Empowering leaders to transform challenges into opportunities           December 2012
In This Issue
Upcoming Courses
What Alumni Are Saying
Alumni Reunion
Centre's Favorite Things
New Habits
Upcoming Courses
  

 

Season Specials

* Invest In Yourself: Enroll and receive a 15% scholarship

* Make a Meaningful Gift: Enroll with someone you care about and receive a 50% scholarship on the second enrollment.

* Impact Your Organization: Enroll with two co-workers and receive the third spot for free.


 

 
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Click here for our full course schedule, or contact Alonso Mu�oz (amunoz@upeace.org) for more information.
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Greetings!
  

I don't easily make spontaneous decisions. I'm an analyzer - someone who enjoys the process as much or more than the end result.  For example, after eight years of wearing my last watch, it was scratched and needed replacing. I started noticing other people's watches and would regularly ask strangers in airport lines where they got theirs. My wife finally took me to buy a watch on our anniversary. No decision was made. It was a full year later that I finally clicked the 'Add to Shopping Cart' button on Amazon.

 

Catch Mohit's final thoughts at the end of the newsletter! 

Reconnecting with our Costa Rica-based alumni                            

It is always great to meet and catch-up with our alumni. This year, the UPEACE Centre for Executive Education had an informal end-of-year alumni gathering at Il Panino.  We were especially happy to meet some of our online students - technology has not yet replaced the warmth of a hug. One alumna, Miguel Tello, was celebrating his 50th birthday and had planned his family party to start a little later so he could join us.  For Karen Visona, the Centre's Coordinator, a surprise alumna was her elementary school principal who had been a participant in the course before she joined the Centre!


Alumni 2012
UPEACE Centre alumni gathering at Il Panino
 

 

The Team's Top Tips

For this holiday season, the Centre's Team would like to share you with some of our favourites from 2012.  Enjoy!

 

Alonso:

We Are Here: The Pale Blue Dot, by Carl Sagan.  I love Carl Sagan! He is an inspiration and a truly global thinker and I feel this video is a great summary of his ideas and I find myself going back to it often. It reminds me our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot.

 

Karen:

A ballet documentary called 'First Position'.  It shows that even at a very young age we can have dreams and make them happen with perseverance, discipline, and passion.  It shows the importance of having goals and developing a plan to achieve them.  

 

Heidi:

My favorite new discovery is the site www.deliveringhappiness.com.  A student from the 'Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Social Change' course shared it with the group. The site's mission is: "We exist to help people, organizations, and businesses apply the different frameworks of happiness to their lives." I just love the idea of a movement dedicated to overall wellness! 

Do 30 days make a new habit?

Many of you may be looking for a New Year's Resolution, or a fresh start to the year.  Watch this short TED talk by Matt Cutts...it may spark some ideas!

Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days
Matt Cutts TED talk
Try something new for 30 days

Mohit's final thoughts...

 

Lately, I've been reflecting about the benefits of 'extended analysis' vs. 'instinctive decisions'.  It's become clear to me that the most scarce and valuable resource that I have is my time. So while I may have managed to get an elegant watch for a reasonable price, too much time and energy went into that process. With two small children, a caring wife, the UPEACE Center, and my natural curiosity in the world, I can think of many other ways I could have been spent all that time! And, as you may imagine, the 'watch decision' was just one of many.

 

In 2013, I am going to trust my instincts more, try not to second-guess myself, and get into the habit of making quicker decisions. Trying it out this December already makes me feel lighter, faster, and happier. Saving valuable energy on the small things allows me to re-channel that into the big things - like PERMA (Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement) the framework from our 'Designing Your Life' online course. And as the TED talk above suggests, all I need to do is to practice this for 30 days for it to become a habit. What's a new habit that you'd like to have in 2013? 

 
Sincerely,

Mohit Mukherjee

UPEACE Centre for Executive Education