Dear PB Readers,

If I had to pick one other country to spend the rest of my life it would be New Zealand. I have been fortunate enough to travel and live in New Zealand 8-9 times in the last decade and I am continually impressed by the kindness and generosity of the small Island Nation. The three million New Zealand residents is equivalent Toronto's GTA population. In my first trip to New Zealand a local newspaper did a story about my team of Canadian triathletes living in their city. Within two days of the story, a group of mothers approached me about taking our dirty laundry each night (to clean for free). A second group of mothers agreed to come to our team house and cook our suppers. The local swimming pool manager gave me the key for the pool so we could swim during off hours. Several years ago when I was in Auckland for the 2003 World Championships I witnessed the Kiwi generosity once again. A dozen family's in Auckland took in my athletes for three weeks and spoiled them like they were their own grandchildren. This past weekend I was back in New Zealand for the final World Cup Race of the year and once again I had a chance to taste that amazing Kiwi hospitality.

What most impresses me about my Kiwi friends is their philosophy on life. Not caught up on the size of their houses or the number of cars in their garages their important life-focuses are actually ON LIVING. No country is more active when it comes to hiking, paddling, cycling, swimming or running. If you know anything about rugby, the New Zealander's are one of the World's Power Houses. Instead of sitting in their houses watching TV, New Zealander's are out in their gardens, coaching, hiking and volunteering in the communities. While the newspapers in North America continue to write about obesity and inactive kids, my experience in New Zealand is daily physical activity for kids. The world that gave us bungee, cannon speed boat rides, adventure racing, Lord of the Rings and some of the top triathletes in the World should be on each of your "must-see" places to visit.

Welcome to readers of our 266th consecutive Personal Best Weekly Newsletter. I would like to continue to thank the many people who contribute weekly ideas and provide feedback to our newsletters. Our goal is to be one continuous positive source of motivation in your lives. Remember you get more of what you read, think and hear. See more positive movies, hear more positive stories and your brain starts to realize how likely those things are to occur in your life. Read continuously negative stories and you start to believe your community, school or company has nothing positive to offer you. Check out our PB website at www.personalbest.ca and send your contributions to barrie@personalbest.ca. Have a great week.

NOVEMBER 14th PB HIGHLIGHTS

* NORMAN VINCENT PEALE QUOTE HAPPINESS
* LESSONS LEARNED IN A SETBACK
* PERSONAL BEST EMAIL OF THE WEEK
* IMPROVING YOUR KIDS WORK ETHIC
* DON'T MISS VICKI KEITH & 85 YEAR OLD GORDON SCOTT ON NOV 19TH
* JOIN BARRIE & CARON THIS WEEK FOR OUR WINTER PROGRAMS
* YOU KNOW YOU ARE GETTING OLD WHEN

NORMAN VINCENT PEALE QUOTE

"The secret of life isn't what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you." (See the Steve Job's story below).

LESSONS LEARNED DURING A SETBACK

The following are highlights of Steve Job's 2005 Commencement Speech at Stanford University.

I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started?

Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT.

I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together. I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

PB EMAIL OF THE WEEK

Barrie, thanks for the note and the mention in your mail. I have now been to Cyprus, Damascus, Jordan, Egypt, Jersulem, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Bosnia (more times than I care to remember), Haiti and Afghanistan (both Kabul and Kandahar) and I can honestly say that I have always felt that we (Canadians) were making a difference. I don't think that I would do what I do otherwise. It is not easy to leave family and life behind and I always miss everyone but it is the reason that I joined and still wear the uniform to this day. T.B.

T.B. is my brother-in-law. Tim is a man who has worn the Canadian Military Uniform for over two decades. He and nearly 1200 of his Canadian colleagues will head in February to Afghanistan for a nine month tour of duty. While our American friends elevate the efforts of their men and women, many of our great Canadian Armed Force Staff quietly and humbly serve Canada and the world without much limelight during their important sacrifices.

TEACHING YOUR KIDS TO HAVE PRIDE IN THEIR JOBS

When my wife first graduated from University she wasn't initially able to find a job in her area of training. Instead of complaining about how the system had let her down, she took a job at a ladies clothing shop and continued networking until she did get into the fitness and health field. Today Caron is one of the main reason's Personal Best has been such a success and is a highly sought after Yoga Teacher with one of the country's best DVD's on Power-YOGA (www.bluedogyoga.com).

While it's normal to want your kids to have a better life, many parents are making it too easy for their kids and ultimately doing them a dis-service. Working a part-time job and buying your own bicycle, second hand car or guitar creates a much greater reality for the real cost of things. To teach work ethic and savings, my best friend's father would triple (3x) the amount of money his kids put into their savings account each year. Save $500.00 over the year and he would put $1500.00 into their savings accounts. Today his six children are successful teachers, principals and business men/women who have a great respect for hard work and are each successful in their own lives.

While we would all love to believe each of our children are mature enough to be internally motivated, the reality is most people need some form of external rewards to motivate them. In my sporting life I continually use external rewards for my athletes. If the athletes put in six months of dedicated training, I bring them to my yearly March Break Warm Weather Camp in Florida. You would be amazed at how much dedicated hard work my athletes put in just to have one week in Florida. I encourage each of you to find your own strategy to encourage a life-long work ethic for your children, athletes and co-workers.

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR THE VICKI KEITH SUPPER/FUNDRAISER NOV 19TH

Vicki Keith has graciously agreed to come to the GTA on Saturday Nov. 19th to educate and motivate with her amazing philosophy on life and overcoming challenges. Vicki has dedicated much of her life raising funds for needy kids at Variety Village. The Hall of Fame Swimmer has raised millions of dollars to help kids. Imagine swimming for 53 hours in Lake Erie on-stop doing the butterfly stroke! Hear the strategies that Vicki has used to push herself to the limit and understand how you can use them in your own business or sporting life. Meet 85 year old Gordon Scott, the War Hero who pulled a 200 pound trailer across Ontario this past summer to raise funds for the War Amps organization (nearly 1500km). The supper will occur at the beautiful Caledon Golf and Country Club and is a chance to meet some of Canada's greatest athletes. Join Barrie Shepley for this fantastic evening. Register for tickets (just $40.00 per person) that you can pay at the door at info@c3online.ca or call Shirley at 905-838-2662. www.c3online.ca

JOIN BARRIE AND CARON FOR THEIR WINTER WORKOUTS

Every Tuesday night Barrie and Caron Shepley along with C3 run a 2 hour total body workout. Hour 1 is for power-walking or running with Barrie followed by a 1hr power yoga / core strength class with Caron Shepley. Participants range from 8-75 years of age with goals ranging from doing their first 5km, losing 20 pounds or training for an Ironman. Programs run from 5-7pm or 6-8pm at the indoor track at York University. Join us this week! Check out the C3 website www.c3online.ca for the many bike, swims, runs and dryland sessions.

OLD IS WHEN

1. Going bra-less pulls all the wrinkles out of your face.
2. You don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go along.
3. Getting a little action means I don't need fiber today.
4. Getting lucky means you find your car in the parking lot.
5. An all-nighter means not getting up to pee!

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