Every time I visit or revisit a country, I learn or re-learn some of life’s lessons. Here are just three from my week in Vietnam that might help you.

Life Lesson # 1) Prepare for the unexpected in advance. I LIVE by this principal and say the best friend for a speaker / trainer is Justin Case. Always have back-up, Just In Case. I got to Vietnam armed with new slideshow software called Keynote 2. We always specify a 10-foot or larger screen. We ended up with a 6-foot screen. It was hard to read some words from the back of the room. Fortunately I got into the room at 7:30 AM to set-up for the 9 AM start. I had to go through every slide one-at-a-time to resize and reshape slides to enlarge type to fit the small screen.

Lesson: I should have checked the screen size the night before as usual. For your life, what problems can you prevent by checking them out the night, day, week, month before?

Life Lesson # 2) Talk to the locals. I had a welcome drink in the bar and talked to a new Vietnamese father about his 14-month-old daughter. I shared with him some secrets on free information for health on the Net like www.WebMD.com and he shared with me a beautiful Vietnamese legend of the creation of Vietnam. This is my 5th trip to Vietnam and never heard this story before. I used it in my last seminar opening and it was loved by the participants and gave me a special connection with them.

Lesson: Have you talked to your people at work in a social way lately after hours? Have you taken a walk with your kids and talked casually in the past few days? Have you chatted with clients or suppliers about matters other than work and learned key insights into who they are as a person recently? The insights can transform how you relate to them.

Life Lesson # 3) Change your attitude about the environment. I stayed in HCMC for the first time at a wonderful boutique hotel, The Duxton. The GM, Gregory Keating told me that the local power company informed him the hotel’s power would be cut at 8 AM and he would have to turn on the back-up diesel generators located above my room and so during the day there would be some noise and vibration. While he was willing to move me from my suite, I declined as it was daytime only. When the diesel motors started, my first reaction was I should have moved. Then I thought it sounded familiar. Yes, it sounded like the motors on a cruise ship or a ferry taking me to beautiful tropical island. I ‘pretended’ I was in a luxury suite in a cruise ship and it was just fine.

Lesson: What irritations do you have in your life and re-think or reframe them. Does your husband snore? Think of it as the sound of love and silence is loneliness. Does your boss ‘bark’ on Monday mornings? Think of it as the sound of money coming in as the boss it part of your income. Does your son listen to music you cannot stand? Think of it as the sound of transition from child to adult. (Hey, my parents HATED my rock music)

Lessons in life come to us every day. Be ready. Be open. Be receptive to and learn from them.

3 Methods for Staying in Shape

Why work hard to make money and die young? Why work long hours only to grow old and be so feeble you cannot enjoy the fruits of your labour?

Here are 3 Methods for Staying in Shape and hopefully live longer, live better and enjoy life more. CAUTION: Check with a doctor before starting any exercise regimen!

Method #1: Stretch. Most old people lose their flexibility, limiting their spectrum of activities. These three simple stretches, a few times a day can keep you flexible. (Yoga is a wonderful stretching activity)

o Stand straight and slowly touch your toes, working to get your palms to the floor.

o Stand straight and slowly rotate your hips as far around as you can clockwise and anti-clockwise to loosen up your hips, back and upper legs.

o Slowly roll your head in a circle both clockwise and anti-clockwise (Caution: NOT if you have spinal injuries)

Method #2: Strength. What we do not use, we loose. Strengthen all key muscle groups 2 times a week to exhaustion. Good, simple exercises include:

o Push-ups with a straight back, breathing regularly.

o Sit-ups with knees bent help prevent back injury (65% of the back`s support is from stomach muscles…do not do if you have back problems – 50 a day may also eases constipation)

o Leg work. Biking, in-line skating, walking, running, stair machines or just climbing stairs for 30 minutes to an hour. (Going up stairs is easier on knees than going down where you put double or triple your weight on your joints)

Method #3: Aerobics: Give your lungs and heart a great workout 3 to 5 times a week. If you are doing the leg work just mentioned under strength, you are accomplishing 2 things at once. Rowing machines, playing basketball, netball, water polo, handball, racquet ball or other sports also gives you an aerobic workout.

Interesting, just 10 minutes of jumping rope or hard punching a body bag have the same effect, but few people have the stamina to go a full 10 minutes. Swimming takes about 45 minutes to accomplish the same effect. Dancing 20 to 60 minutes works really well.

Caution: Playing tennis you only average 5 minutes of aerobic running in 30 minutes of play and golf played with carts is rarely aerobic in nature. You need to do 20 to 30 minutes of non-stop aerobic activity to gain the most benefit.

Some people do better with the same set daily and weekly routine. Others need variety. Find what works for you and like Nike says, “Just Do It!”

Got comments or questions? Just leave your comments and ask me questions one to one through the blog.

Smile Makers:

Exercise can be a funny thing.

A man and wife were avid joggers but seldom ran together because they ran at different speeds. One day she started out before he did. Two kilometres later, he overtook her and said in his best Humphrey Bogart voice, `Where are you going, sweetheart?`

Without missing a stride, she replied, `Your pace or mine?`

———-

Waiting for an aerobics class to begin, several class members were chatting about fitness and diets. One woman said her brother-in-law quit smoking, quit drinking booze and quit watching TV – all at the same time. Another woman thought no human being could possibly do this without acquiring at least one bad habit for compensation. Jokingly she asked her, `What did he start doing instead of those things?`

After a slight pause, the woman smiled and said, `Well, my sister IS pregnant now.`

Someone once said, `They don’t care how much you know until the know how much you care.` I believe that is true so here are 8 ways to tell people that matter to you at work and at home, how much you care about them.

1. Active listening is probably the single most important way to say you care about someone. As they share, do not just nod your head. Repeat a bit of what they say and ask questions.

2.  Write a personal note. Putting a written note (not an email) on someone’s desk for them to find later is a powerful motivator and easy way to show care and concern. Simply stating, `I just wanted to say I appreciate what you did for me. Thank you so much. It is a joy to work with you.`

3.  Remember what that person likes and give it to them. If they like a special brand of chocolates, when you see them, buy a bar or box and present it at an opportune time.

4.  Say it with flowers. If someone does a favour for you, send them a small potted plant. Everytime they water it, they will remember that you cared enough to say `thanks`.

5.  Perform a favour. I can still remember the day in 1978 when I had a ton of orders to write up and my supervisor Karl Bjornson was leaving the office at 6 PM, saw me doing all that paperwork and put his bag down, grabbed some of the work and stayed an extra hour to help me.

6.  Laugh at their jokes. My father would always laugh at a customers joke, even if it was one he knew very well. Why? The reason for a joke is to make people feel good. Laughing at their jokes makes the teller feel good. Ever had someone say at the end of a joke you told, `I’ve heard that one before.` or `I don`t get it.`?

7.  Ask them to help you or to do you a favour. This may fly in the face of logic initially, but trust me, it works. Soliciting help in the right way endears people to you. `You know so much about this…`or `It is a lot to ask I know. Would you be willing to.` or simply, `I really need your help and expertise on something.` You stroke their ego and have more opportunities to thank them and bond with them along the way.

8.  Pray for them or better yet, with them. When my wife an I kneel and pray together as husband and wife at the end of the day and she hears me thanking the Lord for her in my life or when it is her turn and she thanks God for me, well, I just love her all the more.

Saying `I care about you.` takes a little thinking and a little work, but it can literally mean the difference between breaking even or exceeding targets; between surviving a relationship and thriving in it. Start letting people know how much YOU care, today!