3 Components For Goals to Empower Us-SMMART goals

Like I have said, the upcoming goals will be to teach you how to be able to set goals in life that we want to achieve and how to achieve them. This series might take about a week, one post per day. I will start by introducing SMMART goals. I believe all of us have goals that we want to achieve yet. But sometimes we mistake them with dreams that we want or rather dreamt about. SMMART goals will help you to be able to see your goals more clearly. Dreams can be turned into goals if you actually think and plan about it.

S-Specific

Our goals must be specific. We must see what we want EXACTLY before actually being able to get there. For example, alot of people want to be rich in their lives. But,  exactly how rich or what kind of wealth do you want?To some people, owning a car might be rich, having a 4-digit figure pay per month might be rich, having alot of assets might be rich. Is it material wealth or cash in your bank account? Be so specific, like 10 million dollars in your bank account or having a lumborghini gallardo. These are just examples taht can help you think about your goals.

 M-Measurable

Your goals must be measurable to the extent that its not a fantasy at all. I have heard of some that just want to a musician no matter what it takes and end up losing out when he has failed in an audition for a singing competition while others have already have some form of success when he is the only one that does not even know what a guitar is and just find that its cool. Or maybe some want to as rich as Warren Buffet at the age of 35? Possible but is it just a fantasy? There are true-life stories that really inspires young people like the creator of Facebook. He is the youngest of all young billionaires, 23-year-old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is quite possibly the world’s youngest self-made billionaire ever. Yes, all these are possible, only if we work hard. This will furthur be enhanced in my points later.

M-Motivational

Being able to motivate yourself with what you believe in achieving is very much important. Its based on one theory: What you see is what you get or What you think is what you get. Visioning yourself passing the upcoming fitness test can eventually help you to achieve it. If you are planning something that is so mundane, boring, might as well not set that goal in the 1st place, waste of time. If it is a goal that will motivate you daily to do your best to achieve that goal, no harm setting it because it will help you get there. There are other ways to motivate yourself to get that goal. Read up on success stories of our time, see how they did it and learn. The good thing is, we can learn from their mistake. Another way is to have inspirational quotes in your mind in each they as they can play quite a strong part in empowering our thoughts of success each day. For example, if you have google mail, add the daily inspiration quotes at your home page. Everytime you open your homepage, a new quote will pop up, it has taught me quite abit just from that simple sentence each day.

Achievable

Similar to measurable but simply, do not day dream about being the wife of a young prince, picking up a suitcase full of money, suddenly out of nowhere someone offers you a million dollar deal. Not just that, be realistic about it. If you cannot sing as well now, don’t try and be the next celine dion or josh groban. But remember one thing. You can achieve what you can and want if the hardwork is put in. Always remember that.

Realistic

Always, always stick to what you want. Don’t just side track about a single detail and forget what you want or what your goal is. An example can be, you want to be rich. BUt you want to pursue a particular degree or master or bachelor in a particular course. You focus about studying all the while and just forget about what you want and actually drift of to THINK that you want to be the cleverest person amongst your friends. Abit confusing? Just remember this, anything is possible on if you can put your mind and soul to it.

Timebound

You must set the time you want to spend on a particular goal you want to achieve. If there is no time bound, you never know when you want to achieve it. If you want to a millionaire, you can be one definetely, at the age of 90!!! So know your goals as if its your best friend. Know when you want to achieve it by.

Above is the 1st component for goals to empower us in our lives towards success. The next few days will be the other 2 components. These might sound as if you might already know and that I am actually just the same person telling me on another website. But, you have not understood these points till you put it into action. So, work hard towards a brighter future. Its not me, your friends or for the world to see. But its for yourself, your future and your destiny.

Focus On The Outcome

 Focus on the outcome. People judge you by your performance, so focus on the outcome. Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. Advertise. If they don’t know it, they won’t buy your product.

 What is Results-Based Leadership?

Results-based leadership has relentless emphasis on results. It’s simple equation:

Effective leadership =  attributes × results.

“This equation suggests that leaders must strive for excellence in both terms: that is, they must both demonstrate attributes and achieve results. Each term of the equation multiplies each other; they are not cumulative.”¹

The Foundation of Leadership

By: Brian Tracy

The most important quality of leadership, the one quality for which you want to be known, is extraordinary performance, with the goal of achieving extraordinary results. These results then serve as an inspiration to others to perform at equally exceptional levels. People ascribe leadership to those men and women who they feel can most enable them to achieve important goals or objectives…

Why Results-Based Leadership?

 What is missing in most leadership-related writings and teachings, is the lack of attention to results. Most of them focus on organizational capabilities – such as adaptability, agility, mission-directed, or values-based – or on leadership competencies – such as vision, character, trust, and other exemplary attributes, competencies and capabilities. All well and good, but what is seriously missing is the connection between these critical capabilities and results. And this is what results-based leadership is all about: how organizational capabilities and leadership competencies lead to and are connected to desired results.

Benefits of Results-Based Leadership

By helping leaders at all levels get results, results-based leadership frees productivity from constraints of hierarchy and the limitations of position.

Results-based leaders define results by understanding audience and customer needs. They continually ask and answer the question – “What is wanted?” – before they decided how to meet these needs.

Employees willingly follow result-based leaders who know both who they are (their own leadership attributes) and where they are going (their targeted results). “Such leaders instill confidence and inspire trust in others because theу are direct, focused, and consistent.”¹

Results-based leadership makes performance measurement easier. “Without a results focus, calibration of leadership becomes extremely difficult. Measuring results helps organizations in many ways, from tracking leaders’ individual growth, to comparing leadership effectiveness in similar roles, to clarifying the leader selection process, to structuring leadership development programs, to using results as the standard filters who should enter an organization and how they should be trained.”

 This is what an effective teen would do to make his or her life a better one each day or when they are on the path to success. Having the end result in mind means having a particular goal you want to achieve in your life. But let me tell you this, that your goal must be able to be something that you LIKE to do. If not, why set it in the 1st place? In the next few posts I will share on what I have learnt to set my goals for a better future ahead. Get ready, because it must just help you be more confident in your future. Though in this post, I included some leadership skills, read it. You might never know that you might need it when running your own company or landing in a leadership role in future… 

 

article taken from http://www.1000advices.com/guru/leader_corporate_12_success_rules_sj.html on the 29th march 2008

Problems Are Challenges That We Can Choose To Love.

I must say that the last two weeks have been wonderful, great and simply superb. The students from Coral Sec have really reinforced my passion and love for training with their new found dedication and drive for the future. These students are simply wonderful and adorable.

Anyway, to ALL coralites and ALL, while life will pose many challenges to you and it may seem daunting at times, I just want you to read the following real life story.

>>>A man asked the champion body builder, “How did you train your muscles to be so huge?”. To which, his reply was, “Do you REALLY want to know or are you just asking?” “Yeah, I really want to know.” With that, the champion flexed his huge right bicep, and with a serious look in his eyes staring down at the man, he replied, “See this? Everyday, I push my muscle against resistance. And as I push myself against more and more resistance, I commanded my muscle to expand by demand. This muscle is the result of pushing against resistance.”<<<

Well, some of you may be lost by now. Don’t be. Let me help you understand.

Challenges (I prefer challenges to problems) in life are resistance that makes us strong, if we choose to push against them. Challenges are life’s way of making us grow, let us learn, to be wiser, to be better. Challenges are life’s way to excite us and surprise us. Challenges are our allies. Challenges are GREAT!

Talk about mental shift, huh. But, that’s true (or so I CHOSE to believe).

So, how do see your challenges as? Your choice.

 Challenges are the strong tools, I would say, that push us on when we are so weak. However,according to the post, its how we view i that makes a big difference. It can either thrust us so far, turning every challenge to an opportunity that can potentially let us learn and grow ourselves. But to some people, they just view it as a prblem that cannot be solved and they let the problem or challenge takeover them. In this world, a competitive world, that its that degree or bachelor that decideswhere you go or work in future, we cannot let any problem takeover us or else, time and the problem will kill us…facing every challenge positively will enable us to be successful like anyone who has aleady achieved. Whoever is your inspiration, especially those in the business world, they only got to where they are now because they chose not to throw away prblems but see it as a opportunity to gow…Be inspired 

Don’t Follow The Crowd Or You Will Lose Out

 http://kenkohklan.blogspot.com/2008/03/dont-just-follow-crowdor-you-will-lose.html

Today, this article is written about a little irritant that I know, and about the clueless people that he has cheated for so long and so many years. So, I hope that by writing this, some people can start to spread the news, and the TRUTH and save others from falling into his tricks. DON’T BE TRICKED.

For the sake of my own safety, and to avoid any possible law suits, I cannot and shall not name anyone. So, if you connect what I said and can link to SOMEONE, it is YOU, not me ok! It just shows that you are smart enough to conjure up the “truth”. hehehe.

Alright, let me give this guy a nick name first. Kay Eh (Fake One in Hokkien).

Now, Kay Eh has been telling the whole world how, at a young age, he became millionaire lah, through his own business lah, through his own investment lah, through his hardwork and natural abilities lah. And because nice people, like you, are always compelled by the “bad boy turned good” success stories, they actually believed him, and alot actually buy his lies. And these people paid like huge amounts of money, not to mention, a huge price to pay for his services.

Well, HELLO. All those who have bought or intend to buy from Kay Eh. Please think and rethink again! Because, what I am going to say, is the true story. And if you have already bought for him, I am sure that you are going to kick yourself for believing him. Don’t kick yourself…too hard. Learn from this one time, and remember it well.

Ok, the truth of the story is this. Kay Eh, did become a millionaire at the young age, as compared to most people. But did anyone ever ask, who his dad and mom were? Did anyone even ask how he got his first million?

Looking at things, most probably no.

Before I tell you the whole story. Let me ask you this. Did you know that his dad is actually the Chairman of one of the biggest governing (not Government lah, Governing…there is a difference ok. ) agencies in the country and the mom is actually the Chief of one of the biggest (not in size literally) magazine in the country as well? Both of whom are like…erm…RICH??? Really RICH. So maths question one. 1RD + 1RM = Probability of 1 RS. Please guess the probability of 1 RS if, 1RD = 1 Rich Dad, 1RM = 1 Rich Mom, and 1RS = 1 Rich son. (1 being BOH KOH LENG [Impossible in Hokkien] to 10 being NO BRAINER CONFIRMED PLUS STAMPED)

Aaaah, that’s not all though. Kay Eh was already BORN better off than most others. That’s why, when he was considered as “Stupid” when young, his parents could affored to find him a good teacher to coach him. Where he finally changed for the better, because of the good teacher. Now, the second part of the story.

Kay Eh begged his teacher of 10 overs years to help him. So, he asked his teacher to create a product for him and allow him to run and profit from there more. Which, his teacher did and allowed him the freeplay to grow. Oh, of course he did grow. His teacher is one of the best around.

So Kay Eh was becoming richer and better off. But, I guess he felt it was not fast enough for him. So, he decided, why not become a “millionaire” at a young age, and sell the story, so people will buy more from his story? Which he did.

Now, at this point of time, Kay Eh became really, really intelligent. To get what he wanted, he betrayed his teacher, copied all his products, left him, and started the same kind of things going against his teacher, not to mention a similar company. Then, he got $800,000 which his RM left for him before she left. So combined with the $200,000 he got from the product his teacher helped him with, and the 800,000…ermm….please do maths problem 2. The answer of the total is? (Make a guess, it was mentioned in the earlier paragraphs.)

So if you ask me, how to become a millionaire? Well, in Kay Eh’s case, have rich parents, steal from people, and betray them. WOW, aren’t you just impressed with his character? And you thought that this kind of bad egg morons only appear in movies?

The reason why I have to bring this up, is because, Kay Eh has been influencing alot of people with the wrong value, teaching them the wrong things, and impacting them the wrong way. I come across alot of those who worked with him, and they ended up worse off. For those who don’t get help after him, or can’t afford to, their life just got worse. So, I just feel that I need to highlight this, before things get worse because there are many out there who do not know of the true stories, and foolishly follows him, he gets rich, off them.

So, I must first warn you, beware of those who keeps telling you they are millionaires, whether in the TV, Newspapers, Radio, or magazines. Ask yourself this question first, “Can he be trusted? What is his origin, the true origin?” before putting your money down. Don’t make the lousy guys rich, and end up poorer, yourself.

Of course, there are others who really worked their way up. And if you learn from them, you benefit alot. Like Sim Wong Hoo, Olivia Lum, and in the future, ME…hehehe

This is a post taken from one successful man that I have heard of. A mixture of his personal style because he is a Singaporean. Do not of this post. He has taught and made an impact in peoples’ lives even mine. To be successful, you lead yourself because you must see the end result first before moving on. The classic example above is just what can happen you do if you follow blindly. I advice you, follow WISELY! Let me ask you, does his passage make sense? That will determine much on how we think. If it does not make sense, I have nothing to say. If its because of the language, I urge you to post a comment and let me know so that I can explain so that this post can let you learn much instead of wasting your time reading this. Think then act, not the other way round. Thanks for reading, fellow successor in life.

This article is taken from  http://kenkohklan.blogspot.com/2008/03/dont-just-follow-crowdor-you-will-lose.html on the 27th march 2008.

3 Reasons Why People Don’t Succeed

Now, for most of you reading this post, you might already know the 3 reasons why people don’t succeed. It is not that they fail; they simply don’t succeed. We also know that there are no failures in life, only outcomes. But let’s not even talk about that. Let’s just talk about why most people don’t succeed.

The sad part about this is that there are countless people who know about it but still did not do anything about it! Worse, some are in denial! So, what are the 3 reasons why people don’t succeed?

My mentor, Ernest, shared with me the reasons why people don’t succeed. It is because they:
1) Give Excuses 2) Blame 3) Justify

First, they give 101 excuses why they can’t succeed. They say things like, “I’ve no time.” “I have no money.” “I don’t have the resources.” “I’m not that smart.” “My parents don’t support me.” and so on.

Second, they blame other people for not starting. They blame the environment, they blame the weather, they blame their friends, they blame their parents, etc. Basically, they blame everything and everyone else except themselves. Do you know of such people?

Third, they justify their actions or their inaction. In the dictionary, justify means to show or prove to be right or reasonable. No matter what they do, no matter what happens, they will do their best to prove that they are right. Sounds familiar?

Recently, I got a chance to chat online with one of my students. We started talking about each others’ dreams and stuff. And she told me that she don’t want to be a millionaire. I was quite taken aback and I naturally asked her why. She said that she wants to become a billionaire. Oh my! Why didn’t I think of that? Good for her. There’s nothing wrong with that. It only means she needs to put in the necessary work to become a billionaire. And it is not easy to become a billionaire. According to Forbes in 2008, there are only 1,125 billionaires in the whole wide world! That translate to only about o.oooo17% of the world’s population!!! Not even close to 1%.

Then she told me that she wants to become a chef and asked me if she can become rich by being a chef. The answer is definitely yes. It depends on how rich you want to be. But how rich you can be is determined by how good you are. If you are a good chef, you can probably be rich. But if you want to be extremely wealthy, then you have to move up to the next level. That is, you can’t stop at being a chef. You can own the restaurant, set up a training academy for chefs, franchise the business in different countries and so on. Only when you own a business, then being rich is a lot easier.

She then said that it would take a long time to do achieve it and currently, she only knows how to fry eggs!!! I said so what? Remember, it is not how good you are but how good you want to be. Yes, it may take a long time, but is there a shorter way to accomplish it? The answer is yes. She just needs to start training now and talk to the right people to get going. Because if you wait, then success will come even later. Let me ask you, when is the earliest time to start? The answer is NOW!!!

Guess what happen next to our conversation? My student then told me that her mom won’t allow her to cook at home, she don’t know how to cook, don’t know who to talk to, don’t know where to start, no money, no time and etc. So I asked her if she know why people don’t succeed and she said she know. Then I asked her if she falls into any of the categories and guess what she said? She said no! Can you believe it? If those things that she mentioned above are not excuses, I don’t know what they are.

She continued to say that those were not excuses, they are facts. I just laughed. Do you see it now? The sad thing is that people know about all these and yet they do nothing about it. They even deny and justify that they are facts. Yes, those things that she mentioned were real problems. But the question will be, what are you going to do about that? Are you going to allow your problems to stop you from achieving your goals. So what if your mom don’t allow you to cook at home? Go to your friend’s house, go enroll in a cooking course, go find ways to convince your mom, go do something about it!

Let me just say this, Successful people succeed in spite of their problems. Let me repeat, Successful people succeed in spite of their problems. Successful don’t give excuses, they don’t blame, they don’t justify their actions. They simply find ways to overcome their problems and do whatever it takes to succeed. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to succeed? How much effort and work are you willing to put in? How badly do you want to succeed?

If you are not committed, then it doesn’t matter what you do. But if you are truly committed, then you’ll definitely find a way round your problems. You’ll succeed in spite of your problems. So, the question is, do you fall into any of the 3 categories on why people don’t succeed? Are you giving excuses? Are you blaming? Are you justifying? If so, then it is about time you make the change.

And once you make the change, your LIFE, WILL NEVER, EEEEE………EEE……EEVER, BE THE SAME AGAIN!!!

This is a post from one of the trainers in a programme I just attended in school. During this 3 day course, I learnt alot from the trainers, all successful people in the professions that they are in. These are people that put in the hardwork since young to get to where they are currently. I respect them. Its a superteen workshop to help teenagers achieve success in life, if i can say. It has impacted the graduating batch of students in my school. But with success that comes along, what I have posted is prevent anyone to have a reason not to succeed. what were you born for? Just to eat, sleep and play? Why not choose to have a good life and make your 70-100 years on earth a purposeful one? As a saying goes, ” Every man lives and dies the same. Its what the man does in between that makes the difference”. Are you going to make that difference?

 article taken from http://peter-lau.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html ont he 26th march 2008.

Inspirations…Just thought it might help

Teenage Success Stories:

 Yours Could Start Today

by Kae Tattersall

Would you like to have more money in your pocket, face the future with more confidence and be able to set up a successful business for yourself? It is easier than you think. All it takes is a dream and a little thought and planning. Look at what these teenagers were able to accomplish:

Dorothy started her business at the age of 14, selling stick-insect eggs by mail order. Less than 20 years later, she is Great Britain’s biggest breeder of stick insects. Her company sells 50,000 a year.

Because she had experience with insects and knew she wanted to make a career in the insect business, Dorothy studied applied biology at a university, designing the right kind of insect houses and researching proper feeding facilities for her insects.

This greatly increased her ability to supply the whole package to her customers. She found that many people who worked all day wanted a pet but could not provide the attention needed by a dog or cat. Stick insects (called walkingsticks in some countries) were the ideal answer for some, and her beautifully designed cages are just as attractive in a room as any aquarium.

Naomi is a 13-year-old entrepreneur. “I was 11 when I started breeding guinea pigs for a bit of pocket money,” she said. “I bought a female guinea pig from a pet shop. The lady at the shop told me that the guinea pig was probably pregnant and she would buy the babies back from me when they were six to eight weeks old. My parents gave me some money to buy more hutches, and my brother, who was 10 at the time, went into business with me.”

Since first selling the animals, says Naomi, she has learned all about guinea pigs. She’s had to concern herself with cash flow, quality control and the responsibility of running a small business.

“Some of the money we make has to be saved to buy hay and more hutches and to pay for veterinary bills,” she says. “Having to look after so many animals takes a lot of time and work. I never realized making money was so much work. If the animals aren’t well looked after, they become dirty or even sick. So we have a responsibility to the pet shop to supply the very best product we can. If we don’t, we would no longer have a market, because the pet shop wants to keep their good reputation.”

Now that Naomi has run a guinea-pig business, she would like to work with bigger animals, perhaps horses. “Or working in a zoo would be fun!”

It sounds easy, doesn’t it? But how do you get started?

First, brainstorm. Divide a piece of paper into three columns. In column one, write what you want to accomplish in the next five years or so-a really good job, financing for college, more money or whatever you would like to do. In the middle column write down what it would take to accomplish this.

Consider, for example, financing four years of college. One young man did just that.

Ben’s family helped him turn an after-school job cleaning swimming pools and mowing lawns into a successful and valuable service. Because of the skills he developed through hard work, he landed a position with a large company, which paid his college fees, provided him training in a career and guaranteed him a job after graduation.

The company was not looking for a high-powered businessman; it wanted someone who had learned financial expertise and the value of customer satisfaction and perseverance-all vital entrepreneurial skills. Ben got the position because he had taught himself the one thing every company is looking for: self-motivation.

In the third column of your paper write down your interests along with any potential money-making ideas you can think of. Do you have any hobbies like Dorothy’s or Naomi’s? Can you provide a service like Ben’s? Do you have any special skill that could be developed to earn money?

Richard is an example of developing and using his skills to earn money. At the age of 15 he learned leather craft at a summer camp. He lived in a remote community in Wales, a place of few employment opportunities. However, Richard made small items he could sell at the only shop in his village.

Because he could provide a service and was determined to produce the highest-quality work, his reputation and his profit margin grew. Soon Richard could buy larger quantities of leather, which he made into beautifully tooled handbags and purses. These he sold in a larger shop in the neighboring village. Each item contained an offer to hand-tool initials on the item free of charge. This led to even more sales in the form of commissions for large items. Soon Richard had more orders than he could fill.

A secret to these teenage success stories is finding a niche in the market that no one else is filling. Research is vital before you start. If you hope to exploit a skill, make friends with local store and shop owners. Look for something they don’t sell or something you can produce better or less expensively. Show your samples.

If you hope to provide a service, make sure you can do it well enough and consistently enough to supply a number of clients. When advertising a service, offering a first-time free trial can win potential customers.

The often overlooked dimension to a long and successful career is reliance on God, and perseverance. As God said through King Solomon, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10), and he who heeds God’s Word “will find good, and whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he” (Proverbs 16:20).

Don’t be afraid to dream. Talk to your parents, teachers and other adults about making your dreams a reality. It takes courage, confidence, ingenuity and hard thinking to come up with a money-making idea and plan. But if you do you will be well on your way to finding a good job or starting a career. The next teenage success story we read could be yours! GN

Be inspired by all these stories. We were all born to succeed, not fail. Be successful is not being mediocre but doing it better than standard. Read and ask yourself, “can I be like them?”

Certainly you can! If they could do it, so could you!

Going All Out!!!

Most of the problems in life stem from one cause: we can’t get ourselves to take action. It’s not that we don’t know what to do. The problem is getting ourselves to follow through and do it.

Success is not determined by genetics. It’s about persistent, consistent action.

Action is the key. You can be the most talented person in the world or have the best ideas, yet still if
you do not take action you will achieve nothing.

Having dreams and passion is not enough. If you wish to achieve something, don’t let life just “happen” to you. Set goals and take action.

Balancing Action and Reflection

Creating success involves creating and a delicate and ongoing balance between two somewhat opposing forces – reflection of where you are now and action of pushing toward where you need to go.

Entrepreneurial Creativity

Entrepreneurial creativity is about coming up with innovative ideas and turning them into value-creating profitable business activities.

Entrepreneurial creativity = creativity × entrepreneurial action…

Be the Best Possible

10 Tips by Ten3 NZ Ltd.

• Exceed expectations.  Go the extra mile, do things faster, do things with greater sincere friendliness, for your customers, employer, family and for yourself!...

The Foundation of Leadership: Achieving Extraordinary Results

By: Brian Tracy

Ask yourself every day, “What is the one thing that I and only I can do, that if done well, will make a real difference to my company?” Whatever your answer, go to work on that….

Put Your Business Plan Into Action

A business plan is an essential part of developing a successful business. However, it’s of no use if it just stays as a plan on paper. Your business plans need to be implemented and this requires you taking action. But not just any old actions where you fall in the trap of keeping yourself extremely busy. You need to consistently take the actions that are critical to the success of your business…

Fortune Favors the Brave

By: Brian Tracy

Boldness is a necessary part of courage but it must be a boldness based on an intelligent assessment of the potential risks and rewards. The wonderful nature of boldness is that, properly directed, it builds the habit of courage in the person who practices it.

Act Boldly in Every Situation

In my experience, any virtue translated into action leads almost invariably to positive results. This applies to integrity, persistence, courtesy, love and courage. I’ve always liked the advice of an old man to his grandson. “Act boldly and unseen forces will come to your aid.”

Take a Leap of Faith

Perhaps the most obviously important part of courage is the courage to step out in the face of uncertainty. Every great venture in the history of man has begun with faith and a giant leap into the unknown.

General Douglas MacArthur said, “There is no security in life, only opportunity.” The creed of Frederick The Great, one of history’s most successful leaders was, “Audacity, audacity-always audacity.”

Launch With No Guarantees

A 12-year study of successful entrepreneurs conducted by Babson College concluded that the only thing they had in common was the willingness to launch, to step out in faith. Once they had started, they learned the lessons they needed to succeed. Many of them ending up successful in completely different businesses from where they started.

Dare To Go Forward

Dare to go forward. Successful companies are invariably those that continue to research, develop, experiment and introduce new products and services – even during the deepest recessions. Successful executives are those who are continually stretching themselves to move out of the comfort zone, to face the twin fears of failure and rejection and to move forward in spite of them.

Action Exercises

Here are two ways to develop greater boldness in your work and personal life.

First, just do it! Step out in faith! If you think of some action you can take to improve your life, give it a try. You may be surprised.

Second, when in doubt, act with audacity. Audacity may get you into trouble but even more audacity will get you out. Go for it!

To put this into context, success means not looking at the negetive points of every venture you take. Daring to go forward when all the others are still laid back is good. Successful people take the initiative to start something. Entreprenuers are people that I respect. They make a difference to their lives instead of waiting for opportunities to pop put. Opportunities will come when we take the 1st step. Do not be changed by the environment, you change the environment. Dare yourself, give 110%. Thermometer or thermostat? You choose. 

Thinking Out Of The Box

Powerful Concept

The notion ‘thinking outside the box’ is far more than just another management cliché. It is a very powerful concept worthy of deeper consideration in today’s complex and rapidly changing world.

Leave Your Comfort Zone

Thinking outside the box is never easy, nor is it merely a reflection of mental brightness. To leave your psychological comfort zone and explore “solutions in the unknown world on the outside requires large measures of mental agility, boldness, and creativity – and/or a leader who makes life in the old box so uncomfortable that getting out is the only option. The future rests in those willing and able to do so.”

Challenge Assumptions

Challenging assumptions means questioning the everyday things you take for granted. “The best assumption to have is that any commonly held belief is wrong,” says Ken Olson, CEO of DEC.

The natural thing to do is the thing you have always done. Every time you approach a problem you bring your accumulated experience, knowledge and training to bear on it. But this includes you accumulated assumptions and biases – conscious and unconscious. The more experienced and expert you are, the more likely you are to assume outcomes by extrapolating from the known facts and experiences to predict a result. This mental baggage can prevent you from accepting innovative ideas.

Sometimes the way you frame a problem contains an assumption that prevents you from solving it. In Middle Ages the definition of astronomy was the ’study of how the heavenly bodies move around the Earth’, i.e. the Earth was considered to be the centre of universe which resulted in the chain of wrong explanations of various phenomena. “Similar ideas exist in most businesses – assumptions that underpin most strategies and decisions, and that are so fundamental that they are never challenged.”

Break Free of Routine

Falling into a routine can destroy your life.  Routine is so dangerous and so powerful that even the best of intentions can be knocked down for good because of it. Recognize if you are in a routine and break free. Sometimes it’s a matter of an attribute we all seek in life – confidence. If you wish to change yourself and achieve more, you need courage and a strong belief in your ability to succeed.

Being successful means being a leader of your life. A leader does things differently, a standard higher than normal individuals. And in this post, it clearly shows what thinking out of the box can do to a person who wants success in life. Like said earlier, thinking out of the box is thinking of what an ordinary person would think.  Even turning a problem in hand to a perfect opportunity for success. Now, thats a leader. Yes, you might ask “what if we fail?”

The only reason that we might fail is because we lost track of vision as we get too deep into problems, thinking of how to slove them instead of moving forward. Remember, a leader turns every problem into an opportunity for success. And to allow you to understand the last point of breaking free  of routines or cycles means, if you just keep on failing, unable to get up, get someone you trust that can help you. Its no fun running a race alone. Maybe your teachers, parents or seniors that have already succeeded in life. this is what I would have done. Every teenager can succeed.Its up to them, its a choice.

article from http://1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/thinking_outside-the-box.html on 29/1/2008

Power Of Passion

The Power of Passion

Successful people win because they love what they do. All of them have a very strong desire to succeed. They have passion for their field, their business.

Passion is the single fastest way to spur yourself to massive success. It is something you love.  Something you’re excited about. Something you get up early to work on or to stay up late.

Turning a Passion Into a Business

Great business requires heart and dedication. If you think your passion or hobby has potential as a business, ask yourself, “Is this something I really enjoy doing and can sustain? What is it about my offerings that are unique or hard to find? Is this something people really want?  How could I find it out?”

The Value of Passion for Business

The value of passion for business has been widely recognized. Passion is key to you succeeding. Many innovation centers, companies large and small have started shifting their management practices to accommodate or support knowledge work and help their people express passion of their own.

 Success Story  Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods’ willingness to win is unparalleled in sports. His strong desire to win is a huge factor in what has propelled him to incredible success. Tiger Woods called his love for golf an ‘obsessions’, an ‘addiction’.

 Case in Point  Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our generation. His success story is legendary.

Put up for adoption at an early age, dropped out of college after 6 months, slept on friends’ floors, returned coke bottles for 5 cent deposits to buy food, then went on to start Apple Computers and Pixar Animation Studios.

On June 12th 2005, Steve Jobs gave the commencement address at Stanford University. Below are a few clips from his powerful speech.

Find your true passion and do what you love to do

“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love

This is clearly show how much passion you have to have in order to succeed in what you are doing. Passion drives you even though you might be only person envisioning your success. But as people see you on the way to achieving your dreams, they will be interested in what you are doing and you get your chance to share with them. You get free publicity also!

If your passion for success in your life is strong, you will succeed. Even if its just saving half of your daily allowance to buy a PSP, if you are passionate about it, you will succeed. Remember this, NO SACRIFICE, NO VICTORY. To add on, passion will spread fast. People around you will catch it. “Set me on fire and the world will come see me burn”