All posts filed under: Lifestyle

Travel builds grittiness

Published by Colin Nanka

I’ve heard people say, every time you travel away from home you write another page in the journal of your life.  I asked a couple successful women I know what how they built grit and what contributed to their success. They both said moving and re establishing themselves in new cities and traveling the world.  Both moved to North America from different continents.  They had to establish new friends, where to live, everything you need to survive and thrive. There are many obstacles to overcome, sometime including a language. The muscle you build overcoming adversity sticks with you.  Similar when you travel internationally. You will always run into roadblocks or detours along the way. How you get by, get through or overcome makes or breaks those trips, the experience and how you grow and learn.  I moved from Edmonton to Toronto at 28 and Toronto to NYC at 39! Probably later moves than most. In addition, I really started traveling the world extensively in the last decade.  Whether you were guided into your first moves …

Your White Rhino Story

Published by Colin Nanka

When you wake up on the last day of Safari and you get to see the last of the big five you have not seen…it’s priceless. Maybe it’s because we were not expecting it, they had not been around all week! Maybe it’s when you come across such a unique beast you have never seen before, all you want to do is stare so intently at it and keep it in your mind forever. Spending 5-10 minutes with an incredible and endangered species is pure joy. Blake and I were smiles ear to ear! I’ve been very intentionally putting myself in a position to experience and collect these magic life moments for the last 10 years. When are you going after your next one? The choice is yours. Colin

Highway from Zambia to Zimbabwe

Published by Colin Nanka

When we arrived in Zambia, Africa last week and drove from Livingstone to Victoria Falls, we entered a unique corridor. You cross both passport control out of Zambia and into Zimbabwe. It’s like a Wild West entry point. Boys on bikes, women with baskets on their back and top of heads and big trucks loaded with copper navigate their way through the border crossing. The boys and women often make the daily trips. The trucks can be delayed at the border with paperwork for one day and sometimes three days! Patience I imagine in this country is crucial. We saw the bicycle boys both on our way in the afternoon and the next morning very early as we headed to an excursion before sunset. It’s an hour ride from Livingstone to Victoria falls. They were pedaling on the side of the road in the dark.  My guess since 5am. If you arrive at customs early you get through quickly. Like traffic back home, you leave later and your in line up city. The boys take …

Undercover boss

Published by Colin Nanka

A blast from the past and back by popular demand.   I visited the Soho NYC Chobani retail store on the weekend. They have an eclectic selection of Greek yogurt, fruit and nut combinations. Peanut Butter Jelly (with grapes) is amazing! It just so happened my wife recognized the CEO from this article. He was there tasting with his family. It seems he may have been taking in his own customer experience and really learning about his business from the ground up. He’s also been business investing in his people.  “Chobani CEO just gave up to 10% of the company to employees.” We popped over, said hello and that we recognized him from the article and loved his product. He was wearing sweatpants, a hoody and a hat, and we had to look at his photo a few times to make sure! He shared it was meant as a retail experiment and to test some ideas in the market, but it’s been so popular (it’s packed 7 days a week!). They decided to open more …

Inspiration and Connection

Published by Colin Nanka

How many inspiration meetings do you have in your calendar in the next two weeks? Friends, colleagues, customers, partners, mentors. People you know will propel you forward. I always plan to have at least three people who inspire me per week, and if I can get 4-5 it’s a golden week.  Take a look at the road ahead and see if inspiration is in your future.  

Perfect day

Published by Colin Nanka

I once new a Channel Partner, Karen, who concluded her voice mails and emails with “make it a great day” or “create a great day.” I always thought it sounded funny.  Karen worked hard, had a great sales team and was very successful.  It had me thinking recently of comparing my expectations for the day vs how it turns out.  The more I plan the better it is.  I have learned to be mindful and intentional in creating the experience of my day. It certainly doesn’t always go as planned. The more I focus on the potential of what they could be, versus  a lone sail in the wind, the more they turn out positively.  So I’ve been thinking of how I create the perfect day.  If it was truly perfect it would include steak or pizza!  On a regular basis, here is what I plan for, starting the week or night before.  Evening before Lay clothes out for work  Lay clothes out for run or workout  Pack any food taking to work  Zzzzz sleep  …

I am changing the way I eat

Published by Colin Nanka

Well, changing when I eat to be precise. I have been focused on getting to bed early and getting a full night’s sleep. I am trying to leverage that early morning time to get ahead of the day. That has been the one small improvement I have been focused on for the last couple months. I am noticing, that although sleep hours are up (and solid amounts of Vitamin C and D), I am not waking up with as much energy as I used too.  Am I getting old?   Yes, and…. I also know that I am finishing my last meal of the day too late. Sometimes as late as 9pm!! From working with nutritionists over many years I know that you can get a lot of sleep but if your body needs to focus its limited energy on digestion (which can be up to 80% of energy), its not focusing on recovery. Target for me is last meal complete by 730pm.   I finished eating an hour earlier than usual last night, felt …

Chili Lobster

Published by Colin Nanka

I was out for dinner with my wife and a good friend on the weekend. We went to a great steak restaurant in Tribeca (American Cut) and were looking for a couple good appetizers to share.  They had a soup lobster appetizer on  the menu and I passed that over as I looked through the options, not easy to share. As the waiter came to introduce himself and ask what we’d like to drink he said if you are looking for something to share I’d recommend the chili lobster appetizer. “It’s the most fantastic thing on the menu. Everyone loves it. It’s my  favorite item. In fact on my days off, I will come in just to have this for lunch. I have many clients who do the same. I won’t be offended if you go for something else, but it’s truly an experience.” He went on to describe how it’s made, the sauce, how he recommends eating, how the bread soaks in the sauce, what it tastes like when you do. What am I instantly thinking? He’s got real passion and confidence He knows his product and …

Angst

Published by Colin Nanka

I had a frustrating day last week. Yes, Mr. Positivity has them too.    I didn’t get a workout in to start out the day and went right into some tasks that were urgent yet not the most important.    I pride myself on prioritizing every week and every day to great efficiency. I cut the fat out of my calendar and schedule time to do good work…no great work.    I had a bunch of meetings back to back and my focus was to be present with each person or group.  By the end of the day, I’ll give myself a pat on the back for presence but I found myself 6 hours behind on email and not getting to my top priority that day.    So I worked harder over the next hour…and got more frustrated. Been there? Knowing myself and being aware things were not getting better without a state change I decided I was going for a run or a massage. The run is usually my go to but smartly I …

Getting In Flow

Published by Colin Nanka

When you find something you truly love to do, something that challenges you, you find yourself in flow. In positive psychology, flow, also known as the zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. For me, the first thing I think about is running down the side of the mountain in Chile last year. The climb up the mountain at 10,000 feet is the anxiety, the run down the other side is full immersion in joy. What are you focused on that provides you both positive anxiety and puts you in flow? Have an awesome week! Colin