Moments — Love in my heart

I have five days to bench press 200 pounds; it was a goal I set myself back in January when I noticed I could lift 170 pounds with little difficulty — shortly after, while playing outdoor shinny, I fell and jammed my shoulder… which then took six months to recover to a point that my goal seemed achievable again.

As I started to progress and feel the momentum building, I aggravated my other shoulder and tricep. That took six weeks to work through this injury, and as I looked at the calendar, my runway was getting short — and yes, it does scream “metaphor for life” but that’s for another time.

Today I wanted to see how my shoulders were holding up and how close I was to my target — I felt good and slowly progressed as I incrementally added weight to the bar. There comes a point, particularly when you are reaching your limit, when you need a spotter. A spotter is someone who watches over your lift to ensure you don’t crush yourself. In this case, I asked someone I didn’t know to watch and keep my ego from causing undue harm. He was more than happy to help and offered encouragement as I started my lift. I lifted 190 pounds with some help and made a new gym friend. I told him about my target and what I was trying to accomplish, and as he went back to his workout he said, “It’s good to have goals”.

My shoulders felt good and I was optimistic — just 10 more pounds… just 5% more. I only have five days left and as I said before, I’m working with a short runway — very short if truth be told. I will keep it up until the end and we will see.

As I started a light exercise, I caught the eye of another gym dude who smiled, dropped one side of his headphones, came over to bump fists, and said, “Hey”. In our conversation, I asked him if he was ready for 2026 and he looked at me strangely and said that, He only worries about the day he’s in and maybe the day after. “ He then put his hand to his chest and continued, “I live with love in my heart”.

He smiled, bumped my fist again, then went off to continue his workout.

So, with five days left in 2025, today I was reminded that perseverance brings progress, that the world is full of people willing to help and offer encouragement as you make your way, and love is a great energy to carry with you — whatever you happen to be doing.

iamgpe

*14 more

Well I'm 65 so I suppose new goals are in order

As you can appreciate, I have no memories of the event but I was told it was a very cold wintry day and I came into the world with two black eyes — I‘ve always wondered if those shiners were because I was fighting to get out or stay in. In any event, it was sixty-five years ago that I was born, and it does feel like a milestone. I’ve never been one for the number that we carry around with us each year, and other than a gauge of life experience, what does it really tell you? Truth be told, this perspective is partially influenced by good genes and my mother’s skin. I’ve been told it can be tricky to guess my age.

Be it a milestone or just another number, it does offer an opportunity to revisit my goals which as you know are the foundation for any good five-year plan — after all, there are still things to do, people to see, and places to go. Each of the following goals can stand alone, although I’ve a holistic approach, and each plays an important part in the overall result. These goals are to be:

Healthier; weirder; richer; more feral; and more unpredictable.

Although this may come across as glib, I feel they have merit and align with the path I want to walk. I will dig into them a little because I need to put “pen to paper” and build a plan that will take me through the next five years.

Healthier — All things considered, my body is healthy, barring those annoying aches that present themselves when I happen to fall playing hockey. This will continue to be a priority because with health everything is possible. As an aside, I recommend weight bearing activities as part of anything you may do. Regarding emotional and spiritual health, I’ve hit upon a few things I know are important — friends, long hikes in the forest, deep breaths when you realize it’s a beautiful day, and big spaces where I feel small (which counterintuitively offers great comfort). I am sporadic with my efforts around emotional and spiritual health so efforts to improve that will be part of the plan.

Weirder — This is a word that tends to be identified with being a little strange, and it may explain why I gravitate to that majestic and mystical animal, the unicorn. I like to think of weird as simply being different. Different is good — it allows you to avoid group think, allows you to entertain situations through a different lens, and offers opportunities to try new things you might not consider.

Richer — We should start with money which is always good to have around. I will continue to help people with their commercial problems so please reach out. I also want to expand my income streams and need to do a better job monetizing my blogging efforts, as well as get deeper into strategic investing. Regarding those things that make you richer that don’t involve money, I want to continue to enrich my character so when people speak of my epitaph they say, “He was a man of character and someone you could trust. And he was particularly funny.”

More feral — This is such a great word, and although the images of being wild and maybe even dangerous come with it, it conjures up something that will make for a very entertaining story. I am interpreting feral as simply being natural, removing the masks, and being truer to oneself. It’s an overused word, but this is referring to being authentic. I am a work in progress so this will be interesting and probably fun.

More unpredictable — This is simply a reminder to keep stretching my comfort zone and that this world has so many wonderful things to experience — never get too comfortable or content and as a result miss out on opportunities because it’s not what I am used to. When I don’t want to do something that’ s a signal that I should.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference”. *

There you have it, I’m a year older, and I have mapped out some goals or guiding principles for the next five years. Some of these will need some active planning behind them to move the needle but some are simply about embracing more and letting it be.

Thank you to everyone for the past and the present, and for what will be.

iamgpe

PS: I should point out I heard these goals from a hiking “influencer” and decided to embrace them after some tweaks. Why wouldn’t I embrace something that makes sense and I can build a solid plan around? It seems like progress to me.

*Robert Frost

Questions to Help You Mind Your Business... Question #9

Question #9: How will I know if I am successful?

This is the ninth in a series of thoughts and opinions by Graham Edwards and Renée Cormier — click here to read the backstory and inspiration (if only for the entertainment). It should be noted that neither of us have seen or discussed our answers before they are posted, which in our mind makes this all the more interesting.

In this blog series we will attempt to answer ten different questions business owners may need answered, using our individual and unique perspectives and approaches. It is our hope that this series will inspire both action and interaction. Please feel free to comment and ask more questions.

Graham —

 I don’t know — you will have to tell me.

Since success needs to be measured against the goals and objectives you set for yourself, it goes without saying only you will know if you’re successful. Sure, there are societal norms and conventions that you can use to benchmark yourself against, but in the end you define your own success.

Oh everyone has an opinion on this; just ask anyone and they will have quite the perspective on it — although I’ve found if you keep pressing you may find they actually struggle to articulate what success really is. I’ve even checked the Internet and found a site called Lifehack — sure enough Missy Yost offered up 20 definitions of success you should never ignore (bless her heart).

1. Success is always doing your best
2. Success is properly setting concrete goals
3. Success is having a place to call home
4. Success is understanding the difference between need and want
5. Success is believing you can
6. Success is remembering to balance work with passion
7. Success is taking care of your needs
8. Success is learning that you sometimes have to say no
9. Success is knowing your life is filled with abundance
10. Success is understanding you cannot keep what you don’t give away
11. Success is overcoming fear
12. Success is seeing your child graduate
13. Success is learning something new each day
14. Success is learning that losing a few battles can help you win a war
15. Success is loving and being loved back
16. Success is standing your ground when you believe in something
17. Success is not giving up
18. Success is celebrating small victories
19. Success is never letting a disability hold you back
20. Success is understanding you control your destiny

So there you go.

You may be saying to yourself, “But gpe, we are talking about how will I know I’m successful with my business.” Again, I will say, “I don’t know — you will have to tell me”. You have goals and objectives for your business don’t you?

iamgpe

PS: The only perspective I can really offer is when you set your Goals & Objectives, set them HIGH.

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Renée —

I think this may be a bit of a lame question, but as I recall, I was the one who came up with it, so I’m going to provide you with my best answer. People define success in many ways, and it is different for everybody. For some, you are successful if you have a lot of money. For others success is the result of having completed any goal. Are you successful if you don’t have a spouse and 2.4 children? Are you successful if you never own a house or a car? Ask the Dalai Lama.

Years ago, I was listening to a Brian Tracey tape (yes, it was a while ago) about success. He gave a definition that always stuck with me, which was something along the line of achieving any goal with integrity. He went on to say that money is not a measure of success per se. Drug dealers have enormous amounts of money, but you can’t really call a criminal a successful person. They lie, cheat, steal, kill and corrupt to reach their goals. A runner who shoves a competitor out of the way in order to win, is not a successful runner, even if he is first over the finish line. The journey to success is as important as the end result.

So how will you know if you are successful? Look around you. What are you grateful for? Have you set goals in your life? Have you achieved any of them? Have you achieved your goals with integrity? Have you ever failed?

I think truly successful people, never really arrive. Not that they cannot be satisfied, but rather, they find it difficult to stop challenging themselves. Success breeds success. I also think that failure breeds success. You cannot know what you want until you experience what you don’t want. Most successful business people have had their share of failures too. Being able to recognize what is not working and why is a good thing. Have you made mistakes? Did you learn from them? Are you still moving toward your next goal? Do you feel good about the things you have done? Are you a happy person?  I daresay, if you can answer yes to these questions, you are likely quite successful.

The definition of success to me is not necessarily a price tag, not fame, but having a good life, and being able to say I did the right thing at the end of the day. - Jeremy Luke

Thanks to the social media platform beBee, Renée Cormier & Graham Edwards developed a business relationship and friendship that typically involves regular meetings, goal setting sessions, etc. Our meetings often provide the fuel for plans around business strategy, blog ideas and more.