I can remember in high school wanting to be exactly like the cool kids, pants sagging down to my knees, hat backwards and and a baseball jersey. That to me was cool.
Then there were the other kids who decided to be totally off the wall and didn't follow any style but their own, they were considered to be unique and misunderstood.
As we grow up, we often try and keep up with the neighbors to stay one step ahead and always look like we are doing better than our friends, this is how adults feel they are unique.
Unique is something we are as individuals and cannot be distinguished from things we buy.
I want to show you how unique you are with 3 simple aspects we all have that make us into the individuals we are today without having to buy anything to show off.
#1- LIFE EXPERIENCES
We all have life experiences, and no one can take these from us. People we've met, places we've been and different adventures we've been on. Positive or negative we all take away small life lesson that we are able to teach the world, we just need to grab people's attention.
Whether it's a weight loss struggle you've had, a business lesson you have gone through or even something as simple as a great recipe you've invented. Share your stories, the world is waiting.
#2- GOALS AND DREAMS
We all have personal goals and dreams, life teaches us what our passion are and through our passions we develop our goals and dreams.
As some of you may know one of my goals is to become a professional speaker but this wasn't always the case. I developed this goal through a life experience, I seen a great motivational speaker, I took that experience and immediately knew I had I burning desire to stand on stage and speak to people.
Before that goal I had another, I was a DJ. I would entertain crowds at weddings, large events and bars. This goal was developed at the age of 14 while watching a DJ at a party who couldn't get anyone on the dance floor, I made myself a promise as I left that I would become the best DJ around and I would fill dance floors every night. That dream gave me a 15 year career to which I still have intense passion for.
#3- US
The past teaches us how to use our mind, body and personality. We make our decisions based upon what we think will be the best solution to our problems. The future, holds our goals and dreams and we move at different speeds towards our goals them depending on how badly we want them.
We take what we have learned and where we want to go and through this we develop our outer selves. Our personality traits, our movements and even our relationships all come down to what we have learned and where we are going.
Now as you can see no two people can be exactly the same, we have all learned different things in life and we are all headed in different directions. We are so unique there is no need to prove it we just need to tell our stories to the world..
Stay motivated
Shane C.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Live your passion not someone else's
So you wake up one morning, step on the scale and you tell yourself you are to heavy, you immediately decide you are going to get into the shape you were years ago and you give yourself a till the end of next week to be that person you once were. Does this scenario sound familiar?
Unfortunately many of us make goals based on negative emotion and then give ourselves unrealistic timelines to achieve these goals. Our ambitions are lacking passion and meaning to our lives and our objectives tend to be based on what other people want. We worry that if we don't reach the goals we set, people will not respect us for the end result in which we have become.
I know someone who at one time was one of the greatest leaders I knew, they had a competitive attitude a rock hard body and was truly an inspiration to the people in which they came in contact with. With all the hard work that they put in, a well deserved break from the discipline was taken. A life of willpower was now replaced with months of good times which introduced them to negative people that now fill this individuals relationships. A new focus is turned to solving other peoples problems and they neglected their own life and dreams.
If you fast forward to today, this person no longer has a clue in which direction to go. Life is bombarded with other peoples problems. Every new person that enters their life presents them with a new opportunity and they believe what is presented is the answer to their sadness if only they follow someone elses dreams they will become a great success in life. This person's passion is lost behind everything else that their chose life has presented them.
Some days we lose our direction and forget what is most important to us. We believe living other peoples dreams is the solution to our own happiness. Remember you have important goals to live up to, things you are passionate about, the things that can make you pop out of bed and get excited to start your day. Sure you can help others achieve a dream by giving a nudge bit don't forget your own greatness along the way. You have something no one can take from you, a set of dreams and goals that burns in your belly. The journey is long and hard and you will want to give up but please don't forget who you are, I've seen the consequences and it truly is a sad thing to see someone struggle to be themselves again.
Now what gets you excited?
Stay motivated
Shane C.
Unfortunately many of us make goals based on negative emotion and then give ourselves unrealistic timelines to achieve these goals. Our ambitions are lacking passion and meaning to our lives and our objectives tend to be based on what other people want. We worry that if we don't reach the goals we set, people will not respect us for the end result in which we have become.
I know someone who at one time was one of the greatest leaders I knew, they had a competitive attitude a rock hard body and was truly an inspiration to the people in which they came in contact with. With all the hard work that they put in, a well deserved break from the discipline was taken. A life of willpower was now replaced with months of good times which introduced them to negative people that now fill this individuals relationships. A new focus is turned to solving other peoples problems and they neglected their own life and dreams.
If you fast forward to today, this person no longer has a clue in which direction to go. Life is bombarded with other peoples problems. Every new person that enters their life presents them with a new opportunity and they believe what is presented is the answer to their sadness if only they follow someone elses dreams they will become a great success in life. This person's passion is lost behind everything else that their chose life has presented them.
Some days we lose our direction and forget what is most important to us. We believe living other peoples dreams is the solution to our own happiness. Remember you have important goals to live up to, things you are passionate about, the things that can make you pop out of bed and get excited to start your day. Sure you can help others achieve a dream by giving a nudge bit don't forget your own greatness along the way. You have something no one can take from you, a set of dreams and goals that burns in your belly. The journey is long and hard and you will want to give up but please don't forget who you are, I've seen the consequences and it truly is a sad thing to see someone struggle to be themselves again.
Now what gets you excited?
Stay motivated
Shane C.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
You are a fine piece of artwork
Look around your home are there any pieces of artwork, posters, painting, pictures or even sculptures?
It's been said to never buy artwork for someone because art is a very personal thing that no two people can admire the same. I believe we are also like artwork, no two people will admire us in the same manner.
While staying in Vancouver this summer I decided to visit the art gallery, known noting about art I just wanted to look around. I walked in and looked at the traditional art (the stuff most people like) and it did nothing for me. I took the escalator up a couple of floors and I was in awe! I came across the weirdest stuff, very psychedelic type art, like Salvidor Dali. If you don't know who he is, he was an artist who's art was made out of the disturbing things you may see in your dreams, check he's stuff out on Google.
I loved his art, it was forbidden and controversial, and that got me excited.
Not everyone walking through the gallery was appreciating his art, I heard comments about drugs and how strange it was as people walked away, which I'm sure Salvidor heard all through his career as an artist. If he had taken the time to change his art and his strange ways to have people love him, I would have never looked at his art and I would not have written a blog about it.
You like artwork, have been put here to be admired by a select group of people. Not everyone will understand you, not everyone will want to take the time to talk to you but some people will celebrate your strengths and weaknesses. You have been created to change peoples opinions, to mentor, to teach and to guide a few people to become great. If you change due to someones opinion of you, the people who are meant to meet you and learn from you will miss out.
You may feel like an outsider or different but that is what make you so unique, like a Salvidor Dali painting never change because you never know when you will meet that one person who is willing to talk about you like a fine piece of art.
Stay motivated
Shane C.
It's been said to never buy artwork for someone because art is a very personal thing that no two people can admire the same. I believe we are also like artwork, no two people will admire us in the same manner.
I loved his art, it was forbidden and controversial, and that got me excited.
Not everyone walking through the gallery was appreciating his art, I heard comments about drugs and how strange it was as people walked away, which I'm sure Salvidor heard all through his career as an artist. If he had taken the time to change his art and his strange ways to have people love him, I would have never looked at his art and I would not have written a blog about it.
You like artwork, have been put here to be admired by a select group of people. Not everyone will understand you, not everyone will want to take the time to talk to you but some people will celebrate your strengths and weaknesses. You have been created to change peoples opinions, to mentor, to teach and to guide a few people to become great. If you change due to someones opinion of you, the people who are meant to meet you and learn from you will miss out.
You may feel like an outsider or different but that is what make you so unique, like a Salvidor Dali painting never change because you never know when you will meet that one person who is willing to talk about you like a fine piece of art.
Stay motivated
Shane C.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Kick fear in the face!
Have you ever cleaned your home and then sat down and said to yourself: "Now what?".
In life, when you get something accomplished that you have been putting off and procrastinating about a strange sense of a peace comes over you. It can be something as small finally sitting down to watch a movie you've been meaning to watch. Once it's over you can say to yourself, I've done it and it really wasn't that bad.
Yesterday, as I was getting ready to go to sleep I had one of those moments, the kind of moment when I said to myself: "Now what?".
I've been going to Toastmasters (public speaking) for about 5 months, trying to face a fear of speaking, I don't have a fear of speaking to people it's more a fear of not knowing a subject and looking like a fool in front of a crowd, so I have been getting up for an exercise called "Table topics" where you only have 1 minute to prepare for a subject that you will be talking about. I still haven't mastered this but I will, then yesterday came something new....
THE SPEECH
It was now time to perform my prepared speech, a piece of work I worked on for 2 weeks and practiced over and over again. When I woke up I was ready, I had cue cards (which I never needed), a prop and a confident attitude, I hadn't had any fears then I arrived at the meeting. As the meeting started and we got up to read the mission statement it happened to me, a fear like nothing I've ever felt. The fear was so intense I told myself "I must leave right now!", the room literally started to change colors, I lost feeling in my hands and thought I was going to faint....that would be embarrassing!
As people gave their speeches, I wished I could have listened but I couldn't hear, I literally thought I was about to die. Then it was time to hit the stage, I went for it and physically I had no control. While speaking my voice shook like I was about to cry and my arms trembled but I got through the talk and from the feedback I received I must have done well.
All this was so strange to me, I've spoken to people before in trainings and it's never been an issue. I think it had to do with what label I gave the speech, this was public speaking and I need to be scared of it.
The point is, I did it and I killed a fear that I've never felt before. I now wonder to myself if this fear is conquered what else can I conquer?
I want you to look at your fears and excuses and ask yourself, when I finally face my fear what will be left to do? When you grab something you are afraid of and throw it down like a football and yell "TOUCHDOWN!" you will have conquered it.
Face a fear, as uncomfortable as it may be and you can say to yourself: "Now what?". Life will seem that mush easier.
Stay motivated
Shane C.
In life, when you get something accomplished that you have been putting off and procrastinating about a strange sense of a peace comes over you. It can be something as small finally sitting down to watch a movie you've been meaning to watch. Once it's over you can say to yourself, I've done it and it really wasn't that bad.
Yesterday, as I was getting ready to go to sleep I had one of those moments, the kind of moment when I said to myself: "Now what?".
THE SPEECH
As people gave their speeches, I wished I could have listened but I couldn't hear, I literally thought I was about to die. Then it was time to hit the stage, I went for it and physically I had no control. While speaking my voice shook like I was about to cry and my arms trembled but I got through the talk and from the feedback I received I must have done well.
All this was so strange to me, I've spoken to people before in trainings and it's never been an issue. I think it had to do with what label I gave the speech, this was public speaking and I need to be scared of it.
The point is, I did it and I killed a fear that I've never felt before. I now wonder to myself if this fear is conquered what else can I conquer?
I want you to look at your fears and excuses and ask yourself, when I finally face my fear what will be left to do? When you grab something you are afraid of and throw it down like a football and yell "TOUCHDOWN!" you will have conquered it.
Face a fear, as uncomfortable as it may be and you can say to yourself: "Now what?". Life will seem that mush easier.
Stay motivated
Shane C.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The big mistake in making change
What changes would you like to make in your life?
Would you like to go back to the gym, become vegetarian or even something like wake up 2 hours earlier so you can accomplish more? For growth, we all need to make changes but change is very intimidating, unless you know how to do it.
I'm sure you have meet someone in your life that has decided they needed to get back to the gym so they could get back in shape. They go out buy new clothes for the gym, fill their fridge with the cleanest foods in the world, hire a trainer and spend 2 hours at the gym for about 7 weeks and then it happens......
An injury or a stack of excuses start getting in the way of quick progress. Now why does this happen?
You see people try and change to fast by making drastic changes but unfortunately your mind, nervous system and body are not always ready to make a 100% change for the better.
How do we change?
One of my favorite books is THE COMPOUND EFFECT by Darren Hardy, the concept is that slow and steady changes turns us into champions. We always want change, but we go about it the wrong way every single time. Here are some quick tips so you can begin to make changes in your life.
You want to get in shape- Start of by walking or doing a 20 minute light workout at home, do this for minimum 1 month. If that motivates you enough, go get a membership at the gym. People often fail to realize changing your body doesn't require you to be a contestant on The Biggest Loser.
You want more responsibility at work- Take on one task, complete it then ask for another. Watch to not get overwhelmed by to much, it's about quality not quantity.
You want to change your eating habits- Slowly do it over a few weeks. Number one mistake people make is being to strict, staying away from everything they use to eat, start by changing 1 or 2 meals per day and allow yourself foods you enjoy while you gently make the change, doing so keeps your sanity and when you are ready, make a complete change over.
I often shake my head at people when they tell me how they want to make a change, they have their whole lives planned out overnight and it is filled with drastic changes. The bar is set way to high for them, the second they fail to meet their high expectations they beat themselves up for not being as strict as their schedules are. This is a sure sign of giving up, learn to make changes slowly and congratulate yourself on your successes when you reach your small goals and eventually without realizing it your whole life will have changed using small and easy steps towards becoming great.
Stay motivated
Shane C.
Would you like to go back to the gym, become vegetarian or even something like wake up 2 hours earlier so you can accomplish more? For growth, we all need to make changes but change is very intimidating, unless you know how to do it.
I'm sure you have meet someone in your life that has decided they needed to get back to the gym so they could get back in shape. They go out buy new clothes for the gym, fill their fridge with the cleanest foods in the world, hire a trainer and spend 2 hours at the gym for about 7 weeks and then it happens......
An injury or a stack of excuses start getting in the way of quick progress. Now why does this happen?
You see people try and change to fast by making drastic changes but unfortunately your mind, nervous system and body are not always ready to make a 100% change for the better.
How do we change?
One of my favorite books is THE COMPOUND EFFECT by Darren Hardy, the concept is that slow and steady changes turns us into champions. We always want change, but we go about it the wrong way every single time. Here are some quick tips so you can begin to make changes in your life.
You want to get in shape- Start of by walking or doing a 20 minute light workout at home, do this for minimum 1 month. If that motivates you enough, go get a membership at the gym. People often fail to realize changing your body doesn't require you to be a contestant on The Biggest Loser.
You want more responsibility at work- Take on one task, complete it then ask for another. Watch to not get overwhelmed by to much, it's about quality not quantity.
You want to change your eating habits- Slowly do it over a few weeks. Number one mistake people make is being to strict, staying away from everything they use to eat, start by changing 1 or 2 meals per day and allow yourself foods you enjoy while you gently make the change, doing so keeps your sanity and when you are ready, make a complete change over.
I often shake my head at people when they tell me how they want to make a change, they have their whole lives planned out overnight and it is filled with drastic changes. The bar is set way to high for them, the second they fail to meet their high expectations they beat themselves up for not being as strict as their schedules are. This is a sure sign of giving up, learn to make changes slowly and congratulate yourself on your successes when you reach your small goals and eventually without realizing it your whole life will have changed using small and easy steps towards becoming great.
Stay motivated
Shane C.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Look what I can do!! (Rant)
I'm sure most people have a problem with those who try and show off, people who do things with a "Look what I can do" motive behind it. These people are found in the workplace, in social situations and in your home sometimes. The problem is, we don't have time to validate peoples accomplishments every second of the day, at least I don't.
I can validate your accomplishments in life if what you do is great but forget about a pat on the back if what you do is simply "good". What annoys me are people that search for that pat on the back because they feel a little inferior. In life people need to understand, children get validated, adults get paid! When you do things you should be doing anyway it's not a reason for celebration from the outside world.
Myself, extremely competitive like to show off my wins, although it may come off arrogant the reason I do so is to find those few people whom it can inspire to get better. I want people to get better and better as they go through life, instead of going stale and always complaining the world isn't fair. These people are hard to find, and I hope you become a self validating person who can celebrate their own wins without looking to others for a "Way to be you!" cheer.
What I believe in, is self validation, I'm proud of what I do and try and learn from my mistakes. I always try and get better results so I can feel better about myself, yet I don't look to people to tell me "Wow! Good job!" Sure it's nice to hear it, but once you mature you can realize people around you are not there to give you a high five every time you do the obvious.
Stay motivated
Shane C.
Myself, extremely competitive like to show off my wins, although it may come off arrogant the reason I do so is to find those few people whom it can inspire to get better. I want people to get better and better as they go through life, instead of going stale and always complaining the world isn't fair. These people are hard to find, and I hope you become a self validating person who can celebrate their own wins without looking to others for a "Way to be you!" cheer.
What I believe in, is self validation, I'm proud of what I do and try and learn from my mistakes. I always try and get better results so I can feel better about myself, yet I don't look to people to tell me "Wow! Good job!" Sure it's nice to hear it, but once you mature you can realize people around you are not there to give you a high five every time you do the obvious.
Stay motivated
Shane C.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Do yu truly hate it? Maybe you don't!
It often seems in our lives that we get angry at the things we love. You often don't realize how much you love something until it is taken away from you. Once taken from you, life become a scramble to try and get it back, you talk to yourself daily coming up with solutions on how to get what is now gone.
Then, there are times when something just doesn't seem right, you don't get angry you simply know something isn't right in your life.
Some of you may know I was married, I'm now separated and it took me awhile to get over the whole not being married anymore. This was my "hating the thing I loved", what I mean by this is I loved being married to my best friend but some days I had negative feelings about some part of being married. It wasn't anything big, just negativity for a couple of hours, yet I knew I loved my marriage and my wife. Then when the marriage was taken away, I got scared and didn't know how I would live life anymore, nothing life threatening but when something you love is gone you freak out a bit...lol.
It felt like any anger or negativity I ever had, I simply wanted to take back as if I never had felt it before. What I loved was gone and it hurt.
Now let's take a part of my life where I knew something was wrong, my career. I come from a very small town where my choices for work were to become a laborer or something in construction, I didn't have many choices at my disposal. I did this for a few years and I knew deep down inside this wasn't me. I can remember doing work at peoples homes saying to myself: "One day I will be hiring people to come do these jobs". I knew something was wrong and I wanted out, I could never quite understand why I was coming to work everyday.
Then came the day I discovered sales, I loved it instantly. I work in management, I sell, I write and I speak and I know how much I love these things in my life. Somedays do I get incredibly angry, frustrated and want to throw things.....YES! This tells me one thing, that I love it I don't think I would trade it for the world. It would hurt if it was taken away from me but it didn't hurt one bit when the construction thing was taken, that didn't hurt a bit.
I'm trying to calm you down by letting you know it's alright to get frustrated at the things in your life, if you are totally at peace with what you are doing when you are focused in it then you know there is a great chance you love it, you may have just forgotten how much you felt about it.
It comes time for change when your doing something and suddenly you look at your life thinking: "This isn't me", something just won't seem right almost like your living someone elses life.
Look over your life and really ask yourself what are you truly comfortable with and what seems out of place in your life. The things you are truly comfortable with are probably what you are most attached to emotionally and would simply go crazy if they were taken from you.
Work harder on the things you love
Stay motivated
Shane C.
Some of you may know I was married, I'm now separated and it took me awhile to get over the whole not being married anymore. This was my "hating the thing I loved", what I mean by this is I loved being married to my best friend but some days I had negative feelings about some part of being married. It wasn't anything big, just negativity for a couple of hours, yet I knew I loved my marriage and my wife. Then when the marriage was taken away, I got scared and didn't know how I would live life anymore, nothing life threatening but when something you love is gone you freak out a bit...lol.
It felt like any anger or negativity I ever had, I simply wanted to take back as if I never had felt it before. What I loved was gone and it hurt.
Now let's take a part of my life where I knew something was wrong, my career. I come from a very small town where my choices for work were to become a laborer or something in construction, I didn't have many choices at my disposal. I did this for a few years and I knew deep down inside this wasn't me. I can remember doing work at peoples homes saying to myself: "One day I will be hiring people to come do these jobs". I knew something was wrong and I wanted out, I could never quite understand why I was coming to work everyday.
Then came the day I discovered sales, I loved it instantly. I work in management, I sell, I write and I speak and I know how much I love these things in my life. Somedays do I get incredibly angry, frustrated and want to throw things.....YES! This tells me one thing, that I love it I don't think I would trade it for the world. It would hurt if it was taken away from me but it didn't hurt one bit when the construction thing was taken, that didn't hurt a bit.
I'm trying to calm you down by letting you know it's alright to get frustrated at the things in your life, if you are totally at peace with what you are doing when you are focused in it then you know there is a great chance you love it, you may have just forgotten how much you felt about it.
It comes time for change when your doing something and suddenly you look at your life thinking: "This isn't me", something just won't seem right almost like your living someone elses life.
Look over your life and really ask yourself what are you truly comfortable with and what seems out of place in your life. The things you are truly comfortable with are probably what you are most attached to emotionally and would simply go crazy if they were taken from you.
Work harder on the things you love
Stay motivated
Shane C.
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