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Archive for the ‘Personal Development’ Category

A Hurdle is not a Stop Sign

Perhaps all of us, at one time or another, have been tempted to feel discouraged, perhaps quickly, by setbacks on the long journey to accomplishing major goals.

Indeed, if looking at statistics, one can easily be ready to throw in the towel, especially if that towel is frequently coated with rejection.

Many of us are familiar with the 80/20 rule, which anecdotally applies to a wide range of endeavours: (more…)

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Behaviour & Relationships, Business Commentary, Personal Development, Social & political commentary, Uncategorized

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Adding Value

The proposition of ‘adding value’ has been an underlying foundation for success in service-oriented businesses for many years.

If one wants to generate a positive, lasting and loyal, relationship with customers, providing those extra ingredients of value is vital. This could be indirectly related to business, i.e. taking clients to lunch, paying for tickets to events, etc., or more directly, such as keeping in regular contact, or going the extra mile in solving problems quickly, or obtaining more helpful data for decision making. (more…)

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Art of Communication, Behaviour & Relationships, Business Commentary, Financial commentary, Humour, Personal Development, Uncategorized

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10 Alternate Strategies for Self-Reflection

In a recent posting, The Look of Reflection, it was noted that the human impulse to making comparisons seems pervasive. Therefore, finding effective strategies helps us to cope, and hopefully in time thrive.

It’s worth considering that there are many other available strategies to reflect on, for uncovering and energizing the ‘better you’. (more…)

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Behaviour & Relationships, Humour, Personal Development, Social & political humour, Top 10, Uncategorized

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The Look of Reflection

How vulnerable are you to an overload of envy about the success of others, especially people you know well?

An article in the December issue of Psychology Today delves into this subject, with a subtext of measuring how happy and successful we feel about our own lives. The ease with which this can become a personal issue has been dramatically escalated by the rise in access to and influence of social media. (more…)

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Art of Communication, Behaviour & Relationships, Personal Development, Uncategorized

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What’s in Some Words?

In looking through our Toastmasters club file of words of the day, as individually used in our meetings over the years, there are some interesting revelations.

Words chosen by members, in turns as ‘Wordmaster’, show quite a range of choices, from relatively familiar to quite obscure, as well as varying degrees of efforts made in their presentation (font size, definition, etc.). (more…)

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Art of Communication, Personal Development, Uncategorized

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The Karma / Janus Connection

The expression that there are two sides to just about anything applies, in many peoples’ anecdotal experience, to karma.

What is karma?

Stemming from east Asian religions, karma relates to the culmination of a person’s actions in life (potentially added to by one’s previous ‘states of existence’) impacting, or even deciding, one’s fate moving forward. More simply, karma = destiny, or fate, as influenced by one’s actions. (more…)

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Behaviour & Relationships, Personal Development, Uncategorized

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Life Lessons from BETTER CALL SAUL

The third ten-episodes season of ‘Better Call Saul’ has just concluded, a series in part prequel to one of AMC’s most popular previous runs, ‘Breaking Bad’. Thanks to the pedigree of the contiguous writers/producers, as events evolve the ripples are gradually connecting.

The most significant thread is the character currently known as Jimmie McGill, but who is slowly turning into ‘Better Call’ Saul Goodman. Jimmy’s manifesting a morally flawed character from the beginning, viewing his adventures attempting a deviant level of success is not unlike watching a slow train wreck. (more…)

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Arts commentary, Behaviour & Relationships, Personal Development, Uncategorized

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Secrets

In the early 1990s a movie came out with the seemingly innocuous title of SNEAKERS. In it, a diverse group of professional security hackers are caught up in case involving Russians, organized crime, and ‘too many secrets’.

How many intriguing plot points in movies and television programs trace their roots to the keeping of or revelation of secrets?

An article in the current month edition of Psychology Today discusses the world of inner secrets (or, the inner world of secrets). (more…)

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Art of Communication, Behaviour & Relationships, Personal Development, Social & political commentary, Uncategorized

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By Way of Introduction

A prime component of beginning almost any formal, or unfamiliar, get-together is the introduction.

Whether it be meeting someone for the first time, or during a major ceremony, or at myriad occasions in-between, officious status or not, at or near the starting point is an introduction. Whatever the context, the happening takes on a focus of attention at such times. (more…)

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Behaviour & Relationships, Business Commentary, Personal Development, Uncategorized

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What We’re Sensing

Any of us exposed for some time to a family dog knows that they develop an intuitive quality of awareness of, to some degree understanding, our behaviour and moods, not to mention their ongoing desire to connect through eye contact. The capacity of dogs to have a helpful instinct – illustrated at an extreme, if wistful, level in the book and film “A Dog’s Purpose” – has been evident over the years, in their training as police dogs, as ‘seeing eye’ dogs for the blind, and in therapeutic visits to hospitals as well as senior residences.

Many of us see much of dog behaviour as mirroring that of children. (more…)

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Art of Communication, Behaviour & Relationships, Personal Development, Uncategorized

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