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.