Every time we ‘fail’, we are closer to real success

This early afternoon, I was a bit nervous; I knew an important delivery would take place to one of our key-customers. Last year, we had already some problems with our first deliveries with this customer, so my being nervous was quite reasonable.
This time, we prepared everything in detail and we were quite sure of a smooth final. Are we ever completely sure, we make our homework; we prepare things and just one thing pops up to destroy our whole ‘perfect plan’.

About 14.40, the phone rings announcing clouds on a blue sky. In other words, your perfect plan falls into pieces and all our energy and creatively is required to find immediate and accurate solutions.

First moment, you feel sad, disappointed, rage, you lost control, obviously none of these feelings help in finding solutions, but we recognize this too, do we ?
We must stop thinking that way and focus on what’s going well and things we can change and realize that we are just one step closer to real success.

Start seeing your non success as a step to come closer to real success and learn form it. Edison finally discovered the Wolfram lamp because; he had run of possibilities to fail.
Use humour to transform bad feelings (negative energy) into creative and massive energy. In other words from a good friend: from a problem state into a solution state.

Since I am writing this right know, I give myself the opportunity to look at this from different angles. All my negative feelings and especially the ones related to failure are melting away like snow for the sun. I am just one step closer to real success and it doesn’t matter anymore how close I was this time!
Love, work and live with passion,

Flow is a key-factor to keep things alive and make them grow.
The more flow we can create the merrier the growing process will be faster and faster.

I tell you a secret, a thing what I really love to do is fishing, more specifically: river-fishing.
Nowadays I hardly find/take the time practicing. Quite some years ago, all my free time I spent preparing my fishing equipment or I spent this time near the river. Of course I wanted to catch that pike, that large fish every fisherman dreams of but in particular I wanted to be close to the river. I needed to wake up close to the river hear the water flow and catch a fish. From the moment of the catch, all you feel is life, energy and adrenaline, it connects you through the fishing line and the rod with the fish and the river. It is hard to express the emotions we, fishermen, feel at that time, let us call it FLOW.
Flow of the rushing river, flow of our fishing line giving in and taking back, flow of the blood circulation in that caught fish, fighting for his destiny and flow in our body, excitement of landing this fish yes or no.
I can hardly picture an activity that generates and controls so much flow than simply catching a fish. Of course you can imagine your activities that booms from flow related to your life.
People in love will tell us that they feel this in their love play, athletes will convince us that they find this the moment they cross the finish line, business men will persuade us that nothings goes above a win-win agreement after a long time of tough negotiation.
Feel the pleasure of abundance of flow in your own life and use to get major progress in your life.
Love, work and live with passion,

What to do if you loose a fair amount of what you deserve, do you swell that pill?

Some weeks ago I talked with a friend and like all friends do, we talk about things that keep us busy. So we were talking a bit and suddenly I told him I expected this year to be quite different from the one I faced last year. Last year I lost about 80.000 euros due to midjudge of a financial partner.
The line kept silent for a while, and then he replied to me, he just admired the fact of having heard such a notice as such, his words: “you simply said this calmly with very few emotions as if this was the most normal thing with the least importance”.
After hooked in, I reflected a bit about this. My friend was right; I remained calm and expressed this as this had no more importance anymore.
Bitter pills stay bitter until the moment we accept that they are bitter. Same happens with everything in life. The key is acceptance, afterwards everything is possible again.
Do not loose your time pondering why, why me, …, go quickly to the step of acceptance. One you get there, your mind will help you to find the solution.
Love, work and live with passion,

Forge the weapons in your free mind you need to be successful

Sometimes we run because we feel we have no other options. It seems so obvious, problems are overwhelming us and we work harder and harder. In fact, the harder we work the more problems we face and suddenly we are caught in this much known vicious circle. For sure this sounds familiar, of course not in our life but in the ones from people surrounding us.
These people’s minds are not occupied anymore; bit by bit they became preoccupied. They have the feeling of being controlled by the outside world.
To be honest, I need to confess, I felt like this some weeks before. Even worse, I felt like this at the beginning of a new year, loaded with a bouquet of good intentions to change and make things different. Definitely my mind state was not in line with the one I choose. Why does did happens and how to cope with this?

Forget the ‘why’ in the first place and focus on the ‘how’.

Just accept this is a part of a learning process, you simply need to study and practice more.
It requires so much more courage to set a ‘stop loss’, which means you decide until where to go and not to go further. Neither an occupied neither a preoccupied mind produces significant results, so we need our mind free to pause and think and then to choose one or two effective thoughts. This is so basic but nevertheless we are not congruent and let us trap into the same pitfall.

Our future, our destiny, our success, all of them is created in the same logical sequence. First we dream (imagine) it, then we live it in our mind and feel it in our body and finally we act and do create it lively.

Forge the weapons in your free mind, in a one that controls its own destiny.

Love, Work and live with passion,

Welcome in 2007

Some of us have got the opportunity to assist at the last sunset of 2007. Others could not because of the clouds that were in front.
Hereby you receive all some of the pictures we took of that last nightfall, the end of the last day of 2006 at Cascais bay in Portugal.

Did you realize that this yellow ball, full of energy is always there; sometimes this is hard to believe. Speaking form own experience, as usual, we pass Xmas in Belgium with our family and this year from the moment we arrived until the taking off in Brussels back home, we did not perceive any glimpse form this wonder of nature called ‘SUN’.

For sure some of you might know people who are specialist in not noticing the treasure that is hidden behind the clouds. They are just facing the clouds and do realize the opportunities that can be revealed. How do you look at a cloudy sky ?

- Another day without SUN ?
- Just another sky?
- When will the rain start falling down ?
- Check http://weather.yahoo.com/
- …

We all step in that pitfall of getting trapped in our cloudy life and I am, myself often stuck in this way of thinking. It requires responsibility and courage to act differently and to be proactive instead of being reactive. But the results you get are so different.

Let us remember the wise words of an Austrian psychiatrist called Vkor Franklin he wrote in his book: ‘Men search for Meaning’, during the 2nd WW, when he was caught and a prisoner in the death camps by Nazi Deutschland.
“Between a stimulus and a response to the stimulus, there is a space, in this space lays our choice and freedom to choose our response and in these choices lays are growth and happiness”

We have the power to choose our response in any kind of situation of circumstances and we are responsible for all the results. When you decide to feel miserable when you watch the cloudy sky, you will instantly feel miserable and depressed. When you decide to see you problems as temporary obstacles and opportunities, you will have more power and energy to defeat them.

2007 will most probably not be much different form 2006, economics recovery will be slow, and our professional, our family life will require more from us.

Decide NOW to choose your RESPONSE to any kind of situation or circumstances and take your RESPONSIBILITY for any kind of OUTCOME/RESULTS.

Message inspired by the work of Steven Covey and Vikor Franklin

Love, Work and Live with Passion,

Real adventure is not possible without the possibility of death.

These words were expressed by one of the most famous alpinist in the world and of course they awake a different kind of emotion in all of us.
Let us quick transform these words into our worlds, …, without the possibility of real failure, ultimate success is not possible !

Do you really push yourself until these borders; do you challenge yourself until the limits of failure.
To be honest, most of you will answer ‘no’ to this question, we are simply not willing to pay this high price, isn’t it ?
We hereby invite you for the few weeks that are still left of 2006 to push a little bit harder to challenge a bit deeper to try less and act more without the fear of real failure. You will be amazed with the results, just do it.
Love, Work and Live with passion,

Exploit every possibility to keep yourself fit

Most of us are used to take our car to move us from a place to another. Today I needed to go to the pharmacy and as useful I planned to go by car. Suddenly I start asking myself some questions : it is a sunny day, do I really need to go by car ? Can I afford it in my time-schedule not to go by car ? and my mindset switched from going by car to walking to the Pharmacy. Exploit every opportunity to keep yourself fit, the more energy you have the more results we will produce and with higher quality. Just try this during the next days, you will simply feel better and produce more. Loss of time, or I do not have the time to do this, some might think, imagine the lifetime you will loose by not keeping your body in good shape.
Love, Work and Live with Passion

Deepen your knowledge

Our son Isaac received today a present, his first selection of matchbox cars. From the moment he got the cars, all his attention was dedicated to these new toys. He studied them profoundly, tested them, even their crash resistance.
We all often receive presents or buy new things, but do we rarely take the time to find out profoundly what new opportunities these brings.
Intensive study and interest will bring significant progress to our life. Get better in the matters you are already a 'prof'.
Love, Work and Live with Passion