Tuesday, January 01, 2008

A new year... 30 days trial? Part 2

Here are some other ideas for applying 30-day trials:

- Give up TV: Tape all your favorite shows and save them until the end of the trial.
- Shower/bathe/shave every day. I know YOU don’t need this one, so please pass it along to someone who does.
- Meet someone new every day. Start up a conversation with a stranger.
- Go out every evening. Go somewhere different each time, and do something fun — this will be a memorable month.
- Spend 30 minutes cleaning and organizing your home or office every day. That’s 15 hours total.
- List something new to sell on ebay every day. Purge some of that clutter.
- If you’re already in a relationship, give your partner a massage every day. Or offer to alternate who gives the massage each day, so that’s 15 massages each.
- Give up cigarettes, coffee, sweets, soda, junk food or other unhealthy addictions.
- Become an early riser.
- Write in your journal every day.
- Call a different family member, friend, or business contact every day.
- Make 25 sales calls every day to solicit new business. If you make 1300 sales calls a year, you’re going to get some decent business no matter how bad your sales skills are. You can generalize this habit to any kind of marketing work, like building new links to your web site.
- Write a new blog entry every day.
- Read for an hour every day on a subject that interests you.
- Meditate every day.
- Learn a new vocabulary word every day.
- Go for a long walk every day or exercise at least 30 minutes every day

Again, don’t think that you need to continue any of these habits beyond 30 days. Think of the benefits you’ll gain from those 30 days alone. You can re-assess after the trial period. You’re certain to grow just from the experience, even if it’s temporary.

The power of this approach lies in its simplicity. Even though doing a certain activity every single day may be less efficient than following a more complicated schedule — weight training is a good example because adequate rest is a key component — you’ll often be more likely to stick with the daily habit. When you commit to doing something every single day without exception, you can’t rationalize or justify missing a day, nor can you promise to make it up later by reshuffling your schedule.

A new year... 30 days trial? Part 1

A powerful personal growth tool is the 30-day trial.

This is a concept I borrowed from the shareware industry, where you can download a trial version of a piece of software and try it out risk-free for 30 days before you’re required to buy the full version. It’s also a great way to develop new habits, and best of all, it’s brain-dead simple.

Let’s say you want to start a new habit like an exercise program or quit a bad habit like sucking on cancer sticks. We all know that getting started and sticking with the new habit for a few weeks is the hard part. Once you’ve overcome inertia, it’s much easier to keep going.
Yet we often psyche ourselves out of getting started by mentally thinking about the change as something permanent — before we’ve even begun. It seems too overwhelming to think about making a big change and sticking with it every day for the rest of your life when you’re still habituated to doing the opposite. The more you think about the change as something permanent, the more you stay put.

But what if you thought about making the change only temporarily — say for 30 days — and then you’re free to go back to your old habits? That doesn’t seem so hard anymore. Exercise daily for just 30 days, then quit. Maintain a neatly organized desk for 30 days, then slack off. Read for an hour a day for 30 days, then go back to watching TV.

Could you do it? It still requires a bit of discipline and commitment, but not nearly so much as making a permanent change. Any perceived deprivation is only temporary. You can count down the days to freedom. And for at least 30 days, you’ll gain some benefit. It’s not so bad. You can handle it. It’s only one month out of your life.

Now if you actually complete a 30-day trial, what’s going to happen? First, you’ll go far enough to establish it as a habit, and it will be easier to maintain than it was to begin it. Secondly, you’ll break the addiction of your old habit during this time. Thirdly, you’ll have 30 days of success behind you, which will give you greater confidence that you can continue. And fourthly, you’ll gain 30 days worth of results, which will give you practical feedback on what you can expect if you continue, putting you in a better place to make informed long-term decisions.

Therefore, once you hit the end of the 30-day trial, your ability to make the habit permanent is vastly increased. But even if you aren’t ready to make it permanent, you can opt to extend your trial period to 60 or 90 days. The longer you go with the trial period, the easier it will be to lock in the new habit for life.

Another benefit of this approach is that you can use it to test new habits where you really aren’t sure if you’d even want to continue for life. Maybe you’d like to try a new diet, but you don’t know if you’d find it too restrictive. In that case, do a 30-day trial and then re-evaluate. There’s no shame in stopping if you know the new habit doesn’t suit you. It’s like trying a piece of shareware for 30 days and then uninstalling it if it doesn’t suit your needs. No harm, no foul.

This 30-day method seems to work best for daily habits. I’ve had no luck using it when trying to start a habit that only occurs 3-4 days per week. However, it can work well if you apply it daily for the first 30 days and then cut back thereafter. This is what I’d do when starting a new exercise program, for example. Daily habits are much easier to establish.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Back in town...


After a long 3 weeks trips back in town... not for long since leaving today back for Hong Kong to move into our new place this weekend.
Europe was ok... we went to celebrate my parents 50th "Golden" Wedding anniversary! There was party with the whole family and some friends. And then a trip to Sitges/Barcelona Spain. And of course also time spend with my parents... Overall a great break from daily Singapore. I didn't mind the colder weather!
Adjusting back to local time and weather (that always takes me a few days)
So more later about the trip!
Terug thuis na een lange drie weeken durende trip... maar we zijn vandaag al terug weg naar Hong Kong om te verhuizen naar ons nieuw appartement daar.
Europa was goed... we zijn voornamelijk gegaan voor het 50ste Gouden Huwelijks Verjaardag van  mijn ouders! Er was een feest met de familie en vrienden. En dan de reis naar Sitges/Barcelona. En natuurlijk ook veel tijd bij mijn ouders... Samengevat een goed geslaagde reis en ik vond het koudere weer geen probeem!
Nu terug wennen aan het locale weer en tijdsverschil. (dat neemt altijd verscheidene dagen in beslag)
Dus later meer over de reis!

Friday, April 20, 2007

Home is...


The pope... The paus...


Pearls... Parels...


Chocolate...


Kom op tegen kanker / All against Cancer


Mijn moeder was recentelijk te zien tijdens de show van "Kom op tegen kanker!" op VRT.

Er was een kleine documentaire gemaakt, heel persoonlijk en beklijvend. Een aantal vrienden hebben mij gekontakteerd en mij laten weten dat ook zij emotioneel geraakt. Ik kan alleen maar zeggen dat ik liggen wenen heb als een klein kind en dat het een heel groot geschenk is om zo'n paar ouders te hebben.


My mother was recently on a television show "All against cancer!" on VRT (Belgian Television).

They made a small documentary, very personal and intimate at the same time. A couple of my Belgian friends contacted me and said that it was also very emotional for them. I can only say that i was crying my eyes out and that is is a huge present to have a wonderfull pair of parents! I am so lucky!


Je kan het hier nog eens zien
You can watch it here

Finish the sentences!

Finish the sentences!

1. My ex is still...
Looking for himself - LOL
2. I am listening to...
The voices in my head.
3. Maybe I should...
Go to bed and sleep
4. I love...
Chocolate and my hubby
5. My best friends are...
Me, myself and I
6. I don't understand...
Myself sometimes
7. I lost my respect for...
The Church
8. I hate...
Brussels sprouts
09. Love is...
In the air
10. Somewhere, someone is...
Making love
11. I will always...
Love you…
12. Forever seems like...
A lot of time
13. I never want to lose...
My mind
14. My mobile phone is...
A mobile phone
15. When I wake up in the morning...
I get nightmares
16. I get annoyed at...
Stupid questions
17. Parties are...
A thing of the past
18. My pet(s)...
Are my dogs
19. Cuddling is...
essential
20. Today (Friday) I...
have to go to the airport (again)
21. I really wish I...
Was in Neverland
22. I want to see...
The wizard of Oz
23. I'm afraid of...
Spiders
24. I think...
Therefor I exist…

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

FHA - Food Hotel Asia 2006

Last week was crazy due to the FHA fair here in Singapore. Aalst Chocolate had me doing some demo, etc... for them. Lots of pralines to be made and given out. Long days of just standing up and watching people... lots of them... Have a look at some of the pictures...
Today MediaCorp is comming down to film a segment of their new programme "Global Picnic" about me... A whole day for a 7/9 min segment! Will keep you posted on how it went today.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Photo's of Tokio...

The last pictures of my Tokio Trip are posted... on the photo link...

De laatste foto's van mijn werk-trip naar Tokio staan nu op het web... gewoon rechts van het scherm... (volg de link)

Singapore Television...

Somebody from MediaCorp called me yesterday asking if I would mind appearing in one of their programmes... something about expats and their life here... The said chocolatier is something interesting and unique... Me interested?... Let's see... YES YES... all publicity welcome... Now do I need to wear make-up? Better get haircut... would it be too late for facial?

Werd gisteren opgebeld door iemand van MediaCorp (locale Televisie)... of ik niet geinteresseerd was om deel te nemen aan een van hun afleveringen over expats hier in Singapore... Chocolatier en Belg zijn hier is wel iets interessant... Ik interesse?... JA JA... alle publiciteit welkom... Nu vraagje... moet ik make-up dragen? Nog snel naar de kapper... misschien te laat voor een facial...

En dat alles tijdens de drukste periode van het jaar...

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Chocolates

This afternoon my customer and I decided to leave our collegues at the fair booth and make a little trip into town for some serious chocolate tasting. We had chocolat ice cream and chocolates at Wako, Marcolini and Richart Chocolates. And then the best for last we had pastries at my favorit pastry shop... Pierre Herme! I knew exactly what I wanted... the one and only Ispahan! A devine creation of rose and litchi flavor... doesn't the picture says it all?

After that we have to suffer ofcourse from a huge overdose of chocolates... but it was worth it!




Deze namiddag besloten mijn klant en ik om onze lokale collega's achter te laten en een klein reisje naar het centrum van Tokio te maken voor een serieuze namiddag vol chocolade. Er was Wako, Marcolini, Richart Chocolates, enz... Maar als top van de dag waren er gebakjes van Pierre Herme!... Natuurlijk koos ik voor een Ispahan... een lekkere creatie van roos en litchi. Maar er waren ook andere minder lichte gebakjes (met of zonder chocolade)

De overdosis aan suiker en chocolade, en alle gevolgen vandien nemen we er met plezier bij!

(de foto spreekt voor zich neen?...)

Tokyo...



At the moment I am at a tradefair in Tokyo. Doing my daily chocolate demonstration and showing of my chocolates. It's a small local bakery tradefair and my first major experience with the japanese culture... Not always easy... I was surprised to experience that not many people here speak english. They are very polite but will always speak to you in japanese even if you tell them you don't understand them! Weird but polite...

Tokyo has been another experience... not all the streets have names but rather number of blocks and then street number and then house numbers (f.e. 5-3-10 Ginza = means block 5 of Ginza - street 3 and house/building number 10). So looking for a shop takes some time and searching.