October 4, 2015 - Learning is a Change in Behaviour

Good morning,

"Learning is a change in behaviour not just a change in knowledge and attitude." - Ken Blanchard

What a concept. I have been teaching for over 25 years and although I knew this I didn't realize it. It is so true. I remember when I'd come home from class and be all pumped up. I'd have a huge change in attitude and obviously knowledge but my behviour, my habits were the same.

So here I am building my business…

I have a huge change in knowledge. Every morning I am up at 4:45 and do a few things including facilitating a change in knowledge. I usually end up with a huge change in attitude as well. After listening to Darren Hardy interview some thought leader I have a change in attitude and a change in knowledge, both to the positive.

What I have not had is a change in behaviour. I always have gone back to my old ways. I need to change my behaviour, my habits….

Denis Waitley says you cannot get rid of habits, you can only replace them. I have some bad habits. I have been focused on tension relieving rather than goal achieving.

The past week has been one of change in me. I am focused on achieving my goals – business and personal. I am using my schedule to drive my day – so I am not wandering back and forth between things that make me feel good in the short term.

What am I doing different specifically? Here are today’s goals

• Close the pool
• Make 10 positive business contacts
• Organize the “back corner” of the basement

What am I going to do in order to make this happen?

• Schedule my time today Sidebar: I go through a three step program every morning. 20 minute walk, 20 minutes of personal development and blogging, 20 minutes of reviewing goals and planning. I am in the second portion, about to migrate to planning and reviewing. Robin Sharma calls it the 20-20-20 formula of the 5:00 am club
• WRITE IT DOWN
• MAINTAIN my schedule
• AVOID all distractions, Netflix, etc.
• Schedule fun

Well, my 20 minutes is up. I am committed to building my business. I cannot build my business unless I change myself. Every day and in every way I am getting better.

By the way, I told you I’d keep you posted on my progress on studying myself and planning where I need to improve. It is a lot more time consuming than I thought. I’m scheduling some time tonight to finish off the grading and planning.

Have a wonderful day.

Matt

October 3, 2015 - As your WHY hets Bigger!

As Your Why gets Bigger you get Better

That was a very simple statement, I can’t remember who said it but nonetheless, “When your why gets bigger, you get better.”

Darren Hardy tells the story of a man approaching three brick layers. He approaches the first one and asks what he is doing, the reply is, “What do you think I am doing, I am laying bricks!”

The second one, when asked the same question answers, “I am building a wall.”

The third one, when asked the same question answers, “I am building a great cathedral.”

Whose why was the biggest?

Last week, I was working with a new person, Jack. We were planting bulbs – narcissus, anemone, and much more. Now Jack is not looking at the position she has with us as long term (right now). She just needs a couple of days a week to make ends meet. She is trying very hard and is developing into a good gardener.

Allium

Now the reason I am telling you this is this: On Wednesday last week we were standing in the front yard of our client and I was just slowly rotating looking at the “barren” garden beds. Jack asked me what I was looking at and I said I was looking at April and May. She looked puzzled. 

.

 Narcissus

Then I described to her the colour blocks that would start appearing as soon as the snow melts. My arm was outstretched and I was telling her how the owner would see the different colour blocks from different points of view.

Anemone

My horticultural why was very large that week. The owner asked for the Taj Mahal of the nirth and gosh darn it, they will get it!

So what about my business…

In order to make my why larger I believe I need to change my belief in myself. I know I can do anything horticultural. I can do anything anywhere.

I have to re-invigorate my why and make it even bigger. That is what I am going to do today. I am working on what I told you about yesterday too, the Things are not Always what they Appear exercise.

This is a short post, but I have a lot of work to do – on myself.

Matt

October 2, 2015 - Things are not always what they Appear

Things are not always as they Appear - Bringing Balance to a Chaotic Life

I’m listening to a Chris Widener presentation on Bringing Balance to a Chaotic Life. The whole presentation can be summed up into one sentence – “I can bring balance to my chaotic life.”

Chris starts with a joke talking about how a situation may not be as it seems. It really is true. Most people we deal with on a day to day basis have more going on in their lives that we can ever see. I can think of many examples of that in my own circle of people.

The main thing he observes is when things are out of control because we let some areas of our life take over from other areas of our life. Really what we need to do find the priorities in our life and bring those priorities back to centre. When we feel out of balance it is because what we really need in our life is missing or being ignored because we are focused on the wrong things.

What we need to do is remind ourselves what is important and bring that back into focus. Denis Waitley has a great line, “Most people are focused on tension relieving rather than goal achieving.” I’ll give you an example from my own life from this week. I sat and binge watched a show on Netflix. I now feel very discombobulated because I did not work on my goals. Had I completed the tasks I had to achieve my goals and then treated myself with some Netfix (some, not binge) I’d feel much better right now.

The primary thing we need to do is find our priorities. Instead of working on priorities, we will be working on what is urgent. What I mean by that is once we have put off our priorities we end up working on non-priority items that have now become urgent. For example, because we procrastinated, we have not done the dishes, and now we need to do the dishes instead of working on our priorities.

Chris gives all sorts of examples of people he knows whose lives are out of control. He then talks about those same people and what they did do re-arrange and change their lives. He uses one example of a guy who figured it out. This guy was offered his dream job. What he wanted to do and GOBS of money. The boss man told the guy he would have to work 80 hours a week. He ended up turning the job down because it would have put other areas of his life into a state of unbalance.

So what I am going to do is this:

Evaluate my life to check the balance on some certain areas of my life, I am going to grade it on a scale of 1 to 10

• Business and Professional
• Personal Finance
• Marriage
• Children
• Extended Family
• Friendships
• Recreation
• Physical and Health
• Emotional health and satisfaction
• Intellectual health
• Spiritual
• Strength of willpower – ability to function with self control
• Social and Service Commitments

Then I am going to write a paragraph to describe why I evaluated myself to that grade. Then I will use that exercise to help evaluate myself and use that evaluation to priorize my life.

Once I have evaluated myself I am going to work on the areas which need the most work. And I am starting right now.

I’ll keep you posted.

Matt

August 16, 2015 - Do What Others Will NOT!

In order to have what others do not you have to do what others will not.

I am not sure who said that phrase. I was just flipping through my journal looking for a topic to write about. You see, I’m alone at home tonight. Its really hot out and I have avoided doing chores outside. I was watching a stupid movie on Netflix and Denis Waitley’s voice came through. “The difference between the successful and the unsuccessful is the successful focus on goal achieving rather than tension relieving.”

I was relieving tension because I was not motivated. I am sure there are those that would say writing a blog isn’t goal achieving but I disagree. I am organizing my thoughts and expressing myself in a way that will, in time help someone else out.

I made a presentation today. Actually, I had a breakfast business meeting, went to my trading-time-for-money place and THEN I had an CAN presentation. I was doing something others are not willing to do. Spending my Sunday afternoon making a business presentation.

The chap I was presenting to is an old friend of my son’s. He sells insurance and RSP and other investment vehicles. He walked in carrying a Tony Robins book. I knew he was a 5%’er. We had a great talk. A brief presentation but a great talk.

He mentioned how little respect people have for MLM. I agreed – many people have a poor attitude toward MLM. We talked about how CAN is a customer acquisition focused company. I was the third person to present to him. I came out and asked him to send referrals to Morgan. He basically refused feeling we would immediately try to recruit the referral. That’s not what we are about – we acquire customers – we help people save money.

At the end of the conversation we were sharing personal development resources and promising to refer people to each other. I believe that above all else, we may have “converted” someone from a negative mindset regarding MLM to a more positive mind set.

So what did I do today that others will not? I’ve asked myself that question all evening. Here is what I came up with, as far as today is concerned:

• When he asked “Is this ACN? I’ve had 2 presentations already." So I asked him if he minded us presenting again, he may learn something new. In fact, he learned lots. And so did I.

• I didn’t allow emotion to enter the discussion about MLM. I listened to his objections and rather than fight them, I merely presented an alternate viewpoint.

• I sat in a really nice café and really didn’t care about the other people listening in to our conversation. I used to allow my emotions have control over my enthusiasm when I thought I was being listened in on.

• I asked for referrals and helped allay his fears that we would poach any potential customers by trying to recruit them.

• I followed up. They say that in MLM (and business in general) the fortune is in the follow up.

So there we go. Do what others will not. And keep on doing it until you crash exhausted into bed. Then get up and do it the next day. I started 7 days ago on my re-birth and I am continuing.

Good luck!

August 15, 2015 - New Beginnings

I received am email recently asking me if I’d be interested in teaching at a local jail. The coordinator sent out an email to all of the teachers in the programme asking who would be interested. Only a small number of us replied as far as I know. I’ve mentioned this opportunity to a few other people and only 1 in 20 has been positive and supportive. Most are worried I’ll be hurt…. Wow

All we were asked is if there was any interest. Not that the programme was a go or anything like that. All my coordinator needs is commitment from instructors so she can put a proposal together for funding, etc.

I’ve been pretty jacked about the opportunity to teach at this institute. I was driving for a couple of hours yesterday and was mulling over this over. I realize why I am so excited.

I believe in new beginnings. 

My inspiration - Sunrise over the 401 near Napanee Ontario

It really is that simple. New beginnings. Every morning brings with it a new reality. We cannot escape our past but our past is not a prison, not a prison guard, not a sentence. Our past, if we use it wisely is a teacher. We use today to the very best of our abilities to be a positive one. We use today to plan for tomorrow. We use the past to guide us to making better decisions. But all we have is today.

Emerson says something along the lines of Today is King. It really is. What is a King? A monarch, the head honcho. What does a King do? He uses his Sages – his yesterdays – to help him make decisions to make things better tomorrow.

So what am I doing that makes my teaching a “new beginning”?

All I do is teach botany and a few other plant related sciences. Most of my apprentice students are in my class because they are searching for something. You see, people seem to get into horticulture or landscaping from a few sources and they are usually all related to general labour. Work for a relative, like it, study it, “career it”. That’s how I got into this. Get a job in high school, like it, study it, “career it”. That’s also how I got into this. Can’t find your way, stagger from general labour job to general labour job, finally stumble into a landscaping company, garden centre or greenhouse or nursery, like it, study it and “career it”.

Its not like being a nurse or an engineer. Most of society really has a negative bias to these trades. I am not entirely sure why. But there is a bias. So when I get students in front of me, they are usually there on their own journey of “new beginning”.

I feel as if I am going through a new beginning every morning. I heard yesterday that “gratitude is the antidote to negativity.” Wow. Ain’t that just so. This morning I woke (a couple of times, truth be told – we stayed up too late last night) and went through my gratitude “prayer”. I consciously go through a list of everything in my life I am grateful for. The top of my list every morning are Linda, Morgan and Ainsley. Every morning there is a slightly different list past that but there is a list.

As I am finishing thinking about what I am grateful for, I can focus on making today count.

Every morning is a new beginning. So when I was asked if I can help some people who for whatever reason have been Guests of the Crown for the past little while, I think my subconscious mind told me there were some people looking for a new beginning. The Universe has been kind to me. I believe it is my responsibility to pay forward that kindness. I really hope this programme goes through. Not only for the students but for what it will help me become.

That’s all for now folks!