10 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Celebrate Valentine's Day!

Sometimes we just take life too seriously. If you are interested in having a laugh, keep reading. Here goes..... The 10 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Celebrate Valentine's Day

For Women

1. He’ll say something wrong
2. He’ll buy you something that will make you fat
3. He’ll buy you something two sizes too small
4. He’ll buy you something in the wrong color
5. The wrong style
6. The wrong season
7. The wrong shape
8. You’ll have to tell him you like it
9. He’ll expect you to wear it in public
10. Then you know what that means …..he’s expecting some tonight!

For Men

There is only one reason why you shouldn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day.

1. Whatever you buy, it will be ‘wrong’, and you know what that means….. you’re not getting any tonight!


If you’re tired of taking life too seriously and want to have more fun, call me for a complimentary coaching session at 905-709-8185 or send an email to iris@simplysuccess.ca

Guatemalan Adventure

I recently returned from an adventure in Guatemala. I spent 12 days relaxing and enjoying the culture of the Mayan People. The interesting piece is that often my girlfriend and I were the tourist attraction because we were the visual minority in many of the towns. It is quite an interesting experience when you are not used to being in the minority. In one town, my girlfriend and I were the only 'white' people for more than 24 hours. It actually felt that maybe we were in a 'Twilight Zone' episode and that were transported here by mistake where the Mayan Race was so predominant. Great learning experience!

Normally when I vacation, I try to see as much as possible because I know that there is little chance of me returning to country - since there are so many countries I want to visit before I die. This time, however, I found that although my girlfriend who was travelling with me wanted to go on a trek with a heavy backpack climbing up a volcano to freezing weather, I chose to return to lake Attitlan where I spend my days at an outdoor cafe, with the lake lapping at the shore, my coffee and breakfast brought to me at my table, while I sat under a grass hut enjoying the warmth of the sun and read my book and diarized. I came back to Toronto feeling re-energized and at peace.

The biggest challenge we had in Guatemala is trying not to get 'ripped off'. Although I am lucky and have fairly dark skin, my girlfriend is as white as can be and we automatically got identified as 'gringos' who can afford to pay sometimes 5 times the price of what the locals pay.

At one point we took a boat across the lake. Normally, we had paid 20 quetzales. This time, we had missed the boat and after much negotiation, the head honcho agreed to take us across privately for 30 quetzales each. Knowin that this would save us an hour wait, we decided to go. As we pulled away from the dock, the boat returned to the dock and picked up 8 more people. When I aksed the local how much he was paying, he said it's 6 quetzales - 80% less than what they were charging us.

When we got to our destination, I argued with the head honcho for over 10 minutes. He insisted that we pay our agreed upon 30 each and when I said that the locals were paying 6 he insisted that they paid 20. I called one of the locals to back up what I said and the navigator tried to get the local to pay the extra that we were supposed to pay. After much haggling, he took 10 quetzales each but neither of us were happy. I felt I needed to make a point after knowingly being cheated over and over while in the country.

The truth is that the difference between what he wanted and what I paid was only $3.50. Was it really worth it? In retrospect maybe not, however, as we walked away, one of the workers on the boat yelled at my girlfriend 'What's wrong with you, you gringo's can afford to pay for our gasoline!'

Alas, that is often the reality of traveling in third world countries and the perception of the locals of what people in first world countries can afford. The truth is that we can afford it, and we should be willing to pay.

The point is that I should be 'choosing' to pay rather than being tricked into paying. Funnily enough, that was the highlight of the trip and one of my 'fondest' memories.

A time to look forward, a time to look back

Happy New Year!

This is a common time for entrepreneurs to make New Year's resolutions and create new business plans and goals for the upcoming year. I am going to ask you to do something different today. Today I want you to look back on 2007 and complete the following 4 steps:

1) Write down all that you have achieved over the last 12 months
2) Compare your lists of accomplishments with the list of goals you created in January 2007
3) Write down the obstacles or blind spots that got in your way of achieving every goal
4) Make a plan of what will you do differently this year to make sure that you achieve all your
goals this year.

A successful business is not about achieving all your goals. If you achieved all your goals you proably played it safe when you set your goals. A successful business is about vision and planning. When bumps and obstacles get in your way, you need to find solutions to overcome those problems so that they don't interfere with you achieving your goals for the next year. There is nothing wrong with running into obstacles. I want you to run into obstacles and problems because that means you are playing a big game!

The bigger your goals, the bigger your problems!

Go all out this year!

Learn about the obstacles that get in your way!

Plan how to overcome those obstacles!

Set even bigger goals!

Have an awesome 2008!

How are you living right now?

Here is an inspirational video that will have you look at how you go about your life and experience the cards you are dealt with. In this video, the professor says: “I know how this movie is going to end, I can’t control the cards I’m dealt just how I’m going to play the end.”

Have a look at the video clip first and then ask yourself these questions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQtwEKlUutA


***What did you learn from this clip?
***How do you deal with a situation you don’t like?
***How can you ‘be’ in the face of situation you don’t like?

And remember, it’s about how you live your life!

What about you?

I want you to have a close look at what you have done today? How many activities both in your business and in your personal life have you handled? Could you have delegated any of those activities to create greater balance in your life?

The message we are given as women is that we should be able to handle all the demands of our business and personal lives, and if we are stressed by it, something is wrong with us.
Being a woman entrepreneur doesn't mean you have to juggle it all. A good entrepreneur is one who has learned to delegate the activities that aren't her 'forte' or that she doesn't enjoy doing. Being an entrepreneur means being a leader.

One of the main reasons we don't delegate is that we don't feel entitled to. I want you to give yourself permission right now to NOT juggle it all. You don't need to do it all. I want you to ask yourself in this moment, what and who could you have delegated to today? What can you delegate tomorrow and follow through on it!

Brazil

Wow! I just recently got back from Brazil where I backpacked with my two kids aged 19 and 22. Even though Rio de Janeiro is a dangerous city, the experience was magnificient.

One of my best memories is going up Sugar Loaf Mountain, where you take an aerial tram up to two sequential mountains and look down on Rio. We were told to go around 4:30 so that we could experience it in both the daylight and at night. I have to say it was an awesome experience! I felt like God had lifted us up in his hands up onto a cloud where we looked down on Rio nestled between the mountains.

After a week in Rio, we flew up to Salvador, where there is a great African influence. The kids and I watched a Capoeira which is an ancient martial arts brought in from the Congo with the slaves and each of us was picked to practice with one of the participants. We went to watch a Condomble which is a ritual of the African Religion where some of the participants go into a trance and are possessed by one of the Gods.

The beaches were awesome. I got my hair braided, bought lots of little trinkets and all three of us returned home with a sunburn. What a great vacation!

Freedom Ride

I recently came back from a 12 day motorcycle trip through the Blue Ridge Parkway with my boyfriend. I thought. when I first started out that I had decent motorcycling skills. By the time we left Toronto, which is flat and straight, and got to Pennsylvania, my skills were being challenged. I almost missed a curve and hit a parked car. I, understandably, had a meltdown and wanted to return home. Thank goodness, my boyfriend is a motorcycle instructor and he kept reminding me of the skills I already possessed, but was not using. On the curves, you naturally look at the obstacle or edge of the cliff you want to miss and slow down if you are losing balance. Those two things are the worse thing you can do in a curve. You need to look where you are going and accelerate out of the curve. It took about a week of continual challenges and practice before I could take any curve naturally and with ease. I started this trip from a place of fear and despair, and through perseverance, ended up boosting my confidence and conquering a challenge I thought would do me in.