Coming to work this morning I had the very fortunate chance to bump into an old friend that I had not seen in a few years. He told me he is just back in Ireland after spending the past 7 years travelling around the world living and working in Dive Centers, teaching people how to scuba dive. What struck me about him was how relaxed, at peace and happy he was. While many of us spend our twenties and thirties frantically building careers for ourselves he choose a different path. When I asked him if he had any regrets, he looked at me as if I was asking a ridiculous question as to say - absolutely not. Here is a guy who decided a long time ago to follow his own path and live the life he wanted. I have great admiration for people like this.
I hope you too can live the life you want to live in 2006.

Until next month, take care,
Fergal.

If you do not take the time to identify your values when job hunting, it is akin to trying to find your way to the door in a room with all the lights out. If your lucky you will eventually find the door after you have kicked the table, knocked over ornaments and fallen over but wouldn’t it have been better to just turn the light on?.......

I am not a fan of New Year’s resolutions because the motivation for making promises is driven not by what you want to achieve or who you want to be but simply a date in the calendar. As the motivator is in essence predominantly external to you as a person, it is no wonder New Years resolutions lapse and fade very quickly with few seldom ever being followed through on. Think about some time in your life when you were really committed and passionate about something. What was creating this passion? Was it someone or something else dictating your actions or was it you following your heart, values and beliefs with a clear knowledge that what you were doing was noble and good?

"Natural Born Winners - How to achieve happiness and personal fulfillment" - Robin Sieger.

This is a very easy read with some great quotes and inspiring ideas. Much of what he writes is in a million other self-development books but this flows very well and I really felt the author was truly speaking from real life experience.
If you are looking to get a bit more focus in your life, this book is for you.