Giving People What They Need

I hate to say it. Maybe I shouldn’t say it. But… I can’t help myself. Here goes. Ready?!

Many of my Record Suspension and Waiver clients are procrastinators. No offence to all you procrastinators out there! I frequently tell my staff that we are not in the Record Services business, we are in the procrastination business! Many of my clients wait years after eligibility to get a Record Suspension or finally get permission to go to the USA if they are inadmissible. This amazes me because a criminal record results in barriers to employment and up to 40% less in earnings.

If you are one of the few that do not procrastinate, that is great. I think you will still benefit from reading this newsletter.

My 2018 New Year’s Resolutions

I am a fan of the words of Maya Angelou. They are as follows:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

My goal for 2018 is to ‘tighten’ up the time it takes to have an application granted. Some of our delays are unavoidable and involve the courts, police and RCMP. Most do not accept emergencies and some are backlogged by several months. However, we still experience considerable delays waiting for documents from clients. This will be our big focus.

Not only do our clients suffer when the the approval of their application is delayed, but we spend a lot of time following up with clients. I’m not complaining about the frequent followups (that’s our job)–only that we need to do a better job encouraging our clients to complete their tasks faster.

Are you procrastinating from achieving your dreams? Then keep reading. This newsletter will give you tips on setting your resolutions for 2018.

Wishing you an abundance of health, wealth and happiness in 2018 (and if you receive more than you need, then please share it with others).


Are you Happy?

Are you happy?

When I was a young child and feeling sad, my older sister said to me “no one can make you happy but yourself”. To this day, I think these words of wisdom are brilliant. They have served me throughout my life.

What are you going to do to make 2018 a Happy Year for you? What would truly make you happy? What bothers you most when you wake up at 2 AM in the morning?

If you’ve been procrastinating on your Record Suspension or US Waiver Application, make it a top priority to call us immediately. If you are reading this newsletter during our office hours, pick up the phone and call 403-229-2774. If it is outside of office hours, send me a quick email right now at debbie@canadianlegal.org and include your phone number and I’ll call you when I am in the office to help you get moving on your file.


Who do you hang out with?

I’m also a fan of the words of Jack Nicholson in “As Good as It Gets” when talking to Helen Hunt’s character. He said, “You make me want to be a better man”.

In 2018, who are you going to surround yourself with—that makes you want to be a better person? Who helps bring out the best in you? It could be a best friend or family member. Or, it could be a mentor or coach. Find someone that can help you accelerate your goals.

Surround yourself with better friends

According to Jim Rohn:

“You are the average of the five people
you spend the most time with.”

It’s one thing to set goals. But, it’s also important to create an environment that will help you succeed.

It’s naïve to suggest that you need to dump all of the people that are a negative influence in your life. If possible and it’s the right thing to do, great—do it. But, if not, try to fill up as much of your time and space with people and things that uplift you to minimize all of the negative stuff in your life.

P.S. Be the person others want to hang out with—positive, supportive, uplifting and motivating! If you find it hard to be that person, google tips on how to be that person.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world -Nelson Mandela

Video Learning

Wrinkle your brain! What learning activities will you add in 2018 that will help you professionally and personally?

In Youtube, my ABSOLUTE recommendation is to bookmark several educational videos or flag channels that you enjoy. You can even organize your bookmarks by topics (ie. professional development, race car driving, burlesque, meditation, healthy eating, golf, politics, whistling, etc.).

Try and watch 30 minutes of educational videos
every single day in 2018.

More importantly, when you log into YouTube go straight to your channels and only watch your designated videos. Don’t get trapped into watching all the mindless videos that do nothing for you.

A final thought. Create one or two channels and learn about something that is interesting to your spouse or child!

Here are a few links you could consider:

Foodmatters TV
Health Documentaries

TedTalks
Best ideas from trusted voices

99U
Actionable Insights from Industry Leaders

IdeaCity
Described as Canada’s “Premier meeting of the minds”

Widsom 2.0
Yoga, Mindfulness and Leadership

PragerU
Provides Clarity on LIfe’s Biggest Issues

BigThink
Get Smarter Faster—explores big ideas from thought leaders ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye

Book Summaries
Websites, Channels and Apps that have book summaries

MentorBox
Video Book Summaries by Authors


Invest

Books on Achieving Financial Wealth

I’m sure most of you have heard that if you study something for 10,000 hours you become an expert (Anders Principle). Not sure if it is true, but intuitively it makes sense. Financially for most of us, there is always room for improvement.

That’s why I’ve decided to add learning about ‘financial wealth’ as a separate topic, even though I’ve already talked about education above.

Must read for 2018:

12 Books to read if you want to get rich. If the idea of getting rich offends you, then you can give your extra money to charity. I’ve also taken this article and created a list of the 12 books for ease in printing.


Goal Setting Tools

Before you write out your 2018 goals, brainstorm. Examples of questions you can ask yourself include:

  • I would feel less stress if…
  • My work situation would improve if…
  • I would feel better about myself if…
  • I would like to learn about…
  • My top 10 goals for 2018 are…
  • My goals over the next 10 years …
  • I could increase my earnings if …
  • Before I die I’d like to…
  • The top 10 things I am going to do for me are…
  • The top 10 things I could do for others are…
  • I would sleep better at night if…
Debbie and Tony Robbins - Optimized

Once you’ve brainstormed everything, track it! Write down your must-dos. You can explore software programs to help track your goals. I even found this article on tools for setting and tracking goals. Best Tools for Setting and Tracking Goals. Currently, I am exploring Microsoft Planner. Regardless, whatever you do, track your goals down. It’s good to have short and long-term goals with specific steps and deadlines on how you are going to achieve each goal.


Summary

Master your emotions, surround yourself with positive people, wrinkle your brain, master your finances, and change your shoulds into musts. I’ll leave you with one final story below. I hope it will be a source of inspiration for your musts.

The Story of Two Wolves


Indulge yourself. 2018 is YOUR year to accomplish great things. You can do it. You must.

Indulge Yourself

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