Matt Corker » Events

Goals, Goals, Goals!

Matt Corker — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:51:11 +0000

This past week was GOAL WEEK online on the lululemon athletica blog. Besides having an awesome goal setting tool online, they also wrote posts with tips on how to set goals and posted videos on the importance of having goals.

I was so stoked to participate in this. I wrote a post about loving your failures and had two awesome goal coaching sessions with some colleagues that have set some inspiring BHAGs (big, hairy, audacious goals).

Today, to cap it off, we did an online goal coaching session on the lululemon Facebook wall. It was amazing! Such awesome questions about how to set goals! I recommend taking a read through the conversations on the wall if you missed it.

However, after telling so many people to write down their goals, share them with great people, and ask for help in achieving them – I need to do the same. My best friends and I had a goal setting session by Lost Lake in Whistler a couple weekends ago where we set our 10 year vision and set goals that would help us get there. But in my notebook they have stayed. Until today.

My goals have been posted. I am sharing them with you, great people. And asking for your help in accomplishing them! I created a new page on my site where you can find the latest edit of them as well.

*sigh. There. That feels better.

From our Whistler goal setting session. Talk about a BHAG!

Pick of the post: Travie McCoy ft Bruno Mars – Billionaire (official music video) – SO appropriate!

From Victory to Defeat: Get SHIFTED

Matt Corker — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:24:36 +0000

Failing is not the problem. Learning nothing from that failure is.

“Learning from other people’s mistakes” is one of the strongest ways to grow. It gives us the opportunity to bypass a potential detour in our own path. This, however, has been traditionally been limited to watching your Dad burn himself on a hot stove or your best friend get stung by a bee after hitting the hive with a rock. (Both, I should note, are good things to avoid!)

But when do we get the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of our role models and community rockstars?
Answer: Now.

Introducing SHIFTED | stories of challenge & choice

5 incredible speakers, including the lovely Danielle LaPorte and influential business leader David Bentall, will share their stories about challenges they’ve faced and the choices they made to achieve success.

Details:
When: Thursday September 9, 2010 – 6 pm
Where: District 319 (319 Main St)
Why: To help people learn. You will learn from the speakers (and other attendees) about different pathways to possibility. Children in Ethiopia will learn through the primary education your FULL ticket price goes to support. Read more about imagine1day and their dream to provide quality primary education to Ethiopian children by 2020.

When you invest in yourself, you are then able to invest in others. This is a perfect example of how that works.

To buy your tickets, check out the SHIFTED website. You can also stay updated on Twitter and Facebook. Can’t wait to see you there!

(PS. Reason #43 for why you should come: I’m the emcee for this event – rocking the mic between the inspirational truth bombs! WOOT!)

Pick of the post: Chromeo – Fancy Footwork (official music video)

Introducing my 100 before 100

Matt Corker — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:41:56 +0000

In January, I created a list of 100 things I want to do before I turn 100. They were not goals (as they didn’t provide direction or a deadline), but experiences I thought would be totally rad to have. Experiences that would create ear-to-ear smiles, belly laughs, tears of joy, nostalgic excitement, or all of the above combined. If my goals created the road I was walking on, my 100 before 100 were designed to remind me to have TONS of fun along the way.

After my sister created her bucket list, she gave me a hard time for keeping my 100 before 100 so close to me (or just away from her … I couldn’t tell). But I felt as though this list o’ good times couldn’t just be released to the world at any old time. It has such excitement in it (for me and others!) that it needed a day that could withstand its presence.

So today, on my birthday, I introduce you to my 100 before 100. [Note: I've also created a 100 BEFORE 100 page on my site so you don't have try to find this blog post again as the years go on.]

Hope today makes you smile.

Eat an avocado smoothie after a morning of surfing with Jason Mraz
Host a talk show
Show up at the airport and buy a ticket for the next flight that day
Attend a 10 day silent meditation retreat
Complete an adventure race
Row a single in False Creek
Be the creative director for a music video
Design a house
Invite my entire family to an all-inclusive vacation/reunion (on me!)
Get married – and throw one heck of a celebration to go with it
Drink tea in Nepal
Bungee jump
Experience the Northern Lights
Learn a dance taught by Mia Michaels (or any SYTYCD choreographer)
Help run an overnight camp for the summer
Eat only raw food for 40 days
Host a Mr. Vanier 10 year reunion
Design a line of vests for men
Ride a camel in Egypt
Complete a Masters degree in change management
Teach my kids to fish
Give a keynote presentation at a leadership conference
Take my nephews on their dream vacation
Release a CD – co-starring my friends and family
Party on a houseboat
Create an inspiring leadership development program for my company’s staff team
Sunbathe naked
Watch the sunrise from the top of a mountain
Eat Dim Sum in Hong Kong completed April, 2010
Author a book
Emcee a friend’s wedding
Take up a sport my kid really loves – just so I can help my kid practice
Bike the Vancouver Ferry loop (North Van – Richmond – Victoria – Nanaimo and back)
Learn to play the ukulele
Sing on a worship team
Dance with Ellen
Be in a “4 generations of Corkers” picture
Take my dog camping
Hike the West Coast Trail
Create a piece of art with Christine Paige
Open my leadership facility – the perfect place for offsite retreats and inspiring foresight
Surf in Hawaii
Make a homemade ice cream cake for a friend’s birthday
Fly in a float plane with my Dad
Raise $3 million for a charity making a difference
Walk the red carpet at a movie premiere with my Mom
Ride an elephant
Name a star for someone
Go white water rafting
Have an art gallery in my house – featuring my friends’ masterpieces
Kiss the Blarney Stone in Cork, Ireland
Drive across Canada in a VW Jetta
Make smores with my sister (and our families) at CampFire Point at Fair Glen
Become a Big Brother
Host a dinner for all my mentors (whoa – talk about a power meal!)
Travel to an Olympic Games as part of the Canadian Olympic Team
Ride in a hot air balloon
Crash a wedding with Andrew Haas
Eat Chinese Food on Christmas Eve with Adam in Calgary
Walk on fire / hot coals
After all these years, have a beer with Mike Bonici
Donate blood
Read my kids my favourite childhood stories (e.g. Robert Munch, Eric Carle)
Milk a cow
Experience St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland
Try my hand (/feet?) at grape-stomping
Sleep outside in a hammock
Go on a bro vacation – just Doug and I
Tour with a band
Create a “Corker Cookbook” filled with family recipes
Write for a collaborative online publication
Scuba-dive in the Great Barrier Reef
Help my sister cross of 10 items on her bucket list
Teach a spin class completed June, 2010
Have a romantic dinner on a rooftop patio – reserved for two
Dine with Seth Godin over breakfast
Find a kangaroo-rat
Be part of a nude photoshoot
Own an entire outfit that was put together by “one for one” businesses. (i.e. Shoes by TOMS, tie by FIGS, etc)
Go on a roadtrip with Wesley George, Ryan Ferguson, and Andrew Haas. (It won’t matter to where)
Get colourful at a Holi festival celebration in India
Cold beer + Sarah Topa + Ontario cottage country. Need I say more? Pull me up some lakeside patio please.
Jump around doing Parkour
Do yoga for 80 consecutive days
Make chocolate by hand
Party in the Greek Islands
Take a tap dance class
Play a full round of golf with my Dad and James
Bike across Confederation Bridge
Experience a zero-gravity flight (on purpose)
Pay for a random couple’s meal. It would make for a great (first) date!
Walk under/shower in a waterfall
Attend at least one high school reunion
Find the Corker totem pole on Vancouver Island
Read the Bible cover to cover
Create a time capsule with my kids and open it 20 years later
Go on a wine tour by scooter
Visit a huge amusement park with my friends
Give out free hugs overseas
Leave the world better than when I found it

Pick of the Post: Asher Roth – G.R.I.N.D. (Get Ready, It’s a New Day) (unofficial music video)

Divinity in Simplicity

Matt Corker — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 04:34:20 +0000

Getting internet in the new pad two days before a long weekend is like having a birthday two weeks before Christmas. You get so excited about one new gift, and then ten more just come flying at you. Needless to say, offline living has created tons of posts in my head that I can’t wait to share with you now that I am back on a (more) regular schedule.

This weekend was packed with good times. Again, I missed out on all the Vancouver Pride festivities [read my post from last year re: Pride], but instead filled the weekend with the simple joys of life. These being moments in life that bring back waves of happy memories and fill your present with a smile. For me, these included:

Eating a delicious meal at 2 am.
Tiptoeing around sleeping people.
Hiking up a mountain with my sis.
Eating berries off the vine.
Playing UNO.
Falling asleep in the sun.
Dancing to new tunes.
Learning the answers to tough questions.
Sleeping in a tent in too many layers.
Waking up by laughing.
Dreaming of the future.
Telling the world what you want.
Singing in the car as we drive home.

Great evenings out followed by early morning hikes with my rockstar sis and camping festivities with the lovely LaPorte are to die for. I’ve been rejuvenated and totally inspired.

So now the real questions are: what creates simple joy in your life and what are you doing to ensure you get more of that?

Pick of the Post: Kevin Rudolf (ft Flo Rida) – You Make the Rain Fall

Underwear Affair 2010 – Your Great Assets

Matt Corker — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:24:12 +0000

Running is not enjoyable for me. I like going fast (hence the love of rowing and cycling/spinning) and my two feet hitting the pavement are not what I would call “fast.”

But running is definitely enjoyable when you get to do it in your underwear! The BC Cancer Foundation’s Underwear Affair was, like last year, a total riot. New costumes, a new addition to the Great Assets team, and more of that summer fun in the sun! And, between the three of us, our team raised almost $1,200 for taboo cancers below the belt in a week. Un-freakin-believeable!

Huge thanks goes out to our friends and family that supported us through monetary donations and by raising awareness of the cause both on and offline. It was so good to run with you behind us. You also have great assets.

Best part of this year’s race? A personal best for my 10 km time AND pictures like this (and more)….

The Great Assets

9 km in - one last hill climb over the bridge

Super runners!

... ugh

Avatars

No Cancer Here

Pick of the Post: Pink – Glitter in the Air (stellar live performance)

Will Blunderfield shakes some asana on Robson St

Matt Corker — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 01:00:50 +0000

Last night, Will Blunderfield, one of my Artists to Watch in Vancouver and favourite yoga instructors, officially released his music to the world. While he shares his voice in all his classes, Will took to the stage in front of the lululemon on Robson street with some yogi dancers and Danielle Mika Nagel to celebrate the launch of his first official album. And boy did it launch!

His yoga-inspired-pop music had the crowd of people finding their hearts’ centers, breathing deep (in between cheers), and singing hallelujah at the top of their lungs. It was a completely unique experience – and 100% Will. The crowd of totally awesome people definitely helped as well.

Earlier this year, I got to be a part of Will’s “Shake Your Asana Choir” and go into the studio with him to record some vocals for his CD.

Catching us all of guard, he called us up last night to sing “The River” – one of my favourite songs on his album. It was one of those moments in life when you just have to go with what is thrown at ya. (It’s also hard to say no when someone calls you to the stage in front of a hundred people…)

And then he sang:

There is a river that I’ve discovered
If flows downstream to everything I desire
I paddled so hard against the current, I did not know
That all I needed was to let the oars go and just flow

… Never knew what I had until I looked around
Once I began to feel grateful it was you I found
Lessons learned, bridges crossed to get to where you are
Let’s lose ourselves in this moment, we’ve come so far

… I know it’s hard to realize this truth
The change you’ve wanted
Starts with you!

Thank you Will for an always inspiring experience. And congrats. You kick some serious asana.

Pick of the Post: Will Blunderfield – The River (you’ll have to go to lululemon on Robson to pick this track up!)

Showing some skin, for the win!

Matt Corker — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 20:15:40 +0000

For the past 2 years, The Great Assets have ran around Vancouver in our underwear – and this year is no exception! This revealing, and incredibly fun, 10 km run in the heart of the city is one of the highlights of my summers, but I need your help!

Firstly – why do we run in The Underwear Affair? Easy. It’s for an incredible cause.
This event raises both awareness of and funds for cancers below the waist (prostate, cervical, ovarian, uterine, bladder, colorectal). These cancers account for 42% of all cancers diagnosed in BC and are responsible for 32% of cancer deaths in our province. But since these are so “taboo,” they do not get the attention (and funding) they need. My Dad had a scare with a cancer below the belt before, so I want to make sure there is available support for him (and others) if a scare turns into reality.

To keep it simple, here are 3 ways you can help us:

Monetary donations. Each member of The Great Assets must raise a minimum of $300 to race. Please visit my personal page to donate to me or one of my incredible teammates.
Spreading the word. This race is as much about raising money as it is about raising awareness for these cancers. All of your tweets and posts help us achieve this goal.
Race support. Even though this is a short race, cheering fans on Saturday July 10th are VERY welcome! Race route details here.

Thank you to everyone for your continued, or first-time, support. We literally couldn’t race / cure cancer without you!

Pick of the post: 3OH!3 ft Ke$ha – My First Kiss (official music video)

What Linchpins Read

Matt Corker — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 23:16:40 +0000

Yesterday was Worldwide-Meet-The-Tribe-Of-Linchpins Day according to Seth Godin. Seth fans gathered together at over 790 meetups around the world and talked about his books/blog, shipping ideas, and many other topics of interest.

Chris Coldeway, another UBC Sauder alum and creator of redrovr, organized the Vancouver Meetup. My sis got up there and shared a bit about her time in NYC with Seth as part of his nanoMBA program. She was rad – as per always. Chris then led the attendees in creating smaller discussion groups where we talked about whatever topic someone wanted to take the lead on discussing. Didn’t like the conversation in that group? Implement the 2 feet rule! (You have two feet, so use them to walk to a new group.)

I wanted to know what these linchpins were reading so was excited to get some really rad folks at the table. This was the list that the 8+ of us created. I tried to organize them into some categories to help you pick out your next read:

Economics

Superfreakonomics – Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
Startup Nation – Dan Senor and Saul Singer

Fiction/Memoirs:

Swiss Family Robinson – Johann David Wyss
The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls

Blogs:

43 Folders
Brains on Fire
Life without Pants
Backpocket COO
Freshness Factor Five Thousand (Jason Mraz)
Blocquote
Chase Jarvis
The Art of Non-Conformity

… as if my to read list wasn’t already long enough! Happy reading linchpins!

Pick of the post: Hannah Georgas – Bang Bang You’re Dead

She did it! Introducing brigs!

Matt Corker — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:21:17 +0000

Yesterday, after a kickin spin class, I came home to find a square envelope sitting on our stairs. Confused, I picked it up and immediately smiled.

She did it! And in my hands was the proof!

Let me back track a bit ….
Five years ago, Andrea Burgoyne and I sat in her apartment writing a song for Steph & Doug’s wedding. She shared stories of her love of music as she found the chords that would compliment my lyrics. Needless to say, the experience, and the product, remain unforgettable. Since then, she left Vancouver to follow her passions to the Yukon where her love of making musical art was re-ignited. As she sat on my couch during her last visit to Vancouver, she told me she was in the studio, recording her debut album as brigs with an amazing gent named Jordy Walker, and planning on going on tour in the summer.

In that square envelope was her CD – proof that intense focus and a grateful heart make dreams come true.

Yes, her songs have been playing on repeat since they arrived (cause they are seriously addictive).
Yes, she is touring this summer.
And, yes, when she comes to Vancouver I’ll be in the front row – beaming and singing every word!

To join in on the fun, you can find brigs on MySpace and Facebook. One down, three to go!

Pick of the post: brigs – It’s Hard To Pump Blood

Artists to Watch in Vancouver’s Music Scene

Matt Corker — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:05:27 +0000

If you haven’t noticed already by my “pick of the post” footnote in each post, I love finding new music. Correction: I love finding music that makes me move or moves me. After attending an intimate show hosted by the incredibly talented duo, Mandalas, I was reminded that there are some pretty rad artists that do just that that are in the recording studio right now. So, naturally, wanted to give you the heads up.

Warless – a “world rythme band” whose “soul purpose is to use the positive power of music to better the world the space around us.” I’ve seen them perform live numerous times, and they never cease to make me smile. They also have a pretty rad graphic designer that also knows how to rock the mic if I do say so myself. Get tuned in: Warless, Facebook, Twitter.

Will Blunderfield – this yogi is putting the final touches on his yoga-inspired pop album as we speak. After stepping into the recording studio with him to lend a few back-up chords, I can say with confidence that these tunes will elevate you to a whole new level. They will rock your yoga class, energize your early morning wake-ups, or melt the stress away at the end of the day. Plus, he has engaged his fans and community in his record in such touching ways. A-freakin-mazing! Get tuned in: Will Blunderfield, Facebook, Twitter.

Neu – melodic vocals meet some solid beats in this gent’s music. At Friday night’s performance he left the electro-pop at home and picked up a banjo, harmonica, didgeridoo, bass guitar and accordion (!) to wow an audience with some great covers and even better originals. And while his beats are great, his humility is even better. I should also admit that his track below has been on repeat as I write this entire post – clearly a new favourite. Get tuned in: The Neu Music, Facebook, Twitter.

And while she’s not residing in Vancouver, Andrea Burgoyne is also worth checking out too. She helped me write a song for my sis’s wedding and is now completing her own album. She tops the charts of my life on a pretty consistent basis and I can’t wait to be her one of her official groupies.

Living life on a backbeat always needs some melodic inspiration. I can’t wait to officially add these folks’ tunes into my life’s mix.

Sidenote – Lydia Hol and Zoe Evans, of Mandalas, are only playing a few more shows in May – so I’d make an effort to see them perform this year while you still can! They are beautiful simplicity with a soul full of love.

Pick of the post: Janelle Monae – Tightrope (this song = life on a backbeat!)