Moderator Training

I experienced an 8-hour workshop called Moderator Training with the Dubai chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization that had some profound revelations.  Being a “Moderator” is a special training for our “Forum.”  Forum is a group of 8-10 members who meet once a month for a 4-hour deep dive meeting on business, relationships and everything in between.  It’s one of the most important days of my month.

In Moderator training, the instructor emphasized how effective it is to communicate with “experience shares” versus “giving advice.”

If you had a problem with your sales director and someone else said, “I think you should XYZ” they are giving you advice and putting themselves ABOVE you.

Instead if the other person said, “In my experience, I once had a sales director who…XYZ” and then told a story that he or she experienced, that person is now at the same LEVEL as you.  There is no one above the other.  

It’s then your job to take whatever insights or value you get from the story.

Giving advice, while it can be helpful, is not useful most of the time.  It puts someone above the other person.  And is the person giving advice really speaking from true first-hand experience and knowledge?  Usually not.

Experience shares are powerful!

Epic Board Game Nights

There’s a sub-group in the EO Dubai community for those who LOVE board games.  I joined the group and noticed that no one was initiating events.

I decided to host a game night for 10 people to play Settlers of Catan, my favorite board game of all time.  

In 1 hour after announcing the event, all of the spots were filled AND we had a waitlist!  People love this game.

I like how board games bring out peoples’ true natures.  You can see the competitive side come out.

The event was a blast and the winner even got a 600 AED restaurant gift certificate (about $160 USD).  

The only thing was…I won both rounds!  I gave the grand prize  to the second place person instead.

And made a lot of great memories…

And have bragging rights 😉

Meditating

I couldn’t figure out HOW to make meditating a real habit.  I tried to do it in the morning, or midday but it never stuck.  I’d always get distracted or have to run out the door.

Instead, I decided to START small and make it ridiculously easy.

So easy that I didn’t even have to get out of bed!

I’d like to meditate for 20 minutes, but started with 12.

Before I go to sleep, I put some water by my bed side.

When I wake up, I drink some water to hydrate, use the bathroom if needed, and then sit up in my pajamas Indian style on my bed and start a timer for 12 minutes.  

I breathe in through my nose for 3-5 seconds and out through my nose because it has a very calming effect.  After 5-10 of these breaths, I just try to notice my breaths and see what happens.  Thoughts come in and out, but I don’t care.

When the timer goes off, I stretch for a bit and start my day.

So far, I haven’t missed a day!

And next week it goes up to 15 minutes 🙂