Red a second book of Paulo Coelho lately. The Zahir. Once again: inspiring. If you want to change, especially read page 191. And after you read it, read it again and again. And then: DO IT!

The essence is pretty simple: we constantly create stories in our mind about who we think we are or should be. Call it EGO. Those stories are about status, money, property, power… Those stories are nurtured by other people, friends, family, colleagues, institutions, neighbours…and you believe they are true.

However, a lot of these stories make you very unhappy. Repeat those stories over and over again and see how you will lose the wrong ones. This creates a lot of space for your own story, the real you. Don’t be ashamed that your story is totally different than what your environment expects. Don’t be ashamed that money, power and status become maybe less important. You will discover a new environment in which you will feel a lot better and ALIVE. Every day is a new day to start a new life.

I like the way Buddha said it. Just read about The Four Noble Truths to get you going. I’m reading Buddha stories, rewritten for children, with my oldest daughter of 9. She loves it.

I had the opportunity to talk for a crowd of Belgian CIO’s about the importance of great teams. Hope I made a few of them think. Refered to the Belgian Bobsleigh Ladies who did so great in Vancouver. These girls have an amazing story. We are very proud we had them at the Belgian Hercules Trophies 2009. Fantastic ladies, real athletes, respect! We can learn a lot from them.

But they are not the only people who inspire me. Alvaro, the chief of Hercules Trophy Spain, has a rich background coaching students at the Real Madrid University. Stéphane and Mathieu, former Olympic Beachvolley team of France, are in the Hercules Trophy France organisation. And I can go on about the great talents our partners in Dubai, South-Africa and Hong-Kong have. Did I mention we are about to launch Hercules Trophy The Netherlands too?

Business people can learn from athletes how to create great teams and networks supporting them. Passion, adrenaline, endorfine, fun, training, common goals, focus… That’s why the Hercules Trophy has gathered so many fans over the past 10 years.

My presentation was just after the one of Jef Staes. Liked his speech on creating innovative organisations. Liked his ideas on “My Organisation is a jungle” and his Red Monkeys. Will read his books to get more inspiration. And I will also do some more Whuffie reading.