About This Site. This site is the website of motivational speaker Craig
Harper. A constantly updated, one-stop
information, inspiration, education and motivation
station. Unlike many similar sites, it is a totally
free resource for anyone who is serious about moving
from mediocre to amazing in any area of their
personal or professional life. With hundreds of
articles covering a wide range of subject matter,
great interviews with cool people and inspirational
video posts, there's more than enough brain-food to
keep you busy for hours. Okay, days!!
Enjoy.
Click play above
to
see one of Craig's weekly segments on national
television. (9AM with Kim & David - Network Ten)
Attention Website Owners!
How would you like to become an online business partner with
Craig? Click
here
to find out how to become an affiliate of craigharper.com
Life Coach
Melbourne - Craig Harper
If
you are interested in maximizing your potential,
stepping out of that 'holding pattern' and being
privately coached by Craig click here.
Business Coach Melbourne -
Craig Harper
If you're a personal trainer, gym owner or studio owner
who is interested in growing your business and/or your
career, then mentoring with Craig could be a valuable
part of your overall success strategy and professional
development journey.
Biological Age Testing
- Craig Harper
In a recent test, Jan Frazer, who has a chronological age (the
number of years she's been on the planet) of 67 did a biological
age test which showed she has the body of a 37 year old female.
Pretty Impressive! How old is your body! Find out here.
Nutrition Melbourne -
Craig Harper
Many nutritional
experts are confusing people with jargon and pseudo-science.
Craig's HPN Service provides remote access to Craig's Director
of Nutrition to cut through the dietary confusion and
contradiction.
Public Speaking Melbourne - Craig Harper If you've ever
thought about becoming a professional speaker or
improving your public speaking then you can be privately
coached here.
Fattitude
- Craig Harper
While many books focus on food,
Craig Harper teaches that creating life-long change is more about the
dieter, than the actual diet. This book is perfect for people who have a
history of 'almost' getting in shape.
DVD
or CD - Renovate Your Body - Craig Harper In this entertaining presentation, Craig discusses the
notion of Renovating Your Body - once and for all. Many of us have a curious
ability to be able to get in shape for events (weddings, parties, reunions
and birthdays), if only we'd get in shape for life.
Craig Harper is a leading
motivational speaker
and educator. He is a highly
sought-after corporate coach and is considered to be
a leader and pioneer in the areas of personal and
professional development. Working with hundreds of
teams, companies and a wide variety of organisations
on numerous continents over the last twenty years
has given Craig a unique insight into, and
understanding of, human performance and all its
variables. Craig has an ability to educate, inspire,
challenge and make people laugh all at the same
time!
Do you ever feel abnormal? Maybe not all the time but in certain situations, circumstances or places? Or perhaps in the middle of a particular conversation? Kind of like you don't really fit in? Not necessarily better or worse than anyone else, just a bit different on some level? And not massively dysfunctional in some deeply tragic kind of way, but just a couple of steps left of normal. But then maybe a couple of steps to the left (of everyone else) is your normal. Maybe that's exactly where you should be. Perhaps that's where you're happiest and most productive.
Who Makes the 'Normal' Rules?
Who determines what normal is anyway? Is it the majority? Is it a conscious process or does it just happen incidentally? Is it strategic and logical, or is it simply a byproduct of how most of us do things? Do we need to be normal to be happy, fulfilled, functional and effective? Does normal necessarily equate to 'right', or is it merely a reflection of typical group behaviour, accepted standards and consensual thinking? Twenty years ago it was normal to sit in a restaurant and blow cigarette smoke all over your friends. These days it's not only an unacceptable social faux pas but where I live, it's illegal! So I guess normal changes over time. Just think acid wash jeans, skinny leather ties and platform shoes. Eventually normal becomes abnormal. Strange even. Once upon a time Elvis was considered to be immoral, provocative and sexually explicit for gyrating his fully clad hips at his audience. I wonder how the Pussycat Dolls of 2008 would have been received in 1958?
A Snapshot of Normal.
If we took an objective, un-emotional look at all the 'normality' around us, we might conclude that normal equals massive personal debt, broken and damaged relationships, unfulfilled careers, wasted talent, grumpy people constantly hurrying to nowhere in particular and a propensity to medicate with more and more drugs for an ever-increasing range of medical issues. And I guess if we chubby Aussies and Americans continue on our current health trajectory then pretty soon anyone who's not fat will be abnormal. There's a thought. That's a normal I don't really want. As I write this sentence, normal is seeming less and less attractive to me.
It all Depends what Building You're in.
If I'm at a pentecostal church and I'm singing about Jesus with my arms in the air, then I'm normal (in that environment). If I walk into the bowling alley next door and do the same thing, I'm a freak. A weirdo. Conversely, if I walk back into that same church wearing a pair of those weird-ass bowling shoes, I might be put into the abnormal basket. So maybe normal is an environmental thing. Perhaps it's a perspective thing. An attitude thing. A situational thing. A belief thing. An expectation thing.
"You're not expected to behave that way in this environment/situation, therefore, you're abnormal...."
In some ways it's a dilemma because on the one hand we want to fit in (be seen as normal, part of the group), but at the same time, normal doesn't necessarily correlate with happiness or success. And of course, we all want both of those. That's not to say that abnormal necessarily equates to nirvana either. So what to do?
Maybe it's a Myth?
Maybe normal doesn't really exist. In a universal sense anyway. Come to think about it, we all create our own normal don't we? There is no globally accepted standard is there? Much of what is normal where I live (Melbourne, Australia) would be perceived as strange in another country or culture. Much of what is normal in my life would be abnormal in someone else's world. I've been told many times that I'm not normal because I've never consumed alcohol and I've never been drunk. Apparently my alcohol-avoidance is bordering on un-Australian. Unmanly perhaps. Aussies have an international reputation for being big consumers of alcohol. Wow, what a less-than-desirable accolade. I've even had my sexuality questioned because I don't drink beer. Apparently there's a correlation between sexual orientation and beer consumption and I have been unaware of it. I must have missed that research paper. Or maybe my dad forgot to teach me. When it comes to not putting alcohol in my body, I'm happy with my abnormality. And my sexuality.
Abnormally Single
Then there's the being single thing. Being in my forties and unmarried is clearly a testament to my abnormality. People are always interrogating me in an attempt to discover exactly what's wrong with me. Gotta be something. Under all that self-help crap you're really a weirdo aren't you!! In many ways they are right; I am abnormal and interestingly, I'm not offended by their perspective. I understand why they have that attitude/belief. After all, the vast majority of blokes my age are married or have been married. Growing up in Australia (and most places), it's never "if you get married", it's always "when you get married." Because that's what the normal people do. Unmarried men in their forties must have something wrong with them; that's why they're not married. That's the rule. Unwritten of course, but it is the rule. Just ask any normal person. Society's normal is... marriage. And now one of our new 'normals' is... divorce. It wasn't once, but it is now. Expected almost. That's a sad normal. Normal, like everything else, is dynamic; constantly changing and evolving.
As a student of life and a keen observer of humanity, I find it sad to see so many people trying to be normal at the expense of being themselves. Sometimes the cost of assimilation is happiness. Sometimes the cost is our identity. If you're like me and happen to feel a little abnormal from time to time (or maybe all of the time), then take heart, your abnormality might just be your greatest asset.
So next time you're feeling a bit different, celebrate it rather than stress about it. And now that you know normal doesn't actually exist, you have nothing to worry about anyway. And even if it did exist, you wouldn't wanna be part of it. Because if you were, you'd just be like the others.
And then how would we find you?
Leave a comment or say hi by clicking on the comment thingy... and don't forget to book your place for one of our Renovate Your Life workshops.
DVD
- Renovate Your Body - Craig Harper
In this entertaining presentation, Craig discusses the
notion of Renovating Your Body - once and for all. (Also
available on CD).
Fattitude
- Craig Harper
While many books focus on food,
Craig Harper teaches that creating life long change is more about the
dieter than the actual diet.
Food for thought
- Craig Harper
In this book, Craig Harper
walks the reader through his 21 rules to Permanent Weight Loss.
So you've decided you want to get in shape (again)
- Craig Harper
Imagine a pocket-sized fitness book that takes just twenty minutes to
read. Craig Harper addresses the REAL getting-in-shape issues.
