Look, I know my writing is sometimes as indigestible as a 10-day old rusk. But, a bit of sympathy for me would be in order – you only have to spend 5 minutes with it once in a while. I have to spend every day with it. But, today, I just needed to clear my head of all this ‘End of Days’ stuff and make some kind of sense of it all, so bear with me.
To this end, I’ve enlisted the help of French novelist Marcel Proust. I know his writing is more palatable and refined. So, check it out and take some time out of your noisy schedule to pause because it might just be the cataclysm that ends your life as you know it today and allows you to live the life you were meant to live.
The end of the world didn’t arrive on 21 May as predicted by American TV evangelist Harold Camping.
The end of days question has been asked (and predicted) many times. So, it was with interest that I read French novelist, Marcel Proust’s letter to a paper in Paris called L’Intransigeant.
The paper posed the following question: An American scientist announces that the world will end, or at least that such a huge part of the continent will be destroyed, and in such a sudden way, that death will be the certain fate of hundreds of millions of people. If this prediction were confirmed, what do you think would e its effects on people between the time when they acquired the aforementioned certainty and the moment of cataclysm? Finally, as far as you’re concerned, what would you do in this last hour?
L’Intransigeant got some interesting responses. A Henri Bordeaux, suggested that it would drive the mass of the population directly into either the nearest church or the nearest bedroom. Writer, Henri Robert said that he would devote himself to a final game of bridge, tennis and golf. And, in South Africa, Jonannes Coetzee and 80 followers would book into the Devonshire Hotel in Braamfontein and wait for the cataclysm.
Proust’s response was more profound and considered. I’d suggest we read it and re-read it. Then, get away from the noise that fills our heads and find some calmness and reread it again. This letter has resonated with me and highlighted just how off-track I am sometimes. Paraphrasing, professional speaker, Callie Roos, “In Africa we have two choices … we either sit under a tree and wait or we move. Most Africans will wait, I choose to move.”
Maybe, just maybe Marcel Proust can help us move.
I think that life would suddenly seem wonderful to us if we were threatened to die as you say. Just think of how many projects, travels, love affairs, studies it – our life – hides from us, made invisible by our laziness which, certain of a future, delays them incessantly.
But let all this threaten to become impossible for ever, how beautiful it would become again! Ah! if only the cataclysm doesn’t happen this time, we won’t miss visiting the new galleries of the Louvre, throwing ourselves at the feet of Miss X., making a trip to India.
The cataclysm doesn’t happen, we don’t do any of it, because we find ourselves back in the heart of normal life, where negligence deadens desire. And yet we shouldn’t have needed the cataclysm to love life today. It would have been enough to think that we are humans, and that death may come this evening.
Source: How Proust Can Change Your Life – Alain de Botton
| Date | City | Venue | Time | Investment |
| 28 April | Cape Town | Premier Hotel, Seapoint | 08h30 – 13h00 | R697.00 per delegate |
| 24 May | Johannesburg | Fine and Country, Northcliff | 08h30 – 13h00 | R697.00 per delegate |
Book with Simone Scholtz at simone@jacquesdevilliers.com or 071 670 2168
Achieving Personal Excellence Half Day Workshop
If you’re looking for a deep and uplifting experience that will transform the way you journey through life, you’ve got to consider the Achieving Personal Excellence experience.
You won’t get a fresh set of instructions in APE, you’ll get a fresh set of insights that will help you live by design and transform you.
On this half-day workshop you’ll:
- Take stock of your journey so far and examine all the 12 critical areas of your life
- Design your own Personal Life Plan Map and set goals in every element of your life
- Be uplifted and excited to discover your personal purpose in life
- Discover how to change even when it is hard to change
- Learn how to create habits and rituals that will ensure that you stay on track in all 12 critical areas of your life
- Find out how to stop procrastinating and start living
- Be able to tame your emotions and channel that energy into achieving what you really want
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Who Should Attend
We don’t presume to know. Only you’ll know if your life is slightly (or a lot) off-kilter, things aren’t going quite the way you planned or your hopes and dreams have been dashed and you’re teetering on an abyss of despair.
| Date | City | Venue | Time | Investment |
| 28 April | Cape Town | Premier Hotel, Seapoint | 08h30 – 13h00 | R697.00 per delegate |
| 24 May | Johannesburg | Fine and Country, Northcliff | 08h30 – 13h00 | R697.00 per delegate |
Book with Simone Scholtz at simone@jacquesdevilliers.com or 071 670 2168
Your Personal Excellence Guides
Adolph Kaestner
Adolph Kaestner, mentor and motivator
Adolph is a professional speaker, trainer and mentor who specialises in helping people excel. He is a Southern African Champion of Public Speaking, a member of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa, the Global Speakers Federation and Coaches and Mentors of South Africa. Find out more about Adolph Kaestner.
What others are saying about Adolph Kaestner and Achieving Personal Excellence
- A lot of soul searching and reflections on my life and my career path and gave me a direction of my way forward. Elizabeth Nashima, Ministry of Justice, Namibia
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- Inspirational – Makes me want to achieve more in my life- thanks! Hazel Koen Minova RSA
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Jacques de Villiers
Jacques is a professional speaker, trainer and consultant. One of his areas of expertise is to instill a winners culture into people and teams so that they can consistently achieve their goals.
Jacques is the one on the right
Jacques de Villiers has been helping companies make sense of marketing and sales for real return on investment since 1998.
His clients have given him the moniker, The Business Generator because his marketing and sales strategies, processes and systems have brought them in additional revenue that they never bargained on.
His expertise is firmly grounded in the marketing, sales and employee motivation arena. In his journey with his clients, he is laser focused on generating them more revenue through ‘lead generation’, ‘lead conversion’ and motivated staff.
Change Vehicles
- Sales training
- Sales management strategy
- Sales process and systems
- Sales strategy
- Marketing strategy
- Communication strategy
- Internet marketing strategy
- Social media strategy
- Teambuilding
Keynote Addresses
- How to Persuade Anybody to do Almost Anything – Sales
- Google and the Art of Dating Angelina Jolie – Internet marketing
- Edge of the Rain – Motivation and inspiration
- Knight Moves – Motivation and inspiration
- Be the Grandmaster of Your Own Life – Motivation and inspiration
Qualifications and Affiliations
- National Diploma in Public Relations – Wits Tech
- Certificate in Freelance Journalism – Intec
- Certificate in Business Management – Executive Education
- Certified Search Engine Professional
- Founding member of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa
- Member of the United Professional Sales Association of South Africa
- Advanced Toastmaster – District 74
I spent many a Christmas holiday on my grandfatherʼs farm in Loeriesfontein, 100 kilometres from Calvinia, in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The farm was typical of most farms in the hot and dusty rain-deprived Karoo. It was unrelenting, unyielding and fit only for sheep, ostriches and the toughest human. Not much grew on it except quinces, the hardiest of weeds and the toughest of shrubs. When I looked at my grandfather, the craggy lines spidering across his face told the story of hardship and suffering. And, sometimes in an unguarded moment, heʼd drop his pose and let me look into his piercing blue eyes and into his soul. Even at a young age I could fathom the undercurrents that that ripped through his soul – regret, hopes dashed, dreams downscaled and sorrow for potential unfulfilled. Read the rest of the story on Scribd Edge of the Rain Jacques de Villiers is a motivational speaker, consultant, writer and trainer in South Africa.
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