Browsing Posts published by Kris
Most people want to achieve great heights of success. At the same time, many people sit around for a long time wishing for luck to strike. The best example in this case is someone who wants to be rich but only tries the most ineffective method – playing the Lotto. There are chances of becoming rich over night, but how likely is it that this will actually happen? Creating a realistic plan in order to achieve the desired results is vital in any case, regardless of how high or low your goals are.
A great way to achieve your dream is to take successive steps that will gradually increase your chances of reaching your goal.
Take, for example, a swimming competition. The first thing to do is to make sure you are not afraid of the water. Before you even consider entering the race, you have to eliminate your fears, which may be holding you back.
Once you are convinced that your goal is worthwhile, the next stage of your plan is preparation. You cannot expect to win a professional swimming race when you don’t even know how to swim. Start with the basics and never skip any steps out of desire of reaching your goal faster. The experience and knowledge you are skipping will probably come back and hurt you later on. Take gradual steps – swim half a lap first, and then move on to a full lap. Your skills will progress each time, and you will soon beat your own lap records every time you enter the swimming pool.
It might take days, weeks or years to prepare for the big “race,” depending on what your goals are. The main thing is to enter the race feeling confident in your own success and having all the skills that would allow you to win.
There are two important benefits of taking steps one at a time and keeping your plan realistic. First, preparation and planning brings confidence. Organizing your strategy reduces the chances of making wrong moves or making less efficient decisions. Remember to take action on your plan. Don’t spend your entire time planning; otherwise, you will not reach your goal.
Secondly, having a sound plan has many psychological benefits and your subconscious mind worries less. This gives you more energy to concentrate on what is important. You are creating a pattern in your awareness that accepts success and integrates it in your plan.
When both your conscious and your subconscious mind believe in your chances of reaching a goal, you benefit from a power of concentration and focus that eliminate outside interference and let you follow the shortest path to success.
Good luck and getting to your goals!
Have you achieved major success in your life? Most successful people I’ve spoken to have told me that success should be less of an end in itself, and more of a way of life. A truly successful person has mastered life, and thus has control of the direction of his destiny.
So how do you start on the path to becoming successful? A good way to start would be to find a successful person and ask him how he did it. Then find another and do the same. Then find another, and then another. By doing so, you will acquire the knowledge from the people who have achieved great things, and you’ll be armed with wisdom to go after your goals and desires. Success often leaves clues, so why not discover these clues?
People who have reached peak performance have certain habits and carry out certain actions. They have each found their own way to get to that point, so they obviously know how to get there. Most of them know multiple ways to get there, simply because they have done it. In the process, they failed a number of times, so they know what doesn’t work.
I read somewhere about an interview of 4 millionaires on how they got their start and earned their first million. On average, they each had an average of 18 businesses before hitting the jackpot. Imagine 17 failures. Then imagine speaking to one of them and learning how to avoid, maybe, 13 of those steps. You would already be closer to your goal.
The point is, as far as success is concerned, the most important ingredient comes from inside you. There is determination, focus, power of will and others. Then there is knowledge. It is that knowledge that gives direction to all the other forces. Once the direction is known, take action! With that action comes a definite movement towards the ultimate goal.
So if you have big dreams and want to find a faster way getting there, learn from those who have gone before you. There are many out there, and their methods are vastly different. You don’t have to do exactly as they have done, but you can apply their methods and knowledge to your own journey. Once you act on this knowledge, I can assure you that you will start to think like a successful person. Once that happens, it is only a matter of time before that success begins to manifest in your life.
Here’s to your success!
The most successful people powered their achievements with strong motivation and the ability to persist despite previous failures. Motivation is the fire that fuels success. It is also the result of a strong burning desire that directs a person’s actions and thoughts and helps create situations that move towards accomplishing a specific goal.
Motivation must come from within, and not from an outside source. For example, if you decide to go on a diet because your spouse wants you to, that is poor motivation, and you will probably not do well at it. It is only when you truly desire to control your habits and behaviors that you will achieve self-discipline. Motivation brings about true change.
One way to increase motivation is through pressure, or having someone hold you accountable. Tell your friends, co-workers and family about your commitment to change something in your life. They will hold you accountable of whether you are taking the right action to get you to your goal.
Motivation works hand in hand with self-discipline and organization. Lack in these areas can lead to a greater number of failures, which can impact your motivation. One way to alleviate this is to structure your day and organize yourself, so that you are implementing the action plans that will get you to your goal.
As you work towards making a positive change in your life, you will eventually experience failure. The only way to defeat failure is through persistence and perseverance. The most common reason people give up on achieving their goals is because they encountered failure once or twice, and they become afraid to try again. Winston Churchill once said, “Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” Before you even begin, you must plan to deal with failure. Be ready to persevere. Vow to never give up, no matter what, no matter how long it takes!
Having self-discipline is powerful to help you accomplish anything you desire. With self-discipline, you can control your emotions, actions, thoughts, words and personal direction. Some people seem to be naturally self-controlled and some seem to have no self-control at all. Others seem to constantly struggle with self-discipline.
Discipline is learning to say “no” to our primitive uncontrolled cravings and selfish destructive desires. We learn to develop this discipline when you can distinguish the difference between what is actually needed and what is really necessary.
It is more difficult today, than in any other time in history, to exert self-discipline because of our ability to get almost anything we want with a push of a button or swipe of a credit card. We are also constantly bombarded with advertising that enhances our cravings for things.
An important step to gaining self-control is to identify the areas where we are out of control. Work on self-denial in the areas you want to change. Deny your self a certain pleasure each day. Then begin to start small with little victories each day, like eating one less snack or watching one less television show.
Developing new routines is a key to self discipline. People who have routines tend to be more disciplined and accomplish more. If you are one of those people who have trouble with routines, try adding just one at a time. Keep it simple. Work on the things that are most important first. Evaluate yourself regularly to see how you are doing. Reward yourself for keeping at it. Once it becomes a habit, it is much easier to maintain.
Of course, routines can be done to excess, so remember to give yourself a little healthy leeway in case the unexpected comes up.
We all know how easy it is to follow what everyone else is doing. It takes a strong person to live the kind of life they want, based on his or her own ideals. This type of person shows strength simply by choosing to remain on a path regardless of counter forces and what everyone else is saying.
The fear of these counter forces keeps most of us away from our natural desire to live the kind of life we choose. This fear causes people to not take action rather than face the possibility of failure.
Although we tend to restrict ourselves, we admire those who have the tenacity to face up to these forces in order to live the way they choose. We also admire the character of those who go the extra step of being a living example of their beliefs.
We offer our highest admiration to those who take action and those who demonstrate character. We recognize that it is not only amazing to have knowledge, but it is incredible to veer from the norm and act in a way as to be a living example of one’s beliefs.
Rather than placing these individuals on a pedestal, we should learn to model our lives after their examples. Thomas Edison is one such example – a person who took massive action and held on to his belief that he can invent the world’s first light bulb, regardless of the criticism and ridicule he encountered.
Edison also made a point to clearly demonstrate his determination through an open door policy with the media. He gave the rest of the world a clear picture of his character character.
Edison and his team showed their persistence and determination often throughout the years, especially with the invention of the light bulb. Edison and his team could have given up after a couple attempts, yet they persevered even after several thousand attempts.
Edison could not be discouraged. He rationalized that since he had only found thousands of ways it could not be done, he could only be closer to the right answer. Edison and his team showed character. Their determination pushed aside the counter forces and their diligence was rewarded after thousands of attempts.
Determination such as this should be ours since it is the very substance that promotes action. This, of course, is easier said than done. Recognizing that action is spurred by determination may be a key to a new way of living.
If we believe in something, then the beliefs of others, particularly those who speak of impossibilities, should be ignored. Since we all are able to rationalize that error and potential failure are part of human nature, we should not be afraid of it. We should look at it, like Edison did, as a stepping stone towards getting to our goals.
We should strive to make character our own. This empowering thought is fuel to drive us to success. We have the power to be the best we can be by acting on our dreams. We can learn what we need along the way.
There are many books, articles and training on the topics related to “What is leadership?” and “How to develop a leader?” In this article, I will focus on two other questions that might be on the minds of people like yourself who are looking to enhance your leadership development.
Why does better leadership make a difference? and
How does better leadership achieve those differences?
Leadership is a highly unique form of human behavior that requires an integration of character, knowledge and experience. So what can you really do when you unlock your human leadership potential? Well, the possibilities are endless, and you can make a significant impact on improving and serving humanity.
Your journey to unleashing your leadership potential begins with a great understanding of self. Discover your personality traits and how they relate to leadership. When we know ourselves, we can maximize our positive traits, and become aware of our weaker areas, which help us to achieve our leadership potential.
Once you understand and know yourself, the next step would be honing your communication skills. Communication is not just limited to public speaking. This includes your writing style and your body language. Your ability to communicate effectively enhances your ability to improve interpersonal relationships. Another important skill is to learning how to learn, or becoming coachable. Examine different teaching methods and learning styles to identify how you and those you may lead learn best. This skill will greatly enhance your ability to make decisions and give clear instructions.
An exceptional leader is one that recognizes the value of harnessing the skills and abilities of team members and leads them towards peak performance.
A leader is not a title, and leadership is not something you are born into. Leadership is something you develop.
This is what Dr. Ken Blanchard, in his book “The Heart of A Leader” had to say about good leaders; “If you want to know why your people are not performing well, step up to the mirror and take a peek.”
The importance of immediate, massive, daily action has been written about many times already but it is so important to emphasize this topic every now and again. The examples in this article come from the world of business but they could also apply to any other area in life.
Marketing is the life blood of any business or organization, but sometimes businessmen will wait until they have written the perfect advertisement or sales message before sending out even one ad. They also spend weeks making sure their website is beautifully designed with all the latest refinements.
Meanwhile, good sales and prospects are passing them by. Their product may even be out of date before they are happy with the advertisements. By the time they have everything perfect and ready to go, they may run out of capital and be forced to close down their business. One of the best lessons I learned was not to worry about creating a perfect website. Just get one up.
Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire Mayor of New York, credits his success to getting going without spending too much time planning:
“We act from day one; others plan how to plan – for months.”
Here’s a motto of an average businessman and marketer by the name of Jack, who one of my mentors told me about. His motto was: “Doin’ it, Doin’it, Doin’it” i.e do something, anything every day towards achieving your marketing goals.”
He kept plugging away each day with his marketing, even when the format of his sales brochures and forms did not look very good. He would not wait for the format to be improved. He believed in ‘Doin’ it’ even if he was not quite ready to do it.
This philosophy and behavior made him a multi millionaire and a leader. Even though what he said was not profound and could at times be downright stupid, his action oriented words and behavior led many to trust him and to follow his suggestions.
He knew that to get a desired outcome, he had to actually DO something to get there.
Jack knew that if his audience would just do something – anything – every day toward their goals, they, too, would get there. He didn’t wait until he had enough money to start his business or until his advertising materials were perfect or until he had a stockpile of products to sell. He started with what he had and did something every day to achieve his goal.
You can’t dream or wish your way into riches, although this can help. You have to actually do something about it. What is worse than a sales ad? No sales ad. Don’t wait until you have a great website or enough money to start your business.
Get going now and do something every day towards achieving your goal. You may still have doubts and fears, but by doing something every day you will make progress and your confidence and power will increase.
Some people want to master a piece of software before they use it. The chances are that they will never use it!
The quickest way to learn how a software tool works is to start using it on a daily basis. We will make mistakes, of course, but we will also make progress in understanding the software.
If possible, find a mentor who can hold your hand while you try something new. However, mentors are not always easily available so trust yourself to have a go on your own and see what happens.
You will probably amaze yourself at what you can achieve on your own especially if you don’t give up at the first signs of trouble.
Preparation, thinking and planning are worth doing, but there comes a time when the most important thing is to actually start taking action even if this means you are running risks. Try it and see what happens.
Start “Doing it!”
Who would forget the ever-famous line of Peter Parker’s grandfather, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Society often expects Spiderman, a comic book, TV, and movie superhero, to be responsible for saving his town, or even the world, in some instances, from evil because he has super powers.
From all the episodes he appeared in, he never let us down. With the power he possesses, he makes sure to be responsible in using it for the good of the people around him.
Leadership is not at all different from being superheroes. Yes, you may not have super powers like Superman and Spiderman, but you have the authority to lead other people towards success. This is so much greater and stronger since it is a power that can be used by real people in this real world.
Hence, being a leader requires great sense of responsibility, the second quality a successful leader should attain.
The power to lead your people towards aiming your vision comes with responsibilities like making sure they are on the right direction, being aware of each and everyone’s tasks and mistakes, and putting them back on the right track when they get lost.
Who said it is easy to be a leader? Well, it is no. It comes with tons of responsibilities. True leaders are willing to accept them all.
There are instances where sometimes it makes us feel better to blame somebody or something else when something goes wrong in a task. However, good leaders should not be doing this.
A leader should take full responsibility of a task – not just before he accepts to take it, but also after it has been accomplished. As much as he is responsible for his team’s success, he should also be responsible for any failure. He represents the whole team so whatever happens to it, he is the one responsible.
Making excuses and blaming something or someone else for failed jobs is not a quality of a good leader. What he should do, instead, is to accept the fact that something went wrong with the organization, even if it is not his fault. It is normal to make mistakes. In fact, mistakes are opportunities to learn something better. As a leader, he must ensure that the team members learn from these mistakes and that these errors will not be repeated next time.
You may not have full control over other people and are not expected to have full control over their actions, but you have full control of your own reactions. Knowing what to do over unexpected and unpredictable situations will make you responsible, hence giving you the feeling of power.
About Me
I'm an Internet Entrepreneur and Small Business Consultant living in Las Vegas, NV. I'm currently working on projects involving affiliate and network marketing, personal branding, and consulting in the Green / Clean Energy sector. I enjoy mentoring people in Attraction Marketing by helping them develop their leadership skills through personal development.
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