Category: Inspiration

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This Mom Has a Genius Trick!

Food Bank Kids

“I just had to share this because it works so well for us! I’m sure I’m not the only mom who gets tired of hearing their kids ask for every single thing in the grocery store. I say no a lot, but I think it’s just natural for kids to see things and want them.

So, to distract them, I started letting them pick out one can of food for the food bank every time we shop. Any can they want! And guess what? They love it! They think really hard about which can to choose. They carry it to the checkout, hand it to the cashier, and then put it in the food bank bin themselves.

My daughter even likes to tell people what the food bank is and why it matters! We’ve done this for the last 5 grocery trips, and not once have they asked for toys or treats! And the best part? They’re helping others at the same time.

I know this won’t last forever, but if you have a 2 or 4-year-old like me, I highly recommend trying it! Maybe when they get older, I can turn it into a fun game—like, ‘Find a can that starts with the letter C’ or ‘Find a vegetable!’”
— Candice Bell
Credit: The Inspireist

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Alvaro Munera

Alvaro Munera

In the middle of a bullfight, matador Álvaro Múnera did something no one expected.

The crowd was roaring, the bull lunged with fury, and Álvaro raised his cape for the final strike. Then—he stopped.

Instead of finishing the fight, he lowered himself to the ground and simply sat. Silence fell over the arena.

Later, he explained: “I no longer saw danger in the horns. I only looked into his eyes. They weren’t filled with rage, but with innocence. He wasn’t attacking—he was pleading for his life. This wasn’t a fight… it was cruelty.”

In that moment, Múnera dropped the sword. He walked away from bullfighting forever.

But his transformation didn’t end there. Álvaro became an outspoken activist against animal cruelty. He spoke in schools, wrote, and joined organizations to defend animals.

He taught that empathy is stronger than tradition, and that true courage is refusing to harm—even when the world expects you to.

Critics called him a traitor to his culture, but he stood firm. Today, his story inspires thousands. The matador who once killed for applause now fights for compassion, showing that one moment of recognition—one glance into another being’s eyes—can change everything.

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Quote of the Day

“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.”  Socrates – Philosopher (469 – 399 BC)

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Quote of the Day

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison, Inventor (1847 – 1931)

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Do You Prefer To Sweat Or Bleed?

Prediction, Practice, Competence and Professionalism

Apparently there is a saying in some branches of the armed services:
“The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat.”

This concept is easily translatable to other areas. It is based on the ability to predict the consequences of actions. The understanding that the first time you do something is a learning experience. That only by doing something over and over do you get really good at it.

Some (most?) people do not get this. They operate on the basis of giving things “a lick and a promise”. If you are not familiar with the phrase, it means, “A cursory effort, for instance at painting or tidying up. It alludes to the perfunctory washing performed by children.”

In software (and probably many other areas as well) there is a caution against it:
“There is never enough time to do it right…
but…
there is always enough time to do it again.”

And therein lies the mark of a true professional. A true professional is one who accurately predicts that in order to obtain a high level of competence he is going to need to devote time to learn, practice and drill the actions of his job. He disciplines himself to continue to practice and hone his skills, learning all he can and drilling the basic actions of his job until those actions are done to an incredibly high level of skill, thereby producing top quality products.

I read some time ago that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become world class at something. Doesn’t matter if it’s sport (tennis, football, swimming, athletics), arts (singing, painting, acting), or a trade.

Just as an aside, if the thought of doing that in your current profession leaves you down in the mouth or you are only to eager to leave work and forget all about it until the next day, then may I suggest you may be in the wrong profession?

And that opens the door to another very good question that might help someone to work out what their basic purpose is in life and what profession may better suit their talents and personality. For as Confucius is alleged to have said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

If you are going to practice 10,000 hours at something it is optimum to be doing it at something you are talented and enjoy.

So the question is, “What activity would you not mind spending 3 hours a day at for the next few years to become world class at?”

And if spending a few years to become world class at something seems a daunting task, more than one person has opined that “Most people over-estimate what they can get done in a day and under-estimate what they can get done in 5 years.”

And if you would like some more tips on “How To Work Out Your Basic Purpose In Life”, head on over to https://www.tomgrimshaw.com/tomsblog/?p=37862

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How Civilizations Fail

A lesson in productivity, or lack of it

This is how people fail, organisations wither and die and civilizations vanish from view. The individuals are not able to quickly and efficiently perform the functions of their job thus wasting their own time, the time of their colleagues and customers and thus take too long to produce a product and lose business.

When you register a domain name you have a choice of which Registrar to use.

I have used TPP Wholesale to register Australian domain names and GoDaddy for my .com domains. I will no longer.

Nearly 50 days ago I submitted a support request to TPP as I needed to change details on one of my Australian domains.

Twice I received an email saying they acknowledge receipt of my request, apologised for the delay and will get back to me.

Instead of supplying the answer to my request R at TPP asked to confirm if it was still required.

“Hi Thomas,

I was reviewing the last ticket that you have submitted handled by the previous support representative. It seems that this was left on pending status. Our Apologies.

Given the delay, can you confirm if this issue has been resolved yet? If not, kindly provide details of your concern. In the meantime, I will set the ticket to waiting for response status, if there are any further outstanding issues please do reply and I will be attending to your enquiry.

Again, we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience.

Kind regards,
R”

I replied,

“G’day R,

You may tell your supervisor that taking 47 days to respond (not resolve, merely respond for additional data) to my support request was the single worst support incident I have experienced in my entire 73 years. It has caused me to make the decision to move my business elsewhere.

Please provide the necessary information to migrate my 6 domain names currently registered with you to another registrar.”

R replied, “The delay was due to our customer service department undergoing a transition, which unfortunately affected our response times. We understand how important timely support is, and we regret that this situation impacted your experience. Please be assured that we are already addressing the issue and improving our processes to ensure faster responses moving forward.

We understand if you would like to proceed transfer your domains to another registrar. The domain transfer will begin with your new registrar by supplying them with your domain transfer password (EPP, auth-code or domain password). Once the transfer has been initiated by the new registrar, a notification will be sent to the registrant contact email address which the registrant needs to confirm the transfer.”

without providing the EPP necessary to do so. I responded.

“G’day R,

I am going to be very honest and very blunt. You will shortly have the choice to make this a vary valuable learning experience or just dismiss it out of hand as a rant from a grumpy old man. While it may appear that your decision will not affect me in the short term, your long-term success is nevertheless important to me. Your chances for future success in business will be indicated by your choice. Choose wisely.

You say how “our customer service department undergoing a transition, which unfortunately affected our response times” like it is an explanation rather than a confession of an epic customer service catastrophe, a damning indictment of poor management planning re the transition and complete disregard for customer satisfaction. Which is why your organisation lost me as a customer.

Then you tell me what needs to be done without providing the necessary data to do so.

Your future personal productivity and potentially your success, or lack of it, will depend in part on understanding what the customer needs in order to be able to do what they need to do and helping them obtain what they need with a minimum of wasted time and communication.

From an alternative contact at TPP I have received the EPP for 5 of my registered domain names but not that for xxxxxxxxx.xxx

Please supply this at your earliest convenience.”