Saw this a few years ago, loved it!

To Sacrifice the Gift

Giving your best is really important, Steve said very little about perfection, but he did infer that we all have great gifts and that it is important to do our utmost to preserve and develop the gifts we get.

Take the gift of friendship for example, some people are willing to throw that away at the drop of a hat.... when they find that others are not as perfect as they would like them to be...they can discard them for not living up to thier own exacting standards.

Life is a gift...... make the best of it and remember its far too short to be spent wondering about the past or the future.

This gift is meant to be enjoyed right now.

Sure we might only be here for the same length of time as Steve.

Shoot the messenger!

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth;


Then took the other, as just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that, the passing there
had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
in leaves no feet had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I--I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference

Maggie and Fergie

Hello.

Were you ever wrong about something, but to admit it would be so hard that instead you lash out at the messenger.

I have so many things going superbly in my life right now..... it really is the best time ever, but one of the hardest things about improving life is that it is a lifelong process, you rarely get to accept yourself without thinking about what might be......if....if i did this...or stopped doing that!

I know this is not making a lot of sense! But i now see my life as a constant stream of choices, everytime i get the choice to go either left or right.....and sometimes the correct road...the one that you know will bring you closer to your goals is a tough bastard of a thing, and the other road looks a lot more attractive....nice and cushy and downhill......which one to take?...... which one to take......yeah I know I know.

that Robert Frost fella was only a gobshite......cos he was right.......two roads diverged in a yellow wood.....and I have to take the one less travelled by......so its easier to rant on about the messenger.....Robert....than to actually take the first steps down that road.

anyway......here's a few pics of Maggie and the Duchess of York.....maggies the one on the right

Paul.

What a day!

hes got no hair.....but we dont care

Went to parkhead last saturday for the first time in yonks...... not a bad day...watched the game from the directors box......we won 3-0....went to the players lounge afterwards.....had a lovely meal....and even had a drink with some of the rangers players back in the hotel later that night.

best day in a long time

gotta go

FEAR - Face Everything And Recover or Fuck Everytthing And Run

This blog started out as an opportunity for me to throw my thoughts out on paper (virtual) and have some structured way of keeping me in touch with myself, I know that some people have a wee look every now and then and thats ok too, but untimately it helps me to straighten out the spagetti in my head and bring a bit of clarity to my thinking. I want today to be about some of the stuff i have learned over the last two years of training and coaching with hundreds of people and lots of organisations and businesses.

1. There is no such thing as a perfect life.....its just bollix, there is no such thing as a life without pain and expecting one is just plain stupid, sure there are ways of managing the chaos that is our lives, but to expect that we can sail seamlessly through it is just crap..... life is a lot like the weather, sunny spells, rainy windy days, the odd heatwave and the odd hurricane. The most important thing is to keep going and to try to keep learning.

2. Most people have not got a fecking clue, they dont know how to enjoy sunny days, they dont know what to wear in the rain....as billy connolly once said...theres no such thing as bad weather, theres only the wrong clothes, they keep expecting the heatwave to break and they wont evacuate and hide during the bloody hurricanes.

3. Most businesses are run on a wing and a prayer (including this one although it is improving) Businesses are started and either grow or die....if they die they are not businesses anymore...if they grow they grow upwards, outwards, inwards, anywards without any real plans or thoughts. most businesses have no marketing plans, no sales plans, no defined management structures (with real accountability) no Human Relations structures....they are basically just all over the place... the ones that survive through all this have 3 things, decent products (which could be better) some customers (which could be more and more lucrative) and the drive and energy of owners who are mainly still thrashing around in the semi darkness but have becme good enough at it to make a good living from it (I am one of those myself too).

4. Nothing stays the same! Thurber said "most men lives lives of quiet desperation, others not so quiet" he was dead right...people who do the same ol same ol all the time claim to have lives of contented happiness....its not true.....there is a huge degree of frustration in everyone of lost opportunities and the only way to get rid of that is to immerse yourself in something new, and do it often.

5. Physical exercise is good for you. People who exercise and mind thier bodies are a million times happier that people who dont......period.

6. Everybody is afraid. everybody......and the only way to get rid of it is to keep taking on the things you are afraid of........FEAR has to acronyms (i am not a big fan of acronyms but i like this one)

Face Everything And Recover

or

Fuck Everything And Run

even if you fail you will feel a lot better about facing it.....at least you will have had a shot.

7. There is a huge hunger out there within people for survival, for ways to cope with the chaos and stress that is modern living....you can see it being avoided everywhere by the increases in alcohol consumption, drug use, workaholism and many other forms of avoidance (or Fucking everything and running like hell)

I know people are searching like hell for ways of surviving and coping with the whole bloody thing.........perhaps I can find a way to help.

Finally if any of this makes sense to you.....please send a link on to a friend.

Lose the Pic!

Have been advised to just lose this and get something more professional taken,

not much point in paying for business advice and then not taking it, so i shall get a new gorgeous one taken where you shall see me looking somewhat more businesslike (as opposed to the cover of a country and western album)

la bella vita I think is the phrase......

talk soon

Paul

Where is he off to.........

WOOHOO

I have never been this busy in my entire bloody life, the to do list is full, but at least I am getting through it, Ciara starts here on Monday, I cant wait! there is so much to do and i will have to learn to delegate and follow up. There are an awful lot of dates to be organised and an awful lot of people to be contacted.

This week has flown, even taking the bank holiday into account and I will be flat out until late tonight, I am also really proud of how Maggie has made a success of her job, she is doing an interview with RTE TV on saturday and it does not knock a feather out of her.

I have extablished a link with a video production company, this guy is a fecking genius and is exactly who i need right now, and he lives only about ten miles from sligo, so the future holds DVDs and downloadable video from the website and what the gurus call "passive income"

I have to create that future - but am starting to realise where I am off too.... time to jump out of the bowl.

Paul.

Hello Spike

The sunshine yellow guy

I really thought when I started writing this blog that I would have no bother fitting it in with all the rest of my work, that I could give it a few minutes a day and I would be sorted........ It has not worked out like that....I had no idea when I started this business that it could become as big and as busy as it has.....It is currently nuts and has the potential to be really really big...as long as i can manage and lead it.....

On Nov 7th I will welcome my first every employee, and on Dec 1st there will be another one, I am getting a vision together for what it will all look like in 3 years time, but my experience tells me that while it is really important to have a vision, that in 3 years time the finished producted will not look anything like the vision, but also most definately wont be finished either.

the various aspects of my life are going well at the moment, although there is always that fear of spinning so fast that I might spin out of control, I hope yours are too.

Paul.

A thousand miles an hour!

This is Eric Cantona, footballer, actor and apparently philisopher as well. I just liked it.... humour me eh......

I am so busy....everything flying at 1000 mph..... there are so many trawlers, so many sardines and I am only one little seagull... trying to chase them all.

Business is wonderful....... and getting better all the time....I am going to the All-Ireland final on Sunday and hugely looking forward to that...... Have a full day of meetings on Monday.....same on Tuesday....working in Dublin on Wed and Thursday..... draw breath a bit on Friday.

Still need a person friday to help me out....have completed a job specification.... now I have to start seriously looking!

Like all the organisational things in my life....I will get it done next week! That and the final accounts, and the brochures and ...

Kaizen - A little improvement everyday - That will do me.

Cheers

The New Tool

This new "Insights" tool I am using is pretty amazing, It is unquestionably the best personality profiling tool I have seen, from an accuracy point of view, but also because it is colour based it is easy for people to remember what preferences they use....the myers briggs one has you wordering am I an EFPN or an ENIG or what the hell am I.

I can see this helping big time in my business, now it is totally up to me to use it or lose

Back again

Hello, it has been yonks since I last updated this blog, lots has happened and I have been a very busy boy, the biggest thing I have completed in the last while is the accreditation for delivering the "Insights" pyschometric model into my coaching work.

You can find out more about Insights by visiting thier website at www.insights.com what I get from this is an excellent personality profiling tool that i can use to help people become more aware of themselves and thier behaviours, more aware of where others are coming from and finally techniques that will allow them (and me) to adapt and connect much better with others (customers, staff, colleagues, spouses, children, subjects etc)

I intend to use this in several spheres, but the primary interest at the moment is in Business, working with managers and salespeople, and in politics, working with councillers and TDs to help them improve thier communication skills.

On the personal front the form is pretty good, business is strong but I still have self-doubt at times about my ability to carry this whole thing off. Still I know I am coming "from the right place" and am sure that it will all work out to my expectations.

anyway...... will try to make the ten minutes it takes to update this blog a bit more in the future!

Need a Genius

Sorry Its been so long, and I aint got a load of time now either, just wanted to say let people know I am still alive, and that I am certain now that in the long term I have to find a person I can work with who can "organise my life".

There are things I do exceptionally well (the humility of it all) I can speak, coach, present, write and conduct workshops and courses with the best of them.

There are also things I am not very good at, I have trouble with Organisation and Discipline, I spend far too much of my time and energy doing things I am not enjoying doing, following up campaigns on the phone, setting up meetings, organising hotels, trying to sort out accounts, selling courses to individuals, printing brochures, etc etc etc.

In order to have a business that "flows" I need to be able to do the things that I do best (and love doing) and have someone who loves doing the other stuff, who takes pride in it and enjoys it.

I will have to keep my eyes open.

Paul

The Tipping Point

You could do a lot worse than read this book, Its been a while since I read it, but since that time I have noticed that the explanations in the book explain a lot of stuff in my own life.

A tipping point is a bit like the straw that broke the camels back, except that a tipping point can work both ways,

For example, when things are going badly and one more bad thing happens, then that extra thing can tipp the balance and help you to start doing something to help yourself, 12 step programmes call this "rock bottom" thats one end of the scale.

At the other end of the scale things can be going so well, that we almost lose the run of ourselves, and then we can push some form of self destruct button (probably cos we dont really feel we "deserve" to have things going that well in the first place) and tipp the scales that send us back to bad form again.

It is like sitting in an untidy room reading a book, at some point the room is going to become just untidy enough that you cannot stick it any longer and actually get your arse up and tidy the place (that last teacup was the tipping point)

Or someone in a relationship that is going so bloody well that it just has to be tested, so it is.... everybody has thier tipping points.

Mine are a bit far apart...... i move from place to place fairly slowly, things getting better and better slowly until I am compelled to throw a spanner in the works......and when I do...I will wallow for a while in the self pity and misery until it gets bad enough to actually get up and do something about it, then I am back onto a roll again.....things getting better and better until.....

it is an interesting book......well worth a read.....why small things really really matter!

Why am I so Gloomy

Am sitting here wondering what the hell is wrong with me.

Ive just gotten my new car.
Ive had a new patio built.
We had the lovliest holiday

and yet i feel really gloomy, is it being back at work, is it all the money i spent, im not sure.

A friend asked me today about all the dreams I had when I was starting this business, and I have to admit, Im not spending enough time doing work that really inspires me, Im taking the work that pays best and have been for the last number of months.

I think I have the balance wrong, I want t0o get in around the schools and the sports stuff again, I know i have to do all the other stuff to pay the bills (and I really enjoy it too) its just that there is no buzz as good as pushing the edges, and to be fair i have been playing safe for too long now.

so this Autumn is the pushing the boat out season.

I will keep you posted on here.

I really enjoyed the break, the Aran Islands are lovely and we got smashing weather.

Now back to that boat pushing

Club V County

County
Club

Am distracted

This decision caused me a fierce amount of grief over the last week, I had to choose whether to play for the Rossies in an All Ireland semi - final or turn out for the club in a championship game. Think I did the right thing, but unfortunately both teams lost by two points,

tis tough but then my wife did point out a few things about duty, Ive never been too strong on duty, so am glad i follwed my head rather than my heart on this one

Love this!

I got a virus.... a computer type one...hence I have not blogged for nearly a week.

Much has happened, but one of the highlights was seeing this whilst stuck in a huge traffic jam on friday last in Sligo. (Have a very sad life really)

I have finally started my book and am making good progress, this one will be a cracker, I have much more confidence in my writing ability over the last while... everybody needs a bit of encouragement.

The biggest thing this last week was the IRA announcement, wow... what a historic day.... now that the baseball bat is gone from Sinn Fein politics I have to face the dilemma of forever sitting on the fence or becoming actively involved and standing up for the stuff I believe in and have been boring people with for ages.

Im getting a new car this week.....woohoo..... had the lovliest day on Saturday last.... family...friends....fun..... Sligo got beaten but we had a brilliant day.

so what else..... my head is good.... not clear exactly but good....am going on holidays for a few weeks.... carlow.... aran islands....belfast.... that sort of thing.... and Im strangly nervous about it.

Will I be bored senseless, Will I miss the buzz of work, Will I be able to stay away from laptops and mobliles and switch off for a while. My ideal holiday is a holiday from everything....me and a blank notebook and a island... (and one person to make tea, but never talk).

I will do that holiday (probably without the teamaker) in October or November, and I plan to enjoy this one coming up....... I am sure Ill get in the spirit of it in few days.

C'mon ya bhoy ya!

This guy is apparently the answer to our problems at Celtic...his name is Nakamura.

I enjoyed "lost in translation" so much that I reckon the Japanese can teah us a whole lot about a range of things...hopefully including Football.

One of the important things we can learn from the Japanese is the concept of Kaizen. Kaizen is the principle of improving a little bit at something every day....not big mad leaps and buck leps...just a consistent gradual practicing and honing and improving every day over your whole life.

I'm a hoor for the big leaps....and if i fall I then feel sorry for myself for ages..and reckon the thing was too difficult or that it's easy for them.. they have...whatever (substitute your own excuses).

anyway.....I know the Kaizen works....just needs a bit more patience that Paul McKenna.....I hope you man Nakamura works too.

It's been very busy in newton land ....working like hell....looking forward to a few weeks of in August.... we we're rubbish in the Senior championship on Sunday.....have to go to training now...have a feeling I should not really mention the Kaizen thing there

Cheers

P.

Cast a cold eye!

Wonder what William Butler Yeats would have made of your man?