Tag: #mentorship

# 31 which type of river are you?

There are only so many ways that people wander through life, here are three and at the end I will tell you why I wander the way that I do.

1) The first person is a winding river that hollows out the landscape and finds the easiest routes around the softest ground curling on itself and eventually making it to its destination. The winder, or wanderer, does not let any occurance divide its path, it may not know where it ends up but it knows it is a river and its one job is to deliver what is at the source, to the final destination.

2) The mountan creek. This person is always trickling along as snow, ice, water runs off higher surfaces into its depths. The creek though, may sound like a pussy, it has its strength. When torrential rains occur, or when the spring ice melt happens the creek can turn into a carnivourous maniac wiping out everything in its path. The creek or brook most of the time is calm and steady it becomes overwhelmed and if you are in its path there is not light for you, yet.

3) The damned river. Water has many excellent properties that make it useful, and one of its uses is power generation. Stopping the winding river, or creek can swell the banks of the flowing river, flooding landscapes and creating reservoirs to satsify the needs of the population. What the river loses is its power as a result, only a minute amount of energy is left over on the other side of the dam. Do you let other people dam your energy? For use by themselves?

I say, there is a time and place for all of these rivers; but do not be afraid of your power in the mighty landscape of life.

Your Canadian Brother

#27 make time, all of your time is your own

The world is designed to ensure that your time is occupied. Much of what you do on a day to day basis is keeping yourself busy. I can speak from my own experience on this fact. When I was young and my mind had a few less cracks in it than it does now I would turn to breaking things, for fun. The physical act of breaking something and the consequences of that act, realized immediately or in a few days time felt great. Although probably not always intentional and probably a sign of larger issues all of this was done as a way to occupy my time. We are all skilled and professional time wasters, how do we overcome this.

1) Start with the things you don’t want to do. There are things we put off because we would rather not. Think of the pile of dishes on your sink, or the counter. Think of the laundry basket or the garage. There is always and will always be the pile of books you meant to read on the shelf or next to your bed waiting for the right time. In all cases you are putting these things off because you dont and wont recognize the immediate benefit of these things. You trap yourself in unfinished projects because the satisfaction of a finished project provides a different emotional reaction, one that permits the start of a new project, very different than having many threads dangling in the air instead of tying one knot before moving onto the next.

2) Say no, there has been nothing more damaging to my social life than saying no. I am sure I have missed countless opportunities to be social, or to become a different person by saying yes to things. However tehere is not much more time that I cherish than being able to reflect on my own abilties, skills and challenges without the added social influence of having other people assess my mistakes on my behalf. Take the time to yourself that you need to grow as a person, you will earn this right at some point because you will eventually be alone. Do no fill your time with things you would rather not do. Say no.

3) Break things. I have a colleague who feels like they are hated, specificially because they are making more work for their superiors with the actions they are taking to make sure that their subordinates are well looked after, in some cases by saving the day at the lowest level has earned them a nasty reputation at the higher eschelons because it is not the way that things are typically done. I can say, break things, be extra ordinary, and make sure that people feel your wake as you appraoch, and pass and after you pass. They will be upset and their worlds may turn, but dont be a dingy, be a massive ship that respects the speed limit when it must but in the open ocean does not, look back.

Your Canadian brother.

#25 three things you must do for extreme success

It is really easy to give up. We have all heard that before and seen its effect in our lives here are a few things you should do to not give up and force yourself into success.

First you must realize that the road to success is long and most people run out of gas or get off at an exit before realizing the final destination. There are constantly distractions that take your eyes off the prize, the world has been designed to vie for your attention and make sure you are seeing what it wants you to see instead of allowing for your focused attention to enable your extreme success.

If you decide to take an exit you may still be wildly successful. Like a tree branching in all directions the worlds highway has a huge amount of opportunities at every gate, you will struggle however the perseverance down your particular road will be what makes you successful. Chose a path and do not look back, there is nothing there for you to see.

Details matter more than generalities, are you able to throw around your weight for an effect or do you permit yourself to have a small sphere of influence due to fear? There is not much that you can do if you do not believe yourself able to do it. Focus on the details. When is the last time you made sure that you labeled every one of your possessions, If I asked you if you knew where each of your belongings was would you be able to tell me? You would be surprised and I know the answer is no.

Keep fighting the good fight, and deliver.

Your Canadian Brother.