Quick update

September 8, 2008

Just a quick update:

  • I just returned from holidays, yes, indeed fantastic : France, Spain, Andorra. Thanks for asking!
  • A whole new bunch of mindblowing lifehacks coming soon!
  • A brand new step forward in my life: stay tuned for the announcement :-)
  • International Blackstar Day in Belgium : 22 nd September in Antwerp
  • Next Ecademy Antwerp event : 23rd September in Antwerp
  • Created a book in 2 weeks for “In Shape for September” (with Greet Wilssens)
  • “In Shape for September” was a big success! To be continued!
  • XL Belgium : Power UP session in August : I shared and demonstrated several lifehacks with other life members
  • Outstanding, life changing results with several coachees. I hope they agree to share their story with you too.
  • Brilliant Brainstroming & Creative sessions for a client in the HR Industry. All upfront criticism was blown away by the amazing results…

And how was your second half of August? Are you in shape for september? ;-)

Enjoy every day,

Bert Verdonck

Lifehacker & life coach
Create, Connect & Contribute


Education at home?

July 24, 2007

Several people are talking about educating their children at home. Be it from a religious point of view or from the fact that parents can do better than the school system (or other reasons?), some parents are considering (or doing it!) to teach their children at home and not at school.

Why?

Education of children has become a complex challenge. Several children are “too” smart for their age. Others are more advanced in some subjects and “normal” at others. Teachers have to divide their attention to so many children, often resulting that the smartest become lazy, bored or rebellious and the “slower” children are not capable of catching up with the rest…

Anyway, would you consider to educate your children at home? Why (not)?

Looking forward to your replies,

Bert


Mijn vrouw vandaag in Vacature…

May 5, 2007

Ja, deze week staat mijn vrouw in Vacature! Voor alle duidelijkheid : op pagina 30 in de gedrukte magazine en pagina 31 in de online versie ;-)

Naar aanleiding van een artikel over “Wegwijs in de hospitalisatie-verzekering”, werd Tonia geïnterviewd door Vacature.

Begin dit jaar onderging Tonia een zware buikoperatie, waarvoor we uiteraard (én gelukkig!) een beroep konden doen op onze hospitalisatieverzekering.

Toen ik een oproep zag van Erika Claessens op Ecademy, reageerde ik onmiddellijk met een interview voor Tonia als gevolg. Uiteraard ook een leuke manier van netwerken ;-)

Heb jij al eens in de krant gestaan ? Waar ? Wanneer ? Waarom ? Laat het mij weten…

Geniet nog van het weekend,

Bert


Summarise yourself!

April 25, 2007

Recently I did a very interesting exercise : summarise yourself in 5 keywords, 5 keynumbers, 3 dreams and 1 quote.

Here are mine:

Create     Connect     Contribute     Empathy     Fun 

My numbers :

3     7     800     1991     400,000,000

My dreams:

Oceania     (Australia, NewZealand, Fiji, Tonga, etc.)

Wally     (enjoying my custom Wally sailboat, check out http://www.wally.com)

Contribute to the happiness in the world

My personal quote:

Enjoy every day!

So, what are yours ? Dare to talk about them…

Enjoy every day,

Bert


A new life, a new mission, a new website

April 25, 2007

After writing my new mission in life, I had to come up with a new website as well ;-)

The main elements of my new life are my three C’s : Create, Connect & Contribute.

Read all about it on my (brand new) website! Now that people start visiting my website, the word will spread that I have a blog. Until now, I almost wrote ‘undercover’, like not telling people about it, so I could get some content first ;-)

What is your mission in life ? And do you live up to it ?

And of course, any feedback on my website and blog are welcome as well!

Cheers,

Bert Verdonck


Double Dreamin’ ?

March 26, 2007

Don’t we all dream of winning a big jackpot or lottery or … ? Sure we do!

But, how do you decide on the numbers? Some people select significant numbers like birthdays, others go for calculated numbers or some just pick random numbers.

Mary Wollens, an 86 year old ex-lottery winner, won the Ontario Lottery after dreaming of a lotto ticket and a large cheque. So she decided to buy yet another lottery ticket with the same numbers (duh?). Needless to say she won (again), (or I would not be writing this…) but what is fascinating is that someone else had the right numbers as well! Normally we would laugh at people buying the same numbers again, but instead of splitting the amount in half, it was now divided in 3 parts, where Mary took home 2/3!

What are the odds on that? ;-)

Sure, I play too and I keep on dreaming. So, I must change the order, dream of the numbers first, then play…

Enjoy every day,

Bert


Starting with golf

March 26, 2007

Saturday I had my first golf-lesson!

I signed up for an golf initiation together with 5 other newbies. My goal is to get my golf certificate (GVB) by the summer.

After an introduction to the sport, it was time to learn the grips and putting.

Wow, this is hard…I looks easy and when I was a kid, we went to midget golf once and a while, but the “real” stuff is so much harder! It is really interesting to see me even missing a 50cm put ;-) Not once, but several times… Everyone has the right to learn, right?

Are you a golfer ? What handicap ? And do you play often ? What is the best golf course you ever played on? Any golf stories you want to share?

I think golf is quite an ‘honest’ sport. One day you are playing very good and might be capable of beating a pro. The next day, you are beaten by a novice…In a lot of sports he who owns the best gear often wins the game. Not so in golf!

Have a great day,

Bert


In Case of Emergency (ICE)

March 14, 2007

This article is about helping people in distress and getting the best and most correct information about a patient, and the best use out of a mobile phone, often at times when there is no time to loose…A lot of rescue workers are loosing valuable time when they arrive at an accident scene. Often they don’t know if the patient/victim has certain alllergies, takes medications, is in treatment for a certain disease, etc., so they might start “helping” you with the wrong treatment, because of ignorance!

So, if you store the phone number of who should be contacted in case of emergency under ICE (In Case of Emergency) in your mobile phone, rescue workers will look at this number first! If you have several emergency numbers, store them under Ice1, Ice2, Ice3, etc.

This way, you might save your own life!

Tip: some phones give a warning if you want to store a number twice. A simple solution : just add the + sign at the end of your phone number. It works just fine and you can save the number again ;-)

Enjoy every day,

Bert Verdonck


How Bombay got its name…

March 10, 2007

Most of you probably know this already, but some don’t, so…

In 1534 AD, the Portuguese rulers took Bombay islands by force from the Muslim rulers. The Portuguese built forts at Sion, Bandra, Mahim and Bassien which are still standing. They named the city as “Bom Baia” which in Portuguese means “Good Bay”.

In 1662 AD the island of Mumbai was handed over to the English King Charles II as a dowry gift on his marriage to Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza.

Later, in 1668 these islands were acquired by the English East India Company on lease from the crown for an annual sum of 10 pounds in gold. This was because larger vessels and ships could easily dock, and found the islands of Bombay ideal for development and trade. The British changed the Portuguese name “Bom Baia” to “Bombay”.

Source : Mumbai Mirror

Enjoy every day,
Bert


Languages?

March 5, 2007

So, what languages do I write articles in?

Well, I stick to the ones I know (English, Dutch, French, German and a bit of Hindi). So, why is this important to you?

As I will be writing in those languages, there might be some articles that you are interested in, but unable to understand (certainly, you dó know Hindi or German ;-) ). So, if that happens, don’t hesitate to mail me or comment, I’d be happy to translate it for you!

Of course, you could also use online translating websites (e.g. Babelfish ) if you are eager to know it immediately…

Happy reading,

Bert