Monday, November 22, 2010

THINK BIGGER

How to raise your expectations and achieve everything
Michael Hill
Random House - $34.99

Michael Hill has a 30-year goal: to have 1000 shops by 2022 and make Michael Hill Jeweller a world-renowned brand. It is an audacious goal but one that Hill believes is achieveable simply by thinking bigger.

Think Bigger challenges readers about where they want to be 30 years from now and dares them to believe in themselves, get motivated and get going. Hill encourages with stories of his own successes and failures, what he has learnt from them and how they have helped shaped his destiny.

Think Bigger is full of strategies and advice for achieving your goals, utilising techniques that make sense and include: meditation, positive visualisation, living in the now. Hill inspires readers to live well by eating well, taking regular exercise, getting sufficient sleep, prioritising grooming, having fun, being polite and respectful. It is a recipe for success and a way to realise your dreams and to live a happy, healthier life. Many of his suggestions and observations are simple everyday ideas which require little effort or cost to adopt.
Here are a couple of excerpts to give you a taste of the book:

On not ageing

My advice is to arrange to have annual blood tests from your GP.

I’d do anything to not have to have blood taken. What’s wrong with my self-programming? I sweat when the nurse puts the needle in. I go hot and cold and usually afterwards the nurse has to ask if I am OK. I may have to lie down. Rather pathetic, I grant you, but regardless I still get them done. I see them as like a chart of where my health is heading, and to achieve our long-term goal we need to be sure we’re heading down the right path for optimum health. So have a complete blood test done once a year. You will need a blood test form from your doctor indicating the test required. Do not eat from 10 pm the night before until after you have had the test the next morning, but drink plenty of water.
The tests will be analysed and the appropriate vitamins and minerals prescribed for any deficiencies. Would you drive your car for years without having it checked?
A lot of New Zealanders are deficient in vitamin D, zinc, magnesium and iodine. If you’re mineral deficient, your body will be out of sync.
So don’t wait until your minerals or natural hormone levels start to run down if you want to stay in optimum health.
For more information, email rosi@drrosi.com
or check out http://www.colganinstitute.com/ and also http://www.a4m.org/

Books that made a difference: Oh, The Places You’ll Go
by Dr Seuss

One of the most profound books I have ever read is about 1000 words long — that’s as many as you’ll find on about four pages of this book.
It is called Oh, The Places You’ll Go and the great philosopher who wrote it is Dr Seuss. This so-called children’s author wrote more than 60 books, but this one, which manages to convey a whole philosophy of life in such a short space, was the last he finished before he died in 1990. With this book, Dr Seuss proved you don’t have to write a lot in order to think bigger.

The book sums up the hopes and fears, challenges, disappointments and victories that come our way as we go through life and concludes that whatever happens to us, life is what we make of it.

The main character, who represents every one of us, sets off on a journey through life, sent on his way with the words: ‘Congratulations! Today is your day.’ And there you have it — every day is our day. Every day belongs to us, a gift to make as much of as we can.
All is not plain sailing on the journey and the character faces setbacks, complications and hard decisions. But in Seuss’s fictional world, as in our own, the worst of all places is where people just sit around.


Think Bigger was written with Paul Little and the cartoons that appear throughout the book were drawn by Michael Hill. The royalties from this book go to Cure Kids.

About the author:
Michael Hill was named the Ernst & Young New Zealand Entrepreneur of the Year in 2009 and is the author of bestselling book Toughen Up: What I’ve learned about surviving tough times. He is the founder of Michael Hill Jeweller, which now has more than 250 outlets across New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the US. Michael Hill Jeweller is perceived as a world leader in efficient and innovative business.

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