When stories work better than facts
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Recently I was asked by the sales manager of a company if I could reach his staff with a message he had been trying to “beat into their heads for months.” Uh, his words not mine.He wanted me to accomplish what he failed to do: inspire his sales people to spend more time pursuing smaller accounts. He...
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The Uncomfort Zone: Here's When Creative Thinking Kicks In
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In the early 1980s, when I was a young man fresh out of college, I wanted to work in the advertising industry as a writer. I took the traditional approach and sent resumes with my three best writing samples to 80 advertising agencies. The response I got: ZERO. I made several follow up phone calls on...
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The Uncomfort Zone: Lubricate with laughter
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I was three or four jokes into my routine, when I realized that one of the troublemakers my client warned me about sitting dead center on the front row. With arms firmly crossed over his chest, and a frown deeply embedded in his face, he was glaring defiantly at me with eyes that said, "You'll ...
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Mystery of the hatbox on the top shelf
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The next hatbox I pulled off the top shelf of the closet
nearly tipped me off the ladder. It was the weight that surprised me;
it was far too heavy for just a hat. As I regained my balance, I
wondered why this one weighed more than the others. I set it on the
vanity and started untying the s...
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Compassionate saint inspired St. Elizabeth Health Care
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A 13th century saint, recognized for her humanity and selflessness, is at the very heart of today's Saint Elizabeth Health Care. Named after St. Elizabeth of Hungary who died on November 17, 1231, the innovative, not-for-profit, charitable organization continues to recognize the anniversary of its ...
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Leslieville resident battles rare neuroendocrine disorder
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Malcolm Horne is an Ontario archaeologist and father of two. Horne is now 52 and his health is stable, however, in June 2010, the Leslieville resident went to the hospital with stomach pains and vomiting. He suspected food poisoning, but when the pain didn’t stop, doctors did a CT scan that showed a...
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Serve Toronto kids tackle tough chores for Downtown mission week
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On July 27, the grounds of the Little Trinity Church at King and Parliament were absolutely swarming with teens wearing brightly-coloured tees and armed with paintbrushes, rollers and implements of construction, beavering away madly at the outside steps and wheelchair ramp.It’s the culmination of Se...
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Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan - Ten Years Later
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April, 2012 marks the 10th anniversary for the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP). Hailed as one of Ontario's most successful and innovative "environment-first" pieces of legislation, the ORMCP has provided a pathway to better planning on the Oak Ridges Moraine. It has been a ma...
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Alligators fix Sandy's dead-chicken problem
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The stench rising off the dead bodies was over-powering. It was so thick you could taste it. Sandy pulled a dust-mask respirator over his face, but the smell still penetrated. To speed up the decomposition process he quickly shoveled manure over the decaying flesh. The manure cut the odor somewhat, ...
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Oral reports and butterflies
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"Who wants to give their oral report first?" Asked Mrs. Davis, my sixth grade teacher.The dreaded day had finally arrived when each of us would have to stand in front of the room and speak to the class. The butterflies in my stomach were flapping a tornado.Not a single hand went up. In fac...
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The Uncomfort Zone: Life Lessons from My Cat
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Once upon a time, I met a beautiful, charming and witty woman and fell deeply in love. Over the months we dated I was the consummate romantic. I brought her flowers; wrote heartfelt love letters; and on occasion even sang to her. At one point she remarked that no one had ever treated her better. The...
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The Uncomfort Zone: On appealing to high school girls
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One afternoon, back in 8th grade, I was hanging out with my pal Charlie, when I noticed copies of Sports Illustrated and Car & Driver magazines on his desk."Hey, I didn't know you were into cars and sports," I said."I'm not," he replied."But these magazines are addressed...
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The Uncomfort Zone: Young, naive and in love
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"I did not marry you to be married to a bartender!"I should have paid more attention to the truth of her words, they clearly stated that she did not love me for who I am. In retrospect, it was the most obvious red flag she ever waved, but I was young, naive and in love, and the real meanin...
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The Uncomfort Zone: Keep your power?
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"Baby Bobby! Baby Bobby!" The words stung and Mike knew it - he could read it in my face."Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me!" I yelled back.Mike just laughed; he knew I didn't believe it. Bolstered by figuring out how to push my buttons, he contin...
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Un-Comfort Zone: What's keeping you awake?
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The other day on the radio I heard these lyrics from the Shinedown song, If You Only Knew "It's 4:03 and I can't sleep... I toss and turn like the sea." I thought, "Yeah, why is it always 4AM that I wake up when I'm worried about something?" The singer of this top 10 pop rock son...
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'What's the point, we're just going to lose again'
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The boys slumped against the wall of the dugout; you could read the despair on their faces. "What's the point?" mumbled the right fielder, "We're just going to lose again." The team was on an eight game losing streak, with a record of 3 & 8 and five games left to play.As the ...
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Instead of serving it cold... Don't serve it at all
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On a summer day in 1973, my 12-year-old sister was riding her horse on the quiet streets near our house. There was a little more traffic than usual as two cars came toward her from opposite directions. Cindy rode onto the well-tended lawn of a stately two-story house to get out of the way. While she...
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THE UN-COMFORT ZONE: Change Please
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''Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.'' These are the words of the woman who became the poster chi...
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Good Habit - Questionable Motive
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THE UN-COMFORT ZONE with Robert Wilson I would like to share with you a story about my mom, a woman who was very insecure about her background. She grew up in a blue collar family where neither her mother or father finished eighth grade. Mom completed high school, but only with tutoring by my fat...
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The First Million
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THE UN-COMFORT ZONE with Robert Wilson Until I was thirty years old, I wasn’t much of a fisherman. I’d take a rod and reel along on a camping trip, but I never expected to catch much of anything. In my mind, fishing was a relaxing past time you enjoyed with friends and beer. Then my buddy Brian a...
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You’ll Know When You’ve Arrived
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THE UN-COMFORT ZONE with Robert Wilson During the 1996 Summer Olympics, I saw a young athlete with his brand new silver medal around his neck and a massive smile on his face. He was so thrilled with his achievement that he was mixing and mingling with everyone he met on the sidewalk. Perfect stra...
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Defence of honour
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THE UN-COMFORT ZONE with Robert WilsonOn my Honour Once upon a time people were motivated by honour. Acquiring it, maintaining it, defending it. Bitter duels were fought in its name. I don’t hear much talk about honor anymore. Could it be the concept of honour is too difficult to understand?...
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On learning to be a public speaker
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THE UN-COMFORT ZONE with Robert WilsonAttaboy! Seventeen years ago, I became the president of my community association. It was a lively organization with scores of activist members who were busy gentrifying an inner city neighborhood. One of my responsibilities was to deliver a monthly speech and...
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Hugging Saint's program takes Downtown kids on safari
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Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Okay, well it was more like lions and parrots and baboons,
but it was tremendous fun just the same. On June 19, a group of children from
the St. Felix Community Centre spent the day getting in touch with nature when
they visited the African Lion Safari near C...
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Red and yellow, pink and blue
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We can sing a rainbow too..!It all began over 19 years ago in the centre of Regent Park at the corner of Sackville and Dundas.The doors open below the sanctuary of St. Cyril and Methodius Macedonian Orthodox Church nestled in the northeast Corner of Sackville and Dundas. The ArtHeart Community Art C...
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MOTIVATION: The Reward is in the Eye of the Beholder
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THE UN-COMFORT ZONE: with Robert Wilson In the early 1970s I was a young teenager who was completely caught up in the Zeitgeist. I admired the long-haired rebels and radicals who were engaged in protesting the establishment and developing the counter-culture. I didn’t really know what any of that...
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Motivation: Have you connected with your passion?
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In my first column in The Bulletin Online edition (Coping with life and career after 50), I wrote about Career and Life Challenges during a transitional time. Frequently in the second half of life, there is a great need to make time for reflection. Questions such as, What do I want my lega...
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The Un-Comfort Zone: The buck starts here
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Recently I participated in a Murder Mystery weekend at a bed and breakfast lodge.Every guest was a given a role to play.There were eight suspects; each of whom had one or more of the following: Means, Opportunity and Motive.Having the Means and Opportunity was very important, but having the right Mo...
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The Un-Comfort Zone: The examined life
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“Hola!”
“Hola. ¿Qué tal?”
“Bien. ¿ y tu?”
“Bien.”
Paul and I were sixteen years old and had taken highschool Spanish for a year. We called each other every night on the phone and spoke to each other in our new language. More than anything we wanted to test our skill with a real Spanish s...
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The Un-Comfort Zone: More powerful than you know
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“Writing is not a job; it’s a hobby!” thundered my father when I told him my plans for college. “You need to get a profession: medicine, law, engineering or accounting.” I cheerlessly acquiesced and enrolled in a Pre-Med program, but at the end of my first year, after struggling thr...
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Motivation: Coping with life and career after 50
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Never has there been a more challenging yet exciting time of great change in the world but also in people’s careers and lives. I am excited to be starting a column with The Bulletin Online Edition and it will be focused on career and life issues relevant to adults 50+, one of the fastest growing lab...
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The Un-Comfort Zone: Pack mentality
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When my son was two years old, we got a Samoyed puppy, and for the next 18 months they were the best of friends. Then the dog changed. Suddenly she started growling at my son and biting him. At first I thought that maybe he was pulling her tail or something else that was irritating he...
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The Un-Comfort Zone: Be a copy cat
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Last time I wrote about Self-Efficacy which is our belief in our ability to achieve what we set out to accomplish. I wrote about how it is the biggest part of achievement, and that we acquire a sense of self-efficacy in four ways: personal experience, observation of others, a positive mental at...
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The Un-Comfort Zone: Preparation opportunity equals success
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In 1907, during a major league baseball game, second base was stolen 13 times by the winning team. The catcher for the losing team, Branch Rickey, was unable to pick off even a single runner. That record stands to this day. It also spelled the end of Rickey’s career as a baseball play...
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The Uncomfort Zone: Deadlines work
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As I sit here writing this column against the deadline, I’m reminded of my days as a young advertising copywriter when I occasionally needed a deadline as motivation to finish a boring project. The deadline did more than motivate me to finish -- more often than not, it was what finally stimulated en...
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The Uncomfort Zone : The pleasure principle
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Swing and miss. “Strike Two.” cried the umpire. I threw one more pitch right in at the player’s wrists. He swung hard, but the ball just dribbled right back to the pitcher’s mound. I picked it up and gently tossed it to the first baseman for the out. As the batter turned back...
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Inspiration: Hope for the bullied
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One out of 4 kids are bullied, one out of 5 kids are the bully and that nationally, 282,000 high school kids are attacked each month. Bullying is not what it once was. The means and types of bullying have evolved over the last several years. Youth, parents, educators along with the community at larg...
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The Un-Comfort Zone: Don't get stuck in reverse
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I love this quote by Gandalf the Gray from the book Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, “When we despair we cease to choose well. We give in to short cuts.” It’s so true and we all know that we have been guilty of it at some point in our lives.
It reminds me of the Dot Com Bubb...
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Inspiration: Tips on job hunting in a slump
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Monogrammed stationery. Rolodexes filled withbusiness cards. The Sunday want ads. These, like many job search tools, havegiven way to the modern "must haves," according to Collin Maria Ezzell,division director of The Creative Group, a specialized staffing serviceplacing creative, advertising, market...
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The Un-Comfort Zone: What drives your desire?
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It was love at first sight. I was a 15 year old working as a parking lot cashier, when a brand new car pulled up to the booth. I’d never seen anything like it; it was a new model from Toyota called Celica. Approaching the legal driving age, I dreamed of owning a car. Now my d...
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The Un-Comfort Zone: What's pushing your buttons?
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What’s Pushing Your Buttons? What motivates you? That’s the question I’d like to ask in this inaugural column on motivation. Are you motivated by fame, fortune or fear. Or is it something deeper that fans the flames inside of you. Perhaps you are like Jeanne Louise Calment wh...
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