1.       Humility is important and mine needs to multiply

2.       Being humble really does help with your view of the world

3.       Being nice, while it makes you feel good, does not always have a reward

4.       The things that reward are often the things that have no reward

5.       Life seems to be stable, but the stability is actually an illusion which we’re all trying to maintain

6.       Life is about change. It doesn’t have to be, but it is.

7.       What you have can go. What can go, you mostly can’t get back

8.       Hope is not a strategy. Neither is inaction

9.       Inaction only makes things harder

10.   Cut things when they are not working

11.   Take advantage of things when they are working

12.   Giving love is better than being loved

13.   Your children reward you a 100 fold for every tiny thing that you do for them

14.   Good to Great just plain makes sense

15.   I would rather be great at what I do with my life than just good

16.   Sometimes just good enough really isn’t just good enough

17.   Sometimes good enough is good enough

18.   There needs to be more than just consumption, there needs to be creation and sharing

19.   Barney was right all along, Sharing is Caring

20.   Every time I find an answer, I find more questions, to which I have no answers

21.   Out there, there are some really horrible people who are mostly outnumbered by the average ones and in between, we find human-being-gems

22.   I am yet to find what I truly want to do

23.   Apple really does make kick ass stuff

24.   Mostly it’s just business, nothing personal

25.   Act quickly, change your mind later, and then act quickly again

26.   Constructive argument and debate is necessary for an excellent outcome

27.   More often than not it’s not about you and your contribution to something, it’s about the outcome and how it affects others

28.   Don’t mix business with pleasure

29.   A great friend is worth their weight in gold when times are tough

30.   Children’s take on things is often more prescient than ours

31.   Wikipedia, whilst sometimes suspect in the accuracy of content, brings value from structure and participation

32.   I really do have an eclectic taste in music and not everyone will love Alva Noto, no matter how much I want them to appreciate the sound scapes

33.   There is always something for me to learn from every situation, about myself, others and/or the situation

34.   There are many truths, mine, yours, and theirs

35.   Maintaining your house, like relationships, is a necessary thing to do, and gratifying too

36.   Sometimes sorry might not be enough, but mostly it is

37.   The world abounds with opportunities, but only open eyes can see them

38.   There are many things that are broken, but that’s not what it’s about, it’s about fixing them

39.   Little can be as gratifying as giving to those who have nothing and helping them get their own

40.   Truisms are truisms for a reason

41.   Murphy is a bitch, but can be demoted in importance with a little forethought, planning and ignorance of his ways

42.   That even though the clouds may be dark, there is still light and love and really, that’s a great start to just about everything

43.   That I’d prefer not to have this many realisms thrown at me in one year

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2011/11/20/downward-spiral-to-also-ran

Nov 20, 2011 | Justice Malala

The year 2011 is meandering to a close. It may be time to ask ourselves: what have we achieved as a nation this year?

" We need leadership. We need to get back to our winning ways"

The 17th year of a hopeful new South Africa draws to a close with the words of Julius Malema ringing in our ears. It is exactly as we started: there is much noise, much heat and dust, and little substance. We seem to have last achieved anything of substance in adopting a much-admired constitution soon after our first democratic election.

We are now in the process of doing as much as possible to destroy it. State Security Minister Siyabongwa Cwele wants to jail reporters and their informants even when it is clear that their stories are for the national good. An open society of the sort envisioned in the constitution is anathema to him. All he sees are foreign spies under our beds.

Cwele is now joined in his cowardly campaign by presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj. These are the achievements of the 17th year of our hopeful democracy.

The ANC Youth League offers nothing in economic policy debates except land expropriation without compensation. Has anyone not told them of our Bill of Rights?

And so here we are, at the end of 17 years of democracy, and we flirt with mediocrity (the worst performer in maths and science education among countries surveyed by the World Economic Forum while our own ministry of Basic Education says our Grade 3s cannot read or count).

According to widely derided official figures, more than eight million young people are jobless - and a large chunk of them have stopped looking for jobs. They are desperate. They have thrown themselves at the mercy of the social grant, for those who can make it onto social welfare's books.

Meanwhile, President Jacob Zuma is building himself a bunker in his rural village in Nkandla. What on earth does he need it for?

What have we achieved this year? Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe tells us he welcomes the arrival of Walmart to South Africa. Yet three of his cabinet colleagues are taking Walmart to court, telling the company: take your R16.5-million back to where you come from. Who should we believe? Who will potential investors to our country believe? Their money will not rush to these shores.

These are some of our achievements this year.

Sad to say, we have achieved nothing much. We are falling into that dreadful category of the bright student about whom every teacher said he was full of potential and, in the harsh light of adulthood, sputters and just never gets anywhere. We' re a disappointment, not only to our friends and comrades around the globe, but even to ourselves.

Once, we aimed for the stars. Now we' re happy here, in the middle, and middling, ranks. We like being Miss Average, often lapsing to Mr Loser.

We have a leadership deficit. Crucially, we have a vision deficit. Because here is the thing: what do we want? What are we striving for? Many of our leaders can't tell you. Cwele seems to think we all should have something to hide, so the idea of an open society wouldn't rank as one of those things he would strain his every sinew for.

Our most pragmatic plan is the National Development Plan developed by a commission led by Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel's department.

Have we seen champions emerge for it in government and civil society? Within days of its release we have all gone quiet about it. What the plan has - unlike the cuckooland material of the hastily assembled New Growth Path - is the wisdom of hindsight, depth of research and the boldness of independent thought.

This vision and plan for how we build a prosperous, hard-working, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic country that is fully aware of its terrible past and works to eradicate its effects is, sadly, in danger, too, of being put on the backburner.

This would be the greatest of our failures in 2011. We need leadership, we need commitment and we need drive. We need to get back to our winning ways.

We need years of achievement, not years like this sad lost year, a year in which a vigorous media and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela are all that we have to be proud of.

I hope 2012 is better. I suspect, however, that we will spend it talking about the ANC's Mangaung conference and not the things that really matter: jobs, education, cohesion and prosperity.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Branding, Marketing, Media Relations and Reputation Management Conference - 26-10-11.pdf Download this file

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

The_Digital_Edge_-_Episode_130_-_Tuesday,_23_August_2011.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Had to watch the #5150 at Bela Bela instead of partake. Should I have just have done it? Read more at http://www.sportsleader.co.za/gavinmoffat/2011/08/15/training-not-me/

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

puruma / finnatical
unleashing potential
083 459 5363 / 0860 787 862

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

puruma / finnatical
unleashing potential
083 459 5363 / 0860 787 862

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

puruma / finnatical
unleashing potential
083 459 5363 / 0860 787 862

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

unleashing / potential

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

#sportsleader "Objects in the mirror seem larger than they are" #5150

http://www.sportsleader.co.za/gavinmoffat/2011/06/23/objects-in-the-mirror-se... 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

http://www.sportsleader.co.za/readerblog/2011/06/13/embrace-the-pain-my-ae/

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

http://www.sportsleader.co.za/readerblog/2011/06/03/its-not-the-first-time/

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

It’s not the first time. I've been here before. The enthusiasm. The commitment. The rush of adrenalin. Feeling good about what I’m accomplishing. Not sure what makes this time different. I saw the 5150 video and felt a scream of me-ness. I want to do that. I want to achieve. I want to excel. For me. Not because I need to prove anything (OK, I do a little bit).

I was last in this position just over 18 months ago when I decided that I was going to do the 70.3. Life, my wife’s cycling accident, a whole bunch of excuses and a serious case of lack-of-motivation-itis brought that dream to a stuttering pause.

It all began when a friend began talking about what he was doing to get ready for the IronMan. I said “dude – are you insane”. To which he replied with something along the lines of “try it, the bug will bite”.

He was right. The bug has bitten. It’s more of a decided annoyance though. The bite is more like a flesh wound and is not deep enough to create an intense burning itch to scratch. More like an itch I need to knead.

We did a bit of cycling and started getting some regular coaching from an awesome guy Donovan van Gelder. All went well. We rode a couple of races and did the Argus. Then winter of 2010 hit and it became the winter of my discontent. My motivation dwindled, along with the sun and temperature until, come August, I tried my hand at a duathlon for the first time. The sprint distance of the Domestique Family Duathlon Series at Kyalami. Hardly a challenge I would have thought. 4.2km run followed by 16km cycle and dispatched with a piddly half turn around the circuit, a mere 2.1 km.

I hadn’t counted on the fact that I was fat, slow and not at all ready. I came stone last. 22^nd out of 22 entries. I felt a great sense of achievement because it was my first ever multi sport event but at the same time I had a sense of failure. An overwhelming notion that I just couldn’t cut it.

Conveniently, just prior to the duathlon, my wife had a cycling accident. I say conveniently for me. Not for Ingrid. She broke her pelvis which is not a great deal of fun. We recently discovered that she probably also tore her rotator cuff. So very unpleasant for her but a fantastic new area of focus for me. My wife needed me. My family needed me. My business needed me. I was needed. So I threw myself into everything supportive and ignored my needs. And the niggling itch.

The accident was Woman’s Day last year and I have effectively managed to avoid exercise or even goal setting since then. Until Thursday, 26 June. Saw the 5150 video and I am again bitten, preferably not anywhere near as shy though. So I begin. Swimming this morning followed by tread mill. Sucked. Couldn’t finish either of the training outlines that I had. But that’s OK. The pool isn’t going anywhere. Neither am I. And I’ll be back. 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »