Well folks, it’s been one hell of a ride this year!  Reflecting over this last year, there were lots of victories and just as there were many failures I’ve experienced over the past year.

Before I continue, I will selfishly say that I’m writing this for me and only me to keep me accountable for what I’m mapping out for myself over the next year.   This will be for me to reflect upon for years to come, so this is warning in advance that this will be a LONG post, but if you want to check out what’s happened in my life over the last year you’re more than welcome to take a peek. Oh yeah, read on for a major announcement as well Read the rest of this entry »

I absolutely love it when I stumble upon or when friends send me clips on Youtube that provide some sort of inspiration or motivation when I’m looking for answers, in a bad mood or to remind myself that whatever situation I’m struggling with really isn’t that bad.

I find mini-clips like these to be invaluable in pulling me out and snapping myself out of a negative spiral and put me into a state that’s grateful, focused, resourceful and action-oriented.

So I figure it’s time to share my favourite motivational clips on Youtube!

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In Part 1 we covered:

• Making strong offers
• Giving focus and getting commitment
• Listening

For Part 2 I’ll be covering

• Authenticity
• Making the other person look good
• Outcome Independence

Authenticity

According to dictionary.com, their definition of authenticity is:

• The quality of being authentic or of established authority for truth and correctness
• Genuineness; the quality of being genuine or not corrupted from the original.

This is what I was referring to earlier in simply being “real” with people you come across in your social interactions. In improv, by being authentic and improvising with a brutal honesty can really help you connect with your audience because there is nothing being held back. You are expressing yourself from your core and things flow naturally in how you express yourself, your body language, the tonality of your voice, and steady eye contact. Everything is aligned and you’re totally congruent in how you’re expressing yourself. Read the rest of this entry »

   

P90X Phase 1

So it’s been a little over a month and now I’m on my recovery week after finishing Phase 1 of the P90X program. If I were to sum up my past month in one sentence, it would be “You get what you put in”.

A common misconception is that “anyone” can do this program (especially with their slick infomercial) and come out with stellar results and a six-pack abs.

For those who are thinking of following through with their fitness goals and whipping themselves into shape without any prior physical activity or some sort of training the task might be more daunting than originally envisioned. It took me about 4 times before I built enough momentum after training for my half marathons – it really is mind over matter with this program.

Don’t get me wrong, P90X is a fantastic workout program, but only for those who are already in “okay” in shape where you can run 5 kilometres without passing out and doing at least 1 assisted pull-up, possess a “killer” never-give-up psychology, and backed enough with compelling reasons of why you want to follow through on this 90 day commitment to your fitness and health.

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Note ***(I realized it’s kind of funny that I haven’t written any articles directly addressing cultivating charisma (or leadership) for that matter since I’ve started my blog. After reading a post by Dan over at CharismaTips.com split from Charisma Arts, he has since pumped out a slew of quality posts, I decided it was time for me to write something on my thoughts on directly related charisma. This is the first post of a two-part series)

After over a year and a half of improvisational comedy training at The Second City and The Impatient Theatre Company, along with much thought and experimentation and of course countless conversations with literally hundreds of random strangers, I can see the parallels between being charismatic and using principles founded on improvisational comedy (improv) being: Read the rest of this entry »

I FINALLY DID IT! I finished what I set out 4 months ago in terms of what I wanted to do with my training for my TRANSFORMING for SickKids Initiative and turning it into an annual run.

Although the amount I raised was 10% of what I had raised compared to last year, I am still VERY happy and satisfied with the results as well as my performances for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon as well as the Toronto Half Marathon in September and October respectively.  I feel I have planted the seeds for something much greater by the time the Transformers 2 movie hits theatres next year.

After some careful reflection on what made me follow through with my intention to run two half marathons, I found these to be the main reasons for picking up momentum that helped me build a solid foundation to reach my fitness goals:

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By now you’re about a month into the new school year and you might have blown a good chunk of your budget in under a span of a month.  That fresh outlook at the beginning of the school year and wide-eyed optimism for the new school year might have given way to a less than ideal financial situation. You might have put yourself in that position by partying too much and generally not taking care of your finances – BUT don’t distress, you’re in the same boat as millions of other students.Unless you’re working part-time to keep yourself financially afloat, you’ll be aiming to stretch every dollar to its limit and get the best bang for the buck throughout your school year.

Throughout my years of bootstrapping through undergrad and learning and picking up new tricks and habits along the way to save money in order to have a fulfilling student life without breaking the bank.

Here’s a collection of all the tips and tricks I’ve gained through my time in undergrad: Read the rest of this entry »