Swimupstream

We've lost our way when it comes to play.

2015-06-11T16:23:00.001-07:00

Article from: Active For Life. Video by: Jeff Angus.

A new video shows the dramatic cost of kids specializing in one sport too early.
“Play” — you can watch it below — features Bev Smith, a member of the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame and former coach of the University of Oregon Ducks’ women’s basketball team. Smith expresses concern that specialization makes kids games too serious. “You start focusing on the outcome, rather than the process,” she says in the video.

Vancouver’s Jeff Angus is one of three graduate students at the University of Oregon who produced the video (the others are Ryan Hagen and Alex Morrison). He said that the video is intended to show that early sports specialization “has played a large part in the demise of youth sport in American and Canada.”

The topic, according to Angus, isn’t getting the attention it deserves. “Almost every single professional athlete played a number of sports growing up. In fact, in our research we didn’t come across a single professional athlete who focused solely on one sport before the age of 12,” he said.

“Specialization has a huge cost on society, from injuries and burnout at a young age to kids developing into less successful and productive people in adulthood. It is also contributing to the obesity epidemic by way of a steady decline in sport participation numbers.”

The video includes clips of Allen Iverson (who played in the NBA) playing football, Jimmy Graham (who plays football for the Seattle Seahawks) playing basketball, and Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash, two NBA all-stars, playing soccer. It calls for more stories about “athletes who played and who play”.

Angus wants everyone to see “Play”. “The changes that need to be made can’t come from policy. And they can’t just come from the grassroots level, either,” he explained. “It must involve both sides of the spectrum.

The secret to sport & business success & why your kid will not likely achieve it.

2015-01-22T13:27:00.001-08:00

As the clock wound down, the excitement was palpable and celebration of the "miracle season" began! The Ohio State Buckeye's had accomplished the improbable, pulling off their 2nd upset in as many weeks defeating the #1 & 2 ranked teams in the country on the way to their sixth National Championship with their 3rd string quarterback at the helm. The accomplishment would become international news, 'the stuff movies are made of'. Appropriately, over the next two weeks the number one question for the number one college team & coach would be how did they do it?

As an amateur coach, father of athletes, business owner and guy who generally thinks we could be doing things much better (relative to empowering success) I too wanted to know 'how'. Was there something in this example I (or those I influence) could learn/benefit from? Admittedly I'm a little bit of a know it all, however the basis of my knowledge comes from studying those who have/are achieving the same successes I'd like to see us achieving... and adopting their strategies. Why re-invent the success formula when there are others already achieving at high levels?

So I called Gene Smith, Athletic Director for The Ohio State University and asked "what's coach Meyer's secret?" "Leadership, focus, accountability & buy in" was his answer. Over the next 15 minutes, he would explain how one of the greatest coaches in college football sets the cultural & behavioural expectation for his coaches & athletes and then holds them accountable to it. Simple... but not easy. Imagine, smack dab in the middle of the all about me revolution empowering a team of young players to buy into the notion of 'delayed gratification, team first & brotherhood' on a daily basis? No individual player on this championship team was bigger than the unit they were accountable to or the responsibility they had and it started at the top and spread the field so to speak.

This winning formula reminded me of the winningest high school football program in the USA coached by Bob Ladouceur. De La Sale held the longest win streak of ANY sports team in history at 151 games and coach Ladouceur who've you probably (by his choice) never heard of, accomplished this by implementing the exact same 'brotherhood' ideology, coach Meyer has. When you watch this video (a free recipe for team & business success) the following should stand out;

The focus isn't on scoring points or winning games. It is on being accountable to a greater responsibility as a human being. By focusing on that responsibility & commitment, scoring & winning will take care of themselves.
In order for this to actually happen, players on Ladouceur's team, had to be held accountable to setting and achieving their goals. They did this through commitment cards. Where there is no accountability, success is based on luck and is arbitrary.
There was no room for individuals. If you read the book or watch the movie, the minute it became about the individuals, was the minute the winning streak ended.

What's ironic and somewhat tragic about the above is despite seeing, hearing, learning and experiencing these tangible examples every day; The San Antonio Spurs Chicago Blackhawks, Lululemon Oakland A's [Moneyball] we default to our losing methodology of failure across sport & business operations. We insist on standing in the middle of the picture and snapping the selfie vs. getting out of the way and sharing the scenery for the benefit of others. Yes, I'm talking to you.

As a coach, I can recall three specific examples of the 'brotherhood' process yielding results.

2012: We were leading a group of little league baseball players into an all star tournament. Given our catchment & talent pool, the only way we stood a chance of experiencing success was if the boys believed in themselves and each other because frankly, they lacked the baseball skill. Our season is 7 weeks long and at the end of the season, teams are given two weeks to prepare for an all star tournament, which means you must select a team & coach the heck out of them to get them ready. Our association was that 'guaranteed win' other teams count on so knowing that we constructed a full week of activity for the kids at the beginning of the summer. Each day, kids were dropped off at the front door at 8am. We began with a chalk talk which focused on what it took to be successful as a human being followed by our first practice, a non baseball related activity, lunch, free time and concluding with a second practice ending at 5pm. We went bike riding in the demonstration forest, hiked the grouse grind, and attended a Canadian's game as a team; focusing on elements outside of catching, fielding and batting. Low and behold we 'magically' found ourselves on the short end of a semi final game, one of the better showings for our catchment in a long time.
2013: We decided to host a pre-season summer soccer camp to bring a team of kids closer together. While the focus was on soccer skills we challenged kids to try new activities & adventures at the same time as holding them more accountable (behaviour wise) then they've likely ever been held before. The highlight of the week came when the boys hiked into the back 40, set up their tents and read letters their parents had sent (without their knowledge) describing how proud they were of the men they had become. There they stood (at 11yrs old, vulnerable as hell) hearing words that had probably never been more genuinely stated or understood, in front of their peers. I will never forget that point of empowerment and upon our return we would hear how kids came home 'really positively affected by that experience'.
2014: We were leading a dry land hockey training session at 6am in the morning. The kids rolled in fresh of another beat down from a mediocre team the night before as we had entered our predictable January losing streak (perdioization anybody?) Instead of putting them through the paces, we sat them all down for a session of less of / more of explaining how mental framing and accountability were huge determinants of success. Each of the 16 players got to hear what their peers wanted to see less of from them and what they wanted to see more of from them on the ice. Yes, there was the standard jackass response from the insecure kids, but one example in particular stood out. He was a d-man who lacked the confidence to take a slap shot from the blue line because it was obvious he didn't feel confident in his shot. When more of rolled around to him it was a unanimous 'take the damn shot'. The next game the puck was dished back to him and without hesitation, he took the shot and scored top left corner. His team mates were ecstatic and while few could understand the over celebration, we did. Some would say we lost that game (based on the score). I wouldn't.

These examples mean little more than the 'secret' to empowering young people towards personal & professional success & victories.... is not a secret at all. Which begs the next question. Why don't we implement the same strategy in sport & business all the time?

I live on the North Shore of British Columbia. Our climate is conducive to year round sports, our facilities are some of the best in the country and our athlete pool is massive. If we calculated the amount of time & money we invest in our kids sport experience vs the amount of successful athletes & championship teams we might be embarrassed. How could we improve this?

Leadership. All success begins with the right leadership and the leadership at the top of our sporting organizations can be improved. Drawing from experiences in baseball, soccer & hockey (without blaming) I've got some suggestions.

Have a short & long term vision. This vision should not be something you arbitrarily conjure up. It should be based on input from your membership; your paying membership. Eg; Our hockey associations vision is to "create beer league players" yet I challenge them to ask a kid (who wants to get an education or aspire to be more), a parent (who will invest over 100k over the years in the association) or a coach (who runs practices & games 6/7 days per week) if this is all for a beer league ending and have them say yes. I sat on the board and when it came time to elect a new president for the association and people looked at me sideways when I asked the simple question "what are the applicants visions?" We were told to elect an incoming president based on who they were vs. what their vision was for the league because nobody had one. This happens all the time and when you add up the total amt of revenue invested by the members, this is unacceptable.
Communicate and stick with that vision. Once the membership has been polled and the inputs have been disseminated, articulate that vision and have the confidence to stick to the plan. Outcomes will not appear in year #1. They will appear in 3 and 5 year spans (if measured). It is important that success metrics are articulated, tangibly tracked and reported. If you hit them, you are welcome to another term. If you miss them, you're fired. Period. Leadership must have the confidence to stick to the plan during the period of change and there has to be complete buy in from everyone at the top. if you're not in... you're out. I recall sitting at the table in a board meeting advocating input from our membership to which one director replied "our members are just a bunch of fucking idiots". A handful of the rest of the directors agreed and I knew right then, this attitude would not beget success. This is ego & ignorance.
Surround yourself with a competent support team who buy into the vision as well as tell you what you need to hear vs what you want to hear. A good friend started a movement called PLAY BETTER It's no secret we can do better in Canadian mens soccer and despite having X clubs and Y high performance groups, we generally (and statistically) can improve given our populations potential. His goal was to Meyer/Ladoucer the sport of soccer so kids could actually learn how to understand the fundamental & developmental concepts of this great game vs. the "go go shoot shoot score score" we have been brainwashed into thinking is the benchmark of success. Not surprisingly, he was stymied by the local leadership who undoubtedly felt threatened. They had all of the answers and banded together to 'how dare you' him into keeping quiet. True leadership is often challenging status quo, not rolling along with it because it benefits you at the time.

Parents. It is really unfortunate those who have the biggest influence on the success trajectory of their kids lack the awareness and education of how that should be parlayed.

Understand what youth sports is about. It's a dress rehearsal for success in life. No more. No less. I defy any parent to tell me their ultimate goal isn't to see their kids experience success through their lives. Ok, then stop repeatedly getting in the way. Each time you think, make or reinforce the game around the individual or score you are reinforcing the wrong short and long term outcomes. Sports is about adversity, responsibility, team work, positioning, tactics, winning, losing, praise, constructive feedback and the life lesson list goes on. It's a season/life long process not a game by game outcome. Ever notice the teams that are successful have mastered the fundamentals? This is not by chance.
Embrace accountability & adversity. Please stop trying to flatten your child's exposure to accountability and adversity. Each time you do this, you set them up to fail. We all understand your #1 goal is to never see your precious fail, however there is absolutely no adversity without challenge and no victory without adversity. If you don't think your kid knows what the score of a game was (when we don't keep score), you're wrong. If you don't think someone is going to be 'hard on' your little precious at some point in their lives. You're wrong. If you think success comes from a place where there is no accountability or adversity. YOU. ARE. WRONG. Don't make your child a ****y because you're a ****y. If any coach worth their skin as a human being is holding your kid accountable or riding them to achieve more, it means they care. Be grateful & feel fortunate.
Enjoy watching your child have a great time. With their friends. At their level of enjoyment & pace. Lose the ego, your children are not a reflection or extension of you. They are a reflection and extension of themselves. Don't put your failures, insecurities and shortcomings on them. Also, avoid being caught in the sport-profit traps eg: it's been statistically proven one of the reasons kids are becoming physically illiterate (and chronically injured) is due to early specialization in sports. Where do you think a kid you've forced into a sport year round while you yell at them from the stands / sidelines is going to end up. He/she is going to end up hating that sport, and likely you too. Educate yourself as to what your role is as a parent, stick to the script and support. If you have questions, ask those who can make changes.

Kids.

You're the easiest group because if the leadership and parents can get it right, you are the beneficiary of the messages that should be filtering down to you. Have a plan for yourself, communicate that plan, surround yourself with the right people, understand what it's all about, embrace accountability and have fun. It's pretty easy unless we continue to **** it up for you.

So there it is. A quick Coles notes on sport success from a) people & teams who are repeatedly doing it right, b) personal litmus tests and c) suggestions on how to improve our current conditions. The 'secret' is out and the only thing that should concern you is a) how simple it is and b) how far away from it you're likely moving.

I challenge you to make a difference.

2014-12-31T06:47:00.000-08:00

You don't have to wait to be someone special to change the world.

In most examples, you just have to be you.
It begins by identifying your passion & skill set

Continues through the confidence in yourself, conviction in your ideas & consistency in your action

Let's change the landscape in 2015 starting with ourselves.
Happy New Year.

*See you Jan 2016. I've got work to do in 15.

Be grateful during the season of giving.

2014-12-24T08:44:00.000-08:00

Picture speaks 1000 words. We must remind ourselves how fortunate we are. Particularly during the Christmercialization season. Teach your children how to be grateful. If they don't learn it from you, they won't learn it from anyone else.

Business success IS the right process.

2014-12-17T06:14:00.000-08:00

Something great happened 4+ yrs ago when a good idea forced me out of my management comfort zone. For the previous 15 yrs, I was quagmired in our operational routine. Because there wasn't a successful out of the box personal-training-by-appointment-boutique-business-model to emulate, we were forced to create our own processes through trial & error. We would pioneer our way through varying degrees of success & failure but quickly realize our biggest struggle was going to come from people management.

People management is challenging because no two people are the same. What motivates one may not motivate the other(s) and regardless of how many 'how to manage' books you read, leadership courses you attend or personality characteristics you understand, there's 100% of a 2 person relationship you cannot control. We concluded the right person in our organization, was the person who followed the right process on a consistent basis. No more. No less. This forced us to change the original process of hiring friends and people 'with potential' and as you can imagine, few made it to the next level. Our key take away? There's the process.... and then there's the right process. The two are very different.

Regardless, I hated them both. My personality wasn't process oriented. I wanted us to be able to do what we wanted, how we wanted, when we wanted like the old days. I didn't need to be held accountable, hated feeling like I was being micro managed and blamed and/or avoided those who were giving me the Q&A I needed to hear vs the Q&A I wanted to hear. But as we continued to grow, I began to see how much more work my short sightedness was creating and subsequently taking us further away from our organizational goals. This was a reality I had not previously understood.

Enter The 60 Minute Kidsclub. A business suggestion to differentiate ourselves at the next level by creating a charity more closely aligned with our company values. I took the challenge two feet in and in doing so, entered an entirely new level of what/why & how the right process works to create business success. First, the process of setting up a charity, then the process of charitable governance, then governments (*process at it's absolute best AND worst).

By far, my greatest learning came from working along side Canada's #1 Charity; The Heart & Stroke Foundation and Canada's #1 Philanthropic Telco; TELUS.

At the outset I was constantly being told to slow down, be patient, allow the right process to play out and eventually because it was coming from people who I knew had the same end goal and much more experience than myself, I had to shift my mindset from talking to listening. From pushing through to flushing out. In doing so, this would eventually pave the way for me to move from being a liability, to becoming an asset. Meetings began by clarifying outcome goals, feedback wasn't sugar coated and NO DETAIL was ever left to chance or let slide. After an idea left that room, it would be vetted by comms, legal, back here, over there and tweaked by someone else prior to being released. An exemplary model of the right process in action time & time again.

I gleaned 5 critical lessons from this experience.

The right process is critical for business success. Establish, follow and do not deviate from it until a better process has been tangibly proven, piloted and implemented.
The right process is essential for anyone who aspires to move from the mom & pop to larger business size. This includes internal and external expansion.
The right person, is she or he who quickly, efficiently and consistently implements and executes the right process as they are drawn up.
The wrong person / people must be held accountable to the right processes until they reach the acceptable level of compliance or, they depart.
The wrong people & process will eat your time & suck your energy inhibiting your ability to reach your ultimate business success.

There's a reason these organizations are #1 in their respective spaces and in our country and I'd been very fortunate to apprentice under this process centric WHY.

Don't do your own thing in an ecosystem. There is no need nor time. Contribute to creating, implementing & following the right process so you can enjoy a much greater level of business success.

Are you emotionally strong?

2014-12-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

There is a particular aspect of mental strength that is the deciding factor of whether or not you will have a good life. There are many levels to mental strength and all are needed to be successful and happy. The one particular area of mental strength that has the greatest impact is that of emotional strength.

Emotions are, of course, a part of our psyche, yet nevertheless, can be distinguished from the remainder of mental qualities because they most directly influence our physical body. They affect the way our body functions and they drive every single one of our actions. Without emotion, we would have no reason to act, to do anything with ourselves.

Emotions are our greatest motivators. Unfortunately, they can motivate us to act in any direction, even the wrong one. For this reason, emotional strength is essential. There are countless situations that emotionally strong people avoid and many actions they never take. Here are 15 of them:

1. They Don’t Beg For Attention

Needing attention is directly linked to emotion. Those who feel the need for recognition only find themselves experiencing feelings of worth when others make them feel needed; it’s as if these people are uncertain of their value, or if they have any ounce of self-worth. Feeling unsure of your worth is a self-fulfilling prophecy; if you don’t know you matter, then no one will ever believe you do.

2. They Don’t Allow Others To Bring Them Down

Emotional strength requires resilience. This world is filled with haters and trolls. There are jealous eyes lurking around every corner. The unfortunate truth is that often the people who hold us back the most are those closest to us. Getting rid of these people is often the best solution, but also the most difficult. If you can quietly remove these people from your life, that’s one fewer bridge burned and much less of an emotional trigger.

3. They Don’t Hold Grudges

If you’re holding a grudge, then you already care more about a situation than you should. If a person apologizes genuinely, forgive him or her. If this person doesn’t apologize, then don’t interact with him or her, but don’t hold grudges. People with whom you seek to alienate and hold grudges against take up too much of your mental energy, doing more harm than good.

4. They Never Stop Doing Their Own Thing

Emotionally strong individuals do what they do because they love doing it. They don’t plan on slowing down or stopping for anyone who deems their happiness inappropriate.

5. They Never Stop Believing In Themselves

Those who love themselves and understand themselves — those who aren’t afraid or proud to be themselves — never doubt themselves. You amount to your own self-worth, not a shilling more.

6. They Don’t Act Like Bitches Or Assh*les

People are mean. But we wonder, why? Being a jerk is only good as an intimidation factor, and if you’re trying to intimidate people, then you better be a negotiator by profession; if you’re intimidating just for the sake of it, you’re obviously overcompensating for a lack of confidence. Do you also drive a very large automobile, perhaps? I hear they make pills for that.

7. They Know Better Than To Let Just Anyone Into Their Lives

The emotionally strong are emotionally strong for a reason: They don’t expose themselves to people who break down their defenses and crush their morale. Most people in the world are lost and will be more than happy to take you along with them. Don’t let an awful acquaintance ruin your happiness.

8. They Aren’t Afraid To Love

If you’re afraid to love, you don’t have enough confidence in yourself. You obviously think you can’t be in a lasting relationship, but only in one that is doomed for disaster. You don’t want to get hurt again because getting hurt really sucks. There is no reason for you to get your heart broken again because you are awesome. If things don’t work out, it’s not you. It’s the two of you together. Unless, of course, you are an awful human being; in that case, it is you.

9. They Don’t Lie In Bed Dreading The Day Ahead Of Them

The best part of your day should be the moment you wake up and realize you’re still alive. We take life for granted too regularly.

10. They’re Not Afraid Of Slowing Down

Emotionally strong people aren’t in need of constant action and excitement. They don’t need to run around all day and keep moving in order to avoid their demons. They appreciate a slow moment because it brings them closer to what it feels like to do nothing but living, breathing. This is not to say that they don’t enjoy excitement in their lives, but they aren’t junkies and are more than happy to just go for a walk and smell the roses.

11. They Don’t Do Things They Don’t Want To Do

We all do things that we don’t love to do, but we should never do things that we don’t want to do. The emotionally strong understand that and almost always manage to figure out a way to focus on what they love, which allows them to figure out what they need to do, in order to do what they love. Although they may not love every second of it, they like doing what they are doing because it’s bringing them one step closer to what they would love to do.

12. They Have No Problem Saying “No”

If you can’t say “no,” you will get abused. You’ll be considered a pushover and no one will ever ask you for your opinion or take it seriously when you give it. Saying “no” reminds people that they don’t have control over you.

13. They Don’t “Forget” To Give Back

We’re not too busy or too poor to donate our money and/or time. We don’t forget, either. Some people just choose to ignore our responsibilities as human beings. The stronger you are emotionally, the more you come to appreciate others and life itself. You give life more worth and you begin to empathize with those who were dealt a bad hand.

14. They Don’t Feel The Need To Fit In

The stronger you are emotionally, the more independent you become. You don’t feel the need to fit in because you fit in where it matters: the world. People form smaller social groups that are often skewed and unhealthy. Wanting to fit in doesn’t say much more than “I’m afraid to be myself.”

15. They Don’t Forget That Happiness Is A Decision

Most importantly, the emotionally strong have learned to understand the power their brains have over both the mind and body. They understand that emotions are reactions, not reactions to direct physical causes, but to the way we perceive those causes. In other words, our emotions don’t reflect reality; rather, our emotions reflect the way we interpret reality. Understanding this gives us near-full control of our emotions and, therefore, our lives.

Written by Paul Hudson.

Why It's Time to Legislate Physical Activity for our Kids.

2014-12-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

Today’s kids are not active enough. And they are becoming less active every year. Apparently this is a concern.

I say “apparently” because after years of discussion and debate about how to get kids active, we are still losing the battle. The data presented in the 2014 Active Healthy Kids Canada report card tells us as much. According to the latest report, only 7 per cent of Canadian kids ages five to 11 years are active enough to meet Canada’s basic daily physical-activity guidelines.

The reasons for our failure to reverse the inactivity trend are myriad: the perception of unsafe streets, the allure of computer screens, registration costs for youth sports, and access to programs, to name a few.

Where do we turn now?

One thing that we know for certain: Telling the kids to “just go outside and play” doesn’t work. We need to stop dragging out that blithe statement. It completely fails to acknowledge the complexity of the issue, and it’s not getting us anywhere.

If we are serious about getting kids active, the first step is to recognize what Brazilian public-health researcher Pedro Hallal stated in his 2012 commentary in The Lancet: We need to make physical activity a public-health priority.

But what does that mean? And what does that look like?

History shows us how it works. Successful public-health campaigns are large-scale and comprehensive. With polio, mumps and measles, we did something big. We vaccinated, saved tens of thousands of lives, essentially eradicated these illnesses and no doubt changed the course of human history in ways we can never measure.

In other words, we mandated a preventive cure. We didn’t make it optional for people.

In today’s context of video games and bubble-wrapped children, if we are truly serious about getting kids active, we basically need to legislate physical activity and provide the resources to support it.

That probably sounds draconian and frightening to many. Please take a moment to think about it.

Educators, health practitioners and governments can’t control whether or not kids choose to engage in unstructured free play. Nor can they control whether or not parents do the things necessary to ensure their kids are active in their spare time. But there is one place where, as a society, we can make a big impact.

First and foremost, we can guarantee quality physical education in schools. We can mandate it. Just as we currently mandate math. For all grade levels and for the entire school year. Over the past two decades, PE has practically disappeared from school curricula, and we need to change that.

School sports and physical education are anathema to many. But so is math, and we still teach math in schools. Are we ready to stop teaching math just because kids don’t like algebra or they struggle with fractions? Or because their parents have decided that their children are destined to be poets and not engineers?

Quality physical education is not a great mystery. We know how to do it. Some corners of Canada are already doing it very well.

The P4A school sports program in Prince Albert, Sask., has thousands of children in Grades 4 to 8 learning and playing different sports every year. P4A does it through efficient cost-sharing between schools and inclusive, “no cuts” policies that give all kids the opportunity to play.

St. Patrick’s Elementary School in Victoria has comprehensive activity programming that seamlessly blends year-round PE classes for all grades, daily physical activity (DPA) breaks, lunchtime intramural sports and after-school seasonal sports teams where no one is cut. All of it is overseen by a dedicated PE specialist who keeps all of the 350 kids from kindergarten to Grade 7 hopping – and running, jumping, kicking, throwing and catching – all year long.

Again, it can be done. It just takes planning and political will. The question is, are we serious?

We know that quality physical education costs money. However, medical treatment for heart disease, cancer and diabetes also costs money. Big money. We’re talking billions.

According to the Health Council of Canada, public and private health-care spending in 2012 was around $207-billion. The Canadian Institute for Health Information projected that costs would exceed $211-billion for 2013, or $5,988 per person.

It’s tempting to think that a small portion of these sums, spent on quality school PE programs, could do much to increase physical activity among our children and to curb future health-care spending. Pay now, save later.

Are we serious about getting kids active? Then part of the solution is to address the issue as we have addressed other public-health crises in the past. We need to make physical activity a public-health priority. And then we need to create comprehensive programs that serve every child in Canada, regardless of family income, parenting or geography.

Health Advisor contributors share their knowledge in fields ranging from fitness to psychology, pediatrics to aging.

Jim Grove is a senior contributing editor at Active for Life, a not-for-profit initiative committed to helping parents raise healthy, happy kids who are physically literate. He is a consulting editor to national sports organizations on physical literacy and long-term athlete development. He holds a degree in education and certification as a youth soccer coach. Married with three children, he has 15 years experience coaching children and youth ages five to 18. Find Active for Life on Facebook and Twitter.

What will I teach my kids?

2014-11-26T05:21:00.000-08:00

I will teach my kids life isn't fair and with that, there will be more than less occasions where they will not be treated equally.

Someone will get the job ahead of them because their dad knows the owner.
Someone will make the team before them because their parents lobby harder.
Someone will pass judgement on them because they are un/athletically inclined.
Someone will stereotype them based on the color of their skin, and their friends on theirs.
Someone will judge their faith and beliefs if they don't line up perfectly with theirs.
Someone will question their intelligence being they are 'just little boys'

I will teach my kids that none of the aforementioned will likely be in their control.

How they chose to react to it, will be.

When individuals outgrow their team.

2014-11-19T06:48:00.001-08:00

Cliche football analogy I realize, but this happens all the time in sport, business & life. If it has not happened to you in a management position yet, rest assured it will.

individual is welcomed, embraced & empowered into a system
receives the mentorship & guidance, and then suddenly....
begins believing their own hype & press
becomes smarter & better than the team mates, coaches & systems.
throws them under the bus.

....and it all ends the same way. Sometimes there are things you can do to prevent it & sometimes there are not. This was a decent overview of what could and should have been done along the way from people who are/were very smart.

Death by Profit.

2014-11-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

I had the chance to watch a recent documentary produced by the BBC called The Men Who Made Us Fat. Little in this documentary was surprising vis a vis, our obesity epidemic was, is and will continue to be fuelled by profitability.

Food & diet:

profitability by governments to encourage mass farming movement creating cheap fructose to be the food additive de jour.
profitability by food companies to capitalize on the reduced fat movement, by swapping in sugar & more dangerous additives (mid to late 80's)
profitability by food companies to capitalize on organic food movement, which if you had a half a brain in your head you'd realize 'organic', by it's definition couldn't & shouldn't be mass produced

Health & fitness:

opportunity for the fitness industry to become a billion dollar / yr industry selling miracle cures & dreams
evidence showing the direct correlation between the heath & fitness boom and the obesity epidemic
profitability by research after research after research confirming the problems, yet stopping short on sustainable solutions.

All of the above can & has been vehemently denied. What cannot be denied? The statistics.

My reality is that I'm IN this. I'm not hopping on some bandwagon, talking out of my ass. I see, hear, debate, endorse and lobby for change. I lay awake at night thinking about the future of health of our kids, communities, province & country specifically trying to come to terms with 5 things.

How a few people at the top (of an organization, of a government) can stifle any hope we have at fixing this very fixable problem.
How ignorant we chose to be (on mass) with respect to believing what we're being told / marketed.
How uninformed we chose to be when it comes to the health & well being of ourselves & our children.
How complicated we chose to make things which, at their core, are actually not that complicated.
How reluctant we are to implement any sort of regulation (government) or accountability around our practices.

History is not on our side. We will wait until we've hit absolute rock bottom before we take action to remedy a crisis. Until then, "it's not my problem" or we stand behind the fence criticizing / idolizing / ostracizing 'fanatics' like David Suzuki, Jamie Oliver and Paul Watson who've got the fortitude and tenacity to make a difference.

It was time to DO SOMETHING about the decline of our health & wellness... a decade ago.

Conforming to the look.

2014-11-05T05:29:00.001-08:00

Had a lengthy conversation with a good friend on the topic of plastic surgery last week. It was interesting to hear the perspective relating to woman, from a woman and learn about the various forces & pressures at play that lead to the decision to and/or not to embark on the procedures. Sheer coincidence, I came across a news clip on the same topic from Frances McDormand who seemed to share the same views.

As a male, I can't accurately hypothesize about how I would feel or what decisions I would make. I generally advocate doing things that make you feel good or better about yourself. With that, I also agree it can become a slippery slope and wonder about the forces that drive the decision to have repeat procedures. What's really going on here? After more thought & discussion, I came up with five conclusions, not specifically relating to plastic surgery and woman, but society as a whole through this example & lens.

We've become shallow. We formulate decisions and project judgements on things that don't matter at the same time as dismissing important things that do.
We've become less confident. Strip away the bullshit bravado, we spend a great deal of time being "educated / conditioned" to think, act & behave according to a prescribed norm. That's not how to gain confidence.
We're a product of dysfunction. How can we gain confidence, if it's not being modeled on a consistent basis during the formative imprinting & learning years? Dysfunction normally begets more dysfunction.
We're programmed to tune into headlines & highlights so think that's what we're supposed to be doing too. We spend time ON the present, but are we really maximizing our learning IN the present or is there always something better around the corner?
We tend to sacrifice the magic and beauty of who we are, for the unknown allure of who we think we're supposed to be. In doing that, we take ourselves further from authenticity and what made us great in the first place.

Back to my limited experience in working with many woman, I saw & listened to some of the insecurities, fears & pressures relating to what many described as a loss of identity. It's unfair, it's unfortunate and I would not trade my beer drinking, jean wearing, stomach extending simple man's life for it. Ever. I think society can be hard on a lot of people, but it's particularly hard on woman.

Anchor your focus & achieve success.

2014-10-29T07:58:00.002-07:00

Each year, I drop the anchor by way of creating a personal mission statement. A personal mission statement is a concise statement of intent which all actions & outcomes must meet prior to engaging. If actions & outcomes do not support the personal mission statement, I don't engage them.

I craft this in Oct / Nov for the upcoming year because I found floundering and waiting for the clock to strike midnight on Jan 1 was a waste of precious time. I hate wasting my time. I draft the PMS based on input from trusted business and personal peers who provide me with need to hear vs want to hear feedback on how I can improve. It becomes a cathartic and effective process.

This past years PMS was Next Level, meaning actions and outcomes must be purposefully and intentionally leading my physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual spheres to the next level. Does this practice work? It does. While I'll spare the humble brag of achievements accomplished from Nov to Nov, I will broadly share it was one of the most productive and enjoyable years I've had to date. All of the planning was done up front and then it was simply a matter of execution (which is actually not that simple). 2015's personal mission statement is efficiency, meaning the focus will be to become even more efficient with time & energies invested across the five spheres to achieve the outcomes I'm after. *Note. I did not invent this process, I simply execute it at a high level.

I'm obviously big on goal setting & time management as a framework for success. Where there's no plan, there's no purpose and no point. It's like getting in a car to drive to a destination that you have no idea where it is and wondering why you're wasting time, driving aimlessly & getting frustrated. This practice starts with a personal mission statement and then follows up with specific goals (with timelines) down the personal and professional verticals. If you've found yourself struggling to get ahead or stay on track give it a try. You will not be disappointed.

The Realities of Being an Entrepreneur.

2014-10-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

I'm often surprised when I talk to people interested in starting their own businesses. When asking about my experience as an entrepreneur, they'll say, "You're so lucky," or "It must be great to be out of the rat race." Statements like this make me smile because they couldn't be less true. Luck has nothing to do with it. As for the rat race, while different, it's faster than ever.

That's why I wanted to share the realities of being an entrepreneur. First, a disclaimer: At the end of every day, I wouldn't trade my current situation for any other option, and I'm grateful to be able to do what I truly love. However, being an entrepreneur isn't the easy, carefree career path that many believe it to be; it's actually quite the opposite. When everything is invested in your own business--time, money, passion and creativity--it can border on obsession. And when you work from home or your spouse or family members work with you, you rarely, if ever, leave the office--at least from a mental standpoint.

Let me start with a few hard truths of being an entrepreneur:

1. It's stressful. If you think meeting a boss's deadlines or demands is tough, try meeting your own, especially when your personal savings are on the line. Maybe you've already taken out a second mortgage and your credit cards are maxxed out. Or maybe you've borrowed money from family and friends and you're on the hook to pay them back, ASAP. This type of pressure lights a fire under even the most laid-back personalities. Not only will you feel the pressure to get your business off the ground, but you'll also feel the added pressure to do so quickly to regain some semblance of financial security.

2. It's never-ending. Yes, it can be thankless to work for someone else, knowing your skills and talents are ultimately making someone else a bundle. But in most jobs, you can leave the work behind when you go home to enjoy your family, friends or hobbies. As an entrepreneur, the workload can be intense, especially during the early stages when you are the CEO, CFO, HR person, sales staff, marketing guru, tech guy, office manager, and janitor. With all these roles, there's rarely a moment that you feel your work is "done" for the day. There's always something more you could be doing, like researching new markets, writing press releases, contacting new media, cold calling new sales outlets, developing new products and the list goes on. And that can eat away at time formerly devoted to family, leisure activities, workouts or relaxation.
It's a difficult balance to strike.

3. It's frustrating. Maybe you've partnered with someone who doesn't have your best interests at heart. Or you've received a shipment of damaged products that you need for a trade show the next day. Or the media appearance you spent days preparing for is suddenly cancelled due to a natural disaster. As an entrepreneur, these types of situations happen on a regular basis. (I speak from experience; all of the above happened to me.) The truth is that you never know what's around the corner and it can be extremely frustrating when you've planned to spend a day on product development, only to find out that you have to repair the cases of product packaging that came apart during shipping.

So with this kind of stress, pressure and workload, why, then, would anyone subject themselves to being an entrepreneur? The answer is simple: the positives outweigh the negatives:

1. It's rewarding. When you're successful, you reap both financial and emotional rewards. There's no better feeling than seeing a product you've worked hard to develop on store shelves, or when you've provided successful service for a grateful client. It's exciting to make a sale or win a new client when you know it's from your own hard work; it's gratifying when customers tell you that your product, service or example has made a difference in their lives. And of course, turning a profit and knowing your business is financially stable are extremely rewarding as well.

2. It's flexible. Once you work for yourself, it's common to feel you could never work in a conventional 9-to-5 environment again. I believe it's mostly due to the flexibility. Yes, you may work more hours, but you can do so on your own terms. You can stop work at 3 to pick up the kids from school without asking your boss for permission. You can work from midnight to 4 a.m. if you're a night owl. You can work from home or your own office with daycare on-site. When you're the boss, you call the shots, and the new freedom can be exhilarating.

3. It's the chance to create. Many entrepreneurs are driven by the need to build something great, help other people, or leave something behind. Perhaps it's a business that your children can join and grow; maybe it's the legacy of creating something that will be around long after you're gone. No matter what the motivation, creating something from nothing that grows and develops through the years can be almost like raising a child; it's your baby, and you've nurtured it to its current level of success. That type of fulfillment is difficult to duplicate in most other career paths.

Written by Tamara Monosoff

Why Innovative Fitness is AWESOME.

2014-10-15T05:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm absolutely biased in this assessment of this business, but to be involved in something that brings so much empowerment to so many, is something to be proud of. Founded over 20 years ago, IF emerged after many hours of planning during our French 400 class at UBC. Two young, ambitious, business-raw athlete's determined they wanted to match their innate & learned skill sets with their passion for helping people achieve their goals.

The name "Innovative Fitness" was tongue in cheek as it came at a time when the industry was trying to revolutionize health & fitness. Twenty years later, we still know there to be few sustainable short cuts to healthy living and Innovative still thrives on old school fundamental principles of goal setting, eliciting support, working through adversities and achieving personal victories.

Here are the top 10 reasons Innovative Fitness is AWESOME.

We're TEAM centric. While our industry & society vaunt the "celebrity trainer", IF is able to scale further, faster for you vis a vis a team mentality which means we can positively affect more people.We bring allied health care providers together. It's not about "listening to me vs them", it's about your health at the epicenter and all of us ensuring you are well taken care of. Ego's left at the door please.
We're focused on the bigger picture. Ultimate health is not simply physical prowess. Ultimate health is a combination of emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual AND physical well being. We're big on the mental as well as the physical.
We strive for excellence. Excellence is consistently doing the little things well day in and day out. Excellence is what everyone deserves from every business in the service industry.
We encompass personal development. The goal for our incoming team mates is to have them leave our organization (inside or out) better than they started. Confidence, competence & contacts for life.
We're all about engagement. Unlike most 'gyms' who set up shop to sell memberships they hope very few use, we want to see you early and often. In fact, we'd love to see more of you... working on you.
We will challenge you. Without challenge, there's limited adversity. Where there's limited adversity, there are few genuine personal victories read: limited growth. We all know, you're either getting busy living or...
We give back to our communities. That's right. We started our own charity supporting physical literacy. If we can help kids move mor confidently and competently out of the gates, we eradicate many downstream diseases.
We focus on you. It's not about 'us', we can all be replaced (if we're doing our jobs right). What matters is you, your needs, wants and goals. There are trainers out there who may forget that from time to time.
The people you meet. From all walks of life, from all athletic abilities, from all spans of goals. The people you will meet and share experiences with are some of the most generous, best, caring, savvy men & woman in our communities.
The places you'll see. Yup, from local hikes you never even knew existed to remote corners of the world. We'll help you pick a goal, draft the plan and get you there safely with a 10/10 fun factor.

So there you go, Innovative Fitness: Empowering people since 1995.

How to handle not making the team.

2014-10-08T05:04:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year and you've just found out your kid didn't make the level / team they aspired to. If you're a rational, intelligent human being who views youth sports a social experiment that teaches young kids valuable lessons about teamwork, feedback, adversity, communication, rules, systems, failures & success, you're probably ok with whatever level / team they are on... and by default so are they. If you're an over-invested, egotistical, neurotic, human being who views youth sports as a hierarchical statement of your kid's (and self) worth, you're probably experiencing sleepless nights scrolling through the rosters of those who did make it, wondering how it is even remotely possible your Johny or Jenny didn't.

As a coach, allow me to share some insights that can help you, and yours... but mostly you, move on.

Stop comparing. The minute you begin comparing who made it vs. who didn't is the minute you expose your lack of sport IQ. The quickest way to find the answer you seek; ask the coach. Not the parents, not your spouse, friends or Zamboni driver. You'll be surprised to learn that most times, the coach has a plan, system & strategy that may not have anything to do with what you're assuming it does.
Focus on improvements. It's straight out comical how the first questions relate to who made it & who didn't when what they should be asking is "hey coach, can we get candid feedback re: what johhny / jenny can do to improve". If you didn't / don't do this, your athlete may very well repeatedly... miss the opportunity to improve.
Don't think out loud. The worse thing you can do is repeat your illogical rationalization & thoughts in front of your child. Give them a chance to formulate and understand outside of your influence (which likely sounds like - don't worry, coach is an idiot & you're better than x/y/z). Again, this takes the athlete FURTHER away from learning what they need to be successful. You are your kids hero/heroine, understand that responsibility and avoid overcompensating.
Remember your skill set. Unless you're a professional coach, don't comment on the decision making, methodology and strategy YOU THINK is being deployed by a professional coach. We know it's difficult to differentiate between your glory sport playing days and present reality but there IS a difference that you need to accept & appreciate. Stick to being an awesome parent vs. a shitty parent-coach.
Move on. In every defeat (if that's how you chose to view & define it) lies an opportunity. Have the tough chat, swallow the pride, absorb the lessons and focus on making the best of the situation at hand. Acting the spoiled brat through the duration of the season doesn't move you forward. It sets you back.

Youth sport is a marathon, not a sprint. Stats don't lie when they cite a high % of kids leaving sports in early teen years because they were burned out or not having fun. Stats also point to the real reason why kids quit youth sports and low and behold, that is one area parents excel. The primary responsibility of any good/great coach is to have players complete a season better than they started. The primary responsibility of any good/great parent is to have your kids progress their physical, social, intellectual, emotional & emotional EQ & IQ better than they started.

Let's stay away from being 'that parent'

Don't forget to turn the filter on!

2014-10-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

I received an FB invite yesterday from a friend who I'd thought was already a friend. As I've experienced this before with spam I double checked with her to see if she'd indeed sent the new request to which she replied she had. Curiously, I asked why she'd created a new page to which she replied "I'm re-establishing my authentic self". I liked the honesty of that answer so much that it prompted me to devote an hr of time during a youth sporting event to filter my friend list. *What's important to articulate is the people I had accepted friendship from or engaged friendship with are/were all good & great people. There was no sour grapes or c-ya attitude, simply a conscious decision to better control information I share & who I share it with. While the process was cathartic, it made me think about the volume of unfiltered information we tend to share.

Given the nature of social media, I can't help but wonder if we'll look back 10-20 years from now and wonder what the f*@k were we thinking. There are fewer precious & private moments as it's become more like a race to share information with as many people as we can than savor those private moments. I mean, if we want to learn how to make a bomb, its two clicks away. If we want to find out about more than we need to know about someone, it's a search engine & see all.

On a deeper more conscious level we've all seen and heard people rushing to take the selfie that "will make a great photo for facebrag". I think that is as sad as it is great, because we've become less focused on being in that moment and fully embracing that than we are about sharing what we've half absorbed with others. Sometimes strangers.

I think it's also similar to the self imparted real world pressure we face to have to be friends with everyone we meet. We don't. And there's actually nothing wrong with that. I admire those who are not frequent fliers of social media or the mainstream cliques. Ironically, most of those people happen to be some of the most accomplished, influential and successful people I know. So perhaps there's something here (read : value) through the example. And while I don't profess to have all the answers, I can share how appreciative I was of this random filter reminder.

Don't feel the need SPAM yourself to everybody - filter it and get the people and results you're really after.

There are no excuses for success.

2014-09-24T05:18:00.000-07:00

I've got a neat twice a week dialogue with a young man who requested leadership advice in exchange for his crafts six months ago. Over those six months I've listened to him describe various work situations and his accompanying perspective. Yesterday we had an AHA moment but up until yesterday, this young man did what every single LEVEL THREE LEADER does when provided with feedback; #1. blame others & #2. make excuses. I finally asked him if he was consciously aware he was doing this, to which he replied he was not. This time, I listened to a story that was followed up with what he could, should & would have done to take a leadership role in bringing about the desired success he sought. Eureka!

There's so much talk about how to be successful it's almost deafening but regardless of the good & great intentions the real test comes when it's time for the rubber to hit the road. We've said it before, the book of success does not need re-writing, it's contents simply need to be executed. Consistently.

Below are 10 tips to success we've benefited from implementing over two decades of business.

Maintain a clear focus. We're an easily distracted species, yet those who achieve a great level of success share a common goal; focus. They do not let themselves get sidetracked from the end goal until they have achieved or surpassed it.
Be willing to embrace failure. Failure is a precursor to success and if you're not one of those people who can take the lessons and apply them forward, you'll limit your ceiling of success.
Take full responsibility for both failure & success. Blamers & reluctant leaders are not usually successful people. Successful people own both the failures and successes which enables them to learn & grow from their experiences.
Be prepared to work smart & hard. With the volume of people on the planet, success often comes down to who wants it most. We seldom read stories of those who made it big because they were gifted success, with admiration.
Master empowering others. Very few successes come from solo missions. In the professional ecosystem, you must hone your ability to lead & empower others to be as or more competent and confident than yourself for things to scale.
Master consistent. There are way too many examples of people being consistently inconsistent. Success is a formula that needs to be applied every day, across every play in order to work long term.
Say what you intend to do and then do what you said. The quickest way to differentiate yourself in a big-talking marketplace is delivering on your word. Make the statement that engages and then go out and get the job done.
Be prepared to go & do what the majority will not. Delay gratification, get up & go to bed early, treat your body well, and apply 1-10 across as many examples as you can. There's no traffic jam on high road to success. Believe me.
Be confident. Really successful people have a quiet confidence to understand what others may not; vision, process, zig-zags & solutions. There's a big difference between confidence & arrogance. Learn it.
Master execution. A high percent of success-inhibitors stem from an inability to execute plays, processes & systems they way they are drawn up. Successful teams & organizations MASTER the art of execution.

If you want to taste success, and become a LEVEL FIVE LEADER, you're going to have to be wiling, at minimum to master most of these basic yet essential fundamentals.

Seek to be informed ourselves vs. entertained by others.

2014-09-17T06:09:00.003-07:00

If we are to evolve, we must learn to think for ourselves.

The past couple of weeks have been a steady diet of drama in the media. Drama that boosts ratings, sells magazines and flat out consumes time and energy. I dislike drama. If it doesn't affect myself or those close to me, I'm inclined to pretend I'm paying attention while not really not paying attention.

I think drama, and it's perpetuation is like junk food for those who are to lazy to prepare healthy meals. Drama is normally associated by other people thinking for us and drama is BIG business. Here are five strategies to avoid getting sucked into the drama vortex.

Stay focused & busy. Busy, focused people don't have time to entertain drama because, well... they're focused & busy.
Avoid reacting to drama. Once people understand you're not their audience, they will (hopefully) get lost and find someone else (more like them) to share their perils of bullshit.
Don't pay drama forward. Drama makes a living by virtue of mutation as it passes through the desired networks. It quickly becomes blown out of proportion.
Challenge what you're being fed. Challenge it by being non judgmental and putting yourself in the shoes of those at the center of the conversations. We've all got faults.
Invest in other forms of entertainment. The same mindset that's used to find drama can be used to find goodness and greatness. (and there's a lot of it).

Big business and small people bank on us subscribing to their entertainment. It's called fear mongering and it presents an opportunity to up-sell more bullshit. Let's entertain a new approach, something novel, requiring a little bit of work. Let's think for ourselves.

The key to success is execution.

2014-09-10T06:25:00.002-07:00

Whether in sport, business or the sport of business more times than less, the key to success lies squarely on people's ability to execute. Execute the plays as they are drawn up or the operation systems as they are configured. So if there are only a finite number of championship teams across any league and one in five businesses makes it to the five year mark what are the factors limiting our ability to execute.

Experience. Experience is something that comes with time & tenure. As we venture further into mature business life, systems & operations become more complicated which take more time to learn. The better the plays & systems have been configured and communicated, the flatter the learning curve. Given the transient nature of our modern work environment, our ability achieve stability & consistency adversely affect our ability to achieve consistency which affects our ability execute.
EGO. So much time & effort are spent building people up in the early stages of their lives & careers that sometimes they begin to believe their our own hype. Suddenly they convince themselves they no longer need the support & expertise from those in coaching & managerial positions. Further, with the access to information, we have WAY more know it all's believing they can build better mousetraps than those before them. This begins the race to the bottom and impedes our ability to execute.
Outdated operation manuals. There are many times when the play books or operations manuals are simply out of date yielding a competitive disadvantage. If left unchecked, this deeply hurts our ability to execute to the extent we'd like to become that winning team or organization.
Distractions. There are too many distractions in our modern day work environment vying for our focus and making it difficult to stay on task. In most cases, few of us have learned and then demonstrated the discipline to compartmentalize our focus and attend to the immediate tasks & responsibilities. Our minds wander, our actions follow as we are taken further away from the desired execution outcomes.
Bigger Picture Attitude. More than less, the ability to field a championship team or organization relies heavily on the teams ability to operate outside of themselves. Team success, is the sum total of the individual parts. When we introduce unmotivated, self serving parts into the team scheme, it brings the machine to a halt quickly and stops our ability to execute.

Ask yourself if where you'd like to be is where you actually are? If the answer is no, chances are it's an execution problem. The good news is YOU have direct control over it.

Please don't bandaid a broken system.... Again.

2014-09-03T07:01:00.001-07:00

In the midst of this years teachers strike, I was forwarded what I thought was a well written article (authored during the 2012 strike). While I do not profess to have all the answers to what is obviously a complex problem, I would suggest the manner with which we continue to address this issue across multiple public sector examples may warrant a revisit in the name of sanity for all involved. I though the article written by Herbert offered a decent alternative to how we're addressing things now.

Like most striking workers, BC teachers tend to believe they are underpaid and overworked. And like most employers today, the BC government is facing tough economic times and can’t afford to be generous with its workers.

It’s a classic labour relations standoff that stems from attitudes deeply imbedded in human nature and driving the almost universal belief that one’s work is not valued properly.

In market economies this belief is tamed by the invisible hand of competition. Employers who have unfilled vacancies pay more. If they are swamped by job applicants, they pay less. In the end, workers find jobs with the highest pay they can get and employers can afford to pay.

The market solution to the determination of workers’ pay was damaged when governments passed legislation allowing workers to form unions and permitting them to strike without having to pay for damages.

In the private sector, the ability of unions to extract benefits for their members through strikes is limited by market forces. If union demands are excessive, employers go bankrupt and the workers lose their jobs.

However, in the public sector, unions face no such limits. Politicians typically put up some resistance to union demands, but in the end give in and raise taxes to pay for the increased costs. Small tax increases do less electoral damage than do public sector strikes.

As a result of this game, public sector union members now enjoy compensation levels much above those for comparable private sector work. But the game is now over. Deficits are unsustainable, debt has become excessive, and the public opposes higher taxes. Politicians everywhere are looking for ways to deal with this new reality.

In British Columbia they have chosen to freeze the salaries of public sector employees. This policy has been accepted by all public sector unions, except that of the teachers.

Fights between the BC teachers union and the government have a long history and transcend party lines. They will always be there. Give people the power to decide what they should be paid, they will always try to use this power to get what they want.

The only permanent solution to this problem therefore is to deprive teachers of the right to strike. The government that granted that right can also withdraw it. Such a policy is consistent with the widely held view that anyone who does not want to work for an organization that is prohibited from striking is free to work for one where the right exists.

The policy will restore the role of market forces. The government as the employer will rationally set wages so that there are neither unfilled vacancies nor teachers looking for work. School curricula and working conditions for teachers will be set in response to demands from parents and the political pressures they generate with input from teachers.

To prevent only strikes but also increase the effectiveness of the educational system, the government should change the current system further by giving all parents vouchers that they spend on schools, which through competition are induced to provide the type and quality of education parents believe their children need.

Under this system, governments continue to meet their commitment to provide universal access to education. The big difference is that parents indirectly hire teachers that meet their standards, replacing the current system which sees teachers hired directly by government agencies that are much less sensitive to their children’s needs than are parents.

The use of vouchers will end some current practices that make contributions of questionable value to teaching effectiveness as determined by parents. Such practices involve time for preparation, further education and other conditions negotiated by the union. Merit will take the place of seniority in setting the pay of individual teachers.

The special needs of some students are readily accommodated under the voucher system by providing them with vouchers that compensate schools for the extra cost they need to incur.

There is no time like now for at least a debate, if not action, on the possible prohibition of strikes by teachers union and the universal use of vouchers. The public is tired of strikes, the deficits and debt caused by excessively generous wage package in the past and never-ending demands for better and costly working conditions. The public is looking for political leadership to deal with these problems, not just the band-aid solutions offered by the type of legislation now used.

Author Herbert Grubel
March 14 2012.

Weighing in on Ferguson.

2014-08-27T07:42:00.001-07:00

Much discussion has taken place re: the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson. Was it justified, racially motivated, warranted, an example of the obvious racial & socioeconomic divide that's eroding our society? Was it a life & death reaction to a series of dire events? Was it both or was it neither? Let's start with the obvious. When someone loses their life, it is a tragedy that transcends race, gender, age and religion. Regardless of the investigative outcomes that life will not be replaced and that is about as unfortunate as it gets.... that is, unless we take / learn nothing from it. Here are the top five things I've learned (so far) from the tragic Ferguson incident, not meant in any way shape or form to trivialize the unfortunate events.

Each time incidents like this happen, society takes ten BIG steps backward. In life, the second the blame game begins is the same second the learning stops. Blaming only assures situations will more than likely be repeated.
We rush to judge people & events. We're so impatient, we can't even wait for due process to run it's course before we formulate (and share) our opinions. We want it right but we want it right - right now.
We're quick to play our cards when it suits us. The race, religion & gender cards. We seem to avoid the realities of life cards which state that sometimes terrible shit happens that has no bearing on ANY one of those things.
We seldom put ourselves in other people's shoes. That would be difficult when whats easy is to wonder why everyone else doesn't think / act or react like us. Why didn't he/she just...
More than less, the reaction to these instances, merely serves to reinforce the very stereotypes we seek to eliminate. Rioting, looting and... shooting at police as a solution?

The only positive that can come from this tragic incident, and incidences like it is a better understanding and clearer management of 1-5 above. Until then, history is very likely to continue repeating itself.

Suffocating under the weight of ignorance.

2014-08-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

First things first let's meet Jim.

It was interesting to read the backlash to this very real, very honest infomercial. "Oh yeah, blame the parents", "This is prejudice against overweight people" and on and on. Here's the reality folks. Obesity is a controllable death sentence that's also crippling global economies. Millions have been spent trying to passively & non offensively educate the population on the adverse ramifications of obesity. For the most part, we've chosen not to listen (eg: statistically trending towards unhealthy populations). But why would we / should we listen or take action?

there's zero tangible accountability for living an unhealthy lifestyle eg: healthy lifestyles are optional.
we don't view this global epidemic as 'our problem' eg: I know MANY PEOPLE raising obese children who would watch Jim's video and hope other people 'get it'
we've justified & prioritized profiting from the obesity epidemic over solving it.

The research industry receiving MILLIONS in grant after grant for study after study validating how being overweight is negatively affecting our productivity. Thanks.
The health & fitness industry profiting BILLIONS promising those who want to keep doing what they're doing can achieve better health with this pill, that membership, this miracle cure
The pharmaceutical industry making BILLIONS creating drugs that manage the symptoms of obesity to provide 'better quality of life'
The fast food industry profiting BILLIONS in serving up cheap, processed food while placating us with their 1-15 ratio of healthy-to-processed food choices
The technology & gaming industry generating BILLIONS from feeding our addictive & insatiable appetite for instant gratification
The medical industry continuing to invest BILLIONS in downstream medical care vs. investing in upstream prevention.
*ever wonder a) if we invested 50% of these total monies into a solution, we would make great inroads to solving this epidemic or b) why don't we mandate these organizations contribute to a health care solution using a percentage of their profits as they are clearly part of the problem?

With all of the above, the 64 Trillion dollar question remains, do we (as a majority population) stand a chance of living healthier lifestyles? The answer to that is a sum total of the parts, beginning with us.

Do you know what healthy choices are? Do you make them 80% of the time? Do you have consequences for making and/or not making them?
Did you decide to have children? Do you understand what that responsibility entails pertaining to their health? Do you parent to make your children 'feel good' now or do you parent to make your children 'be empowered' to thrive later?
Did you choose to live in a community? Do you simply live and take from that community or are you contributing to it's sustenance, growth and preservation? Do you voice your opinion to those who can make change?
Do you pay attention to what's going on in your province? Do you vote? Do you do your diligence on the candidates you're voting in and their platforms? Do you voice your opinion to those who can make change?
Do you reap the benefits of living in your country? Do you pull on a red & white jersey every four years and become vocal when we win hockey? Do you vocalize your opinions to those who can make change?

Until more than 50% (17.44M of Canada's 34.88M population) can answer yes to all 5 questions above, we will continue to suffocate under the weight of our ignorance.

Differentiate your business brand.

2014-08-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

"We're not trying to be better than the competition, we're trying to be different". Steve Jobs.

There's little argument about the impact Steve Jobs had on.... the world really. His vision redefined the manner in which we communicate across multiple mediums. But lets get back to his famous quote, a quote which defines ANY entrepreneur's / new businesses success. I'm no Steve Jobs by magnitude nor am I attempting to draw any comparisons to his accomplishments, however like many entrepreneurs I identify with his lengthy battle to switch the team focus OFF of what the competition is doing and ON to what we are creating.

Here are five reasons why that is critical to the success of any business.

You can't control what others are doing. Focusing on others takes your attention off of what you're supposed to be doing. More, if you're attempting to replicate what others are already doing it means you're already behind / following.
It exposes your lack of business IQ. Extremely successful business people remain focused on the execution of the worthy. While they are aware of the competitive landscape, they're not in reacting to it. They're defining it.
You risk losing your unique value proposition. I've been in too many meetings that propose we operate like everyone else IN THE SAME BREATH as the demand to uphold our unique value proposition. You can't have both.
It becomes a race to the bottom. Eventually, it comes down to who can deliver the best service for the cheapest price. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Apple decided they would be a premium brand, which carries a premium price and guess what? People not only expect that, they line up city blocks to get it. [see below]. Be great enough with your proposition that you can demand the supply.
All of that energy and focus will only make your idea, business or value proposition better. You will stand APART from the rest of the businesses in your space and THAT is what consumers want. Not more confusion about the same thing.

The book on how to be successful need not be re-written, it simply needs to be read and implemented.

Why we think we're owed something.

2014-08-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder why so many of us live in this perpetual state of naivety constantly believing we're owed something? 'Ya... she doesn't talk to me anymore', 'I've been working there for five years now', 'I deserve a break' and the list goes on.

I think the reason is threefold; a) our self worth has been greatly over inflated & over exaggerated b) it's a byproduct of compensating (and over compensating) what would otherwise be considered routine behaviors & c) we lack the practice hence skill of taking personal accountability.

The reality of life's law suggests many of us are getting what we're giving and reaping what we've sewn. If our phones have stopped ringing, it's because we have stopped calling. If our flame has dwindled, it's because we're no stoking the fire and the cause / effect list goes on should we be mature & honest enough to own it.

One of the better books I've read was written by John G Miller called QBQ; the Question behind the Question. It was a helpful resource in re-framing many of the victim questions I was asking myself. At the end of the day all of my life's magic and mayhem start & finish with one person; me.

Don't blame. Own S!!t

Support as many of the right things as you can.

2014-07-30T05:42:00.001-07:00

I'll begin this weeks post with an apology for my horrendous (at times) grammar eg: last weeks misspelling of primadona. I took it on the chin from a few people and notably one mate who wrote "FOR CHRIST SAKE MATT, USE SPELL CHECK" in the subject line of an email. There's no hiding the fact I'm guilty of rushing my thoughts and hitting publish before I've given articles a third & fourth re-read. The fact is I'm actually humbled (and surprised) people even read my weekly babble, designed to get my thoughts out of my head more than anything, however I will make an attempt to improve (slowly). Please accept my apologies..... and may I direct your attention to this cute new puppy.

Next; Where's your support?
It's easy to support things when they have direct impact and meaning to/for/on us, we're all over it with passion and sizzle. Yet this is often not the case when it comes to support initiatives and endeavors of others. Why is that & how could we become better supporters? After all it would
stand to reason if we were asking people to be interested in what we were doing, we would extend the same courtesy. Here are five tips we can use to become better supporters.

Support the right things vs just your things. If you read or hear of something that resonates with you, jump on it because you believe it's the right thing to do.
Create a yearly budget for things you would like to support. That budget can be comprised of money, time and energy. Share that with your circles so they know where you stand.
LIKE EVERYTHING your circle of friends are doing. It's the least you can do, requires very little effort but goes a long way.
Get over yourself. We're often critical of others because we're jealous ourselves. That's not team think, it's me think and that's lame.
Encourage others to be better supporters. There's nothing more powerful than a network of positive supporters who can feed off one another.

We can get burned out from being asked to support so many someone's somethings however, there will come a time when we need to make that call. Let's remember, we'll likely get what we give.