LEARNING SPRING 2008

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LEARNING SPRING 2008 - Archive

What I Learned Yesterday - Thursday July 3rd 2008

If it was up to my outer self, I would like to not talk to anyone for weeks at a time. Because of technology, it seems I get my people fix with emails and "friendship" sites.

But I know this isn't healthy so I always make sure I connect with at least one person a day who is not in my group of major influences. I know it's important to make a connection with a stranger or someone you hardly know for my personal growth.

This whole small talk thing makes no sense to me. I guess you start talking about the weather or something in order to get to something important. But what I've learned is that that something important hardly ever comes. So I might as well get down to business!

I tried all day yesterday to have this small talk thing, but it's just not me.

I'm an open book and can be asked any question and I'll answer it as honest as I can. So I hope others are the same.

Seems to me that there's just too much talk about nothing going on and not enough talk about something.

I am attracted to knowledge and it's really the only thing I care about.

What I Learned Yesterday - Wednesday July 2nd 2008

I always wondered what a smart person is. It's because the phrase - "He/she's a smart guy/girl" gets thrown around a lot. But most of the time I hear that phrase about someone and then meet them, they don't appear to be a very smart.

So this is what I think a smart person is:

1) Someone who can solve problems. There's a situation that needs fixing, someone who is smart can figure out what's needed to solve the problem. The bigger the problem, the smarter the person.

2) A teacher. Someone needs/wants to be learn something and you can teach that someone what they need or want to learn. It's the art of empathizing how to teach someone something with the intellect and skills they have.

3) Someone who can turn nothing into something. It's what I like to call an builder. Someone who comes up with an idea and makes it happen and it become a part of life.

That's what I think a smart person is.

What I Learned Yesterday June 9 2008

I hit a new comfort level yesterday and it's all about just facing your conflicts and inner fears. The less I care about what's around me, the more I care about what's important.

I am who I am and I've reached that moment in my life where I know that I will be successful in everything I will do.

Why? Because I will work until I succeed.

What I Learned Yesterday Weekend June 7-8 2008

What is Happiness?

Me and a colleague of mine went out on the street and asked 100 people what they thought happiness was.

We got a lot of interesting answers, no answers I really thought was the true answer, but interesting nonetheless.

We got a lot of answers to what pleasure is, but pleasure and happiness is different.

There is a crucial difference between PLEASURE and HAPPINESS.

You get pleasure for eating an ice cream sundae or watching your favorite TV show, but that's not happiness.

To be HAPPY, you've got to be challenged. You have to accomplish things. You have to have some sense of satisfaction and achievement.

In order to be HAPPY, you always have to find a way to step up. Always trying to find a way to go from good to great with the passions you have in life.

That is the answer to HAPPINESS. Don't mix pleasure with happiness. It's two different things.

What I Learned Yesterday Friday June 6 2008

After watching my baseball team the Toronto Blue Jays lose two of the most heartbreaking loses I've ever witnessed in all of my years following the team, I went into a deep sole searching mood.

This is what happens when I see my team lose like this -- I take it personally, like I was responsible for it happening. Losing is painful but it's the time where you learn the most about yourself. We all fail everyday in little things, but when you fail in such an epic and profound way, that is when you notice a lot about yourself and when you need to change in order for this painful failure would never happen again.

Of course I'll fail again, or the Blue Jays will lose painful defeats again. That's life. But the trick is to learn as much as you can when it happens.

What I Learned Yesterday Thursday June 5 2008

I just want to do what's right and do good all the time.

Of course this is probably the hardest thing a person can do. Choices and decisions are generally easy, but everyday there is at least 2-3 hard choices I have to make.

Most of the time there's the easy choice and the hard choice. The easy choice is the wrong thing all of the time. It's the hard choice that is usually always the right choice.

Of course we can rationalize to make ourselves make the easy choice, but we know deep down that's the wrong path to go down. And most of the time those easy choices you make in those instant seconds haunt and effect you for your entire life.

So the bottom line is that the hard choice is always the easy choice in the long run.

What I Learned Yesterday Wednesday June 4 2008

Pacing myself has never been my strength. I'm a work or play until I drop kind of guy. I just push through until I can't do it any longer.

When working out your body, you must always pace yourself or else you'll either get hurt or really cause a lot of pain to your body. I go to the gym a lot and this pacing thing still is a problem for me.

I guess I see the results before the results happen and I want to get to them right away and rush my way to it. This is something I've done my entire life.

And I know results are what the real story is. It's the journey of course where all the insight and fun happens. So why am I still in a hurry to finish the journey?

What I Learned Yesterday Tuesday June 3 2008

After the radio show last night I got home and turned on the TV to watch the end of the Stanley Cup final hockey game. Or at least I thought it was the end of the game. But it was just the beginning.

I'm not a big fan of NHL hockey. Being a Canadian I did play the game my entire childhood in organized leagues, so I know the game pretty well and have a soft spot for it. I really lost touch of the game and I can say that I haven't watched an entire game of NHL hockey in about 2 years.

But I wanted to see Detroit raise the Stanley Cup as they were headed for a victory. See the Stanley Cup ceremonies always brings chills to my system. I am after all Canadian!

Then Pittsburgh scored to tie it with 30 seconds left and I was hooked to watch the game until it was over. In the third overtime (about 50 minutes in, almost a another full game), Pittsburgh scored to keep the series alive. Now I'm hooked and will watch game 6.

Now all of these great memories of Hockey have come back into my conscious. I had good times on the ice and I especially remember the great bond I formed with my father when he used to take those country drives to the ice rink for hockey practice at 7AM.

On the radio show Jen brought up how she went to her high school reunion on the weekend. I thought I would never go to my own. But maybe there's something to it. Go back and feel the past so you can learn more about your present self and future.

What I Learned Yesterday Monday June 2 2008

I'm back finally. Not that it was of major concern to anyone but my schedule is so booked, I don't have time for much, much less write. Building an empire is a full-time job!

But I know I need to get back into my inner creativity soon or else I'm in big trouble.

So here I am. What did I learned yesterday? Movie Critics are like sports fans, they/we take the game/film too seriously.

The professional players and the filmmakers are working to entertain and of course to succeed. Those are really the two major concerns for them - bottom line.

Fans and movie critics take things to the extreme and over analyze a game and the film. Sometimes we seem to look too close at a situation when it really is pretty simple.

Over analysis is the English major syndrome of our current society. Those people started the virus and it needs to stop.

On that note, people hate movie reviews but still always read them. 90% of the comments on our website is from the movie reviews. And people complain about them all the time -- but still continue to read them.

We can't help ourselves. Those damn English majors.