Greatness Every Day

 How to Give Constructive Criticism - There is a fine line between constructive criticism and destructive criticism and if your conversations result in the latter, it could do a lot of damage.

I have been on both sides of criticism. I’ve offered it to people when it was my responsibility and other times I’ve offered it when I felt like I knew how to do something better. I’ve received criticism in moments that I’ve needed it and also in times when I didn’t want to hear it…

Patterns are everywhere in our lives and I realized that I had a pattern I would follow when I was giving someone constructive criticism. It’s been interesting for me to develop these thoughts and identify when I first learned this framework and to be honest, it’s not very glamorous.

I didn’t learn it at a high-energy personal development conference. I didn’t gain this knowledge from an expensive mentorship program. I learned how to give constructive criticism when I first became a teacher.

I was teaching on the beautiful islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, in the Caribbean. As our first term was ending, I was responsible for preparing the Grade 5/6 class report cards at our small private school and I got together with a veteran teacher, who was also new to the school, to finish them.

The reporting format was different than the type I grew up with and I remember this teacher asking me “how have you done report cards in the past?” and then she burst out in laughter after realizing I hadn’t done a single report card ever and that I was always older than she thought I was.

After we stopped laughing, we sat down and she walked me through the process of writing report card comments. Fast forward five years later and I’ve realized that in many of my conversations I have with my students in which I have to give feedback, I’ve borrowed a lot from this process.

The process I use to give constructive criticism is broken down below:

I really believe that this process can provide you with a framework to follow when navigating the potentially uncomfortable situation of giving someone feedback. I know that when I’ve received criticism within a similar framework, I’m much more open to hearing what and why the person is offering it to me.

Perhaps the fine line between constructive criticism and destructive criticism doesn’t lie in what we say, but in how we say it.

Atomic Habits Book Review -  This is the Greatness Every Day podcast and in this episode I’ll give you a review of the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear.

This is Matt from the Greatness Every Day podcast and I want to say “thanks” for listening to this episode and I hope that you’re having a great week.

In today’s episode, we’re going to discuss my takeaways of the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. A book I would write - analytical, yet practical information and very easy to read.

I only want to share my takeaways, not everything, so you’ll read it for yourself!

Definition of atomic and habit.

My two takeaways:

Call-to-action: Get a copy of this book! Buy it, borrow it, get it at a library!

Review Podcast + connect with us on YouTube and Instagram if you haven’t already done that!

Thank you so much for listening. This is Matt, reminding you to choose greatness, every day and I’ll see you with another episode next Monday!

This is Matt from the Greatness Every Day podcast and I want to say “thanks” for listening to this episode and I hope that you’re having a great week. I’m feeling rested and rejuvenated for two reasons: 1) This weekend, we had our first sessions of the Greater Habits Coaching Program that I’m running and 2) I spent the past few days visiting friends and that time was really good.

Let’s jump into the topic for this episode and from the title “Make the DOING EASY” you probably can’t guess exactly what we’re talking about, but we’re going to talk about the physical environment and how important it is to creating and establishing habits in our lives. “THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT” isn’t something I’ve ever really thought about before until I took a course at university. One of my few non-science courses, but it blew my mind to start thinking and discussing how our environment affects our lives and it makes sense.

I’ve been in my apartment for four months now and I’ve had nothing for guests to sit on, other than a few uncomfortable kitchen chairs. I’ve had visitors, I’ve hosted a few people for up to a week and invited people over, but I just didn’t have the furniture for it to be comfortable. I could have easily gone out and bought some, but I’m pretty frugal when it comes to stuff (material items), but I’m not very frugal when it comes to other things. If I don’t need it, I’ll think long and hard about whether or not I should buy it. Let’s just say I’m not a huge fan of shopping, but after yesterday that might be changing…

I finally went and bought some furniture yesterday at IKEA and one of my favourite things I did was make a reading corner. This reading corner has one function - READING - and in my Greater Habits Coaching Program we are currently looking at which habits we have that we need to do more of. For me, reading is that habit without a doubt. I’ve made the goal of reading two books this week and that’s an insane goal because prior to last year, I didn’t even read two books in 12 years!

One of the things the book “Atomic Habits” by @james_clear discusses is that you should make it as easy as possible to do good habits and that’s what this corner does for me. (I'm also super into this book that I can't smile I guess, haha)

I’ve made reading a priority in my life because it lets me to connect to the great minds of our world. When I invest in myself, I’m not being frugal anymore - investing in your own growth is too important!

Call-to-action: Look at your room, house, work and think about what you can do to make it as easy as possible to create a new habit. If you have any questions about this, or anything else discussed in this episode, please contact me by email at [email protected].

Review Podcast + connect with us on YouTube and Instagram if you haven’t already done that!

I want to start today’s episode out by letting you know I am launching my first coaching program called the “GREATER HABITS COACHING PROGRAM” helping you elevate your life and reach the next level by teaching you about the values, habits, mindset, and structuring your life so that you dictate how you want your life to be, rather than letting life control you. Learn more by visiting our website at https://www.greatnesseveryday.online/greater-habits-coaching-program 

Today’s episode is inspired by a quote from Jay Shetty in a recent interview he did and Jay Shetty is someone I’ve really enjoyed following his story over the past few years. He kind of has experience with many different lifestyles - haha. He lived a pretty regular life growing up in London, England before becoming a monk and after he left that lifestyle he’s catapulted into the limelight with over 4 billion views and over 24 million followers. This guy clearly knows how to captivate an audience and I really believe that’s because he speaks truth.

The quote that inspired me was “The best use of your talents is when you use them to help other people.” and I totally agree with that and I hope that it inspires you today to live this out in your life this week.

Call-to-action: How will you use your talents this week to help other people. Don’t focus on trying to help everyone, because you won’t be able to, but focus on being able to help one person in your life. You never know how your actions will impact that person.

Review Podcast + sign up for our Greater Habits Coaching Program starting March 1st!

Thank you so much for listening. This is Matt, reminding you to choose greatness, every day and I’ll see you with another episode next Monday!

How to Deal With Stress (Recognize, Regulate, Respond) - In this video, I teach you how to deal with stress using the 3 R's method of recognize, regulate, and respond. This is a quick and easy method that will help you deal with the stresses in your life and move beyond them. You can start using this process right away and feel free to let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!

I want to start today’s episode out by letting you know I am launching my first coaching program called the “GREATER HABITS COACHING PROGRAM” helping you elevate your life and reach the next level by teaching you about the values, habits, mindset, and structuring your life so that you dictate how you want your life to be, rather than letting life control you. Learn more by visiting our website: https://www.greatnesseveryday.online/greater-habits-coaching-program 

I am launching my Greater Habits Coaching Program starting March 1st!

In this program you will learn how to gain clarity in your life; the habits of highly successful people; the mindset needed to create this change; how to structure your day, week, month, and year to ultimately create lasting change in your life.

How the program is structured:

Limited number of spots in the program, so sign up first! The regular price for this program is 99 USD, but from now until March 1st the early bird rate is 49 USD.

*Program begins March 1st, 2019

*There is a limited number of spots in this program, secure yours now!

*Money-back guarantee if you complete the entire program and still feel you didn't get the value for your money!

Click the link in our account to learn more about the program and how you can schedule your free discovery session with me today: https://www.greatnesseveryday.online/greater-habits-coaching-program

The 3 Currencies in Life (Money, Time, Energy) - In this video, I outline the 3 most important currencies we "spend" in our lives. We only have a limited amount of these three things, so how will you spend them?

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Interview with Jonathan Jones (TEDx Speaker, Author, Host) Join us for an exciting interview with Jonathan J. Jones. A TEDx speaker, author, and host of the Jonathan Jones Speaks podcast and he is sure to bring tons of value to your life during this conversation and challenge you to live your greatest life!

Invest in Yourself

I’ve spent many years wishing I had the opportunity to learn from the best in the world in different fields. It wasn’t until I started investing in myself that I started getting these opportunities.

A few years ago I spent a week training in Florida with some of North America’s top triathletes and I think about the things I learned during that time and they are worth way more than what it cost me to get there. I’m currently looking at taking the step in growing my business and have an extremely successful mentor that I’m learning tons from.

Both of these opportunities most likely wouldn’t have come my way if I hadn’t gone out actively searching for them and taking action to invest in myself and my future.

Before you take those next steps, I really want to make sure that you know what your priorities/values in life are because those are ultimately the things that should guide everything we do.

If we aren’t clear on what those are before we start taking “action” we could be running around hoping to find something fulfilling and could be missing the exact things that would bring ultimate fulfillment from the areas we’ve left behind.

How to Invest in Yourself:

Choose greatness, every day.

Connect with us:

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“Relationships last not because they were destined to last. Relationships last long because two people made a choice and commitment to keep it, fight for it and work for it.” - Jim Kwik

To love, and to be loved, can sometimes be hard. Relationships ultimately come down to two people choosing to be with each other through it all - the good and the bad. It involves tons of honesty, forgiveness, and understanding. Choose to have those tough conversations and learn from them, not run from them. All I need is the love that I believe in.

A little different theme than usual for today’s post, but when I read these words from Jim Kwik today, it reinforced everything I’ve been saying for years.

Choose greatness every day.