September 20, 2016

One suggestion was made to me about my blog. Write about something about my “job” that I like and why. I don’t consider myself as having a job. Even my teaching.

So today marked the start of the fall teaching semester. I love teaching. I was telling my students today that when my ACN business grow I will still teach. My plan is to still take my wages from the colleges and then donate them to the Niagara Parks Commission School of Horticulture Alumni Foundation and to the Landscape Ontario Education Foundation.

I told them that I want to be a river rather than a reservoir. Too many people just gather information and hold on to it like it was life itself. I know that the more information I can filter, purify and direct to the right source the more good that happens. The Universal Law of Compensation is very evident in teaching. I put effort into teaching and not only do I get back from my students but their growth is exponential.

That is how ACN works as well too. It is all about helping others.

I do know that the more I help other people get what they want out of their life I get what I want to get from my life.

Just to summarize today’s efforts:

• I taught at Notre Dame Secondary and reached a bunch of kids to the point one came up and shook my hand to thank me for the day.
• I taught at White Oaks Secondary and almost the identical thing happened.
• Both teachers read my positive posts every day.
• I am in the middle of helping a friend get savings in their garden centre.
• I planned my day tomorrow as how I am going to help my mechanic save money on his business phone.

Life is good. Life is really, really good. I go to bed every night in an attitude of gratitude. I wake up in the same way each morning.

Be well everyone.

This will be my car soon.

               

September 19, 2016 - FOCUS

Focus.

I have a huge problem with focus. That is to say I have a lack of focus.

I can be working away at something and then my brain kicks in.  I think my brain gets bored, especially with rote work like weeding, washing dishes, sorting stuff, etc. Then once my conscious brain gets a hold of an idea it goes there at FULL STEAM AHEAD. Then my working brain follows. Then my body follows.

I will then find myself doing something either unproductive or something completely off the rails but perhaps, in the long run, productive.

So, then I find myself at the end of my day, looking at my review of the Daily Five and pffffffft. Nothing extraordinary accomplished….

So what do I need to do? One of the leaders I listen to says we are in a battle against “weapons of mass DISTRACTION!”

So, what is the definition of Distraction? One definition is “extreme agitation of the mind or emotions.”

Extreme AGITATION of the mind or emotions.

So how do I remove AGITATION? I think the answer is really simple. Not easy to do. Just simple. The answer is to TAKE complete and UTTER control over your mind.

George Zaluki talks about tightening up your schedule to make sure things are not left to chance. George talks about taking control of your emotions. Darren Hardy talks about making a schedule and using it to run your life. Robin Sharma talks about a strategy he uses where he sets the alarm on his phone for 90 minutes and then he focuses with “monomaniacal clarity” on the task at hand. The alarm goes off; he has a cup of tea to clear his mind and then another 90 minute stint. 

George Zaluki

I modified that slightly. I use 80 minutes and a 20 minute break. That gives me enough time to make a cup of tea and DRINK it! LOL

So what I am doing is bringing some discipline to my daily life. I am breaking my tasks out into several categories. Personal tasks, household tasks, business tasks, school tasks, etc.  I am mapping out the time I am spending on tasks and breaking that into time segments.

So here is to me! I am on a path of self improvements and the first step is taking control of my mind.  I need to remember what my long term goals are and do ONLY things that take me there.

September 18, 2016

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." - Stephen Covey

My morning routine is pretty straightforward. My alarm goes off at 4:50 am. I drink 500 ml of water and then I take the dog for a walk. We get back and I drink more water, put the coffee on and start a 20 minute session of gratitude, sending love and planning. I write a list of 10 things I am grateful for. I write a list of 3 people I do not like but want to send love to. I write a couple of lines of thought. Then I sit quietly for a few minutes and map out my day. Then I spend about 20 minutes in personal mindset training.

I am working on my Big Five list that I told you about before. I am trying to incorporate that work into my daily routine. I am at a point I think I can start to write down one of the Big Five. That is going to be a project that will take me a while but the gist of it is I want to lead a life significant enough that I will be a positive influence on thousands of people.

So the best stuff I have heard lately is that my thinking has gotten me to where I am now. If I want to get to where I want to be I need to change my thinking. That is what I do in my mornings. So the quote I put up this morning that I need to keep the main thing the main thing is perfect.

I need to make sure that I protect my mindset, my emotions, MY ACTIONS to completing my Major Purpose in Life. I may be working on my Big Five but there is one major purpose in my life and that is to become Senior Vice President in ACN. Not for the money. The money will allow me to work on one of my Big Five.

I believe that when I am working on achieving the position of Senior Vice President I will be changing my thought patterns, changing my life, changing my ABILITY to help others. I know that as I achieve the levels of success throughout my journey to SVP I will be helping more and more people achieve THEIR dreams.

Our society is built around the concept of mass production. Our education curricula are all geared to generating compliant cogs in an incompliant system. I believe it is my purpose to teach my students, my teammates, and anyone who will listen, the importance of self determination.

Our economy is changing and no longer is an education the key to financial success. It is important to be educated, but relying on an education for financial success is wrong. Self education is the key to success. Learn more about the work you do and you will be a success.

So I encourage you to get up at 5 am and join Robin Sharma’s 5 am club. Follow the 20-20-20 habit of exercise, planning and learning. And read The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy and your life will change in the direction you want it to!

September 16, 2016 - Robin Sharma

Robin Sharma has a philosophy centred around The Big Five, The Daily Five and the Nightly Three.

Robin Sharma

The Big Five are five major life goals you need to achieve to make it the best life ever. He took about a year to come up with his Big Five. I stared working on my Big Five about a week ago. I’ll see how long it takes me to formulate them. Robin says they have to be huge and valuable. By valuable he means valuable in an intrinsic sense rather than monetary. The question I am asking myself to formulate these is “How can I dent the Universe?”

The Daily Five is simply a list of five tasks to accomplish ion a day to take you to your Big Five. I realize I don’t have my Big Five outlined yet BUT as I come up with my Daily Five my foundation is being formed for my decision on the Big Five. But here is the real magic of the Daily Five. I do a Daily Five lets say 350 days a year to remove Christmas Day, when we are camping, etc. Also assume the tasks are reasonable enough I can actually accomplish them. Then over the course of a year I will accomplish 1,750 tasks taking me toward my Big Five. How can I not succeed?

Finally the Daily Three. I already do a version of this but will adjust my philosophy to incorporate this. At the end of the day I spend time in gratitude for the abundance in my life. The Daily Three is simply a reflection on Three things that happened in the day taking me to my goals. I will still have my moment f gratitude but I will now also include specifically time thinking in gratitude about what happened during the day that took me toward my goals.

I hope you have a wonderful day and your life will be full of gratitude.

Robin Sharma

September 15, 2016

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty." - Maya Angelou

I have written about my journey of self improvement and self awareness quite a bit. I have also made some commitments that I have not lived up to. Let me tell you what happened a while back.

A leader at ACN, Larry Raskin was in Toronto leading training sessions. Larry Raskin is a great presenter. He inspired us all to plant our flags and get to work.

Then last weekend we went to Philadelphia for an ACN meeting. What a weekend. So inspiring, so fruitful.

So I have planted my flag and am pursuing my goals.

I have spent far too long as a caterpillar. I am metamorphosising into a butterfly.

Just watch me.

April 13, 2016 - Old Friends

My father was a major influence in my life. I know some of my family members that feel he was a "wimp" but I certainly know a lot better. As I am getting older and am on this journey of introspection, I am realizing I am doing my best to take the best of what he taught me and bring it forward. I am trying to take the best of him (and my mom of course) and send it forward into the universe.

Mom and Dad circa 1979 or so....

I had dinner with a former student and long time friend last night. My friend has had some challenges at work and has decided to start his own business. He is going to be importing flowers from South America and distributing them throughout the GTHA.

My friend is originally from Iran. That is not that important other than perhaps it may bring some context especially about his philosophies.

He had been working for a company as Sales Manager and was treated very poorly indeed if only 1/2 of what he told me is true. Just to clarify, everything he told me was true. Many people I know would be very bitter and negative. Not Afshin.

Now, that is the very end of the negativity for today.....

Afshin and I are of very similar mind-sets. Our fathers taught us many lessons about how to get along in life. During our discussion we decided the very best way to get ahead in life and business is very simple. Treat people with respect, dignity, honour.

All of life is a series of personal relationships with other people. Lee Iacocca said something along the lines of "If you can't get along with other people you have earned the kiss of death because people is all we have." My friend was asked if he would be taking customers away from his former employer. Companies don't control customers, the customer is in control. Afshin will be amazingly successful because of how he treats PEOPLE.

It was a great evening. I am truly grateful to have rekindled my friendship with Afshin. I know that the universe has things in store for me I can not imagine and last night was just the start of this connection with Afshin and his family.

I spent a long time last night thinking about the things Afshin said to me. He told me I am a unique individual and am very helpful, open, gregarious and some other things. Oddly, all I am trying to do is mimic my dad. I told Afshin we need to make he and I the rule not the exception.

Mahatma Ghandi taught us to be the change we want to see in the world. So why not? 

Earl Nightingale taught us to treat any person we are interacting with as if they are the most important person in the world. We do this for two important reasons. First, as far as the person is concerned they ARE the most important person in the world. The second reason is makes us a better person.

Be the change you want to see in the world. There are 7 billion people wandering on this planet today. We'd better get started.

April 12, 2016 - Taking Control

WOW.

It has been too long. I had a great meeting with my business partner yesterday - Todd Baranowski. We did some planning for our business.

I had a weird evening last night - I lay down around 7 pm and woke up at 5 am just before my alarm goes off. Bosley and I went for a walk and then I started learning. I scrolled through my Facebook and every post seemed to be talking to me. I need to take control.

That is what I am doing today. Taking control.

So off I go. Boldly. Self confident. I know I have written many times that I was going to do so but I have to keep at it. 

Greg Provenzano challenged us all to write a 40 day plan.

Done.

Sorry for the crappy post today. I have a lot of work to do today!

Matt