Dreaming of living

A number of years ago, if you said to me that i would own and run my own company, i would have stopped listening and carried on doing whatever it was that I was doing. This is because of one simple fact: I did not know how to dream.

Wait, wait. We all know how to dream. We all drwam or have in the past, about a big house with matching car and the whole family happier than ever. This “dream” is not real. It happens so rarely that i would say it never does. 

The dream I am talking about is a real dream. Ie: if certain actions by an ordinary person are performed, it will happen. These dreams may not be lavish or what you would expect them to be though. For some people, these dreams may take years to achieve but to others it happe s every day. Dreams are about you and are relative to your situation.

There are also no time limits on dreams. They can be short term or long term. In fact, it’s good practice to have short terms dreams that up that long term picture. An example could be of someone who has been seriously ill eg: with cancer who wants to run a 10km race. Short term the dream would be to be healthy enough to go home from hospital. Next, it would be clearance from doctors to start exercising. You know where i am going here. For others, be healthy  is a given each day.

The best dream is one that allows you to love life and everything it your life. This isthe dream that enables you to live. This may be simple or complex but the end result is the same. This may be scary and many may mot take that first step. This dream is worth every scary moment.

Push yourself

Parenting

Recession? Whatever!

Everybody is concerned with how tight cash flow is. I am talking normal people, not multi millionaires and their peeps. Too often, the comment of “the recession is really tough” is thrown around. Most of the time, the people saying this are not using it in the right context, or don’t understand what it means.

The abundance of knowledge and the availability to one and all, not only local but anything from any corner of the world. This is the basis of the incorrect use or misunderstanding of this apparent recession. The experts on these shows are indeed that, experts. As with a lot of journalism, their knowledge is taken out of context. This causes a sensational story but causes damage. I call this rubbish, sensational journalism and it does nothing for anyone.

This is the basis of people using words they have no idea about. I xan see why recession is used but i can also see that it cannot be a reality, well at least not in 3 examples:

1. The money spent on cars. There are cars arw worth from about R 300 000 and can be as much as R1.2m. These may or may not be actually needed and warrant the price tag. However, it is the monthly instalments that intrigue me. These can range up to R20 000. This  massive chunk of anyones monthly income. Some may be illegally used as “business expenses” but the vast majority? Surely it ,ust put huge strain on the bills when combined with a bond on a massive house as well as many other of the usual expenses. Many of these families will have 2 cars. You see where i am going with this.

2. The local pub is full. Just up the road from us is a newly opened bistro / bar. It is busy every day. It fills up from about 3pm, everyday. In relative terms, eating out and alcoholic beverages is expensive. With the “recession” going on, how do all these people afford this daily event? 

3. Money spent on toys.  I am not talking about for children,  but rather the “big boys and girl” toys. Anything from bicycles to the latest watches and drones to name just a few. 

So you have a fancy car, going Foe drinks with mates every night and have the latest toys to show off. All very good but how do you afford the rest of your obligations? DURING A RECESSION?

PS:the other thing is how do people manage to get time from work to go  have drinks midafternoon? 

RECESSION,  WHATEVER;

The biggest time waster invented is…

Todays world is not only digital but immediately available at all times to everyone. It is not the internet that caused this. Obviously it is involved. The biggest time waster ever invented is social media.

I know you are shaking your head and calling me a crack pot but you know i am right. 

As you are reading this, i can almost guarantee you have at least three social platforms loaded on your mobile and maybe even all your mobile devices. Let me guess, Facebook, instagram, twitter and maybe another few.

This is the biggest time waster invented and yet nobody actually acknowledges it. They will make up all sorts of excuses why they use these platforms. Here are some of the best

“It is for business”  sales rep.

“I hardly spemd any time on it” everyone

“I am keeping up with my family” very common

“It is for research i need for work” office worker.

How much time do you spend on these platforms, what do you actually use it for? Do a little experiment with yourself. Uninstall these platforms. Don’t delete your accounts yet. Then spend the next 5 days using the time doing whatever you actually are supposed to do.

You will be astounded by the result. In fact there will 2 results: 

1. You will find that your work does not rely on social media to survive.

2. You are actually addicted to social media platforms.

There are some instances where it is needed. An example is a company’s facebook page where they promote and educate their followers about their company. If you manage such a page, it can be done from your internet browser.

That box

Are you really?

The new year ishere andthe resilutions are on everybody’s lips. Have you made any?

Better question is: should you really made them?

Far too many people make all sorts of resolutions which, I believe, they actually have no intention of keeping. There are 3 types of resolutions that are made:

1. Resolutions that are made and kept.

2. Resolutions that are made but not quite kept. Eg: you want to lose 25kg and, despite your best efforts, you lost 20kg. 

3. Resolutions that are made with no intentions of being kept.

Number 1 and 2 are great. You got up and changed something in order to get to your resolution. You may not get to it but you gave it your best shot. You can only try your best. Many outside factors can affect this process.

Number 3, however, is a different story. This can happen can for any aspect of life but, more odten than not, it involvesthe fatal words of “diet” and “exercise”. 

Examples. I want to be more healthy. I want to go to gym more often. I want to lose 20kg. The list is endless. These often sound like excuses or something that you “should be” doing rather than wanting to do them.

The way to see if you are making the correct resolutions are the responses that you have at the end of the year. 

1. Nailed it! Let’s do it again. 

2. Oh so close, i will tweak it slightly and nail it this year.

3. Yes, i did but i really should ……. blah blah excuse.

The best thing about resolutions is that they are never cast in stone. They can be revised to a certain degree, not completely and not to suit you not wanting to do it! 

Example: you set your resolution at running a marathon in the next year. You are training well and everything is on course. Then you sustain an injury that halts your training for 2 months. The year ends with the resolution not being met. The outside factor changed the outcome but the real motive behind it was met. That is the training, healthy eating and good rest. 

Resolutions are and can be incredible life changing promises to yourself and all your friends and family but only if you really want them to happen.

Last question: are you really going to do that? If not, don’t say it, you are only fooling yourself. 

The Only Investment Worth It

​There is only one investment that is guaranteed to make a gain in life. That is the investment in family. There are a lot of people to invest in but there are mainly 3 of these people that exist being yourself, your partner and your kids. You could write a whole book on yourself and your partner and this subject is beyond the scope of this book. The focus here is investing in your kids. Not one person has ever looked back over their life and said, “I wish I had worked harder”. If they do say that, then they are just not great people to be around.

You can invest for them such as saving for their education or their long term future. This is fantastic and I would really encourage this because it really does show you care about their well being later in life, perhaps after have passed away. Unfortunately, this is a perfect scenario that cannot always be carried out in the situation you or your family are in.

There are 2 options to make sure they are looked after.

1. Make sure your will is up to date. I am no expert in this and I would suggest a lawyer or attorney for this advice but making sure your will is in order, tells people that you have thought about your death ahead of time. This may sound backward but it will save them a huge amount of time, money and hassle subsequent to your passing.

2. Make memories.

Make the kind of memories that will stay with them forever. Perhaps you will learn a few things too! This type of memory does not have to be long, fancy overseas trips or extravagant gifts. Yes, those are nice but in 40 years time, will they be able to remember what present they got for their 4th birthday?

The type of memories i am talking about here is the kind of memory that they will tell their kids and grandkids and they will passed on through the generations. an example is that they will always remember talking to family and friends around the kitchen table. My kids are already got memories that will stay with them. They know that Daddy goes cycling and they go and watch me. My daughter even asks if I am going with granddad because I ride with my dad so often. These are small things when you single them out but they will last forever.

The investment in family is the only investment that will not fail or depreciate and in fact, it will only grow. It will even continue to grow after you pass away.

Tale of the close shave

​We all know about the 2 types of cyclists, the ones that have crashed, the ones that have crashed and those that will crash again. They make up some serious stories and most are exaggerated to some degree. What does not get repeated time and again are the close shaves with traffic and the near misses with pavements, light poles and other stationary objects. 

Here is one tale of the close shave.

There are only a few roads that lead from my house on my training rides. This particular route, i have cycled possibly 1000 times. Semi challenging when you are not warm but nothing too hectic. It involved a fairly long downhill section which is actually quite fast. On a normal day you can easily get to 65 km/h without much peddling. This hill is not 2,5 km into the training rides. This particular day it was quite windy so the hill was directly into a head wind, a fairly strong wind meant that maximum speed was 41km/h. Anyway, about halfway down the hill, there is a road on the left hand side. Mostly the cars stop and let you pass before joining the traffic flow. There is always the exception that proves the rule. This older lady, driving a small car, slowed down and had a look up the road but then carried on accelerating. 

At this stage, I was about 20 metres from the car! I was close enough that i actually saw her look right to see if the road was clear. I ride in the colours of the COWS and the kit is a black and white cow print. It is really obvious! I am also 193 cm tall weighing 90 odd kilograms. A fairly large object to miss! She missed me barrelling down the road? She pulls out and i had to make a make a call. Is she going to pull out – i would be able to miss her round the back of the car. Or is she going to stop. Roughly half way into the lane, she stopped. 

I was able to swerve arou d the car. In doing so, I uttered a few choice words! I politely asked her what she was doing and managed to keep it upright. What surprised me but yet it is pretty standard in Durban, is when we got to the lights at the bottom, the ldy looked at me as if to say, “what have i done wrong?”

I had to exercise serious constraint then and then had to calm down so I could finish the training ride. 

2 types.

​We all know about the 2 types of cyclists, the ones that have crashed, the ones that have crashed and those that will crash again. They make up some serious stories and most are exaggerated to some degree. What does not get repeated time and again are the close shaves with traffic and the near misses with pavements, light poles and other stationary objects. 

Here is one tale of the close shave.

There are only a few roads that lead from my house on my training rides. This particular route, i have cycled possibly 1000 times. Semi challenging when you are not warm but nothing too hectic. It involved a fairly long downhill section which is actually quite fast. On a normal day you can easily get to 65 km/h without much peddling. This hill is not 2,5 km into the training rides. This particular day it was quite windy so the hill was directly into a head wind, a fairly strong wind meant that maximum speed was 41km/h. Anyway, about halfway down the hill, there is a road on the left hand side. Mostly the cars stop and let you pass before joining the traffic flow. There is always the exception that proves the rule. This older lady, driving a small car, slowed down and had a look up the road but then carried on accelerating. 

At this stage, I was about 20 metres from the car! I was close enough that i actually saw her look right to see if the road was clear. I ride in the colours of the COWS and the kit is a black and white cow print. It is really obvious! I am also 193 cm tall weighing 90 odd kilograms. A fairly large object to miss! She missed me barrelling down the road? She pulls out and i had to make a make a call. Is she going to pull out – i would be able to miss her round the back of the car. Or is she going to stop. Roughly half way into the lane, she stopped. 

I was able to swerve arou d the car. In doing so, I uttered a few choice words! I politely asked her what she was doing and managed to keep it upright. What surprised me but yet it is pretty standard in Durban, is when we got to the lights at the bottom, the ldy looked at me as if to say, “what have i done wrong?”

I had to exercise serious constraint then and then had to calm down so I could finish the training ride.