Todd Skinner grew up and lived in a modest neighbourhoor in Oshawa, Ontario; the average “Kid Next Door”- but, the passion he discovered for business and enterprise at a young age was anything but average. His innate driven sense for business and a passion for learning would grant him the oppourtunity to spend the next two decades of his life delving into a wide variety of business experiences at home and across the globe.It wasn’t until one night, he found himself far from home, on a business trip in India, where he came to the realization that the foundation of business success was rooted in helping people to lead extraordinary lives. Todd found that regardless of culture, position or resources, people living to their full potential made a difference by creating extraordinary businesses, communities and families.Thus, Todd started the journey of sharing his extensive experience, and knowledge to help organizations and leaders build companies and people that inspire, motivate and challenge one another to live big lives and make a difference.

Day of Hope and Leadership is an innovative, professional development day being hosted by Dan Carter Productions in Oshawa on October 5, 2010. For more information, please visit Day of Hope and Leadership.

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por·tal
Pronunciation: \ˈpȯr-t^əl\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latinportale city gate, porch, from neuter of portalis of a gate, from Latinporta gate — more at port

a site serving as a guide or point of entry to the World Wide Web and usually including a search engine or a collection of links to other sites arranged especially by topic

Source: Merriam-Webster

Although this speech has been circulating for years and years with credit being given to Bill Gates, a little research showed me that this is an urban myth.

Rule 1: Life is not fair — get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping — they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

~Anonymous

David Drane is a writer for CREATIVE LIFE LINE, an inspirational speaker and story teller. For more information about David and CREATIVE LIFE LINE, go to his web site at www.drane.ca.

What would you say if I told you that you have in your possession right now, the piece of the puzzle that will move your business into its next growth phase?

That’s right. Almost every one of us has the key to our own success. We just don’t recognize it.

We get so wrapped up looking at the new technology, the latest trend in networking, a better web site, improved brochures and a myriad of other things. But what do you have, what do I have that will help my bank account catch up with my success?

Here it is. You’ve heard it before and you probably haven’t really acted on it yet.

What ever the mind believes, the person can do.

When you really believe it, you will achieve it.

Unfortunately, really believing might be the tough part. It takes about a month for the mind to accept a new habit. Make your success a new habit. After your mind accepts it, the rest of you will do what is necessary to catch up.

Here are the steps to convince your mind of what ever it is you want it to believe.

1. Decide in specific terms what it is that you want.
2. Write it down in specific terms in the present tense. Write it as if it is all ready accomplished.
3. Put your written statement some place where you will see it every day.
4. At least twice a day, preferably more often, read the statement out loud. If you miss a day, you will need to start over. (That’s not my rule. That’s your mind’s rule.)
5. If anyone does or says anything to cast doubt on your statement, turn them off and go read your statement out loud.

If you follow these five easy steps, you will be amazed at the results.

I believe it was Samuel Clemens who said, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”

And I don’t recall who it was who said, “Use it or lose it.”

So now you have the next big thing. Use it and grow.

David Drane is a writer for CREATIVE LIFE LINE, an inspirational speaker and story teller. For more information about David and CREATIVE LIFE LINE, go to his web site at www.drane.ca.

I love Reading Seth Godin’s blog and look forward to reading it each day. Yesterday’s post was called…

What’s expected vs. what’s amazing

I visited a favorite restaurant last week, a place that, alas, I hadn’t been to in months. The waiter remembered that I don’t like cilantro. Unasked, she brought it up. Incredible. This was uncalled for, unnecessary and totally delightful.

Scott Adams writes about the cyborg tool that is coming momentarily, a device that will remember names, find connections, bring all sorts of external data to us the moment we meet someone. “Oh, Bob, sure, that’s the guy who’s friends with Tracy… and Tim just tweeted about him a few minutes ago.”

The first time someone does this to you in conversation (no matter how subtly), you’re going to be blown away and flabbergasted. The tenth time, it’ll be ordinary, and the 20th, boring.

Hotels used to get a lot of mileage out of remembering what you liked, but it was merely a database trick, not emotional labor on the part of the staff.

Today, if you go to an important meeting and the other people haven’t bothered to Google you and your company, it’s practically an offense. We’re about to spend an hour together and you couldn’t be bothered to look me up? It’s expected, no longer amazing.

 On the other hand, consider Dolores, a clerk with kidney problems at a 7 Eleven, who broke all sorts of coffee sales records because she remembered the name of every customer who came in every morning. Unexpected and amazing.

You can raise the bar or you can wait for others to raise it, but it’s getting raised regardless.

If you like this post, you’ll love the others Seth writes daily on Seth Godin’s blog