I'm Going Back to Bed

Once again, it’s Canada Day again at Graceland Ontario. But this year, we’re talking about something different than we have in the past.

I’ve heard Brian Tracy, the Canadian speaker, advocate for a “Sabbath” − a day of rest. You don’t do any work, you just take it easy.

Sounds counter-productive, huh?

But it’s not! When you take a day off, you’re winding yourself up like a toy car, getting ready to burst forward with new life. A day off here and there renews you like nothing else.

Canada’s only got a few holidays (less than most states in the U.S., more than the U.K.) so each day off is an important chance to relax and reconnect with friends and family.

In a world when smartphones connect us 24/7 and when we all have to work harder to maintain our business (or keep our jobs), it’s hard to be off the line. It’s hard to take some time to yourself, to balance.

But the hard truth is if you don’t make that time, you’re doing yourself more of a disservice than favour. You’re sanding yourself down. Not resting once in a while is unsustainable and will take huge tolls later on.

Days like Canada Day are our friends, the Sabbaths allowed us without using up too much sick-time, if we had any to start with.

They’re important, so use them wisely.

Happy Canada Day!

Alex H.

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The Brilliance of St. Patrick

Helloo0O Ladies and Gentlemen!

Welcome back to Graceland Ontario, your one stop location for success advice from the greats. Today we’re going to talk about St. Patrick’s Day and the brilliance of the metaphor.

So, today, as you probably know, is St. Patrick’s Day. Even in Canada everyone has a great time, partying and drinking far more than they should.

But there’s more than that and green ribbons to the legend of ol’ St. Pat.

St. Patrick was born in Roman Britain but kidnapped to Ireland where he supposedly escaped through the instructions of God through a dream. He studied to be a priest in Gaul and returned to convert the mainly polytheistic Irish to Christianity. After some years in practice, he passed on.

But his teachings never did.

Originally the colour of St. Patrick (and generally of Ireland) was blue but, even as early as the seventeenth century, that turned to green because of the shamrock, St. Pat’s foremost choice to teach with.

You see, he’d find a three leaf clover to explain the holy trinity. The clover was green, so became the colour of the day.

But the brilliance comes through his use of metaphor. Clearly a shamrock has nothing to do with the holy trinity, but associating something as common as it with what he wanted to persuade people towards, Catholicism, made it easier for his teachings to pierce the old Irish. Even more brilliantly, the shamrock had been used in the prior circulating religions and so was already a religious symbol. You see, people are less likely to fight something they know, like a shamrock in ancient Ireland, than they are a new concept, like an unheard of religion. Instead of coming out with the old “you’re all sinners destined to burn in hell!” line, he gently persuaded them through things they knew. And now, for centuries past, people’ve broken the lent fast to feast in St. Pat’s name.

Learn from St. Pat: there’re plenty of things people know, use all the time, and trust that can be likened to your idea. There are things they’ll understand when you talk to them long before they’ll get your dream. Now the idea is not to lose your dream, it’s just to turn it into a metaphor, like the shamrock to the cross, to get people to understand something easier. You don’t have a very long time to get a point across in a pitch. The quicker you get them to understand it through metaphors and similar events or ideas, the more likely you’ll win their support.

Have a fantastic St. Patrick’s Day and good luck persuading!

Alex H.

 

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Mean What You Say

Helloo0O Ladies and Gentlemen!

Welcome back to Graceland Ontario, your one stop blog for success lessons from the greats! Today we’re going to talk about being clear in business and life.

Now, I don’t know about you but seeing sports teams and shows live are expensive in Canada (besides I’m generally busy) so I don’t go for things like that too often. That being said, when I get an opportunity offered to me next to the beans and gravy, I’m not too quick to turn it down (providing I can fit it into my schedule).

So, not too long ago, the Harlem Globetrotters were visiting Toronto, a city not too far from where I live. I’d heard of them, not too much at the time, but it was still pretty cool. And to add, I, being a Scout Leader, was offered discounted tickets for moi and famille. Too good to be true, huh?

But, I still wasn’t sure about going so I waited (I’ll write about this later) until the last minute. The final day on the form had approached. Finally, I went hell, let’s go, faxed it in to the sports centre where the Trotters were playing and waited for email confirmation.

Only thing was it never came.

So, I emailed the major sports centre the next day. An hour or so later they got back to me (prompt service) saying that as far as they were concerned, because we’d faxed them in after their box office had closed (even though we’d gotten them in on the final day they’d specified), they weren’t going to honour the deal. Of course, we could still buy tickets from the regular box office.

So we missed the show and they lost out on tickets and a potential customer who would never see a show on his own choosing unless being offered a deal.

And it’s not because I’m cheap − I have better things to do with that money. If you’re going to make it worth my while, sure I’ll buy from you. But if I’m typically not interested, I’m certainly not going to buy on a regular day.

Here’s the message of the story: sure, I should’ve got the tickets in earlier, BUT if the sports centre had said on the form “Don’t even bother sending this after 5pm, when our box office closes on Friday” I would’ve either sent them earlier or made other plans. But when it says send by this date and you do, then you expect some tickets.

Otherwise, you feel like you’ve been cheated.

Be upfront with your customers, business associates, family members and friends. When you say a date, mean THAT date. Don’t mean when the box office closes, don’t mean if it’s a good day, mean what you say. Because I sure as hell thought I had till 11:59pm and their lack of writing otherwise on the form made me feel like I was tricked.

And unsurprisingly, me and others alike don’t like buying things again from people they feel tricked them.

You never know − they might be bloggers who'll tell the world about it afterwards!

Talk to you next week!

Alex H.

 

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What Can You Learn from an 87 Year Old Doctor and a Dead Rock Star?

Helloo0O Ladies and Gentlemen!!!

Welcome back to Graceland Ontario, your one stop location in researching the success lessons of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll so you can implement them into YOUR OWN life! Today, we’re returning to that classic topic of enjoying your job.

Check out this BBC video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19289230

In it, the BBC meet Dr Russell Dohner, a practicing doctor of medicine in Rushville, Illinois who’s 87 years old − he’s been running his practice for 57 years and has no intention of retiring. Furthermore, he still charges $5 a visit, the same price he charged 30 years ago.

When asked about his price, he says he never felt doctoring was for money anyways, only healing, so maintaining his $5 charge doesn’t surprise him. Locally, he’s a hero for doing what he has for so long. A patient at the end says the doctor’s secret is his spirit and the doc says as long as he’s living he intends to be doing what he loves most.

This brought me into Elvis mode. I mean, Elvis loved his job, too. He was in the army for a bit and then in the movies but he always came back to singing. Some people say he lost his mood in his later years − perhaps for the rock ‘n’ roll songs, but the gospel songs and ballads were more powerful than ever. Listen to “Hurt” from 1976 if you don’t believe me. Man, Elvis had passion when he wanted to.

So, Elvis loved his job, Doctor Dohner does, but how many do? How many would be willing to work for the rest of their lives? To enjoy their work so much they wouldn’t want to retire even when they have the opportunity? Plenty of people I know would. Maybe even you would.

Like the patient said when he described Doctor Dohner’s spirit, or when people describe Elvis’s soul in music, these individuals enjoy their work so much they act like superheroes. It’s kinda like Batman; he’s only human like the rest of us, but he’s still able to tackle supervillains because of his superhuman mindset, his love of maintaining justice (and his Batmobile, but that’s another story).

And when people work their jobs like superheroes, they become heroes, like Elvis or Dr. Dohner. People look at these others and are inspired. They ask, “How can they be so amazing?” The answer’s simple.

They love their job.

And the added respect they get, plus achievement within their work, makes the extra work they put in over others worth the pain.

So, now you’re hopefully convinced of the importance of loving your job (which hopefully you already recognised before), let’s talk about getting that way.

So, of course the best way to find a job you love is to find your passion. We all have something we’re good at, something we’d do even if we weren’t paid for it. For some, it’s music, for others it’s writing, for others it’s video games. When you know what you love, it’s easy to work at it. In fact, it’s not even work, just paid play.

That said, it might require a career change which you might not be able to make if you have a wife (or husband), house, car and kids. It’s scary jumping out of a safe job for that (though, having your dream job might be worth it). Anyways, you can still do your dream job on the side. Some people play gigs with a local band on top of what they do at the office because they love playing but don’t have the guts to throw away their day job and live on Mac and Cheese while they tour. Others sell stuff at Trunk sales and shows around the country on top of being factory workers and janitors. Fitting in your passion alongside your regular job can make coping with your existing job much more bearable. And heck, if it becomes profitable enough, you might even be able to drop your regular job and take your passion, Mac and Cheese free.

So, what happens if you cannot leave your present employment? Maybe your Dad works there still, maybe your family’s always worked there, maybe you’re in a contract, or maybe they’ll just send a hitman after you if you put in your resignation. Ok, I get it (though again, if you do get the chance, I’m backing you all the way if you decide to change). You can still find the fun in your job. It’s not always easy, like trying to enjoy broccoli (which is just a metaphor I thought you might agree with − I personally love broccoli…) For me, when I get to know my co-workers, joking about with them and the like, the job breezes by. It’s like the job becomes background noise compared to the good times you’re having with your mates. Another strategy is being competitive, like trying to overtake people on a track. When you try to get things done faster and better than before, it moves your concentration away from the present situation. Also, you can aim to get that feeling of accomplishment, so you can say “WHOO!!! I JUST RANG MY 1000^th CALL TODAY! I’M A ROCKSTARRRR!!!!” when you’re finished. You can even try to feel like you’re doing something useful. Saying to yourself, “just because I work at McDonald’s doesn’t mean I don’t have a serious job. Most of the people in this country eat here AT LEAST once a week and I’m fulfilling a useful purpose in society for being the guy who makes that dinner happen − like the guys at a pit stop who keep the Formula One racer rolling”.

I hope this post will improve your day and week and I look forward to seeing you soon in the future!

Elvis’s Lessons:

Doctor Russell Dohner is an 87 year old doctor with a 57 year old practice. His deal? He loves his job so much he’s still going all these years later − and he never wants to stop! Like Elvis, he has a passion for his job so huge it is his life. And like Elvis, he’s now become a hero (albeit a more local one). When you love your job to bits, too, it gives you the opportunity to be a hero as well. Plus, you don’t feel like your working at all. When you find your passion, fit your dream job in on the side of your day job or find the fun in your work, you’re giving yourself the chance to improve your life AND do better at your job. Three cheers for Dr. Dohner! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray!! Hip Hip Hooray!!!

P.S. If you appreciate this post, remember to put a comment below or email me at alexghilson@gmail.com. I’d love to hear what you’re got to say.

P.P.S. If you’d like to hear Elvis singing Hurt, that passionate work from 1976, here’s a Youtube video with it.

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