“Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you only have one idea” (Alain)

 

Recently, in management practice, we have been learning all about strategy formulation and implementation and how important it is to have back-up plans when you are trying to implement something.

Anyway, I’m not going to ramble on about business and strategic plans as this will bore most of you but this just got me thinking how vital it is to have back-up plans in life. Life throws us curve balls and unexpected things jump out at us when we least expect it, so always knowing that you have a plan B, can be very beneficial to you.

I would just like to share with you something that happened to me and my family as an example of this sort of thing. My mom, sister and I went to Singapore and Thailand last year and we had our itinerary all planned out and ready to go. We never even thought of planning a back-up plan just in case anything happened. Anyway, long story cut short my mom’s bags got stolen with everything in it and we were stuck. Luckily we had travel insurance and they payed us out but the moral of the story is that if we didn’t think of important things like that we would have been in a lot of trouble and not knowing what to do on the other side of the world.

No matter what happens in life, no matter where you are, no matter what you are doing, always have a plan B.

 

 

                          http://www.lifeaftercollege.org/blog/2011/11/06/november-miscellaneum/

To my amazing mother

Today is my beautiful moms birthday (I won’t mention her age as she will kill me) and I just want to write this blog to thank her for all she has done for me and being there for me when I have needed her most. My mom dedicates her life to my sister and I and I have no doubt in my mind that she would die for us. She has the most genuine heart and soul and I am very lucky to call her my mom and friend. She is not only my mom but a person that I have come to call my friend. I can tell her anything and she will not judge me but give me motherly advice that I use very wisely.

I wish you all the happiness in the world and for only good things to come your way. You deserve it!

I love you mom

http://adorn512.bigcartel.com/product/hand-stamped-necklace-mother-daughter-jewelry-personalized-jewelry-mommy-necklace

Beautiful Stanford

A few weeks ago my dad, my sister and myself went to a beautiful little town just past Hermanus called Stanford. It is one of the most stunning, quaint little places I’ve ever been to. It is nestled in between the mountains with a river flowing through the town. The houses are all cottages with stunning gardens and big oak trees.

It must have been about 0 degrees when we got there and immediately put in a fire. On the Saturday morning we went to a farmers market with all locally produced foods, flowers, homemade clothes and accessories. We then went to a cheese farm where they make the most divine cheeses and breads. After that we went to a wine farm and enjoyed the afternoon drinking a bit too much wine for our liking.

                              http://gothatwaycapetown.com/platanna-stanford-river-cruises/

It was the most perfect weekend to just get away and enjoy a relaxing weekend where we didn’t have to think about the daily pressures of life and just spend quality time together. I would highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to get away and just enjoy themselves.

Reality Television

I’m religious about my reality programmes especially ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’, obsessed would be an understatement. Why though, are we so addicted to these programmes? Is it the lives they live, lives we wish we could have, the drama, does it make our lives seem normal or is it just a pure addiction that we cannot break?

For me, I think it because I have always wanted to be rich and famous – no I’m kidding. I think it is because it makes me feel like a normal human being. I’m sure most of those programmes are rehearsed but still, if you think about what goes on in those programmes and if you think about your life as an ‘ordinary’ citizen, they are two different worlds! Their lives might look perfect but im sure they are far from perfect.

I would really love to hear from you if you watch them and why you do?

                               http://www.theprofessionalsprogram.com/category/reality-tv/

What will matter to me in 10 years?

I look at my life today and I am very content. I have a roof over my head, parents that love me, food on the table every day and enough money to get me through each day.  My biggest priority in life right now is getting my degree in Public Relations, finding a good job that I am happy in, earning a decent salary and finding my own place where I can start the rest of my life. These priorities will change once I have achieved all of this and then I will have new priorities.

I have no clue where I will be in 10 years’ time. I might be overseas, I might be married with children, I might be in a completely different career path than Public Relations or I might still be single and happy (or sad) who knows? What I do know is that my values, morals and things that are important to me as an individual stay the same; well I hope they stay the same. Life has so many curve balls and we never know what it is going to throw at us. Today might be our last day of living, that’s how unexpected life is. We should all live life to the fullest and try reaching our dreams no matter how hard it is to get there. We should all be true to ourselves as individuals and whatever is most important to us, make that a priority in your life. So what will matter to me in 10 years’ time is the person I am and want to be and make sure that I stay true to myself because I am the most important person in my life and you are the most important person in your life- never forget that.

                        http://livingajoyfullifenow.com/life-coaching-tip-be-true-to-yourself

Is crying a sign of strength or weakness?

Crying, in my opinion is both a sign of strength and weakness. It is a strength because it shows that you are human and you have feelings and emotions and everyone now and then needs a good cry to let all of what you are feeling out. It makes you feel better (I know this because I cry all the time). It can be a weakness because every time something happens, you cannot just cry and expect people to feel sorry for you. Sometimes you have to just suck it up and face the music.

                    http://www.sjstowe.com/2012/07/strength-in-weakness-your-biggest-hurt.html

Men and women obviously have different viewpoints when it comes to crying. Men like to be all macho and be the strong ones and when they do cry, they think they are weak and it is very embarrassing for them and when women cry men want to run for the other direction. I personally think that when a man cries, it is beautiful because it shows that they are not robots but they actually have feelings and emotions. Women tend to have more feelings and they just like to let it out, sometimes we cannot control when we cry. For both genders, crying is a natural habit but we need to make sure that we control when we cry because it can put people off. You also need to make sure what environment you are in for example, being in the working world, obviously crying can be seen as a sign of weakness but at home it is more natural. So yes, it can be seen as both a strength and weakness just make sure that you don’t let it out ALL the time but when you do need a good cry, let it out- you will feel like a new person.

                                               http://www.google.co.za/imgres?q=crying+-              +strength+or+weakness&um=1&hl=en&biw=1619&bih=741&tb

The Heart of Love

Recently I was given a book called ‘The Heart of Love’ written by Dr. John.F. Demartini. Normally I hate reading these self-help books because I don’t see the point in them and I live by the saying – ‘If you can’t help yourself, how is anyone else going to help you’. So I decided to just start reading the first chapter and would see how it goes. Naturally, I don’t like reading but as soon as I started I could not put the book down.

This book deals with how to make meaningful relationships with people, such as your partner, parents and people who you want to get along with better. Being in the field of Public Relations, it is very important to be able to interact with people and to communicate and build relationships so this is the perfect book for me. My emotions run away with me and it has always been something I am consciously aware of and I have wanted to change that. This book has helped me so much with that and also showed me what values are important to me and how to treat other peoples values as important as my own. It has really changed my outlook on life and I would really recommend this book to anyone who would like to build meaningful relationships with people. It has exercises at the end of each chapter for you to work on to reflect on what you have just read. Come on, give it a read, I promise you, you won’t be sorry J

http://healing.about.com/od/books/ig/Book-of-the-Week/Week-Twenty-Seven.htm

“Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read” – Frank Zappa

I have been reading this statement over and over again and it has taken me a while to understand it. Here it goes – I hope it makes sense.

Rock (the genre) journalism is people who cannot write, the people who they are interviewing can’t talk for their rock audience that cannot read. Ok that didn’t even make sense to me but let me explain what I get out of it and what my opinions on rock music are.

Rock is for a specific audience. It is a very deep genre that speaks to a lot of people. Most people think that people that listen to rock are on drugs are Goths or whatever they may think. I used to listen to rock and it really spoke to me about emotions and life’s issues. This type of music speaks to the soul. You don’t have to be able to read or write or have some special skill to listen to rock music. Some of the greatest artists were rock artists and they changed music in so many ways. I think that rock music changed in a way that people could express themselves whether it be verbally or in song. So no matter what music you listen to, people should not judge you on it. As long as that song or artist speaks to you personally, that’s all that should matter.

http://intenseproductions.blogspot.com/2011/06/music-theory-for-rock-musicians.html

The 10 most unexpected consequences of being online

http://www.google.co.za/imgres?q=being+online&um=1&hl=en&biw=1619&bih=741&tbm=isch&tbn

One needs to very careful of being online and this is why…

1.       You can develop an addiction to being online – the things that once seemed important won’t seem that important anymore

2.       Being online means that anyone can find you. Make sure you are protected and your information is kept private

3.       If you have a natural talent, display in on YouTube -  you never know what can happen

4.       Being online could mean you are more easily faced with viruses

5.       Children need to be careful of paedophiles and any other sick people out there

6.       Online dating is seriously dangerous! Make sure you know who you are talking to

7.       The internet is expensive – make sure you know your daily limit and don’t abuse it

8.       Whatever you put online, people are going to see it. Make sure you don’t ruin your reputation.

9.       Don’t be fooled when you have ‘won a million rand’ it’s not real!

10.   Don’t lose sight of the real world. We can become so consumed with the virtual world of the internet that we can lose focus of what’s real.

http://www.imperfectparent.com/articles/articles453_1.php

Have you figured out the second head fake?

“Did you figure out the head fake? It's not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way ... the dreams will come to you. Did you figure out the second head fake? The talk's not for you. It's for my kids.” This was written by Randy Pausch, a professor and his whole idea was about how we need to look at life differently and what is really important.

Life has many obstacles and we are faced with these obstacles every day, whether it be work, studying or just getting through one day at a time. We as humans need to look at what is really important in life such as family, friends and doing what makes us happy. It can be very hard to do this as it is not as easy as saying “today I am going to be happy, I am not going to let anything get me down”. We need to work at it. We all have dreams and we all want to get somewhere In our lives but as Paushe says we need to lead our lives in the right way.

                             http://whoibecome.com/2012/04/%E2%80%9Ci-can-do-that/

I don’t know if any of you have read ‘The Secret’ but this is a fantastic book where it tells you if you are positive and have the right attitude the universe will listen to you and you will receive what you are wanting. We should all have this attitude in our lives. Find out what is really important to you and make it work. It will literally be a lot of work to make it happen but then again, anything is possible if we put our minds to it.

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2009/08/top-10-tips-for-maintaining-positive.html

I am...?

“I am strong, independent and in control of my own emotions, reactions and happiness”. I say this to myself every morning when I wake up. This is because these are the things I wish most on myself and the things that I need to work on the most. I’m not a strong person, I am not that independent, I lose control of my emotions and I react badly to things. But you know what, despite of all these things I am trying to work on them and think positively. Some people I know sit all day and feel sorry for themselves and don’t want to help themselves. How is anyone going to help you if you cannot help yourself?

                                        http://www.myniceprofile.com/about-me-84047.html

Sometimes we wish we could be someone else, someone who is everything that we are not. We are only human and wanting to be beautiful and have all the money in the world would be amazing but we cannot always have what we want. That is why we need to embrace who we are. We are all special in our own kind of way and we need to be thankful every day for being alive and having the things that we do. If you do want to change then work at it. I personally do not think that anyone should change for anyone else but that is a personal opinion. Everyone is special in their own unique way and that is the way God made us. So embrace who you are and show everyone what you have to offer and contribute to our society.

http://toknowinfo.hubpages.com/hub/Psychologyisms-Self-Help-and-Perfection-Looking-for-Acceptance-from-Others

So have you figured out who you are?

“In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes”- Why would I be famous?

This took me a while to figure out why I would be famous. If you think about it, it’s actually quite vain to think about why you would be famous, but then I said to myself, what difference would I make in the world for me to make a positive impact on people and then it hit me. Helping animals. My passion in life is animals; I would do almost anything to help these amazing creatures. Animals don’t have voices and I want to be that voice for them. They cannot choose where they want to live and which people they go to (and you get some pretty disgusting people toward animals). I always say and I’m sure most of you will disagree with me, but people can help themselves, they have brains, animals can’t. All these beautiful animals want is love in their lives and someone to feed and play with them. That’s all. They don’t judge by how much money you have or how fat or skinny you are. On the other hand, some people could argue that if people can’t look after themselves how are they supposed to look after their animals? Fair enough but don’t get an animal in the first place. I could rant and rave over this for hours but do you get my point here?

             http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/premier-deserves-a-pat-for-new-law/story-fn6bn88w-       1226180343023

So yes, I would want my fifteen minutes of fame to be about animals and having that voice for them. In that way, I hope I would make a difference and people would take the time and actually listen to what I have to say and there would be a lot happier animals on this earth.

                http://www.zazzle.com/a_voice_speak_up_for_wildlife_poster-228764346526131125

A skill set called leadership

You get two different kinds of people – leaders and followers. I like to think of myself as a leader but that depends on what kind of a situation I am in. I think some people are natural born leaders and others, not so much. It is fine being a leader and it is an amazing quality to possess but some ‘leaders’ I have come across recently don’t really show themselves as being leaders but rather they are bossy and controlling which I think can put off a lot of people.

A leader is someone who is in control of situations, they are examples, they are caring, they motivate people and they take initiative in situations. Some people are just dominating and they like to rule the roost. I lose respect for these types of people as they are supposed to be examples of people who we can look up to, not for them to scare us and for us just do what we are told.

                     http://rianfil.com/2012/07/08/become-a-market-leader-business-101-part-one/

I think that anyone can be a leader, whether it be in your church, community, household or even in the lecture room. Always try to be the better person. You can help so many people by being a leader and sharing your knowledge and wisdom with people who seek it. Don’t be domineering and take the position to your advantage by thinking you better than everyone else. Be kind, be helpful and most importantly be an example.

                                                      http://www.lcaconference.com/

My top 200 achievements

http://mechanicalforex.com/2012/01/asirikuy-2011-achievements-and-new-year-goals-o.html

I have had a lot of achievements in my life, some more important than others, so I will list the ones that I am most proud of and try not to bore you J

1.       Received honours with distinction in the disciplines of tap and modern dancing in almost all grades

2.       Made first team netball

3.       I was made netball captain in matric                                                                                                  

4.       I was made Miss St. Benedict

5.       I got my driver’s license

6.       I finished my Diploma in Public Relations

7.       I achieved 13 distinctions in my diploma

8.       I am currently almost finished with my BTech in Public Relations

9.       I passed maths in school (This is a massive achievement as I cannot do maths)

10.   I baked the most perfect chocolate cake for the first time the other day

11.   I was able to give up smoking for 6 months (That has not lasted)

12.   I completed a learning and leadership course

13.   I came second in a modelling competition (alongside my sister who came first – tough competition)

14.   I won my first competition a year ago – expense paid for which I unfortunately could not attend

To be continued …

What motivates me?

I have one word – Love. Love is the most powerful feeling on this planet and it can move people to do great things. No matter what you are interested in doing such as helping animals, people, trying to get an assignment done and so on, love will motivate you to do what you want. If you have the feeling of being loved, I promise you, the greatest obstacles will seem possible.

http://www.google.co.za/imgres?q=love&num=10&hl=en&biw=1619&bih=741&tbm

Recently, I have been feeling very overwhelmed by varsity and just life in general. I have been in this slump, which I have not been able to get through. No matter what anyone said to me, I just could not get myself to think positive and to pick myself up and move on. Until one day my mom said to me that no matter what happens, now and in the future, she will be there for me no matter what and this is just another hurdle I have to get through and she would be there every step of the way. Do you know how much that meant to me? To know that she wouldn’t judge me on the marks I get or who I date and so on. That is love and I had this instant feeling to get up and show everyone that I am better than what I thought of myself. That is what motivates me. Not money or financial success but pure unconditional love.

So next time someone is feeling down or demotivated, show some love. I promise you the world would be a much happier place if love were shown every day.

                               http://amileadaybylige.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-love-is.html