I’ve never been a fan of race medals. While they are symbolic of accomplishment in the moment and fun to wear after a race, mine usually sit in a pile somewhere until they end up in my plastic ‘medals bin’. What to do with your finisher medals? A lot of wasted materials and not really recyclable. Maybe race directors should...

When I was in my 20’s, on my desk you’d see a can of diet coke, a jar of candies and an ashtray. Yes, it was not that long ago that we could smoke in the office. Hard to believe from this vantage point. I wasn’t concerned about my lifestyle and health choices at the time. I thought the diet coke was a good thing – better...

On-going research continues to support the idea that, across a wide range of ages and life circumstances, people with higher positivity ratios have better mental health than those with lower ratios. Your positivity ratio is the ratio of positive emotions to negative ones. In order to flourish, ideally you want a ratio of 3:1 positive to negative...

About a year ago, two athletes from our local triathlon club and I were discussing The Ironman Muskoka 70.3 triathlon as a target race for our mentoring program. It’s a popular race that takes place about an hour north of where I live in Central Ontario. One of the athletes, a late-30’s super-fit guy, said he was thinking...

From time to time we end up in unforeseen and unwanted circumstances. It affects our mood, our outlook and drains our energy. It can feel like we have no options.

This happened to me on a recent trip to Nassau to run the Bahamas Marathon. After a 5 hour wait at the airport we were told our flight to Nassau was cancelled. The airline put us on a...

It’s the time of year when everyone is making plans and setting goals and stating resolutions for the new year. I’ve seen many posts on planning, goal setting and how to have your best year ever. It can be quite exciting. It can also be intimidating. So much pressure to do more, accomplish more, be more. Heck, even I’m talking...

Utmost Positive Regard (UPR)

I was reminded of UPR earlier this week when on a call with a group of people with whom I took a leadership program a number of years ago.

What is the intent behind UPR?

♥ To treat everyone we meet with the utmost positive regard.
♥ To believe that s/he is doing her or his best.
♥ To treat people...

As I was pondering what to do with “more-in-me” this past summer, I came across Stephen Cope’s book, “The Great Work of Your Life” in my unread books pile. As you might guess from the title, this book is about figuring out your vocation or true calling. Cope uses the story from the two thousand year old yogic text...

I was in the last half mile of a half marathon race (13.1 miles). I looked at my watch and realized I was not going to achieve my goal of finishing in under 2 hours, a time that used to be easy for me. One of my calf muscles was cramping and slowing me down. At that moment the words “I’ve got more in me. I know I do.” popped...

Did you have a glass of water first thing this morning? I did because I learned that the brain needs to be hydrated to function at its best. Having a glass of water first thing provides my brain with the ‘fuel’ it needs. This is one of many simple, practical ideas suggested by Dr. Greg Wells in his book The Ripple Effect: Sleep...