Feedblitz Update

Email notification is the most convenient way to read or listen to new blog content. Currently when there is a new post or podcast, you get automatic updates via Feedblitz.

On a recent post, a reader sent me a message letting me know that my post copy made no sense. Upon review, I found out that subscribers had only received a portion of the message’s content. I have since discovered there is a glitch in the system — where sometimes instead of receiving the full content of the post in your email notification, you only receive portions of it.

In order to address this issue, subscribers will be notified via Feedblitz when new content is added, but the message will only contain the new post’s “title” with a direct link to the blog. This easy access link will take you to the Xtraordinary Living blog to read the entire post or hear the podcast.

If you are not currently a Feedblitz subscriber you may consider doing so. Click below:

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Second trip of a Lifetime – THIS YEAR.

Tomorrow my partner Lindon and I will be heading to Machu Pichu to co-lead one of PL&L’s Learning Vacations. If you are a regular visitor to this blog, this means that I probably won’t be posting until my return on December 8.

Interesting how this past week I’ve run into 6 different people who have recently been to Machu Pichu. I never stop marveling at how the law of attraction is always working!

Talking to these people not only raised my level of excitement, but it also gave me a renewed appreciation for what my partner and I have created in our business. While these people were talking about a “trip of a lifetime” for me, it is the “second trip of a lifetime THIS YEAR” – you can read about the first one here.

Gary Wade, a long-time client and regular participant in our Learning Vacations, had a great quote that really captures how I feel: “So many unforgettable trips that I can’t remember them all!”

Another benefit of having started this blog, is that years from now I will have a place to go back to and remember all these “unforgettable”
experiences.

Technorati Tags: Machu Pichu, Law of Attraction, Learning Vacation, Xtraordinary Living

Podcast Episode #20 – Getting Younger As You Get Older

Episode #20 of the Xtraordinary Living podcast is out. The topic is “Getting Younger As You Get Older.” In this episode I interviewed Allan Remillard of Palm Desert. Allan and his beautiful wife, Martha, have the distinct honor of being Productive Learning & Leisure’s most “senior” clients – (in their late 70s, early 80s). As trainers whose job it is to help our clients understand what’s going on in their heads, both Lindon and I have been both intrigued and amazed at the extraordinary thinking Allan and Martha bring to their lives. In this podcast I ask Allan how they continue to grow younger as they grow older.

In Episode #20 Allan explains:
> Why he resists joining the “Turtle Club.”
> How he and Martha nurture their strong and caring relationship.
> Ways they consciously exercise both their bodies and minds to stay agile, vibrant and young at heart.
> Why it’s important to keep from “getting stuck” into fear-based thinking.
> How his mind said, “How can you go to Machu Pichu with a group of people 30 years younger?” and how he answered with, “Of course we can.”
> The advice he would give people 20 to 50 years old, in order for them to be in the physical and mental condition he and Martha are now.

After you listen to Allan’s interview, post your thoughts below. Also, you can leave your feedback by phone. Simply call 206-337-0637 and record your comments and tell us what you think. For your comments you will be entered into a contest to win a fully loaded iPod nano. Watch for details, but start getting your entries today.

This episode is approximately 28 minutes long. To listen to it, click here:Podcast 20

If you listen to the podcast here, you may want to consider subscribing. Just head out to iTunes and set it up so that future episodes get sent directly to your iPod or other portable media player. The benefit to you in doing this is that it frees you from being tethered to your computer. You now have the freedom to listen to it WHEN & WHERE you want to.

Technorati Tags: Seniors, Aging, Xtraordinary Living

Happiness is a choice.

I’m working on a new project that will allow us to offer a daily structure for increased awareness. This project involves finding various interesting quotes. One that caught my attention is the following:

“Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.” I love this quote by Edward de Bono because it captures the essence of “taking responsibility” for our happiness. It really gives us two powerful options:

1- Increase our talents to match our expectations
2- Lower our expectations to match our talents

If you read my earlier post on what constitutes an Xtraordinary Living? you’ll see that option #1 above is the one that is most in alignment with living an Xtraordinary Life. However, option #2 has it’s uses.

For example, about a year ago my wife suggested I take Yoga classes after I mentioned to her that I really needed to do something to increase my flexibility. I had taken Yoga in the past and didn’t enjoy it. However I was willing to give it another try. After going to an introductory class, I realized that while I still didn’t particularly like doing Yoga, I did like how I felt afterwards. So I bought a package of 10 classes and committed to attending once per week. I am now on my sixth package.

I’m clear that doing Yoga classes 1x/week will not increase my flexibility. However it will at least slow down the loss of additional flexibility. I have matched my talents with my expectations. And for now, that is good enough for me. If on the other hand I would expect to gain flexibility by keeping to the same regimen, I would undoubtedly end up disappointed and would quit Yoga altogether.

Remember that the quality of our life is directly related to the quality of our choices. So while not every choice we make will be Xtraordinary, the sum total of all the choices we make will determine how Xtraordinary our life will be.

Technorati Tags: Choices, Happiness, Yoga, Flexibility, Xtraordinary Living

Podcast Survey and Feedback

The only way to improve is to get feedback. I would like for both the Xtraordinary Living blog and podcast to offer you as much value as possible. In order to do this, I need your feedback.

If you have listened to 1 or more of the Xtraordinary Living podcasts, please take 1-2 minutes and fill this short Podcast Survey.

Also, I would like to hear your comments and feedback regarding this blog. Please call 206-337-0637 to leave a recorded message. No need to give your name if you prefer to remain anonymous. Thanks.

Technorati Tags: Survey, Xtraordinary Living

Blog Functionality

I have received several messages from people who came to the blog from the recent BNI Success Net article looking for Podcast Episode #15 with Dr. Misner. Since this post was back in September, it is no longer visible on the blog’s main page. It is archived. So this post is to help those visitors looking for that podcast as well as educate those people who are not as familiar with how to find things on this (and other) blogs.

There are 3 ways you can search for a post on this blog:

1- You can search by typing specific word(s) using the “Search this blog” feature on the top right sidebar.
2- You can look by topic in the different “Categories” on the left sidebar.
3- You can look in the monthly Archives located on the right sidebar.

Hope this makes it easier to navigate and find what you are looking for in this blog.

Technorati Tags: BNI Success Net, Search, Xtraordinary Living

Podcast Episode #19 – Aussie Success

Episode #19 of the Xtraordinary Living podcast is out. The topic is “Aussie Success.” In this episode I interview Australia-based Ari Galper, Founder of Unlock The Game & Unlock The Internet Game. Both are training programs that challenge traditional sales thinking and help people achieve better sales results through trust. I have known Ari for years now. His unique approach to sales along with the way he has designed his business as a “lifestyle business” is quite amazing.

In Episode #19 Ari shares:
> A brief history of his background and how he went from a corporate cubicle to growing his business to be both portable and blended into the life he wants with his family
> Ways to consciously develop a business where you don’t give up your time for dollars
> How to shift the perception of having clients, ones you need to manage, to having fans that chase you for your expertise and solutions
> The role trust plays in both business and personal relationships
> How to shift your mindset to three simple principles to foster trust
> What element we will need to add to our lives and businesses as the rapid pace of technology continues to create a cold environment

High tech – high touch are not just buzz words going around. After you listen to Ari’s interview, Post a comment below and tell me what you are doing in your company or job to add the “human touch.” If you prefer, you can also call 206-337-0637 and record a message with your comments.

To learn more about Ari’s programs, please visit Unlock the Game and Unlock the Internet Game

This episode is approximately 24 minutes long. Click on either of the players below to listen to this podcast.

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Technorati Tags: Sales, Relationships, Trust, Ari Galper, Unlock the Game, Xtraordinary Living

Commitment Brings Freedom

I got my haircut today and before I left my hairdresser’s salon, I booked all of my haircuts for 2007. Since I get my haircut every 4 weeks, that was 13 appointments. This is the second consecutive year I’ve done this. The reason this is interesting is that I used to be a person who wouldn’t schedule things too far in advance because of the “it’s too far into the future and I don’t know what I will be doing” mentality. I also didn’t want to make commitments because I didn’t want the stress I associated with making commitments and I wanted to preserve “my freedom.”.

Well the exact opposite was true. Take my haircuts for example, I used to only book my next appointment after finishing my haircut. The problem with this, was that both my hairdresser’s and my availability were severely reduced. We would go back and forth and when we finally selected a date/time, we would often end up squeezing it in during less than ideal times. I would also have to re-schedule a good number of these appointments because something “came up.” All of this added stress and a feeling that getting a haircut was really a major hassle. This year, I only re-scheduled once and getting my haircut has stopped being a hassle. As far as freedom goes, there is a feeling of freedom knowing that I don’t have to worry about my haircuts for another year.

What is fascinating is that by scheduling and committing to things in advance, I have the freedom to schedule around it. Granted, there are times when I need to re-schedule. But these are so few and far between, that it is much easier to deal with those than wait until I’m certain that nothing else is in the way.

The next time you think something along the lines of “I don’t want to commit because I don’t know what I’ll be doing then”, you may want to re-frame it and think: “I don’t know WHAT ELSE I will be doing then, but at least I KNOW I will be doing this.” There is a lot of freedom in that!

Technorati Tags: Time Management, Organization, Commitment, Freedom, Xtraordinary Living

Walk our talk.

Walk our talk! That’s one of our core values at PL&L. One area where we have not been doing this is as a company, is having staff retreats. I’m happy to report that we are back “on track.” Last week most of PL&L’s staff participated in a staff retreat on a cruise ship in Mexico. It was great to have us all interact in a non-work environment. In addition, we also got to spend some time planning and dreaming about PL&L’s future.

I walked away from this experience feeling very fortunate that we have a wonderful group of people who are committed to living an helping others live an Xtraordinary life.

One of the topics we discussed was how to help our clients get more value out of their PL&L experiences. These were not intended to be strategic conversations, bur rather “big picture” ones. The conversations took us to some unexpected places and as a result, we are already working on a couple of ideas to make this happen. Stay tuned for some very exciting updates in the near future.

Podcast Episode #18- Rick & Lindon Get Personal

Episode #18 of the Xtraordinary Living podcast is out. This episode is slightly different in that I turn the hosting duties over to long-time client, Sue Almon-Pesch. Sue interviews myself and Lindon Crow, my partner and the co-founder of Productive Learning & Leisure. We thought we would use the podcast format to answer some of the questions clients ask us about our personal lives. The questions come during courses or on learning vacations –or just in the course of a conversation. Since we talk about living Xtraordinary Lives, our clients like to know if and “how” we walk our talk. Balancing a business, our individual personal goals AND our families, is very important to us. Both Lindon and I have consciously chosen ways to make sure our personal lives serve as a cornerstone for our “Xtraordinary Living.”

In Episode #18 Lindon and I share:
> A brief history of our roots and family background, as well as our current family members and dynamics
> Ways we nurture the relationships with our spouse and children
> How it’s important to “manage your happiness” and ways we do this in our everyday lives
> The role sports plays in bringing us both balance and joy
> How taking time to be “passionate” about something, in my case, “baseball” is both fun and exhilarating
> Ways we “stay aware,” during our day-to-day lives, as well as permission to “check out” now and then

It was quite a change being on the other side of the microphone for this podcast. But, change is good. Keeps us on our toes and supports the learning process.

This episode is approximately 30 minutes long. If you have broadband, click on the play button below:

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If you don’t have broadband click here:Podcast #18.

Technorati Tags: Productive Learning and Leisure, Rick Itzkowich, Lindon Crow, Xtraordinary Living