The Group of 8

Shine up the crystal ball

TD Canada predicts 2008 to be another big year for Saskatchewan home values. For the coming year, Saskatchewan will see a growth close to 28% and another 11% in 2009.

Of course, banks don't have crystal balls but their predictions are fairly accurate most of the time.

TD Canada also believes no other province will see double digit increases over the next two years.

What does this mean?

If you are thinking about moving or buying that new house, sooner is better than later.

How busy are you?

Count how many times you will here the word busy today. I estimate you will hear the phrase " I am so busy" between 5 to 10 times today.

Busy doing what?

Have you taken a diary of how your day is spent. How much time gets spent on emergencies such as urgent request, filling out forms, or putting out fires?

How many meetings do you attend to hear what people are doing or what they will be doing?

Is this what you get paid for?

What percent of your day involves work that will actually grow your business? What are you doing today that will be part of the next big break through for your business?

Excuses are easy to find to keep busy, but what happens to all our emergencies when we are on vacation? The world keeps spinning.

What would happen if you traded one hour a week from your busy emergencies and devoted that time to work on a creative project? How would your business change?

There is one way to find out.

Quitting

The word quitting usually reminds of us a negative thoughts. We think of quotes such as "quitters never win and winners never quit".

Even when quitting is a good thing, we still don't like to admit to quitting. If a smoker is quitting, that means they are still smoking. When they have quit smoking, then it becomes a positive, but the process of quitting is tough for us.

There's a line from the movie American Gangster that caught my attention. In the movie, the drug lord's supplier in Vietnam wisely remarked that quitting when ahead is not the same thing as quitting.

How true.

Seth Godin devoted an entire book on quitting called The Dip. One of the basic ideas in the book looks at how we continue down a roads that we know will be dead ends. We continue to travel that road in hope that it will change. We do so because we fear quitting.

The famous joke about the guy and the doctor give us a great example. Hey doctor, it hurts when I do this. What does the doctor say? Don't do that.

What are you doing that is hurting you? Why won't you quit? What do you need to do in order to gain the strength to stop doing what is taking you down a dead end road?

Customer Service

I experienced some good customer service today.  Not great, but good and that’s enough for me.  How sad that our standards have slipped to the point where yesterday’s mediocre is great.  Oh well, at least I got a smile for free!

Condo fire safety

Most of us are aware of the fire that destroyed a couple of businesses in downtown Saskatoon recently. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

It serves as a good reminder to have a plan in case of a fire. One often overlooked group is condo owners.

If you don't already know your condo's fire safety policy or plan, look into it right away, and be sure everyone in your home knows what to do if there is a fire.

Of course, all condo residents should be well aware of their escape routes in the event of an emergency, as well as alternate escape routes, in the event that some exits are impassible.   It is also recommended that residents keep a fire extinguisher and an emergency kit containing a flashlight, water bucket, towels, duct tape, and a loud whistle.

Whether you live in a condo or a house, it's always a good idea to identify a nearby, safe meeting place where family members can meet in the event of an emergency.

Embracing Winter

Yes, it’s that time of year again.  I’m having a remote starter installed on my van today.  I mentioned to someone that every day that there is no lasting snow on the ground is a good one for me.  Whoa – wait a minute!  I live in a climate that will predictably have winter for 4-8 months of the year.  Does that mean that every day of that 4-8 month period will be a bad day??

Time for an attitude adjustment!  I used to love winter when I was a kid?  How can I embrace the season?  Staying warm?  Getting out in the crisp cold?  Let’s not lock ourselves away from the world for 8 months – get out and enjoy!

cold hands, HOT economy

Wow, every year that first minus 20 day makes most of us think about why we are  living on the prairies, but by the fifth scraping of the car, or right after we buy a new winter coat, the awkwardness of having our nose hairs freeze or our toes go completely numb seem to almost disappear.

Let’s face the facts, even with the recent housing boom we have an incredible quality of life in Saskatchewan. Our disposable income is still one of the highest in the country even though our household income definitely is not. 2007 was a break our year economically for this province, massive government surpluses, high commodity prices, positive immigration, new legislature and soaring real estate prices to name a few. 2008 looks like it is going to be an even stronger year, with high potash and uranium prices, massive infrastructure spending,  increased immigration and right wing politics. I know this next statement falls on deaf ears a lot of the time but, GET EXCITED.

Brace yourself Saskatchewanians, we are a have province that is