Calm After The Storm
Forever & AlwaysWe often think of the 'calm before the storm', but rarely do we recognize or even witness the 'calm after the storm'. This sunset occurred less than an hour after a severe storm, near Otter Falls, MB, that brought down a hundred trees near a cabin we had rented. The clouds became soft like cotton balls (mammatus clouds) and the sky was at peace.
With the sand sliding between our toes, and walking hand in hand, there was no thoughts of #tweets, #likes or #snapchats.
The is my first post via my iPhone WordPress App. Honestly, if you had told me a year ago that I’d be switching from Blackberry I would have made a comment that ended with, “from my cold dead hands!”
Mahatma Gandhi was quoted as saying, “Be the change you want to see in the world!”
I agree and don’t know too many people that would dispute Gandhi. This quote has been an inspiration to me, but for some reason, has always seemed incomplete… So my deepest apologies to Gandhi but I changed it!
“To be the change you want to see in the world you must constantly be changing!”~ Lee Raito
Change is the one constant we can all count on. Whether it’s changing to an iPhone, changing your income, or changing your lifestyle…
YOU just have to decide to change and go for it.
Mahatma Gandhi would have loved the iPhone!!!
Top 5 Reasons Not To Use AVG Antivirus Software
Results Are In & The Winners Are….
** If you have Stumbled Upon this blog after the contest has closed please post your comments below or subscribe to our email list as we will be doing more in the future!!!!
First Place – Suwari (Comment 41) Second Place – Yang T (Comment 31) Third Place- Nicola (Comment 49)
We will update which Charities benefited once the winners have indicated where the $$$ is going!
We have to make a special note of Nicola who desperatley tried to bribe the judges by sending the photo on the left. We hope they will enjoy the suprise bonus. Also, our oldest daughter Emma really wanted Yang T to be the top winner, as the story of ripping a dollar bill in half really had her chuckling. As you will see in the below video, the results of the contest were 100% random, and although you needed the judges vote to get into the final 10, it was all luck after that.
Well our first blog contest has sadly come to an end, but you can be sure this won’t be the last.
My wife and three daughters have simply been amazed that entries have come from the furthest reaches of China, Italy, the United States, Africa and many other countries. Many contestants were very creative and even wise in attempting to bribe the wee judges. Everyone has a worthy charity to support and we truly wish we could support them all!
Thank you to everyone who took part and we look forward to ‘Paying It Forward’ more in 2009.
Video Proof of Random Draw of 10 Finalists:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZz9-uWGUSs[/youtube]
*** CONTEST IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED*** Thank you to all contest entrants, after tabulation the results will be posted here: /charity-blog-contest/
WIN MONEY FOR YOUR CHARITY & A FEW GOODIES FOR YOU
This contest is brought to you by my daughters Emma, Hanna & Grace in the spirit of giving. Two of my beautiful daughters survived and thrived after heart surgery. It’s time to start giving back and paying it forward! If you have Stumbled Upon this contest, then we hope you will take a moment to enter and tell your friends!
Update 12/31/2008: It’s New Years Eve, and as we get ready to say goodbye to 2008 and usher in a New Year, we are very excited that 35+ people have entered our ‘Pay It Forward’ contest. With so many heart felt comments, my girls will have a very tough time selecting the 10 finalists. Less than a week left to go…
Prizes:
1st Prize $500 To The Charity of Your Choice, 8G iPod Nano ($135 Value)
2nd Prize $100 To The Charity of Your Choice, iPod Shuffle ($70 Value)
3rd Prize Mystery Prize (Unknown Value)
We wanted to keep it as simple as possible and give everyone a chance to win great prizes that will make a difference. Extra kudos will be given for creativity, humor and individuals who have a ‘pay it forward in the spirit of giving’ mentality.
How to Enter:
1. Simply comment on this post below with “WHY’ you feel you should win, or creatively choose a way to comment that you think will set you a part. 1 entry
2. Post about this contest on Your Site. 2 entries
3. Pay It Forward by telling three people about this contest. 3 entries (Just put the words ‘Paid It Forward’ at the end of your comment and we will trust that you did!)
Each entrant can have a maximum of 6 entries only.
Start Date: Contest Officially Starts Now & Ends Jan.5th/2009 23:59 CST
Yes, that’s it folks! Put your creative thinking caps on and have some fun. We will post updates as frequently as possible.
Rules: On January 6th/2009 three winners will be randomly drawn from 10 of the best comments and reviews. The 10 best will be selected by a panel of three highly trained professionals; my daughters Emma (9) Hanna (7) & Grace (3). Once the ten are selected, we will randomly draw for the prizes using random.org and announce the winners as soon as they can be contacted.
Sponsors: If you are interested in adding to the prize pool, please contact me directly at leeraito @ gmail.com We would love to have you participate, and will proudly list you as a sponsor.
I have been thinking and facing accountability every where I turn this week, and I honestly believe it explains so many personal & professional failures in all of our lives.
1. Accountability to oneself, for most people, is useless unless you can create concrete consequences and reward systems that you force yourself to adhere to. (e.g. Very few people will truly punish themselves for not working out, not finishing a report at work or reward themselves for not smoking) Only a select few extremely strong willed individuals can and will apply harsh consequences & positive rewards to their self accountability.
2. Accountability to others is the tenant of almost every success (e.g. I am accountable to Mr. Smith, my spouse or organization, therefore when I mess up I will feel the wrath. When I succeed, I am emotionally or financially rewarded and am personally satisfied!) More things just seem to get done when someone is held accountable for their action(s) or inaction.
Rather than go on, and on… I think you get the point.
Here are a couple of questions I am personally answering this week, and as well posing to those people in my life who are accountable to me. If you are feeling brave consider answering them yourself.
Lastly, I have always and continue to believe that positive rewards work far better than negative punishment. But sometimes, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do!
What does it take to motivate you to action?
Is pain enough of a motivator, or is it pleasure. Think of the last big thing you have done in your life; job change, relation ship, etc. Did you act swiftly and decisively to gain pleasure or to avoid pain. There is so much power in knowing what motivates you from within. Master this skill of controlling your desire for pleasure and your avoidance of pain, which may take a lifetime by the way, and you will rarely hesitate when it counts.
What does it take for you to decide you’ve had enough?
Maybe it’s your job or business, maybe it’s your finances; maybe it’s a toxic relationship, or maybe its part of your life that is stressing you to the point of affecting your health. Either way, decisions or deciding is at the root of having enough. Yes, there are probably hundreds of factors at play when you make tough decisions, but not making a decision can always make things worse in the end. The good old sheet of paper of pros & cons has never become irrelevant. Pull out a sheet of paper and decide if you’ve had enough.
What does it take to be the best at what you do? Quite simply making the decision to be the best and motivating your self to mass action. Decide. Act. That’s what it takes!
Certain cars or truck have blind spots, and as drivers we use our mirrors and best judgement to determine whats there. In other words we imagine what is there with out actually seeing it. Often, our imagination is dead wrong , and most of us have experienced being in a car that tries to change lanes, and then suddenly realizing if you do, you are about to crash into a car that was hidden in the blind spot.
In business, we use our imagination to fill in the blanks when we don’t have all of the information, and our customers do the same. What we think we see, is sometimes only partially true because our brains are hard wired to fill in blind spots and missing information with out us even realizing it. For example, an upset client conversation with your company’s representative goes bad, and after hearing both sides of the story you play back the recording. Wow! How could both the customer and the rep both been so wrong, do they actually even remember talking to each other. Yes, they each probably remember 10% of what was actually said, then their mind “Makes Up” the rest. Think to yourself, is there any situation that you could swear happened a certain way in your life only to discover you were completely wrong. You aren’t crazy…it’s just the way the mind works. We make up stuff to fill in the blanks.
Here is a cool demonstration to prove we all have blind spots, and by that I mean a part of your eye that you cannot see out of. The only logical, and clinical explanation, after seeing this is that every day our mind is forced to fill in the blanks. Our mind does a such good job of it we can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what our mind has conveniently filled in.
So the next time you are faced with that nagging thought of, “Did I think I just see that!” or “I can’t believe that conversation!” Remember, it might have been your mind filling in the blanks!
Print out the below picture and follow the instructions:
Instructions: ( Print the sheet out and hold it in your right hand with your arm fully extended. Close your left eye and stare at the plus sign in the diagram with your right eye. Off to the right you should be able to see the spot. Now slowly move the sheet closer to your face while continuing to stare at the plus sign . At a particular distance (everyone’s a little different), the spot will disappear (it will reappear again if you move the sheet closer or farther away). You have just discovered your blind spot. )
Here is a PPT file of the image: http://www.leeraito.com/download/BlindSpot.PPT
If you have seen any other good examples please post a comment!
To my grandfathers and all those who fought or those who are fighting for the freedoms we too often take for granted each and every day…
“Thank you!”
Life Gets You Down…
When you look back on the last year, our Global Economy has had a huge impact on a ton of people. Too many quality folks have lost their jobs, experienced foreclosure, survived on maxed out credit, and or all of the above.
So if you’re not in the ‘down’ camp, count you lucky stars and reach out to help people who are. Maybe it’s helping a struggling small business with marketing for free, investing a few dollars in a great start up, or sharing your expert advice pro bono. If you are in the ‘down’ camp reach out and add value to everyone you can using your most valuable asset. Whether you are in the up or currently down camp, your time is your most valuable asset to give.
It’s an old cliche but it rings true, when you are at the bottom you have no where to go but up. When life gets us all down we can stay under the covers and dread getting up in the morning or get up and give more.
Stress permeates all of our lives and has an affect on everything we do; from our daily jobs and personal relationships to our ability to concentrate.
A long time ago I came across a list of the Top 5 Most Stressful Life Events and committed them to memory. Here they are in no particular order:
Why am I writing about life events?
Well, quite simply the more we can personally reduce or understand the stresses in our life, in theory, the better we can perform and enjoy life. More importantly, by understanding that anyone who we may be talking to, emailing, communicating or writing for may possibly be experiencing one of life’s most stressful events, it just might change how we approach people or communicate. I’m not saying we go around assuming that everyone we speak with just had a family member pass away, but odds are if you communicate with a large amount of people on a regular basis, then you will be touching a few stressed out folks that are currently going though one of life’s most stressful events.
I know awareness is sometimes not the only answer.
No matter how tough the times are… I know most people can help themselves get though almost anything. Sometime though, you need to recognize when you can’t. That’s when you need to reach out for help. Seek out a friend, a teacher, a doctor, your church, or anyone who will listen. If it’s real bad, and you or someone else is in immediate danger you HAVE to call 911 or the police.
If you are in the midst of experiencing one of life’s five most stressful events right now… my thoughts go out to you, and If there is anything I can do to digitally assist you please post your comment below & I will do my best (sorry that sometimes I am slow to respond). Either way, it often helps to write out what you are feeling. Feel free to use my comment section to let it out and get it out of your mind for a moment.