Hugh's Blog

I just sent off a new program description for a very cool youth program that I have been asked to speak at and I wanted to share some it with you. This is deceivingly simple, so bear with me as I go through this.

Advertisers and sales people want us to believe that power, success and happiness come from the things we buy, wear, drive and own. To see this in action just look at the people standing in line to upgrade to the iPad2 when they’ve only had an iPad1 for a couple of months! Or check out how many magazines fill the racks about celebrities and what they are eating, wearing, driving, or who they are dating.

But we’ve been lied to.

Your real power has nothing to do with those things. You can have all the gadgets and bling, the homes and cars, the clothes and watches, the hair and body and still be miserable. Worse yet you can fall into depression and be self-destructive. We’ve seen this: Hughes, Presley, Jackson, and now Winehouse.

Our real power can only come from one thing: what you choose to focus on and what actions you take.

And that’s a drag for salespeople—‘cause we already own what we need.

Bummer.

PS I’m sending out my Fall schedule for Give Me a Break webinars soon. These are a great way to boost your effectiveness at work and in life. Hope you can join me!

Tags: accountability, choices, commitment, decisions, effectiveness, freedom, growth, happiness, inspiration, leadership, small stuff

Do you remember your dreams?

This is a little off track from my work smarter, live better theme, but you might like this!

In July I was taking part in a spiritual retreat at the remarkable Stowel Lake Farm centre with depth psychologist and author Bill Plotkin. Suffice to say that in itself is worthy of another blog (at the very least.)

On the first day Plotkin offered to share the secrets of remembering dreams—I jumped at the chance.

I’m one of those people that knows they had a dream, might even try to recall it in the morning and yet all the details are gone. I usually have a fuzzy feeling about the scenes in the dream, but not a lot more.

We all have what novelist Robert Louis Stevenson called “that small theater of the brain”—dreams. Even if you don’t recall any you are dreaming about every 90 minutes. Even a short afternoon nap can get the dream machine working.

And dreams can be great sources of inspiration, problem solving, or, at the very least, juicy scenarios worth pondering. Paul McCartney got the tune for Yesterday in a dream, Shelley came up with Frankenstein, even bad boy Keith Richards would routinely record song ideas on a cassette recorder beside his bed.

But first you have to remember them.

Here’s Plotkin’s process. And I can tell you that using this process I can now routinely recall dreams, record them and have enough details to reflect on later in the morning.

This is amazing to me! To think that I could have been famous like McCartney if I’d just known what I’m going to share with you now:)

First, you have to prepare your sleeping area. In your journal record the date at the top of a new page. Put your pen in the journal to mark the page and place the journal in easy reach. You will also need a light you can easily turn on. Light on, journal in hand should all be done without moving any more than one arm.

Next you need to commit to remembering your dream. Don’t skip this part; your subconscious will try to outsmart you—don’t let it. Plotkin recommends that you tell yourself (he says you need to tell your “inner skeptics”) why you want this.

The last step comes when you wake up. Don’t move.

That’s the secret: don’t move. As soon as you wake up replay the dream in your mind. Find a central image, scene, or key element and keep repeating it until you have it clearly in your mind. Then turn on the light, reach for your journal and start scribbling, or voice recording.

That’s it. Try it out tonight—you might be surprised by how easy this is (and how clear the dream is.) And if you come up with a hit on the charts I want a cut.

PS Not looking forward to another crazy busy fall? Hang in there….
I’m going to announce my Fall schedule of webinars soon. I hope you can join me.

Tags: Bill Plotkin, dream recall, dreams, effectiveness, growth, happiness, health, inspiration, Keith Richards, McCartney, motivation, s, Shelley, small stuff

Maybe there are others, but it strikes me that there are two lies that we get suckered into that trump all others.

See if you agree.

The first lie is that some thing will make you happy. This is the lie of the marketing agencies, the travel bureaus, self-help authors, and most folks with “sales” in their job title. You know how it works: get more money, have this car, look this way, travel to here, use this phone and you will be happier than you are now.

The evidence is pretty consistent: even lottery winners, given a bit of time, are no happier than someone who has, for example, become a paraplegic. We don’t get happy from things, cars, money, people, or even more money.

The holy grail of happiness has always been found inside; it’s a conscious choice or it doesn’t happen.

The second lie is that yesterday predicts tomorrow. Our genes, bad habits, childhood, attitude, parents, income, education, you-name-it programs us for what happens next in our life. Couldn’t lose weight in the past means you can never lose weight. Can’t seem to save money, then you’ll never have wealth. Procrastinate about stuff means you are a procrastinator. Ridiculous.

The reality is the past is just the past. The world if full of people that have rags to riches stories (like Oprah and Ingvar Kamprad), that created fabulous charities out of nothing (like Craig Kielburger), who overcame physical set backs to go on and do amazing things (like Rick Hansen).

And the world is full of people who everyday make decisions to do something better than yesterday and who do.

Our psyche hates it when we think about changing; all change equals risk and that’s dangerous. The weird thing is that once the change occurs and we get a better result then that becomes the norm and our psyche will want to protect that state.

When I signed up for my first Ironman competition I was freaked out just thinking about what I’d gotten myself into. But once I’d crossed the finish line and took in how great it felt to have trained and succeeded it was a normal part of me.

When I first accepted an offer to facilitate a CEO’s retreat I thought I was insane, but once I had one under my belt it was just one more skill I could offer.

And when I signed my first $1 Million plus contract I felt like I was pulling some kind of fast one over the client. Two months later and after a lot of hard work I knew I had earned the money and the client was thrilled.

Everyday we have a choice: buy into the two greatest lies, or simply make a better decision and then step towards it with action.

So, what lie did you buy into today?

And what’s going to be your new story?

I’m going to be announcing my new series of webinars for this fall soon – hope you can join me. One hour packed full of great stuff to change your stories, get better results, and look fabulous (at least two of those will happen!)

Tags: accountability, business, business growth, commitment, culver, happiness, Ingvar Kamprad, inspiration, kielburger, oprah, promises, Rick Hansen