3 things to look for in a fitness tracker

Keeping tabs on someone is never a good idea unless it’s your fitness tracker keeping tabs on you. To become a lean and healthy machine, you need to know how you are progressing on your fitness journey. That’s where a tracker comes in. If you aren’t sure which device is right for you, here are three things to consider.

Exercise Tracking with GPS

If you are a runner or a cyclist, you need to know how well you did on a course so you can make changes for the next run or cycle. This means you need a fitness device with GPS that gives you stats such as pace, elevation and split times. The Fitbit Ionic gives you all that, plus the GPS kicks in within 40 seconds, so there is virtually no delay in getting started.  

Water Resistant

If you would like to add swimming to your exercise routine it is important to choose a device that can survive in deep waters. We recommend a tracker that gives you at least 50 meters (50m) of water resistance. The Fitbit Iconic gives you this level of water resistance plus it counts your laps while swimming.

Coaching

Being away from a gym is never an excuse to miss a workout, and with the Fitbit Iconic, you won’t have to. The Fitbit coach on this tracker gives you up to 3 bodyweight workouts that you can do wherever you are.  

To get started on your fitness journey, visit fitbit.com

Lessons from Jobs

The interesting thing about Steve Jobs was his gift in seeing the potential in things and people way before others did. And that my friends is why they call him a visionary –they called him a tyrant because he called people stupid, ouch!

There were computers before he introduced the Apple II in the 1970s, there were music players before he entertained us with the iPod in 2001 and there were mobile phones before he shocked the world with the iPhone in 2007. What made these products stand apart from their counterparts was that they were made the way consumers wanted them before they even knew they wanted them that way.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let me get to the crux of the matter and why you are really reading this blog. What lessons did I learn from Jobs in this riveting biography by Karen Blumenthal entitled, The man who thought different. There are so many lessons but the three that have positively impacted my personal development journey are:

He truly thought different

He didn’t adhere to the unwritten rules, he followed his heart. He chose to go to Reed College in Oregon instead of Stanford University, when big tech companies were marketing their computers to businesses he was targeting consumers, when people told him to sell Apple because it was failing in the 1990s he ignored them and pushed on. In addition to all of that he decided to make the black turtle neck and blue jeans his daily wardrobe because it made getting dressed in the morning easier and freed up time for him to focus on more important things. He thought different because he could see what others couldn’t. He was a visionary.

He didn’t wait for the stars to align to act

Steve didn’t wait for the perfect conditions to make a move. After he dropped out of Reed College he returned home. With no degree and very little experience, Steve applied for a technician job at Atari, a video game maker in the 1970s, after seeing the job advert in the newspaper. I like how Karen Blumenthal put it, “Jobs’s main qualification was that he spent plenty of quarters playing ping pong.” (what is your excuse for not applying for that job? I am sure you have more experience that Steve had). Steve showed up at Atari’s office and insisted he would not leave until he got the job and he got it.

Shortly after starting Apple in 1975/1976 with his brilliant namesake Steve Wozniak (yes, there were two Steves), Steve Jobs got an order to make 50 computers. He had no idea how he was going finance the project but he accepted the offer and figured that part out later. He got it done and the rest became Apple’s history.

He was crazy

In addition to being a creative genius, Steve was CRAZY (Critical, Resolute, Astute,  Zealous, Youthful). He was critical of the things his employees and executives at Apple did and many thought he was too harsh in his feedback. He was resolute in his quest to change the world with technology and so when people told him to sell Apple he didn’t. He was astute in many things but here I’ll highlight how well he predicted the direction of the music industry. Before launching the iPod he approached music executives about an exciting new way to get young people to start paying for music. Some ignored him, few didn’t and now iTunes is better than sliced bread.

He was zealous about making technology that matched people’s lifestyle and that is the reason I believe he was critical of the work people did for him. When he launched the iPhone he pointed out that the stylus that other phone manufacturers were giving consumers were a nuisance because they (the consumers) would often lose it and it wasn’t so friendly to use. This inspired him to make the screen of the iPhone so sensitive that we could operate it with the 10 ‘styluses’ that we were born with: our fingers.

And finally, throughout his life, Steve was always youthful. Steve had the heart and soul of a young person, untouched by the hardship and disappointment of life. He’d been scarred and neglected by Apple, yet when he got the chance to save it, he jumped at it and put his whole heart and soul into it like a youngster falling in love for the first time.

Steve Jobs is really a man who thought different and I believe this is summed up perfectly in the commercial for Apple’s Think Different campaign which he spearheaded. (check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwsuXHA7RA).

Thanks for your contribution to the world Mr. Steven Paul Jobs not only with the technology you brought to us but also the life hacks we can learn from your extraordinary life.

Until next the lesson, stay C.R.A.Z.Y, my friends.

Lessons from Kamkwamba

Fate led me to this book: The boy who harnessed the wind by Bryan Mealer and William Kamkwamba. It must have been fate because the story of William Kamkwamba never crossed cross my path before now.

The boy who harnessed wind details the life of William Kamkwamba, a young man from Malawi, a southeastern country in Africa, who used items he found in a scrap yard to create a windmill that generated electricity in his community.

William grew up in a farming village in Malawi called Wimbe. His grandad was a farmer, his dad was a farmer and everyone, even William, thought that his future was farming. But William’s mom thought different (not a grammatical error. I was inspired by Karen Blumenthal’s biography on Steve Jobs). She believed that education is important and  was determined to send all her children to high school. William’s older sister was the first recipient of a high school education and William was itching to be the second; he couldn’t wait.

When William started high school, Malawi was crippled by a famine. People were dying from hunger and those who were alive were either stealing to survive or protecting the little they had from the people who were looting. It was a rough time. Despite their best efforts though, William’s parents had to choose between feeding their children and sending William to school. They chose feeding the family because what good is an education if you are not alive to use it. This challenging time for William presented him with an opportunity.

How did this poverty stricken young man change the trajectory of his community? How did he endure his hardship to become an inventor and graduate of Dartmouth College, a prestigious university in the United States? Well, here are some lessons that I learned from Kamkwamba:

• He asked questions until he received the right answers
• He used what he had to get what he wanted
• Him Neva watch nuh face (Jamaican colloquialism)

He asked questions until he received the right answers

William was a very curious young man. When he decided to build his windmill, he realize that he needed a generator to create electricity. One day a light shone brightly in front of him.  He saw a man riding a bicycle in the town of Wimbe and as the man rode his bicycle a light turned on at the front. He asked the man what produced the light but the man had no clue. He asked everyone he believed would know until he finally got the answer. The answer: the motion of the wheels turning created energy that powered a generator on the bicycle and that produced the light. That’s when it dawned on William, for his windmill to  generate electricity he needed a bicycle generator, a bicycle wheel and a bicycle chain.

My Lesson: Curiosity is the key to discovery

He used what he had to get what he wanted

The men who stand the tallest chose the highest mountains to climb — Quote from Roshelle Lewis

William had the ambitious goal of building a windmill. He only had a primary school education up to that point and there were no experts in his community with whom he could consult. What I loved about William’s approach was that he focused on what he had, not on what he didn’t have:

• He had a book called Using Energy,  which is where he got his inspiration from
• He had a librarian who explained the things he didn’t understand  
• He had access to a scrap yard where he found the the items he needed for his windmill. These included a tractor fan to help power the blades of the windmill, PVC pipes to make the blades, bearings among things.

My Lesson: You have everything you need to accomplish your goals. You lack nothing

Him neva watch nuh face (Translation: He was not bothered by the the things others said about him)

When William decided to build his windmill, his classmates and people in his community thought he was crazy (that’s misala in Chichewa – the native language in Malawi). His classmates used to jeer him when they caught him rummaging through a scrap yard near the school looking for parts. By this time he dropped out of school so I guess they thought he was really a bum. But luckily for William he was focused on his dream and he had a real ride or die friend named Gilbert. Gilbert, who was still in school because his family could afford it, would join his bestie after school to search for treasure in the scrap yard; treasure that would change their community and William’s life forever.

My Lesson: When people call you crazy, just say: crazy people changed the world. In the words of Apple Inc., the people who think they are crazy enough to change the world are the ones who do.

William Kamkwamba was a young man with very little means but big ambitions. He has shown me that once you are curious, crazy and persistent about your goals anything is possible. I hope these lessons from Kamkwamba will help you on your journey to greatness. If these helped you in any way, I would love to hear from you.

Until the next lesson, stay curious, stay crazy and stay persistent my friends!

Lessons from Bolt

The fastest man alive was not built to sprint. Yes, I was pretty shocked too when I first heard. At a towering height of 6ft 5 inches experts have said Bolt’s legs are too long to propel him out of the blocks at top speed. Not only that, in races like the 200 metres (Bolt’s favourite race) taller athletes have more difficulty cruising around the curve than shorter athletes because of their higher centre of gravity. There’s more, Bolt discovered he had scoliosis at the beginning of his professional career (scoliosis is curvature of the spine).

With all these challenges, how did he become the fastest man ever? I decided to take a tour of his mind by reading his book, Usain Bolt Faster than Lightning My Story, and discovered four things that made Bolt successful. Here goes:

• He found a coach who cared more about him than his success
• Having fun occasionally was non-negotiable
• He worked hard
• His focus was on pleasing himself first; pleasing his fans came second

Let’s explore these a little and the lessons we can take away from each.

He found a coach who cared more about him

Coach Glen Mills was more than a coach to Bolt. He was a friend and confidant. Coach Mills had a plan for Bolt’s success and he got Bolt involved in the execution of this plan. When Bolt would complain about an exercise or a session in the gym, Coach Mills would talk it over with him and made changes to the training programme where necessary. There was even a time when they made a deal which led to Bolt running the 100 metres.

See, as a junior athlete, Bolt ran the 200 metres (his favourite) and 400 metres (his least favourite). As his professional career advanced he focused more on the 200 meters, to his delight. One day during a practice session, Coach Mills mentioned to Bolt that he may start running his least favourite race again. Trying to get out of this, Bolt brokered a deal with his coach that if he ran the 100 metres in 10.30 seconds he (Bolt) would start running the 100 metres and evade the 400 metres like the plague. Bolt ran the 100 metres in 10.03 seconds (way better than the time he and coach agreed upon) at small meet in Greece in 2007 and won the deal. As the cliche so aptly puts it, the rest was history.

Lesson: find a coach or mentor who puts your best interests above his own and he will take you far

Having fun occasionally was non-negotiable

Bolt knew being a professional athlete was hard work, but he made it clear to his coach and management team that having fun was essential to his success. He felt all work and no play would make him a “washed-up” athlete and that was not in his coach’s plan. In his mind, lack of fun would make him uneasy and may result in him releasing any pent-up energy in ways that were far more damaging than any party he would go to or any video game he would play. Suffice it to say they understood and dear I say it was an ingredient to his success.

Lesson: Let’s go back to kindergarten a bit, “All work and no play makes a Jack a dull boy and Jill a dull girl.”

He worked hard

There is no doubt that Bolt is talented and his mind is almost impregnable. But remember what I said before, he had physical challenges that threatened his career. After finding out from a doctor in Germany that he had scoliosis he had to work 10 times harder in the gym to strengthen his core and back muscles. He had to eat properly and on occasion he had to make some serious sacrifices. While he was preparing for the 2009 world champs in Berlin, he had to put down his phone and press pause on all fun activities for 6 whole weeks while Coach Glen Mills got him ready for a record smashing endeavour.

Lesson: Make sacrifices today for success tomorrow

He was focused on pleasing himself first

Once upon a time before Beijing and Berlin, Bolt had some challenges as a pro athlete. In his book, he mentioned a devastating experience when he raced at the National Stadium in Kingston. During the race, he pulled a hamstring and couldn’t seem to run through the pain so he “clutched the back of his leg and hobbled a way for help.” Then the unthinkable happened, his own people started booing him. He also recalled the 2004 Olympics in Athens when he didn’t make the finals. When he got back home people criticised him, his training and even the necklace his mom gave him that he held in his mouth. The love he felt as a junior star went away in an instant and that is when he decided to run for himself first and his fans second. This took a great deal of pressure off of him so he could focus on being a legend.

Lesson: Execute your plans to please yourself first, everyone else can come after

As Jamaica celebrates 56 years of independence this year, it is quite refreshing to know that one of our own ran the world. We can use his success as inspiration and so can everyone else around the world. To the readers of this blog, keep pushing yourself towards success and if you need a little extra push just remember these lessons from Bolt:

• Find a coach or mentor who puts your best interests above his own
• All work and no play makes a Jack a dull boy and Jill a dull girl
• Make sacrifices today for success tomorrow
• Execute your plans to please yourself first; everyone else can come after

 

Until next time, my friends, run your own race.

Get Gritty

The race is not for the swift it is for those who have Grit. In case you are wondering what Grit is, it is passion and perseverance over long-term goals. This is according to Angela Duckworth, psychologist and expert researcher in Grit. It is no different from “those that who endure to the end”, just quicker to say.

My interest in Grit started when I was complaining to my mentor. I was bemoaning some failures I had, but before I could get my pity party in full swing my mentor firmly said, “you need to learn to bounce back from adversities.” I did not know it then but he was telling me to be gritty (why didn’t he just say so?). This advice prompted me to google tips on bouncing back from adversities and that’s when I stumbled upon the concept, Grit.
I have discovered two things about Grit so far in my research:

• It is a stronger predictor of success than talent or intelligence
• It is the greatest asset for people who face challenges (i.e. everybody)

It is more powerful than talent
Angela Duckworth, the Grit Guru, made some stunning observations that illustrate that Grit is a better predictor of success than say IQ or talent. In one observation, she assessed cadets enrolled in a rigorous training programme to see who would be among the last men standing. She found that the cadets who made it to the end of the programme were not the strongest nor the fastest but they were the grittiest. She also observed students in high school who were from volatile backgrounds to see those who would graduate. The students who graduated were not necessarily the smartest but, yes you guessed it, they were the grittiest.

One explanation for these outcomes is another concept called growth mindset developed by Carol Dweck a psychology professor. In a nutshell, Growth Mindset is the belief that one’s performance can improve with practice and effort. So one’s ability to learn is not fixed but it can change with the right amount of effort.

It is the greatest asset for people who face challenges
“When you have it easy you become comfortable; when you have it hard you become successful.” That is a quote that I coined sometime last year but I did not understand how powerful a statement it is until now. In February 2018, Fortune Magazine published an article about six executives whose difficult experiences early in life helped them to ascend to the pinnacle of their careers. Two of those executives were Oprah Winfrey and Starbucks’ ‘bigger boss’ Howard Schultz. These execs used the poverty they experienced as youngsters as a source of motivation to excel. The article also mentioned CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella whose eldest son was born visually impaired and paralyzed in both hands and feet. This experience made him more resilient as a leader of one of the most successful companies in the world.

What this tells me is that we become grittier with every challenge we overcome and the more gritty we are the greater our chances of success.

Why spend my Netflix binge time writing about Grit?
I decided to write this article to bring more attention to the power of hard work and dedication. The world places so much value on talent as if it is all you need to succeed. Thanks to Grit Guru Angela we see that while talent can take you far Grit can take you further. Angela has not discovered a scientific way of developing Grit yet; she is working on it. In the meantime, remember that Grit is passion and perseverance over long-term goals. So if you have a goal that you need to achieve be passionate about it and persevere. In other words Get Gritty.
Look out for my next article which lists some lessons we can learn from Bolt. Until next time keep pushing my friends.

Finding the right mentor

There is at least one thing that successful people have in common: mentors. Mark Zuckerberg’s mentor was Steve Jobs, Bill Gates’ mentor was Warren Buffet and Oprah Winfrey’s mentor was Maya Angelou. These modern day moguls attribute a significant part of their success to their mentors. Why? Good mentors have typically done the groundwork in their own personal experiences and have passed on to their mentees the tools to start building their (mentees) own success.

Mentorship is an important ingredient for success but it is only effective if you find the right person. Someone with the right knowledge, someone who is available right when you need them and someone who is willing to stay right by your side. For some, mentors are miraculously placed in their paths but for others, like me, we have to go out and find our mentors. Here are my suggestions on how you can find the right person to mentor you.

First, decide why you need a mentor. Really ask yourself what you want to learn or be excellent at. This will certainly help to narrow down the persons who are right for you. It also helps you to achieve suggestion two.

Second, find out where your prospective mentor may be spending his or her time. For example if you want to be a better public speaker you could find a mentor at a local Toastmasters club.

Third, identify someone who you believe is a good fit for you and engage that person. Assess that person’s willingness and availability to help you as these are critical to a successful mentorship relationship. You can start the relationship by offering to help the person with a task that way you get to solidify your relationship with him or her.

In my own personal experience I know mentorship works from being a mentor and being mentored. Recently I took on really big task for a client  and one of my mentors was there to support me all the way even providing me with a blueprint to get started. I was pleased when the client, whom I never knew before, told my mentor, “She is good at what she does.” That felt really Ah-mazing!

Like anything worth pursuing, finding a mentor can be challenging. Sometimes you may reach out to someone and that person does not reach back to help you (that happened to me). When this happens remember that your goal is to find the right person for you and anyone who doesn’t respond favourably to your request for mentorship may not be the right person. So do not feel discouraged and never give up because when you find your perfect mentor your life will change for the better.

 

Give thanks!

For 10 years the most influential woman in the world, Oprah Winfrey, kept a gratitude journal non-stop. In her gratitude journal, she made a conscious effort to be grateful for the things in her life both great and small. On her website Oprah.com, she listed these from her entry in October 1996[1]:

• “A run around Florida’s Fisher Island with a slight breeze that kept me cool.
• Eating cold melon on a bench in the sun.
• A long and hilarious chat with Gayle about her blind date with Mr. Potato Head.
• Sorbet in a cone, so sweet that I literally licked my finger.
• Maya Angelou calling to read me a new poem.”

This gives new meaning to the phrase, “Thank God for small mercies!”

Oprah is certainly not alone in her conscious effort to give thanks. Richard Branson, a business mogul, and Daymond John, a Shark Tank judge and multi-millionaire, also consciously give thanks.

Why is it important to give thanks? Here’s what I found:

• It makes you happier[2]
• It is good for your brain[3]
• It brings people closer to you[4]

This troika listed above helps you to perform better at anything you do. In fact, CNBC.com highlighted a 2014 study published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology which discovered that the more grateful athletes were the higher their self-esteem and this led to better performances[5]. So, I guess the secret to Usain Bolt’s success is not just the Falmouth yellow yam. Just watch him after a race. He is always looking to heavens in gratitude.

This attitude of gratitude seems to really work so I have decided to start my own gratitude journal right here. Here goes my Give thanks list:

• Supportive family and friends
• Mental and physical health
• Making my first sale on Fiverr *smiley face*
• Finding WordPress Blog to share my thoughts with the world
• Having dreams and aspirations
• Being alive to celebrate Christmas, my favourite time of year

So, that’s just a few of the things that I am grateful for. What are you going to put in your gratitude journal? Sharing is caring.

[1] http://www.oprah.com/spirit/oprahs-gratitude-journal-oprah-on-gratitude#ixzz51Q91X4l7

[2] http://www.businessinsider.com/why-extremely-successful-people-swear-by-this-5-minute-daily-habit-2015-11

[3] http://www.businessinsider.com/why-extremely-successful-people-swear-by-this-5-minute-daily-habit-2015-11

[4] http://www.businessinsider.com/why-extremely-successful-people-swear-by-this-5-minute-daily-habit-2015-11

[5] https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/04/being-grateful-improves-your-chances-of-success-studies-show.html

A Money Maker

A friend of mine told me that he hides his riches in his mind so that no one can steal it. This statement was so profound that it motivated me to write this article about the power of self-education.

From an early age, I knew education was important. In fact, my grandma used to ‘motivate’ me by saying, “guh pick up you book.” But what happens after you leave school? Does education end? Absolutely not, that is when self-education should begin for one simple reason: the world is changing rapidly and if we don’t keep up it will leave us destitute.

I am a believer in self-education. I think it works and clearly, I am not alone. Here are some of my interesting finds about self-education.  

Self-education is a money maker

In his Businessweek best-seller book, Think and grow rich, Napoleon Hill listed specialized knowledge as one of the 13 principles of wealth creation. He said the only way to turn desire into monetary gains is through specialized knowledge. Here we are being encouraged to find an area that interests us and learn about it. The more we learn, the more expertise we will develop in the area. And guess what: people pay top dollar for experts, just ask the fastest man alive, the most influential public speakers and these rich people coming up next.

Rich people read a lot

During my research for this article, I stumbled upon the following fun facts about how successful and rich people approach self-education.

• Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest people, reads 50 books per year[1]
• 88% of rich people devote 30 minutes or more each day to self-education or self-improvement[2]
• If you read 7 or more books per year, you are 122% more likely to be a millionaire than someone who reads 3 books or less according to Randall Bell, Ph.D.[3]

Now you see, reading not only ‘maketh a man’ it maketh money too so add some books to your Christmas shopping list. If we want to be rich or successful we should read and read a lot because clearly self-education is a money maker.

[1] Drake Baer, BusinessInsider.com, Jan. 2016: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-bill-gates-reads-50-books-a-year-2015-11

[2] Tom Corley, Success.com, Sept. 2016: https://www.success.com/article/16-rich-habits

[3] Kathleen Elkins, CNBC.com, Apr. 2017: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/07/7-rich-habits-of-highly-successful-people.html

Two awesome Christmas gift ideas for children

Wondering what to get your child for Christmas? How about a fun and educational gift that keeps their thinking skills sharp and their days festive? Here are two excitingly educational Christmas gift ideas.

Boogie Board

It is no longer a fantasy: your children expressing themselves with no mess or extra paper lying around. The Boogie Board—an ultra-thin writing tablet— makes this dream a reality. With the Boogie Board, your children can draw, write and solve complex math problems all in one place.

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You can also save their work with the Boogie Board app by taking a picture of the contents of the Board using your smartphone. And, it’s made of impact resistant plastic so no splinters if it falls.  Not to mention, it has a 4-star review rating on Amazon.

Rory’s Story Cubes

Develop your child’s imagination with Rory’s Story Cubes. This interactive game allows your child to develop their own stories by using dice with images carved unto them. This 4.6-star rated game on Amazon uses storytelling to get them:

• communicating
• thinking
• imagining in their own way

These gifts can be found on Amazon.

Happy gift hunting parents!