�Who Says You Can�t Teach an Old Dog a New Trick or Two�

Lesson 2

When in Doubt, Just Take the Next Right Step.

In this story Regina explains how fear of the unknown stopped her from moving forward in life. She went to a college close to home because she was afraid to venture to far from home; she quit courses when they became too hard; she jumped from job to job, not for the adventure but because the future overwhelmed her. Until one day a friend suggested: Just do the next right thing.

She goes on to state “Usually we know the next step to take but it’s so small we don’t see it because our vision is focused too far ahead and all we can see is a giant, scary leap instead of a small, simple step. So we wait. And wait. And wait, as if the master Plan will be revealed in a massive blueprint rolled out like a red carpet at our feet.”

For myself I have come to this understanding as well. When I wrote the book Your Second Fifty I was mulling around unsure where to start until a friend said “Just Start.” That was the key, I just needed to take that first step and then see where that step was going to lead me.

A few years back I meet Stephen King and somewhere in the conversation he stated that when he’s working he sits down at his desk at 7:00pm and stays there until 11:00pm. His first step is sit at his desk which gives him the opportunity to write. Whether he’s productive or not isn’t as much the point as it is that he’s given himself a chance to be productive.

Without question over time this choice becomes a discipline, but discipline is a learned behaviour, not an innate quality. So we all have the same opportunity to acquire it. The good news is that once we begin something the domino effect happens. We start to see progress and our internal motivation kicks into gear.

No matter how far we intend to travel it all begins with the first step.

I am always pleasently surprised to see just how different others see life as compared to I.

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”

“It was great, Dad.”

“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.

“Oh yeah,” said the son.

“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered: “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.

The boy’s father was speechless.

Then his son added, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.”

Wishing all a happy Canada Day!!

Just dropping by to wish all fathers a Happy Father’s Day.

Today I’m in the gym and after my workout I decided to run for 20 to 30 minutes on the treadmill. After about 5 minutes a nice young lady came up and began to run on my right. I looked over and asked her how fast she was going (you got it – what ever speed she said she was going, I was going to be going a little faster. Why – because it made her laugh and brightened her day and made a boring run a little more entertaining. After about 10 minutes she looked over and said well I should be able to out run you – I guess she was referring to my age – but she didn’t haha!

Now on my left was an older gentleman – 4 years older than me to be exact. As the young lady and I were joking around, he jumped into the conversation and said “Well when you hit 60 it won’t be so easy, because that’s when you get arthritis, gout, aches and pains and you’ll be lucky to even move at this age.”

Well I’m sorry but I am fully aware that we are all victims of our own demise – soooooooooo – I replied with, “Are you taking all precautions to prevent future attacks like maintaining adequate fluid intake, weight reduction (he was at least 50 to 60 lbs overweight), making dietary changes, reducing your alcohol consumption, and taking the appropriate medications to lower the uric acid level in the blood.”

No response.

About 5 minutes later he chipped in again with, “Now all my teeth have started falling out.” I immediately realized that he was seeking attention, which to be honest is perfectly OK because we are all seeking attention in our own way (like writing blogs) – BUT – he kept going, and going. Finally if I had any hope of enjoying any part of my run I stated, “If we don’t care for our body when we are younger it will break down that much faster when we get older. So now you will need to double your efforts, and take extra good care of yourself from here on out.”

His response, “I used to do 10 miles a day, then I went down to 5 and now I’m down to 1 mile, I mean what’s the point the world is in such bad shape there’s really no reason left to care.”

Now if you are reading this blog chances are that you don’t see life this way, but I assure you that you are the minority. With over 65% of N. Americans over weight, it proves that we are finding to many excuses to justify our condition and not enough self-honesty to turn it around.

Left Calgary on Wednesday afternoon – arrived in Jakarta on Friday afternoon. Had a couple of meetings on Saturday and will travel to Bandung in the morning!

I will be back blogging on Monday!

Have a wonderful weekend