they keep track who they are training? How do they keep track of follow up e-mails, the little things, their own workouts, notes of things to be done for the week, promises they make to teammates/customers? A daytimer reflects the organization of the coach. An unorganized daytimer often will reflect what we know as a scatter brain coach. Without a plan, a coach who starts to take more duties on will either a. burn out or b. will lose their credibility with teammates/customers in following through with what they promise. Also, being organized and having times allotted for completing tasks throughout the week will hold the coach accountable for getting tasks done. When I walk into a week without planning ahead and not writing my week plan, I feel lost and unproductive. Where do I start?

Here are some of the items which are a must in each coach's daytimer:

1.) Playbook for the week.
2.) Week plan/prep.
3.) A to do list for each day of the week.
4.) Little thing items to be complete for the week.
5.) Your schedule for each work day should outline (customers you are training, your own workouts, time allotted for e-mails/files/programs, lunch breaks and other things appointments for the week.

You're Only as Good as Your Team

I grew up reading Charlie Brown. And quite honestly, just like Archie used to piss me off because he kept going for Veronica when Betty was clearly the better choice (which is a whole other blog), Charlie Brown used to drive me nuts because he never learned, and therefore, he never won.

I was thinking about Charlie Brown as I drove into work today - and a different perspective came to me. Poor Charlie Brown never won a baseball game, and yes, he was a bad player - but frankly, it was his leadership that beat him. Consider his team:

• A narcissistic, hack pseudo-psychologist who was convinced she was always right, couldn't care less about the team, and wouldn't do anything unless it benefited her
  
• A kid who's insecurity was so great that it manifested itself in some weird, Freudian obsession with a blanket
  
• Another kid who was so OCD that he'd bring his toy piano to a baseball game
  
• A dog

Maybe Charlie Brown should have stopped beating himself up (and letting others do it as well), and should have taken a good hard look at the people he had working with him. You see, there's a lesson in this, and it's reflected in almost all of the books that we read about being a good leader - the most successful leaders aren't the ones who are the best at what they're doing, they surround themselves with the best and let others take the glory. Perhaps Charlie Brown should have started making some cuts on his team, and found others who would actually be able to contribute to the entire groups' success. He may have liked them all, but at some point you have to put the team's objective first, and personal feelings second.

Look at what your objective is right now, and ask yourself if you're surrounding yourself with the right people - are they helping you, or hindering you in reaching your goal? Because if you've got a Lucy, Linus and Schroeder playing in the field, then you'll continue to stand on the pitcher's mound wondering why you're losing.

But if you've got a Snoopy, hang onto him. We can all use a Snoopy on our team.

~Guy

changing of the guard

A baby tiger is called a cub. A new coach is called a cub - well no, but how about we just say, 'a new coach'
When the cub is first born, it is blind. When a new coach arrives, they are blind to all the systems in place.
A cub depends on their mother for sight for a few days and then needs a lot of attention for a couple of months. When a new arrives with sensory overload, they need the help of a veteran coach in order to see the full potential of those systems.
Soon the cubs are able to hunt small animals and mice. They learn their techniques from their mother. Within a short period of time, a new coach is able to attempt leading themselves through an event after watching and hearing about their teammates' experiences and the cycle grows/continues...
Quite simply, it's not about me and you - it's about them, us and those who are not even here yet, let's continue to lay that foundation and fine tune those entrance points throughout our tropical forests!

You have something to offer - pay it forward and continue the cycle - don't let it stop with you..

What / Why / How / See / Hear / Do / Teach
Follow up / PI's / Little things / Destinations

There will always be a new coach - remember, that use to be you!

"Don't wait for your ship to come in; swim out to it."

I have lived in my neighborhood for 20years; the neighborhood is a quiet remote place, backing onto the Capilano trails. The arrangement of different families, couples and elderly usually keep to ourselves, occasionally giving the hello or wave as we walk our dog or drive past, but there is no real neighborhood comradely.

Well this weekend that all changed by a kitten being stuck in tree! On Friday night, a cat had perhaps been spooked by something and had climbed up into a neighbors tree. Everyone was getting together to help get this kitten down. People had gone into their garages to get ladders, ropes, planks, cat food, milk, anything they could think of to help persuade him down. However, to no such avail. We had called the fire department to see if they could help, but they do not apparently do that anymore. We called numerous tree cutter companies but only one would come but not until the following morning. The poor cat spent the night up the tree, meowing like crazy, hungry, tired and keeping our neighbors up all night. Saturday morning comes along and the cat has climbed even further up the tree. By this time, our neighbor was getting worried and frankly annoyed by all the meowing. At one point, we had a representative from all the four houses in the cal-de-sac trying to get this cat down. We were all imitating a cats meow, again we brought some food, more meowing but nothing worked. Finally, a 15-year-old boy said that he could climb up the tree to try to grab the cat. The mother 'Ok’d' this… so this young hero got a backpack and started climbing up the ladder, up the branches toward the cat. Unfortunately again to no avail, the cat was frightened and would not be put into the bag. We were all petrified, praying that this boy would not fall. In the end my mother who was afraid for the boys safety, called the fire department and the SPCA, informing them that this young boy was risking his life and that someone should come out and save this cat.
Finally, the fire department came. The rescue took about 2.5hours for them to climb up and get the kitten. People from all around started coming out of their houses to see what the commotion was all about, there were introductions being made and conversations like “where do you live”, or “how long have you been living here”. I met people that I had never met before who literally live two or three houses up the street. This would never have happened if this poor cat had not been stuck up a tree. So yes, for this quiet neighborhood, this was quite a dramatic event but in the end, it was a positive experience.

What amazes me about this story is that it took something as small as a cat that was in trouble to bring people together. This happens in life all around us, take September 11th, Hurricane Katrina or more recently the Earthquake in China. These tragic events and incidents bring people together whether they are extreme or just simple ones.

What I have learned is that I am not going to wait around for a dramatic event of some kind to get to know others, I will go out and do it before it happens. Take the initiative, be bold and more doors will open for you in the future.

"Don't wait for your ship to come in; swim out to it."

Get Busy

I was 17years old when I went to University. The first few weeks started slow like every new school year that I remembered from High School. It was the transitional weeks when there were no immediate exams or papers due and all you had to do was settle in by getting new books and show up for class. Those weeks were great – almost like an extension of the summer. But I also knew that any day projects with deadlines would be dropped. And then it hit all at once – work load was piling up by October. During this time in my first year of University I would reminisce about how easy High School was. I almost wished I could go back and enjoy the free time I had the year before. Second year came around and in October once again I wished I could be back in 1st year taking it easy. It was the same thing each year as being busier than the last.

Fast forward 6years… I graduated, did some traveling and then jumped into career mode. Working fulltime turned out to be very different. In fact it was busier then when I was in University. Once again I thought how great it would be to be back in school. The days when student loans seemed like free money, when you could sleep in, those afternoons off, not going to class if you didn’t want to, going to the gym with an hour off, week breaks, long Christmas vacations and summer months completely free. Wow! It was good life back then even with all the studying that had to be done. I was out of school and in the job market and it was completely different. Welcome to the real world - a world of win or loose, making it or breaking it and my self being the one who has to survive on my own.

What I have witnessed was that high school was a joke, university life a bit busier and career life way busier than what university was. I however am not in the same boat as every other individual out there. I chose a career that requires a strong work ethic if I am to survive in it and move forward. I am also a person who wants to get himself somewhere in life both professionally and financially. I strive to be the best I can be and to be able to provide an environment where I will be able to support a home with a family. So each year has therefore gotten busier and I am at my busiest right now and that is ok because in the end it will pay off. I know people who don’t want to be busy, have more down time at the same time have a family in the future. That is fine if you are financially secure and you don’t strive to be the best at what you do…

People ask me, when does it end Josh? And why do you make yourself so busy? My answer to them is that I am only 30 years young. That’s right young, meaning more energy and the only person I am responsible for is my self – hard maybe but much easier than the father and the mother who hold down careers, households and have multiple children that they take care of? It does not get easier for them especially when they do it all at once. My parents were in their early twenties when they had their children. They were studying, and building careers at the same time. There was no money and personal time for them was virtually non-existent because all efforts were diverted to raising the children and putting food on the table. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to do all of that. That truly must be the peak of how busy one can get.

If you are like me and want to have a future family and to be able to spend time with them (before getting too old) then now is the time to put your head down, get busy and move yourself forward to setting up the future you wish to have. Understand that being busy at a young age is a reality that we must accept so that it may pay off in years to come. Being busy now is the time when we are agile and resilient. It is better to have the drive to make things happen when we are young and only have to worry about our own affairs than it is to just start putting in the work once a family has arrived. Now is your time to make your future happen.

The Power of Choice

On January 16th, 1920, in an effort to reduce crime, corruption, social problems, tax burdens, and generally begin to repair the moral decay of the country, the government of the United States enacted what came to be known as the "noble experiment": Prohibition. The Eighteenth Amendment was put into effect, and from that point on it was illegal to import, export, transport, sell and manufacture all "intoxicating liquour".

It failed miserably.

Instead, it created a whole new type of crime - bootleggers from Canada started smuggling liquour south, the "speakeasy" (underground bars, essentially) sprung up left, right, and center, and the mob had a whole new revenue stream. It was unenforceable and, more importantly, it was hugely unpopular - thus, in 1931 Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress passed the 21st Amendment, undoing the nightmare that had started 11 years earlier.

On a more personal note, one of my friends ran a summer camp for a couple of years, and the YMCA of British Columbia decided that, in an effort to promote a positive and healthy lifestyle, it would outlaw all smoking by their staff. Not smoking while working - smoking for the duration of their contract.

It also failed miserably.

Firstly, there was the blatant hypocrisy of their philosophy - while promoting a "healthy lifestyle", they were still feeding the kids and staff greasy, mass-produced, fat-laden crap for their meals. Secondly, while there were a few former staff who actually understood that they did, in fact, have a choice (which was to not work at the camp in the first place) - this instead lead the camp losing a few good people. Finally, and most importantly, it didn't actually cut down on the smoking - it instead created a sub-culture of people who banded together, and hid their smoking, which in turn created not only a mess (as people snuck off into the woods to sneak their smoke), but actually created a massive fire hazard.

What can we learn from these examples?

Dictating to people, whether you're right or not, is more likely going to create bigger problems than you had before. You can direct them, guide them, and even limit their choice, but at some point you have to step back and trust that people will do the right thing... all the while knowing that not everyone will. The exceptional, however, will always rise above the others - and these are your future leaders.

Remember, you can't always be asking for trust - there will come a time where you have to give some back.

~Guy