The blame game.

Can you get drunk on a flight and then sue the airline for giving you the booze?
A Florida couple is suing United Airlines for "negligently" over-serving alcohol during a flight from Osaka, Japan, to San Francisco.

They say the carrier's drinks fuelled the domestic violence that enmeshed the two soon after their plane landed.

Fortified with burgundy allegedly supplied at 20-minute intervals by crew members during the December 2006 trip, Yoichi Shimamoto became so inebriated "that he could not manage himself", according to a lawsuit filed with a District Court in Tampa, Florida.

He was arrested for disorderly conduct and battery after he struck his wife, Ayisha, six times, injuring her face and upper lip as the pair were heading through Customs.

The case will likely hinge on whether United, in effect, operated a flying bar that's subject to the same legal liabilities as earth-bound drinking establishments, legal experts said.

Mr Shimamoto faced criminal charges and was sentenced to 18 months probation.

Source: www.news.com.au/heraldsun
Date: 18 December 2008

Whatever happened to responsibility and accountability?
Perhaps the airline shouldn't have kept serving this guy.
Perhaps this guy should've controlled himself and not kept ordering the drinks.
Perhaps he should just grow up and be responsible for his own actions and stop blaming others for his own lack of control.

What sort of culture are we creating when we can do stupid things and expect, and often get, others to take the responsibility for our actions?

Mergers are for Suckers.

Author: Michael Pascoe
Publication: Sydney Morning Herald
Date: 9 December 2008

Most people think they are better-than-average drivers, which, by definition, most people can't be. Call it a mass delusion.

Takeovers and mergers are generally like that too - a source of delusion for the key players.

Various studies over the years have found most big corporate takeovers/mergers are failures as far as the acquiring shareholders are concerned - but that doesn't stop the moving and shaking boards, CEOs and fee-hungry advisers all proclaiming that their takeover is different.

But there is one player who never loses in a big takeover - the CEO of the taker or takee. The quickest and easiest way to receive a multimillion payout (without the slight opprobrium of being sacked for incompetence) is to be taken over. Next best is to do the takeover, which enables the CEO's remuneration consultant to argue for a pay rise on the basis of greater responsibility.

Then there are the great urgers of modern capitalism, the investment bankers and advisors whose very existence is fed by doing the deal, not the long-term outcome. Corporate Australia is littered with the skeletons of takeover mistakes that nonetheless made an army of urgers rich.

And therein lies one of the under-examined aspects of M&A mania - the moral hazard whereby key players in the process make vast profits even if shareholders lose.

There are occasional exceptions - Vince Gauci's brave and wise fight against Xstrata's bargain basement takeover of MIM - but most CEOs happily stay in step with their boards, take the money and move on to the next game. Some seem serially successful at being corporate prey.

And it's not as if the CEO class is unaware of the dangers of moral hazard. For example, in the middle of the rescue of AMP, the then CEO, Andrew Mohl, stuck out his hand for a few million more as compensation for the fact that AMP would be smaller and, therefore, his pay packet less huge. Well, you wouldn't want him to be tempted to not sell assets that needed to be sold.

The urgers are another problem again. CEOs and chairman are constantly duchessed and propositioned by very personable investment bankers who profess to want nothing more than to find ways to add shareholder value. Or something like that.

And CEOs and chairmen are forever on the lookout for some bright "company making'' deal i.e. they are willing buyers of the urgers' wares. Never mind that the urgers only real concern is to keep the fee flood flowing.

Which brings us to the brouhaha de jour, the bemusing Qantas-BA merger talks. There's been plenty written about this dubious proposal, so much that there was little surprise in seeing Alan Joyce backpedalling yesterday.

But there's been little more than a passing wry observation about the role of the fee suckers, UBS and Macquarie. Yes, it is bemusing that Macquarie has gone so quickly from being Allco's Qantas raiding partner last year to sleeping inside the tent as Qantas' adviser on the BA deal, while UBS has switched from the Qantas camp to the BA side at the same time.

It's a lot more than bemusing though - it's outrageous. It raises doubts about the competency of the Qantas board and management that they would wear such nonsense - unless, of course, that the Qantas hierarchy is so culturally attuned to the merger that they would sleep with anyone to achieve it.

Let's pause to remember that one of the early signs that Macquarie's love of money wasn't quite healthy was the way it jumped camps from being Email's trusted advisor to advising Email's hostile raiders in 2000 - and doing it with a no-holds-barred vengeance at that, complete with serving dawn writs at Email directors' homes.

There was a time when it was thought a gentleman didn't do that sort of thing, that the long-term relationship and honour mattered more than the quick killing.

Now nothing can be taken for granted, including the moral hazard of urgers and CEOs being fabulously rewarded when shareholders are not. Maybe that's what they mean by "win-win''.
End story.

Greed, greed, greed. That's all that I can add to this story.

What will you become?

The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart - this you will build your life by, and this you will become.

James Allen.

Many times we read quotes such as this and we think, good quote but it's not for me, other people should get this, it would be good for them.

It amazes me at times, just how low some people shoot. They sometimes appear to be aiming at nothing at all. Sadly that's just what they hit.....nothing.
Expect little, get little.

Last night I attended the Christmas production at Calvary Christian Church here in Townsville and I must say what a great production it was.
The thing is, it was just a bunch of ordinary people who had an extraordinary vision for what they could do.
And do it they did. Exceptional!!

Over time I have met many people who have done extraordinary things in the business world. I'm not talking about corporate high fliers who ride on the success of huge companies, I'm talking about individuals who have achieved great things.
They all have two things in common, firstly they have a vision for great things and secondly, they are very ordinary people.

You see, great things are achieved by great people, though it should be remembered these great people are simply someone's brother, sister, mother or father.

They're just ordinary people who have an extraordinary dream, this ideal that is enthroned in their heart. That which they build their life by.

They should make a movie out of this.

Japanese tourist Hiroshi Nohara is on a layover at the Mexico City airport. It has lasted almost three months, and he has no plans to leave.

For reasons he can't explain, Nohara has been in Terminal 1 of the Benito Juarez International Airport since September 2, surviving off donations from fast food restaurants and passengers and sleeping in a chair.

At first, he frightened passengers, and airport authorities asked the Japanese Embassy to investigate why the foul-smelling man refused to leave.

Now, he's somewhat of a celebrity, capturing Mexico's collective imagination with nearly daily television news reports on his life at the food court.

Tourists stop to pose with him for photographs or get an autograph.

The Tokyo native flew into Mexico with a tourist visa and a return ticket home, but he never left the airport. In an interview on Thursday alongside the airport McDonald's, he said he had no motive for his extended stay and doesn't know how much longer he'll remain.

"I don't understand why I'm here," he said through a visiting interpreter originally hired by a television station. "I don't have a reason."

The embassy can't force him to leave, and since Nohara's visa is valid all Mexican officials can do is wait for it to expire in early March.

During his stay, Nohara's wiry goatee has grown into a scraggly mass. His red-tinted hair is speckled with dust and dandruff, and his cream-coloured jacket and fleece blanket are dingy with overuse. He smells like he hasn't had a shower in months.

"He's a calm person, a nice man," said Silvia Navarrete del Toro, an airport janitor. "He just sits here and eats all day."

Various stalls in the food court give Nohara free snacks and drinks, sometimes even throwing in hats or coffee mugs with store logos to get free publicity during his frequent television appearances.

Strangers often buy him pastries or hamburgers; he prefers the latter.

He sits with the interpreter, talking and laughing for hours, at a small table covered with cups of cold coffee, packets of ketchup and sandwiches wrapped in foil.

Stroking his facial hair, Nohara said the 2004 film The Terminal, starring Tom Hanks as an Eastern European man stuck in a New York City airport, was not his inspiration. But he acknowledged the similarities.

"My life is The Terminal 2," he joked.

Source: www.smh.com.au
Date: 24 November 2008

Tom Hanks starred in a movie based on this same subject?
It was called The Terminal.

Life can be so strange at times.

Attitudes we have.

We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.

Konrad Adenauer

Negativity

Peter Irvine, co-founder of Gloria Jean's Coffees writes: People who are in a negative state of mind will usually exaggerate the situation. They will often declare,"Everyone says this won't work!" or "Everyone thinks we should give up!" There have been many occasions where people have come to me and made similar statements such as, "Everyone is doing it this way." But when you ask who everyone includes, almost always you'll find that everyone ends up being one or two people. So in response to these sweeping statements, I learned to ask the question, "Who is everyone?" It's actually never anyone.

Too many unfair judgements have been made through ignorance. Have all the information in front of you before you pass judgement on a situation or on someone. After all, that's what you would want others to do to you.

He goes on to say.....

Negativity stunts your growth. If you have a negative attitude, you will stop growing; you will stop making wise decisions and this will slow your progress. People with a negative mindset tend to believe that every decision they make will bring about a poor result. If you are like that, you need to fight those thoughts by reminding yourself of your successes. You need to remind yourself of what you have achieved to date and start to develop and more balanced, positive attitude. By maintaining a negative spirit, you limit your effectiveness in the present and you sabotage your future; you stop moving towards the resources that will eventually bring you success.

So you see that viewing every situation from a negative point of view is not a great way to manage your business, run your life or maintain relationships with other people. It's so easy to be negative with other people, but we have to learn to be positive and to see the best in each situation. We have to get away from the ceiling mentality in which we believe we have reached the ceiling or the potential in our business or relationships. if you believe you have achieved all that you can ever achieve, then you must believe that there are no more opportunities for you.

Would a pilot carry a bomb?

Pilot allowed to fly despite positive test for explosive.
Author: Natalie O'Brien
Publication: The Australian
Date: 5 November 2008

A VIRGIN Blue pilot who tested positive for traces of explosives and then avoided security guards was allowed to continue unchecked and fly a passenger aircraft.

The security breach at Sydney's domestic airport in August was sparked when the pilot, who has not been identified, was selected for the random explosives testing but left the security screening area while guards were waiting for the results of the sample.

Instead of calling in the Australian Federal Police and grounding all the outbound Virgin Blue flights until the pilot was found, the guards covered up the security breach.

An investigation by The Australian into the incident has exposed a widespread problem with the testing of pilots that could be exploited by terrorists.

Security sources say pilots are often not selected for the explosives testing because of their aggressive attitude towards it.

It is understood that there have been several incidents in Australian airports in which pilots have refused the random explosives test, leading to reprimands from the airlines.

Aviation security experts warned of the risks involved in pilots refusing to undergo the tests.

Nick O'Brien, an associate professor in counter terrorism at Charles Sturt University, said: "If it became known that pilots were immune to screening it would be tempting to train as a pilot and get a job or target them and steal their passes."

The explosive trace scanners can give false-positive readings, which are triggered by high-nitrogen content fertilisers, some perfumes or shoe polish. Positive readings can also be given by people who have come into contact with fireworks or who have been to a fireworks display.

Last year, two Qantas pilots, one a captain, refused to remove their shoes for screening after setting off security alarms.

A spokesman for the Department of Infrastructure said yesterday it was aware of the incident in August at Sydney airport. He said the actions of the Virgin Blue pilot were unacceptable and a breach of the security procedures.

"Aviation security regulations require that airports and airlines ensure that all persons entering a sterile area of an airport (including air crew) be screened," the spokesman said. "Explosive trace detection sampling is one layer of the screening process. Undertaken on a random and continuous basis, it may result in flight crew being selected for sampling."

SNP Security, the company that employed the guards, said it had sacked three staff involved in the security breach and cover-up.

"A thorough SNP Security investigation took place following the incident, and upon completion of the investigation appropriate disciplinary action was taken," a company spokeswoman said.

A Virgin Blue spokeswoman said the company was investigating the allegations.

The revelations about the security breach come as it was revealed that British security services had discovered up to 100 potential terrorists posing as postgraduate students. It is believed the suspects tried to gain access to laboratories to obtain the materials and expertise needed to create chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.

I don't want to sound flippant here but really, would a pilot carry a bomb on to an aircraft, fly it, then explode the bomb?
Why not just crash the thing in the first place?
I fully understand where the authorities are coming from and I also experience first hand the frustration of pilots who, more than daily, are compelled to undergo these tests.
Their reasoning is simple. Why would I carry a bomb, I fly the thing. If I wanted to cause chaos, I'd just crash the thing. No-one would be able to stop me.

I must say, I understand their logic.

As for training as a pilot so they can get a bomb on to an aircraft, well hasn't that already happened. September 11 2001 I recall. Except they didn't carry a bomb, they just used the aircraft as one.
If you wanted to impersonate a pilot so you could get a bomb on board your still not going to get off the ground because you can't fly. In which case you'd set the bomb off on the ground which you could do easily before you go through any security screening point.

Maybe we could just screen everyone before they get in their car to drive to the airport.
Now there's a thought........

Gratitude

J.F. Kennedy said it this way, "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them".

We see people take what they have for granted, it's our right they'll say.
We see people expect things to go their way.
When was the last time you heard someone declare;
Life is so good to me, I am so fortunate to have what I have.

We live in the so called lucky country.
Yes it's still known as that.
Even if things are given to us, someone still has to fight the fight.

Be grateful for what you have, even if what you have is small.
Some people have nothing, not even dreams.

Time Warp

"People who I hung around with ten years ago are still doing the same things today. They still frequent the same bars and still do the same silly things. I'm not sorry I did those sorts of things ten years ago but I've moved on they, on the other hand, have not. It sad really to see them, they haven't grown, I can't stand to be in their presence now".

This was quoted by a friend of mine recently when speaking about his life over the last decade or so. I've spoken about it also.

We all have significant events that happen to us, trouble is some of us cling to those things and so we become that event, we become known as that person who loves to party or whose parents split up when he was young or whose brother was killed tragically.
All these events are life changing but we have to move on, we have to stop being recognised as this person, and instead be recognised for who and what we are.

At 87, George Burns said "I look to the future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest of my life".
He lived to be 100.

Forget the past, significant though it may be.

Get on with living life now so you may make a better future.

Pesky computer....

Computer sent Qantas jet into dive: Investigators
Source: www.smh.com.au
Date: 14 October 2008

A computer fault caused the autopilot system to be overridden, sending a Qantas plane into a mid-air plunge over Western Australia last week, authorities said tonight.

The air data computer - or inertial reference system - for the Airbus A330-300 sent erroneous information to the flight control computer causing the autopilot to disconnect, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said.

More than 70 people on Qantas flight QF72 from Singapore to Perth were injured last Tuesday when the Airbus, carrying 303 passengers and 10 crew, suddenly dropped altitude.

People were hurled around the cabin and the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in Western Australia's north.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation director Julian Walsh said the faulty unit continued to feed "erroneous and spike values'' to its primary computers.

"This led to several consequences, including false stall and overspeed warnings,'' he said.

"About two minutes after the initial fault (the air data inertial reference system) generated very high and incorrect values for the aircraft's angle of attack.''

This led to the flight control computers commanding the aircraft to pitch down, Mr Walsh said.

"The crew's timely response led to the recovery of the aircraft's trajectory within seconds, and during the recovery, the maximum altitude lost was 650 feet.''

Mr Walsh said analysis of the digital flight recorder showed the faulty air data system continued to generate false information, leading to a second, less serious "nose down aircraft movement''.

The ATSB is expected to provide a preliminary factual report within three weeks.

There had been suggestions the incident may lead to the grounding of Airbus A330-300 models.

Mr Walsh today said that would be a matter for regulatory authorities.

"However, the information we have at hand indicates that this is a fairly unique event,'' he said.

"These aircraft have been operating over many hundreds of thousands of hours over many years, and this type of event has not been seen before.''

"It's probably unlikely there will be a recurrence, but obviously we won't dismiss that, and it's important that we investigate to find out what led to the (fault) and reduce the chance of that happening in the future.''

Mr Walsh said Airbus had provided advice to airlines operating the A330-300 that would minimise risk in the very unlikely event of a similar incident occurring again.

All I can say about this event is to keep your seatbelt on at all times, as those who did not have their belt on were the one's who were injured. It's compulsory in a car and I believe it should also be onboard aircraft.

Loyalty

“If you work for someone, then work for them: Speak well of them and stand by the institution they represent...Remember, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness...If you must growl, condemn, and eternally find fault, resign your position and when you are on the outside, complain to your hearts content...but as long as you are a part of the institution do not condemn it.”

Elbert Hubbard

No comment.

Dixon in the $10m high club
Author: Matt O'Sullivan
Publication: Sydney Morning Herald
Date: 7 October 2008

QANTAS'S departing boss, Geoff Dixon, has almost beaten the Americans at their own game - by mastering the fine art of securing the best pay.

Mr Dixon will step down next month as the second-highest-paid airline boss in the world, beaten only by the head of America's second-largest airline, United Airlines.

Analysis by the Herald shows Mr Dixon's package of almost $12 million this year dwarfs the salaries of his European counterparts and all but one of those in the US - where massive executive salaries are par for the course - even though Qantas ranks as only 10th-largest airline in the world.

The revelations galled Qantas staff, who have argued against a management plan to cap staff wage rises at 3 per cent a year. The airline also decided to lay off 1500 workers by Christmas.

Mr Dixon's package is beaten only by that of Glenn Tilton, the boss of UAL Corp, whose largest subsidiary is United Airlines. Mr Tilton took home $US10.3 million ($13.69 million) last year, including a base salary of $US850,000 and $US4.7 million in share awards.

UAL's board has been under pressure from United Airlines pilots to reduce Mr Tilton's pay at the same time as the carrier slashes its workforce and grounds a fifth of its planes.

Mr Dixon's total package of $11.92 million for the year to June included a cash bonus of $3 million and almost $6.4 million in share-based payments, the Qantas annual report shows.

It is a significant rise on the previous year, when he was awarded $6.5 million. Three months before the $11.1 billion private equity raid on Qantas was made public in November 2006, Mr Dixon had close to $8 million tipped into his super account when he renewed his contract.

Qantas declared in May 2008 it was freezing senior executive pay in response to the high fuel prices, just two months before it announced the job cuts.

Mr Dixon's latest salary beats even the pay packet of Gerard Arpey, the boss of AMR Corporation, which runs the largest commercial carrier, American Airlines. Mr Arpey's total pay was $US4.6 million last year, including a base of $US656,000 and stock awards of $US3.1 million.

The Australian also trumps the $US7.73 million ($10.3 million) Northwest Airlines paid its boss, Douglas Steenland, last year, and the $US7.31 million Continental gave its chief executive, Larry Kellner. US Airways, the fifth-largest airline in the US, paid its chief executive and chairman, Douglas Parker, a total package of $US5.4 million, including a base salary of $US550,000.

The pay of European airline executives is modest in comparison with that of Mr Dixon or the Americans.

"It is an absolute double standard. How shareholders and the board let this happen, you have to wonder," the assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Union, Linda White, said yesterday.

"Rewarding one of those at the top doesn't mean you have the best airline in the world."

The boss of British Airways, Willie Walsh, pocketed £701,000 ($1.6 million) for the year to March. He turned down a £700,000 bonus after a disastrous opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5 in London.

Air France-KLM paid its chief executive and chairman, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, a total package of €1.39 million ($2.5 million) for the year to March, which included fixed pay of €750,000.

Europe's second-largest airline, Lufthansa, gave its boss, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, €2.4 million last year, including a base salary of €700,000 and a bonus of €1.4 million.

In Asia, Singapore Airlines paid its boss, Chew Choon Seng, up to $S3.5 million ($3.1 million) for the year to March 31.

Mr Dixon steps down as chief executive on November 28 but will remain as a consultant until March. Qantas declined to comment yesterday.

I know the title of this story was "No comment" but I just can't resist.

I believe in paying people what they're worth but when times are tough, and they are, just ask Geoff Dixon, we should all tighten our belts. Asking the rank and file to do more for less I have no problem with. Where I get bewildered is when these so called leaders ask their staff, who in today's economy struggle to make ends meet, to do without while they accept these huge salaries and bonuses.
Maybe Mr Dixon should've taken a leaf out of Mr Walsh's book and not accepted the bonus payment.

Good Generals will fight side by side with their men. That's how victories are won.
Poor Generals will sit behind the lines and expect their men to do what they themselves are not prepared to do.
This is just as true and relevant in the corporate world as it is in the military.

If these so called leaders were worth even a tenth of what they are being paid they would realise this.
If you get your workforce behind you and your vision then you and your company will be unstoppable.

Negativity.

What does negativity do for us?

Well it would be safe to say that it limits us. But just how much does it limit us?

Negativity will put a ceiling on our thoughts.
We can't imagine good things happening to us or our situation.
We also have a negative influence on those around us. That's right, we can effect other people and situations by our negative thought process. When, perhaps, we are asked for an opinion or for advice, what we say will possibly influence the other persons thinking.

Negativity will limit our relationships.
Our negative mindset will only allow us to be critical of others. We will limit them in our eyes and mind and so we won't believe in them. This is very damaging when we affect those close to us by limiting them and their achievements. When we don't believe in them we will not encourage them or their dreams.

Negativity will influence our friendships.
We will draw to us people who think as we do. This will succeed in then creating a group of like minded people who think nothing good will come out of any situation. Birds of a feather, flock together.

Negativity will effect our decisions.
Because we think nothing good will happen to us, our decisions will not be bold and we won't strive to achieve what seems to be difficult. We will stay in the safe zone because after all "it wouldn't work anyhow".
This will limit our present and our future.

Being negative is a habit.

Do you think being positive could also be a habit?

What would happen if we turned negative thoughts into positive?
Could that negative opinion not be offered?
What if instead, we offered encouragement?
Are our friends negative? Would it be possible to seek positive friends?
Are our decisions limited because we believe in a negative outcome?
What would happen if we believed in a positive outcome?

What would happen?
What would happen?

Your choice.....

"Any change, any loss, does not make us victims.
Others can shake you, surprise you, disappoint you, but they can't prevent you from acting, from taking the situation you're presented with and moving on.
No matter where you are in life, no matter what your situation, you can always do something.
You always have a choice and the choice can be power."

Blaine Lee
The Power Principle

What next ?

Prepare for take-off: airports to trial virtual strip searches
Author: Jano Gibson, Urban Affairs Reporter
Publication: Sydney Morning Herald
Date: 2 October 2008

AIR travellers will be invited to take part in "virtual strip searches" at Australian airports when the Federal Government begins trialling a range of security screening measures this month.

The measures include a controversial body scanner that can see underneath a person's clothes.

The Government says the scanner is designed to detect hidden weapons and explosives but critics say it is an invasion of privacy.

"It provides detailed images of a person's body, in particular body shape, which many people might find highly embarrassing," Stephen Blanks from the NSW Council for Civil Liberties.

"It's not normal for security to require strip searches of people getting on aeroplanes, and why should this virtual strip search become the norm?"

The executive director of the Government's Office of Transport Security, Paul Retter, said passengers would not be forced to use the body scanner before boarding their flights.

"During the trial, travellers will be able to choose the existing hand-luggage scanners and walk-through metal detectors, or they could choose the technology trial lane and provide feedback on the new technologies."

Measures had been put in place to ensure passengers' privacy and dignity was protected, Mr Retter said.

"People who do opt for the technology trial lane can do so knowing that the officer examining the images is located away from the screening lane and cannot see them. Faces are blurred and images are not saved and cannot be transferred."

He said the scans were safe and emitted only a very small amount of radiation. "The dosage from one body scan is 400 times less than a single medical X-ray. It would take 10,000 scans to reach the maximum level of safe radiation recommended in a year."

The other technologies on trial include explosive-detecting X-ray machines and vapour and liquid analysers. All of the equipment has been assessed by the Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation.

"Some [of the technologies] are already used overseas as part of aviation security and we would like to assess which, if any, may be appropriate for use in Australia," Mr Retter said.

The trials will begin in the middle of this month and will run until the end of next month at airports in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

What next ??

Governments the world over have been increasingly eager to enforce new and "better" ways to ensure security when it comes to air travel. Of course this all comes at a very high price to airports and then this flows on to the travelling public through higher ticket prices. Every dollar spent by an airport is quickly passed on to the airlines.

Strangely, there is precious little security of any form in our rail system and I'm told, when I've questioned the relevant government department, that it's a matter of what poses the highest security risk at this point in time.
Fair enough, though I'm confident that the terrorists who pose this so called security risk are more than aware of where the highest levels of security are. So it would follow that these areas would be avoided and softer targets would be chosen.

Bottom line is this. We will spend billions of dollars across the world trying to keep terrorism at bay and, I would say, with limited success.

What's the answer?
Well that's another story.........

Giants

When we surrounded ourselves with people who are smaller than us, we become pigmies.
When we surround ourselves with people who are greater that us, we become giants.

Unknown

Happiness

"The less you think about yourself, the happier you will be."

Joyce Meyer

How do I change?

If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labour.
If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent I will think of past success.
If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.

Today I will be the master of my emotions.

Og Mandino

No more clutter,

Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. 

This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. 

You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. 

No more busy work. 

No more hiding from success. 

Leave time, leave space, to grow. 

Now. Now! Not tomorrow!

Og Mandino

Is close enough, good enough?

"Excellence is an attitude not an event.

We shouldn't accept close enough as good enough.
We won't be perfect but we should aim for the best.
In the U.S they measured some things where, if you accepted 99.9%, this is what you would get.

2,000,000 documents would be lost by the I.R.S. each year,
22,000 cheques would be deducted from the wrong bank account in the next hour,
12 babies would be given to the wrong parents every day,
268.000 defective tyres would be sold this year,
2,500,000 books will be shipped with the wrong cover,
3,000 copies of tomorrows Wall Street Journal will be missing three sections,
18,000,000 pieces of mail will be mishandled in the next hour,
291 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly this year.

If you think close enough is good enough just ask these 291 people if they agree with you."

Peter Irvine Co-Founder, Gloria Jeans Coffees.

So often we bounce through life believing our mistakes will have no impact on others.
You see, the above example gives an indication of what would happen if they accepted 99.9% as good enough. Obviously they don't.

In six months last year British Airways lost the bags of over 550,000 passengers.
They cap restitution at $1,500.00. Get your calculator out and examine how much this would potentially cost the airline.

We Aussies have a saying "she'll be right".

Will it?
Is it?

Is close enough, good enough?

Battlers get a win.

King of Castle defies Gladstone airport
Author: Peter Morley
Publication: The Courier Mail
Date: 10 September 2008

The following story highlights what can be achieved when, in unity, we stand up for our rights and fight the battle that lesser people would walk away from.

A family of real-life "Kerrigans" have won the battle to keep their castle beside Gladstone Airport safer - and a great deal quieter - for the family of seven.

Gladstone Regional Council had wanted to use a taxiway as a temporary runway while the main one was upgraded and lengthened.

But the Civil Aviation Safety Authority has ruled this would be unsafe, exposing the Chinerys and other residents to possible danger and unacceptable noise.

Like the Kerrigans in the classic Australian movie The Castle, Jamie Chinery and his wife, Tasha, had threatened the highest legal action to stop an airline using the taxiway while they lived in Aerodrome Rd, just 75m from the proposed temporary strip.

"It has taken since April but we have stopped this threat to our safety from a plane veering off the taxiway and ending up in our lounge room," said Mr Chinery, a father of five.

A CASA spokesman said: "We knocked back the taxiway's use for a range of safety issues, one of which was proximity to homes."

The council said it was "disappointed" CASA had not accepted consultants' reports that QantasLink could safely use the taxiway while the runway underwent a $60 million redevelopment.

The problem facing the council is how to upgrade the runway while maintaining regular services to the industrial city where passenger numbers are increasing.

Strength or weakness?

John Maxwell says "One of the ways that you can tell your working in an area of strength is that it actually gives you energy. Even if you are in the early stages of your career or are starting out on a new venture and your not very good at something your doing, you can still tell it's an area of strength by paying attention to how you respond to your failures.
Mistakes that challenge you show your areas of strength.
Mistakes that threaten you show your areas of weakness."

We're told that we should always work to our strengths. This is another way of identifying those strengths

Have you ever thought about how your reaction to mistakes and failures may point to your areas of strength and weakness? It's an interesting thought.

Some mistakes motivate us to get it right, to do better, while others seem to make us defensive, unmotivated or angry.
Paying attention to the mistakes that challenge and motivate us will help us focus on our areas of strength.
Continuing to work in areas where mistakes threaten us will only succeed in making us unhappy and unmotivated.

When you encounter mistakes or failures that appear to motivate you take note, as they could be an area of strength for you and one which you can continue to focus on.

The Cautious Man.

The was a very cautious man,

who never laughed or cried.

He never risked, he never lost,

he never won nor tried.

And when one day he passed away,

his insurance was denied,

For since he never really lived,

they claimed he never died.

Anonymous.

Bank switching plan "not working"

In the Townsville Bulletin
1 September 2008

THE Federal Government needs to come up with a new plan that allows consumers to more easily switch their bank mortgages, the opposition says.
The government should be looking at consumer laws in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands as alternatives to its own account switching plan, opposition housing spokeswoman Susan Ley said today. 



She said Treasurer Wayne Swan had failed to compel banks to provide their lists of penalties for transferring customers and had been unable to do anything about excessive exit fees. 

"Unless banks provide customers with accurate account records showing debit and credit histories and until exit fees reflect administrative costs only, not some punitive disincentive to move your loan, mortgage holders are not going to be able to change banks and competition in the banking sector is going to decline." 



The UK had more specific laws to protect consumers entering contracts with their banks and the Netherlands had a successful system where the same account number could be moved from one bank to another, negating the need to contact numerous direct debtors, Ms Ley said. 

"Mr Swan's bank-switching package is going nowhere fast," she said.

Why is it that when it comes to keeping banks honest, policy makers lack backbone? 

Some of the fees and penalties imposed on us by banks when we try and exercise our right to change lenders is outrageous. Banks obviously make huge profits, staggering amounts of money. 

I don't seek to deny anyone making money however, in the real world if a supplier is not competitively priced or fails to deliver on promised service levels then we, the consumers can simply take our business elsewhere. 

Coles and Woolworths are continually competing for my grocery business. The tools they use, among others, are price and product quality. They don't place a fine on me for not shopping with them. Could you imagine the uproar if they did. 

Yet with banks, the practice of penalising us for shopping elsewhere is condoned by the regulators. I know this is a simplistic view however, the only difference between banks and the supermarkets is the product that they offer us. 

Are banks that unsure of their products ability to perform for their customer that they have to impose financial penalties for changing suppliers?

Our policy makers need to simply remember that financial institutions are just another provider of a service. Only this time the service is money.

Maybe that's why it is so difficult for our politicians  

A time for everything.

I've learned that you can't have everything and do everything at the same time.

Oprah Winfrey

The lying preacher.

You know, I don't go to many funerals. They are generally sad events, as can be expected. People are saying good-bye to loved ones and friends. Often eulogies are delivered and nice things are said about the departed one. 

Every time, I'm confronted by this question: What will people say about me?

I recently heard, though I can't remember where, this quote: "Live life so the preacher won't have to lie at your funeral".

So often we bounce through life giving no consideration to what impact we are having. Why is that?

Why do we sometimes find it so difficult to focus on what we will leave behind. 

What legacy are we leaving in our workplace, in our family and with our friends?

Why do we so often consider only the here and now?

When we're young, the excuse is that we have plenty of time for that big picture stuff later in life. How often do we wake up and find that life has passed us by and we've still given no attention to anything but ourselves.

We must make an extreme effort to change this thought pattern. 

We must seek to leave this world a better place when we go, than it was when we arrived.

Helping others is probably one of the best ways to leave a positive legacy. Sometimes helping another person can be as easy as a simple smile or "hello". 

It's not hard. Make an effort to try it. 

Give someone an unsolicited compliment. Say hello to a stranger. Smile.

So, let's not make the preacher lie at our funeral. Life life so he can speak the truth, at least he'll be a happier person for it.

Dare to be you.

My advice to you is this: Learn to be you, learn to go with your passion and your vision. Yes, listen to people. Yes, read books. But learn to make your own decisions and do not allow other people to set your vision. This is what Peter Ivrine, C0-Founder of Gloria Jean's Coffees, had to say about being an individual.
He goes on to say; Another principal I have learned is that as you grow and develop, you need to take the high road. By this I mean that you and I should always look to take the innovative road, the road of excellence. People with large vision find that their road is less congested. On the other hand it's extremely busy and congested on the low road. Everyone expects to operate there. It's the expected route. It's the route that often presents fewer obstacles, although I believe that on the low road you are going to face obstacles. Whether you take the high road or the low road, you cannot actually avoid problems and difficulties in life.

Benjamin Franklin described insanity as "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

Author John Maxwell says he has met people who tell him that they've had ten years experience, and yet he discovers they've actually had one years experience ten times. They have been doing the same things the same way for ten years.

Look around you. Look at people who are successful. Odds are they are the ones who have dared to be different. They will be the ones who stopped doing it the way everyone else was doing it. They will be the ones who took the high road. They knew that in order to be successful they were going to face obstacles, they just wanted to face different obstacles in order to reach a higher level. These people took the innovative road, the road of excellence.

They took their vision, took a route of innovation and excellence and they achieved higher levels of success than their competitors even thought possible.

Do you have a vision? Do you have goals? What are you doing about it?

Learn to be you. Dare to be you.

Getting There.

One of my friends recently commented that he had not sat down and written out his goals and dreams. He wasn't leading himself or heading towards anything in particular. Drifting.

Fantastic to recognise this early in life. 

I've witnessed so many who are in the same place today as they were five, ten or twenty years ago. They start at a place and just don't move on. Consequently their life becomes a treadmill of sameness. They go to the same job, do the same tasks, watch the same programmes on TV, have the same friends and do the same things each week-end. The only thing that changes, is their age.

They are not challenged to be better, to be different or to stand out. They are happy being where they are. 

The trouble is where they are today, as say a twenty five year old, may not necessarily be a great place to be when they are forty.

I watched a show on TV recently that covered binge drinking. They highlighted how, in Australia, binge drinking had become an enormous problem among our young people. Teenagers and young adults in particular were drinking way beyond levels that the human body can sustain. They were partying and having a good time. 

The programme did show the distasteful side also, such as the violence which often breaks out when large groups of people are drinking, and the severity of these altercations. All young people interviewed were adamant they were doing it for just a good time.

The common belief is that this is a phase and young people will "grow out of it". Well surprise, surprise it was discovered that many do not. For many, binge drinking became a culture, a habit which, as they grow older, they continue to maintain.  

A twenty year old who has had too much to drink can be viewed as someone who is having a good time. A fifty year old who has had too much to drink is viewed as a drunk.

These people have not moved on, they are stuck in a time warp. What was once a good time is now simply a habit and a large headache in the morning.

Dr David M. Burns says "Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life".

We need to identify when we are on the wrong course, we need to have the guts to say "I was wrong, what I once believed was a good path to follow, I now recognise as incorrect". We need to question what we do and continually ask if we can do life better or differently.

My friend was right in questioning his direction. He has recognised that if he doesn't, then he'll wake up in twenty years and find neither he nor his circumstances have changed.

Where will you be in twenty years? What will your life look like? What will you look like? Will you be the same, will you be doing the same things?

Where are you heading? What are your dreams?

Criticism

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.

Elbert Hubbard

Time

Poet Carl Sandburg said, "Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you."

John Maxwell says, "Your greatest possession is the twenty four hours directly ahead of you. How will you spend it? Will you give in to pressure or focus on priorities? Will you allow pointless e-mails, unimportant tasks, telemarketers, interruptions and other distractions to consume your day? Or will you take complete responsibility for how you spend your time, take control of the things you can, and make today yours."

When I was a child, life had so  much less distraction. Life went on in a leisurely pattern. We had many less things to distract us, no TV, no internet, no computers, no mobile phones, no videos, the list goes on. When I joined the workforce in 1972 there were still no mobile phones, no internet and no video and no computers. Most correspondence was still hand written. When you finished work at the end of the day or week-end you did just that, finished work. How life and the workplace has changed. 

Now it is commonplace to still be working, in some form or other, during our leisure time. Now we have so many things which vie for our time and attention, mobile phones, e-mail, text messages, TV. 

Now I can sit in my lounge chair and take a photo and show it to the world in seconds. Technology is wonderful. In my work I can even go online and track aircraft and tell you exactly when they will arrive at their destination according to the information given by their computers and overhead satellites. 

Life is lived at a much faster pace and everyone, it seems, wants a piece of our time.  

How do we prioritise where we spend our time? How are we to know where we are to give this most valuable asset, the next twenty four hours?

Start by asking yourself these three questions:

What is required of me?

Any realistic assessment of priorities must start with an assessment of what you must do. For you to be a good spouse, friend or parent, what is required of you?

To satisfy your employer, what must you do? 

If you are a leader then the question should be, What must I personally do that cannot be delegated to others? When listing priorities, what is required should always be given careful consideration before moving on to the next question.

What gives me the greatest return?

As you move through life, you will begin to see some activities which return a higher return for effort than others. (If you haven't already discovered this, your probably not progressing.) Your attention should be focussed on the activities which return high yield.

What gives me the greatest reward? 

If you only do what you must and what is effective, you will be highly productive, but you may not be content. It is important to consider what gives you personal satisfaction. Don't start with the reward question and go no further. There must be balance. No-one can be successful who doesn't possess the discipline to take care of the first to areas before adding the third. 

The philosoper, William James said, "The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."

Selfishness is....

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.

Oscar Wilde

Pressure produces opportunity.

Have you ever found yourself in a pressure situation? A situation where decisions need to be made. Decisions that could effect other people. Decisions that could see you lose favour with others. Making such decisions will be centred on your core convictions and beliefs.

 

Some people don't know what they believe in. Some are not committed to anything and are easily swayed.

What are your beliefs? Where do you stand?

Your convictions and beliefs are central to your decision making. They ground you and establish the pattern for your life.

Every decision you make will produce an opportunity. If you make a decision to run a red light, you may have the opportunity to pay a fine. You may also have the opportunity to experience what it feels like to have an accident and you may also experience what it feels like to be responsible for the death of another human being. A seemingly small decision can have far reaching effects.

Central to the decision of running that red light is the belief that chances of getting caught are slim and what harm can it do anyway.

Without strong conviction and beliefs you will be prone to making poor decisions that may have negative outcomes. There is a difference between living with conviction and living by consequences.

Pressure situations provide us with the opportunity to make decisions based on our convictions and beliefs. When we stand firm on these convictions and beliefs they will help us determine right from wrong.

A decision, based on what you feel is right in your heart, will always be the best decision. It may not be the most popular and it may not endear you to many though nonetheless, a right decision it is.

 

So true.

Abortion is only advocated by those who have been born.

Ronald Reagan

Influence

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

Albert Schweitzer

What's in your hand? Part 2

Brian Houston goes on to say; "What is it about us that wants to do what somebody else does?

There are a number of reasons why we attempt to pursue what is in our hearts, rather than starting with what is in our Hands. The first is:

What is in your hand often involves pressure, discipline and diligence: what is in your heart is romantic. 

The pressure of the present is is not on what is in your heart. Your heart holds a dream to which you escape. Sometimes we get so enamored that we escape to the romance of what is in our hearts because the dreams of the heart do not feel like work; there is no pressure to achieve those dreams.

What is in our hands is present and familiar; what is in our hearts is distant and mysterious. 

We often take for granted that which is familiar to us. Familiarity can cause us to fail to appreciate fully what we have in our hands.

What is in your hand can seem self-indulgent; what is in your heart can seem noble. 

I believe when it comes to focusing on our gifts and talents, we feel that we are too self-focused and self-indulgent. And this can be the case if we take our focus outside of Jesus and his cause and pursue instead the path to fame and fortune.

On the flip side, what is in our heart is often attached to a noble cause; it is about making a difference to others.

What is in your hand looks like you; what is in your heart looks like the way you would like to look. 

What is in your hand looks like you because it is you! It is the way the Father made you. Human nature tends not to like the way we look. This dissatisfaction with our appearance can cause us to look in the mirror and focus on our imperfections. We can try and build an image around how we would like to look or have others see us.

What is in your hand carries the weight of expectation; what is in your heart is unexpected. 

Maybe your friends and peers have expectations in relation to your gifts and talents. The expectation of others may even lead to a little rebellion as you try and break out of the box you feel you have been put in. Those same expectations may cause you to pursue what is in your heart prematurely and out of the wrong motive.

What is in your hand is natural; what is in your heart is spiritual. 

We can devalue what is in our hands by seeing it as natural when compared to the spiritual gifts such as evangelism, prophecy and healing of the sick. Your own gift may seem to lack spiritual significance or weight. However, every gift has value and a spiritual dimension when you have the cause of Christ in your heart. Regardless of whether your gift is in plumbing, carpentry or accounting, when you are faithful with it, the Lord will use it for his purposes.

Finally, I encourage you to begin serving if you are not already. Luke 16:10 says "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much." Start serving in church or volunteering your time to a charity or applying your gifts in your workplace. Start being faithful and diligent there, and I believe God will open the door to what is in your heart.

What is in your hand? Is it a musical gift? An ability for numbers? Business acumen? The gift of hospitality? Great communication skills? An ability to listen and comfort? It could be one or more of a multitude of things. I honestly believe that we all need to consider what is in our hands right now. See the potential of what God has given and how it could lead to the opportunity to fulfil what is in your heart on a much bigger scale."

Banks losing big $$$$$

NAB, one of Australia's largest banks, is forecasting to lose up to $1,000,000,000 largely due to their exposure to the US Sub-Prime mortgage debacle. All fuelled through their insatiable demand for higher profits. 

NAB and others have thrown enormous amounts of money at the U.S. lenders because the returns were so high. Properties in the U.S. were over valued, yet many lenders were keen to loan to people, who at best, would struggle to make repayments.

Now we have people defaulting on loans, walking away from their properties and letting the banks have their home. Surprise, surprise, the homes are not worth the amount at which they were valued and banks are losing vast quantities of cash. 

Compounding the issue is the fact that we seem to want everything now. We are not prepared to wait for that new TV, car or furniture. We want it now and banks have been keen to cater to our desires. More and more money has been financed until people have no expendable income. No-one considers what may happen if interest rate go up, as they have been. We now also have the unfortunate situation where banks are increasing rates outside of Reserve Bank rate rises. (Trying to re-coup some of their losses I'd say.)

Rents in Australia are forecast to continue to rise, as more and more people find themselves in the rental market because of housing unaffordability. 

Where will it end?

Excuses

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

Benjamin Franklin

What's in your hand? Part 1

Often we go through life asking; "What is this all about? What am I meant to be doing? What is my gifting? What am I called to do?" 

Many times we get frustrated, we feel robbed of our calling because we are not working in what we believe to be our calling. 

Some words from Brian Houston reveal more:

"The best way to fulfil what the Lord has put in your heart is by being faithful with what he has put in your hand.

What is in your hand? This is the question God asked of Moses in Exodus 4 as he was grappling with the fact that God had asked him to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and the bondage that they lived in. Moses tried to convince the Lord that he was not the right person for the job. The gist of Moses' response to God recorded in Exodus 3 and 4 was, "Who am I and who is going to listen to me? How am I possibly going to do that?"

God replied, "What is in your hand?" (Ex. 4:2). Moses was holding a staff, and that is exactly what God told Moses to use in order to see God's desire to free the people of Israel fulfilled. 

Often your calling is screaming at you; it is staring you in the face. It is what you do naturally, the very thing that is in your hand. Sometimes people are waiting for a still, small voice to tell them what their purpose and calling are. They tell God (and anyone in earshot), "I just don't know where I fit. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I don't know what God's will is for my life." But the actual Bible word called means to "call out aloud." There is nothing still and small about it.

Ask yourself, "Where am I gifted? Where are my talents? What comes naturally to me? That is your calling.

There are those who say, "I just feel like God wants me to lay it down." The result can be Christian sports people who want to be pastors, and pastors who want to be business people, and worship leaders who want to be rock stars, and pastors who practically sing their sermons because they want to be worship leaders! The fact is that we do not actually have the right to lay down what the Father has given to us as a gift.

Maybe you have acquired some skills along the way that do not seem to have a whole lot to do with Jesus and the cause of Christ. Maybe over the years you acquired a knack for getting out of tricky situations by stretching the truth. If your gift is clearly at cross-purpose with God, then it is probably best to lay that talent down. But we can often underestimate the God-given gifts and talents we have.

James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights." In other words, the Lord does not change his mind. He is not schizophrenic; he has not made you one way to use you a different way. 

God has given you gifts and talents for a purpose - His Purpose."

Rick Warren - What's in your hand?

Rick Warren speaking to a group of influential business people.

This is 21 minutes long so make sure you allow the time.

Secrets of success

Richard St. John: Secrets of success in 8 words, 3 minutes.

Freedom

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."

Mahatma Gandhi

Called.

Another Brian Houston gem from his book, For this I was Born.

"Saved! What a miraculous provision that is, but salvation is not one dimensional. It is much more than raising a hand and praying a salvation prayer. Furthermore, it is not only about the afterlife. Millions of Christ's followers have experienced the joy of salvation, but I have a vital question for you. Are you simply living as one who is saved, or have you taken up the challenge to live as one who is called? It is important that we grasp the revelation that we are not only saved, but we are also called for a purpose.

Sandwiched between your salvation (or your connection to the Father) and God's grace (his favor, blessing, and enabling) is your calling and purpose."

Change

It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not.

James Gordon, M.D

Vision

In his latest book, For this I was Born, Brian Houston states: 

"On its own a vision has limitations, but when linked to the cause of Christ, it has supernatural power and purpose. When you surrender your vision and future into Gods hands and align them with his will, your life is a miracle waiting to happen. The cause of Christ will take your personal vision, your passion, dreams and goals to levels you could never have imagined. 

Vision is essential, but the cause is powerful. The cause of the King is the impetus that keeps the church moving forward as a united force on the earth. Your vision tied to mine and that of other believers and underpinned by the cause brings great power and momentum. Together we have an incredible opportunity to bring positive and eternal change."

A powerful and accurate statement. When we understand that Christ came so that we may have life in abundance. When we understand that we have been set free. When we understand that it is finished, that the enemy has been defeated, only then, when we turn and concentrate our focus on a cause which greater than us will we see the miraculous happen. It is then that we will be able to effect positive change in our neighbourhood, city, nation and planet. 

Happiness

Many persons have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

Helen Keller

Zibi & Magda

We have just spent a great day with Zibi and Magda  Zarbec who are from Poland. Early next year they are starting a church in Krakow. 

They came to Australia to attend the Hillsong conference in Sydney and then up to Townsville as guests of James and Sam Macpherson. 

They are leaving on Friday to spend a week on the Sunshine Coast, where they will catch up with Steve Penny from Kings Christian Church and other friends they have on the coast.

We had the opportunity to take them to the Billabong Sanctuary where they were able to experience some of the native wildlife.

The Billabong Sanctuary is great as there you can touch and hold some of the animals which, when your from Poland and have never seen these animals, is just a fantastic experience. They couldn't stop smiling.

Hope

Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.

Helen Keller (1880-1968)

The need to be loved.

The need to be loved forms the basis of most of our decision making. Deep down we all have the desire to be loved. Loved for who we are, loved by what we stand for, loved for our reputation, loved for who we know, the list goes on.

We are alway making decisions which, deep down, are driven by our desire to be loved. If you think about it, this would dramatically cloud our decision making ability after all, we all want to be loved.

There's plenty written by motivational authors about decision making.
One of the simplest is this "Do what is right".
Deep down we all have an inbuilt sense that tells us what is right.

John maxwell puts it this way.
"You don't make decisions because they're easy.

You don't make decisions because they're cheap.

You don't make decisions because they're popular.

You make decisions because they're RIGHT".

He goes on to say:
"We often make decisions in the heat of the moment. If we're not careful, we can make a life altering decision based on our temporary situation rather than on our values. Or we can base it on our feelings. Instead, if we make critical decisions before we have to, then we can make them without our emotions controlling us. When we do that, we are more likely to make decisions with integrity".

Making decisions when we're emotional clouds our thoughts and we then fall back on making a decision based on what would be the most popular.

Successful people make decisions based on what is right not on what would be the most popular.
Many people in leadership make decisions which would see them become more popular with their staff only to find that their respect level falls with each decision. This is because the decision was centered on their desire to be loved, not doing what was right.
Tough decisions may upset some people however if they are made with the correct thought process that is, doing what is right, then ultimately the decision will be proved correct and respect and love will follow.

Hillsong Conference

Only two more sleeps and we'll be in Sydney for the awesome Hillsong Conference.

It would be wrong to say that this year will be special, because every Hillsong Conference is special.

I must admit I'm looking forward to hearing Joyce Meyer speak. That will be great, though Joseph Prince will be there and he's always got a great message.

So many great speakers from here and around the world.

The quiet comforter.

"Do not believe that he who seeks to comfort you lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. His life has much difficulty....Were it otherwise he would never have been able to find those words."

Rainer Maria Rilke. 

Life is difficult?

Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck open his best selling book The Road Less Travelled with the words "Life is difficult." He went on to say, "Most do not fully see this truth that life is difficult. Instead they moan more or less incessantly.......about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life were generally easy, as if it should be easy." 

John Maxwell adds this, "Because we want to believe life should be easy, we sometimes assume anything that's difficult must be impossible. When success eludes us, we are tempted to throw in the towel and assume it's unattainable."

Peck is right, we often feel that we deserve a life that is easy and when anything less comes our way we feel short changed. Maybe we should just face it, as the now famous quote from Malcolm Fraser states, "Life wasn't meant to be easy."

We face challenges everywhere, some minor and some which are seemingly impossible to overcome. Think back to the past and of the insurmountable problems that you have faced in your life. If you can remember them, they will mostly seem insignificant now, nothing more than a speed bump on the road of life.

As I am often telling people, "It's not the problem that determines who you are, rather it's how you handle the effects after the problem has gone away. It's how you relate to people who went through it with you and it's what you learned by the experience."

Life would be boring if we faced no challenges. Challenges are Gods' way of stretching us so that we can learn and grow and be better prepared for this wonderful life we have been given. 

So life is difficult. 

Bring it on.

Gimli Glider

A show on TV the other night was about an Air Canada Boeing 767 which, in 1982, ran out of fuel long before it had reached its destination. How this happened is still a little suspect to me, however during the investigation it was discovered that the re-fueller had made a mis-calculation and instead of putting fuel onboard in kilos he had calculated the weight in pounds. This gave the aircraft around half the required amount of fuel.

Subsequently they ran out of fuel during flight and the pilot managed to glide the aircraft into a landing. This was a fantastic effort on behalf of the crew and one which allowed for no error. An aircraft such as this (see photo top left) weighing around 170,000 kg and with no power only descends, as it cannot climb without stalling.

They managed to land on a disused runway at Gimli and the aircraft suffered only minor damage. It was flow out only two days later and has only just retired from service. The clip below is the last fly past of this aircraft.

Change for the better.

Our society is continually on the move. Life is always changing and we feel have to change in order to keep up. We change schools, we change jobs, we change friends, we change opinions, we change homes, we change cities where we live and we even often change our spouse.

Why are we doing this?

John Maxwell in his book titled Today Matters, suggests one reason is that we are looking for success. 

He says " We believe success is impossible, so we criticise it. We believe success is mystical, so we search for it. We believe success comes from luck, so we hope for it. We believe success is productivity, so we work for it. We believe success comes from opportunity, so we wait for it. We believe success comes from leverage, so we power up for it. We believe success comes from connections, so we network for it. We believe success comes from recognition so we strive for it. We believe success is an event, so we schedule it."

Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People quotes "Many people think that if they were only in some other place, or had some other job, they would be happy. Well that is doubtful. So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don't put off being happy until some future date."

How often do we see people change jobs because they're "not happy". They start the new job and in a short time they're again "not happy". They change homes for the same reason and with the same result. The list of things that they change goes on and on, all with the same result, they're still "not happy". They want success in their life, yet it is elusive.

If one of the reasons our society is continually changing is that we are looking for success then I certainly believe in knowing what we want and going for it.

Change for the sake of change doesn't do it for me.

The correct use of positioning can however, be of great value.

Positioning is about being in the right place to allow a positive change to take place.

If you have a problem with alcohol and wish to correct this area of your life, then it would make sense not to continue frequenting bars. However, it is sometimes not that easy. You must position yourself so that going to the bar is not an option. Sadly this may involve changing friends. This is where most people have trouble because it is in their friends that they find their own identity and changing friends means they will lose that identity.

People who are not happy in their job often cite poor pay or conditions as the reason. I often find that it is their attitude that is poor because other things in their life are not going well.

We need to look at ourselves and ask, Why am I having a problem in this area?

If it's your attitude then get a better one. Stop confiding in negative people. 

As Dale Carnegie, also quotes: "Any fool can criticise, condemn and complain, and most fools do."

Find someone to whom you aspire and get alongside them.

Stop watching negative shows on TV and stop reading the gossip magazines. 

If it doesn't have a positive influence in your life then get rid of it.

Sometimes in our quest for greater success we take a job in another city. Where's the problem with this?

When we are successful, it is often as a result of not only our input but also the efforts of many other people who are alongside us. Put simply, they make us look good.

Take yourself out of this environment and go elsewhere and you will not have this same support network which you previously relied upon. If we haven't recognised the fact that others have contributed to our success then we may be setting up to fail.

Position yourself in such a way that you will have a good support network of friends and mentors. If you don't already have this network, then start getting one today.

Position yourself in such a way that you will have every chance of becoming a better person, leader, parent, spouse, sibling or friend.

Family

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.

Jane Howard. "Families".

We miss you Jessica.

Since you left us to start the next phase of your life there's an emptiness here that that doesn't want to be filled.

It's amazing how families grow on you. 

Twenty three years ago you came into our life. 

I remember it as though it were yesterday. 

Looking through old photos just hurts, so I don't do it, for now I'll just go on the memories that I have retained of our life together.

What we leave behind.

What we leave behind.

What does this mean?

Do many of us think about that?

Well, when we're gone, what legacy are we going to leave for those left on earth?

I was reminded of this question last night as I was listening to Steve Kennedy speak at a leadership meeting which we attended.

"I am not my father" he said. 

These words refreshed in me, a time when I uttered those same words "I am not my father".

Steve was talking about not repeating the same mistakes his father had. 

I'd said it because I was not going to become the same person my father was.

Like Steve, I belong to a large family, six brothers and one sister. I was the youngest.

Though we siblings were a fun loving lot, our father was almost always angry. I never knew why. He worked, like all fathers did, to supports us through school and buy clothes and food. But he was angry. Where did this come from?

Dad wasn't a drinker, though he did like his beer and on Anzac day he often enjoyed too many rums at the R.S.L.

He didn't even drink until during the second world war and even then it was difficult to get.

He was in the R.A.A.F yet didn't leave Australia.

Why was he angry?

I still don't know.

My fathers father spent very little time at home and was mostly working away, wherever the work was. This was in the early part of the 20th century.

I have been told that his mother was always angry. Why?

My oldest brother left home at age 14. Why?

All of us had, at some time or other had fallen out with our father. Why?

My last words with him were an argument.

Were we like him, angry?

The answer to that question for some of us was yes. Why?

My father died last year aged 95 and yes for the most part he was still angry.

I went home for his funeral and, putting aside the sadness felt when you lose a parent, I was overcome by a sensation of sadness for a life that had been lived yet a life that hadn't achieved all that it could've been. 

A life that left a legacy of sadness.

I witnessed my oldest brother's sadness and pain as he was barely ably to make it to the funeral, yet he lived only two hours drive away. 

A brother who showed no emotion at all. 

Another, stricken with grief, who was there at the end as he had helped care for our dad in his last days.

Two didn't come at all.

None of his offspring lived in the same city as he did.

95 years of life had come to this. Why?

Now the anger had turned to sadness. Why?

I committed then not to be like my father.

I want to be remembered for positive things. 

Things I've achieved. People I've helped. Lives I've touched.

I attended the Hillsong Mens conference not long after this and Paul Scanlon started one of his sessions with the words "I am not my Father". This got my attention.

Paul was preaching from his book of the same title.

He was inspired to write this book because during his time in ministry he was finding that he was now counselling young men with the same issues that he had counselled their fathers.

Why was history repeating he asked.

Paul himself had an interesting childhood, which he talks about in the book, and he wrote the book as a way of helping men not turn into their fathers.

So, without going into a complete book review here, I have determined to not become my father.

I have realised that, if left unchecked, we all have a tendency to become what our fathers themselves became.

I have drawn a line in the sand and said enough, it ends here, I am going to be different.

I am going to leave a positive legacy with my family and the people to whom I am close.

Men who have had great fathers might say they wouldn't mind being the same as their father. I say your right, but you still need to be an individual and your sons need to be encouraged to be individuals as well. Don't let them be just a younger you.

As I get older I realise that with age comes a responsibility to encourage younger people to be all that they can.

I have determined that what has gone before me, is not going after me.

I am not my Father.