After having the honour of being included in the Personal Development List and being invited to participate by Priscilla Palmer I felt a wave of pride. I know the list is long and it’s easy to get lost in it, but it feels good to be acknowledged. It shows that my efforts here do not go completely unnoticed. I don’t give nearly enough acknowledgement to other blogs in my posts, although there are so many great writers out there, so today I can make myself feel a little better by giving something back.

My favourite self development blogs so far, or as I prefer to call them places of inspiration are:

I am really grateful for the inclusion of my blog on the list. I am glad to be of service.

The full list is via this link to Priscilla’s blog.

In a post I made in July about having some "Car Trouble". I told the story of how I attracted a large amount of drama into my life during a period of a week or two. My life since has not seemed anywhere near as dramatic since then, which I see as good, although it gives me less interesting material to write about! Still I am not going to wish for any particular situations one way or another regarding this due to what I am about to mention in this post.

It is the following chapter in the story. One month ago my insurance claim was settled for my old car and therefore the shiny red, new sporty car I had been provided with had to go back. I had 7 days more driving of it and then it would be collected. Unfortunately the claim on my old car left me with nowhere near enough money to buy a new car, so I would be without wheels and reliant on the train for getting to work, so I remember making an affirmation to myself whilst driving the new car during that last week. I only said it once and then forgot about it.

Please listen… "Be careful what you wish for because you might just get it". This article explains why this is more than just a smug-sounding cliché

What I "wished" as I was driving the car home was this "I want to keep this car for as long as I possibly can even though it is scheduled to go back in 7 days".

What followed was uncanny. For three weeks that car sat on my driveway, unable to be driven because I was no longer insured to drive it. On 3 separate occations somebody was due to collect it and they never turned up at my house. One of these occasions they even called me to ask if they could come and collect the car "within the hour sir" and they never showed. I had to call the company 3 times to remind them that the car was still in my posession and that I was getting really frustrated seeing as I couldn’t drive it. I just wanted it gone! All it was doing was reminding me that I couldn’t drive this lovely car, which just annoyed the heck out of me! Every representative of the car company that I spoke to was shocked that I still had the car on my drive. "That’s unbelievable. This has never happened before".

So to summarize. I wished I could have the car for as long as possible, longer than I should have it. I did. What I realize now that I should have affirmed to myself was ""I want to keep this car for as long as I possibly can even though it is scheduled to go back in 7 days and legally be able to drive it! ". Oh how it all makes sense now…

The car was collected this morning and now my drive is empty.

It’s travel checklist time again! I am going back to Phuket for a long (but not long enough) break. I’ll be making the most of my time there with my beautiful lady… or as I refer to her "teerak". This means "My Love" in Thai. In fact we say that word to each other so often at the beginning or end of nearly every sentence that it has become a bit of a habit in everything I say. Such is the power of repetition to form new habits! I will have to bite my tongue not to finish every sentence with "teerak" with everyone else I speak with in Thailand. That could create some awkward moments

It’s nice to be able to put some posts in the "Thailand" category again. It reminds me of when I had the idea for Leave The Office as being a website about travelling.

My trip will be more than just a break from work though. I’ll be doing some ground work in creating my new life there. I refer to it as a reconnaissance mission, gathering all the information and setting up stuff ready for the next mission, which will be the beginning of a new life. Will I sort myself out with a job or a business opportunity, will I decide to go back as an English teacher? Who knows, but whatever the outcome I am excited about it. I’m leaving the office even though it is taking me longer than I intended, admittedly that’s to do with me and nobody else, but I’ve honoured some important financial commitments now and so I just have a target of having a certain amount to get me started when I do get there.

If I didn’t get to leave the office then this website would pretty much lose all of it’s appeal don’t you think? It’s time for a new chapter, but don’t worry I am writing that chapter now. I know exactly when I will be leaving the office for good, but I am not willing to disclose that information right now.

I have one message for today. Life is an incredible gift, whoever and wherever you are. No exceptions. Those that spend much of it dissatisfied I say to you. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! I know I have already spent too much of my time feeling dissatisfied when all along I’ve had some wonderful talents and value to share with the world.

Wow… Evolution is an incredible thing! There is just no way of knowing where an idea will lead you. Even if you have a very clear vision of the end result, you still cannot predict exactly the twists and turns required to get there, no matter how much your own thoughts create your reality.

Just looking at this website today I have realized that it is a far cry from what it was when it began, which is great. Change indicates growth. So it’s official I’m growing! I know that Leave The Office is growing because I am attracting many more visitors than I was just a couple of months ago, but something is missing. There’s a bit of a fog ahead in that I don’t really know where to take this right now.

I’m not really worried about that. I know it is a reflection of where I’m at. I feel like I am about to emerge from a cocoon, transformed into a butterfly of opportunity and success. In fact, my blog over at PowerBook Studio looks like it is taking on the direction of my intitial idea for Leave The Office, which is leaving my regular job behind in search of a life in paradise.

So whilst PowerBook Studio will include updates on my personal progress in my business and career goals, Leave The Office is currently looking at the atlas and deciding where it wants to go next. Maybe a short hop overland or a long haul accross oceans and above mountains… What the hell am I talking about? I don’t know really, but what I think I’m trying to say is that Leave The Office may be saying good bye to Rob. At least from the perspective of the subject matter. What matters is my readers here. If I am to help inspire people to follow their dreams, which I want to do then I feel it is time to stop simply concentrating on personal updates and the story of how my life is going. Until I actually leave the office that story could get a little boring. It was my intention to leave the office life by now and it was almost realized, but due to a few financial commitments it has been put back. I am taking an extended trip back "home" to spend 5 weeks with my wonderful lady where I’ll also be finalizing some interesting plans and forging new business relationships. I promise that before very long I will provide the evidence necessary to convince readers that achieving the life of my dreams really is my intention. I wish to lead by example anyone who visits here searching for inspiration.

Here’s to the vivid beauty of the blank canvas of life!

I attended a wonderful event on Sunday 5th August called AKASHA 2007 in London.

Four truly great speakers who shared their wisdom and insight with us all day at the Palladium Theatre made the day one to remember for so many different reasons, mainly due to the fact that they all had very different energy to each other, making the event a very complete experience from spirituality to entrepreneurialism to reinforcing the message that we must all follow our dreams.

We were all treated to some great inspiration from the following speakers:

• Bob Proctor, who features in "The Secret"
• Dr. John DeMartini, who also features in "The Secret"
• Roger Hamilton, who redefines the term entrepreneur in his way of teaching.
• Getrude Matsche, who is so inspiring that I am going to devote a whole post to her. She deserves that much.

I will describe a little more about the event later, but right now I am not really able to find the right words to do it justice. In the meantime there is the opportunity to download the entire 2 hour presentation of Dr. John Demartini in audio format for free. It was certainly one of the highlights and it is only available for a limited amount of time and I want anyone who is reading now to have the opportunity to hear it. He is one of the best thinkers and teachers of our time, truly and it is a priviledge to have access to such information.

You can download the recordings here… so enjoy!

If anybody reads this post and subsequently downloads Dr. Demartini’s speech, then please consider leaving a donation here by way of thanks, although it is not necessary.