Thursday 29 January 2009

It's Hot!

It's hot. Damn hot. Melbourne is going through a heat wave with multiple days over 40 C (about 105 F).

Who Cares?

Fair question. Many parts of the world have temperatures higher than this all the time (hello Middle East) but they don't moan like we are. You know we are moaning. At the very least I am blogging about it. Twitter is rife with it. The newspapers all have the delightful headline "SCORCHER" - or something equally as witty. Tennis commentators waffle on for ages about it. Radio commentators all go on about it also.

What Can You Do?

Here in lies the key to my blog. The answer is - Nothing. The weather is the rare topic that we talk about all the time and can do nothing about. What ever you mention about it, someone has it better and someone has it worse. Tweets of "it's hot" were countered with "at least you don't have an ice storm like we do". Sometimes just talking about it makes it worse. While it is hard not to talk about it, it will still be hot when your conversation has ended. All you can do is make yourself as comfortable as possible (popular ideas are to go to air conditioned cinema or the beach) and get on with life.

What Else Is Like That?

How many times in business or life does this situation occur? There is always something that you can bitch and moan about and all it gets you is more distressed, more unhappy and more focused on something you can do nothing about. It could be your family, a health affliction, someones behaviour or even the weather!

How will you deal with it? Australian author Kim Falconer deals with it using her underpants! You need to read her blog to find out the details.
I like the two killer questions:
  • What's my part in this?
  • What can I do differently?
They will always generate an answer that lets me take responsibility for my situation and move on.

What do you do? Let me know.

Enjoy!

Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy
http://www.warwickmerry.com/
http://www.getmoreblog.com/
http://www.getmoreshowsuccess.com/

Friday 16 January 2009

I Broke the Rules

It was my fault.

I knew the rules but didn't meet them.

It still pissed me off!!!!!

I was flying to my band camp (Summer Song) and i was excited! I had a 7:30 flight and was flying Jetstar. For those who don't know Jetstar is one of Australia's low cost airlines - effectively a bus with wings. They have a policy that check in closes 30 minutes before the flight takes off and if you miss check in, you miss your flight.

I was clever I checked in from home using webcheck in. All I had to do is check my bag and I was good to go. So on Thursday morning I got up early, woke Wifey (who was my chauffeur for the day) and headed off to the airport.

Unfortunately traffic was a little tight but no worries because my baggage was in a carry on bag so if I was late i would just carry it on. I got there at 7am. Joined the queue to check bags at 7.02am and spoke to the check in person at 7.04am. He informed me that baggage was closed. "No worries", I said. "I'll just carry it on". He said it was a little heavy and I had to see the service desk.

There I was waiting in line to see the service desk dude getting concerned how close it was to the flight. When the service desk dude finished with his customer I mentioned (because I was four people back in the queue) to him that I was concerned I would miss my flight. Then he said I had been taken off the flight and I would have to reschedule.

That's when I felt like a four year old in a lolly shop with no money. Adrenalin surged, I was going to start shouting and blame Jetstar. They would be sorry and I would never fly them again. I would tweet everyone and.......... it was all my fault.

I knew the rules and I didn't stick by them. I was late to check in. Jetstar are known for their strict adherence to this policy. I had joked with a friend the week before about how she missed her flight for last year's camp.

I didn't add a buffer. When planning anything I always like to add a buffer for when things are not perfect. Traffic was heavier than I thought and 5 minutes delay cost me.

I was too heavy. My baggage was 3 kg too heavy for carry on. I knew there were limits and I know Jetstar is strict. Next time I will pack differently.

I didn't blow up and blame them for all of my woes. I still have issues with their policies but I knew their policies and didn't follow them.

The best thing I did was take responsibility for my actions. My fault and no oneelses.

So here I am at the airport, one day later, $70 poorer and rescheduling my trip.

Where do you need to take responsibility?
Picture by Ben Templesmith


Monday 12 January 2009

I am Feeling


For those of you who wondered and who asked, my Stand Up Comedy premiere performance went well. I am defining well as, "I got lots of applause, they cheered at the end and I enjoyed the experience."

But an interesting thing happened - I had feelings!

As a speaker I address audiences from 5 to 5,000 and feel incredibly comfortable in doing so. In fact, the bigger the audience the better. It was really strange to be in a dingy dark room at the back of an iconic Melbourne hotel with about 120-150 people in the audience and be really nervous. After 30 seconds on stage, I was able to relax a bit and then proceeded. So even though I haven't been nervous like that for quite awhile, it passed quickly.

What didn't pass quickly were my other feelings!

I am a student of personal development and the new age learning. Manifesting, Law of Attraction, Power of Positive Thinking and lots of other fun hippy trippy stuff. After a humble assessment of my comedy skill I thought that there was a fair chance I may progress to the second round. When I was doing my preparation I was focused on performing well enough to get to the second round. I was fortunate to be part of a pre-heat comedy workshop and after seeing others my confidence of getting to the second round was boosted.

On the day that 31 people gave their performances of 5 minutes each, 6 of them were to progress to the next round. After the level of laughs I got and the positive feedback from honest friends, I was confident that the second round would manifest in to reality for me. As I watched more and more of the Raw Comedy entrants I could honestly say that there were about two or three that were by far better than me and others that were close. The leader of the comedy workshop had a chat with me at half time and said in his opinion I had a strong chance of getting through.

When the six entrants going through to the next round were announced, my name wasn't one of them. Some of the people who did get through didn't seem to be as funny as me or have as good a crowd response as I did. But comedy is a funny thing - not funny Ha Ha but funny strange. What appealed to the judges was different to what I did.

My friends and my own mind kicked in:
"You gave it your best shot"
"Others would not have done this"
"The judges got it wrong - we thought you were great"
"There is always next year"
"It wasn't meant to be"

I tried to be philosophical. I looked for the positive. I sent positive vibes to the winners.

I was as pissed off as hell!

Well, maybe not that much but I was very disappointed. This was where the feelings were kicking in. I know about acceptance, moving forward, letting go of disappointment, blessing others who achieve what you want - but I still had feelings. Sometimes in the new age writings it seems like they think I am Buddha. I am not that nice!

So I felt pissed off for a couple of hours. It was great. I got in there and really wallowed in it. I felt the feelings and they passed. They no longer hold me back. I can be authentic and not pretend I am something I am not. I wasn't unpleasant, in fact I genuinely congratulated the others but I allowed myself to feel the feelings. Some well intentioned people around me tried to shut the feelings down but I knew what was right for me.

What about you? What is right for you? How do you process your feelings? Leave a comment and let me know.

They say that the quickest way around is through. If you want to be free of the damage your feelings can cause to you and those you love (or even just your work colleagues), don't squash the feelings down. Feel them. Process them. Have a tantrum if you need to (just make sure it is in an appropriate place). Once the feeling has gone you are free to do what you know you must.

Me.... I am now looking around for open mic nights at the many Melbourne comedy clubs. I won't let one little set back get in my road - no matter how disappointing!


Enjoy!



Wednesday 7 January 2009

Go to the Edge!

Greetings!

If you follow me on Twitter or have seen my FaceBook page recently you will know that I am doing my first stand up comedy show on Saturday.

I don't mind confessing that I am a little scared! I like to think I am a little funny and that I keep people amused at parties but being on stage in the spot light is a little different.

You may also know that I am a professional speaker so being in front of people is not a new experience for me. But there is a huge difference between cracking a few jokes during a one hour session and making people laugh constantly for 5 minutes.

5 minutes!! It is not long but it can seem like a life time. I had a routine written and I was pretty confident (to be honest I was a bit to confident!) and then I performed it in front of ten friends at a workshop we had yesterday. Ouch!! Wasn't that good. So I have spent a lot of yesterday and today rewriting my 5 minutes of comedy.

I have thought about doing this for ages. There is no reason for me to do this other than to go to the edge and peer over. I don't want to fail. I want to be funny! In fact, to be completely honest, I want to get to the next round. For years I have avoided this but I can't do it any more.

What about you?

What have you always wanted to do but have been avoiding? Where is your edge?
Do you have times where you live on the edge or can you only see the edge from where you are?
"It's somewhere over there in the distance."

Spending time on the edge is scary, but fulfilling. My confidence and self belief are growing. My willingness to do the impossible or at least the unthinkable is growing. In fact the more time I spend on the edge, the more it moves further from me.

Come to the edge with me. Let's see what we can do!


Warwick Merry
The Get More Guy

Photo: Flickr/Matt N Johnson