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Order History on Amaazon is a ready made diary

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Cover of Web-Based Training, a book I bought from Amazone in 1999

To my horror, curioisty had be click on Order History in Amazon (actually it  was simply to locate a book that got sent to the wrong address). To my surprise I found that Amazon has a total archive of everything ever purchased. This takes me back to 1999. I thought I'd first gone onto Amazone 2000 when I bought books for everyone. 

Web-Based Training had me thinking of moving out of 'video based training' which I had done very successfully for the best part of 13 years. I'd already produced a few interactive DVDs: something for independent financial advisers paid for by Standard Life bank in Edinburgh comes to mind.

The following March (2000) I moved to Brighton to work for Worth Media as their 'Digital Editor'. The year after, February 2001 I started the MA in Open & Distance Learning with The Open University. If only I had completed that module, if only I had overcome the challenges of Worth Media having to line up a lot of staff to make redundant and got myself out of the firing line ... if only.

Never mind. I've learnt many life lessons and as a friend says, "it isn't over yet" and as my wife says "you've still got plenty of time". 

I'm not going to direct that drama series or win an Olympic medal, but I might produce or associate produce some drama, could sail single-handed across the Channel ... even pursue an PhD in education at the University of Sussex.


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Design Museum

David Pelzer : Life Lessons from the 'Boy Called It'

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Edited by Jonathan Vernon, Saturday, 12 May 2012, 08:17
Dave Pelzer, ‘A Boy Called it’ and his tips on sticking to your plans.

Life Lessons
Dave Pelzer
I like this book for its simplicity; it is also very short. Five or six ideas are enough to keep in your head at any one time; I’m going to pick through the following, chant them, put them in a prayer, remind myself each day what I want to achieve.

1. Be resilient
2. Learn to fly
3. No one is perfect
4. Let go of your past
a. 'You cannot move forward until you free yourself from the shackles of your past.'
5. Deal with everyday problems
a. 'Settle your problems as promptly and as thoroughly as you are able.'
6. Rest your mind.
a. Get a good night's sleep.
i. I go to bed early.
7. Let go, let rip daily.
a. I go down to the sea.
8. Purge your soul
a. I do so in a diary. Confessional would be the alternative were I notan atheist.
9. If you have been subjected to negative surroundings, use them to make you strive for something better.
a. I don't want to be an absent father, not away all week or for weeks at a time.
10. Limit your response to negative settings and, if necessary, make a clean break. 
a. Tricky, very tricky indeed. In the past I did thisand had spells working in the Alps, Lake District and Paris. London would do.
11. Overcome your guilt. Make amends and move on.
12. Don't give yourself away in the vain hope of appeasing others.
13. To help yourself, be yourself.
14. Never go to bed upset.
15. Resolve matters before they envelop you. Compromise. 
16. Hate no one. It is like a cancer.
17. Forgiveness cleanses.
18. When life's not fair.
a. 'Before you quit on yourself when life isn't fair, exhaust all your options for making things happen.'
19. How badly do I want it?
a. Resolve to make things happen to you.
20. What have I accomplished?
a. Ask yourself what can you not accomplish when you truly commit to that one thing?
21. Know what you want and determine to make it happen.
22. What is truly important to me? 
23. Attempt the so-called 'impossible' until it becomes an everyday part of your life.
24. Don't give your best away.
a. 'We allow self-doubt, time, situations or whatever else to erode our dreams. We quit on ourselves. We carry regret, regret turns into frustration, frustration into anger, anger into sorrow. We've lost one of life's most precious gifts: the excitement, the fear, the heart-pounding sensation of taking a step outside our protective womb.'
25. Go the distance.
a. 'Part of the thrill of success is the journey of the struggle. If it were easy everyone would be doing it.'
26. Be happy.
a. The older we get, the more complacent, hopeless and despondent we become.
27. A consistent, positive attitude makes a world of difference.
28. There may not be a tomorrow to count on, so live the best life that you can today.
29. Start saying positive, rather than negative things abut myself (and everyone around me).
30. Focus. If you have no goal or the self-belief that you can accomplish them, you will end up going nowhere.
a. A little bit of adversity can help to realign you, make you humble and make you want it more.
31. Deflect negativity.
a. Flush it away and replace it with something positive (from a positive environment).
33. Every day see the brighter side of things.
My problem? I make lists, but do something else. What's your strategy?
Permalink 3 comments (latest comment by Cathy Lewis, Tuesday, 8 May 2012, 22:33)
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