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Yesterday, our local parish priest posed the following intriguing question:
“Is there life before death?”
What a great question.
If you were to die tomorrow could you say that you have really lived?
The priest wondered whether or not we as individuals live life to the fullest.
Let us bring the question closer to home with a few other questions to ponder:
Are you doing what you love career wise or 'living for the weekend?'
Are you growing and developing in your relationship or are you stagnant?
Are you contributing in a meaningful way to your community?
If you have answered 'no' to any of these questions, I challenge you to commit to remedying this situation starting today.
Don’t wait for the weekend. Remember, here today, gone today – live life now!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:16 AM | Comments (0)
Yesterday, my parents while holidaying in the west of Ireland paid me a visit. In the course of the conversation, my father shared with me this amusing anecdote.
“Some time back, this local lady came into the shop. Very flustered, she requested,'the meanest cake we had in the place.' She was paying a visit to someone and felt under pressure to bring a gift!” he informed me.
We started to reflect on the importance of true and genuine friendships and both of us agreed that surely our presence should be the present.
I then shared one of my favourite quotes from Elizabeth Bibesco:
“Blessed are those who give without remembering and take without forgetting.”
One of the things I believe based on my own life is that the more you give out , the more you get back.
I would go so far as to advise all businesses to integrate this idea into their business practices.
Remember when you give more, you begin to exceed customer expectations. When you do this, your customers start a very important conversion experience. They become friends as opposed to customers.
Customers leave, friends don’t.
As a final aside, especially for my business readers, when was the last time you got business for your customers.
Is giving more a new management/ personal principle?
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)
Following on from my appearance on Ireland AM on TV3 last Friday and The Last Word on Today FM last Monday, initially, I would like to thank everybody for the fantastic support we are receiving for our new Transition Year Module “Looking ahead and Living Now.” In addition, I would like to clarify a few issues about the project.
-This initiative is totally sponsored by Supermacs. Thus the course complete with syllabus, resources, teacher training and for this year at least, a guest lecture comes at no cost to the participating schools.
-Though this is a transition year module, we would like to see the elements of the syllabus feature in other classes for example, civics, health education, religion, etc. Very simply, we want personal development to permeate the student’s current daily diet of information.
-Our aim is to have two hundred schools running this programme in 2004/2005. If you are a teacher, all you have to do is to email us here, and you will be included in the programme. If you are as excited about this as I am, please tell your colleagues in other schools. I am confident, based on my experiences with thousands of people both here, Europe and in America, that this course will make a significant difference. But of course without you, this is not possible.
-Finally, someone described this programme as a suicide prevention course. Though I am confident that if you boost a students self esteem, if you improve his/ her coping/ problem solving ability, this will give them the ability to deal with life’s crises, indeed go further, learn from them - however, this is not an apt description. I am always mindful of Kahlil Gibran's inspirational quote “pain is the shell that encloses our understanding.” My hope is that students will embrace this in time.
In my eyes this is a personal development course based on my best selling publications.
Again, let us all work together to put emotional intelligence, personal development to the forefront in Irish Education Circles.
Thanks again.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 02:54 PM | Comments (1)
One of the latest Irish Times/TNS mrbi Youth Poll findings has really put our efforts in context:
55% of those aged 15 to 24 know someone in their age group who has committed or attempted suicide.
The poll was conducted among a national quota sample of 1000 young people aged 15 to 24 at 100 constituencies in the state.
More than ever our students need to be equipped with a life skills toolbox that will help them cope with the crises that come their way.
Our new Transition Year Module “Looking ahead and Living now,” kindly sponsored by Supermacs will help in this respect. The course is designed to boost students self esteem, in addition to sharpening their rapport/ problem solving and coping skills.
The unparalleled positive response from the participating schools indicates a real need for this type of teaching in the classroom. Within a few days, we reached our quota of schools for the pilot phase which begins in November.
Based on my background in marketing, and my understanding of how schools operate, this was a remarkable achievement.
Our aim is to have at minimum two hundred schools participating 2004/2005.
Towards a new tomorrow.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 10:29 AM | Comments (1)
Two years ago, I watched history unfolding on a television screen in our appartment in San Francisco - the date - September 11th.
Though initially horrified, as the days passed I became more and more hopeful. Elements of what I would describe as an evolved society started to appear. For example, there was a new impression of community that I had never sensed in all my time in the USA. People from all backgrounds were coming together, united for the good of their country and its people.
There didn’t appear to be any distinction between black and white, rich and poor, or firefighter and stockbroker, as there had always been in the past.
More than ever, people started to experience the now. As my experience in India had taught me: ‘here today, gone today; live life now.’ From my own personal experience and insights earned by working with thousands of people, a time for self-reflection was a necessary prerequisite for seeking personal advancement. Up to the week before 9/11, the focus in the newspapers was on announcing the new 24/7 economy.
Afterwards, more people than ever before in the country have taken time out to reflect. A break from the usual grind is obviously no longer a waste of time. Working 24/7 is now the waste of time, one that is guaranteed to give you even less time to deal with what’s important in your life. When disaster struck, relationships with family and friends were the priorities. The healthy stock portfolio, the job or the new car didn’t feature on the average citizen’s list of Most Important Things In My Life At This Moment.
Furthermore, volunteers, police officers and firefighters, sifting through the Twin Towers debris with the precision of a team of surgeons, reinforced the fact that every life is really sacred. Since September 11, so-called ordinary people have been celebrated as extraordinary human beings. There was a new sense of connection after the Towers. Many people looked to the divine for guidance and consolation, knowing that it was time to go beyond rationale, to go beyond analysis and to trust in the source.
After a few days, I was heartened to hear the American administration introducing new words like perseverance and patience into the daily dictionary of politics and government. The real question was whether or not America, land of the free and home of the brave, was about to move away from the failed paradigm of instant gratification.
The whole experience strengthened my belief that pain is the greatest personal architect of all time.
A few weeks later, we returned to Ireland.
Today, I wonder where we are?
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 10:33 AM | Comments (1)
Sitting opposite me yesterday was a young man wearing the official Special Olympics volunteer t-shirt.
As I had the honour of also volunteering for nine days in the Aquatic Centre in Dublin in June of this year, all those very special memories came flooding back into my mind.
It was one of the best learning and inspiring experiences I ever had.
Here is what I learned:
From a management point of view -- the power of purpose.
Over five hundred strangers turned up after a minimum of training and cooperated to run a first class Olympics event. How?
In my opinion, everybody had bought into the spirit and the objectives of the games- this was what was important; this shared understanding brought focus to all our efforts.
There was a major buy-in and commitment because the values of the games mirrored the individual’s values. Companies can learn a lot from this model.
From a personal point of view -- ability, not disability.
I recall going to the Host Town’s Launch in Galway and fighting back the tears as I watched the Special Olympics Promotional Video. By the end of the nine days, my sympathy was replaced by pure undiluted admiration and awe.
There was so much to learn from these remarkable athletes.
They never gave up - they savoured every moment - they mingled with each other unconditionally - their smiles lit up my internal world – they appeared fascinated by everything.
One image that sticks in my mind is that of Ireland’s Leonard McEvoy one of the oldest participants at the games jumping for joy at poolside after he had struck gold in his event.
I must also mention the trainers and carers. What a special ability they possess. It was inspiring watching them with their “adopted families.”
From an Irish perspective -- as a community we are better.
Our sense of community, one of the building blocks of our society in times gone by came back to the fore during those special days in June.
All in all, not forgetting this wonderful experience, let us continue to share the feeling.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)
Approximately a decade ago, in an interview with the Cork Examiner, I argued the need for interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence training within the school sector in Ireland.
In 1998, my first book, "How? When you don’t know how" became recommended reading for Transition Year, LCVP and LCAP students. Unfortunately, recommended reading carries little or no weight with students, so I was no further ahead in my efforts to put personal development firmly on the education sector’s agenda.
Five years later, I am delighted to announce the piloting of a new course right across Ireland based on my three publications. Entitled "Looking Ahead and Living now", the course’s aim is to boost students’ self esteem, sharpen their coping/ problem solving skills and dramatically improve their ability to build rapport.
I believe that this training cocktail will have a positive knock-on effect on students’ ability to deal with life’s crises; on their ability to say no when required; and indeed their ability to understand and deal with bullying.
My deepest gratitude goes to my sponsor Mr Pat McDonagh CEO of Supermacs.
From my meetings with Pat it is obvious that my mission is his mission. He truly cares about the young people of Ireland. Pat is kindly sponsoring the whole package, which includes teacher training, course development, resources and ongoing support costs.
I would also like to express my appreciation to Patsy Sweeney, National Transition Year Coordinator who reshaped my thoughts and ideas into an excellent teaching module, in addition to having the courage to break the mould herself, by introducing this pioneering course.
www.transitionyear.ie
Ten years further on, we are getting ever closer to achieving our dream.
The message is simple - never give up!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 12:04 PM | Comments (5)
Scanning my files today, I came across a selection of quotes that highlight probably the most important part of any personal journey - taking action, taking the first step.
Whether the step is small or big, you will have just completed probably the most important part of your journey, opening yourself up to a trip full of adventure and magic. Though you will never arrive, you will pass through places that you intuitively know are "right" and feel content in the knowledge that you are in a better place than where you began!
Enjoy and share these quotes:
“Teachers open the door but you must enter by yourself.”
Chinese proverb.
“I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.”
Confucius
“You have got to do your own growing no matter how tall your Grandfather was.”
Irish Proverb
Take the first step today in the context of achieving your dreams.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)