Jeff 's Daily Excellence Pill

In between gongfu performances that displayed their amazing agility, and mental and physical prowess, these young men showed me yet another side to the very serious nature of martial arts.  When it's time to play, you play with passion, 100% passion.  How often do you play your life with 100% passion? Start now!

Visited Shaolin Temple in central China last week - it's my fourth time in two years!   Watching the performers and martial arts experts there always inspires and motivates me and this trip gave me more of the same wonderful experience.  Here's some pictures.

imagine standing on one leg for hours

wOw!!

the intensity (just look at her eyes!)

the joy of achievement (ah.... the beautiful smile)

This is another of life's lessons from my 10 year old Hannah (who seems to be wiser than her 10 years!). I brought her for a session of archery the other day and her attitude towards this ancient sport was a timely reminder of how to live our lives.  It's interesting that Hannah's telling us to: 

- Focus Intensely on our targets and goals in life, and then,

- Enjoy the Moment when we hit the target! 

We often forget to enjoy the moment and that's a shame isn't it?  So take a moment now to reflect on all your recent achievements, and enjoy the experience and put a huge smile on your face.  All this means is you shift your attitude and get in a better state to face the day - which is what we need everyday.  Do it now!

I've met a few people lately who are a little overwhelmed by life's little hiccups. They all wanted quick fix solutions to continue charging around at 100kmh everyday. Instead, what did I suggest they do? I gave them a slow fix solution! I shared with them the secrets from the best and most successful in the world who all take the first few minutes of the day to spend quality time with themselves.  That's right - it's such a simple thing to do and it's something we can all do isn't it? Start the day right by spending quality time with ourselves!

Of course, most of us would say "I have no time", "I'm always running late", "too many things to do in the morning" ......  But what if it took only 5 minutes? I'm sure we can all spare just 5 minutes each morning to do a little deep breathing, a little reading, a little reflection and journaling.  5 minutes - that's all it takes and I know everyone can spare the first 5 minutes of the morning to get in touch with our best friend - ourself!  

How does this work?  It's no different from warming up and stretching before vigorous exercise, or switching on the lights when entering a dark room, or making sure we have everything we need before we fly off on vacation.  In other words - it's all about preparation and your 5 minute ritual every morning will prepare you for the day to come.

Once we do this (for just 5 minutes by yourself each morning 365 days of the year), we'll be so much more prepared for life's little hiccups and curve balls and surprises, wouldn't you agree?

That's my daughter, Hannah, in a photo from a few years ago enjoying a hose down in the garden. Her smile is one of sheer joy in the simple pleasures in life - like taking a shower in the garden!

Life's too complicated isn't it? So just for this week, let's all enjoy what kids enjoy ok?  And that's to have absolute fun!  And after this week enjoy another week of fun, and then the week after and the week after ......  In other words, make having fun a habit.

Yesterday was an interesting day.  I had the "pleasure" of speaking to 3 different customer service providers.  It was an odd, frustrating, hair-pulling, hypertension-inducing, heart-stopping experience each time!!  And what caused this?  These people from the customer service department needed to discuss some issues with my house move, and yet, within 3 words of answering their question, I'd be interrupted, interrupted again, and then interrupted repeatedly with every few words I uttered.  I was thinking to myself, "What's the point of asking me a question if you don't bother listening to the answer that would make your job much easier?!!"

I had to finally resort to shouting at them a simple conversation strategy (yes, I really had to shout loud!).  I told them "one person talks and the other listens and we'll get through this conversation really well".  This simple strategy worked and we actually got down to the crux of the issue.  After all, if both are talking at the same time who's listening?

How often have we been guilty of interrupting someone who's answering our question? Next time this happens  -  Shh... Hush .... Quiet... Listen and may the "one person talks and the other listens" strategy live forever!