Success Through Life Lessons Learned

Bruno Gideon — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:17:14 +0000

February 5, 2012

My personal coach

I have an excellent trainer. He shows me what works for me in order to achieve my goals and what doesn’t. But my "trainer" is not a person. It stands for the mistakes I have made. Some of them were painful, some costly, some were unnecessary, but they all have one thing in common: they are great opportunities, a never-ending resource for learning.


	All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes. - Winston Churchill

And it gets even better. While we are talking about the mistakes we have made, let’s ask why we made them in the first place. Mistakes are avoidable, so why do we make them at all?

We will find out the answer if we ask ourselves a few questions, like "Why did it happen at all?" and "What did I misinterpret? What did I miss?" and especially, "Why did I miss it?“ We can answer these questions honestly, because no one else but us will hear the answers and these answers will reveal excellent information about ourselves.

Dealing honestly with our mistakes lies in our own interest. If we don’t, they will catch up to us sooner or later, and before long we’ll be singing that famous line, “Oops! I did it again.”

What was your last mistake? What did you learn from it?

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Bruno Gideon — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:51:37 +0000

January 29, 2012

The secret
I hope you are healthy, successful, happy, and on top of the world – or at least on your way to getting there! On your journey through life it is important for you to know about the secret to continuous success. It is an unwritten but very important rule: The better things are going for you, the more you should help others. Not because you’re hoping to get something back, or for recognition, or because the Bible, Koran or other holy books tells you so, but simply because it lies within your power to make the world a better place.


	If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody. – Chinese proverb

Helping” is a word that needs interpretation. Giving money to a good cause is one way but it’s not the only way. Sometimes helping simply means taking the time to listen to someone sharing a hurt, giving someone a helping hand, making an unexpected phone call to wish someone good luck, showing compassion to someone in trouble, or even refusing to laugh at a racist joke.

Is someone close to you having a problem? Take time to listen. That’s what we’re here for.

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Bruno Gideon — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:03:36 +0000

January 22, 2012

Is it about the ego?

Are you in an endless fight to win a point with someone who has angered you? It may be time to ask yourself some questions, such as: “Is this really worth fighting for?” and “Haven’t I already invested too much time and energy in this?” and “Is winning really that important to me?” And then ask yourself the most important question of all: “Could it be that my ego is the real problem here, keeping this thing going well beyond its best before date?”

When our ego gets involved, we stop seeing things clearly and make mountains out of molehills. We let fantasies of revenge play in our head, make plans to fight back, and make sure everyone knows it wasn’t our fault. But is that really who we are?


	Ego has a voracious appetite. The more you feed it, the hungrier it gets. - Nathaniel Bronner, Jr.

We are considerate and kind people and shouldn’t let our ego destroy our positive personality. There are many other ways to react. We could write a letter to ourselves, as I wrote in an earlier Minute here, find a common friend to act as a mediator, discuss the issue with the person who angered us, or just walk away and move on.

Does the sun still come up every morning? Do the birds still sing? Do we have family and friends who love us? Don’t let ego destroy the quality of your life.

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