Cultural experience
I'm a very curious person who has travelled the world and been to 41 different countries to experience various cultures and mindsets. Wherever I went, I noticed there were different strategies for overcoming life's challenges, and that certain people were happier than others. In fact, at times entire cities just seemed like happier places than other cities. The results were that I freed up many of my preconceived notions about what created happiness, and accumulated many strategies for happiness along the way.
Coaching
I ran the marathon distance before -- 42.2 k (26.2 miles). I wasn't fast, it took me a bit over 7 hours, but I did it, and the longest distance I had ran before that was 10k (6.2 miles). What that taught me is that the number 1 factor for success is to somehow stay relaxed and keep progressing towards your goal.
I have served as a face to face personal coach for people in Australia, Scotland, Canada, the US, and the Czech republic, and did my best to convey those principles. I have also coached people remotely over the internet or by phone.
This picture was taken during a brief rest on a 13k jog along the coastline when I happened to stumble across this chair out on the shore. No, that's not my house, I wish!
I have served as a face to face personal coach for people in Australia, Scotland, Canada, the US, and the Czech republic, and did my best to convey those principles. I have also coached people remotely over the internet or by phone.
This picture was taken during a brief rest on a 13k jog along the coastline when I happened to stumble across this chair out on the shore. No, that's not my house, I wish!
 |
Apart from university courses, I have taken several courses which have helped increase my effectiveness at understanding and coaching people, such as a 120 hour Neuro-Linguisitic Programming Practitioner certificiation, and a "Team Effectiveness" course from SunU (Sun Microsystems University), along with several other communication and leadership courses.
|
Writing and Editing
I served as one of the lead editors of an online community for several years, and have written training documentation on how to write in an evocative, descriptive manner. Over that time, I must have edited the works of over 50 people. I have also served as an editor for the submission of a University Masters thesis, and for a book by Wade Gustafson "In Shadow they Slumber" which won an editor's choice award and was subsequently approved by TOR's senior acquisitions editor Pat LoBrutto and is pending final acceptance from Patrick Neilson Hayden of TOR books. (His book is awesome.)
"How to be happy all the time" received several rounds of independant editing to ensure that it read well.
"How to be happy all the time" received several rounds of independant editing to ensure that it read well.
Memberships
I am a member of the One in a thousand high IQ society (OATHS) and have a personal passion for continuous improvement and in understanding life and the mind. The best known high IQ society is Mensa, which accepts one in fifty people.
My ability to analyze information has resulted in a capacity to solve complex problems, which has helped me to isolate the factors leading to happiness from a complex political, social and psychological soup, and come up with exercises in order to increase the generation of happiness.
Having a high IQ doesn't mean I have more smarts than anyone else, IQ is just one piece of the "street smarts" puzzle. For more information on this, please see the web site section on "Success".
My ability to analyze information has resulted in a capacity to solve complex problems, which has helped me to isolate the factors leading to happiness from a complex political, social and psychological soup, and come up with exercises in order to increase the generation of happiness.
Having a high IQ doesn't mean I have more smarts than anyone else, IQ is just one piece of the "street smarts" puzzle. For more information on this, please see the web site section on "Success".
Degrees
I hold an International Executive Master's of Business Administration (IEMBA) from the University of Pittsburgh, which was ranked in the top 10 programs in the world for cross continent Executive MBA programs by the financial times' 2008 ranking.
I also hold a Honours Co-op Bachelor of Mathematics in Computer Science with Electrical Engineering Electives (CS/EEE) from the University of Waterloo, which consistently ranks in the top 5 universities world wide in mathematics competitions, as well as consistently ranking in the top 5 universities world wide for computer science competitions.
My computer science training, with a specialization in artificial intelligence, and real time systems, has allowed me to understand the way certain parts of the human mind work, which is not that different than a complex computer system. You input questions or information into your mind and there are effects and there is output. Sometimes the effects and the output are a bit strange, but that's because there was some strange information that got stored there.
I also hold a Honours Co-op Bachelor of Mathematics in Computer Science with Electrical Engineering Electives (CS/EEE) from the University of Waterloo, which consistently ranks in the top 5 universities world wide in mathematics competitions, as well as consistently ranking in the top 5 universities world wide for computer science competitions.
My computer science training, with a specialization in artificial intelligence, and real time systems, has allowed me to understand the way certain parts of the human mind work, which is not that different than a complex computer system. You input questions or information into your mind and there are effects and there is output. Sometimes the effects and the output are a bit strange, but that's because there was some strange information that got stored there.
I live what I write
I completed a major task I set out to do when I wrote the book, which I had talked about in the "Beliefs and practices" section. I worked consistently over a long period of time, having to take breaks due to unrelated injuries, yet getting back to it as soon as I could. Finally, I managed to do 100 proper push-ups in a row without any breaks on June 18th, 2011. It may seem like a silly thing to some people, but the amount of happiness it brought me every time I made more progress towards my goal made the entire process entirely worth the while, and the rush when I completed it was amazing!
