I Don’t Want To Be Rich

I make no apologies, but I don’t want to be rich in 2015. That’s not my goal. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. One of my purposes in life is to help those who are less fortunate than I am. The 2nd Annual Holiday Food Drive for the benefit of the Salvation Army of Brampton is symbolic of my innate desire to help those who are hungry. In 2015, I want to help those who are less fortunate than I am.

Isn’t it our desire to help one another?  Don’t we want to live by each other’s happiness and not by each other’s misery?

What do you want to accomplish in 2015?

Here are seven reasons you may not want to be rich in 2015:

1. You are contented. 

You are happy where they are. You have enough for your needs and feel that you are living a fulfilling life

2.You are living a purpose driven life

You believe that you have a higher calling beyond the need to feel secure with money. You perfectly prepared to give up riches in order to accomplish that higher purpose in life.

3. You have a job that you love and it gives you meaning in life

4. You are careful with the little that you have and avoid bad spending habits

5. You have a vision, a plan and a set of specific goals for success in life

6. You live in the moment, pursuing your dreams and the things that make you happy

7. You care more about well-being of others than about being rich

What do you want to accomplish for 2015?

About Me

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.

Plan for Success in 2015

Have you developed your plan for success in 2015?

As the saying goes, if you fail to plan and you plan to fail. Planning is essential for success in your careers and personal lives.

Planning is difficult because there is no immediate feedback as to its value. However, I like to prepare for most activities in my life that aim to succeed at in the same way I think of my bike rides in during early to mid-fall or spring. By doing so, purpose and advantages of planning become clearer for me.

As an avid cyclist, I never know what to expect on my rides during early to mid-fall or spring for example sudden change in weather, a flat tire due to excessive silt, road construction mistakes in maps, among other things. Consequently, I plan ahead for these eventualities and should they occur I am usually able to deal with them and still reach my objective in spite of temporary setbacks. On the other hand, lack of planning can spell disaster. The more careful the planning, the more likely problems will be anticipated and not allowed to interfere with your ultimate objective.

Here are seven things you can do to plan for success in 2014:

1. Go to a quiet place, where you can think without being interrupted.

2. Conduct a self-audit. Go through your life thoroughly. What is your gift? What do you want to succeed at in 2015 and beyond? What is your passion? (i.e., something you would love to do even if you were not paid to do it.)

3. Write it down. Most of the people who have achieved their dreams took the first step towards achieving them: they wrote them down.

4. Plan a route to get there. Write down whatever it will take you to reach your dream.

5. Put your piece of paper where you can see it and remind yourself of your goals.

6. Work your plan. Put it into action by following the route to your dream. It may mean adjusting a lot of things in your life, but it will be worth it one day.

7. Dismiss negativity and begin to speak of your success in 2015 and beyond in the present. This will assimilate into your mind and help you to persevere towards your dream.

Remember if you fail to plan and you plan to fail. Be the exception to the rule - plan, assess, and plan some more. You MUST have a clear goal and a well-defined methodology for getting there. Take all the time necessary to produce a well thought out strategic plan. Plan for your success but also plan for failure.

About Me

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.

Philae: Seven Lessons To Be Highly Successful

Today I would like to share with seven very important lessons I learned from the Philae Lander that are key to be highly successful. Before doing so, please allow me to provide an update on the 2^Nd Holiday Season Food Drive, an initiative I started in 2013 in order to complete my High Performance Leadership Project for the prestigious Distinguished Toastmasters Award from Toastmasters International. As previously stated the goal for this year is collect at least 3,000 pounds of non-perishable food items for the benefit of the Salvation Army of Brampton. Support for the 2^Nd Annual Holiday Season Food Drive is growing. I have had donations from Bolton Banter, Speak To Inspire, COMET, TD Creekside and City Centre. Thanks to Judy Martin from Give and Go in Etobicoke, and Amparo Cifuentes and Diana Gibb of Loblaw in Mississauga for their tremendous support. On Saturday December 6^th, I will be guest speaker at two events in Mississauga specifically the Open House for Lambs to Lions at the Mississauga Main Library and in the evening I will be attending Trillium’s annual dinner.

Have you heard about the Philae? It is the European Space Agency lander that was launched from French Guiana on 2 March 2004 on the Rosetta spacecraft. Its mission was to reach Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Amazingly on 12 November 2014, after traveling for 3,907 days (10.7 years) through space, tracking and following a comet the Philae lander achieved the first-ever controlled touchdown on a comer nucleus.

Equally stunning, the Philae’s science instruments functioned properly and immediately went to work on the comet. I transmitted important data and amazing photographs that will be analysed to determine the composition of the comet’s surface. This is a remarkable scientific and technological accomplishment for mankind.

Yes, I know some people will argue why are we spending billions exploring our universe when there are for example a 1.5 million children in Canada going to school hunger or 840,000 Canadians using food banks monthly. I don’t have a perfect answer to such question other than I believe the knowledge we gain will help us to better understand space. It will even help us better understand the earth and its environmental challenges. Think also about the significant contribution to science, medicine and technology. This will help us to make the lives of millions people around the world better. I am pro-space exploration and I do understand the concerns of those opposing it.

I cheered when hear the news of Philae landing on a comet. Accompanying this monumental feat was some disappointments. Philae 's mission was to land successfully on the surface of a comet, attach itself, and transmit data from the surface about the comet's composition. As this is the first landing  of a man-made spacecraft on a comet I can only imagine that this was a tremendously difficult task. Therefore we should not be surprised that not everything went according to plan. Two instruments that were vital to Philae landing optimally on the comet itself did not work properly. They are:

• The descent thrusters did not fire, failing to bind the spacecraft to the comet, preventing a recoil from the impact generated by the downwards pull of the comet’s gravity.
• The harpoons that were supposed to fire upon touch-down, anchoring the probe into the comet’s surface, also failed to fire.

Unfortunately, the double equipment failure led to the Philae landing much harder on the comet than anticipated, bouncing many kilometers off course, and coming to rest in a place that was never anticipated. Its eventual resting place came to be against a crater wall, where it receives only a quarter of the sunlight necessary to sufficiently charge it.

On 15 November 2014 Philae fell silent after transmitting science data. Based on where Philae landed, it is unlikely that we will ever hear from it to find the answers to some important scientific questions. We should be proud of the accomplishment of ESA. As Stephan Ulamec, German Aerospace Center’s (DLR’s) lander manager said “This machine performed magnificently under tough conditions, and we can be fully proud of the incredible scientific success Philae has delivered”.

What important lessons can we learn from the success of the Philae? Here are seven lessons I have taken from the Philae to be highly successful.

1. Success requires meticulous planning

Here we are coming to the end of 2014. What were your goals for 2014? What have you accomplished? What would you like to accomplish in 2015?

At the start of 2014, one of my goals was to receive the prestigious Distinguished Toastmasters Award from Toastmasters International. Mission accomplished! I also wanted to solidify my place as a professional speaker. Mission accomplished!

How many times have you heard that nothing will be accomplished without a plan? Imagine this more than 10 years ago a spacecraft was launched. The goal of the Rosetta mission was to land the Philae on a comet in order to conduct long-term monitoring of the comet. This included seeing from the surface how the comet releases gas and dust, what volatiles and/or organics are expelled, what types of materials lie beneath the surface in the comet’s core, and geologically what accounts for its low density: whether there’s porous ice in there, whether the landing region is representative of the rest of the comet, or whether there’s another perhaps more surprising explanation. The planning for the Rosetta mission started more than 10 years ago. It entailed meticulous planning from the very beginning up to the execution of its landing and eventual extracting of scientific data.

As 2014 is coming to end, revisit the goals you had at the start of the year. Tap yourself on the shoulder for the goals you accomplished and then formulate a plan to accomplish your other goals.

2. Success requires patience, diligence and focus

Rosetta hibernated in interplanetary space for more than 10 years. The question, during all this time what were the scientists at the ESA doing? I am sure some lost hope. I am sure some showed very little interest, enthusiasm and optimist. And then there were those scientists who kept hope and were truly enthusiastic. They were always inspired and motivated. They firmly believed that one day they would hear from the Rosetta and the Philae. They were patient. They remained diligent and focused. They were always ready. They likely motivated and inspired others while being bombarded by doubters and naysayers. Nevertheless they kept hopeful.

Success does not come overnight. For the Rosetta to launch Philae, the mission took more than 10 years. It is such a monumental accomplishment that it has caught the attention of even a non-scientist like me. Success and greatness requires patience, diligence and focus not haste.

The ESA’s scientists who remained patient, diligent and focus were ready when the Philae’s two key landing instruments did not work properly. Shortly after the Philae landed in a crater barring its batteries from recharging from the sunlight these scientists attempted to use the robotic legs to orient the solar panels to better point towards the sun. This was a maneuver that may one day give us another chance that Philae could get a new lease on life, and possibly meet the full suite of its designed scientific goals. Other great decision that Philae’s operators made was that, given the results of the landing, they simply decided to collect as much data from the functioning scientific instruments as possible in the limited amount of time they had power.

3. Success involves challenges and setbacks

An important lesson or insight gain from the Philae is that the path to success involves challenges and setbacks. Imagine all the excitement of the ESA team when Rosetta woke up after more than two years of hibernation, that is nearly completely shut off and silent in the cold distances of the solar system. A crazy dream or idea appeared closer to being a reality. I know you have all had similar experiences….just think about that difficult math question that you finally nailed after countless attempt…..or think about when you final got your stone to bounce or skip twice when you threw it on the surface of the water in the lake…..think about when your first born attempted to take his or her first step…..It is an awesome feeling.

However, the path to success is riddled with challenges and setbacks. As noted early two important instruments that were key to the Philae landing did not function properly. Consequently, the Philae did not land at its target site but rather in a crater away from the sun. Can you imagine how gut wrenching this must have felt for the team at the ESA? Have you ever had that feeling where you know you almost nailed that math question or almost got your stone to skip in the water? It is a mixed feeling. It is one where you may be a little happy and little sad at the same time. Depending on your personality….you may just be slightly happier than you are sad or vice versa.

Here is the deal. In your quest to accomplish your dreams or goals the important thing is to recognise there will always be challenges and setbacks. The key thing is to learn from those experiences. Don’t be broken or disheartened. Remain focus. As disappointed as the team at the ESA were, they did their best to reposition the Philae solar panels robotically and maybe one day again in the future we may all hear from Philae. Even more importantly the team was able to collect some data and photographs for analysis.

The landing of Philae on a comet is a monumental accomplishment deserving of all the attention and excitement generated. The highest commendation is in order for the team at ESA. For me the key take away is that success involves challenges and setbacks. How  do you respond to challenges and setbacks?

4. Success sometimes requires crazy or impossible dreams and ideas

To be successful you have to take risk. You cannot be consumed by fear or doubts. Your dreams and ideas may seem out of this world to the extent that to some people they seem crazy or even impossible. Consider this the ESA’s mission to the comet was in the works for more than 15 years and it was only when the Rosetta woke up after two and a half years of hibernation, that landing the Philae became more than a crazy or impossible idea. Don’t let fear or doubt or naysayers prevent you from pursuing your crazy or impossible ideas. As long as you are alive and you continue to believe and pursue your dreams and idea success will come. Always keep in mind that your crazy or near to impossible ideas may actually work one day.

5. Success sometimes requires that you be the first to do it

Your dreams, your ideas may seem crazy or impossible when you are starting out. Your friends may ask you why bother? They may tell you that what you are doing not one has ever that done before. Let me tell there is always a first time and you should be first to attempt it and if you succeed you will be the first to accomplish it. Being the first may mean it will be incredibly difficult. You will encounter fear and doubt as you venture into the unknown and at times feel even helpless or the lack of control. Simply put: If it was easy, someone else would have been done already.

Philae is the first man made vehicle to land on a comet. I am confident that the knowledge gained in the short period the Philae operating will be beneficially to future space exploration.

In your quest to succeed don’t be shy to being first. In 2011, I took on a difficult assignment in the Kabul, Afghanistan and came away with intimate knowledge of post-conflict development and financial system.

6. Success sometimes requires us to change course or targets

Sometimes to be successful we have to change course or choose a different objective or target. The original target for the Rosetta mission was the comet Wirtanen. However, the original launch of Rosetta was delayed because the launch before Rosetta’s failed. Consequently, the ESA’s scientists took time to review what happened previous to make sure the Rosetta launch would not fail. That delay made scientists lose the window of opportunity to reach comet Wirtanen and subsequently selected another target, Comet 67P, one that was reachable and scientifically interesting.

Consider this at age 19, Mr. Warren Buffett application to Harvard Business School was rejected. This forced him to explore other options and to realized that two investing experts he admired, Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, were teaching at Columbia's graduate business school. He dashed off a late application, where by a stroke of luck it was fielded and accepted by Mr. Dodd. Today Mr. Buffet is revered as a billionaire and investment guru extraordinaire.

When I first moved to Canada as immigrant my dream was to seek and gain employment in one of our top banks and continue. After thousands of job applications and hundreds of rejections I change course and set up Mark McKenzie Consulting, which this year marks eight years of existence. To this I can count my experience working for various domestic and international agencies as well as working in more than 20 countries globally. Today my knowledge and experience covers a diverse segment of the global financial system. In addition, the benefit of being self-employed in that I am have reason control of my time to pursue other interests such as coordinating the 2^Nd Annual Holiday Season Food Drive for the benefit of the Salvation Army of Brampton.

To be successful we don’t always get to choose our path and very importantly sometimes we have to change course, objectives or targets.

7. There will always be doubters and naysayers

The landing of Philae on the comet after a 310 million mile journey was a historic and ground-breaking moment in space exploration. Yet Dr. Matt Taylor, a British physicist who was part of the ESA team behind Rosetta mission comet landing felt the heat of the feminist movement because of the shirt he wore during an interview. Please, please…..I am not hear arguing that the concerns of the feminist movement is insignificant to accomplishments of space explorer…

Despite his apologies, a Telegraph writer suggested that Taylor might still “end up being remembered for is risqué sartorial judgement rather than his scientific acumen.” The truth is to be successful you will always encounter negativism, doubters and naysayers. Like fear they are killers of dreams.

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.

Independent Strategy for Individual Success

Last Wednesday I delivered a speech titled “Success” to an enthusiastic group at the Centre of Education and Training in Brampton, Ontario. I opened my speech with the following quote:

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

Then I said,

Success belongs to those:

a. with a clear vision and specific goals

b. willing to lose fear, willing take action and have a fierce desire and determination to succeed

c. who foster positive and meaningful relationships

After the delivery of my speech Cal Lockhart, a retired engineer, wrote me the following note:

“I really like your inspiration. You transmitted it to the group. We are inspired to succeed. Well done!”

Today I have decided to share with you a bit of my speech. The title of my blog post is deliberate. I believe I have a duty and responsible to encourage especially the youths in our communities to have big dreams, remain positive and to be influence only by those who are productive members of our communities. We should reject greed, violence and hatred which have no place in our communities.

Success does not come overnight. Success takes time. To be successful we all need a strategy, whether in business or in our personal lives. A strategy is merely a tool or plan on how you get from your current position to your desired goals. Do you have a plan for your life? If you don’t how do you intend to succeed in life? How will you know when you have achieved your goals?

At the start of 2014, I had two simple yet somewhat related goals which I stated publicly in previous posts on McKenzie’s Voice. They are:

1. I wanted to complete all the credits and requirements for the Distinguished Toastmasters Award from Toastmasters International.

2. I wanted to break into the professional speakers market.

Mission accomplished! In May 2014, I was received the prestigious Distinguished Toastmasters from Toastmasters International for outstanding accomplishment and leadership excellence. Last Thursday, October 23rd I spoke to a group of approximately 300 grade 6 students at the Sunny View Middle School in Brampton. Let me repeat….mission accomplished! 

As I wrote on the Toastmasters District 86 Facebook wall last week, I consider my accomplishments monumental and memorable because they occurred concurrently with Toastmasters’ 90th Anniversary. In 1924, Ralph C. Smedley held the first meeting of what would eventually become Toastmasters International in a basement in a YMCA in Santa Ana, California. He began working as director of education for a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) after he graduated from college. He observed that many of the young patrons needed “training in the art of public speaking and in presiding over meetings” and he wanted to help them. Ralph C. Smedley merely had a dream. He could not have known that 90 years after people like myself and hundreds of thousands of others our lives would be so transformed and enriched by his vision and mission.

How can you succeed?

Here are my three tips for an independent strategy for individual success:

Clear Mission and Specific Goals

You need to have a clear mission and specific goals. My passion for speaking was ignited way back in the 1970s when I heard the late Michael Manley, former prime minister of Jamaica spoke. He was charismatic and eloquent. I also listened to recordings of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech.” In essence the seeds of my dream as speaker were planted decades ago in the 1970s. However, it was not until about 15 years ago I took the first step to make my dream a reality when I first decided to join Toastmasters International. 

Where are you in your life? To succeed you need to build a bridge from where you are today to where you want to be. You need to embark on a mission of discovery that is the process of uncovering your purpose—what you want and why. Purpose takes the form of a mission, a vision, goals, and objectives. As mentioned above success takes time. It requires patience. You should not be in a hurry to succeed. Success cannot be accomplished in hastily.

Don’t be hindered by fear

I cannot over emphasise that fear and naysayers are the number one killer of dreams. In my speech on “Success” I made the point that I know I am not the best speaker in the world. In my professional field as a financial services specialist I also know I am not the best. However, I have the courage and the willingness to take action to make my dreams a reality. I have a fierce desire and determination to succeed. For example to receive the Distinguished Toastmasters Award from Toastmasters International, I agreed to be appointed Area 67 Governor in Guelph, Ontario which is about 45 minutes away from the City of Brampton where I live. As a speaker I agreed to share to my experience as an immigrant to 300 grade 6 students as part of the Ontario Public School Grade 6 Social Science Curriculum. For my work I have gone to countries to that most people only read about in their local newspaper or seeing on the evening news. I stories and experiences to share about different places, food and cultures. Yet I am continuously engaged in activities to improve my skills, knowledge and experience. I am receptive of positive and effective evaluations and feedback. 

What are your fears? What are your dreams and goals? What actions have you taken to accomplish your goals and success?

Foster positive and meaningful relationships

The key to success is winning and maintaining relationships with people. Every successful executive and entrepreneur will tell you, their most important asset is people. In an era of Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social media it is easy to lose sight of the criticalness of connecting with people outside of the virtual world. When opportunity knocks, it's always a person knocking or answering. 

Fostering positive and meaningful relationships is one of my key factors for success. Your friends or relatives can provide important leads to career or business opportunities. They can also play important role in providing you with ideas for improvement.

For me, relationships are like watching grass grows. You plant the seed in every relationship with trust and honesty. For a time you may not see anything happening but one day you wake up to a beautiful lawn. Building relationships and a successful careers or businesses business career is just like that. Fostering positive and meaningful relationships is like a leap of faith or delayed gratification. Eventually it flourishes into something beautiful and lovely.

What is your strategy for success?

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.

Reflections of Selfless Giving by Tuula Redditt, DTM

Growing up as a child my parents taught me and my siblings the joy of selfless giving. We volunteered our time to the church throughout my childhood and the gratitude that we received made us very happy. There was this one time when an elderly lady that I delivered newspapers to asked me to help her thread a needle in her sewing machine because she couldn’t see very well. She rewarded me with a quarter which I promptly spent on candy and that act of kindness began my journey in life of selfless giving. 

To this day people like my mom, my best friend Tuula, past colleagues and fellow Toastmasters like Mark McKenzie inspire me to continue this journey which has actually developed into more of mission and part of a dream that I have of making the world a better place.

One of the experiences I had with volunteering was for many years I would donate money to many charities like the Cancer Society, Heart and Stroke Foundation and MS Society. I realized that all this money that I was donating was not making the impact that I desired. It got swallowed up in the logistics of developing a cure. I was saddened by this and came up with a different approach to making a more direct impact on the problem. I began to donate my time! My selfless giving had found that mission that made the impact that I was looking for.

As an artist I love doing paintings of wildlife and producing graphics for non-profit organizations. My first donation of a painting was for the Sick Kids Hospital. Our good friend’s daughter was born with a medical condition that required many operations to keep her alive and when contributing donations to her fund we painted a canvas of a mother lioness holding a cub in its mouth. 

Many years later I was approached by a fellow colleague who had become a helicopter pilot at Cap Borden in Barrie. Every year they would deliver toys by helicopter around Christmas Time to the Sick Kids Hospital and to raise funds he sourced me out to donate my time to create the graphics for a one of a kind calendar that had photographs of some of the missions they were on and a photographs taken by another colleague who was a photographer for the Snowbirds. Ken Lin had also donated his time to produce this limited edition calendar. Donations were given to print it and all the proceeds went to the hospital. Now this made a HUGE impact! And all I had to give was my time.

Today I support small business owners and non-profit organizations by this selfless giving and the gratitude that I receive is worth way more than money and I can only hope that others realize the impact you can make by just taking the time … and donating it! 

Finally my experience last year when I happily delivered our big box of non-perishables to the Salvation Army of Brampton has reinforced my mission and dream to make the world a better place. Losing my job as a digital media artist for a long time employee of 20 years made me realize how much wasteful spending I was doing on frivolous things. Now with much less income I seem to realize how little some people have just to survive. As I dropped the food off at the back of the Salvation Army I couldn’t get into the building so I left the box outside with a note of who it was from. As I entered the front of the building to let them know there was a box waiting I handed the note to a man rocking back and forth on the floor in the tiny lobby that had no chairs and the look of gratitude that I got from everyone touched my heart deeply. Now when I’m out grocery shopping I always by two of the things that I see on sale to add to that box that waits to be filled and once again delivered to the Salvation Army. Thanks Mark for your inspirational work and opportunity to go after my dream of making the world a better place. 

Please visit www.skystudio.ca to more Tuula's art work.

The Right Foundation for Success

"If you think you're tops, you won't do much climbing" –Arnold Glasow

Throughout my life I have tasted success many times. As I wrote in my blog last week, in May I was awarded the Distinguished Toastmasters by Toastmasters International for outstanding accomplishment and leadership excellence. I am proud of this accomplishment. I also know what it feels like to fail because I have experienced failures many times.

Do you have the awards on your wall or the scars on your back to prove your successes and failures?

Today I would like to share with you the right foundation for success. I share quite willingly and liberally my experience of starting out from very humble family beginnings in Kingston, Jamaica to trek across the global as financial sector subject matter expert. I don’t do it for aggrandizement or boosting but rather to inspire others through the lessons I have learned along my journey in life. For example, this on Thursday I will be speaking to approximately 300 grade 6 students at middle school in Peel District School Board. My experience in life is not purely about my successes as I have had failures such as recent as 2008/2009 when I almost lost my shirt during the global financial meltdown. However, ambitions, a positive attitude, a fierce determination to succeed and a willingness to learn the hard lessons from my shortcomings have being incredibly valuable.

Here are I share three lessons on the foundation for success:

Be humble

Despite your successes and your failures be humble. Self-pride and arrogance is the landmines for failures. When you are gracious and humble you will find others who are willing to share their knowledge with you and this can be tremendously beneficial to your success. If you are full of self-pride and arrogance no one will want to be associated with you. Just as others are willing to share their knowledge with you, you too should take delight to teach others what you. For example, today I am using the communication and leadership skills I have gained from 15 years in the Toastmasters program to give back to my community by coordinating the 2nd Annual Holiday Season Food Drive for the benefit of the Salvation Army of Brampton. This is just one way of giving back. 

A key fact for the foundation of success is to be humble and you will find others who are willing to share their knowledge to help you grow. 

Be a good listener

After 21 years of marriage my wife constantly reminds me that one of the art of effective communication is effective listening. Being a good listener is a very important step in building up friendship and other relationship. It is the very heart of building successful working relationship. A good listener keeps eye contact so that the speaker knows that you are interested in what is being said. To be successful you have to be open to new ideas and as such you have to learn to accept views, opinions and values of others which may be different from yours. It is also very important not pass judgmental statements or otherwise the speaker may feel being criticised. 

Do not give advice unless you are asked to do so. Do not diagnose and analyse. You have to learn to keep the secret. People confide in you because they believe that you can be trusted. It is also very important that you show your appreciation when others share their knowledge and experience with you. This shows your deep respect for the speaker. Being a quality listener requires personal discipline and a high regard for others. The best leaders I have ever known were patient people who listened attentively to an associate and only asked questions for clarification. They never lectured or pontificated. They sought to learn and gain new knowledge by being quiet. They eagerly took notes and added in the margins new and unique epiphanies. Successful business leaders know how to carefully listen to customers, employees and advisers.

Admit mistakes but never be afraid to take action and make yourself vulnerable

A key foundation for success is admitting your mistakes but never be afraid to take action and make yourself vulnerable and exposed. I have passion for what I am doing. You too should be confident about your goals and plans. You too should speak freely about your dreams, your accomplishments and successes. You should pitch your ideas with confidence. Make yourself slightly vulnerable and exposed. Share with others your stories, experiences and accomplishments so that they may be inspired and motivated. 

Open yourself up to be scrutinized. Take risk but manage it prudently. Don’t blame others or make excuses for your mistakes. Admit your mistakes and find ways to fix your mistakes. Remember your mistakes are valuable experiences for learning and grow. Your mistakes are usually consequences of the willingness and courage to take action to turn your dreams into reality.

There are several factors that are the right foundation for success. Today I share three from my experience and hope to hear from you about other factors that you consider the key foundation for success.

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.

Exceeding the Vision

One of my goals for 2014 is become a professional speaker. To accomplish this goal in 2012 I entered my Toastmasters Club’s Spring International Speech Contest and was successful. I went on to the Area Contest and was also successful. From there I went on to the Division Contest and fell short but was never discouraged.

At the start of summer 2013, I was elected Vice President for Education for City Centre Toastmasters Club for the year 2013/2014 and was also appointed as Area Governor for Toastmasters International, District 86 Toastmasters, Division W, Area 67 in Guelph, Ontario. At the end of 2013, I successfully coordinated and collected over 2,000 pound of non-perishable food items for the Salvation Army of Brampton as part of my High Performance Leadership project. For the 2013/2014 school year, I served as co-chair of Terry Fox Public School’s School Council. In May 2014, I was received the prestigious Distinguished Toastmasters from Toastmasters International for outstanding accomplishment and leadership excellence. On the October 23, 2014, I will be speaking to approximately 300 students at a Peel District School Board’s middle school in in Brampton.

I am on my way to accomplishing my mission. What is your vision? What is your mission? I want you too to accomplish your dreams.

Our dreams are our creative visions for our lives in the future. Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown. Our potential for professional growth, development and success is only limited by our capacity to make the impossible possible and creating opportunities. Helen Keller said “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”

Here are some my simple tips for exceeding your vision:

Have a plan

In everything you do, have a plan. Your plan is like your roadmap. As Ray Lewis said “Don't walk through life just playing football. Don't walk through life just being an athlete. Athletics will fade.” You need to have a plan. Remember vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time and vision with action can change the world. As noted above I recently received the Distinguished Toastmasters award which is symbolic of how well I executed my plan to become a professional speaker.

It is important to note that a plan takes time to implement and execute. My journey in the Toastmasters program started more than fifteen (15) years ago and it is only now that I am reaping the reward. Remember success is about dedication. You may not be where you want to be or do what you want to do when you are on the journey. But you have got to be willing to have vision and foresight that leads you to an incredible end.

Be innovative and Don’t be afraid to take risk

Think outside the box. Do something new. Be innovative. Rekindle your childlike qualities and take some risks. Don’t fail because of inaction but rather because of your determination and courage to try.

Believe in Yourself

The foundation of all success is the awesome power believing in yourself and self-confidence. In February 1964, a 22-year old boxer named Cassius Clay whom we all know today as Muhammad Ali defeated the heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. Before and after the fight Ali said “I am the greatest.” Ali went on to become one of the greatest boxers in history. Ali had the conviction and self-belief to say he was the greatest long this before he knew he was in fact the greatest. Ali later said that he figured that if he said it enough, he would convince the world that he really was the greatest.

Do you belief so strongly in yourself that you can convince the world that you are the greatest? As Henry Ford said “Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” You have to believe in yourself. You have to be confident whether you think you can or you think you can’t do something.

Celebrate your successes

When we pause to celebrate small successes it allows us to stay in the moment where our energy and motivation is at its peak. Celebration helps us to build the momentum we need to stay focus and inspire us to wanting to achieve other goals. It allows us to express gratitude and experience as sense of accomplishment and contentment. Celebration builds our self-confidence and self-respect. Celebration allows you to mark your progress and remember your accomplishments. Celebration allows us to self-promote and market ourselves.

You have to have a big vision and take very small steps to get there. You have to be humble as you execute but visionary and gigantic in terms of your aspiration. Exceeding the vision, it's not about aggrandizement but rather about being bold, taking small steps every day, every week, every month, making yourself a little bit better and steadfastly moving towards your goals.

Would you like to exceed your vision?

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.

Anything is Possible

Last week one of my friends told me that his goal in life is to make a lot of money. I quickly pointed out that making tons of money is not a realistic goal but anything is possible.

Last week Canadian archaeologists reported that they had found one of the legendary Victorian explorer Sir John Franklin's lost ships in good condition off Nunavut Coast in Arctic. Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted that "this is truly a historic moment for Canada." The British naval hero and his two ships and crew disappeared in 1845 while searching for the fabled passage through the Canadian Arctic to the Pacific Ocean. More than 100 expeditions have since failed to find the ships, though sailors' remains and artifacts have been found, triggering multiple theories about the crew's demise, from cannibalism to lead poisoning. The discovery of the wreckage will likely boost Canada’s long-sought claim to the Northwest Passage trade route while potentially answering one of the most enduring mysteries of the Arctic. The persistent search for the wreckage and the announcement of its discovery shows that anything is possible.

In one of my previous blogs titled “The Power of Believing in Yourself” I shared with you my goal to becoming a professional motivational speaker and some the steps I have taken to make this a reality. Today I am proud to let you know I am well on my way to achieving my goal. In July, I was the guest speaker and facilitator at the Toastmasters District 81, Area 33 Club Officers Training in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Remember success starts with having specific goals and an actionable plan. You have to identify and communicate your goals and plan how to achieve them.

As Theodore Roosevelt said with self-discipline most anything is possible. To be successful you have to focus on what you want to achieve. You have to know what you want, and then devise a path to pursuing your passion. You have to set clear and specific goals. You also have to have a plan on how to achieve your goals. A goal is a specific objective you want to achieve and your plan is the blueprint or roadmap for achieving your goals.

Anything is possible when you are confident and assertive. The more experience you have the more confident and assertive you will be. Seek out and acquire knowledge related to your goals. Get a mentor or coach as well as participate in network or mastermind groups. As Howard Schultz said when you are surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible.

With effective communication skills anything is possible. Work on your communication skills. Get involved in your community. In the cities of Brampton and Mississauga, I am involved in a number of community activities such as school council, youth mentoring. I am a volunteer are the Regeneration Outreach Community of Brampton that cares for the homeless and those at-risk at being homeless. I am also the founder and coordinator for the Holiday Season Food Drive that collected more than 2,000 pounds of non-perishable food items for the Salvation Army of Brampton. These are all things you can do to boost your confidence and become more assertive.

With dreams and passion anything is possible. I tell my friends that they should have big dreams like Elon Musk from SpaceX. Read my blog “Elon Musk andSpaceX’s Goal Setting and Success.” Your success starts with your dreams and desire. Success starts with your passion. You should aim to have fun doing the things you are doing. If you have passion for the things you are doing and appears to be having fun doing it you will get notice. Let me hasten to add that you don’t want to get notice like Ray Rice, the former Baltimore Ravens NFL player or Desmond Hague the former chief executive of Centerplate Inc. You want to be noticed and celebrated like Serena Williams who won her 6th US Open and her 18th Grand Slam title at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.

How about this? Getting noticed and celebrated like I am. In the middle of writing this blog, I received a telephone call from Janice McDonald, Lt. Governor Education and Training, Toastmasters District 86, informing me that I received my Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM) Award. She invited me to attend the Fall Conference in November to be publicly recognised with other DTM awardees.

You can show passion for the things you are doing by sharing your stories and experience with others so that they too may cultivate a similar passion. For example, I use my blog McKenzie’s Voice to share my personal stories and experiences from traveling and working in more than twenty countries. To all the other dreamers out there, I encourage you as Adam Green said don't ever stop dreaming or let the world's negativity disenchant you or your spirit. If you surround yourself with love and the right people, anything is possible.

My goal is not make a lot of money but I believe anything is possible. Is your goal to make tons of money? Like Roger Clemens, I think anything is possible if you have the mindset and the will and desire to do it and put the time in.

What are your goals in life?

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog  http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.

The Importance of Silence

Today we live in a highly connected world. We are connected via Facebook, Google+, Linkedin, Twitter, WhatsApp and whatever else social media that exist. Our world is extremely noisy.

If you visit my at home you will be amazed by the level activity. My household is a vociferous bunch. For me is not uncommon for the following cacophonous activities to be taking place simultaneously in my household:

• Washing machine and dryer going,
• Television going,
• Adult children watching movie or music video online without the use of headphones
• Marisa online on TVO Kids plus loudly banging different toys together.

In between all of the clinking and dis-harmonic chaos my wife and I may attempt to have some kind of meaningful conversation about our children and life.

Despite our connectivity and noise around us, some of people still enjoy silence. Silence for me is a truly powerful tool to reflect and think. As a leader and business owner I need silence to reflect and think. I love to find silence. I love to have quiet time.

Silence for me is time to reflect and think. The lack of reflective time will hold you back. Silence is observable and loud. If you doubt me trying following exercise:

One

Have a conversation with the person next to you and inject noticeable pauses between your words. What happened?

Two

Now suggest to the person to do the same thing. What happened?

Three

Let the person continue speaking with noticeable pauses between his or her words. This time listen to reaction in your mind.

Have you noticed the pauses between the person’s words? In those blank spaces or long pauses what was going on in your mind?

Silence is a very skillful reflective trick. Silence is beautiful, distinctive and profound. It is deep and somehow or the other there is so much freedom to be found in silence.

Once you experience the taste of silence you will understand its value. In our highly connected and noisy world I encourage you to let silence grow on you.

Silence is golden, cherish it and let it grow on you.  Explore your silence because self-reflection is important to our development and learning. John Dewey, a renowned psychologist and education reformer, claimed that experiences alone were not enough. What is critical is an ability to perceive and then weave meaning from the threads of our experiences. The function of self-reflection is to make meaning. The creation of meaning is at the heart of what it means to be human.

Silence helps us to discover who we are as individuals, what kind of relationships we desire, and what we value and believe about life. Occasional disconnecting and tuning out the noisy world helps us to develop the ability to reflect and grow.

Silence can impart more emotion than your favourite song or motive in contrast to our highly connected, noisy and busy world. Pure silence when are disconnected and all the noise dies down. It is serene and can lean to the purification of our deepest inner thoughts. Our search of the pearl of wisdom and our strength comes through the vow of silence. It consists in self-imposition of periodic silence and periods that a free of indulging in injurious, useless or untruthful speech. It is also a period when do not speak of our own faults and weaknesses because we do not want by speaking of them we lend provide traction to strengthen them. Silence is also important even when speak about the things that are true and just. We should not speak even when it is true and just unless at proper times, to proper people, under proper circumstances.

For Mahatma Gandhi silence was both a physical and a spiritual necessity. He said “Speak only if it improves upon the silence.” He also said “Originally it was taken to relieve the sense of pressure. Then I wanted time for writing. After, however, I had practised it for some time I saw the spiritual value of it. It suddenly flashed across my mind that that was the time when I could best hold communion with God.”

Do you cherish silence?

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog  http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.

Living in Possibility

Guest Post by Gary A.Christian

If you have seen the movie The Matrix, starring Keanu Reeves, you will remember that the premise was that there is a world that we are aware of that is a fabrication called the Matrix and a whole other world that exists based on reality where anything is possible. Early in the movie Neo, Reeves’ character, is given the option of taking a blue pill and stay stuck with the life created by the Matrix or take the red pill that will open up the reality based world where absolutely anything is possible.

Well I’m here to tell you that there really is another dimension where everything and anything is actually possible.

The world in which we live in is one of fear, lack, hoarding, mistrust, disillusionment and loneliness. It’s a world of survival where there is a view of limitation and lack. One only has to turn on the evening news or pick up a newspaper to see evidence of this world. On the other hand there is also a whole world filled with possibility that is available to one and all. It is a world filled with optimism, potential, happiness, endless opportunity, power, freedom etc. This is a world that's hidden from view for most people because the world of lack, fear and scarcity is our default way of being.

But here’s the challenge that most people have with accessing that world….

They are stuck in the world of lack and therefore they don’t have access to what the possibility world has to offer. We stay stuck in jobs we hate because of the security that job provides. We don’t lose that weight that we’ve gained over the last few years because we’ve tried and tried and maybe “it’s just not meant to be”.  We even emotionally remain in failed relationships that have broken up because it’s easier to remain stuck in the hurt and pain of the break up rather than moving forward. We have all lived in this world because like I said this is our default way of living and we really don’t know any better.

However, to access the world of possibility in any area of your life you literally simply have to create the intention of possibility and live from that perspective. Although it’s a simple concept theoretically it won’t necessarily be easy to implement. When we are stuck in that world of overwhelm it can seem like a huge mountain to climb to get to the world of possibility but that first step is extremely simple.

You have to decide...that’s it.

Simply decide that you will move to the world of possibility in that area of life that you are finding yourself stuck and powerless in.  DECIDE to change it. And for many that will be the breakthrough that you are looking for.

Once you have actually made a decision to live in possibility you have to start with changing your mindset from one of scarcity and overwhelm.

...And how am I supposed to do that? You ask.

Well the simplest way to transition to the world of possibility is to change your language because your word creates your world.

Here are some examples:

Try > Will, Aim, Intend
Problem > Challenge
Spend > Invest
Have To > Get To
Should > Get To, Choose To
Must > Choose, Desire

As simple as this process may seem its immensely powerful because who we are and the actions we take is tied up in our language. It is not only what we speak to others but also, and more powerfully, it is the words that we say to ourselves.

If I was feeling stuck and powerless around a failed relationship that I couldn’t seem to get over I would first DECIDE that I wanted to get unstuck. Then I would have to create a new possibility or intention in this area of my life such as:

“I am creating the possibility that I put this relationship in the past where it belongs and open myself up for healing. This would allow me to clear a space for something new and marvelous to enter my life.”

Next I would define how I would operate in my world if I wasn’t stuck in my relationship. For example I would
• Give up on blame
• Look for what lessons the relationship taught me
• Let the other person go and wish them well
• Catch myself and monitor my thoughts and language when talking or think about the relationship

Finally I would conduct myself through the lens of this new perspective that I had designed for myself.

This is just one way to access a new possibility for feelings of being stuck in an area of your life. While changing your mindset and your language is not a magic formula that will work in every area all the time being open to the potential of what living in possibility can do for you and your life makes it a worthwhile process. Going forward I challenge you to look at your life and focus on an area where you are feeling like you have lost power or are feeling stuck. Redefine the challenge you are having from the perspective of living in the world of possibility and prepare for a new way of being around that area.

Are you overwhelmed? Are you living in possibility? What stopping you from living a life of possibility? Have you moved pass your possibility blocks?

Read more of Gary A. Christian's blogs here.

Caring

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." - Leo Buscaglia

Last Friday morning I participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I was nominated by good friend Mark Young from Belize. I dedicated my participation in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to my loving and caring mother who passed away in February 2009 from complications related to polymyositis, a rare inflammatory disease that causes muscle weakness and tissue damage.

For a period of about two weeks I had seen numerous videos on Facebook and other social media as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge went viral. I had seen celebrities after celebrities poured buckets of ice on themselves as they were challenged one after another to participate in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The aim of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is help to raise awareness of and donation for research on ALS. Over the period of the campaign I have seen ALS Ice Bucket Challenge videos that were funny, epic failure, informative and educational as well as inspirational.

I have to admit that initially I thought it was silly for so many people to be pouring buckets of ice on themselves and then posting videos on Facebook and other social media. However, as campaign gained traction it struck me that the reason most people were participating was because they care about others. Let face it as Anthony J. D'Angelo said without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is about our community. I participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge because I care about people in my community that are affected by ALS.

My participation allowed me to also do a little more as I used my video to speak about the lessons I learned from my mother’s illness. One of the important lessons I learned from my mother’s illness which is relative to ALS patients is that patients with terminal or chronic illnesses need to be treated with dignity. They have to depend on others every minute of their lives. Simple things such as brushing their teeth, drinking a cup of tea or taking a shower that so many of us take for granted, ALS patients require help and care with.

When we care about others we are running the risk of feeling, and leaving an impact on people that brings happiness. Care, compassion and kindness were virtues imparted on me by mother. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge provided me with a vehicle to share my mother’s legacy of caring with others.
After more than two weeks of ALS Ice Bucket Challenge videos I can safely say that most people participated because their guiding principles in life are to be honest, genuine, thoughtful and caring. Caring brings a sense of joy and contentment.

How do you show that you care for others?

Mark McKenzie is a leading Subject Matter Expert in financial services regulation and supervision as well as a professional motivational speaker, corporate trainer and youth mentor.  He can be contacted by email mastbmckenzie@gmail.com or by telephone 647-406-4622. Read my blog  http://mastbmckenzie.blogspot.ca/ and always write me a comment and share. Follow me on Twitter @mackynacky. Connect with me on www.youtube.com, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.