It’s our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
J.K. Rawlings

Every decision we make – every decision – isn’t really about what to do about a particular problem or issue that’s bothering us. It’s about who we really are.

There isn’t anyone who doesn’t have a problem of one sort or another. Some of them come out of the blue, totally unexpected, not of our making. Others have been hanging around for a long time, old baggage we refuse to deal with: a job we hate, an empty relationship that has gone sour, a client that keeps us hanging, a promotion we didn’t get, a changing business environment we won’t address.

Whatever the cause, they can tie us up in knots, keeping us trapped and unable to move forward

A friend of mine once said to me, “You know, Drew, with the exception of a truly serious illness or something similar over which one doesn’t have any control, all problems have a solution. It’s just a matter of how much the solution is going to cost and whether you are willing to pay the price.”

It was a hard answer. But sometimes life is hard.

The problems vary in intensity and seriousness and seem unsolvable. Being human, trying to contain them, we erect boundaries around them, trying to ease the pain. But it doesn’t work.

Sometimes the problem really isn’t that big, but other times, to resolve it – you have to *’break the china.’ So you can move forward again.

* Break the China. A old, polite English expression meaning do whatever the hell you have to do to fix it. And don’t worry about appearances.

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In the 21st Century, of all the companies that have captured people’s imaginations and their wallets, to date none have done a better job than Apple.

Today, while competitors scramble for their share of the pie, the company conceived by Steve Jobs still amazes. Just recently Apple announced that in their last quarter they sold 74 million iPhones. That’s 74 million.

The transition from the old economy continues unabated taking companies and whole industries down with it – but there is no down time in an Apple store.

That has everything to do with Steve Job’s attributed Three Rules of Life:

1. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
2. Don’t be trapped by dogma – living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice.
3. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.

Have you outgrown your current situation? Need to refresh your purpose? Let’s explore … email me at drew@drewsimmie.com Follow me on Twitter.

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Those who never take risks can only see other’s peoples failures. Paulo Coelho.

When obstacles arise, you may have to alter your direction to your goals but you don’t change your decision to get there.

Everyone occasionally hit’s a road block of one kind or another. It comes with the territory, that mountain    standing in the middle of your path, the one you can’t seem to get past. Here are three suggestions to get around it:

1. Stop trying to hit a home run. Get a single first. Before you know it, you will be rounding third, heading for home.
2. Trust your hunches. They are usually based on some facts you know, buried back there in your mind, just below your consciousness.
3. Pat yourself on the back occasionally. Remember all that you have accomplished in the past.

When there is a mountain in your path, don’t try to move the whole thing all at once. Slice it up in little pieces and move them out of the way, one at a time.

Have you outgrown your current situation? Need to refresh your purpose? Let’s explore … email me at drew@drewsimmie.com Follow me on Twitter.

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Today’s economy is global, interconnected and interdependent. It is a market of infinite choices, environmentally sensitive, driven by technology and the media.

It has created a need for a new business model that demands we work in a new space – not reliant only on our linear, left brain side nor with an over emphasis on the creative, right brain side but in using both, listening to our intuition and then taking that information and filtering it through our minds, to a new space, between the two spheres.

It’s here where you are at your best – following your hunches, but then using your smarts and your experience to bring your work to successful fruition. It’s here where the practical and meaningful solutions for today’s new market reside.

It’s always a juggling act, but here are three tips to help get you there:

1. Have the courage to think outside the proverbial box. That’s where the status quo isn’t.
2. Build on a bigger future even though you can’t always see it.
3. Play the game of life with joy. When you approach life as an adventure and a blessing you open up your mind to creative options. Where is it written that you can’t enjoy what you’re doing?

It’s all about continuous learning and personal growth. Wonderful things happen, life sparkles when you are open to new possibilities and working in the magic middle space.

Have you outgrown your current situation? Need to refresh your purpose? Let’s explore … email me at drew@drewsimmie.com Follow me on Twitter.

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So often it happens that we live out our lives in chains and we never know we have the key. 
From the song, Already Gone, by the Eagles.

We all need to grow. Growing is as necessary as breathing. It is part of humankind’s DNA. We’re hard-wired to be curious and always hungry for more.

When you are growing, you’re full of energy. One idea effortlessly flows into another. The ensuing sense of accomplishment propels you ever further, from one achievement to the next. Nothing seems beyond your reach.

On the other hand, when you stop growing, inevitably your life begins to diminish. Things aren’t as much fun. You become stale and dull. Worst of all, you begin to lose your courage.

 Growing is a creative process, centred around:

1. Keeping an open mind – developing and nurturing the ability and willingness to change your mind based on new and experiences.

2. Practicing empathy – being able to step into the shoes of those whose lives are vastly different from yours. You can never understand the reality of others unless you have had a taste of it yourself.

3.  Making a difference – taking practical action to alleviate other people’s  misfortunes, and extending a helping hand.

4. Living more simply – keeping all the stuff in perspective.

5. Expanding your social circle – the best way to challenge your assumptions and prejudices and develop new ways of looking at the world is to  surround yourself with those whose lives and lifestyles differ from yours, rather than hanging around with people who share your world view and your place in it.

Wonder where to start? Invite someone new to dinner… and go from there.

Have you outgrown your current situation? Need to refresh your purpose? Let’s explore … email me at drew@drewsimmie.com Follow me on Twitter.

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