Twas the night before Christmas....

...and all was mayhem on the Gold Coast....

Today at my local fruit and vege shop:
Mangoes 2 for $5 bucks
cherries a rip off at $25.99 per kg
Watching people trying to park and actually seeing some of the end results (you know who you are - ute driver cnr Markeri and Sunshine Pde) - absolutely PRICELESS!
Bridget in health

The difference good service makes

I remember my old mate, Murray, whom i have referred to before, saying: You will return to a restaurant because the service and the food was good . Bue if the service was bad, regardless of how good or excellent the food was, you will never go back.

So, I have put this to the test and it is ABSOLUTELY true.

None of us like parting with our time or money to a service provider that is "unhappy" about receiving our business.

I like to think that everyone has customers and is in the "service providing" industry, even if you are a courier or bank clerk.

I have noticed Westpac bank clerks now introduce themselves - how civil! I feel great in saying in reply, Hi I am Sam! Now i know the person i am dealing with and they know me. Remember it's these little pieces of fabric that come together like a tapestry to form your quilt that we call LIFE.

I love the fact that i have never had to pay for my smile. I don't have to pay to walk on the beach and don't pay to swim in it. And off the top of my head they are the 3 best things in life. And they are FREE.

Try introducing yourself to more people. I know all my butchers by name, i try to thank the check out "chicks" by name, I thank referees if i play sport and i thank my patients. If you have seen the Secret they talk about being grateful. Saying Thank-you and smiling are 2 free ways to start your own ground swell on gratitude. Try it today!

Thank-you for reading this :) B

today was a very exciting day

i love my life: my kids, friends, patients and acquaintances. i don;t want to become too politically correct and i am sure people know me well enough that if i ever exclude someone or something , or say something a bit strange or offensive - i can guarrantee i don;t mean it.

On the otherhand if you have ever upset one of the above, be warned. i would help out any and all of them if they ever needed me.

My little routine - essentially wake, feed, clean, parent and drop kids to school. Then walk on the beach or something equally as beautiful, go to work, meet the most amazing people, do some other work related activity, pick the kids up and come home. I cook dinner, the kids swim, I round them up into the bath, dish up dinner, feed and orchestrate the busiest point in that amount of space and time, in the world at that point, I am sure!

> my daughter just asked me an economic questions - yikes - "mummy who makes the money that we use and how do they know how much to make" .

Every day i think how lucky i am to be in the health industry. People trust me and i respect that and I honor that respect above anything else. So thank-you if your eyes should ever stumble accross this.

I am one of those very fortunate people whom can say I don't work, as i am doing something I love.

Sugar Master

B et al, Forget sugar daddy, as sweet as sugar - try Sugar Master that needs to be banished by Sugar Slayer!

I am certain the 1-2 glasses of wine that we drink each night is just as much about the sugar fix, as it is the habit or the desire to be slightly numb or relaxed.

Just as the last 15 years saw a massive rise in Australians with Diabetes (according the Aus Diabestity report - commissioned by the then Health Minister, Michael Woodridge, in 2000) with sickening statistics like :

- 1 in 4 Australians over the age of 25, have an impaired glucose intolerance problem
- other amazingly poor stats that i will look up at work first before i quote them.....

So I believe that many of us are plain and simply hooked on sugar (which is the main reason we develop an impaired glucose problem - saturating ourselves and faces with sugar rich foods and refined carbohydrates!

The understanding of diabetes and metabolic issues in the current medical paradigm is that it only encompasses diabetes type 1 and 2, and gestational diabetes. I am sure in the next 5 years it will be recognised that PCOS (poly cystic ovarian symdrome) , and regular alcohol drinkers, chocoholics, high soft drink consumers and bakery-addicts all have the same problem. An addiction to sugar!

Treating it is tricky as most people get a slight feeling of euphoria shortly after eating or drinking wine or beer , as their blood sugar starts to rise.

Then after a short time, this short-lived elation leads to irritability, anxiousness, binge behaviours and yelling or tiredness.

The way to releave these negative effects is another fix (fix of sugar that is).

So off we go to the cupboard or fridge and have some more. We can repeat the cycle many times until we go, enough, and go to bed. Not before consuming 30-200% more in calories than we needed for that day.... then the weight creeps on and you know the rest....

I will present some solutions and suggestions for tackling the sugar addictions next.

B

Don't buy into all things Christmas - especially stress

Well I am not a perfect dodger nor non-fabricator of stress. Hell, I can create a stress hurricane along with the best of them. However (probably due to rebellion and non-conformity rather than anything zen) I don't part-take in Silly Season stress.

Yesterday I completed my entire Christmas shopping. Uh-huh - oh-yeah- it only took me 30 mins (plus another 30 mins the other night at Robina). So what did i do.....

1. Plan whom i was going to buy for. Keeping it to an absolute minimum.

2. work out how much i wanted to spend (just like renovating - double it!!)

3. brain storm some ideas

4. some market research and surveillance on the web for prices etc.. (others would prefer to let their legs do the walking and call this "shopping" - yuk).

5. Go during the day - work hours great, no kids, unaccompanied, well fed and rested and off you go.

6. Bang, bang, bang. One shop, 3 purchases - next...tick tick tick....plough your way through your list calmly, methodically, committedly... breath deep and viola - all done.

7. proceed home, wrap, lay under tree and relax.

Now how to replicate the same priniciples to other area's of stress and life!

Choosing a professional, tradesman, accountant anyone

Lately I seem to be having to "choose and decide " on people and what they offer in terms of their expertise.
Since June, I have been regrouping financially and paying off debts and relaxing again.
Now, however, i am ready to go through a period of expansion.

Byebyebridget.com is nearly ready to go live and my book is nearly ready for print.

Aside from the website and book, i am also personally ready to trust people again after being stung severely early in the year with a unit, drop in interest rates and decrease in trade and a quieter year in my business (A combo of me still having a baby and a down turned market/economy).

So expansion is exciting and scary and i recognise the need to surround myself with ethical, committed and talented staff/sub contractors.

I have learned much of Richard Branson and between him and a few other business mentors (Gerry Robert, Ronnie Kagan, Don Power and Craig Trinder) I am starting to truely harness their advice and am very excited about business in the future and the role i can and will play in it.

So at the moment, I am sorting out whom to go with financially, work, printers for bbb and book, merchandise, staff, IT, patents. All those decisions and things going on at once and many of them made last week and a few more to decide on this week.

The thing i really miss is someone in my life to bounce things off. A close alliance or partner. I often find by putting my thoughts into words, that the ideas and decisions kind of fall into a logical sequence. So, maybe i need to learn to talk out loud - or does that mean i am turning into a nut.

Hmm. I think i will get a business coach instead.

Adios

you are turning into your father!

Do you know what.... i think we do actually turn into those around us, especially our mentors and parents. I have noticed this because my sister and i lived with our grandparents for a few years growing up and we both have similar traits. I really noticed it in my sister when i stayed with her in London - now i notice it in myself. Keeping scraps of paper to use for note taking, having hourdes of paper and "things" in draws, the list goes on.
So if you don't want to evolve into your parents , don't hang out with them.