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Martin Gilliard

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My Journal Entry For November 26th, 2022

Morning Routine, General Diary, Thoughts, and Ideas

A good nights sleep at home on my own again and got up early-ish and completed my morning routine.

Leaving horse bot as is for now, another small loss yesterday.

Day 3 for my son post transplant and so far he’s still doing Ok.

Another four world cup matches today.

Today I researched stocks to invest in and set buy orders to execute next week.

My turn to stay at the hospital today, will probably leave sometime late afternoon.

Food Diary

3 slices of toast, 3 fried eggs and two pork sausages.
 
Then another 2 sausages, then a pack of quavers and some mini cheddars.
 
For evening meal I had a vegetable cup-a-soup and a ham sandwich.
 

In the SAVERS acronym R is for Reading

My goal today is to read 20 minutes of my new book that I’ve decided to read… The 7 Levels of Communication: Go from relationships to referrals. 

My starting point for today is location 1239 or 54% complete.

My ending point for today was location 1401 or 61% complete.

In the SAVERS acronym, S is for Scribing

 
Keynotes from the book today were:
 
New book from The Seven levels book to add to my reading list The Go-Giver: A little story about a powerful business idea by Bob Burg and John David Mann GR: 4.34
  

My Core Journal

 

What did you achieve yesterday?

Yesterday (Friday 25th) I:
 
  • Created some walking club posts ✅
  • Set up the demo booking system with walking club events ✅
  • Had a great demo ✅
  • Started work on a draft proposal ✅

What would make today great?

2 to 3 tasks, see core journal – micro goals
 
My micro goals for today (Saturday 26th) are:
  • Research some shares to purchase ✅ and place orders to execute next week.
  • Read and take notes in my new note taking tool LogSeq.
  • Restore more of my Innovation-Creativity website.
My Journal Entry For November 25th, 2022

Morning Routine, General Diary, Thoughts, and Ideas

I had a pretty good nights sleep, even though I went to bed far too late last night, I think it was about 1:30 am. Got up at 8:45 am and completed my morning routine.

Leaving horse bot as is, it doesn’t do very well on the soft ground in the winter months.

Day 2 for my son and his new bone marrow and so far he’s doing Ok.

Another four world cup matches today with England v USA at 7pm, come on England!

I watched the Wales v Iran game. Wales lost 2 – 0 in the last minutes of the game. Looks like Wales might be going home

Today I prepared for my meeting with my potential walking club customer. Gave a demo to him, went well I think, although he will still have to get it by his committee members. After I wrote up a draft proposal that I will send to him next week. 

Watched the England USA game in the hospital with my wife and son, turned out to be quite a boring game that ended 0 – 0.

While demoing our booking system to the potential walking club customer, I noticed that the make sure you complete your booking in 15 minutes text still appears even if you have used a gift card – this is wrong and needs fixing!

Found a great site for small gifts for people in case you’re ever stuck what to but someone for a Birthday or for Christmas. They had a great looking pair of sports shorts that might be good for my Racketball and Squash too!  Small Gifts – 300+ Small Gift Ideas

My turn to stay at the hospital again tomorrow night.

Food Diary

I had 4 slices of toast with a Bovril and 4 poached eggs, was very nice. Also had some cooked beef which was just Ok.
 
At the hospital I had quite a few sweets, jelly babies and others that my son doesn’t particularly like.
 
Crank two pints of lager and a couple of large glasses of wine, it is Friday!
 

In the SAVERS acronym R is for Reading

My goal today is to read 5 minutes of my new book that I’ve decided to read… The 7 Levels of Communication: Go from relationships to referrals. 

My starting point for today is location 1199 or 52% complete.

My ending point for today was location 1239 or 54% complete.

In the SAVERS acronym, S is for Scribing

 
Keynotes from the book today were:
 
Ask questions and you control the conversation. Think of FROG Family Recreation Occupation and Goals  
 
Conversations build trust, trust creates sales  Don’t use the words give me a referral, instead ask who do you know that ….
  

My Core Journal

 

What did you achieve yesterday?

Yesterday (Thursday 24th) I:
 
  • Spent all day in the hospital with my son ✅
  • Learnt a lot about LogSeq note taking too, which I am very impressed with ✅

What would make today great?

2 to 3 tasks, see core journal – micro goals
 
My micro goals for today (Friday 25th) are:
  • Create walking club posts ✅
  • Set up the demo booking system with walking club events ✅
  • Have a great demo ✅
  • Create a draft proposal ✅
  • England beat USA in the world cup football match 😂 Got a draw, not too bad in terms of where we stand in the table!
My Journal Entry For November 24th, 2022

Morning Routine, General Diary, Thoughts, and Ideas

Just an average night’s sleep last night in the hospital, I find the bed Ok, but the room is just far too warm for my liking. Due to being in the hospital I only partially completed my morning routine.

The new strategy for the horse bot didn’t work, another bad day, roll on spring and summer as I’m pretty sure the horse bot doesn’t like soft going.

It’s now officially day 1 for my son as transplant day, day 0 was yesterday, please work well, quickly, and without any complication. 

Another four world cup matches today with some big-name teams playing later in the day, Portugal is playing Ghana at 4 pm and Brazil is playing Serbia at 7 pm.

In between watching football, I spent a lot of time today learning a new note-taking app that I found called logseq, seems pretty useful from what I’ve seen. Should be able to use if for my website publishing content. As a result, todays AI generated image is of someone notetaking.

Food Diary

I expect another bad day of eating due to the fact that I’m at the hospital. Some would argue I still have control!
 
I’ve lost track of the rubbish I have eaten today. Any hospital food that my son couldn’t finish, I kindly finished off for him!
 

In the SAVERS acronym R is for Reading

My goal today is to read 15 minutes of my new book that I’ve decided to read… The 7 Levels of Communication: Go from relationships to referrals. 

My starting point for today is location 1013 or 44% complete.

My ending point for today was location 1199 or 52% complete.

In the SAVERS acronym, S is for Scribing

 
Keynotes from the book today were:
 
There are 4 distinct behavioral styles of your client, use the following acronym:
D = Dominance (to the point, fast-paced, impatient, efficient – they want the bottom line)
I = Influence (like socializing, outgoing, friendly, life of the party)
S = Steadiness (dependable, like predictability and security, enjoy executing systems)
C = Compliance (perfectionists that expect people to comply with the rules, want order and process)
 
When selling you need to “Care like everyone is an S, Smile like everyone is an I, Prepare like everyone is a C, and Sell like everyone is a D”
 
When you call people, remember that you are helping them, you are focussing on their needs after each call rank yourself on a scale of 0 to 10 on how happy the person was to hear from you. Zero = they hung up on you, 10 = it was like speaking with your best friend. Give/get people what they need. Focus on what you can do for that person. The person who asks the questions controls the conversation.
  

My Core Journal

 

What did you achieve yesterday?

Yesterday (Monday 21st) I:
 
  • Reached out to my potential customer to set up a meeting with him on Friday. ✅
  • Created a post for the website I’m demoing to him ✅

What would make today great?

2 to 3 tasks, see core journal – micro goals
 
My micro goals for today are:
  • Create some more walk posts
  • Check Andy has got events working correctly
My Journal Entry For November 23rd, 2022

Morning Routine, General Diary, Thoughts, and Ideas

Another great night’s sleep at home got up early and completed my morning routine.

AI horse gambling bot had another bad day, so I have adjusted the strategy for today, here’s hoping that it will result in a better day.

Had a catch-up call with my friend Dave who lives in Spain. He’s quite an expert in the field of psychology, you can check out his website here https://www.all-about-psychology.com/

Transplant day for my son today, he gets a new bone marrow. So fingers crossed everything goes well.

My turn to stay overnight in the hospital this evening.

Another four world cup matches today will try and fit work in between. Some great football today with a bit of a surprise result of Japan beating Germany 2 – 1. Canada played exceptionally too and only just lost 1 -0 to the second-best team in the world at the moment, Belgium. I lived in Canada for 8 years and have Canadian Citizenship, so Canada is my second team after England!

Was pleased to find out today that my Spotify subscription now also includes audiobooks, which will be great for car journeys back and forth to school when my son gets through his bone marrow transplant. Speaking of which, he had all his cells transplanted today. They came from some wonderful German lady, that’s about as much as we know. For some reason, it all stays anonymous. We can contact her in two years’ time, assuming all is a success.

Bit jumpy I know but back to Spotify, I need to remind myself to try Case 63 audio series that is getting some good reviews and has appeared on Spotify this week I think as part of this new audiobook release.

Today’s post image is an AI-generated image, got to love new technology! Although, I’m not sure the text written in the journal makes much sense! Was very impressed with some of the AI stuff I managed to find and play with today. Found some that generated images and stuff to help you with writer’s block when writing articles.

One of my favorite sports which I have played most of my life is squash, so I got it to draw me a cartoon of someone playing squash, this was the result:

cartoon of a squash player

When goal setting:

  1. Set a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goal.
  2. Make a detailed plan of action with small, achievable steps.
  3. Hold yourself accountable by setting deadlines and tracking your progress.
  4. Celebrate your accomplishments along the way.
  5. Adjust your goals as needed to stay on track.

Food Diary

I had chili con carne for lunch, but with no rice, so relatively low in carbohydrates. I spoiled it immediately afterward though with a bag of cheesy quaver crisps and a chocolate ice cream!
 
Another bad day for food, I’ve eaten far too much, once again. I followed the chili with noodles and chicken. Then I finished my son’s hospital chili and rice and had all of his treacle sponge pudding and custard.
 
Later I even ate a lemon cake and caramel shortbread! Feel absolutely stuffed.
 

In the SAVERS acronym R is for Reading

My goal today is to read 15 minutes of my new book that I’ve decided to read… The 7 Levels of Communication: Go from relationships to referrals. 

My starting point for today is location 785 or 34% complete.

My ending point was location 1013 or 44% complete.

In the SAVERS acronym, S is for Scribing

 
Keynotes from the book today were:
 
The book does seem kind of more related to real estate agent sales, although I guess some of it might cross over into software as a service sales.
 
It says when meeting people or prospects to use the acronym FROG
F = Family
R = Recreation
O = Occupation
G = Goals
 
Discuss the above with them to get them talking and interested.
 
Write about your successes. Who did you help? What was the problem you solved for them? What would have happened if you weren’t involved? How did you help them solve the problem? What was the specific result? What did they say so you know you did well? Get a testimonial
 

My Core Journal

 

What did you achieve yesterday?

Yesterday (Monday 21st) I:
 
Achieved very little:
  • Well, I at least sorted the walking club’s photos, got an avatar set up as a placement photo, and sized appropriately using the gimp photo editing software.
  • I managed to set up an event too.

What would make today great?

2 to 3 tasks, see core journal – micro goals
 
My micro goals for today are:
  • Create some walk posts
  • Reach out to my walking club potential customer. ✅
  • Get events working correctly
  • Make a zero one anyway though for demo purposes
My Journal Entry For November 22nd, 2022

Morning Routine And General Diary

Had a great nights sleep at home last night, got up quite late though and then completed my morning routine.

Had a catch up call with my business partner Steve first thing in the morning. Nothing much of importance to discuss though.

AI horse gambling made another small loss, I think we’re going to have to start logging the going as the soft ground I don’t think works well for us.

My son has a slight virus so they’re pumping him with yet more drugs to hopefully get rid of it. His bone marrow transplant is planned for tomorrow. 

There are four world cup matches on today and I really have some work to catch up on, it’s going to be difficult to watch them all!

Food Diary

I made the cottage pie in the post’s photo above and had a quite large portion with gravy for lunch. Boxed the rest of it up to take into the hospital later for my wife and son.

I also had half a hospital pizza as a snack, it was only small though!

And a pack of mini-cheddars and some quavers.

Finishing the night off with some cheese on crackers, so another poor day of eating. I continue to blame the hospital visits.

In the SAVERS acronym R is for Reading

My goal today is to read 10 minutes of my new book that I’ve decided to read… The 7 Levels of Communication: Go from relationships to referrals. 

My starting point for today is location 703 or 30% complete.

My ending point for today was location 785 or 34% complete.

In the SAVERS acronym, S is for Scribing

 
Keynotes from the book today were:
 
One I’ve read about before, the old… What would you want someone at your funeral to say about you? Work your goals back from there.
 
Also, who would need your services today? Find them
 
Whatever you have to do, do it now, it’s all about urgency.
 
When writing letters or emails use you and always try and avoid I, me, and my.
 

My Core Journal

 

What did you achieve yesterday?

Yesterday (Monday 21st) I:
 
Achieved very little:
  • Watched quite a lot of football
  • And got distressed again over my poorly son.
  • Ate a lot!

What would make today great?

2 to 3 tasks, see core journal – micro goals
 
My micro goals for today are:
  • Got the committee walking club pictures in order
  • Set up an event and some members in the demo booking system that I can link to and use as part of my demo proposal
  • Create some past walk posts.
My Journal Entry For November 21st, 2022

Morning Routine And General Diary

Slept back at home today so was able to fully complete my morning routine.

Amazon shopping order came first thing. It’s not as good as Tesco was, you don’t really know what they’ve missed out and it’s quite expensive for what you get. Might get my brother to do a Lidl shop for us next week!

AI horse gambling made a small loss.

Three world-cup football matches are on today, starting with my team England v Iran at 1pm. Work will have to be fit in-between those matches!

Watched the football from hospital, was another bad day for my son and another distressing day for my wife and I.

England had a great 6 – 2 win which was an excellent start to their world cup campaign. Just wish my son was well and that I could go watch them play in the pub with friends! Priority is for him to get well though!

Food Diary

Pack of mini cheddars, a pack of quavers and a chicken and mushroom pot noodles and one tomato, two slices of cucumber. Followed by two slices of white toast with butter and three ginger nuts biscuits (cookies)! Not a great start!

Evening I had some microwave noodles from Costco with fiery hot chicken nuggets, also from Costco and displayed in the posts picture above.

In the SAVERS acronym R is for Reading

My goal today is to read 10 minutes of my new book that I’ve decided to read… The 7 Levels of Communication: Go from relationships to referrals. 

My starting point for today is location 586 or 25% complete.

My ending point for today was location 703 or 30% complete.

In the SAVERS acronym, S is for Scribing

 
Book says to stop advertising and it’s all about focus. Look for opportunities to connect people.
 

My Core Journal

 

What did you achieve yesterday?

Yesterday I:
  • Watched the first world cup football match and achieved little else as my son was really poorly.

What would make today great?

2 to 3 tasks, see core journal – micro goals
 
My goal for today is to:
  • Got the committee walking club pictures in order
  • Set up an event and some members in the demo booking system that I can link to and use as part of my demo proposal
My Journal Entry For 20th November 2022

Morning Routine And General Diary

Well to say that I slept on a pull-down bed in the hospital last night I didn’t have too bad a night’s sleep! The only slight problem I had was the room was a little too warm for my liking. The morning routine has gone to pot today, I’ve only done the most essential bits of it, like showering and brushing my teeth. Back to a normal routine when I’m back at home.

AI horse gambling made a very slight profit yesterday, just less than a quid, so not enough to recover from its big loss the day before.

A large relatively strong coffee as per the picture today in my portable hospital office.

My plan today is to watch the first world cup game between Qatar and Ecuador and maybe read a little, nothing much more while watching over my son who is about to start his fifth day of chemotherapy.

Was the worst day possible for my son, was very distressing to watch him. He had a lot of pain from a bloated stomach and was generally very sick all day. Hoping he has a better day tomorrow.

Food Diary

Another poor day of eating sue to spending all day in hospital. I remember having a vegetable cup-a-soup, lots of biscuits (cookies), and a ham sandwich, I also ate all of my sons hospital food as he was too sick to eat it. The hospital food included chips and chicken nuggets, followed by sticky toffee pudding and then for dinner I had macaroni chesses with chips, followed by rice pudding.

In the SAVERS acronym R is for Reading

My goal today is to read 30 minutes of my new book that I’ve decided to read… The 7 Levels of Communication: Go from relationships to referrals. 

My starting point for today is location 373 of 2305 or 16% complete.

My ending point for today was location 586 or 25% complete.

In the SAVERS acronym, S is for Scribing

 
Selling is all about building relationships and that personal touch.
 
They also mentioned the acronym LIFE…
 
L = Learn
I = Implement
F = Fail
E = Evaluate
 

My Core Journal

 

What did you achieve yesterday?

Yesterday I:
  • Finished my summary of the Miracle Morning book
  • Visited my son in the hospital

What would make today great?

2 to 3 tasks, see core journal – micro goals
 
My goal for today is to:
  • Read
  • Watch the first world cup match
My Journal Entry For 19th November 2022

Morning Routine And General Diary

I slept Ok last night, possibly drank a few too many Friday night glasses of Vino, I got up and completed my morning routine.

AI horse gambling bot had a terrible day yesterday, was about £9 down by the end of the day, today, so far it’s looking a little better at a couple of quid up so far.

I’m swapping overnight stay hospital duties with my wife today, I’m staying the night in hospital tonight. Heating costs a fortune in the UK at the moment, but I quite like working and sleeping when it’s cold so the house is quite cold. I put the heating on full as soon as I got up so it’s nice and warm for her when she comes homes. The smart meter is already adding money on like a petrol (gasoline) pump!

The picture above shows my portable office that I have set myself up with in my sons hospital room.

Watched a Stephen King film called 1408 on Netflix with my son in hospital, just prior to my first night staying over in hospital with him.

Food Diary

Well, after a terrible day yesterday, so far, I’ve done slightly better today. For a late breakfast (brunch?) I had 2 fried eggs, one sausage and a beef burger without a bun, so very low carbs so far today!

In the SAVERS acronym R is for Reading

My goal today is to read 10 minutes of my new book that I’ve decided to read… The 7 Levels of Communication: Go from relationships to referrals. 

My starting point for today is location 141 of 2305 or 6% complete.

My ending point was 373 of 2305 or 16% complete.

In the SAVERS acronym, S is for Scribing

 
So far the book is a bit of a story about a real estate agent who’s hit on hard times having a meal at a restaurant with a succesful, positive lender. 
 

My Core Journal

 

What did you achieve yesterday?

Yesterday I:
  • Caught up on my journal
  • Completed a lengthy NHS survey and booked an appointment for blood tests, all for research, but I also might find out a little about my current state of health.
  • Bought myself some more time with my potential customer, not had time to work as much with visits to the hospital.
  • Visited my son in hospital

What would make today great?

2 to 3 tasks, see core journal – micro goals
 
My goal for today is to:
  • Finish my summary of the Miracle morning book that I read
  • Visit my son again in the hospital
  • Use my time in hospital to read a little more than normal
The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life – Before 8 AM

Goodreads rating: 3.92

I’m actually a little surprised that this book only has a rating of 3.92 on Goodreads, I thought it was excellent and quite possibly the reason why I started writing “my daily journals” that I publish on this website.

The book is mainly based on the SAVERS acronym. I summarized most of what I read in the Miracle Morning in “My Daily Journal Posts” from 3rd November to the 17th of November 2022

S = Silence

A = Affirmations

V = Visualization

E = Exercise

R = Reading

S = Scribing

Silence

In a way, I was already doing this in the mornings as a close friend of mine introduced me to the Wim Hoff breathing exercise which I’ve been doing habitually most mornings for approximately a year now. I really enjoy it, makes me feel healthy and lively after doing it. I personally follow his YouTube videos as kind of a guide.
 

Affirmations

I’ve read about reading out affirmations before but I’ve always considered them to be a little hocus pocus or wishy-washy. However, this book has persuaded me to give them a try. What I really liked is how the book gets you to define your affirmations using the following steps:
  1. Define the result you want
  2. Why is that result important to you
  3. What are the steps you need to take to get there
  4. When are you going to do your actions
 

Visualizations

I’m convinced that visualizations are important, but again, it’s not really something I’ve done as a ritual. That said, I have visualized things before and many things I have focussed on have become a reality, so I’m definitely going to make this a routine. I like how the author said that instead of visualizing that you’re going to have loads of money or a top-of-the-range sports car that it is far more productive to visualize the end product of the goals you are trying to achieve.
 

Exercise

Your morning routine should include some exercise to get the heart pumping. My regular exercise generally consists of playing squash or racquetball 3 to 4 times per week, although now thanks to this book I’ve slowly started introducing a few morning exercises that I used to do every morning religiously quite a few years back, push-ups and sit-ups. Nothing too amazing, I’m just doing ten of each for now. My plan later is to possibly try some yoga from guided online lessons.
 

Reading

I’ve always loved reading, but never really set myself some time aside for the activity. Now I’ve incorporated it into my morning routine I’m hoping that I will get through quite a few more books than I did before.
 

Scribing

Scribing or writing, I’ve decided to do it on this site. I’m documenting my daily activities in “My Journal” and I am also noting any learnings from the books that I have been reading.
 
 
You can purchase the Miracle Morning from Amazon here

My Journal Entry For 18th November 2022

Morning Routine And General Diary

Another night on my own, slept well and completed my morning routine.

AI horse gambling bot is having a nightmare so far, after breaking even yesterday.

In the morning I got invited to take part in a study that the UK National Health Service is undertaking. Looks like you get a bit of a free health check out of participating, so I put my name down for it. I had to register for a blood sample appointment and then complete a rather lengthy survey. Wasted a bit of time completing it all, but maybe it will prove useful in terms of reporting back how healthy I am or not.

Spent all afternoon at the hospital with my son again which has resulted in me eating poorly once again. The post’s image is the beans on toast, covered in grated (shredded for my US readers) cheese. Choices are a little limited when all you have at your disposal are a toaster and a microwave. I’ve made a few meals for my wife that can be frozen and then reheated in the microwave, but today I just fancied something easy on toast.
 
Caught up with this journal in the hospital.
 

Food Diary

Yet another poor day, had Heinz chicken soup for lunch with a ham sandwich and a beef sandwich. I ate a cooked sausage that was left in the fridge.

Then, when I got to the hospital, I ate 4 chocolate digestives, 3 shortbread biscuits (cookies), 2 packets of crisps, and the beans with cheese blathered on them that I mention above.

In the SAVERS acronym R is for Reading

My goal today is to read 10 minutes of my new book that I’ve decided to read… The 7 Levels of Communication: Go from relationships to referrals. 

My starting point for today is location 0 of 2305 or 0% complete.

My ending point was 141 of 2305 or 6% complete.

In the SAVERS acronym, S is for Scribing

 
Well so far the book has just been a load of reviewers saying how fantastic the book is, lets’s hope that in a few weeks that I will be able to agree with them!
 

My Core Journal

 

What did you achieve yesterday?

Yesterday I:
  • Did lots of work on how my potential new customer’s website could look like.
  • And visited my son in the hospital.

What would make today great?

2 to 3 tasks, see core journal – micro goals
 
My goal for today is to:
  • Catch up on my journal
  • Complete the NHS survey
  • Email my potential customer to say I’m a little behind with the proposal due to hospital visits.
  • Visit my son again in the hospital

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