Hi,
I hope everything is ok where you are.
Last issue of the year, and whereas last week I talked about motivation, this week I want to touch on goal achievement.
As I type this a chap called Christer Fuglesang is in space, aboard the Discovery shuttle docked to the International Space Station.
He's in a crew of 7, and one of 5 who is on their first trip to space, so why single him out?
Because he's Swedish, that's why.
Zap back in time several decades and imagine the hoo-ha over the first man in space (Russian), the first man on the moon (American) and so on.
Fuglesang is the first Swede in space.
Sweden is a small European country, with a population of 9 million.
Compare that to the US, which has recently crept over *300* million.
Fuglesang has been waiting 14 years to get into space - now that needs motivation for sure!
In press conferences he has been saying how much he enjoys it.
Let's face it, after 14 years, he's not likely to say 'it's crap' is he, but what a superb reward for all that effort.
However many Swedes follow him into space, he will always be the first, so a big fat well done to him.
The European curling championships finished this weekend.
Whereas the game in Scotland is in good shape, in fact the men are current World Champions, in England it is still struggling to get a foothold.
As you know I am really into it, having discovered the one and only rink in England last season, about 45 mins drive.
I checked out how someone gets to the Europeans, Worlds and Olympics, and it goes something like this...
The top 8 finishers at the Europeans get into the Worlds, and the Olympic qualification depends on results at the Worlds.
The European Champs are split into A & B divisions, with the top 2 in the B division getting promoted.
Also, the winner of the B gets to challenge the 8th place in the A for a place at the Worlds.
Following along?
The English men and women are in the B division, and the women came 3rd, just missing out on promotion.
In order to get to the Europeans in the first place, you have to win the English National Champs.
They are held in January at my local rink.
I'm not sure about the men, but in the women, it was uncontested last year - there was only one team!
This year, a team from my club wants to put together a challenge, but get this, the team of 4 consists of 3 Scots and a Canadian!
If you've lived here in England for 2 years you quaify to play for England.
Pish posh in my book!
Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against the Scottish or the Canadians, but come on!
If you asked any of the 4 if they were English, they would say 'no', so how can they call themselves an English team?
They can because the rules allow it of course, so good luck to them, but it shows the game in England struggles to get 4 women together as a team!
I wonder if I wore a wig and shoved a couple of potatoes down my jumper, maybe I could sneak in?
Hmm, maybe pears instead of potatoes.
Hmm, maybe pomegranates instead of pears.
Hmm, maybe melons instead of pomegranates.
I can often be heard remarking that you can't beat a good melon or two.
Next year I aim to be in a team at the English mens, that's all I can say.
Ok, that's it for this week, and for this year as well.
I've hope you've enjoyed reading my wafflings in 2006, I'm nudging Issue 400, so look forward to having you along for the ride in 2007.
If you celebrate Christmas, have a good one, if you don't, have a good couple of weeks, and I'll see you on the other side, (Christmas Schmistmas)
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, December 18, 2006
Monday, December 11, 2006
Issue 396 - A Right Kick In The Peculiars
Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.
It's a motivation issue this week.
I found out at the end of last week that I hadn't got into the London Marathon.
I knew the chances of me getting in were fairly small, so I made plans about what to do if I didn't, basically doing my own marathon on the local streets at the same time on the same date.
I was surprised to find that in fact my motivation took a huge blow.
It was like a kick in the you-know-wheres.
A kick in the never-you-minds.
A kick in the ne'er-do-wells.
Do you get the picture?
In fact, get your imagination working on this one.
I want you to imagine you and me, standing facing each other, like 2 cowboys ready for a duel.
Legs akimbo, arms by our side.
Now I want you to change your image to a construction worker.
We're getting into Village People territiry here, but stick with me on it...
So, you are a construction worker, in a hard hat, overalls, and steel toe-capped boots.
I'm in a cowboy outfit, and there's plenty of sequins around (Village People).
Ok, now imagine you run towards me, as fast as you can, take a full swing with your leg, and your steel toe-capped foot lands smack in the middle of my peculiars.
Now *that's* how my motivation feels!
At the moment it feels lke the only reason to carry on training for another 4 months is just because I said I would.
One feature of long distance running which may sound obvious, bur doesn't really hit home until you do it, is that after a certain distance, it hurts to carry on!
You have to push yourself past the point at which your body is saying 'enough'.
What I'm going to do is take a few days off training, and use one of my goal achievement tricks.
It's a good one, has worked for me many times, and I'm sure will work again, and it's this...
When you go through a bad patch, or hit an obstacle, do *not* take negative action.
What I mean by that is to not take any backward decisions during this period.
Knocks are inevitable when trying to achieve something and motivation will ebb and flow.
When motivation is high, put things in action which will bear long term fruit.
When motivation is low, it can be easy to put things in action which you may regret when your motivation returns.
Is it possible that your motivation doesn't return?
Yes, and that's an indication that you didn't have the desire you thought you had for the goal.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, at least you won't look back and wonder what if.
If you desire the goal enough, your motivation will return, probably more than before, and when it does, you'll be glad you took no negative decision when motivation waned.
Ok, that's it for this week, remember my trick for any lulls you get in motivation.
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope Monday finds you well.
It's a motivation issue this week.
I found out at the end of last week that I hadn't got into the London Marathon.
I knew the chances of me getting in were fairly small, so I made plans about what to do if I didn't, basically doing my own marathon on the local streets at the same time on the same date.
I was surprised to find that in fact my motivation took a huge blow.
It was like a kick in the you-know-wheres.
A kick in the never-you-minds.
A kick in the ne'er-do-wells.
Do you get the picture?
In fact, get your imagination working on this one.
I want you to imagine you and me, standing facing each other, like 2 cowboys ready for a duel.
Legs akimbo, arms by our side.
Now I want you to change your image to a construction worker.
We're getting into Village People territiry here, but stick with me on it...
So, you are a construction worker, in a hard hat, overalls, and steel toe-capped boots.
I'm in a cowboy outfit, and there's plenty of sequins around (Village People).
Ok, now imagine you run towards me, as fast as you can, take a full swing with your leg, and your steel toe-capped foot lands smack in the middle of my peculiars.
Now *that's* how my motivation feels!
At the moment it feels lke the only reason to carry on training for another 4 months is just because I said I would.
One feature of long distance running which may sound obvious, bur doesn't really hit home until you do it, is that after a certain distance, it hurts to carry on!
You have to push yourself past the point at which your body is saying 'enough'.
What I'm going to do is take a few days off training, and use one of my goal achievement tricks.
It's a good one, has worked for me many times, and I'm sure will work again, and it's this...
When you go through a bad patch, or hit an obstacle, do *not* take negative action.
What I mean by that is to not take any backward decisions during this period.
Knocks are inevitable when trying to achieve something and motivation will ebb and flow.
When motivation is high, put things in action which will bear long term fruit.
When motivation is low, it can be easy to put things in action which you may regret when your motivation returns.
Is it possible that your motivation doesn't return?
Yes, and that's an indication that you didn't have the desire you thought you had for the goal.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, at least you won't look back and wonder what if.
If you desire the goal enough, your motivation will return, probably more than before, and when it does, you'll be glad you took no negative decision when motivation waned.
Ok, that's it for this week, remember my trick for any lulls you get in motivation.
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, December 04, 2006
Issue 395 - Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say
Hi,
I hope everything is ok where you are.
So we've lurched into December, and as I walk around the shops I can now grudgingly accept the shops being full of Chrstmas stuff.
Regular readers will know that I get driven to distraction when the Christmas products start appearing in mid-September.
In my view it implies that the last 3 months of the year are not worth anything, they are little more than waiting months until Christmas, which is complete baloney maloney.
I can understand the market forces behind it - if shop A stocks Christmas stuff, then shop B has to, or they will be losing custom.
Last year, I bought some Christmas fruit cake slices which had a best before date of mid November!
This year I decided to ask the shop about it, (not that I held a bitter and twisted 12 month grudge of course!)
At the end of September I took a deep breath and ventured into the Christmas aisle, and sure enough, individual Christmas fruit cake slices, best before date of November 11th.
I had to smile, and since they were buy one get one free, my smile was that bit larger as I shoveled a couple of boxes into my wonky-wheeled trolley.
After the 11th Nov had passed, I went to Tesco's website, where rather bizarrely there isn't an email contact to be seen!
I decided to write snail mail, asking for an explanation as to how Christmas cakes could have a best before date of 11th Nov, meaning you either had to eat them 6 weeks before Christmas, or eat them at Christmas 6 weeks out of date.
I still havn't had a reply, and let's be honest, my letter is still probably flying around the Tesco's internal email system, or has been filed in the 'nutcase' draw.
So I decided to ring them up.
I got a stonewall answer, the chap kept saying that they were definitely Christmas cakes, but obviously still had a best before date.
I realised fairly early on in the conversation that -
a) He wasn't going to grasp the 'Christmas not being 11th November' concept
b) Tesco's were not about to send me a year's supply of fruit cake, which had been my main goal all along.
Now, don't get me wrong, I like Tesco, remember earlier this year when I lost my keys on an early marathon training session, it was Tesco's that found my address from my keyfob and sent them back to me, but in this case they have got it wrong.
To me it doesn't make any difference, I can see the funny side, but I can well imagine some old duffer who bought their cake slices nice and early, only to find them tasting a bit peculiar come Christmas.
It brings up one of my favourite life sayings, and it's this -
'Say what you mean, and mean what you say.'
I'm a big fan of acting with integrity, and if you follow the 'say what you mean' mantra, you won't go far wrong.
There is nothing better than having friends and colleagues, dare I say it loved ones, know that when you say something, you mean it.
It makes you a rock that can be relied on, and also means that whenever you need help, people will be all the more willing to give it.
Ok, that's it for today, if you got your Christmas goodies early, get the cupboard open and check those best before dates!
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope everything is ok where you are.
So we've lurched into December, and as I walk around the shops I can now grudgingly accept the shops being full of Chrstmas stuff.
Regular readers will know that I get driven to distraction when the Christmas products start appearing in mid-September.
In my view it implies that the last 3 months of the year are not worth anything, they are little more than waiting months until Christmas, which is complete baloney maloney.
I can understand the market forces behind it - if shop A stocks Christmas stuff, then shop B has to, or they will be losing custom.
Last year, I bought some Christmas fruit cake slices which had a best before date of mid November!
This year I decided to ask the shop about it, (not that I held a bitter and twisted 12 month grudge of course!)
At the end of September I took a deep breath and ventured into the Christmas aisle, and sure enough, individual Christmas fruit cake slices, best before date of November 11th.
I had to smile, and since they were buy one get one free, my smile was that bit larger as I shoveled a couple of boxes into my wonky-wheeled trolley.
After the 11th Nov had passed, I went to Tesco's website, where rather bizarrely there isn't an email contact to be seen!
I decided to write snail mail, asking for an explanation as to how Christmas cakes could have a best before date of 11th Nov, meaning you either had to eat them 6 weeks before Christmas, or eat them at Christmas 6 weeks out of date.
I still havn't had a reply, and let's be honest, my letter is still probably flying around the Tesco's internal email system, or has been filed in the 'nutcase' draw.
So I decided to ring them up.
I got a stonewall answer, the chap kept saying that they were definitely Christmas cakes, but obviously still had a best before date.
I realised fairly early on in the conversation that -
a) He wasn't going to grasp the 'Christmas not being 11th November' concept
b) Tesco's were not about to send me a year's supply of fruit cake, which had been my main goal all along.
Now, don't get me wrong, I like Tesco, remember earlier this year when I lost my keys on an early marathon training session, it was Tesco's that found my address from my keyfob and sent them back to me, but in this case they have got it wrong.
To me it doesn't make any difference, I can see the funny side, but I can well imagine some old duffer who bought their cake slices nice and early, only to find them tasting a bit peculiar come Christmas.
It brings up one of my favourite life sayings, and it's this -
'Say what you mean, and mean what you say.'
I'm a big fan of acting with integrity, and if you follow the 'say what you mean' mantra, you won't go far wrong.
There is nothing better than having friends and colleagues, dare I say it loved ones, know that when you say something, you mean it.
It makes you a rock that can be relied on, and also means that whenever you need help, people will be all the more willing to give it.
Ok, that's it for today, if you got your Christmas goodies early, get the cupboard open and check those best before dates!
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, November 27, 2006
Issue 394 - Big Girls Playing Rugby
Hi,
I hope all is well where you are, and that if you celebrate it, your Thanksgiving is/was good.
I've been giving thanks that I have stopped being sick.
I was out running on Thursday when I suddenly had a feeling in my stomach which didn't feel quite right.
'Hello,' I thought, 'that doesn't feel quite right.'
I ploughed on, and felt like I had recovered, but as the day wore on I felt worse and worse.
Going to bed early didn't help, and it wasn't long before the first technicolour yawn.
In fact, technicolour yawn doesn't quite do it, it was more of technicolour speech.
In fact, more of a technicolour lecture.
In fact, more of a technicolour seminar, are you with me?
I'm still feeling a bit fragile today, but I won't complain, lest I come across as a big girl's blouse.
Speaking of big girls, there was a petty incident over the weekend, and I suspect it was a case of men acting like big girls.
New Zealand were playing rugby against Wales.
It's a fixture with a long tradition, and an equally long tradition is the haka, the tribal chant which New Zealand teams perform before games.
On Saturday though it was nowhere to be seen.
The anticipation of the crowd was there, but the players just lined up in their normal playing positions and the game started.
It turns out that the haka was not performed because of an argument about protocol, i.e. who would go last in the preliminaries.
Hmm...
I must do some investigating to find out more about it, but why do I get the feeling that it was men having little power play arguments with each other?
It's easy to let the petty seem more significant than it really is, but as in this case, it can overwhelm and ruin something which is bigger and should have taken preference.
The sporting spectacle of the haka should not have been lost to petty arguments, but it was.
Ok, it's a quickie this week, but the point is a good'un - don't lose sight of what's really important amidst the petty.
Have a good week.'
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope all is well where you are, and that if you celebrate it, your Thanksgiving is/was good.
I've been giving thanks that I have stopped being sick.
I was out running on Thursday when I suddenly had a feeling in my stomach which didn't feel quite right.
'Hello,' I thought, 'that doesn't feel quite right.'
I ploughed on, and felt like I had recovered, but as the day wore on I felt worse and worse.
Going to bed early didn't help, and it wasn't long before the first technicolour yawn.
In fact, technicolour yawn doesn't quite do it, it was more of technicolour speech.
In fact, more of a technicolour lecture.
In fact, more of a technicolour seminar, are you with me?
I'm still feeling a bit fragile today, but I won't complain, lest I come across as a big girl's blouse.
Speaking of big girls, there was a petty incident over the weekend, and I suspect it was a case of men acting like big girls.
New Zealand were playing rugby against Wales.
It's a fixture with a long tradition, and an equally long tradition is the haka, the tribal chant which New Zealand teams perform before games.
On Saturday though it was nowhere to be seen.
The anticipation of the crowd was there, but the players just lined up in their normal playing positions and the game started.
It turns out that the haka was not performed because of an argument about protocol, i.e. who would go last in the preliminaries.
Hmm...
I must do some investigating to find out more about it, but why do I get the feeling that it was men having little power play arguments with each other?
It's easy to let the petty seem more significant than it really is, but as in this case, it can overwhelm and ruin something which is bigger and should have taken preference.
The sporting spectacle of the haka should not have been lost to petty arguments, but it was.
Ok, it's a quickie this week, but the point is a good'un - don't lose sight of what's really important amidst the petty.
Have a good week.'
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, November 20, 2006
Issue 393 - Blistered To Buggery
Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.
I think I'll call this week's issue 'Blistered to Buggery'.
I'm sure the good old filters may not like it, but let's face it, 'Blistered Quite A Bit' doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it!!
There's a little tip in itself about article titles.
If you're not using articles to generate free targeted traffic, firstly I ask you why not, and secondly I would suggest you use titles which use the most descriptive words you can , and if they start with the same letter, even better!
Members of my Grab A Grand Club can have me go through any article they write, and I'll come up with titles for your article all day long if you want!
Ok, so where was I.. oh yes, blistered to buggery...
Both my hands and feet are suffering on the blister front at the moment.
Although getting hand blisters from drumming is not unusual. I seem, to have them badly at the moment, some real whoppers.
If you imagine typing with a water balloon stuck to your thumb, you won't be far away from where I am!
In my marathon training I havn't had real foot blisters so far, but as with my hands I noticed a worsening this week.
I wondered what was causing it, and lay awake for, oooh it must have been several minutes pondering.
Then the penny dropped... it's the curling!
All that friction of broom against hand when you sweep has pushed my fingers over the edge, and my questions about why some curlers wear special gloves is being answered!
Also, when you sweep, you tend to hop and shuffle along the ice, your concentration is centred on where you put the broom, not your feet.
At the weekend I was sitting in on drums for Shameful Behaviour, and the drumming has intensified the friction on my hands, the running has intensified the blisters on my feet, and with all the extra puss I must have put on a few pounds in weight!
Of course I could stop doing one or all three of those activities, and the blisters would be better.
I won't though.
I enjoy doing all three, they are vital to my rest and recuperation.
If I stopped just because of a bit of blistering, my quality of life would suffer.
Not hugely, but nevertheless, if you start cutting out your pleasures in life, you can find yourself on a slippery slope towards hermitude.
Hmm, hermitude, does that work - being a hermit, hermitude?
Good word anyway.
Right then, that's it for today, what niggles do you put up with for your vital r & r?
Have a good week.'
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Join my Grab A Grand Club at:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope Monday finds you well.
I think I'll call this week's issue 'Blistered to Buggery'.
I'm sure the good old filters may not like it, but let's face it, 'Blistered Quite A Bit' doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it!!
There's a little tip in itself about article titles.
If you're not using articles to generate free targeted traffic, firstly I ask you why not, and secondly I would suggest you use titles which use the most descriptive words you can , and if they start with the same letter, even better!
Members of my Grab A Grand Club can have me go through any article they write, and I'll come up with titles for your article all day long if you want!
Ok, so where was I.. oh yes, blistered to buggery...
Both my hands and feet are suffering on the blister front at the moment.
Although getting hand blisters from drumming is not unusual. I seem, to have them badly at the moment, some real whoppers.
If you imagine typing with a water balloon stuck to your thumb, you won't be far away from where I am!
In my marathon training I havn't had real foot blisters so far, but as with my hands I noticed a worsening this week.
I wondered what was causing it, and lay awake for, oooh it must have been several minutes pondering.
Then the penny dropped... it's the curling!
All that friction of broom against hand when you sweep has pushed my fingers over the edge, and my questions about why some curlers wear special gloves is being answered!
Also, when you sweep, you tend to hop and shuffle along the ice, your concentration is centred on where you put the broom, not your feet.
At the weekend I was sitting in on drums for Shameful Behaviour, and the drumming has intensified the friction on my hands, the running has intensified the blisters on my feet, and with all the extra puss I must have put on a few pounds in weight!
Of course I could stop doing one or all three of those activities, and the blisters would be better.
I won't though.
I enjoy doing all three, they are vital to my rest and recuperation.
If I stopped just because of a bit of blistering, my quality of life would suffer.
Not hugely, but nevertheless, if you start cutting out your pleasures in life, you can find yourself on a slippery slope towards hermitude.
Hmm, hermitude, does that work - being a hermit, hermitude?
Good word anyway.
Right then, that's it for today, what niggles do you put up with for your vital r & r?
Have a good week.'
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Join my Grab A Grand Club at:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, November 13, 2006
Issue 392 - Do You Know How To Skweeze Me?
Hi,
I hope everything is well where you are.
So, why am I calling today's issue 'Blah blah Skweeze me?'
Well, I had a busy day yesterday.
I went to a curling event, called a 'bonspiel', where people come for 3 days from anywhere in the world to play curling and socialise. It's a real community feel, but as a newbie I still have to work hard to get to know people.
One chap lost his footing and fell on top of a stone.
'Ooh, that's gotta hurt' was the general opinion, and since he had landed with his back right on top of 42 lbs of granite with a big handle on top, it did hurt, and he cracked a couple of ribs.
Apart from that, it's a nice peaceful game, played with smiling faces and fierce etiquettes.
I suspect my skill level may never get much higher than 'poor', but not everything has to lead to an end product, this is an end product in itself, enjoyment and recreation - vital parts of life improvement!
When I got home I opened my emails, and found I had been asked to step in on drums for a band next week.
It's a full make up band, and I will be getting out my sequinnned jacket for sure, and more fun will be had I'm sure.
The band, Shameful Behaviour, has an unashamed Kiss influence, and Kiss themselves were influence by the likes of the British glam rockers Slade.
One of Slade's hits was called 'Skweeze Me Pleeze Me.'
Another of the emails I got was about video squeeze pages.
A squeeze page is where you simply get the visitor to sign up to an email list.
The ease of putting videos online has led to many marketers employing the video squeeze page, as it has better conversion rates.
This particular video squeeze page offer was for $50 a month!
Hmm, interesting...
I still only charge $49 a month for my Grab A Grand Club, and something I will be covering this wek, is putting video on your site.
I'll be handing over the software I recently got.
I'm sure it does the same thing, and of course members get tutorials from my 4+ years of absorbing info on how to market online, plus specific help if you want it.
You can see it at:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com
Ok, that's it for today, remember to include enjoyment and recreation into your schedule, it's a necessity not a luxury, and I'll close by asking again 'Do You Know How To Skweeze Me?'
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope everything is well where you are.
So, why am I calling today's issue 'Blah blah Skweeze me?'
Well, I had a busy day yesterday.
I went to a curling event, called a 'bonspiel', where people come for 3 days from anywhere in the world to play curling and socialise. It's a real community feel, but as a newbie I still have to work hard to get to know people.
One chap lost his footing and fell on top of a stone.
'Ooh, that's gotta hurt' was the general opinion, and since he had landed with his back right on top of 42 lbs of granite with a big handle on top, it did hurt, and he cracked a couple of ribs.
Apart from that, it's a nice peaceful game, played with smiling faces and fierce etiquettes.
I suspect my skill level may never get much higher than 'poor', but not everything has to lead to an end product, this is an end product in itself, enjoyment and recreation - vital parts of life improvement!
When I got home I opened my emails, and found I had been asked to step in on drums for a band next week.
It's a full make up band, and I will be getting out my sequinnned jacket for sure, and more fun will be had I'm sure.
The band, Shameful Behaviour, has an unashamed Kiss influence, and Kiss themselves were influence by the likes of the British glam rockers Slade.
One of Slade's hits was called 'Skweeze Me Pleeze Me.'
Another of the emails I got was about video squeeze pages.
A squeeze page is where you simply get the visitor to sign up to an email list.
The ease of putting videos online has led to many marketers employing the video squeeze page, as it has better conversion rates.
This particular video squeeze page offer was for $50 a month!
Hmm, interesting...
I still only charge $49 a month for my Grab A Grand Club, and something I will be covering this wek, is putting video on your site.
I'll be handing over the software I recently got.
I'm sure it does the same thing, and of course members get tutorials from my 4+ years of absorbing info on how to market online, plus specific help if you want it.
You can see it at:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com
Ok, that's it for today, remember to include enjoyment and recreation into your schedule, it's a necessity not a luxury, and I'll close by asking again 'Do You Know How To Skweeze Me?'
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, November 06, 2006
Issue 391 - The Insignificant Fingernail
Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.
In my book 'Transform Your Life in 21 Days!' I wrote about perspective.
I had some great prompts over the weekend, so I want to mention the subject again today.
In the paper over the weekend, there was a surprisingly uplifting double page spread.
Newspapers as a rule tend to focus on the bad things, but this was a double page of photos showing some gorgeous bronw orange and gold autumnul scenes around Britain, aiming to remind us that those of us living here live in a beautiful country.
That put a little smile on my face.
Later in the same paper there was a picture from the Cassini spacecraft which is currently clicking away at Saturn.
Through the famous rings, you could see a little white blob, and the little white blob is us lot.
Earth.
Pictures like that always remind me that we are of tiny significance in the universal scheme of things, (and that's assuming there's only the one universe, but don't get me started on that!)
Although when I break a finger nail it feels significant, and my yelling of 'Bugger me I've broken a fingernail! is loud enough. it really isn't significant, and life becomes a lot less stressful when you simply put small petty incidents in their rightful place.
Also over the weekend, a great natural history programme began a new series on TV.
The BBC has always been good at this sort of thing, and on eword springs to mind to describe the Planet Earth programme - spectacular.
It really is awe inspiring to see the environments and some of the creatures living in them.
A polar bear swimming 100km to find food, getting ever more desperate as his only hope of food is a walrus he cannot kill.
Penguins waddling 100 miles to breed, and the male penguins huddling together in a huge scrum to keep warm, while the females do the 200 mile round trip to bring food. It's stunning.
What I like is that at the end of each show they have a segment showing how the camera crews managed to get such amazing shots.
This week for instance, the ice worlds of the arctic and antarctic were featured, and we saw crews living in that icy world for a whole year!
Just to get us some nice shots to watch with a cup of tea (and a biscuit).
Of course these crews are following their passion without a doubt, which is a another key to a happy life, but this issue is about perspective, so I'll sign off by suggesting you soak in the visual treats of autumn.
Remember that was all carrying on before we came, and will be carrying on after we've gone, so get that broken nail into perspective!
Have a good week.'
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope Monday finds you well.
In my book 'Transform Your Life in 21 Days!' I wrote about perspective.
I had some great prompts over the weekend, so I want to mention the subject again today.
In the paper over the weekend, there was a surprisingly uplifting double page spread.
Newspapers as a rule tend to focus on the bad things, but this was a double page of photos showing some gorgeous bronw orange and gold autumnul scenes around Britain, aiming to remind us that those of us living here live in a beautiful country.
That put a little smile on my face.
Later in the same paper there was a picture from the Cassini spacecraft which is currently clicking away at Saturn.
Through the famous rings, you could see a little white blob, and the little white blob is us lot.
Earth.
Pictures like that always remind me that we are of tiny significance in the universal scheme of things, (and that's assuming there's only the one universe, but don't get me started on that!)
Although when I break a finger nail it feels significant, and my yelling of 'Bugger me I've broken a fingernail! is loud enough. it really isn't significant, and life becomes a lot less stressful when you simply put small petty incidents in their rightful place.
Also over the weekend, a great natural history programme began a new series on TV.
The BBC has always been good at this sort of thing, and on eword springs to mind to describe the Planet Earth programme - spectacular.
It really is awe inspiring to see the environments and some of the creatures living in them.
A polar bear swimming 100km to find food, getting ever more desperate as his only hope of food is a walrus he cannot kill.
Penguins waddling 100 miles to breed, and the male penguins huddling together in a huge scrum to keep warm, while the females do the 200 mile round trip to bring food. It's stunning.
What I like is that at the end of each show they have a segment showing how the camera crews managed to get such amazing shots.
This week for instance, the ice worlds of the arctic and antarctic were featured, and we saw crews living in that icy world for a whole year!
Just to get us some nice shots to watch with a cup of tea (and a biscuit).
Of course these crews are following their passion without a doubt, which is a another key to a happy life, but this issue is about perspective, so I'll sign off by suggesting you soak in the visual treats of autumn.
Remember that was all carrying on before we came, and will be carrying on after we've gone, so get that broken nail into perspective!
Have a good week.'
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, October 30, 2006
Issue 390 - Can Bumble Bees Fly?
Hi,
I hope everything is ok where you are.
I saw a great quote the other day at the TotalLifeSuccess.com forum.
It goes like this...
The bumble bee is aerodynamically incapable of flight, but because no-one told it, it persists in flying anyway.
What a great thought, think of the motivational follow ons - don't let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do, keep going to overcome the odds, etc, etc.
It's the kind of thing you expect to see on a poster.
There's just one problem...
It's not true.
It's complete baloney.
In fact, it might even be a non sequitur, if I was 100% sure what non sequitur meant. (Good word though)
So let's investigate this story.
Apart from the obvious fact that bumble bees clearly *can* fly, where did the story originate?
I did some research, and the story is easy to find on the web, there have been books and poems using it for a title.
Blimey, I knew my upbringing was sheltered, but as I turn 40 I still discover just how sheltered it must have been, I had never heard the story before.
Anyhoo, the most common story is that in the 1930s an aerodynamisist and a biologist were having the discussion, and the aerodynamisist did a quick calculation on his knapkin, and came to the conclusion that the wings were too small to prived the required lift for the body weight.
The story then took hold, and despite the clear falsehood of the story, it entered the world of the urban myth.
The calculation was wrong because it was based on aircraft with a smooth fixed wing.
Insects actually create upward thrust by forcing the air downwards when they flap, which causes an updraft into the space vacated by the wing - apparently!
So, it's a mutli-tiered affair, this story.
First you get the original story, which is great for a motivational goal achievement twist, and then you get another important point which is that you shouldn't trust everything just because someone says so.
There is a difference in science between theory and practice, and it's the same in life - people may come up with theories, but nothing beats getting out and doing it yourself!
Ok, that's it for this week, I'm off to see if I can work the story into my Rock & Roll Town song, and remember next time you see a bumble bee fly, to remind yourself that they can't/can/can't!
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope everything is ok where you are.
I saw a great quote the other day at the TotalLifeSuccess.com forum.
It goes like this...
The bumble bee is aerodynamically incapable of flight, but because no-one told it, it persists in flying anyway.
What a great thought, think of the motivational follow ons - don't let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do, keep going to overcome the odds, etc, etc.
It's the kind of thing you expect to see on a poster.
There's just one problem...
It's not true.
It's complete baloney.
In fact, it might even be a non sequitur, if I was 100% sure what non sequitur meant. (Good word though)
So let's investigate this story.
Apart from the obvious fact that bumble bees clearly *can* fly, where did the story originate?
I did some research, and the story is easy to find on the web, there have been books and poems using it for a title.
Blimey, I knew my upbringing was sheltered, but as I turn 40 I still discover just how sheltered it must have been, I had never heard the story before.
Anyhoo, the most common story is that in the 1930s an aerodynamisist and a biologist were having the discussion, and the aerodynamisist did a quick calculation on his knapkin, and came to the conclusion that the wings were too small to prived the required lift for the body weight.
The story then took hold, and despite the clear falsehood of the story, it entered the world of the urban myth.
The calculation was wrong because it was based on aircraft with a smooth fixed wing.
Insects actually create upward thrust by forcing the air downwards when they flap, which causes an updraft into the space vacated by the wing - apparently!
So, it's a mutli-tiered affair, this story.
First you get the original story, which is great for a motivational goal achievement twist, and then you get another important point which is that you shouldn't trust everything just because someone says so.
There is a difference in science between theory and practice, and it's the same in life - people may come up with theories, but nothing beats getting out and doing it yourself!
Ok, that's it for this week, I'm off to see if I can work the story into my Rock & Roll Town song, and remember next time you see a bumble bee fly, to remind yourself that they can't/can/can't!
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, October 23, 2006
Issue 389 - A Firmer Buttock?
Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.
I had 2 strokes of luck last week.
Firstly, the head gasket went on my car, which considering the state of my car, was a terminal issue.
Doesn't sound so lucky does it?
The luck was that I got a clue about it just as I turned the corner to get back home.
I have been doing many long mileage journeys to jams, and just this week the new curling season started, which means a long journey down narrow pitch black country lanes.
Had the car given up on me then, I would have been unamused to say the least, so although having to get another car is a pain in the derriere, the circumstances were lucky.
Speaking of a pain in the derriere, and the start of curling, blimey it's a good workout!
I'd forgotten how strenuous it can be, and it provides a good alternative to compliment my marathon training - I'm just hoping that a firmer buttock is helpful for a marathon...
Also, it's only firmer on one side, so will that give me a limp?
Maybe I could wear fancy dress as an upside-down Quasimodo.
Here's the 2nd piece of luck...
In the off season we had been asked to send in our playing intentions for the season as they were starting various leagues.
I duly sent mine back in, only to notice that when the fixtures came out, my name was nowhere to be seen.
I asked why not, and it seems that my intentions form had not been passed on.
I wasn't happy, and had to work quite hard to resist the strong temptation to throw the toys out of my pram and sulk, telling them to shove their curling where the sun doesn't shine.
Resist it I did though, and when I went this week for a non-league session, they asked me if I had dates available as one of the team members had dropped out leaving a space for me.
I duly accepted, and made a mental note to pass on that little story.
It's often said that luck is when opportunity meets preparation.
Well, had my preparation been a sulk and a strop, the opportunoty would have meant nothing when it came, but good preparation on my part had allowed me to enjoy the 'luck'.
I've been working hard on my Grab A Grand Club.
Remember that the idea is for me to pass on the knowledge I have learnt about internet marketing, and also give you specific hands on help with any of it that you may get stuck on.
The more work I've been doing on it, the more I have realised that the $19 a month launch price is ludicrously low.
There are only so many hours in the day, and since I offer the hands on help, it's actually a bad way for me to leverage my time.
As such, instead of raising the price to $27 a month on Nov 1st, I'm raising it to $47.
That means you still have a week to take up the launch price of $19 a month, which is a locked in price once you join.
There is no commitment, you can stop whenever you want.
If you've ever been stopped from internet marketing because you think you don't know how to make a website, or set up an autoresponder, or research a market, or create a product, or write articles, etc, etc, etc, I will give you specific help on any/all of it.
Go and take a look at the site, which also has a 50% paying affiliate programme:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com
Ok, that's it for this week, remember to prepare properly for the 'lucky' opportunities that may be around the corner...
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope Monday finds you well.
I had 2 strokes of luck last week.
Firstly, the head gasket went on my car, which considering the state of my car, was a terminal issue.
Doesn't sound so lucky does it?
The luck was that I got a clue about it just as I turned the corner to get back home.
I have been doing many long mileage journeys to jams, and just this week the new curling season started, which means a long journey down narrow pitch black country lanes.
Had the car given up on me then, I would have been unamused to say the least, so although having to get another car is a pain in the derriere, the circumstances were lucky.
Speaking of a pain in the derriere, and the start of curling, blimey it's a good workout!
I'd forgotten how strenuous it can be, and it provides a good alternative to compliment my marathon training - I'm just hoping that a firmer buttock is helpful for a marathon...
Also, it's only firmer on one side, so will that give me a limp?
Maybe I could wear fancy dress as an upside-down Quasimodo.
Here's the 2nd piece of luck...
In the off season we had been asked to send in our playing intentions for the season as they were starting various leagues.
I duly sent mine back in, only to notice that when the fixtures came out, my name was nowhere to be seen.
I asked why not, and it seems that my intentions form had not been passed on.
I wasn't happy, and had to work quite hard to resist the strong temptation to throw the toys out of my pram and sulk, telling them to shove their curling where the sun doesn't shine.
Resist it I did though, and when I went this week for a non-league session, they asked me if I had dates available as one of the team members had dropped out leaving a space for me.
I duly accepted, and made a mental note to pass on that little story.
It's often said that luck is when opportunity meets preparation.
Well, had my preparation been a sulk and a strop, the opportunoty would have meant nothing when it came, but good preparation on my part had allowed me to enjoy the 'luck'.
I've been working hard on my Grab A Grand Club.
Remember that the idea is for me to pass on the knowledge I have learnt about internet marketing, and also give you specific hands on help with any of it that you may get stuck on.
The more work I've been doing on it, the more I have realised that the $19 a month launch price is ludicrously low.
There are only so many hours in the day, and since I offer the hands on help, it's actually a bad way for me to leverage my time.
As such, instead of raising the price to $27 a month on Nov 1st, I'm raising it to $47.
That means you still have a week to take up the launch price of $19 a month, which is a locked in price once you join.
There is no commitment, you can stop whenever you want.
If you've ever been stopped from internet marketing because you think you don't know how to make a website, or set up an autoresponder, or research a market, or create a product, or write articles, etc, etc, etc, I will give you specific help on any/all of it.
Go and take a look at the site, which also has a 50% paying affiliate programme:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com
Ok, that's it for this week, remember to prepare properly for the 'lucky' opportunities that may be around the corner...
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Support your own favourite cause at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, October 16, 2006
Issue 388 - More Speed Less Haste
Hi,
I hope everything is well where you are.
I had an interesting week with my marathon training.
For my long run last week, 9 miles, I didn't feel quite on top if it right from the beginning.
My thighs felt heavy for some reason, and despite imagining it would feel better as I got into the run, I just didn't seem to get into it.
There were many times when I thought 'Ohh I could just stop', but I gave myself a stern talking to, and decided to get to the end, no matter what the time, as I could tell my lethargy wasn't an injury type strain.
In the end I did 6 minutes outside my schedule.
I had a think about what the cause might have been , but just put it down to an off day.
'Off days' occur to us all in whatever line, and it's important not to give them more importance than they deserve!
During the week I thought I would try something different in my 3 mile sessions.
For the first one, I put short sprints in.
I guess they must have been about 200 metres at a time.
It felt good to be flying, er ok, make that trundling along at full pelt.
At the end of 3 miles though, my overall time was only slightly faster, but had needed a huge increase in effort...
Hmm, my quest for an easy life kicked in, and it occured to me that if a huge increase in effort results in only a small time benefit, then logically I could make a noticable reduction in effort, and the time loss would only be small!
So for the 2nd 3 mile session I deliberately went slower in the running stints than I ever had before, lower leg lift, shorter stride.
Sure enough, I felt better for it, and only lost a small amount of time.
Ah Ha!
So for yesterday's 10 miler, I decided I would stick to this plan rigidly, and see what happened.
My target time was 2 hours dead, and when I go to the end, my time was 1 hour 58!
More haste, less speed as my mother would say.
Hang on, was it more speed less haste?
Anyway you get the idea, the goal can often be achieved quicker by going at a more sensible sustainable pace.
Regarding my marathon, all this effort I'm putting in is for one event 6 months away, and since it's now 6 months to the race this week, Apr 22nd 2007, I'm relaunching the sponsorship site.
There are 2 main points to note.
The first is that 100% of your donation goes to charity.
I'm not seeking to make a penny profit from it.
The second thing, is that you get to choose the charity!
When I previously chose MIND, the UK mental health charity, people told me they didn't know enough about the charity.
So here's the thing, if I asked you what your favourite charity was, what would you say?
It could be a domestic charity for you country, or a local charity for your town.
It could be an international charity.
It could to do with animals, children, mentally ill, homeless, etc, etc.
It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's an officially registered charity, it'll do!
Then just decided how much you would sponsor me for my marathon, to go towards that charity - then you just hit the donate button!
If you run a newsletter or support a particular charity, get your readers to sponsor me, and tell them to pick the charity you are helping!
Hopefully you can see the appeal - you get to support me in my marathon to mark turning 40, plus support your favourtite charity at the same time.
If you can't decide on a charity, or aren't bothered, then say so, and it will go to my personal choice, MIND.
Go and look at the site, you can download my free book!
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Ok, that's it for today, could you do with more speed, less haste (possibly less speed, more haste)
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
I'll help grab a grand a month at:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com
I hope everything is well where you are.
I had an interesting week with my marathon training.
For my long run last week, 9 miles, I didn't feel quite on top if it right from the beginning.
My thighs felt heavy for some reason, and despite imagining it would feel better as I got into the run, I just didn't seem to get into it.
There were many times when I thought 'Ohh I could just stop', but I gave myself a stern talking to, and decided to get to the end, no matter what the time, as I could tell my lethargy wasn't an injury type strain.
In the end I did 6 minutes outside my schedule.
I had a think about what the cause might have been , but just put it down to an off day.
'Off days' occur to us all in whatever line, and it's important not to give them more importance than they deserve!
During the week I thought I would try something different in my 3 mile sessions.
For the first one, I put short sprints in.
I guess they must have been about 200 metres at a time.
It felt good to be flying, er ok, make that trundling along at full pelt.
At the end of 3 miles though, my overall time was only slightly faster, but had needed a huge increase in effort...
Hmm, my quest for an easy life kicked in, and it occured to me that if a huge increase in effort results in only a small time benefit, then logically I could make a noticable reduction in effort, and the time loss would only be small!
So for the 2nd 3 mile session I deliberately went slower in the running stints than I ever had before, lower leg lift, shorter stride.
Sure enough, I felt better for it, and only lost a small amount of time.
Ah Ha!
So for yesterday's 10 miler, I decided I would stick to this plan rigidly, and see what happened.
My target time was 2 hours dead, and when I go to the end, my time was 1 hour 58!
More haste, less speed as my mother would say.
Hang on, was it more speed less haste?
Anyway you get the idea, the goal can often be achieved quicker by going at a more sensible sustainable pace.
Regarding my marathon, all this effort I'm putting in is for one event 6 months away, and since it's now 6 months to the race this week, Apr 22nd 2007, I'm relaunching the sponsorship site.
There are 2 main points to note.
The first is that 100% of your donation goes to charity.
I'm not seeking to make a penny profit from it.
The second thing, is that you get to choose the charity!
When I previously chose MIND, the UK mental health charity, people told me they didn't know enough about the charity.
So here's the thing, if I asked you what your favourite charity was, what would you say?
It could be a domestic charity for you country, or a local charity for your town.
It could be an international charity.
It could to do with animals, children, mentally ill, homeless, etc, etc.
It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's an officially registered charity, it'll do!
Then just decided how much you would sponsor me for my marathon, to go towards that charity - then you just hit the donate button!
If you run a newsletter or support a particular charity, get your readers to sponsor me, and tell them to pick the charity you are helping!
Hopefully you can see the appeal - you get to support me in my marathon to mark turning 40, plus support your favourtite charity at the same time.
If you can't decide on a charity, or aren't bothered, then say so, and it will go to my personal choice, MIND.
Go and look at the site, you can download my free book!
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Ok, that's it for today, could you do with more speed, less haste (possibly less speed, more haste)
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
I'll help grab a grand a month at:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com
Monday, October 09, 2006
Issue 387 - Would A Grand A Month Help You?
Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.
It's time to tell you about another new product of mine.
The other day I got an email offering me a no cost report on how to make $1000 in 15 days online.
I downloaded it out of curiousity, and found it to contain bland unspecific advice which helped neither the newbie or the experienced.
Disappointing.
Then I got an offer offering me a 'clone' of a membership site which had 5000 members at $29 a month.
Again I looked (it's always an education to look at how these offers are presented).
It was presented well, but at the price of $4000 I didn't stay for long, not with my tight arse.
Also in the last couple of weeks I had people at jam nights asking me exactly what I did.
I normally say I have a 'couple of online businesses', but they wanted to know more details.
So, I decided to offer a membership club, where I would spill the beans on all I have learnt in the past 4 + years about how to market online.
I've spent a lot of dollars buying information, and although it would be naughty, (er, illegal) for me to give you these books, I am perfectly allowed to relay the information in them!
Take for example 2 products released this year - Tag & Ping by Sean Wu, and Adsense Videos by Michael Cheney.
Combined they have a price of $244, and that's what I paid.
I will pass on the info inside them to members of my club, along with everything else.
How much?
$19 a month.
That means you could be a member for a full year and still not have paid as much as buying just those 2 products, along with all the other content, which is listed on my site.
I decided to call it The Great Gordino's Grab A Grand Club, and here's why -
The idea is that if I can teach you, and give you hands on help to get to earning $1000 a month online, you will have the tools and knowledge to repeat the process.
I originally decided to set a launch date of Nov 1st.
However, I noticed another product launching, callled Affiliate Project X, and having bought it at $77, I decided to bring my launch forward, because the info in Project X will be included in the club, as it's now info in my head!
I spent many hours rushing to get it all done earlier than planned, and had many nights working through the small hours.
That's one of the joys of working for myself, from home, I can just choose to do it.
When I say I give hands on help, that's just what I mean - if you have problems with any part of the process, ask me, and I'll guide you through it, it's included in the cost.
What's more the club has an affiiate programme paying 50%, meaning if you sell a membership, you get 50% of that fee every month they remain a member!
That price of $19 is way too low, I'm really starting with that to give readers and buddies the early start, but after 50 members are in, or the 1st Nov, whichever is earlier, the price will go up to $27.
Go and have a look, note all the knowledge I will be passing on that I have paid for, tell me what you think.
Ask any questions!
I'll be interested to hear what have to say!
Here's the link:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com
Ok, that's it for today, what would an extra grand a month do for you?
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get my self-improvement book at:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com
I hope Monday finds you well.
It's time to tell you about another new product of mine.
The other day I got an email offering me a no cost report on how to make $1000 in 15 days online.
I downloaded it out of curiousity, and found it to contain bland unspecific advice which helped neither the newbie or the experienced.
Disappointing.
Then I got an offer offering me a 'clone' of a membership site which had 5000 members at $29 a month.
Again I looked (it's always an education to look at how these offers are presented).
It was presented well, but at the price of $4000 I didn't stay for long, not with my tight arse.
Also in the last couple of weeks I had people at jam nights asking me exactly what I did.
I normally say I have a 'couple of online businesses', but they wanted to know more details.
So, I decided to offer a membership club, where I would spill the beans on all I have learnt in the past 4 + years about how to market online.
I've spent a lot of dollars buying information, and although it would be naughty, (er, illegal) for me to give you these books, I am perfectly allowed to relay the information in them!
Take for example 2 products released this year - Tag & Ping by Sean Wu, and Adsense Videos by Michael Cheney.
Combined they have a price of $244, and that's what I paid.
I will pass on the info inside them to members of my club, along with everything else.
How much?
$19 a month.
That means you could be a member for a full year and still not have paid as much as buying just those 2 products, along with all the other content, which is listed on my site.
I decided to call it The Great Gordino's Grab A Grand Club, and here's why -
The idea is that if I can teach you, and give you hands on help to get to earning $1000 a month online, you will have the tools and knowledge to repeat the process.
I originally decided to set a launch date of Nov 1st.
However, I noticed another product launching, callled Affiliate Project X, and having bought it at $77, I decided to bring my launch forward, because the info in Project X will be included in the club, as it's now info in my head!
I spent many hours rushing to get it all done earlier than planned, and had many nights working through the small hours.
That's one of the joys of working for myself, from home, I can just choose to do it.
When I say I give hands on help, that's just what I mean - if you have problems with any part of the process, ask me, and I'll guide you through it, it's included in the cost.
What's more the club has an affiiate programme paying 50%, meaning if you sell a membership, you get 50% of that fee every month they remain a member!
That price of $19 is way too low, I'm really starting with that to give readers and buddies the early start, but after 50 members are in, or the 1st Nov, whichever is earlier, the price will go up to $27.
Go and have a look, note all the knowledge I will be passing on that I have paid for, tell me what you think.
Ask any questions!
I'll be interested to hear what have to say!
Here's the link:
http://www.thegrabagrandclub.com
Ok, that's it for today, what would an extra grand a month do for you?
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get my self-improvement book at:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com
Monday, October 02, 2006
Issue 386 - Mon 2nd Oct 2006
Hi,
I hope everything is well where you are.
As we lurch into October, it's time to address the urgent issue of the day - have you written your letter to Santa yet?
October is the signal for swathes of high street retail space to be taken over with Christmas stuff, so quick - hurry!
Christmas must be only just around the corner!
It's 3 sodding months away!
That's a full quarter of the year!
Don't let this marketing ploy lull you into thinking that the next 3 months are simply a waiting period up to Christmas.
You can achieve a bucket load in that time - life changing things if you want!
Let's leave Christmas 'til December at least!
I did a nice 8 miles training yesterday in 1 hour 36, right in line with my 12 min mile pace.
I have no tweaks or twangs to report, and with my new shoes and extra grass running, I feel back in full flow for my training.
You may remember a few weeks ago I wrote about how the prisons here in Britain were close to being full up.
If you don't remember (shame on you), it was Issue 378, you can see it in the archive.
Anyhoo, that state of full prisons may happen this week.
There are around 320 places left, with 370 being jailed last week.
When they do get full, prisoners then have to be put in the cells at police stations, which costs £360 per prisoner per night!
That's a lot of moolah!
The last time this happened was in 2002, and the final bill was around £10.5 million.
This government had been power for 5 years by then, but hey, it's good to see they have the sorted the problem in the 4 years since!
This bit might make you giggle, it's one of the government's suggested solutions to the overcrowding of prisons - make some offences liable for an on the spot fine.
Hmm, ok, maybe less court time, and less jailing, but also less criminal records for the, er, criminals.
And what are 3 of these suggested offences?
Mugging, assault, and assaulting a police officer!.
I think I may take up a new career, here's the scenario...
I mug you, and pinch your mobile phone.
I get caught, and am given an on the spot fine of £100, and no criminal record.
I pay the £100 out of the £150 I sold your phone for.
You have no other recourse against me available, so vent your frustration by smacking me around the head.
I report you ( believe me, as a criminal I want the full protection of the law when it's my turn!)
You then get an on the spot fine of £100.
Net result - the government is £200 better off.
You are £100 plus your phone out of pocket.
I am £50 to the good, and free to carry on mugging with no more than a minor bruise on my head.
When this kind of thing was pointed out to the government, they did a usual about turn, saying it was drafted by a junior official.
That's not a jibe at this particular government, the other lot would probably be just as bad.
It's one of the reasons I stood in the election last year.
Truly, our trip to hell in a handbasket is gathering pace...
I must leave on a positive note, and it's this, if I get my Christmas chocolates in now, I may get a discount!
Hmm, that's brought back a memory from last year - individual slices of Christmas cake, ideal for a singleton like me, but with a 'best before' date of mid-November!
If I see that again this year, I'm a-writing to Mr. Tesco just to see what happens!
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get my self-improvement book at:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com
I hope everything is well where you are.
As we lurch into October, it's time to address the urgent issue of the day - have you written your letter to Santa yet?
October is the signal for swathes of high street retail space to be taken over with Christmas stuff, so quick - hurry!
Christmas must be only just around the corner!
It's 3 sodding months away!
That's a full quarter of the year!
Don't let this marketing ploy lull you into thinking that the next 3 months are simply a waiting period up to Christmas.
You can achieve a bucket load in that time - life changing things if you want!
Let's leave Christmas 'til December at least!
I did a nice 8 miles training yesterday in 1 hour 36, right in line with my 12 min mile pace.
I have no tweaks or twangs to report, and with my new shoes and extra grass running, I feel back in full flow for my training.
You may remember a few weeks ago I wrote about how the prisons here in Britain were close to being full up.
If you don't remember (shame on you), it was Issue 378, you can see it in the archive.
Anyhoo, that state of full prisons may happen this week.
There are around 320 places left, with 370 being jailed last week.
When they do get full, prisoners then have to be put in the cells at police stations, which costs £360 per prisoner per night!
That's a lot of moolah!
The last time this happened was in 2002, and the final bill was around £10.5 million.
This government had been power for 5 years by then, but hey, it's good to see they have the sorted the problem in the 4 years since!
This bit might make you giggle, it's one of the government's suggested solutions to the overcrowding of prisons - make some offences liable for an on the spot fine.
Hmm, ok, maybe less court time, and less jailing, but also less criminal records for the, er, criminals.
And what are 3 of these suggested offences?
Mugging, assault, and assaulting a police officer!.
I think I may take up a new career, here's the scenario...
I mug you, and pinch your mobile phone.
I get caught, and am given an on the spot fine of £100, and no criminal record.
I pay the £100 out of the £150 I sold your phone for.
You have no other recourse against me available, so vent your frustration by smacking me around the head.
I report you ( believe me, as a criminal I want the full protection of the law when it's my turn!)
You then get an on the spot fine of £100.
Net result - the government is £200 better off.
You are £100 plus your phone out of pocket.
I am £50 to the good, and free to carry on mugging with no more than a minor bruise on my head.
When this kind of thing was pointed out to the government, they did a usual about turn, saying it was drafted by a junior official.
That's not a jibe at this particular government, the other lot would probably be just as bad.
It's one of the reasons I stood in the election last year.
Truly, our trip to hell in a handbasket is gathering pace...
I must leave on a positive note, and it's this, if I get my Christmas chocolates in now, I may get a discount!
Hmm, that's brought back a memory from last year - individual slices of Christmas cake, ideal for a singleton like me, but with a 'best before' date of mid-November!
If I see that again this year, I'm a-writing to Mr. Tesco just to see what happens!
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get my self-improvement book at:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com
Monday, September 25, 2006
Issue 385 - Mon 25th Sep 2006
Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.
After last week's issue I got some emails telling me that I had given enough coverage to my groin adventures.
One of them was quite succint, a simple 'Groin Groin, Groan'!
Another one I got within a couple of hours of it going out...
'It is disappointing to see you use so many 'groin' jokes as a 'crutch' on an otherwise interesting 'tasty handful' of ideas. You always manage to throw a 'sac of balls' up into the air - so that we, your many readers can 'grope' amongst them on their descent - to find our own 'support' in life. We all envy you, your amazing 'testicular fortitude' in searching for a new girl friend, and pray that you can for evermore hold 'hernear'. It will happen 'trussed' me.'
That made me smile good and proper, written by my buddy Les Miserable from the BluesMothers.
You can see his site here: http://www.bluesmother.com
Right, today I want to talk about one of my favourite words, it's one of what I like to call the 4 magic words beginning with 'A'.
In fact I wrote about it in my 'Transform Your Life in 21 Days' book.
The word is 'ASK', and it can bring amazing results, I like to use the theory as much as I can.
A while ago I had toyed with the idea of making videos (and no, not THAT kind) to sell online.
The trouble was that the resulting file was of such a massive size ( no jokes) that I didn't know how to handle it (sorry).
It suddenly occured to me that someone I knew from the music jam sessions had put a video on disc for someone else, so he seemed a good bet to ask.
I asked him, and he gave me 2 tips that I could use, the 2nd one being maybe the most useful - 'you're are using a dvd instead of cd aren't you?'
I wasn't.
A simple answer, and all I had to do to get it was ask!
Last week I was trying to record some audio onto my old pc.
I couldn't use my laptop, becauase what I wanted to record was something I was getting online *from* the laptop.
Anyhoo, the input socket on the pc didn't seem to work, so I gave up, assuming it was just old, and therefore knackered (much like myself).
When I mentioned it to a friend, he said he knew what the answer was - that the factory default was to mute the input, so I would have to go and unmute it.
I went and looked, and sure enough, all I had to do was unmute it!
That must be the most absurd default setting I've heard of.
That's a design meeting I'd love to have been at...
'Hey, I know, let's make the default setting for the line in to mute'
'But why, that doesn't seem to make sense' (good question)
'I know it doesn't make sense'.
'Ok then, let's do it.'
So despite the fact that the surreal exchange above actually must have taken place, the answer to my problem was simple, and all I had to do was ask.
Ask - a magic word.
If you want to read about the other 3 magic 'A' words, you can get my book here:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com
Ok, that's it for today - talking to people about your plans and goals can lead to some huge information coming your way.
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get my self-improvement book at:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com
I hope Monday finds you well.
After last week's issue I got some emails telling me that I had given enough coverage to my groin adventures.
One of them was quite succint, a simple 'Groin Groin, Groan'!
Another one I got within a couple of hours of it going out...
'It is disappointing to see you use so many 'groin' jokes as a 'crutch' on an otherwise interesting 'tasty handful' of ideas. You always manage to throw a 'sac of balls' up into the air - so that we, your many readers can 'grope' amongst them on their descent - to find our own 'support' in life. We all envy you, your amazing 'testicular fortitude' in searching for a new girl friend, and pray that you can for evermore hold 'hernear'. It will happen 'trussed' me.'
That made me smile good and proper, written by my buddy Les Miserable from the BluesMothers.
You can see his site here: http://www.bluesmother.com
Right, today I want to talk about one of my favourite words, it's one of what I like to call the 4 magic words beginning with 'A'.
In fact I wrote about it in my 'Transform Your Life in 21 Days' book.
The word is 'ASK', and it can bring amazing results, I like to use the theory as much as I can.
A while ago I had toyed with the idea of making videos (and no, not THAT kind) to sell online.
The trouble was that the resulting file was of such a massive size ( no jokes) that I didn't know how to handle it (sorry).
It suddenly occured to me that someone I knew from the music jam sessions had put a video on disc for someone else, so he seemed a good bet to ask.
I asked him, and he gave me 2 tips that I could use, the 2nd one being maybe the most useful - 'you're are using a dvd instead of cd aren't you?'
I wasn't.
A simple answer, and all I had to do to get it was ask!
Last week I was trying to record some audio onto my old pc.
I couldn't use my laptop, becauase what I wanted to record was something I was getting online *from* the laptop.
Anyhoo, the input socket on the pc didn't seem to work, so I gave up, assuming it was just old, and therefore knackered (much like myself).
When I mentioned it to a friend, he said he knew what the answer was - that the factory default was to mute the input, so I would have to go and unmute it.
I went and looked, and sure enough, all I had to do was unmute it!
That must be the most absurd default setting I've heard of.
That's a design meeting I'd love to have been at...
'Hey, I know, let's make the default setting for the line in to mute'
'But why, that doesn't seem to make sense' (good question)
'I know it doesn't make sense'.
'Ok then, let's do it.'
So despite the fact that the surreal exchange above actually must have taken place, the answer to my problem was simple, and all I had to do was ask.
Ask - a magic word.
If you want to read about the other 3 magic 'A' words, you can get my book here:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com
Ok, that's it for today - talking to people about your plans and goals can lead to some huge information coming your way.
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get my self-improvement book at:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com
Monday, September 18, 2006
Issue 384 - Mon 18th Sep 2006
Hi,
I hope everything is ok where you are.
My return to marathon training after my strain has brought up material for 2 articles, but I can't decide whether to make them into one or not.
Last week saw me suffering with shin splints for the first time, and some quick online research showed me that there are plenty of searches done for that subject, 3-6 keyword phrases.
This means it shouldn't be that hard to optimise a page for those phrases, and rank well.
The visitors would then get the helpful content, created by myself, and bingo, free traffic.
That traffic can then be monetised in a few ways.
Sometimes it can be as simple as that.
I think I'll call the article 'Shocking Shin Splints'.
Today though, I'll use the material for an article called 'The Groin Groin Grass of Home.'
I was going to call it 'From One Groin to Another', but the Groin Groin Grass title is a more pleasing way to feature 2 groins.
Regular readers will know that I strained my right groin, and I took a few weeks off training to let it recover.
I'm still not 100% sure that it wasn't my arsing around when playing bass that did it instead of the running, but there we are.
Speaking of 100%, I also wasn't sure that the injury had totally gone when I resumed training.
I took the first couple of sessions very gingerly, and was pleasantly surprised that my right groin felt fine.
Here's the thing - after a couple of sessions, I started to feel a twinge in my *left* groin.
'Interesting,' I thought, which was just about all I could do until I got home, as I 've mentioned before, groin fondling in public is not to be advised.
I quite enjoyed the twinge, because it made me consider the way the brain works, bringing a smile to my face.
The concept of pain is the brain interpreting the messages it is fed from the rest of the body.
The original pain in my right groin told me that something was wrong, and allowed me to address the problem before it became much worse.
When I got the pain in my left groin, which may have been psychosomatic, my brain concentrated on that, and stopped looking for a pain message about my right groin.
Can you see where I'm going with this?
Our brain interpretations can be a wonderful tool to help us, but it is easy to get our brain used to these messages, so much so that body messages can then be misinterpreted.
So it was pain from another part of my body that broke the cycle of waiting for pain messages about my right groin.
As I say, now I am in the midst of shin pain, but that's another story.
With habit and practice, we can build solid pathways in our brain's message network, embedding ways to act and ways to think.
We can use this to develop good habits, and break down old ones.
In fact we use this process all the time, we just don't do it consciously, so we need to be careful not to develop bad habits!
Ok, that's it for this week, have a think about what bad messages you may be ingraining into your brain, and to help break out of it, just consider my groins!
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get my self-improvement book at:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com
I hope everything is ok where you are.
My return to marathon training after my strain has brought up material for 2 articles, but I can't decide whether to make them into one or not.
Last week saw me suffering with shin splints for the first time, and some quick online research showed me that there are plenty of searches done for that subject, 3-6 keyword phrases.
This means it shouldn't be that hard to optimise a page for those phrases, and rank well.
The visitors would then get the helpful content, created by myself, and bingo, free traffic.
That traffic can then be monetised in a few ways.
Sometimes it can be as simple as that.
I think I'll call the article 'Shocking Shin Splints'.
Today though, I'll use the material for an article called 'The Groin Groin Grass of Home.'
I was going to call it 'From One Groin to Another', but the Groin Groin Grass title is a more pleasing way to feature 2 groins.
Regular readers will know that I strained my right groin, and I took a few weeks off training to let it recover.
I'm still not 100% sure that it wasn't my arsing around when playing bass that did it instead of the running, but there we are.
Speaking of 100%, I also wasn't sure that the injury had totally gone when I resumed training.
I took the first couple of sessions very gingerly, and was pleasantly surprised that my right groin felt fine.
Here's the thing - after a couple of sessions, I started to feel a twinge in my *left* groin.
'Interesting,' I thought, which was just about all I could do until I got home, as I 've mentioned before, groin fondling in public is not to be advised.
I quite enjoyed the twinge, because it made me consider the way the brain works, bringing a smile to my face.
The concept of pain is the brain interpreting the messages it is fed from the rest of the body.
The original pain in my right groin told me that something was wrong, and allowed me to address the problem before it became much worse.
When I got the pain in my left groin, which may have been psychosomatic, my brain concentrated on that, and stopped looking for a pain message about my right groin.
Can you see where I'm going with this?
Our brain interpretations can be a wonderful tool to help us, but it is easy to get our brain used to these messages, so much so that body messages can then be misinterpreted.
So it was pain from another part of my body that broke the cycle of waiting for pain messages about my right groin.
As I say, now I am in the midst of shin pain, but that's another story.
With habit and practice, we can build solid pathways in our brain's message network, embedding ways to act and ways to think.
We can use this to develop good habits, and break down old ones.
In fact we use this process all the time, we just don't do it consciously, so we need to be careful not to develop bad habits!
Ok, that's it for this week, have a think about what bad messages you may be ingraining into your brain, and to help break out of it, just consider my groins!
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get my self-improvement book at:
http://www.transformyourlifenow.com
Monday, September 11, 2006
Issue 383 - Mon 11th Sep 2006
Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.
Today's date really dictates what I write about today.
Most newslettersr around this time, particularly those today will talk about 9/11, so I could deliberately *not* mention it, but that would just be churlish.
When I write, I focus on 3 areas - goal achievement, self-improvement and wealth creation.
I have done for coming up to 4 years, and I'll continue to do so.
Today, as the space shuttle Atlantis docks to the International Space Station, we can see a spectacular example of our goal achievement and self improvement as humans.
5 years ago when the towers were hit, there were so many tales of people who maybe didn't lead as spectacular a life as an astronaut, but they contributed to society.
Think of the rescue services, who find their fulfilment and self improvement, by helping others to live.
They risk their lives to often achieve amazing goals, and faced with an impossible situation that day, they still pressed forward, and it cost hundreds of them their life.
On days like this when we remember events like the ones 5 years ago, the raft of documentaries bring back the human tales of what happened, and I like to look out of the window.
I like to look at something natural - it may be a tree, or the grass.
Then I close my eyes.
I imagine it all taken away.
Then I open my eyes again, and take another look.
The wealth creation I talk about doesn't have to be financial wealth - how about the wealth of abundance?
This doesn't even need to be created, it just needs to be appreciated!
Do I have wealth of abundance that I can look at the grass and trees, open the window and smell the fresh air?
It's a window to a flat which keeps a roof over my head, where I lie down with a healthy body.
Anyone telling me that isn't abundance is reading the wrong newsletter!
It's a simple point today.
It's also very obvious.
That doesn't make it any less valid.
Yes, the little things can get on our nerves and irritations are easy to find, but today is as good a day as any to step back and appreciate what we really have.
That's it for this week.
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope Monday finds you well.
Today's date really dictates what I write about today.
Most newslettersr around this time, particularly those today will talk about 9/11, so I could deliberately *not* mention it, but that would just be churlish.
When I write, I focus on 3 areas - goal achievement, self-improvement and wealth creation.
I have done for coming up to 4 years, and I'll continue to do so.
Today, as the space shuttle Atlantis docks to the International Space Station, we can see a spectacular example of our goal achievement and self improvement as humans.
5 years ago when the towers were hit, there were so many tales of people who maybe didn't lead as spectacular a life as an astronaut, but they contributed to society.
Think of the rescue services, who find their fulfilment and self improvement, by helping others to live.
They risk their lives to often achieve amazing goals, and faced with an impossible situation that day, they still pressed forward, and it cost hundreds of them their life.
On days like this when we remember events like the ones 5 years ago, the raft of documentaries bring back the human tales of what happened, and I like to look out of the window.
I like to look at something natural - it may be a tree, or the grass.
Then I close my eyes.
I imagine it all taken away.
Then I open my eyes again, and take another look.
The wealth creation I talk about doesn't have to be financial wealth - how about the wealth of abundance?
This doesn't even need to be created, it just needs to be appreciated!
Do I have wealth of abundance that I can look at the grass and trees, open the window and smell the fresh air?
It's a window to a flat which keeps a roof over my head, where I lie down with a healthy body.
Anyone telling me that isn't abundance is reading the wrong newsletter!
It's a simple point today.
It's also very obvious.
That doesn't make it any less valid.
Yes, the little things can get on our nerves and irritations are easy to find, but today is as good a day as any to step back and appreciate what we really have.
That's it for this week.
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, September 04, 2006
Issue 382 - Mon 3rd Sep 2006
Hi,
I hope everything is ok where you are.
A new series of 'The Apprentice USA' started over here in the UK.
I say 'new', it is new for us, but it's only series 3, and I think they are up to series 5 or more in the US?
After the first series aired here, it was such a success, the makers decided to do a version with a UK business mogul.
It was so popular that the US version was reduced to the backwaters of our schedules.
I like them both, our version is very British, and the Donald Trump original is very, er, American.
If anyone fancies telling me the result, then please don't!
For this run, Trump put a twist on the 2 teams.
Both teams had the same average age, and the same average IQ, but one team went to college/university, and on team got no more than a high school pass out.
One team has 3 times the income of the other.
'Boring,' you may well mutter.
'Not boring,' I'd reply, because it's the high school team with the higher income!
Nice twist, and further evidence of one of my favourite topics - education.
As adults, there is almost no limit as to what we can teach ourselves, we just need to choose to do it.
It's too easy to say that when our 'official' education ends, that's as far as we will go, and we'll have to make do - wrong!
We learn every day, it's just that it is unfocused learning.
With the rise of the internet there is a huge array of learning materials around, much of it no cost, and before that there were, (and still are) good old fashioned books.
As well as academic study, you can't really replace action.
The high school grads didn't get where they are today by just reading a few extra books - they took action.
They learnt what worked, and learnt what didn't work.
Then they carried on, and the fact that they are on the show means that they are still taking action!
Would it have been possible to get a team of college/university grads that earnt 3 times the school leavers?
Of course, but it woudn't have driven the point home.
Higher education is not to be poo-pooed.
For all the success stories with only a high school education, there are plenty more drop outs and criminals.
A higher education often means that when your time comes to act in the 'real' world, you are directed less by trial and error, and more by established theory.
Both sides of the coin have their value, it's up to the individual to analyse where they are in life, where they want to get to, and what kind of education they need to get as an adult to bridge the gap.
I've made this point over and over in the 4 and half years I've been writing this newsletter.
I made it for sure in my book 'Transform Your Life In 21 Days!'
http://www.gordonbryan.com/transform
There's a reason for that.
It's a fundamental of goal achievement and self improvement.
Ok, that's it for today, what education do you need?
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope everything is ok where you are.
A new series of 'The Apprentice USA' started over here in the UK.
I say 'new', it is new for us, but it's only series 3, and I think they are up to series 5 or more in the US?
After the first series aired here, it was such a success, the makers decided to do a version with a UK business mogul.
It was so popular that the US version was reduced to the backwaters of our schedules.
I like them both, our version is very British, and the Donald Trump original is very, er, American.
If anyone fancies telling me the result, then please don't!
For this run, Trump put a twist on the 2 teams.
Both teams had the same average age, and the same average IQ, but one team went to college/university, and on team got no more than a high school pass out.
One team has 3 times the income of the other.
'Boring,' you may well mutter.
'Not boring,' I'd reply, because it's the high school team with the higher income!
Nice twist, and further evidence of one of my favourite topics - education.
As adults, there is almost no limit as to what we can teach ourselves, we just need to choose to do it.
It's too easy to say that when our 'official' education ends, that's as far as we will go, and we'll have to make do - wrong!
We learn every day, it's just that it is unfocused learning.
With the rise of the internet there is a huge array of learning materials around, much of it no cost, and before that there were, (and still are) good old fashioned books.
As well as academic study, you can't really replace action.
The high school grads didn't get where they are today by just reading a few extra books - they took action.
They learnt what worked, and learnt what didn't work.
Then they carried on, and the fact that they are on the show means that they are still taking action!
Would it have been possible to get a team of college/university grads that earnt 3 times the school leavers?
Of course, but it woudn't have driven the point home.
Higher education is not to be poo-pooed.
For all the success stories with only a high school education, there are plenty more drop outs and criminals.
A higher education often means that when your time comes to act in the 'real' world, you are directed less by trial and error, and more by established theory.
Both sides of the coin have their value, it's up to the individual to analyse where they are in life, where they want to get to, and what kind of education they need to get as an adult to bridge the gap.
I've made this point over and over in the 4 and half years I've been writing this newsletter.
I made it for sure in my book 'Transform Your Life In 21 Days!'
http://www.gordonbryan.com/transform
There's a reason for that.
It's a fundamental of goal achievement and self improvement.
Ok, that's it for today, what education do you need?
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, August 28, 2006
Issue 381 - Mon 28th Aug 2006
Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.
I started back with my marathon training this week just gone.
I'd had a 4 week break.
I had intended to start again after 3 weeks, and the reason I didn't is my point today.
After 3 weeks, when it came to start again on the Monday, it was pouring with rain, and I just couldn't be bothered.
I was down for a walking session anyway, so figured it wouldn't make much difference if I skipped it.
Then the next day, my first running session, I spent time with my mates Les Miserable and Slick Valentine doing the demo for my 'Rock & Roll Town' song.
The session involved a good deal of chatting, and by the time I had got home and got the song uploaded to the site, it was late, and I didn't feel like a run.
Wednesday it was raining, and then I decided since I had missed a lot of the week, I would go for a full 4 week break.
Hmm...
Easy to justify, eh!
When I first stopped due to my groin tweak, I had spent 11 weeks solid, 6 days a week, I had seen the improvement, and felt good for it.
I was in the habit, so stopping was quite a wrench, I really noticed it.
After just 3 weeks though, I had chnaged that habit, and replaced it with one of not running!
That's why after the gap I had to almost force myself to pick it up again.
In fact all through the week I could feel a nagging sense of 'can't be bothered', but I forced myself through that because I have sufficient desire to achieve my final outcome, the marathon next April.
I called my book 'Transform Your Life in 21 Days!' for a reason.
3 weeks is enough time to replace a bad habit with a good one.
At the time it may seem like a long time, when you are forcing yourself everyday, but in the long scheme of things, it's no time at all.
Just apply the new habit every day, and you'll be amazed at what you can change!
Be careful that you aren't re-inforcing bad habits though!
It's a shortish issue this week I guess, but that doesn't make the point any less valid.
Of course, if you want, you can read my 'Transform' book, which was described as 'motivational magic', and a 'must read', here:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/transform
Ok, that's it for today, have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope Monday finds you well.
I started back with my marathon training this week just gone.
I'd had a 4 week break.
I had intended to start again after 3 weeks, and the reason I didn't is my point today.
After 3 weeks, when it came to start again on the Monday, it was pouring with rain, and I just couldn't be bothered.
I was down for a walking session anyway, so figured it wouldn't make much difference if I skipped it.
Then the next day, my first running session, I spent time with my mates Les Miserable and Slick Valentine doing the demo for my 'Rock & Roll Town' song.
The session involved a good deal of chatting, and by the time I had got home and got the song uploaded to the site, it was late, and I didn't feel like a run.
Wednesday it was raining, and then I decided since I had missed a lot of the week, I would go for a full 4 week break.
Hmm...
Easy to justify, eh!
When I first stopped due to my groin tweak, I had spent 11 weeks solid, 6 days a week, I had seen the improvement, and felt good for it.
I was in the habit, so stopping was quite a wrench, I really noticed it.
After just 3 weeks though, I had chnaged that habit, and replaced it with one of not running!
That's why after the gap I had to almost force myself to pick it up again.
In fact all through the week I could feel a nagging sense of 'can't be bothered', but I forced myself through that because I have sufficient desire to achieve my final outcome, the marathon next April.
I called my book 'Transform Your Life in 21 Days!' for a reason.
3 weeks is enough time to replace a bad habit with a good one.
At the time it may seem like a long time, when you are forcing yourself everyday, but in the long scheme of things, it's no time at all.
Just apply the new habit every day, and you'll be amazed at what you can change!
Be careful that you aren't re-inforcing bad habits though!
It's a shortish issue this week I guess, but that doesn't make the point any less valid.
Of course, if you want, you can read my 'Transform' book, which was described as 'motivational magic', and a 'must read', here:
http://www.gordonbryan.com/transform
Ok, that's it for today, have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, August 21, 2006
Issue 380 - Mon 21st Aug 2006
Hi,
I hope all is well where you are.
Today I want to mention my latest site.
As usual it's on the silly side, but it makes me smile.
First though, I want to quickly mention a point which is lingering from a couple of weeks ago, about not trying to please people all the time.
As usual, the TV schedule is awash with talent shows, and one has caught my eye in particular.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, or Lord Lloyd Webber to be more precise, is one of musical theatre's biggest successes, all over the world.
He has often taken risks, and like to use unknowns to launch his shows.
He is producing an upcoming version of The Sound of Music, so instead of doing the usual industry trawl for an unknown to play Maria, he's got on the talent show bandwagon, with a show called 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?'
Nifty title.
As usual it's the public which will have the final choice, and with a 12 week run, it's great publicity for the show.
Andrew is notorious for doing everything himself, and this was in clear evidence during the first auditions.
The people he had asked to do the original auditions had left out 4 girls that he liked, so he just decided to include them in the next stage anyway!
It just goes to show that although those 4 had not impressed the initial 3 judges, they *had* impressed Lloyd Webber.
As it turned out they were later eliminated, but it's a good point about trying to please everybody.
I've done auditions where I knew I was good for the part, but didn't get it after what I knew was a good audition.
Did I worry about why not?
No, because if I had changed something to try and get the part, I could have failed on something else.
All I could do was make sure I doing the best I could, and move on to the next one, because believe it or not, there are plenty of 'Great Gordino' shaped holes in the entertainment biz!
You have to set your own parameters.
Ok, my new site.
To celebrate me passing 40, I wrote a song, called 'Rock & Roll Town.'
It's about, er, a town, where rock & roll rules.
Rockers often have a reputation as being offensive and closed minded, but in fact rockers are usually some of the most open minded people you can meet.
Sure, you get plenty of buffoons, but generally they are a good bunch.
After I'd written the song, I decided it called for a website, and an idea to match.
The idea is to get as many bands as possible to record the song.
Then rock fans can become a 'citizen' of the rock & roll town by buying one of the many versions, or mercandise, maybe a tshirt.
So I can monetize the site a couple of ways, the bands should like it, and rock fans should like it.
See, it's a silly idea isn't it?
I like it though, and there are 2 places to see the project.
The first is the myspace site, which is a great site for networking, particularly in music:
http://www.myspace.com/rocknrolltown
Then there's the main site:
http://www.rocknrolltown.com
See if it makes you smile, 'cos that's the idea!
Ok, that's it for today - are your self-set parameters the best for you?
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope all is well where you are.
Today I want to mention my latest site.
As usual it's on the silly side, but it makes me smile.
First though, I want to quickly mention a point which is lingering from a couple of weeks ago, about not trying to please people all the time.
As usual, the TV schedule is awash with talent shows, and one has caught my eye in particular.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, or Lord Lloyd Webber to be more precise, is one of musical theatre's biggest successes, all over the world.
He has often taken risks, and like to use unknowns to launch his shows.
He is producing an upcoming version of The Sound of Music, so instead of doing the usual industry trawl for an unknown to play Maria, he's got on the talent show bandwagon, with a show called 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?'
Nifty title.
As usual it's the public which will have the final choice, and with a 12 week run, it's great publicity for the show.
Andrew is notorious for doing everything himself, and this was in clear evidence during the first auditions.
The people he had asked to do the original auditions had left out 4 girls that he liked, so he just decided to include them in the next stage anyway!
It just goes to show that although those 4 had not impressed the initial 3 judges, they *had* impressed Lloyd Webber.
As it turned out they were later eliminated, but it's a good point about trying to please everybody.
I've done auditions where I knew I was good for the part, but didn't get it after what I knew was a good audition.
Did I worry about why not?
No, because if I had changed something to try and get the part, I could have failed on something else.
All I could do was make sure I doing the best I could, and move on to the next one, because believe it or not, there are plenty of 'Great Gordino' shaped holes in the entertainment biz!
You have to set your own parameters.
Ok, my new site.
To celebrate me passing 40, I wrote a song, called 'Rock & Roll Town.'
It's about, er, a town, where rock & roll rules.
Rockers often have a reputation as being offensive and closed minded, but in fact rockers are usually some of the most open minded people you can meet.
Sure, you get plenty of buffoons, but generally they are a good bunch.
After I'd written the song, I decided it called for a website, and an idea to match.
The idea is to get as many bands as possible to record the song.
Then rock fans can become a 'citizen' of the rock & roll town by buying one of the many versions, or mercandise, maybe a tshirt.
So I can monetize the site a couple of ways, the bands should like it, and rock fans should like it.
See, it's a silly idea isn't it?
I like it though, and there are 2 places to see the project.
The first is the myspace site, which is a great site for networking, particularly in music:
http://www.myspace.com/rocknrolltown
Then there's the main site:
http://www.rocknrolltown.com
See if it makes you smile, 'cos that's the idea!
Ok, that's it for today - are your self-set parameters the best for you?
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, August 14, 2006
Issue 379 - Mon 14th Aug 2006
Hi,
I hope Monday finds you well.
Today I want to carry on with the a point I made last week, but to start with I want to tell you about something at the weekend which shows in a nutshell why I think sport can teach so much about life.
In the European Athletics Championships, the women's high jump was in full flow.
One of the athletes was a Bulgarian, Venelina Veneva.
If you ask my that's a bit like me calling a daughter of mine Bryony, but there we go.
Venelina was going along holding her own in a stiff competition.
As she approached the bar on one of her jumps, she put her full weight on her ankle, and it buckled underneath her.
She collapsed in a heap on the mat, in a lot of pain.
10 minutes later though, she tried the height again, with a heavily strapped ankle, and cleared it, going to claim the silver medal.
To me that's impressive.
She could have given up, blaming her ankle, but she sucked it up battled through the difficulty, and came through.
Most athletes compete with some injury or other, and it shows that in life, when we come across the barriers in our way, we are not the only one it happens to, and although giving up may be the easy short term option, the better long term action is to fight through.
Ok, back to my point from last week.
This week we only have *510 places* left in our prisons, and something I read in the paper leads me to think about the difference between offering help and being a doormat.
As a country, the UK is welcoming and accomodating to those seeking asylum from other countries.
Not all asylum seekers seem to think it fit to live by our laws in exchange for that help.
One asylum seeker constantly drove his car without insurance and while banned.
As he was continually caught, he was punished with... another ban for him to ignore.
When driving while under such a ban, he knocked down a 12 year old girl.
He got out, saw what he had done, and ran off.
The girl died.
He was put in prison for just 4 months, and banned for 3 years.
Out of prison, he ignored his ban and was caught again.
As an asylum seeker, he has been refused right to stay here, as his claim is not deemed real, but he can't be deported because his particular country is deemed 'unstable'.
So, guess what punishment he received?
Another ban.
I'm sure he'll stick to it, aren't you?
If you ask me, when you ask someone for help, which he did, and you are looked after, which is what this country did, you'd damn well better show respect, and if you break the rules, you should expect to be sent packing.
Is that too much to ask?
It isn't politically correct to say things like that.
I'm not a racist in any way, never have been, but since it's my taxes that pay for people like this, I'm entitled to my opinion.
It comes back to one of the simplest, truest life mottos you an adopt -
'Treat others as you would be treated yourself.'
Ok, that's it for today, I'll see you next week for the launch of my new website.
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope Monday finds you well.
Today I want to carry on with the a point I made last week, but to start with I want to tell you about something at the weekend which shows in a nutshell why I think sport can teach so much about life.
In the European Athletics Championships, the women's high jump was in full flow.
One of the athletes was a Bulgarian, Venelina Veneva.
If you ask my that's a bit like me calling a daughter of mine Bryony, but there we go.
Venelina was going along holding her own in a stiff competition.
As she approached the bar on one of her jumps, she put her full weight on her ankle, and it buckled underneath her.
She collapsed in a heap on the mat, in a lot of pain.
10 minutes later though, she tried the height again, with a heavily strapped ankle, and cleared it, going to claim the silver medal.
To me that's impressive.
She could have given up, blaming her ankle, but she sucked it up battled through the difficulty, and came through.
Most athletes compete with some injury or other, and it shows that in life, when we come across the barriers in our way, we are not the only one it happens to, and although giving up may be the easy short term option, the better long term action is to fight through.
Ok, back to my point from last week.
This week we only have *510 places* left in our prisons, and something I read in the paper leads me to think about the difference between offering help and being a doormat.
As a country, the UK is welcoming and accomodating to those seeking asylum from other countries.
Not all asylum seekers seem to think it fit to live by our laws in exchange for that help.
One asylum seeker constantly drove his car without insurance and while banned.
As he was continually caught, he was punished with... another ban for him to ignore.
When driving while under such a ban, he knocked down a 12 year old girl.
He got out, saw what he had done, and ran off.
The girl died.
He was put in prison for just 4 months, and banned for 3 years.
Out of prison, he ignored his ban and was caught again.
As an asylum seeker, he has been refused right to stay here, as his claim is not deemed real, but he can't be deported because his particular country is deemed 'unstable'.
So, guess what punishment he received?
Another ban.
I'm sure he'll stick to it, aren't you?
If you ask me, when you ask someone for help, which he did, and you are looked after, which is what this country did, you'd damn well better show respect, and if you break the rules, you should expect to be sent packing.
Is that too much to ask?
It isn't politically correct to say things like that.
I'm not a racist in any way, never have been, but since it's my taxes that pay for people like this, I'm entitled to my opinion.
It comes back to one of the simplest, truest life mottos you an adopt -
'Treat others as you would be treated yourself.'
Ok, that's it for today, I'll see you next week for the launch of my new website.
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
Monday, August 07, 2006
Issue 378 - Mon 7th Aug 2006
Hi,
I hope everything is ok where you are.
I fairly regularly get emails from people saying they don't always get the newsletter in their email.
That's simply down to the filters that all emails have to navigate, thanks to the all the j u nk stuff.
In my view, the filters don't work, the negatives outweigh the positives.
I put the newsletter online every week too at the blog, which you're reading now.
I often think about just posting to the blog and not sending a newsletter at all.
Some weeks, like this one, I have bits and bobs I want to say which will spread over 2 issues, whereas if I blog in the traditional way, I could just post when I want.
What do you think?
Do you visit blogs regularly?
Would you visit mine?
I'd love to gather a few opinions.
As I said, this week I have 4 points which came to mind.
2 of them concern how I think a society could maybe work better, and 2 of them concern not trying to please all the people all the time.
Maybe I'll go for one of each today, and maybe put the other 2 on the blog!!
Ok, first up, prison.
I read over the weekend that here in the UK, there were only 680 spaces left in our prisons.
Another 680 criminals, and all our jails will be full up!
Then the prisoners will have to be kept in cells at police stations.
They are meant to be used for holding purposes only, and the police charges the government for it.
The cost of a prison cell for one night to the government is £66.
The cost of a night in the police cells to the government is £362!
Of course when I say 'to the government', what I mean is to honest tax payers like me.
I've never been to prison, and have no intention of ever going there.
I don't know anyone who has either, but from the documentaries I've seen, it isn't a nice place.
'Good,' you may well say, 'it's supposed to be a punishment.'
I agree with that point, but it's not the point I'm making.
The point I want to make is that sometimes people are jailed when they don't need to be.
I only say that due to this overcrowding problem.
For the prisoners themselves, if they don't like it, I say don't break the law in the first place, but for the non-violent one off offender, is prison the best place for them?
Maybe some people go from non violent to violent precisely because they have been in prison.
Maybe the non violent one off criminal could be punished within society?
Impose a curfew on them, punish them financially, how about making them pay the £66 a night prison costs?
That way they are punished and the financial burden is taken off the rest of us.
Hmm... can't see it happening, but I think it would help society. What do you think?
Ok, I was watching a new series on TV of Dragon's Den, where would be entrepreneurs pitch their idea to potential investors.
It 's the kind of thing that happens all the time in business, but not usually on tv, and to spice it up, the programme makers put a fair old share of nutters on the show who would never have a chance of getting the money.
I thought I was watching one of those when a man came on who had invented a water free egg boiler.
His little contraption didn't really excite the dragons, and one of them asked for a demonstration of a 4 minute boiled egg.
They asked him more questions while the 4 minutes went, and when he opened the lid...
He had forgotten to put the egg in.
D'oh!
So, he tried again while the investors rolled their eyes and sniggered.
After another 4 minutes, he took out the egg, cracked the shell and a non-cooked egg ran all over the table.
Double D'oh!
Despite the fact that most of the investors clearly thought this was a bad idea, that didn't even work, he had a 3rd go.
Once again, the result was a raw egg.
Then to my amazement, 2 of the investors said they would give him all the money he asked for because they thought it would sell millions.
It just goes to show that you can't always tell what people will want.
I would have thought a 3-time failed demonstration would be a disaster, and for the majority of the investors it was, but 2 of them snapped up the idea, based on the potential.
In life as well, you can't try and please everyone, because you can't know what they want, so stick to being yourself!
Ok, that's it for today.
Let me know what you think about me blogging, and if you happen to be reading this from jail, let me know wat you think about my non-jail idea!
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
I hope everything is ok where you are.
I fairly regularly get emails from people saying they don't always get the newsletter in their email.
That's simply down to the filters that all emails have to navigate, thanks to the all the j u nk stuff.
In my view, the filters don't work, the negatives outweigh the positives.
I put the newsletter online every week too at the blog, which you're reading now.
I often think about just posting to the blog and not sending a newsletter at all.
Some weeks, like this one, I have bits and bobs I want to say which will spread over 2 issues, whereas if I blog in the traditional way, I could just post when I want.
What do you think?
Do you visit blogs regularly?
Would you visit mine?
I'd love to gather a few opinions.
As I said, this week I have 4 points which came to mind.
2 of them concern how I think a society could maybe work better, and 2 of them concern not trying to please all the people all the time.
Maybe I'll go for one of each today, and maybe put the other 2 on the blog!!
Ok, first up, prison.
I read over the weekend that here in the UK, there were only 680 spaces left in our prisons.
Another 680 criminals, and all our jails will be full up!
Then the prisoners will have to be kept in cells at police stations.
They are meant to be used for holding purposes only, and the police charges the government for it.
The cost of a prison cell for one night to the government is £66.
The cost of a night in the police cells to the government is £362!
Of course when I say 'to the government', what I mean is to honest tax payers like me.
I've never been to prison, and have no intention of ever going there.
I don't know anyone who has either, but from the documentaries I've seen, it isn't a nice place.
'Good,' you may well say, 'it's supposed to be a punishment.'
I agree with that point, but it's not the point I'm making.
The point I want to make is that sometimes people are jailed when they don't need to be.
I only say that due to this overcrowding problem.
For the prisoners themselves, if they don't like it, I say don't break the law in the first place, but for the non-violent one off offender, is prison the best place for them?
Maybe some people go from non violent to violent precisely because they have been in prison.
Maybe the non violent one off criminal could be punished within society?
Impose a curfew on them, punish them financially, how about making them pay the £66 a night prison costs?
That way they are punished and the financial burden is taken off the rest of us.
Hmm... can't see it happening, but I think it would help society. What do you think?
Ok, I was watching a new series on TV of Dragon's Den, where would be entrepreneurs pitch their idea to potential investors.
It 's the kind of thing that happens all the time in business, but not usually on tv, and to spice it up, the programme makers put a fair old share of nutters on the show who would never have a chance of getting the money.
I thought I was watching one of those when a man came on who had invented a water free egg boiler.
His little contraption didn't really excite the dragons, and one of them asked for a demonstration of a 4 minute boiled egg.
They asked him more questions while the 4 minutes went, and when he opened the lid...
He had forgotten to put the egg in.
D'oh!
So, he tried again while the investors rolled their eyes and sniggered.
After another 4 minutes, he took out the egg, cracked the shell and a non-cooked egg ran all over the table.
Double D'oh!
Despite the fact that most of the investors clearly thought this was a bad idea, that didn't even work, he had a 3rd go.
Once again, the result was a raw egg.
Then to my amazement, 2 of the investors said they would give him all the money he asked for because they thought it would sell millions.
It just goes to show that you can't always tell what people will want.
I would have thought a 3-time failed demonstration would be a disaster, and for the majority of the investors it was, but 2 of them snapped up the idea, based on the potential.
In life as well, you can't try and please everyone, because you can't know what they want, so stick to being yourself!
Ok, that's it for today.
Let me know what you think about me blogging, and if you happen to be reading this from jail, let me know wat you think about my non-jail idea!
Have a good week.
'Til Next Time,
Health and Happiness,
Gordon
Get involved with my Marathon at:
http://www.thegreatgordinomarathon.com
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