Easier said than done, hey? the good news is that saying it is a very good first step.

And saying it out loud in particular, preferably to someone else and if it is not too much of an inconvenience, putting into writing also. This is one of the greatest, and deepest, secrets of all successful people. They know how to commit themselves to whatever they want to achieve.

Commitment comes in all shapes and forms.

How many times have you not experienced this special feeling of dread and horror, of sheer terror when being asked to commit to something? Apparently it is the male species that suffers more from the syndrome of 'non-commitment', especially when it comes to doing so in the context of a mutually binding, no-escape policy, R-E-L-A-T-I-O-N-S-H-I-P commitment to their- oftentimes nagging- partner. That's simply because when it comes to romantic relationships, the male brain is getting its gratification predominantly from the instant sensations of the sexual arousal to satisfaction cycle; which in practice means that as long as you keep the man happy, he will stay with you as long as you want him to. In simple terms. And happiness for a man comes in two shapes and forms. Stimulation and relaxation.

Commitment therefore, is the mechanism that signals prioritization of resources.

Committing to one thing inevitably means dishing out all its substitutes or alternative, cause at the end of the day, we are a finite resources, us humans. And a serial processor with the ability to sense, collect and collate as well as relate numerous pieces of information together into one consistent whole i.e. 'there is a tiger appx 5 meters away  running towards me with a speed of appx 55 kph with the approach angle of 60 degrees  to my right and what I am estimating to be an appetite built up from not having eaten anything meaty for the past day or so ... therefore, and judging on my height, weight, combat ability and lack of any means of defending myself I will need to start running about 8 seconds ago if I am to save my life!

We are sophisticated machines, connected into an infinite space of unknown or little-known uber worlds i.e. the universe. We take ourselves largely for granted, since, anyhow, most of the vital functions are automatic, breathing, heart beating,circulation, food processing and energy release, sleep and relaxation, etc etc. So, next time you have to make a decision, think of yourself as A CEO. You are a strategic decision maker with everything going on for you. Everything is being taken care of by your extremely efficient organisation and the only thing you have to do is ensure you act to its best interest.  In the short and long-term.

The exercise of the Day: Making meaningful commitments: Think of one thing you want to accomplish in the next couple of weeks. What is the result you are envisaging? (visualisation exercises will come in subsequent posts). How clear is it and how much do you want it? What is the first step to achieving it? Commit to it, today, even better, now!

March is women’s month. What does ‘woman’ mean to you?

International Women’s Day was just last week, Mother’s Day is coming up swiftly, so what would be a more topical subject for a first blog entry?

There is a lot of talk about women this, women that, women the other. However, pondering about this the other day, it occurred to me:  ‘woman’ means different things to different people. To prove my point, I did what every half-decent scientist would do looking for the definitive answer to an eternally puzzling question : I googled it…!

And, here is what I found: a noticeable overrepresentation of superwomen, wonderwomen, bionicwomen & celebrities 20-35 years old mostly. That made me wonder, ok, there is a clear branding of women out there, cause they do all look awfully alike..even on Google.it and Google.com.hk. The same exercise on Twitter yielded some equally interesting results : ‘In Hong Kong, a woman is allowed to kill her cheating husband, but only with her bare hands.’ UberFacts. So, checking ‘woman’ in Google HK was not that such a bad idea, time to move to Hong Kong and take-up martial arts ?

But, even if popular culture seems to share the brand of a ‘woman’, it is quite a different story when it comes down to real people. Whether you realise it or not, ‘woman’ means different things to different people. We all have a specific image of what a woman looks and feels like beyond just the cognitive recognition of a woman as ‘an – adult – human belonging to the female gender with the key differentiating factor that ‘Unlike men, women are typically capable of giving birth.’ (wikipedia)

Time for a little introspection*: What's the first thing that springs to your mind when you read the word 'woman'? Try to focus and locate your special 'image' of a woman, your own archetype of what she looks like.

Is it your mother, your wife, Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, or the latest cover of your favourite Man's magazine (if you are a man), and who is a 'woman' for you, if you yourself belong to the female gender?Who do you, as a woman see as a woman?

*introspection: in·tro·spec·tion   [in-truh-spek-shuhn] noun