Theodore Roosevelt, of the greatest Presidents, when meeting new people, would shake them by the hand energetically and proclaim loudly and sincerely that he was “deeeelighted to meet them!” You can almost hear that exclamation mark! He was larger than life and through the sheer force of his character, pulled America firmly into the vanguard of the 20th century. Roosevelt knew the power of language and the power of using positive, optimistic, and forceful language. Think about how often we use weak language, both to other people and to your own self. How often, when someone asks you how you are, do you reply: “Not bad”, or “pretty …
If you’re a foodie, then you’ll love these youtube channels
Foodies are spoilt for choice these days for totally lickable content. Production values are so high these days that it makes normal food TV programmes redundant. Here are my favourites atm: Simply Dumpling by Mike Chen Mike is a prodigious eater who travels all around the world, with a leaning towards Asian food but he does also feature other food like Mexican, Italian, and Indian food. What I like about him is that he's honest and says when he doesn't like something. Here are some great Simply Dumpling vids to get you started: STREET FOOD FEAST at Singapore CHINATOWN! LEGENDARY All You Can Eat Buffet in Manila …
[Read more...] about If you’re a foodie, then you’ll love these youtube channels
This app will change your life AND this video will change your wife’s life
I've started using an app called Streaks app. It's on iOS and you set a goal you want to do daily and each day, you mark it off when you've done that goal, and leave it unmarked when you don't do the goal. If you do it two days in a row, you've built the smallest possible streak. The aim is to do the goal daily so that you build a huge, unbroken streak, and therefore built a habit. My Streaks app tracks me doing 5 mins of core workout a day, reading 25 pages a day, doing 12 glute raises (can you tell I'm trying to improve my core strength?), writing 200 words a day etc. I'm not always consistent but over the past month, I've done more in …
[Read more...] about This app will change your life AND this video will change your wife’s life
My working theory on how you can increase your positivity
I read a lot of articles online that state things like “Practice gratitude to be more happy” or “Meditate for positivity”. I think that it can be misleading to suggest that it’s one or two key things or silver bullets that will bring you closer to happiness. I think there’s a lot of ingredients that work together for your positivity. I think that having overflowing, rambunctious levels of positivity are key to feeling super happy. I think that to get these levels of positivity means that three things in your life are firing on all cylinders. You must have a healthy body, a healthy mind, and a healthy soul. Healthy body Overall good …
[Read more...] about My working theory on how you can increase your positivity
Customer service is a rarely-deployed competitive advantage
No matter what you buy, whether it’s a product or a service, customer service will be an element in your overall experience. That customer service can be great or terrible, or most of the time, somewhere in between. That range is something I don’t understand because customer service is surely something that the product or service provider can control. You can choose to smile warmly when you serve coffee or you can be grumpy and spill coffee on the table. I bet that you can remember on one hand how many great customer experiences you’ve had this year. Which is pretty shocking given how many interactions we must have had as …
[Read more...] about Customer service is a rarely-deployed competitive advantage
“Legacy – What the All Blacks can teach us about the business of life” by James Kerr
The All Blacks are probably the most consistently successful team in history, having dominated Rugby Union for decades, perhaps almost a century. In the professional era, they have a win rate of 86%. James Kerr is an author who was embedded with the All Blacks for 5 weeks. It's written so lyrically and with such pathos, that it's almost like poetry. He weaves powerful Maori proverbs into All Black sayings and shows how these teachings can enrich and guide us in life. Maori believe that the haka draws up tipuna, our ancestors, from the earth to the soul. It summons them to aid us in our struggle here on earth with the sound of ngunguru, the …
Getting fit for fatherhood
I’m 40 and just about to become a dad for the first time. I’m told that I need to work on my core and my lower back strength because there’s going to be a lot of lifting and a lot of bending over. I have a glass back these days so this prospect scares me a bit! After poo-pooing it for a long time, I’ve signed up to my first pilates class at my local gym. I’m expecting to be terrible at it but hoping it gives me a much stronger core. I’ve upped my speed work on the treadmills and trying to run faster instead of just steady-state 30 mins runs and I’m definitely feeling the benefits of extra lung capacity when I’m breathing in and …