As a parent do you do one or more of the following things with your kid(s)?
-Always worry about giving your kids an edge?
-Compete to get your kids into the best playschool, kindergarten or grade school.
-Intervene when the kids rough-house with each other.
-Get involved with their university courses, grades, professors or dorms.
-Get involved with your kid’s workplace or bosses.
-Expect weekly or more frequent updates from your kids in college or university.
-Constantly shuttle your kids from one activity to another be it dance, music, soccer, etc.
-Constantly have your kids in activities controlled or supervised by adults.
-Constantly pushing your kids and their teachers for your kids to do better (even if they are straight A students)
-Constantly worried about the safety and well being of their kids.
If any of these apply to you then you are likely a hyper parent. Although you are parenting from a place of love, studies show that you are likely doing your children harm. The way Baby Boomers and Gen X’s are bringing up or have brought up their kids has turned into a social experiment that may have dire consequences. At a very minimum these kids have trouble making decisions on their own, many are highly stressed and their sense of entitlement makes it difficult for them to fit into the mainstream of society.
I recently watched a show on CBC TV in the “DOC Zone” series called “Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids”. I find what they have identified in today’s parenting practices to be disturbing. I think every parent and every person in a position of influence or authority over the youth of today show must watch this program and then consider their own actions and values about their influence over children. The show can be found on CBC TV in the Doc Zone series at http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/Doc_Zone/ID=1405930535
| Article Tags :: Academic | Grades | Kidnapping | Kids | Kindergarten | parenting | parents | play | Playing | school | stress | university | |
Is Society in trouble because we are too busy to care? How will this affect the 2010 Vancouver Olympics? Posted on Thursday February 04th 2010 Filed under: The Rant By BC Business Network, I have written 415 posts - Click here to visit my Website |
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Seriously, today I discovered what we have become as a society and it disturbed me. Let me tell you about my day.
This morning started as a high energy day as it should when I attend the White Rock ‘N’ Rollers ThinkReferrals Chapter meeting. Great people, Great discussions, and a fantastic breakfast. I had to rush off right away so I could get down town to the Supreme Court where our FightHST group was having a press conference to talk about our next step in stopping this Horrific Sales Tax being forced on us by Gordon Campbell’s Liberals. I will post the info later today at www.fighthst.com.
As I was leaving, I had to walk down the sidewalk to the main entrance of the Court House to get to my car, everyone else went the other way so I was walking by myself and the other dozens of people using this busy sidewalk as well. That sidewalk is a serious health hazard as I will attest to here and now. I was walking at a normal pace and sure enough I hit an uneven part and I heard a very loud snap from my right ankle and I was down and out. Many foul words went through my mind but not out of my mouth as I lay there in agony. Instant swelling and instant massive pain.
 Ouch, this can't be good . . . |
A grown man in suit laying on the side of the sidewalk in obvious pain, should cause some concern, if I saw this I would most certainly offer assistance. That never happened, as the people were traveling by looking at me, not one person asked if I was ok or if I needed help, 4 people without a word of concern for my situation offered their names and addresses as witnesses for when I file my lawsuit.
I have NEVER been so disappointed in Society as I was that very moment when I realized that someone in obvious pain and distress could get help suing the city before a kind hand up or an offer to call for help.
To make it really sink home, I pulled myself up and hopped to the courts where I was bumped into and pushed many times on my way to the elevator until I made it to my car and drove myself out of Vancouver and back home to Surrey, I have no interest in suing the City or chasing after any money since this willonly inconvenience me for a few weeks and not permanently change my life, I sure would have appreciated a bit of a hand getting back to my car though.
I have a very bad feeling that the loud noise that I heard coming from my ankle may be a bit worse than a sprain but I can’t bring myself to hop to the car then deal with a trip to Emergency at the Hospital.
I wonder how long a walk I can take for my ThinkFitness Challenge goals on crutches?
Take my advice people, rethink everything. If your life is too busy to care about anything but your destination, you need to find a way to slow it down. Take a little time to see what is going on around you, take a little time to care what is going on around you. If someone needs help, for god sakes offer a simple hand up.
I am worried about what this will be like during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics when that main area is wall to wall people. How many people will have the same problem I had today.
| Article Tags :: agony | court house | dozens | elevator | foul words | Gordon Campbell | grown man | health hazard | high energy | hst | Liberals | main entrance | massive pain | names and addresses | pace | rollers | sales tax | serious health | sidewalk | snap | Tax Grab | vancouver | |
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2010 is Upon Us by: @CoachStan Posted on Wednesday February 03rd 2010 Filed under: Business By CoachStan, I have written 100 posts - Click here to visit my Website |
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A new decade is upon us and there is a lot happening in business and the world. We have had enough media hype about the economy. People are taking action to move their lives and businesses ahead. All the pundits will be suggesting you should be setting your goals for 2010 and then getting into action to make them happen. I would suggest all of us consider a different approach.
Take some time to reflect on what has happened in your business and your life in the past year. What were the challenges and what were the wins. Consider how you would like your business and your life to look in three months, 12 months and two years. From that, create written visions of your business and your life. Make sure your vision is bigger than you are and bigger than your business. Stretch yourself. Once you have created your visions then create your goals and a plan to achieve your goals. In your business be sure to include extra effort in sales and marketing to keep your business vibrant and strong. Build your natural skills. Delegate and find ways to have someone else provide the skills you fall short in. If you are starting a new business focus the majority of your effort on sales and marketing to give your business a healthy start.
It has been my experience and observation that when we have visions bigger than us, we achieve things bigger than we would have believed. From our visions we can then create flexible plans to bring those visions to fruition. Do not do it alone. If you are a business owner, executive, or solo-preneur find a mentor, coach or advisor to help you through 2010 and the next decade. Very few possess all the skills necessary to succeed big on our own.
For those that live in or around Vancouver, Whistler, and the 2010 Winter Olympics it is important to include plans to sustain and build your business during February and March when there will be disruptions to business, public access and traffic flow. Now is the time to be innovative in keeping, attracting and serving customers. Good Luck and have fun doing what you do. Enjoying the journey is an important part of the experience of life.
| Article Tags :: 12 months | 2010 winter olympics | business focus | business owner | business public | disruptions | flexible plans | fruition | media hype | mentor coach | new decade | public access | pundits | sales and marketing | starting a new business | three months | traffic flow | visions | whistler | winter olympics | |
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People Who Perform Poorly Posted on Saturday January 16th 2010 Filed under: Bad Business By synspire, I have written 5 posts - Click here to visit my Website |
Why do some people perform poorly at their jobs?
The key components of performance in every position are:
- Education
- Experience
- Skills
- Personality Traits
- Intelligence
The employee must have adequate levels of each of the five key components of high performance. Your recruiting and promoting systems should have identified what level each position requires of all five of these components. If you find that an employee is missing one of these five components then you must ask yourself some questions:
- Can the employee attain the necessary education?
- What ways can you help the employee to gain the required experience and skills?
- Can the role be adjusted to accommodate the employees inborn personality traits?
- How did someone without the required intelligence get the position in the first place?
What about when an employee with adequate levels of the five key components of high performance is performing poorly?
It is important that managers and business owners do not make judgements about the attitudes of their employees. All too often we hear people say things like “they have a bad attitude” or “they just don’t care” when in reality we have no way of knowing what the employee is feeling and thinking.
Ask yourself important questions about the apparent lack of performance:
- Does the employee know what high performance looks like?
- Are there any obstacles that are not in the control of the employee?
- Does the employee know what they are supposed to be doing and what “finished” looks like?
They may have all the necessary key components of high performance yet they may not realize that the current level of performance is unacceptable. Even if you have told them repeatedly that they are under performing do they know what they have to do to achieve high performance? For example just because a person is intelligent does not automatically mean they know how to do something effectively.
It may seem basic and like you shouldn’t have to articulate to that level of detail but the reality is you get paid for what your people do and so you must make sure that every obstacle is removed. Never allow a situation where “finished” can only be recognized by you the manager or owner. Training is often the answer that managers and business owners jump to as the solution to poor performance. Until next time good health, good business, and good day!
| Article Tags :: adequate levels | apparent lack | attitudes | bad attitude | business owners | education | education experience | Experience | high performance | intelligence | jobs | judgements | necessary education | obstacles | performance | personality assessment | personality traits | Skills | |
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Training vs. Learning - Your Profit is at Risk Posted on Sunday January 10th 2010 Filed under: Business By synspire, I have written 5 posts - Click here to visit my Website |
Poor performance can be fixed by providing training!
Do you agree or disagree?
It depends greatly on whether the employees taking the training are actually learning anything or not. I personally have taken many training seminars that were very motivational but shortly after leaving the seminar I quickly returned to the “old habits” that the training was supposed to help me correct.
Training does not guarantee that learning is occurring and if learning is not occurring then your profit is at risk.
The question is simply - how do I ensure that any training I provide my employees translates into genuine learning that contributes to my bottom line?
- Make sure any training programs you consider require the students (employees) to demonstrate that they have the ability to apply what they have learned. At the graduate and under-graduate level this is accomplished by testing students.
- Stephen Covey maintains that unless you can teach someone else what you have learned you really haven’t learned anything at all.
Don’t be lured into the trap of training for training’s sake. If you are going to spend your hard earned profit on training make sure that there are systems in place to guarantee that learning occurs. Also make sure that you have created a return on investment model to measure the impact the training has had on your bottom line.
Until next time good health, good business, and good day!
| Article Tags :: profit | risk | training | Value | |
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“Fire Your Boss” by Stephen M. Pollan and Mark Levine (by @coachstan) Posted on Saturday January 09th 2010 Filed under: Book Review By CoachStan, I have written 100 posts - Click here to visit my Website |
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The front cover of the book claims the book is “A radical Career plan to
-Take control of your work life,
-Boost your income,
-Have a job offer always in hand
-Find happiness outside of the office.”
I would agree the book delivers what it claims. The author talks about how the parents of baby boomers saw work as a career and how the baby boomers looked to their work for fulfillment. In both cases the way companies operate today it is not possible to find long term careers or fulfillment in your work in any one company.
The plan in this book is to find self-fulfillment by fully living your life outside of work and not trying to find it at your workplace. Work is a tool for personal advancement and for maximizing your earnings. The authors look at human nature in the work place and provide a plan to take care of the needs of your boss over the company in order to secure your position and build your career. They say that although a lot of people have trouble with this idea, the best way to work is to go where the money is. They do provide a checklist of other important criteria to consider when selecting a job depending on your personal circumstances and where you are in your work life. They also maintain the best way to secure your career is to always be job seeking and to move frequently as opportunities unfold. There are formulas in the book to make all this happen. Although the authors talk about unemployment and health insurance from an American perspective the plan in the book works in Canada and elsewhere.
The authors make a strong rational argument for their career plan. If you are caught up or influenced by the old way of thinking that you have to dedicate your life to the company I agree with the authors that you will end up being fired and disappointed. In fact they make the point you are hired to be fired. Fired anytime there is a downturn in the economy, a change in corporate direction or ownership, or your division/department/product becomes outmoded. For many readers the book will cause their back to get up as the book blows away the old myths about employee and employer loyalty and gives an insightful hard line perspective of what is really happening in the workplace in the highly developed nations. It may be necessary to challenge and give up some of your old belief systems around work in order to live a fulfilled life.
I agree with the authors’ perspective and I recommend the book be read by all employees young and old. It is also a great primer for those about to graduate or newly entering or re-entering the workforce. I feel even entrepreneurs should consider reading the book. I think it will help them look at their business and ask themselves the question – Is this serving me in the manner in which I truly desire?
| Article Tags :: advancement | Career | employee | employment | fulfilment | fun | jobs | Money | resume | Work | |
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