Dear PB Readers,

This past Friday evening was a truly amazing night to be educated and inspired. Long-time friend and former World Master Triathlete Leith Drury was the keynote speaker at the monthly C3 Aquafina Speaker Series. After raising a family, running a sub 3 hour marathon as a master and then becoming a World Triathlon Gold Medalist, Leith Drury decided to go back to school and do her PhD. Most graduate schools were not overly excited about letting a fifty-five year old start in their program. Leith's perseverance prevailed and over the past two years has become one of the rising stars in research. After seeing high performance first hand, Leith believed that the higher a coach and an athlete's Emotional Intelligence (E.I.) score was, the more successful they would be.

Leith is currently in her data collection phase and has interviewed nearly 100 elite coaches and their athletes in both team and individual sports. Emotional Intelligence (E.I.) basically refers to the ability one has to cope with the many stressors that interact with their lives. Unlike I.Q. scores, E.I. scores can be developed, enhanced and improved upon. Leith broke Emotional Intelligence into a number of components. Your intra-personal relationship with yourself. Are you happy with yourself? How well do you manage your emotions? Your interpersonal relationships with others. How do you interact with others and can you feel and show empathy? Your relationship with the uncontrolled environment. How adaptable and flexible are you? Finally, your relationship with life. Are you a positive person or are you usually negative?

Leith's research indicates that people with lower E.I. scores generally are less happy, more frustrated, and often feel incomplete and unfulfilled. People with high Emotional Intelligence often see possibilities where others see only dead ends. Canadian Olympic Trampoline Coach Dave Ross had a Gymnastics Canada budget of only a few thousand dollars leading to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. His competition had budgets 20x larger with many paid coaches and training centres. Dave chose to focus on what was possible and came away from the 2000 Olympic Games with medals in both the men and women's trampoline events. My experience as a coach, business person and family member is that a high Emotional Intelligence score positively transfers over into many other areas of life.

Instead of being fearful about change (uncontrolled environment), people with high Emotional Intelligence appreciate that change can lead to positive new opportunities and are often early to accept these changes. By being an early acceptor, these people have a chance to participate in the change and often have input to the direction in which it occurs. Highly Emotional Intelligent people have strong positive values. These people "walk the walk" on a daily basis and you generally know where you stand with them.

The problem with great speakers and engaging presentations is that they end much too quickly. Leith Drury stayed well past her ninety minute allotted presentation time and it was heart-warming to see a large crowd so enthusiastic about a talk at the end of a long work week. To further appreciate the leading edge information and benefits from improving your Coping and Stress Management Skills pick up Daniel Goleman's International Bestseller Emotional Intelligence.

Welcome to our 226th consecutive PB Weekly Update. We had many new readers added this week and we would like to extend a thank you to those who have sent in the names of your family and friends. Our goal each week is to be a reminder of what is possible. Please continue making your contributions as well as sign up your family, friends and co-workers at barrie@personalbest.ca. Keep checking out our website at www.personalbest.ca. Have a great week!

FEB 7TH PB HIGHLIGHTS

* JOHNNY CARSON'S QUOTE ON ENJOYING YOUR JOB
* DO YOU KNOW A GOOD DEAL WHEN YOU SEE ONE? (HUMOUR)
* BARRIE'S FIVE STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING YOUR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
* CHOOSING YOUR WATER SOURCES - NUTRITIONIST TANIA PERSAD
* PERSONAL BEST OPPORTUNITIES
* BARRIE A PART OF A NATIONAL DELEGATION OF COACHES OFF TO OTTAWA

JOHNNY CARSON'S QUOTE ON YOUR JOB

"Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Those of us who love what we do (regardless of our compensation) rarely ever look at our watches and wish the day would end. If I won $10 Million tomorrow there are very few things I would be doing differently than I am right now. I have had lengthy conversations with people who truly hate their jobs, but feel economically handcuffed due to family or other commitments. My feedback is always the same. While you may not be able to quit tomorrow, if you truly don't enjoy what you do, then you have a responsibility to map out a process to change your situation. It may take 1-2 years, but being in a job you hate will only lead to your own health deterioration and a negative interaction with your company's co-workers and clients.

DO YOU KNOW A GOOD DEAL WHEN YOU SEE IT?

Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride. With a word or two of thanks she got in the car. After resuming the journey and a bit of small talk, the Navajo woman noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally. "What's in the bag?" asked the old woman. Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, "It's a bottle of wine. Got it for my husband." The Navajo woman was silent for a moment, and then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder said, "Good trade."

BARRIE'S FIVE STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING YOUR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

* A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
* Eat a live toad in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.
* Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened.

CHOOSING YOUR WATER

January's nutrition tip was to stay hydrated, primarily by drinking approximately 8-12 glasses of water per day depending upon your body size, activity levels, and other factors. This month, we review our water options, and the relative pros and cons.

Tap water is the cheapest and most convenient option, but is not the best choice if you can afford another alternative. Municipally treated water is typically (recognizing regional differences) chlorinated, fluoridated, and can contain measurable amounts of substances that have harmful effects on the body, such as hydrocarbons, pesticides and other chemicals, parasites & bacteria, and heavy metals (e.g., lead & aluminum). That being said, it is better to drink tap water than no water. Good alternatives to tap water include:

1) Bottled Water - check it's source (whether a mineral spring or municipal water source), and packaging. Any source may be fine for drinking depending upon the production company's track record with consistent chemical assays, fraud, tampering, etc. Regarding packaging, the best choices are bottles made with the stronger materials. Glass is best, and a strong, clear plastic bottle will also suffice. Look for a #1, 3 or 7 in the recycle triangle on the bottle. Stay away from the #2 bottles as they leach plastic into the water.

2) Filtered Water - the filter source may be charcoal, carbon, ceramic, reverse osmosis, or some combination of these. These filters may be purchased as home units for installation on a counter-top or under a sink. You can also purchase simple carbon filters, such as a Brita, for one jug at a time. For overall effectiveness, ease of use and maintenance, the higher end under-the-sink filters of the ceramic or sub-micron carbon block are preferred, even though they may cost a little more up front (~ $300 -$800). There are many such filters in the market to choose from.

3) Distilled Water - boiling water into steam and then condensing the steam back into liquid water is distillation, and it produces the purest water, which is why it is used for scientific experiments. If purchasing distilled water, follow the same guidelines for packaging as for bottled water, above.

As the nutrient that you will (now) be consciously ingesting the most, water deserves your extra attention and investment. Quench your thirst according to these guidelines, and your body will respond swimmingly! Next month, tune in for an electrifying discussion about electrolytes.

Tania Persad is a registered nutritionist from Personal Best and can be contacted at tania@personalbest.ca

POWER YOGA FOR ENDURANCE ATHLETES

This past weekend my wife Caron Shepley released her new Power Yoga for Endurance Athletes DVD. After virtually every yoga class that Caron teaches many of her new students have asked her if she had a book or a video. At my encouragement Caron set out to create her own DVD. The product was designed to help keep active people healthy and to help injured people overcome their setbacks. While I may be a little biased as Caron's husband, I have seen the tremendous health and performance improvements of many people who have followed her classes for only 4-6 weeks. The DVD was designed to do it at home, in a hotel while traveling or at a fitness centre or school with your friends. We have 7 year olds at our classes and those who are over the age of 70. Not being a big fan of traditional yoga, I asked Caron to create a fun but challenging new form of Yoga and the result is her new DVD. If you could benefit from improved back health, flexibility and muscular toning, then I strongly encourage you to make this simple purchase. Three time Olympic paddlers Attila Buday is a regular at Caron's classes and recently said "I am always trying to find new and better workouts to improve my core strength and flexibility and Caron's program is an integral part of my weekly routine". For details on price and how to have a DVD shipped directly to your home email caron@personalbest.ca

TIME TO SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COACHES

Do you honestly think there would be a Wayne Gretzky or Steve Nash if there wasn't a local coach who had contributed countless thousands of volunteer hours on their behalf? Coaches are one of the most forgotten parts of the Canadian Sport System. I have been asked to fly to Ottawa this Wednesday to be a part of a delegation who will meet with the Sport Minister and Government Officials to discuss effective ways to recognize and improve the role of the coach in this country. Other high profile coaches who have been invited include Olympic Gold Medalist Glenroy Gilbert (Track & Field), Brian Richardson (Olympic Rowing), Ken Hitchcock from hockey, Peter Eriksson (gold medal coach of our Paralympics Wheel Chair athletes), Andy Higgins from the National Coaching Institute, Pierre Lemarche former David Cup Tennis Captain, Olympic Women's Hockey coach Danielle Sauvageau; and CAO president Sheilagh Croxon. Communication is the key to improving anything and at the very least we have some of the best communicators in the world heading to Ottawa to speak on behalf of coaching. Stay tuned next week for some behind the scenes updates!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK AND TRY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN AT LEAST ONE OTHER PERSON'S LIFE!