Let’s be honest. We all struggle with stuff. Life can be tough, unfair, and at times downright overwhelming. The pace at which things are happening these days, deadlines to meet, kids to pick up and take to ballet; noisy neighbors or a difficult relationship with someone can unravel the strongest of us at times.…
Late last year, I travelled to incredible India to film a documentary. I had for some time wanted to showcase not only the beauty, but also the real needs that exist over there. Those needs are sometimes hard to comprehend to us who live in a country that is so well off. I well…
Ganges river, Varanasi Imagine a population of about 1.3 billion people. To put that in perspective, that is about four times the population of the United States (327 million), and about 52 times the population of Australia (25 million). That is a lot of people! India is a very religious country, which is primarily…
Information: ‘Knowledge gained through study, communication, research, instruction, etc; factual data’. Let’s face it: these days, information of all kinds is now available at our fingertips. I remember hearing a bright millennial speak at a conference recently, who basically said: “you cannot impress us with knowledge; we have all the information we need.…
Making it stick. Communication is a funny thing – there is much information coming at us from virtually every angle – emails, facebook, the internet, people we interact with, commercials, and so on. If you are like me, it will not really touch your life in a significant way – as a matter of fact,…
But why am I not fulfilled? I have just come back from filming a documentary in India. It is a documentary about the beauty of India, the challenges that exist and the solutions that are taking place in helping others gain a better life. My goal is for that documentary to be finished in…
Just do a Google search on ‘leadership’ and you will get about 1,640,000,000 results! There is so much information and advice on leadership it boggles the mind! I tend to simplify things these days, and would like to offer you a no-nonsense approach to this incredibly important subject, as Dr. Maxwell so succinctly puts…
Growth happens when communication is healthy In recent years, the way we interact has changed a lot. Consider the 80’s and 90’s – the way we communicated was very different to what it is now. I remember when looking for a job for instance, people would hire you based on what they saw…
The greatest gift you can give to anyone is to be the best version of who you really are… Insecurities. Yeah, we all have them to some degree, and I know from experience how they can limit you from being the person you are meant to be. I have discovered that there are a lot…
Live big. I remember as a child, dreaming about my future; there were no boundaries as my imagination ran wild… I remember imagining being in a foreign land with people who had darker skin than I, seeing their colourful clothes and hearing their strange language. I remember seeing strange statues, temples and symbols. I…
Can I be honest and open with you? How you view money – and how you view people’s attitude towards it – will determine your fundraising success. Years ago, I used to think that money was scarce and only plentiful in certain sectors – I am happy to report that I no longer think…
The power of a captivated heart! Often, the cry ‘we do not have enough volunteers!’ is heard, alongside ‘we do not have enough money for this project’. As I wrote in a previous article, money is never the problem; the same goes for finding volunteers. Volunteers, they are a breed of their own, aren’t…
I have been a photographer and film maker for some years now. There is quite a bit involved in making a great film – things like the story, characters and the editing. In the same way, taking a great photograph means a compelling subject, good composition and great light. When the film or photo is…
The art of living in the present “Hey dad, have a look at this English project I did at school!” “Let mum have a look at it,” said dad, obviously distracted by all those things he had to do and the goals he had to accomplish. Although the son was happy to show mum, years…
It’s all about seagulls… Have you found that certain work places have a particular culture? It is the way customers are greeted? The way a client is ushered into the office? Maybe it’s the way the furniture is arranged. What about walking up to a counter and being greeted by a person who clearly does…
What is a word? It is a thought clothed with vocabulary. I am a bit of an analytical kind of a person. I want to know how stuff works. There is so much information ‘out there’, it will make your head spin! Google is now the ‘go to’ source for so much… the challenge is to…
Keeping your cool during hard times. Sitting in the doctor’s office, you have been diagnosed with an illness. The illness is not serious but does require medication. Your doctor writes out a prescription and you faithfully take the medicine, but things are not right…so you head back to the doctor who examines you and says: ‘Your…
Beating ‘Dr. Robotnik’. When my kids were little, they used to play a video game called ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ © SEGA. As with most video games, there is always a ‘boss’ to defeat at the end of a level, in order to go on to the next level, or to finish the game. It is…
Being intense and having a strong work ethic can lead to some unpleasant side effects. We use the term ‘elephant in the room’ to depict that something BIG is in the room. So big, that we do not want to talk about it or confront it: PRESSURE AND BURNOUT. Yeah, that one. If you do…
The anatomy of the Ostrich. Problems. Yeah, we all have them. Some are little and some not so little. Sometimes problems seem so large and so difficult that we want to stick our head in the sand! Especially when it involves dealing with difficult or resistant people. Confronting a staff member or volunteer in your…
It all starts with a plan. Meet the control freak. Yep, that was me: guilty as charged. A much younger me tried controlling conversations, peoples’ decisions, gave advice when it was not asked for and was more interested in telling rather than listening. I am happy to report that if the former me of many…
