I hear voices

Finished Tony Robbin's Power to Shape Your Destiny programme; 6 CDs + a 7th Bonus CD that covers practical application of what you've learnt. Great, life altering stuff though some parts were a wee too long and could've been halved without losing the core message. Defintely deserves repeat listening - least now I can skip the boring bits and focus on the areas I need coaching on! And having all these on an Ipod Nano just makes it easy.

Of course I'm keeping a journal the old fashioned way - on hardcopy - and getting the missus involved. No point getting all stoked the first few weeks only to revert back to your old self by end of the month. Something a friend said about a new broom ..!

Next up Zig Ziglar's Success for Dummies and See You at The Top. I was introduced to Mr. Ziglar's material years ago (we're looking 10 yrs or so) through a Direct marketing group I was a member of. It was a tape they loaned me called Even Eagles Need a Push and if memory serves, the first time I had a listen I ended up sitting in my car until I had finished the tape. I left the direct marketing business - wasn't my idea of a part time job no matter how lucrative it was made out to be - but I never quite forgot Zig Ziglar.

Fast forward a decade later I'm revisiting the man via my Nano.

For those interested I recommend a visit to Zig Ziglar's website and check out his programmes, his books. A wee pricey but heck he's up there with the likes of Covey, Robbins, Napoleon Hill and Andrew Carnegie. Worth it.

Ghost Writer

Just built another site primarily for writing short stories. It's quick and dirty writing - practice stuff.

Feedback is welcome though :-)

The stories start here

The end of days

Gale force winds all over the North, brought down power lines causing Auckland-wide blackouts. Chaos on the roads and railway lines; Airports closing down and heavy snowfall down south. Photo shows Georgina my coworker watching the storm. My house is across the harbor shrouded in that wall of white.

We're told to go home as no word when power will be restored. Problem for some but I commute by ferry so avoided the traffic jams and general mayhem (that naturally precedes the downfall of civilization).

Only had to brave the rough seas in a sturdy old tub and then a mad dash to my car.

Rest of the day at home working on my tax rebates. You know, fun stuff.

Coincidence

Finished Coincidence. I give it 3 out 5 stars. Our protagonist - George Daly, writes a book about coincidences and then finds himself in several disturbing coincidences of his own. And to complete his personal Twilight Zone - George runs into his evil twin he never knew he had. Evil twin sends nasty people George's way and with his brother out of the way assumes George's identity, takes over his life and his marriage (or what's left of it). Midway thru the book, the story went sci-fi and it appears they're all living in some kind of quantum computer and Mr. caretaker has to fix a glitch by removing either George or Larry his twin. OR is that all just a figment of George's imagination? Was there really an evil Larry going around killing folks or was it George all along doing a Jekyll & Hyde? Good interesting read, interspersed with real coincidences from history.

Anyway only 3 out of 5 as the ending was a bit predictable. Might check out Ambrose's Superstition; which I'm told is far better.

Starting on Lee Child's One Shot. An autographed copy by the man when he was in Auckland. I had expected a large burly ex-SAS type (from reading all his previous books) but Mr Child turned out just a regular guy; soft spoken and very approachable.

The week that was

Long week at the office. We're a smaller team now after a recent company wide downsizing. Same amount of BAU work with half the people. Should be interesting how the new 'regime' works out over the next 3-6 months. And we had a few new projects kicked off this week with all day workshops to follow.

TGIF eh?

On saturating my grey matter with all things Success - I'm continuing with Tony Robbins and Stephen Covey to and from work. Lots of good stuff and Covey's dense approach definitely calls for repeated listening before it all sinks in.

Not much progress on the Success Principles, need a bit of catch up reading this weekend. Important thing is momentum. It's hard; old ingrained habits and all. Covey made a good metaphor - a rocket leaving the Earth's gravity takes a lot of energy but once you're in space, things are so much easier. Conquering oneself is like that. You need to exert enough force of discipline and consistency to escape your old self.

An there endeth the lesson this week :-)

I'm reading

Just finished Blood Memory by Greg Iles - quite enjoyed it though at 700+ pages it left me exhausted. Based in New Orleans and Natchez, Miss., plot runs similar to Thomas Harris' Red Dragon, pretty grim at times with a very sensitive subject matter.

And Jarhead by Anthony Swofford - disappointing read. Good thing I got it cheap off the bargain bin. It is whiny with lots of vulgar language and irrelevant little stories with scant few details on the Gulf War itself. Maybe I had expected Blackhawk Down.

3/4s way through David Ambrose's Coincidence. Entertaining, fast paced story reminds me of Howard Roughan's Up and Comer and David Fincher's The Game (with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn)

Next up -

• John Abrahams' Their Wildest Dream's
• Lee Child's One Shot
• Mark Billingham's Lazybones

Robbins + Covey

Started on a mental diet of Anthony Robbins (Power to Shape Your Destiny) and Stephen Covey's 7 Habits on my Ipod. Very good motivational and success coaching I could listen to anywhere - on the morning commute, on the way home, whilst looking after Leah, mowing the lawn etc.

And reading Jack Canfield's Success Principles (co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul). More excellent stuff to read. And do. Yes. Do is important.

Do = Action, and action is power :-)