All posts filed under: Gratitude

Five things I’ve learned in my first 10 weeks as a parent

Published by Colin Nanka

Patience  Newborns have their own schedule and often don’t align with yours. We need to be flexible and patient. Partnership Defining roles on what each of you do is key. We are still working on it and have developed some sense of division of tasks.  Joy There is nothing that brings more joy than the smile of your child and watching them sleep. I’ve given up a number of things to spend more time doing both.  Perspective  When you get to wake up with your child and put them to sleep every night the challenges of the day seem lighter.  Legacy I find myself thinking longer term, building the foundation for Tess’s life. 10-year goals help bring perspective to priorities today.  I’ll share more lessons as they come, I know we have a lot to learn! Colin

Images are a powerful

Published by Colin Nanka

Why People Think They Can’t Draw What I have learned over time is that if you put text on a screen or slide and then speak to people, they have a hard time retaining what you are saying. Think about it the next time it happens to you. It’s difficult to read and listen at the same time! A friend passed on a great video that shows you how to draw the basics of characters/cartoons on a whiteboard. Images are a powerful way to communicate your message. Have some fun learning to draw! Colin

Is your smallest gear spinning?

Published by Colin Nanka

I was listening to a great Gary V podcast with the former CEO of Home Depot Frank Blake last week and they discussed among many items including where leaders make mistakes in communication.  As Frank says “Your Job is to make sure the smallest gear is moving and the one that is closest to the customer.”   In many organizations that is your sales team and customer service organization.     Think about the gears on a large clock tower and how they spin, the biggest moves slow and as they get smaller, they spin faster.    If any gear is not catching (the messaging) of the one above, they are out of sync and the customer suffers.    Summarizing “many CEOs put out too many ideas and have not confirmed the field gets it before they move to the next.”   This applies to peer and business partner relationship as well.    If your gear is spinning but smaller not catching, then you are failing.    On Youtube On Soundcloud   Confirm you are in sync …

10 minutes of this per day will make you better

Published by Colin Nanka

As I heard Tony Robbins say recently, “the mind is like a kite on the end of a string, and where everything starts is with breath. Control your breathing, you control how the kite flies.” We wake up each day, with the chance to start fresh, through your first few breaths. Be intentional about how you start it, instead of letting it happen to you! The holiday (Canada Day and Independence Day!) week is a good time to reflect. Even if you have a family, what you do for yourself impacts how you can support the rest of the team. As they say in case of emergency, “put your own oxygen mask on first!” I spend the first 20-30 min of each day meditating. Successful people I know spend at least 10 min asking themselves questions related to gratitude or visualizing what success will look like in the day. Whatever your method, make sure you are taking care of yourself first! Colin

Two questions that will help you break through the angst

Published by Colin Nanka

There is a lot of uncertainty and anxiety in the world right now. People often ask how do you handle it? One, I am starting to put on less news on TV when I get home and do more reading and listening to music.  Two, I ask these questions at the end of every day. They are on my calendar.  What you focus on daily makes a big difference to your level of angst.  What am I grateful for? How could I have made today better? Too making each day better.  Have a great weekend! Colin   

Three things I learned from will.i.am

Published by Colin Nanka

 When one door closes….create a new door. -Will.i.am   In this great Super Soul Sunday Oprah + Will.i.am interview you will hear about the future of social media and artificial intelligence and why Will considers himself a technologist and not a musician. “I create music but prefer to be in technology instead of the music industry.” Perhaps the amount of time he has spent with our own Marc Benioff has influenced him!   Will refers to many times in his career when one door closed, instead of brooding about a lost opportunity he focused on creating new ones.   Will shares “hip-hop and Jazz were created from a community who had nothing at the time and made there own way.  Without them, we would not have this wonderful music.”   What did I take away from this great episode?   1. Make your own luck  2. Appreciate the time when you struggle, it can be your greatest turning point 3. Break the mold – you can be a musician, technologist, philanthropist all at the same time, or whatever …

Stew in Uncomfortability

Published by Colin Nanka

A Friday throwback post from the summer of 2009. The first time I can truly say I stretched my limits is when I trained for the NYC Marathon in the fall of 2002 with one of my best friends from Edmonton. We took what traditionally is a four to six-month training window and cut it down to three so we could hit the Nov 2nd competition date. There is something about the unknown, fear of failing, that drives you. Unsure if you will be able to complete the goal and in a measure of time that lives up to your standards.  It was hard work! Six runs per week, three hour runs on Sunday afternoon, and when adding in post-recovery time (stretching, soaking, eating, nap), it turned into an all-day event that finished with an early bedtime. We had hilarious side stories and lots of learning that developed through the challenges overcome. The next challenge for me was a move from Edmonton, AB (the prairies) to Toronto, ON (the big urban city) the following year. …

A lesson for my son

Published by Colin Nanka

A great lesson I saw on Instagram recently from a good friend of mine, Chuck Chung in Toronto. “Always be the hardest worker in the room regardless of where you are. Teaching this guy the importance of discipline, hard work and putting in the effort required to be the best. He doesn’t mind showing up an hour early for practice and working on his game. He understands he’ll have to earn every step as nothing will be handed to him. This applies to all aspects of life. I’ll never quit on my family and hopefully, he will do the same.” Words to live by. Colin

6 things I learned while on Paternity

Published by Colin Nanka

1. There is nothing like the birth of a child!  We are blessed to have a healthy baby girl, Tess Gertie Nanka. Getting to spend the first three weeks of her life together as a family has meant everything to me. See pictures of our adventures with Tess (so far) here on Instagram 2. I have gained a huge appreciation for how hard moms work!  I appreciate my partner, Blake, more than ever. She is an amazing mother and a resilient and inspiring human being. I’ll work very hard to tell her that. 3. You can integrate your child into many things.  I start most mornings with meditation. But now, my morning meditation comes second to Tess’s morning feed. I am learning to be more flexible and even try and incorporate some after-feeding quiet time with Tess into my meditation practice. I don’t always win, but I try. 4. Exercise has been important to me and will always be important. As sleepless nights and responsibilities prevail, I made it a priority to get at least 20 minutes of exercise per day. Take …

7 days of Tess

Published by Colin Nanka

Wow, what a difference a week makes.  For those of you who haven’t seen the IG Posts, we welcomed a healthy bouncing baby girl into the world last weekend, Tess Gertie Nanka.  I decided (or so it happened) to wait until a little bit later in life to get married and have a child.  I was still learning about myself (and always will be). I’ve been on a journey to see the world, test myself, meet and learn from incredible people.  I’ve always wanted to be ready. I guess you become ready when it happens.  As I turn 44 this year, I have never been more ready. If not now, when? There is a new layer of accountability that has snapped in, to do what is necessary to make sure she is happy.  Who knew one of my new favorite activities would be to just watch her sleep.  A new journey is upon us. It doesn’t mean the other will stop, it’s just on hiatus for a little while until they come together as one.  The …