Hi, Thanks to all of you who have been reading my posts over the years. I am blogging on my website: http://giantstepscoaching.com and I am also a featured blogger on Huffington Post. You can read my posts at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bradley-foster/. I will remove this blog over the summer. Have a great summer and see you at my website! /Bradley

Toronto Men’s Group - Announcement

You are invited to join The Toronto Men's Group, which will focus on personal development as it relates to being an authentic man. Our focus will be to develop our inner creativity, become more self aware, responsible, self-actualizing and to nurture loving, healthy relationships. Our group will create space for you to freely express yourself and your feelings without judgment.

This is a your opportunity to get involved in a dynamic group of like-minded men. We will also be focusing on unfinished business, which is defined as the unexpressed feelings that are associated with distinct memories and fantasies. These feelings may be resentment, rage, hatred, pain, anxiety, grief, guilt, and abandonment that are not fully experienced in awareness, linger in the background, and are carried into the present life and cause preoccupations, compulsive behaviors, wariness, and other self-defeating behaviors. Unfinished business persists until the person faces and deals with these denied or alienated feelings.

Note: There is also a coaching group with men and women forming which you are also invited to. For more information go to: http://giantstepscoaching.com/coachinggroup.html

Format: The Toronto Men’s Group meets every other Wednesday evening from 7:30 - 9:30 pm, near Casa Loma in Toronto. http://goo.gl/JpYUl

"...Things used to get me so upset. I no longer worry about things I can't change. It's helped me to put my energy to better use." participant, June 2005

Facilitator: Bradley Foster MA is a coach and founder of Giant Steps Coaching. Bradley has a certificate in Leadership and Psychotherapy from the Gestalt Institute of Toronto in addition to coach training from the Institute and Coaches Training Institute. He brings a wealth of experience, wisdom and a variety of modalities to working with men. This is the seventh year he has run this group for men. He has published a book on coaching and written articles for professional journals, newspapers and magazines. To read more, read his blog.

For more detailed information on The Toronto Men’s Group, go to Giantstepscoaching.com/mens.htm

Work Smarter, Not Harder - A Quick tutorial in how to Google

The internet has become the world's largest repository of information and search engines help you find things when you use them properly. 

I was gobsmaked to read that 3/4 of students tested could not perform a well executed search on Google. Considering these kids practically grew up using Google I was shocked. I thought I was pretty good at ferreting out information until I read this very short info graphic on how to use Google more effectively. I learned several really good tips that will make my searches more targetted. It only takes about five minutes to read but it will save you alot of time finding things faster and more efficiently. If you pick up a few of these trick you will notice that you will find what you are looking for the first time. 

Happy seaching and I hope you are all having a terrific summer!

http://www.hackcollege.com/blog/2011/11/23/infographic-get-more-out-of-google.html

Finally! An app that makes everything OK

This is a lot of fun! Click on the link and press the button to make everything OK!

http://make-everything-ok.com/

Due to an unexpected glitch, my phone number has changed. You can reach me at: 

416-927-7092. 

Thanks!

Moving Right Along...

I've been too busy to write this month since I sold my house and I'm moving in two weeks. I am going to be living next to a castle so that should be interesting with the tour busses and grandeur. My new address is 25 Castle View Ave. Toronto, Ontario M5R 1Z1. My new phone number is: 416-927-7092.

If you want to keep up with what I'm reading, why not click over to my Facebook page. If you "like" it, you will get regular posts about interesting articles and new research. Click on the link to go there: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toronto-ON/Giant-Steps-Coaching/157340197626483

Share this on Google!

A terrific manifesto for a creative and inspired life...

Take a Chance - What's the Worst That Can Happen?

How to Break the Cookie Habit - an excellent video explanation of understanding habits

How to Break the Cookie Habit - Video Library - The New York Times

This short video helps you understand how we make and can break habits by understanding the Cue, the Action and the Reward. He illustrates how he broke his mid afternoon cookie habit by understanding why he got up to get a cookie every afternoon.

Habits: How Companies Learn Your Secrets

How Companies Learn Your Secrets - NYTimes.com

People are creatures of habit. Companies research your buying habits in an effort to get you to change and buy their brand. This is a great article about how we form habits and how they work. The article provides some very deep research about how they work psychologically and how we can change them. An excellent piece!

Fortune Cookie of the Day

Retiring? Hate your job? Thinking of Changing Careers?

Career change can be very scary which is why people often talk about it and never do anything about it. Be realistic about it. Change seldom happens overnight. If you are planning to build a house, you don’t order the building materials and start building right away. You do find a site, do research, draw up plans, compare prices of materials, all of which could take years. Changing careers calls for being methodical and strategic. You can do it if you have support along the way, a good plan, and patience.

Here are a couple tips once you know what you want to do:

1: Visualize your job in concrete terms

If you can visualize and articulate the terms of what you are looking for, it’s easier to find people who can help you.  Having an “elevator pitch” that can tell others succinctly what you are about will help.

2: Seek relevant work experience

Chances are you would bring a lot of knowledge and experience to your chosen field but you may lack direct experience. Find it! Volunteer or find a position that will help you fill in the gaps. It might be a low paid job but one that leads where you want to go.

3: Find a Mentor – Support Network

Chances are good that you will find someone who has jumped through the hoops and is willing to help you, especially if you offer them something in return. If they don’t want anything in return, you can return the favour by mentoring someone junior. What goes around, comes around. Know that you will need a support network. Find those who will support and encourage you. Consider whether your support network might include a career coach who has had the experience of guiding people through changes.

4: Supress your fears and don’t listen to the nay-sayers

Change is difficult enough without having to listen to hecklers, including your own.  You have to stay focused on your plans. Don’t let your fears or other’s fears derail your goal or you will be like all the other people who talk about changing careers and never do.

Happy Holiday!

Wow, another year has gone by and I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work with another couple hundred great clients. I feel very proud to have the chance to work with and help so many wonderful clients, not to mention an even greater number of consultations. Thank you for being there and supporting me in what I do. 

I look forward to another great year, to meeting more people who touch my life with their special gifts, to learning more, not only from books, videos and workshops but from people who may not know what they have to give. I hope you and your family and friends and colleagues have a wonderful holiday and good times. This is the time of year when I start to think about what I have done and what I want more of in my life next year. It's time to do a major check in with my goals, to see what I have achieved and what may need a renewed effort. I hope you are getting more of what you want in your life and I'll see you next year!

Stefon Harris: There are no mistakes on the bandstand | Video on TED.com

Can it be that there is no such thing as a mistake? Could it be that it's only how we

respond to our mistakes that makes them mistakes? He's a short TED video on a whole new

way of looking at improvisation and mistakes. While you are on the TED site, have a look at some of the other cool videos if you have some time...

Stefon Harris: There are no mistakes on the bandstand | Video on TED.com

Information ProvidersX!

Information on Health,Travel,Forex,Affiliate ,Music & many More

http://globalinfoonline.com

23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health? - YouTube

If you could only do one thing that would be the best things for our health, what do you think it would be? According to this short video by Dr. Mike Evans, this one thing has widespread benefits for our health and yet many of us don't or won't do it. Check it out.

23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health? - YouTube

BATIZOMEX!

Concepteur et constructeur de Zomes

http://batizome.free.fr

Reinventing Yourself Part V - Visioning

Reinventing Yourself - Part V  

If you have followed the previous steps, you probably have a good idea of where you are and may even notice how and where you get stuck. Your motivation for reinventing yourself is to start moving toward a future where you are creating and self-actualizing your vision. This can be difficult for many people. When I ask people where they want to be in five years, I often get a list of things they don't want. A vision will gradually emerge if you sit with a piece of paper in a quiet room for an hour.

There are likely many things you have dreamed about and wished for. They might be the type of work you have, a partner, a special place to live, things you do, enjoying all the things around you. I will list a series of questions to help spark your imagination. Write down what you think of in response to the questions and by the end of it you will have a good start toward a coherent vision for yourself.

To help you visualize your future self, here is a list of things related to a personal vision. After all, if you are going to transform your life, it’s not a bad idea to start with transforming yourself. For instance if you want to feel fitter and thinner, there is a good chance that you have to change some of your habits. Use this list to help you visualize your future self. This list is by no means exhaustive. Get down anything that comes to mind. While reading this list, imagine how your life will “feel” in five years:

• What are your habits?
• What does exercise look like?
• What are your relationships like?
• What does your body look like?
• What do you enjoy eating?
• Where are you living?
• Who do you want in your life?
• What are your activities?
• How do you have fun?
• How playful are you?
• What are you learning?
• What do you already know?
• What is your attention to self-care?
• How do you manage your growth?
• How open-minded are you?
• How much structure do you want?
• What is your anxiety level like?
• How do you feel?

For more help with creating a vision and setting goals, you can purchase my workbook called Hitting The Mark.

Gandhi Cuts Loose

I've never seen this picture before this week. Gandhi has a side we all know, the persistent, non-violent thinker/politician but who knew he could cut a rug like this? Just goes to show that we have many sides and it's worth developing them. Full expression of self is a joy to behold.

This picture gives me a lot of joy and it looks like he was having a very good time.

Reinventing Yourself Part IV: Questioning Your Beliefs

If you have been following the thread of my blog about Reinventing yourself, you are ready for the fourth part: Questioning your beliefs. When we get stuck there are usually conflicting beliefs behind it. For instance we may feel that we should be good citizens of the planet and limit our carbon footprint. Therefore we should be conscious about how much fossil fuel we consume, yet we mat also believe that we should be free to go anywhere we please. These two beliefs are sometimes in conflict and we may chose one belief over another or we may drive where ever we like and feel guilty about it. In April I wrote a post about how our beliefs work so I won't repeat myself. By reading my post you will have enough information to begin to question some of the beliefs you may hold that are keeping you stuck. You can read the post if you click here. Have a look at my previous post which is a link to a short video called Get Service that I thought was brilliant. Take care, have a good month and if you get invited to a Halloween party, pick a costume that shows another side of you that people may not see.

Get service video

This is a great short video that helps me remember to be compassionate toward others when I am engrossed in my own agenda. Get Service I post videos and links like this on my Giant Steps Coaching Facebook page which you might want to subscribe to.