FEELING OVERWHELMED? MAKE A “STOP DOING” LIST (AND BAKE SOME COOKIES TONIGHT)
February 3rd, 2008 Categories: Books I Read, Food for Soul and Spirit, Lighten Up
Ever feel you can never can get caught up on your endless LIST of things to do?
This week I did one key thing that has revolutionized my business and my life!
I made a STOP DOING LIST.
The most powerful ideas are the simplest.
This very simple idea (which most of us are not putting into practice in our lives) was inspired by a chapter of the book Good to Great by Jim Collins. (Incidentally, in my humble opinion, this is one of the best business books ever written.)
According to the author’s survey of companies “those who built the good-to-great companies made as much use of “stop doing” lists as “to do lists” (page 139).
The phrase “less is more” is so true provided that when you do less of certain “less important things”, you do more of the “more important things”.
I still have my To Do Lists and am busy working those. But my Stop Doing List has freed me up to do the most important things on my To Do lists.
Some things I decided to stop doing:
1) Stop trying to do too many different prospecting initiatives, to focus more time on my key areas which are 1) Effective blogging on my new blogsite 2) the incredible relationships I am fortunate to be building within my Business Networking International referral group 3) Getting involved in my community, volunteering, especially in South East Oakville, where I live.
2) Stop giving in to the fear of “what will people think if I say no?”
(Ask yourself how much of your to do list is reactive and driven by the fear of being left behind, or the desire to please others.)
3) Stop indulging the feelings of being overwhelmed, simply do what I can each day and realize that tomorrow will take care of itself.
4) Stop going to bed late. It is a bad habit. (Face facts, I’m no longer a spring chicken.) In order to wake up earlier and have time for prayer, meditation, and clear thinking, I have to stop procrastinating my bedtime!
These few decisions have liberated my soul this week and taken the cloud of overwhelment off my head!
Decision: Every day I make a To Do List, perhaps I should also make a “stop doing list’, perhaps once a week?
Why not make a STOP DOING list and share how it helps you?
Whew, maybe I`ll have time to bake some cookies tonight!
| Discussion: 2 Comments »
A Little Oakville (Ontario) History Lesson: Understanding Our Roots as a Community
January 29th, 2008 Categories: Books I Read, Downtown Oakville, Historical Oakville, Oakville Town Planning & Development, Why Move to Oakville?
Respecting the Past, Celebrating the Present , Embracing the Future is the Town of Oakville’s motto.
My husband Wayne (history major) is currently reading a book entitled John A., the Man who Made Us. It is a new book about Canada’s first prime minister, by Richard Gwyn, author of The Northern Magus.
Wayne has been feeding me tidbits of Ontario history such as:
Did you know that in 1820 the population of the entire province of Ontario was 200,000 people? In a few years the Town of Oakville will surpass that in number!
All this talk of Ontario history this week inspired me to write something on how the Town of Oakville evolved.
Mississauga Indians
Oakville was originally the home territory of the Mississauga Indian tribe who were hunters and fishers. The Mississauga sold their land to the Crown in 1805 but retained lands at the mouth of the three major rivers emptying into the lake – the Credit River, Sixteen Mile Creek, and Twelve Mile Creek (now called Bronte Creek).
Early Settlers Had Hard Life
As in other parts of Ontario, the New Territory was surveyed into lots. Lines and Concessions created blocks of 1000 acres each, which divided into five settler lots each of 200 acres. To acquire title to a piece of land the settler was required to clear and fence at least five acres, build a house about 16 by 20 feet, and also clear the road adjacent to his land; it was hard and laborious work as the area was densely wooded!
Willliam Chisholm Purchased Land
Land with waterways was always in demand, for drinking, fish, and for water power to drive grist mills and sawmills. By 1820, the Mississauga Indians decided to sell their reserved land at the mouth of the Twelve and Sixteen Mile Creeks. The thousand acres at the mouth of the Sixteen were bought by William Chisholm, a successful businessman and politician, for the sum of $4,116! It was Chisholm’s vision that a town and harbour at the Sixteen would be a center through which goods could flow and grain be exported from farm lands to the north.
Oakville Harbour
The mouth of the Sixteen was protected by piers and the harbour dredged; a shipbuilding yard was set up (at the north end of Navy Street); further up, the Sixteen was damned for water power and a grist mill/sawmill was built; and the village was surveyed into streets and building lots for tradesmen, mariners and workmen.
What we now know as Oakville Harbor was built with private funds, and for this William Chisholm was authorized to levy duties and tolls on goods arriving and leaving.
Timber, Wheat, and Barrels
The first “crop” produced from the forests was timber, particularly for making barrels. Staves were produced from the White Oaks of the forest. Heavier timbers were used for home building and ship building, and exported.
As settlement developed, wheat became the important export, and wheat rolled down the new ‘plank road”,the Seventh Line, (now Trafalgar Road), for shipping from the harbour.
First Mayor and Strawberries
The village prospered, and in 1857 it was designated a Town (municipality). Its first Mayor was George King Chisholm, eldest son of Oakville’s founder William Chisholm, who had died in 1842.
When a number of economic factors resulted in a glut of grain and a depletion of oak trees, farmers in the town also turned to fruit production, with strawberries a principal crop. Strawberries were introduced by John Cross at his farm located where Cross Avenue now stands. Oakville became known as the strawberry capital of the Canadas. (For more on how Oakville’s founding fathers provided names for Oakville streets click here.) Besides strawberries, other fruit orchards produced apples, pears, and plums.
Summer Visitors from Toronto, Large Estates Built Along the Lakeshore
Because of its attractive location, style, and pleasant summer weather, Oakville became the destination of summer visitors, for the most part from Toronto, many arriving by steamship. One of these, the “White Star,” would bring up to 3000 visitors on a single day, giving the Townsfolk opportunities to sell teas, and to provide overnight accommodation. It became fashionable to “summer in beautiful Oakville”. Soon the lakefront bristled with a few large estates on the lake and more modest cottages, walking distance to the lake.
Early in the 20th century, wealthy city gentlemen, who could commute to their city employment by train, developed the Lakeshore through the construction of more permanent homes, often with large grounds or estates.
Cars, Paved Highways and Ford Motor Company
The automobile reached Oakville for the first time in 1909 but could not be used for commuting until 1916 when Lakeshore Road between Toronto and Hamilton was paved – with cement – for the first time. But it was not until the Queen Elizabeth Way was opened in 1939 that “easy” commuting became possible; both ways; into Oakville from the cities of Hamilton and Toronto, and to the cities from Oakville.
An early consequence of this was the settling in Oakville of car manufacturer, The Ford Motor Company, which contributed a great deal to the economic prosperity of the Town.
Incorporating Neighboring Villages
Oakville continued to grow from a sleepy Town to the large municipality it now encompasses, incorporating neighbouring villages, Bronte, Postville, Palermo, Proudfoot’s Hollow, Merton and Sheridan.
That’s enough history for today! More History of Oakville in further posts.
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LIKE THIS POST? READ ALSO:
Landmark Oakville Historic Home for Sale
Do You Remember When we Ate the Fish In Lake Ontario? New Memorial in Bronte
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Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times/ Happy New Year from Your Oakville REALTOR!
January 1st, 2008 Categories: Books I Read, Food for Soul and Spirit
I awoke this New Year’s Day to a mantle of white on the trees behind our home and the comforting silence of snow falling. A gentle start to a New Year.
Nature has inspired me to pass on excerpts from Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue, which I read over the holidays. O’Donohue, an Irish poet, scholar and philosopher writes with an arrestingly original, cadenced quality, while culling enduring truths from ancient Celtic tradition.
He reminds us of things that we should watch for, and may have let go of, in our modern way of living.
I appreciate O’Donohue not just for what he says, but for how he says it. Even beyond his refreshing use of words is the lyrical quality of his spoken voice, which I had the good fortune of hearing on a radio program a few years ago.
On Being Yourself:
“The shape of each soul is different. There is a secret destiny for each person. When you endeavor to repeat what others have done or force yourself into a preset mold, you betray your individuality… We will find ourselves more frequently at that place of childlike discovery…that place of ease, light, and celebration. The false burdens fall away. We come into rhythm with ourselves. Our clay shape gradually learns to walk beautifully on this magnificent earth.”
On Competition:
“The world of quantity is always haunted by competition. If I have less, you have more. But in the world of soul, the more you have, the more everyone has. The rhythm of soul is the surpise of endless enrichment.”
Having has Become the Sinister Enemy of Being:
“The motor and agenda of greed is always the same. Joy is possession but sadly possession is ever restless. It has an inner insatiable hunger. Greed is poignant because it is always haunted and emptied by future possibility. It can never engage presence. This greed is now poisoning the earth and impoverishing its people. Having has become the sinister enemy of being.”
On Modern Language:
“The fast-food metaphor provides a deep clue to the poverty of sensibility in modern culture. This is also mirrored in our use of language. Many of the words we use are of the fast-food spiritual variety. These words are too thin to echo experience; they are too weak to bring the inner mystery of thngs to real expression. In our rapid and externalized world, language has become ghostlike, abbrieviated to code and label.”
On Friendship:
“A friend is a loved one who awakens your life in order to free the wild possibilities within you.”
On Memory:
“Memory: Where our vanished days secretly gather”
On Becoming a Poet:
“When you speak from that deep, inner voice, you are really speaking from the unique tabernacle of your own presence. There s a voice within you that no one, not even you, has ever heard. Give yourself the opportunity of silence and begin to develop your listening in order to hear, deep within yourself, the music of your own spirit.”
I believe that many of the things we value most in our high speed and high tech world are beginning to wear thin. There is a hunger for the spiritual, the slower, more gentle and reflective way of living that our forefathers held onto. Must we let go of the latter as we pursue the former?
Blessings and inspiration to you for a profoundly meaningful and beautiful 2008 from your Oakville REALTOR. Call Hilary 905–257–3633, or sign up here to receive regular information about Oakville and Real Estate.
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