I was fortunate enough to obtain a free ticket to attend the Brian Tracy seminar here in Calgary Tuesday night. Even though I am so familiar with all the messages Brian delivers, I suspected there would be value in attending the live event anyway.
My suspicions were correct. It’s tempting to think “why bother? I’ve heard all this stuff before?“ but every time my head goes there, I hear the counter-thought “approach this with a beginners mind“. I am always rewarded. Walk into any situation as if you were doing so for the first time, and you are bound to hear things a little differently, which will help you grow.
I had a number of ‘take-aways’ from last night’s seminar, and the biggest insight I will share with you is the EvE ratio.
Before I tell you what the EvE ratio is, let me say that Brian indicated he was once a very unsuccessful and unhappy young man, who couldn’t keep a job or a relationship. He confessed that there were 3 major turning points in his life, that led him to being the successful, world reknown speaker and author that he is today. His 3 turning points were:
1. The day he realized he is completely responsible for himself and his life. (I will vouch for the fact that life changes dramatically the day you stop blaming others, complaining about things, making excuses and criticizing yourself and others.)
2. The day he discovered Goals. (How can you achieve something without being clear about what you want to achieve? Goals offer focus and direction for our life.)
3. The day he discovered Personal Development. (The most successful people in the world are always striving to become the best version of themselves, which means they invest time and money into life long learning.)
The EvE ratio, as Brian described it, is your Entertainment versus Education ratio; the amount of time you spend being entertained versus the time you spend educating yourself.
I was shocked to hear Brian say that the majority of North Americans have an EvE ratio of 50 to 1! In other words, if you were to describe your time in units, most people would spend 50 units of time being entertained for every 1 unit of time they spend being educated!
It might seem like a stretch until you begin to define entertainment: reading ’spam’ email, checking your blackberry, reading the newspaper, watching tv, listening to the radio, engaging in idle chatter about the weather, etc.
While entertainment does offer stress release, it also offers escapism – a running away from the reality of life rather than facing it.
How different would life be for the majority of North Americans who sit in front of the tv all night if they just invested our each day in learning – be it audio, video, books, meditation, seminars, workshops, etc.?
Life would be VERY different. We know. We’ve walked both paths. Nothing changed in our lives until we did. That’s a basic, simple truth.
What are you doing to educate yourself today?
Tina Thrussell has been inspiring people to live with more passion, love and joy for the last 5 years as a guest speaker at a broad range of events. Through Best U Can B Inc., the company she co-founded with her husband of over 23 years, Neil Thrussell, she gets to live the life of her dreams, working as a workshop developer and facilitator, a writer, a personal coach, a Nia teacher, a retreat host/facilitator and most recently, as a Passion Test facilitator . Tina has a reputation for being loving, gentle, and compassionate. She has a great love of nature and travelling (especially to India!) and brings her down-to-earth attitude to everything she does. Tina delivers every presentation with her usual contagious enthusiasm and uplifting energy. For more information about Tina and her programs visit www.bestucanb.ca and www.passiontest.ca
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