Blog Comments

  1. PbZepplin's Avatar
    It is a human condition to procrastinate until deadlines force us to work. Those of us that have disciplined ourselves to work consistently are the most productive and get the best results. I think that is perhaps where that saying you refer to originates from.
  2. philip_p's Avatar
    Gathered so much inspiration from this. First, I made sure this is my new motto "The enemy of a great life is the good life.". I am actually afraid of the good, it usually brings something bad after it, it's cyclic, I am used to it. But settling and getting into the comfort zone, where I was for 20 years, is definitely a no-no if you have higher aims than the good life.

    Then, there's BusNavig8's story - I've always said that a mother's love and dedication are the strongest powers in the world. And you live with a burden but I know you never give up - we all have a walk to walk, easy or tough - we should pick ourselves, never give up, and see the little beauties of life no matter what.

    Thank you both!
    Updated 09-Aug-16 at 03:46 PM by philip_p (proofreading)
  3. philip_p's Avatar
    That answers so many things for me. Your story really translates into mine. Now that I am able to sum it all up - I know that it's healthy for me to pile commitments. This way I feel good - I feel there is something for me to do, never really getting bored. In addition, the days when I used to feel stressed out about the long list of tasks are gone - because, like you, I saw that, no matter of deadlines, requirements, etc., I've always been able to handle my stuff and with good results to show. I feel this especially close to me because I just relocated in another country, and whilst I've got no friends or many people to go out with (or that I want to go out with), I still manage to enjoy myself more than ever - coping with all those commitments that await every day. #productivity at its finest. GREAT!
  4. callen's Avatar
    You got your eye on the ball Dave !
  5. Citizen X's Avatar
    "Because in the moment you can"
  6. Darkangelyaya's Avatar
    I respect anybody's belief system who respects mine.
    Somehow, though, certain religions feel the insane urge to force themselves on others in order to grow their numbers. Does the number of followers a religion has prove its validity?
    Most of us have been given the power to reason. That, combined with a good dose of gut feel, will always lead you in the right direction.
    Unfortunately, most of us are also lazy. It is just easier to follow an established (socially acceptable) dogma / religion / way of life / belief system, than it is to pave the way and forge your own.
    As an example: In my life, if I had to buy into the generally accepted belief that stage 3 to 4 breastcancer is only curable by cut/poison/burn/death (surgery/chemo/radiation/death), I would've celebrated, this month, my 14 month anniversary of receiving my harp/bass guitar/wings/horns.
    I look at the way you treat people, animals, nature. That tells me everything I need to know about your god/gods.
    There is always another way.
    Never stop looking for your own piece of peace.
  7. Jade's Avatar
    I seem to agree with both Mike C and Blurock. they do have great points. I remember watching Prometheus (it's a movie going back to the very beginning of the late 80's/early 90's movie Alien with Segourney Weaver as leading actress). I couldn't help but wonder if we were perhaps formed by aliens. The movie is based on where they leave earth and travel to another planet where scientists go on a mission to discover where humans came from and if there was perhaps another life form that created us. It goes against all religions perhaps (I am a Christian by the way). BUT as I said I couldn't help but wonder if we were maybe formed by aliens. There are lots of unanswered questions, I know I have them, and I am sure most people do about their own religion no matter what it is. That is my main question, 'where did we come from?' The bible tells us it was God, but was it really God? I look at most religions today, and most of them have evolved into today's modern society. I remember sitting one night at a cell group meeting, and someone mentioned aliens, and other life forms on planets. I remember sitting in my seat cringing with the fear that my pastor was going to lash out at him, but he didn't surprisingly. We discussed it for almost 30minutes before going onto our actual cell group schedule.

    As a Christian, I believe the word of God, don't get me wrong, I read the bible attend church etc but some questions that I have asked my pastor and others cannot answer for me. Some of the things in the bible that I have questioned, are left unanswered.
  8. Jade's Avatar
    I think with the economy of this country going the way it is at the moment, we do not have it in us to change our nature. The fact still remains that we as human beings let ourselves destruct under false pretenses and false promises from our Government. We, as human beings unfortunately are also very naive, in the fact that we allow ourselves to be manipulated to these so-called promises and to have a misconception of the way that Government is run (we, in our minds, lead ourselves to believe that the Government is running the country correctly.) The more damaging effect of the country is the youth of today listen to these "promises", they also want to change things in the country. Have a look at what our President Jacob Zuma did to the Nkandla residency. He went and had a R203 Million revamp on land that he does in fact not own. Four in five youths said that they disapprove of this. However, the youth of today is scared because of people like the ANCYL form president Julius Malema's militant style of leadership. The youth is becoming more and more intimidated by him and others like him in Parliament each and everyday. In order for us to stand together, we need to get rid of Racial issues (and no one can say that there are no racial issues, because there are). I feel that if everybody, and I mean everybody regardless of race, (isn't this how the striking miners also pointed fingers while they were striking?) stand together, put any apartheid feelings aside and stop blaming each other, we could perhaps win this war that we are all waging on ourselves. Remember the Employer wages a war upon himself, as well as the Employee. I think when we look at the bigger picture of things and perhaps have a leadership willing to listen and to respond publicly, us as human beings will be able to grow together and not against each other.

    The fox and the scorpion story is correct, there is no real 'answer' as to who is the fox and who is scorpion, because we all basically sting each other when one wants to help another.

    @Vanash law and order will only come when the right people put in the right positions will see what is actually wrong and fix the problems as they promise. We will slip into an undevine intervention with ourselves if we do not vote the correct people in place, and if we do not educate ourselves further and investigate on the party that we are wanting to vote for. We need to see what they stand for and what their 'beliefs' are. ( i know it is difficult, because all of them promise the same thing, but I tell you what when you see all of the differrent parties and sum them all up and compare, you will be amazed at what you will see)
  9. Citizen X's Avatar
    Human nature is an ugly thing left uncontrolled. The rule of law is imporatnt to prevent us from rearing our ugly nature. If there was no law and order, then if someone wanted your house, they'll simply violently take it, someone wanted that woman, they'd simply violently take her, rape her and make her their life time slave...we need law and order!
  10. vieome's Avatar
    We can change our nature, but will we?
    Here is a good tale on how we can change our nature

    The Legend of the Two Wolves
    An elder was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, “A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil—he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority, and ego. The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too” They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old man simply replied, “The one you feed.”
  11. Blurock's Avatar
    I agree that religion and faith is private and should be kept that way. We can never force any one to believe as we do. Many wars have been fought and so many people have been killed in the name of religion. The reason is that we try to justify our actions or inaction with religion. Religion is often twisted to serve our own selfish nature.

    If one is really religious and has a real relationship with God, it will show by your actions. We do not have to tell everyone. One has to also respect the religion and belief of other people, although you may not agree with them at all.
  12. Mike C's Avatar
    Couldn't agree more Dave. Very few people are argued into the Kingdom of God! One understands that strong views are held by many people about their faith. They are quick to defend their standpoint and many are vigorous in their attempts to evangelise ... but a gentle approach and a genuine attempt at trying to understand the other person's point of view goes a long way to having a really fruitful discussion.
  13. Bizfact's Avatar
    That is a lot to go through and you had to be pretty tough. I don't think I could ever say I can relate. I just want you to know that sharing your experince has been a wake up call for me. Thank you
  14. BusNavig8's Avatar
    I agree with Cejay. Its a trait of the around 10% of successfull businesses.

    In 1990 (25) I had a child that was born with Cerebral Palsy. His brain damage did not, for some reason, go to the motor part of his brain, but to other parts. I had to leave formal employment and work from home. I knew nothing of business, of business principles, of marketing, or anything else. All I knew was financial services in a secure employment enviroment (I was a claims superintendant). I used to be typing in my pjyamas as 11am. That was ridiculous! So I started getting up in the morning, putting my make up on, getting into my car, driving around the block and now I was at work!. i did this enough times until I didnt have to do it anymore. I had signs all over the house - I mean all over the house for motivation - Smile its a brand new day. I mean I had to cope with a severley brain damaged child and being the major breadwinner and now knowing the first thing about how to do it. I remember going to the SBDC hive in Industria and selling RA's to them. I went to lenasia with my brother - who waited in the car - in case they stole my hubcaps! I sold insurance to the wrong people - I was supposed to be at 41c and I was at 41b. I took taxi's everywhere and I didnt have my drivers license yet. You do what you have to you. Sometimes you have to do the hard stuff. I remember going to clients all happy and smiley and getting in my car and crying all the way to the next client and then being all smiley again and crying all the way home again. But I am in one piece I did make it. My son who is 22 now, has the mental age of between 6-8 years, but he scans my files. A page at a time and then I save them. He still sits in my space. It is still heart breaking. I learned not to give up. You cannot give up as long as you are making wise choices. I also learned that winners do quit. they just quit on the right things. While you are still breathing you have hope. And your may just be on the edge of your breakthrough.

    How did this all help:

    It gave me empathy, people skills, care, understanding how important financial controls are, Wise decisions. Tactical and strategical planning. Risk and Reward, Contingency Planning, Succession Planning, Resourcefulness, Resolution Skills, Patience
    Updated 10-Feb-12 at 03:06 PM by BusNavig8 (Remembered I forgot stuff!!)
  15. cejay's Avatar
    Re-structure the mode of the business so that your absence will not create much negative impact on the whole body of the business. Go back to the root on how the whole thing came about, Believe me you will have a new innovation.
  16. Mark Atkinson's Avatar
    Well as a personality based business owner I will always be an advocate of maintaining a strong personal element in my business(es).

    I think it's possible for even large corporates to show an element of personality, and the best way to do so is via social media. Take Mweb, for example, they have an employee who maintains all their social media outlets (MwebGuy) and he partipates on Twitter, Facebook and forums such as MyBroadband. He listens and responds quickly to all queries and issues relating to Mweb - in similar fashion to how a small business owner might do it.

    Another example is Web Africa. All their higher-ups maintain a social media presence and communicate with the Web Africa fan base. I know the CEO, the marketing director etc by name and have had conversations with each because of it. This is a great example of a larger company removing the "corporate veil" in a social sense.

    In a recent article by (about) Richard Branson, he suggested that when a company starts to feel too big or too corporate, it's time to split the company into smaller companies. This is what he has done with his many businesses. With a smaller group of employee responsible for each business, the personal element is maintained. I also don't think anybody can questions Branson's success.

    Thanks for the article, Dave. Definitely a thought provoking article.
  17. Sparks's Avatar
    My choice? A bad day's fishing still beats a good day's work or surfing
  18. Dave A's Avatar
    Three days back so far and I'm certainly being a lot more effective. A lot more.

    Not sure all my staff are overjoyed with my enthusiastic thrashing of issues at the current pace, though.
  19. Mark Atkinson's Avatar
    And??
  20. Lyle Comyn's Avatar
    Passion! How far people go for it! To the death at times. The grate wars have been won on it storys told and against all odds!! Ambithion will take you most of the way but Passion is that last step, the what are we willing to do!
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast