People!

My current visit to Perth has reminded me how much I love people!

On the plane to Perth I sat next to a lovely, down-to-earth man. He made the time wiz by, with interesting life stories, recommendations of places in Perth, and even his appreciation of the particularly-stunning cloud formations we flew through! Already my trip to Perth was wonderful and I hadn't even touched down!! 

My relatives met me at the airport, and it warmed my heart to see them after a year's absence. 

A stranger in Fremantle overheard us and offered to walk us to the markets we had been struggling to find. 

A man was collecting money for Sea Shepherd, and 15 minutes later we walked away with amazing stories of his experience on the boat.

In the markets, a man working in a fair-trade store inspired us greatly with his life story and attitude.

I was blown away by the amazing string of connections with all these different people that day - I felt fulfilled and happy as a result of these spontaneous, serendipitous encounters. 

It made me realise that I am so grateful for all the amazing people: those I connect with for just 5 minutes, those I connect with for a day, and those that I connect with ongoing.

So, to the strangers on the street, friendly faces in shops, friends, and family, thank you all for being in my life!!

Surprise!

Be prepared for the unexpected:

Last Friday I arrived at the beautiful campus of Scots School, Albury, to speak at their Assembly.

As I arrived I was informed that I would be interviewed by Channel 7 and Channel 9 local TV News: My first media exposure and so unexpected!

It was great fun, but didn't really sink in - until I saw myself on TV that night!

Here is the link to the Channel 7 Prime News segment: http://au.prime7.yahoo.com/v1/video/watch/acab806a_b440_3d1c_8357_87975629e27e/secrets-of-successful-people/

So be open to possibilities you didn’t know you were ready for, and have an awesome day!!

Let's change the world!

On Tuesday I addressed the Year 12 students of Le Fevre High School in Adelaide, and tomorrow I will be presenting to 600 students at Scots School, Albury.
I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to engage with these students. After every engagement, the teachers tell me that they wish they had heard this when they were at school, as it has taken them so long to figure it out: "If I had heard you back then, I could have started living the life I love so much sooner..." 

This makes me so grateful for all the personal development I've been able to experience, and that I have the opportunity to speak to these students, and invite them to create positive change for themselves NOW. My aim is to speak to high schools throughout Australia, to give a boost to this generation. Then we'll change the world together ;-)

Slow and steady... Wins!!

Yesterday I had lunch with great friends Ben and Trudy, who run "The Dream Initiative".

We spoke about business growth: slow and steady vs fast but - often - unsustainable.

As they spoke, I realised that when I first began professional speaking, I ignorantly thought that actual time on stage was most of what it took to run this business, and I wanted to be speaking as often as my mentors were - and they had many more years experience. I had this idea that I could just hit the ground running!

Now I realise that I had not considered all the foundations of a business that must be built. My progress in the number of engagements has been slower than I originally thought was good - but all the tasks that I had been frustrated by, are actually the foundations which are critical for sustainable growth, and I now appreciate and relish every step…

Slow and steady really does win!!

Today I am grateful for:

·         The sunshine :)

·         A thought-provoking, insightful, and fun experience of filming an instalment of “The Master Entrepreneur Series” with Neville Christie and Alex Jeffery on Tuesday.

·         The perfect way my life lined up, providing me with an opportunity to visit Adelaide. I am relishing every moment. I love travelling, connecting with old and new friends.

·         Being made to feel so welcome by the family I am staying with.

·         The beauty of Adelaide’s buildings – Seeing them today for the first time, I have wandered around the city in a state of appreciation and awe!

·         The freshly-squeezed juice I had at the market this morning - so delicious…

What are you grateful for today?

"Why I Hate School But Love Education"

I love this youtube clip!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ZmM7zPLyI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I personally love spoken word poetry, so even from just an artistic perspective I find this guy's work incredible. What I love the most though is that he is using a creative form he excels in to share his message with the world, and what an honest message it is. Love it.

No Clocks, No Technology

I dedicated 3 days last week to reflect on the following and write it all up:


Who am I?

What kind of person do I want to become?

Why do I want to take this life path?

Why is this life path important to me?

What legacy do I want to create?

Where do I want to be by December 2013?

What projects/issues do I want to work on in my life?

What is my ultimate goal?


It was a fantastic exercise. I created a huge mind-map, using 40 pieces of A4 paper.
I used different colours to group my ideas.

I created the time and space for myself to dive deeply into this exercise by turning off my laptop and mobile, and hiding all the clocks in the house!

It was also helpful that I was at home alone for the weekend, with no interactions.

One interesting observation from the experience: Hiding the clocks completely caused me to alter my relationship to time in a way I would never have guessed.
Let me explain: Normally when I had a day working from home, I would look at the time regularly and think 'is it so late already? ...what happened to the day?!... and I still haven't done...' - which made me obsess about the time instead of focussing on the task at hand - not the most productive way to use the time I have in a day! In fact by saying that to myself I had been the one creating the experience of a lack of time for myself.
But as soon as the clocks were gone there was suddenly SO MUCH TIME!!


I am now feeling so good after creating this experience for myself - it was magical. I intend to do it again, regularly, and recommend it to everyone at least once!!