When I was twenty something, I went on a quest to try and find a series of life principles that would carry me through the rest of my life. I needed the principles to be timeless, practical and all encompassing.

In this video I relate the three principles that I have endeavored to rigorously apply to my life. I’ve found them to be liberating, powerful and a beacon for me to follow in every circumstance that I have found myself in.

I hope you enjoy what I share and find some merit in applying these principles to your own life. If you’ve found the video thought provoking then don’t forget to leave a comment, like or subscribe.

Have you ever found yourself overwhelmed by the number of things on your todo list or find yourself fighting battles on numerous fronts at once only to discover someone’s planted a knife in your back? If that’s you then keep on reading…..

Thankfully I didn’t have to pluck a metaphorical knife from my back but my todo list was ever expanding. I’m no stranger to working hard so naturally I convinced myself that working longer and more intensely was the solution…..boy was I wrong.

The interesting thing about my situation was that I was juggling way too many business opportunities, all the while ParkLogic was having one record month after another. So, I found myself working fifteen-hour days with a maximum of six hours sleep before hitting my desk once again. You can do this in the short-term but it wasn’t long before it started becoming the longer-term….which is never a good thing.

What did I do about the situation? I went away. Yep, I took off for a couple of nights into a beautiful spot in the country to do some heavy thinking. To be fair, my wife said, “You’re miserable, go and get your head right!”

Determining your own limitations is often necessary for your very survival but are you placing limitations upon yourself that you’ve accidentally embraced? As we journey through life there are many well meaning people that say things to us that impose limitations upon our thinking. Isn’t it time to snap the shackles of good intentions?

A silly example of this can be a belief that you can’t sing. You may not be able to sing like Pavarotti but “can’t sing?”, I think not. It’s the rare individual that can’t actually sing but most of the population have bought into limitation that not only can’t they sing but for the sake of those people around them, they shouldn’t sing.

Have you allowed others to limit what you are capable? Such as, you have to work to pay the mortgage, so the bank now sets the limits for your own life. You can’t start that business you’ve always wanted to because of the financial risk. You have a sense that you’re in a mess and you can’t do anything without disaster befalling you.

You could believe that last statement or make decisions that break the bindings of the limitations that you have embraced for your life. Sometimes a simple decision maybe to just sell the house....

A number of years ago Roselyn and I were having a cup of tea and lamenting the fact that our two eldest children were wanting to borrow our second car all the time. Sometimes they wanted the car at the same time and we had to have the wisdom of Solomon to decide who could borrow it.

I’m finally back after an extended five-week vacation and the recent ICANN meeting in Abu Dhabi. It’s amazing how much can transpire in such a relatively short time…..it’s clear the domain industry doesn’t rest for anyone.

From a personal perspective I would highly recommend to everyone that you take some time off from the hectic life we all lead. One or two weeks is great but there’s nothing quite like at least four weeks help you really think about your life.

During my time away, I had numerous epiphanies while I sipped on yet another drink with a little umbrella stuck in the top. By the way, when you’re on vacation you really need quite a number of the umbrella type drinks as they seem to assist the thinking process a lot. It was during these times that my mind began to really contemplate what the domain industry is all about.

For the first time in a while I began to really think about questions such as, “What really is domain traffic?”, “How to solve scaling development?”, “What other domain revenue streams are possible?”, “Is it possible to generate quality traffic for a domain?”. All good questions that continue to require more thought.

I also began to contemplate some “life” questions. For instance, I reconfirmed that I really enjoy what I do. I love building ParkLogic, working the team and David Gibbs, my business partner. As you may have guessed, writing articles for whizzbangsblog continues to be a passion and I consider it a privilege to have friends in the industry from all over the world.

While Roselyn and I strolled around Lake Garda in the Italian Alps chatting about what we planned to do over the next few years we received a phone call from our son, Timothy. Some of you may remember Tim as he helped man a ParkLogic booth at DomainFest a number of years back. A very short summary of the call was, “Dad, I’m thinking of asking my girlfriend to marry me. What do you think?”

We were both so excited and happy at the news! The very next day he asked Ruth if she would marry him and she said “yes!” How great is that!

It goes to show that when you think you have everything in place that something can completely blindside you (for better or worse). The next time you get away and start thinking about your life never forget there may be a little surprise along your journey! In the meantime, we need to plan a wedding ?

Have a great week!

In this article, I’m going to make myself a little vulnerable as you read about some of my innermost thoughts. I hope and pray, that you respect this as well as receive some additional insight into what makes Michael Gilmour tick. Ultimately, my goal is to hopefully encourage you to think about your own life and what’s important to you.

Over the years I’ve found people journey through life in one of three ways:

1. They avoid making decisions as much as possible and let others make the decisions for them. This is like being flotsam on the water and tossed back and forth while blaming everyone else for the mistakes you find yourself in.
2. They make decisions based upon what is directly in front of them at that point in time. This is like playing a game of chess by looking one move ahead….you’re unlikely to get anywhere.
3. They have a core sense of purpose which is based upon a set of beliefs that influence everything they do. Sometimes this core set of values is articulated while most of the time it comes of a sense of what is right and wrong.