A Daydreamer's Exciting Plan For The New Year

This is an exciting time of year. Not only is it the holiday season it’s also the time of year I get excited about my new ideas and spend lots of time daydreaming about it. This morning I caught myself daydreaming at the gym in a big way. I couldn’t remember if I finished an exercise or not. I was deep in thought about a new speech that I’m preparing for corporate events in 2010. The topic is Fear and Judgment. In my mind while working out, I broke down all the components I need to perform a powerful and empowering speech. I get a lot accomplished when I work out.

Back in 1999 while everyone was running around in the office getting ready for the Y2K bug, I was busy daydreaming about my future. I sat inside my little cubicle and daydreamed about my ideal job. I daydreamed about having an office, traveling to the United States, like businessmen with a corporate credit card and company cell phone. I dreamed about my ideal salary. I even daydreamed about a day when I wouldn’t have to rush my workout in the morning to get to a “nine-to-five” job. A decade In Review: 2000 to 2009 reveals how many of my daydreams were achieved.

Now that it is the end of 2009, I spend a lot of time daydreaming about the future. I daydream about speaking to large crowds and the tools that I will use that will benefit the audience. I daydream about my own television show, coaching people into living happier lives. I daydream about hosting a radio show with a co-host, diving deeper into behavioral issues, and I daydream about my book being a Best Seller. Come to think of it I daydream a lot.

So now you know why I am so excited about the New Year. I want to accomplish a lot, but I also want to have fun doing it or I won’t want to do it - that’s just the way I am. That's why everything I plan on accomplishing in 2010 is fun and exciting and is leading to a bigger vision. Here is what I have planned so far:

• Vision / Mission Statement
• Representation (Can/US)
• Fear/Judgment Presentation
• TV Show
• Book
• Radio Show
• Art Workshop
• Awareness Seminars
• Awareness Research Paper
• Fiji or pacific vacation

From time to time I’ll check back to this post to measure my success. I will check mark projects that are accomplished and I will write a blog about it. I don't see any reason why I wouldn't be able to finish everything by the end of the year. However, anything could happen that will take me down a different path, and that too is okay.

Happy Holidays!

Bruno LoGreco Life Coach & Mentor

A Daydreamer's Exciting Plan For The New Year

A Decade In Review: 2000 to 2009

Another year has come and gone and next month will mark the end of an era. So much has happened in the past 10 years. Where do I even start? Sure there’s been a lot of negative stuff like: 9/11, war, global warming and the list goes on and on. I’d rather reflect on the good things that happened instead. But I do want to take a moment to give thanks to the Universe and Mother Earth for the opportunity to live “life” and to enjoy it here with Mother Earth – Thank you!

At the end of 1999 while everyone was preparing for Y2K – the millennium computer software bug, I was busy daydreaming about my future. A new millennium was near and I believed in dreams so I dreamt big. I dreamt many wonders and wished for many things, some of which I am still working towards and others which I accomplished.

2000 to 2009 Accomplishments

• Secured employment at a major pharmaceutical company
• Numerous achievements throughout professional career including:
• Consolidated vendor and procurement teams
• 10 + Millions in savings through various negotiations
• Held local, national, North American and global positions
• Traveled to India
• Life Coached
• Opened Consulting Company
• Numbers Achievements during this period
• Opened Pet Company
• Professional Life Coach
• Mentor to summer students
• Wrote Countless Articles
• Wrote Mini E-Book
• Wrote E-book
• Created Workshops
• My Theory about life
• TV Personality
• Appeared on Save Us From Our House
• Reoccurring role on Style by Jury
• CFRB 1010 Radio
• Motivational Speaker

I wonder what I can accomplish in the next decade?

What about you, think about everything you accomplished this past decade. Write everything on a piece of paper and put it somewhere. If you don’t feel you have any accomplishments think harder because everyone has some - big or small. You’ll thank me one day. If you still come up short then it might be a good idea to create some.

Bruno LoGreco Life Coach & Mentor

A Decade In Review: 2000 to 2009

I Got Fired Today For Being Insecure

I’ve had my share of insecurity throughout life, I deal with the ones I do find as I go. I also suspect that I will continue to uncover new ones as I mature and experience new things. Insecurity is what will allow me to grow. For me, insecurities equal to fear - I like to face fear square in the face because I learn from my experiences and grow from them.

EVERYONE has insecurities about something or another, if anyone tells you otherwise they’re lying. What I find fascinating is how everyone deals with his or her insecurity. Some will openly communicate it, while a large majority will keep it quiet.

Often people believe that I am very confident and secure with myself. For the most part I am but I still have insecurities about certain aspects of my life. For example: I know my writing skills are less than average. Sometimes I don’t finish my thoughts and I ought to consider hiring a grammar tutor. And yet, I still blog and write articles and share it across the Internet for everyone to read. Do you think I doubt myself and feel insecure when I’m just about to publish something? I totally do, I get doubtful and think, "What if I didn't articulate my thoughts properly?" I even fear that someone will judge my writing skills or poo-poo my thoughts and will let me know, and they have. But I always go back to why I started this blog, and one of the reasons I write is to improve my writing skills, and to develop ideas and tools - a vehicle to dump my thoughts. So why would I allow another’s judgment to interfere with my growth?

A lot of people are afraid of being judged - what another person will say about you, but fear is natural. Fear is a survival instinct coded in your physiological makeup – it’s part of you. Fear is also the barrier between you and success. Unfortunately, you must be judged in order for you to learn what you need so you can overcome the barrier and become successful.

Confidence is what allows you to be open to judgment. I’m not arrogant to believe I know it all because I never will. I also know there is a left, a center, and a right, all with different viewpoints, and with a set of morals and values. Comments, feedback and criticism - all help me learn more about different personalities, behaviors and the impact of culture. What I am confident about is that I don't know everything and that I will learn as much as I can as I go. My confidence is developed by facts. The fact that I do not know everything and could only learn it day by day outweigh my insecurities.

Bruno LoGreco Life Coach & Mentor

I Got Fired Today For Being Insecure

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up - I'M STUCK!

I'm often asked why do people get stuck in life? I tell them it’s because you stopped learning about the fundamentals of life: Life is about continual growth preceding your final moment. If you aren't learning, you're definitely not growing, and if you aren't growing, you are stuck! Break the routine and try something new. Learn a new skill, challenge your mind, and step outside the box.

Young men and woman in their early 20’s, after graduating from college often feel stuck and don’t know which direction to move towards. They face pressure from family and peers to quickly fall into a role or to find a job based on education. They lack inspiration and confidence and feel overwhelmed to take a decision and to stick to it. They fear they won’t be successful in their chosen field.

Adults in there 40’s and into there 50’s will fall stuck too. If they settled into “a lifestyle”, stopped learning and the mind isn’t stimulated, they will risk falling “stuck” and some could even experience a mid life crisis. They will feel like they aren’t contributing, disconnected, and unworthy, and some will feel like time is running out. The job they settled for 20 years ago isn’t what they thought they would be doing at their age.

If you’re a young adult or mature adult, consider writing your goals before coming into the responsibilities that life will throw at you. Imagine doing as many things as you can without any limitations. Write them all down in a book. If you can do a brain dump of all your aspiration, dreams and hopes, everything you can think of doing before you come into responsibilities: Marriage, children, debt, employer, etc., your mind won’t be distracted by the level of noise you will encounter in the coming years. Return to the book every so often and add new ideas. Take your education and add it to your dream and create your ideal job. Don't settle!

Hopefully, if you create this book and continue to write your ideas and goals, you won’t be one of those people that feel stuck when you turn 40 or 50 years old.

But if you are stuck, answer the following questions. HINT: the answer to each question must come from within, no external roles/titles:

• Who am I?
• What makes me happy?
• What excites me?
• What are my core values?
• If there were no limitations what could I do?

Bruno LoGreco Life Coach & Mentor, Motivational Speaker, TV Personality

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up - I'M STUCK!

"Where do I start?" "What if I suck and fail?" "Can I really make a go at it"

People spend more time asking questions than actually doing anything at all. They enjoy sitting around in the same spot, day after day, asking the same questions, producing the same results each time. "Where do I start?" "What if I suck and fail?" "Can I really make a go at it" Day after day they imagine the same conclusion for each question, never taking a stab at anything.

I feel bad for those people. If I only had a magic wand I would use it to take the lazy and the procrastination bug out of them. Just in case you don’t know, perfectionists typically are procrastinators. They only do what they do well, and will put off everything they believe they don’t do well. They experience major anxiety, stressing about the outcome. However, more often than not they do finish the task. Lazy people like to complain and bitch about everything including how nothing ever goes there way and how much bad luck they have. They bitch about doing NOTHING.

Bad luck! For what - poor choices? It cracks me up.

A few years ago I started a pet company. It opened and then closed on the same day. I had no clue how to even start a pet company when I first embarked on that project. The only thing I knew was that I wanted to develop a 2-in-1 dog harness/jacket. So that’s where I started.

I required a prototype of my idea and the only person I knew who could develop it was a designer. So I contacted the International Academy Of Design and asked HR how to go about posting a job at the school for a new graduate. HR was a wealth of information, they told me everything from the hiring process, to wages, everything I needed to know about hiring a designer. That piece of the puzzle was easy to solve.

Next, I had to find a manufacture to produce the final product. I Googled "manufactures" and found thousands all over the world. I also came across government resale regulations. Labeling, hang tags, etc.

Next it was time to find wholesale buyers - They were easy to find too. I found a good chunk of the pet industry at a local trade show. Manufactures, buyers, sellers, distributors, everyone I would eventually need to meet were there. I learned so much about the pet industry that day. All the information I needed to know about starting a pet company, appeared as I needed it.

A storefront wasn't feasible, but a website was. Web designers are a dime a dozen so finding one wasn’t difficult. After a few discussions with the designer to brainstorm ideas, an image – a brand was agreed upon and development on the website was underway. I guess this is what Malcom Gladwell author of The Tipping Point meant. I’d hit the point of no return with the pet company – I was in the Pet Industry and could learn all the ins and outs of the 42 Billion Dollar industry and claim my piece of the pie.

On launch day I was very excited. My very first pet company. I was very proud of my accomplishment. Considering, I had no prior knowledge of the pet industry when I first decided to develop the 2-in-1 Harness/Jacket - there was also a gorgeous, leather collar with a silver locket with the company logo: hero+destiny. It was a beautiful piece – a jewelry store wanted to resell it.

hero+destiny was a big flop. Tens of thousand of dollars and a professional career – ALL GONE! Just like that. In less time than it took to develop it. No school other than the school of hard knock could teach me what I learned during this phase of my life. Although the company was a big flop, for me it was a huge success. I did what I set out to do - to start a pet company. You’re right, no the pet company wasn't successful, but I was. I started and finished what I set out to do and success is exactly that.

I learned about a new industry. I learned how to write a business plan and to start a company. I traveled to India and learned about a new culture, and a long the way I started to mentor summer students on how to start a summer company, and another door swung wide open.

That’s where you start. Get inquisitive, learn something new, get out of your head and stop asking yourself questions that you can't answer. Nobody really knows if you will be successful or not until you do it. Be smart, use your brain. Keep moving forward and don’t get stuck on something that didn't happen your way - Who cares? Look for the benefit of the experience instead, because if you do another door will open.

Bruno LoGreco Life Coach, Mentor, Motivational Speaker and TV Personality.

"Where do I start?" "What if I suck and fail?" "Can I really make a go at it"

The Art of Expression

Bottling your emotions is self-destructive. I never understood why “men don’t cry”, and “woman must be strong and not show signs of weakness”. The physiological makeup of your body isn’t designed to suppress emotions, its designed to feel and to express it. When you express how you feel it releases pent-up emotions brewing deep within you.

The Art of Expression allows you to dispel bottled emotions. You dissolve limiting beliefs, anger, and frustration developed by past experiences. The ability to freely express your emotions constructively frees your soul from the burden and the pain smothering you with each passing step. It clears the path to allow for new experiences – positive and memorable ones.

The path of experiences is long and sometimes heavy, especially if you walk backwards and could only see past experiences. With every step taken a new experience is created and many new experiences resemble a lot like your past. How you discern each step - the experience from it, will be what falls onto the path for you to face.


Art is a source of expression. It appeals to the senses and emotions. Through The Art of Expression your sensori-emotinal values, the values which makeup your judgment of sentiment, can recreate and express hurt, pain, suffering, love, joy or bliss, or any combination. With colour and depth, an abstract of your emotions, a visual representation of how you feel is created - Your real emotions released…

Bottling your emotions will do nothing for you. It will imprison you, and you won’t be able to turn around and walk forward in your own life. Your confidence and self-esteem will tumble to the ground and those too will be another past experience.

“The Art of Expression heals people. Its very calming and satisfying,” explains Ray Mantella. Ray is an artist and close friend. Ray’s work is featured at New York’s Amsterdam Whitney Gallery and in galleries worldwide. Ray and I share similar philosophies, “Do what you love and success will come from it.” Together we are planning a weekend workshop – The Art of Expression. Details Coming Soon.

Bruno LoGreco Life Coach & Mentor, Motivational Speaker and TV Personality.

The Art of Expression

Oppositional Defiant Disorder - What's That?

The topic ‘medication’ often strikes a nerve in me. I’ve been fortunate to not ever be prescribed medication for any ailment nor mental disorder. I did take Zyban, aka Wellbutrin, in my mid twenties to quit smoking and again in my 30’s. My first experience with Zyban was not fun. I almost lost my job because it screwed me up so bad that I could not function nor comprehend a whole lot while I was on it. But that’s not what this blog post is about.

I want to start by saying that I do agree a small percentage of the population do require medication for their mental disorders. The medication helps those people live a healthier and fuller life. However, I also believe there are people taking medication, including children, which do not need it. Just like anything else, medication is a business and corporations need to make money and they do so by selling to the public, through various distribution channels including medical professionals.

Last night I engaged in a discussion about mental disorders. Did you ever hear the expression, "You are what you believe you are"? If you hear something for long enough you begin to believe and act according to it. When someone as young at 14 or 15 is told they have a mental disorder, they tend to identify to it and will probably believe they do and will use it to describe who they are, as a person.

This mental disorder cracks me up: Oppositional Defiant Disorder, ODD. Whatever happened to getting to the root cause? Learn and understand why the child is defiant and angry. If you listen carefully, children will tell you what is going through their mind and why they are angry, but you have to be willing to listen. Children go through an enormous amount of pressure during their developmental years. ANYTHING can alter their behavior to the point where the child could believe he or she is alone and isolated, and that NOBODY could possibly understand what they are experiencing – so they fight for their life, and yes become defiant. To some degree, every child and teenager will go through a phase of defiance, its fact of life.

The name itself, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, ought to provoke questions before parents permit their children to take medication that alter the mind. A separation, divorce, multiple relocations and even sexual identity, all have the makings to create ODD. Ask Children the proper question and get to the root of the problem before agreeing to medication.

Compassion and nurture will go a long way in defiant children. They already feel distant and isolated from the world, a little love and understanding will make them feel better about themselves. So before making them believe they have a mental disorder and that something is wrong with them, lets get back to the basics of human understanding.

Bruno LoGreco Life Coach & Mentor, Motivational Speaker & TV Personality

Oppositional Defiant Disorder - What's That?

How Much Are You Willing To Sacrifice For Your Dream?

I know you work hard to buy all your possessions. To maintain a roof over your head and to put food in your mouth, not to mention all the other responsibilities you have in order to maintain your lifestyle - Clothing, transportation, insurance, wireless device, and lets not forget your social life. You might even have a spouse and children to support.

Salary Based Lifestyle

Your lifestyle is based upon your salary. You might even be one of those people that live beyond their means and work a second job to pay for some expenses. Luxuries are nice to have and sometimes you extend your limit and indulge into something sweet. You do go over your monthly budget from time-to-time and spend more money than you made in that month, but sometimes you spend less than you budgeted and save the money for a rainy day.

A few extra hours at work each week will buy you vacation time. The extra money you earn for working overtime is saved to take a vacation somewhere warm to breakup the cold winter months. Then, when you least expect it, something unforeseen goes terribly wrong and the money you saved for the trip next year is gone.

How much of it are you willing to sacrifice?

I gave it all up. I sacrificed my entire lifestyle to pursue a career with no promises. I didn’t even keep my professional career while starting my coaching career. Nope, I jumped in with both feet, directly into the abyss - A bottomless drop into the unknown.

When I first became self-employed I barely could make ends meet. I was the new kid on the block. I had to pay my dues and build a reputation. I did it by accepting free clients. Month after month I worked for free, learning and developing tools for my practice. After several months of developing my tools, I was finally ready for a paying client.

A Dream Career

Next month I will have been self-employed as a professional Life Coach for 3 years. In 3 years I accomplished more for myself than I did in the previous 32 years when I believed my lifestyle was determined by my salary. I had to give it all up. I had to sacrifice my income, lifestyle, all of it, it was the only way for me to achieve the success I get to enjoy today.

In 3 years – the average time it takes to develop a successful business, I’ve climbed out of the Abyss and into my dream career. 3 years ago I didn’t have a clue where I would be today, but looking into my future I know where I will be in 5 years from now.

How much of it are YOU willing to sacrifice for your dream?

Bruno LoGreco Life Coach & Mentor, Motivational Speaker & TV Personality

How Much Are You Willing To Sacrifice For Your Dream?

Get Lost and Stop Trying To Control Me!

The power to influence or direct people’s behavior is real mighty. It’s a tremendous power with extraordinary capabilities. Some people believe they possess this extraordinary capability and live their life doing exactly that - imposing their views onto others. They believe there is only one way to the top of the mountain – and they have no problem showing you the way.

Satisfaction is the motive and validation is the reward. They will take you to the top of the mountain to prove their worth. You are happy because you reached the top and are thankful for their support. They bask in glee and do it again and again until come someone that knows another way. They will shout and scream hoping to shoo them away.

They believe control is all they have, and if they lose it they fear there will be nothing left for them - everything will go away and they will be left alone. But, if they can control it, it might last forever. So they try to control the course of events to play out in their favor so not to lose anything or anyone.

What he or she doesn’t realize is that slowly but surely everyone is being driven away, anyhow. After they drive everyone away, they feel unworthy and undeserving, but just for a few days. Within no time they will be back on their feet thinking of another way to prove their worth with new unsuspecting players.

Control - A Beautiful Thing

Control is a beautiful thing but only when it is self directed. When you try to control other people or course of events outside of your control you go against the natural flow of energy. When this happens you are often greeted by disappointment and anger, and you will feel defeated.

The truth is nobody has the power to influence nor direct people’s behavior, and if you do it short lived – it never lasts although you may believe it does. The only influence you have over anyone is the power to control yourself.

Bruno LoGreco Life Coach & Mentor

Get Lost and Stop Trying To Control Me!

Go Ahead, Think About It...

A quiet mind is a beautiful mind - Free from thought, the mind is in its purest form - Imaginative, creative, and expressive, a blank canvass guided by morals and values. Mindfulness and intuitive it seeks exploration to build upon it strengths and wonders, creating brilliance and extraordinary masterpieces.

A noisy mind is a confused mind – Fragmented into a web of thoughts, tangled between reality and illusion. Uncertain to what is real and what is not, emotions ignite and new experiences are created. Confusion will prevail as behaviors develop, and much time will be spent dreading past experiences searching for the perfect outcome in a web of tangled thoughts.

So the choice is yours: A noisy and confused mind tangled in a web of thoughts, mostly illusions which cause nothing but heartache, or a quiet beautiful mind free to explore and to create brilliance, something that is desired. All it takes is a conscious thought – a conscious decision on what you choose to think.

Which will you choose? Go ahead, think about it...

Bruno LoGreco Life Coach & Mentor, Motivational Speaker & TV Personality

Go Ahead, Think About It...

Past Experiences - The Hiccup To Your Future

Are you one of those people who hang onto past experiences and let it define who you are? Did you know that when you hang on to the past you let it determine your future? You may believe you will never experience it again because you have learnt from it, but what you are really doing when you relive the past is put all the pieces in place to repeat history.

An experience gone badly that you rewind and play again and again in your mind is reliving the experience, emotions and all. Every time you replay what happened and wish you could have done it differently, your imagination runs wild and will try to create different outcomes. Each outcome you imagine, although not real, will send a jolt of emotions throughout your body. You will believe it is real, because the emotions are real.

The process of rethinking negative experiences and creating a number of different outcomes will only condition your brain into believing what is not true. Unfortunately, your brain does not know the difference between true and untrue it only knows what you tell it to believe. When you experience a jolt of emotions because your imagination ran wild, you essentially condition your brain into believing the experience is true.

Thinking in this way will have the following consequences to your future:

1. When the environment becomes familiar and you recognize similar feelings, you will approach it with caution if you approach it at all. If you do approach it you will try to minimize the impact by controlling the situation, and if you don’t approach it for fear of repeating history, you miss out on a potential opportunity.

2. You fool yourself into believing what is not really happening. You draw upon your past experiences, including the untrue ones, as you try to avoid repeating history. You will be adamant that something is happening that in reality is not really happening and you risk losing what you do have. You self sabotage for fear of history repeating itself.

In both cases you miss out on the real opportunity and history is repeating itself and will continue until you break the cycle.

You learn from past experiences you don’t take it with you into the future. You learn why you got burnt: I allowed someone to take advantage of me because I craved his or her attention. You learn why you are afraid: I was unprepared for the event so the feedback was negative.

The problem is never them, you’re the problem. History will repeat itself until you learn from your past rather than taking it with you. Flip the experience upside down and look at yourself. Ask yourself, “Why did I allow that to happen?” If you start by saying he or she and are looking for someone to blame other than yourself, start over again.

Bruno LoGreco Life Coach, Mentor, Motivational Speaker, TV Personality

Past Experiences - The Hiccup To Your Future