The life cycle of all failure proof business is determine by the application of simple practical principles. Many business are falling and crumbling today due to small negligence here and there.Statistics have shown that hundreds of businesses have folded up over the last few months.This why there is great need for you to discover ways to protect your business and make progress.
During my study of great businesses ,to see why they are able to survive the strong wind of global reccession that have pull down and wreck many companies. I discover five major secrets to have a failure proof business .I am sure they will help to turn around the status of your business from this moment.
To grow a failure proof business, do the following:
1.Be a finisher;
Be someone who has a reputation for finishing anything you start. Be a result oriented person. Don’t be in business just for participation. You are in business to win. Please understand that to a large extent, this business is going to take its character from you. All of the virtue you displayed will be modeled throughout your organization. If you are somebody who is prone to giving excuses for failure, know that that is what everybody else will do in your company. If you will be a finisher, it is important that you don’t look for someone to blame whenever you have any challenge. As a leader it is easy to find someone to blame. Once that becomes your style, it will become the modus operandi for the whole organization.
2.Perform at a high level of excellence:
If you will be a skillful person, you have to set high standards for yourself. Be someone who does not accept mediocrity. Don’t settle for less. Be someone who wants to get the best all times. For some people average is okay but as entrepreneur I am sure you know you have competition. If your business will stay alive you have to be ahead. And for you to be ahead, excellence is one of the major qualities that you have to develop. Cultivate excellence. Be someone who does not go for the organization’s average goals. You cannot be a leader that way. Set personal goals that are higher than the organization’s goals. A lot of people who work with businessmen and women don’t understand what their motivation is. They wonder why they work as hard as they do. Everybody wants to run away from work by 5 p.m. In fact most start winding down from 3:30 p.m. They wonder why their boss stays on till late. There is a price to be paid for a successful business and the boss has made up his or her mind to pay the price. Never become satisfied with the status quo, always strive for better services.
3.Never stop learning :
Most people stop learning when they write their final examination in school but that is actually when you start learning. Understand that the day the people following you catch up with you in knowledge, you have lost your leadership position. What makes you a leader is what you know that others don’t know. Therefore, never stop learning. Every challenge you come across reveals a part of you that needs wisdom. There is nobody who knows everything. The moment you come across something that is not working which is limiting progress, it just points your attention to another area where you still have to acquire new knowledge. The more you know the more you know you don’t know. All you know is all you have learned; and all you know is not all there is to know. Continuous self improvement is a major requirement; you have to keep on developing yourself.
4.Go the extra mile. Don’t be an average person. Be someone who does a little extra than everybody else. If you will increase your level of competence go the extra mile.
5.Pay attention to your work. We live in a society that is strong in social interaction. The world over, it is already known that in Africa we value friendship over business. When you leave your shop and spend the whole day talking in your neighbor’s shop, you have achieved absolutely nothing. If after a while your business is not making any progress there is no need blaming the Nigerian economy or any other external factor. Your business won’t grow in your absence. When you leave your job and you spend so much time moving about interacting with other people, realize that nobody will assess you based on your friend’s productivity. It is absolutely important that you give full attention to your work. Invest your time and energy in your business. If it is social engagements that will not allow you to give attention to your business, limit them. Sometimes, let your money go there to represent you because your most valuable resources is you time
Finally you must develop the ability, as an entrepreneur, to say it, plan it, and do it. Be the one person in that business that says it, plans it, and does it.
Friday, April 23, 2010
How to Improve your Living And Start Making Progress Consistently
Its seems like everyone is searching for secrets to health, wealth and happiness. The catch is if you understand yourself, then you would have the knowledge to be both successful in your personal relationships and in business relationships. Like everything, this starts with a goal. Whether you are looking to improve your relationship with your spouse or family member, or move up the corporate ladder, this is all a result of personal growth. Personal growth starts with doing your best at every moment, in your job, home, or day to day activities. Setting goals, no matter how small enables you to soar to new heights and give you the confidence to achieve more.
Understanding what is important
Many times, people stay hung up on other peoples expectations on what it is to be successful. Each of us has a different idea of what makes us content. It is important to acknowledge that if we spend most of our time and effort trying to reach someone else’s goals, then we find ourselves constantly searching for meaning and continue to be unhappy. Realizing what is important is the first step to improving your personal life.
Balance
Balance is the key to success. Some people do not see the concept of success beyond their own needs. Often times we are caught up in serving a dominant function, which overshadows our natural strengths. This results in stress and imbalance in ones life. Learning to do things for yourself and your own needs are vital to improving your personal life. If you are always doing for others, and seldom take time out for you, then you are building stress rather than improving life. Your happiness should come first. Finding it hard to say no to others becomes common and we find ourselves so inundated by the needs of other people. Learn to have an even balance in your life with everything you do and focus on what you want is another way to improve your personal life.
Self Esteem
Putting yourself down constantly, finding it hard to accept compliments and wishing you are someone else are easy examples that you may be sabotaging your own life. Encourage positive self talk with yourself and to others, do not speak negative about yourself and others are vital to great self esteem. Understanding that no matter what, you are ok. Improving your self-confidence is extremely important when improving your personal life. This will take putting your positive beliefs in the front of your mind, and day by day taking away the negative thoughts. Believing in you is another key to success.
If you feel like your on the road to stress and anxiety, and want more out of life, slow down and take a step back to evaluate what is important. Remember that other peoples goals are not always our own, learn to balance your everyday and lifestyle decisions, and most importantly, think positive.
Surround yourself around encouraging, not discouraging people. If you just make small steps to do these things, you will already be improving your personal life without realizing it. The key to success is moving forward. You will need to learn steps to move ahead and stop looking back. Of course, history is important, yet you want to avoid dwelling on past mistakes. Your mistakes are learning tools. Use them, learn from the mistakes, and move ahead.
When you surround your self with positive influences, it helps you to gain the power of processing your life. You have control over conversation and your community. Take back your control and you will improve your overall personal life.
Understanding what is important
Many times, people stay hung up on other peoples expectations on what it is to be successful. Each of us has a different idea of what makes us content. It is important to acknowledge that if we spend most of our time and effort trying to reach someone else’s goals, then we find ourselves constantly searching for meaning and continue to be unhappy. Realizing what is important is the first step to improving your personal life.
Balance
Balance is the key to success. Some people do not see the concept of success beyond their own needs. Often times we are caught up in serving a dominant function, which overshadows our natural strengths. This results in stress and imbalance in ones life. Learning to do things for yourself and your own needs are vital to improving your personal life. If you are always doing for others, and seldom take time out for you, then you are building stress rather than improving life. Your happiness should come first. Finding it hard to say no to others becomes common and we find ourselves so inundated by the needs of other people. Learn to have an even balance in your life with everything you do and focus on what you want is another way to improve your personal life.
Self Esteem
Putting yourself down constantly, finding it hard to accept compliments and wishing you are someone else are easy examples that you may be sabotaging your own life. Encourage positive self talk with yourself and to others, do not speak negative about yourself and others are vital to great self esteem. Understanding that no matter what, you are ok. Improving your self-confidence is extremely important when improving your personal life. This will take putting your positive beliefs in the front of your mind, and day by day taking away the negative thoughts. Believing in you is another key to success.
If you feel like your on the road to stress and anxiety, and want more out of life, slow down and take a step back to evaluate what is important. Remember that other peoples goals are not always our own, learn to balance your everyday and lifestyle decisions, and most importantly, think positive.
Surround yourself around encouraging, not discouraging people. If you just make small steps to do these things, you will already be improving your personal life without realizing it. The key to success is moving forward. You will need to learn steps to move ahead and stop looking back. Of course, history is important, yet you want to avoid dwelling on past mistakes. Your mistakes are learning tools. Use them, learn from the mistakes, and move ahead.
When you surround your self with positive influences, it helps you to gain the power of processing your life. You have control over conversation and your community. Take back your control and you will improve your overall personal life.
What does real PROGRESS Means to you..?
Yesterday I went to visit a friend .During the course of our discussion the issue of making progress in life came up and after leaving him these seven letters just kept coming to me..what does real progress mean to you..?
Most of us have an idea about what progress means to us, and we have a mental vision of what it
will look like when it arrives in our lives. We might finally get the career recognition we’ve
been working so hard for, earn a lot of money, find the man or woman of our dreams, start a
family, purchase our own home, buy the sports car we’ve wanted since we were a teenager, or
reach any number of other personal accomplishments. Is this progress? For some of us, it might
be. Perhaps you have a different vision of what progress means to you.
Regardless of your personal definition of progress, you likely have one thing in common with the
rest of us: you are still seeking the level of progress you want to attain. Maybe you’ve had
progress in certain areas, but not in others. Your career might be going great, but your
relationships are lacking. Or you’ve met the love of your life, but you just can’t seem to earn the
amount of money that would make you happy. Or everything else is great but you can’t seem to
lose those last 20 pounds and get into better shape.
It’s a maddening position to be in, especially if you don’t understand why it’s happening. You
may think you’re doing everything right, but circumstances just won’t bend to your will. You
constantly run into obstacles, sabotage your own efforts, berate yourself for your “failures,”- and
the struggle continues.
This struggle continues because of one reason, and one reason only: you are focusing your
energy and effort in the wrong direction!
In this modern age, we have the misguided notion that success is some elusive quality “out
there” that we need to hunt down and capture. We believe that if we say the right things, do the
right things, take exactly the right steps, success will fly right into our little butterfly net and we
can pin it down on a sheet of cardboard and hang it proudly on our wall.
We can’t capture success, nor can we buy it, stumble across it, or fall into it. We can only create
it, from the inside out. And the only way to create it is by changing our thoughts and habits.
What do thoughts have to do with anything? Everything! What we expect to see, we see. What
we expect to have in our lives, we have. What we focus on the most, expands.
If your life isn’t what you want it to be, your thoughts have not been in alignment with it. This
can be a tricky concept to understand, but the most important point to get is that it’s a cumulative
process.
Think of a scale. If you place a grain of sand in one of the trays, it probably won’t make much
difference to the balance of the scale. But if you add another grain, and another, and another,
before long the scale will begin to tilt in that direction. Your thoughts work in much the same
way, and if you have enough of one particular type of thought, it will affect your quality of life.
This may sound bad, but it’s actually a good thing! If we can create imbalance and lack with our
thoughts and habits, we can also create progress. It’s all within your control.
To your progress till we meet again
Most of us have an idea about what progress means to us, and we have a mental vision of what it
will look like when it arrives in our lives. We might finally get the career recognition we’ve
been working so hard for, earn a lot of money, find the man or woman of our dreams, start a
family, purchase our own home, buy the sports car we’ve wanted since we were a teenager, or
reach any number of other personal accomplishments. Is this progress? For some of us, it might
be. Perhaps you have a different vision of what progress means to you.
Regardless of your personal definition of progress, you likely have one thing in common with the
rest of us: you are still seeking the level of progress you want to attain. Maybe you’ve had
progress in certain areas, but not in others. Your career might be going great, but your
relationships are lacking. Or you’ve met the love of your life, but you just can’t seem to earn the
amount of money that would make you happy. Or everything else is great but you can’t seem to
lose those last 20 pounds and get into better shape.
It’s a maddening position to be in, especially if you don’t understand why it’s happening. You
may think you’re doing everything right, but circumstances just won’t bend to your will. You
constantly run into obstacles, sabotage your own efforts, berate yourself for your “failures,”- and
the struggle continues.
This struggle continues because of one reason, and one reason only: you are focusing your
energy and effort in the wrong direction!
In this modern age, we have the misguided notion that success is some elusive quality “out
there” that we need to hunt down and capture. We believe that if we say the right things, do the
right things, take exactly the right steps, success will fly right into our little butterfly net and we
can pin it down on a sheet of cardboard and hang it proudly on our wall.
We can’t capture success, nor can we buy it, stumble across it, or fall into it. We can only create
it, from the inside out. And the only way to create it is by changing our thoughts and habits.
What do thoughts have to do with anything? Everything! What we expect to see, we see. What
we expect to have in our lives, we have. What we focus on the most, expands.
If your life isn’t what you want it to be, your thoughts have not been in alignment with it. This
can be a tricky concept to understand, but the most important point to get is that it’s a cumulative
process.
Think of a scale. If you place a grain of sand in one of the trays, it probably won’t make much
difference to the balance of the scale. But if you add another grain, and another, and another,
before long the scale will begin to tilt in that direction. Your thoughts work in much the same
way, and if you have enough of one particular type of thought, it will affect your quality of life.
This may sound bad, but it’s actually a good thing! If we can create imbalance and lack with our
thoughts and habits, we can also create progress. It’s all within your control.
To your progress till we meet again
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Time Management The Key to Start Making Progress ....
Time management is basically about being focused. The Pareto Principle also known as the '80:20 Rule' states that 80% of efforts that are not time managed or unfocused generates only 20% of the desired output. However, 80% of the desired output can be generated using only 20% of a well time managed effort. Although the ratio '80:20' is only arbitrary, it is used to put emphasis on how much is lost or how much can be gained with time management.
Some people view time management as a list of rules that involves scheduling of appointments, goal settings, thorough planning, creating things to do lists and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill. These basic skills can be fine tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.
But there is more skills involved in time management than the core basics. Skills such as decision making, inherent abilities such as emotional intelligence and critical thinking are also essential to your personal growth.
Personal time management involves everything you do. No matter how big and no matter how small, everything counts. Each new knowledge you acquire, each new advice you consider, each new skill you develop should be taken into consideration.
Having a balanced life-style should be the key result in having personal time management. This is the main aspect that many practitioners of personal time management fail to grasp.
Time management is about getting results, not about being busy.
The six areas that personal time management seeks to improve in anyone's life are physical, intellectual, social, career, emotional and spiritual.
The physical aspect involves having a healthy body, less stress and fatigue.
The intellectual aspect involves learning and other mental growth activities.
The social aspect involves developing personal or intimate relations and being an active contributor to society.
The career aspect involves school and work.
The emotional aspect involves appropriate feelings and desires and manifesting them.
The spiritual aspect involves a personal quest for meaning.
Thoroughly planning and having a set of things to do list for each of the key areas may not be very practical, but determining which area in your life is not being giving enough attention is part of time management. Each area creates the whole you, if you are ignoring one area then you are ignoring an important part of yourself.
Personal time management should not be so daunting a task. It is a very sensible and reasonable approach in solving problems big or small.
A great way of learning time management and improving your personal life is to follow several basic activities.
One of them is to review your goals whether it be immediate or long-term goals often.
A way to do this is to keep a list that is always accessible to you.
Always determine which task is necessary or not necessary in achieving your goals and which activities are helping you maintain a balanced life style.
Each and everyone of us has a peek time and a time when we slow down, these are our natural cycles. We should be able to tell when to do the difficult tasks when we are the sharpest.
Learning to say "No". You actually see this advice often. Heed it even if it involves saying the word to family or friends.
Pat yourself at the back or just reward yourself in any manner for an effective time management result.
Try and get the cooperation from people around you who are actually benefiting from your efforts of time management.
Don't procrastinate. Attend to necessary things immediately.
Have a positive attitude and set yourself up for success. But be realistic in your approach in achieving your goals.
Have a record or journal of all your activities. This will help you get things in their proper perspective.
These are the few steps you initially take in becoming a well rounded individual.
As the say personal time management is the art and science of building a better life.
From the moment you integrate into your life time management skills, you have opened several options that can provide a broad spectrum of solutions to your personal growth. It also creates more doors for opportunities to knock on.
Some people view time management as a list of rules that involves scheduling of appointments, goal settings, thorough planning, creating things to do lists and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill. These basic skills can be fine tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.
But there is more skills involved in time management than the core basics. Skills such as decision making, inherent abilities such as emotional intelligence and critical thinking are also essential to your personal growth.
Personal time management involves everything you do. No matter how big and no matter how small, everything counts. Each new knowledge you acquire, each new advice you consider, each new skill you develop should be taken into consideration.
Having a balanced life-style should be the key result in having personal time management. This is the main aspect that many practitioners of personal time management fail to grasp.
Time management is about getting results, not about being busy.
The six areas that personal time management seeks to improve in anyone's life are physical, intellectual, social, career, emotional and spiritual.
The physical aspect involves having a healthy body, less stress and fatigue.
The intellectual aspect involves learning and other mental growth activities.
The social aspect involves developing personal or intimate relations and being an active contributor to society.
The career aspect involves school and work.
The emotional aspect involves appropriate feelings and desires and manifesting them.
The spiritual aspect involves a personal quest for meaning.
Thoroughly planning and having a set of things to do list for each of the key areas may not be very practical, but determining which area in your life is not being giving enough attention is part of time management. Each area creates the whole you, if you are ignoring one area then you are ignoring an important part of yourself.
Personal time management should not be so daunting a task. It is a very sensible and reasonable approach in solving problems big or small.
A great way of learning time management and improving your personal life is to follow several basic activities.
One of them is to review your goals whether it be immediate or long-term goals often.
A way to do this is to keep a list that is always accessible to you.
Always determine which task is necessary or not necessary in achieving your goals and which activities are helping you maintain a balanced life style.
Each and everyone of us has a peek time and a time when we slow down, these are our natural cycles. We should be able to tell when to do the difficult tasks when we are the sharpest.
Learning to say "No". You actually see this advice often. Heed it even if it involves saying the word to family or friends.
Pat yourself at the back or just reward yourself in any manner for an effective time management result.
Try and get the cooperation from people around you who are actually benefiting from your efforts of time management.
Don't procrastinate. Attend to necessary things immediately.
Have a positive attitude and set yourself up for success. But be realistic in your approach in achieving your goals.
Have a record or journal of all your activities. This will help you get things in their proper perspective.
These are the few steps you initially take in becoming a well rounded individual.
As the say personal time management is the art and science of building a better life.
From the moment you integrate into your life time management skills, you have opened several options that can provide a broad spectrum of solutions to your personal growth. It also creates more doors for opportunities to knock on.
Setting Your Goals - Easier Said, Easily Done PART 2
Here are some pointers that should be taken into consideration in setting goals and achieving them:
Attitude plays a very big role in setting and achieving your goals. You must ask yourself if any part of you or your mind holding you back towards completing your simplest goals? If there are any part of your behavior that is being a hindrance or puts your plans into disarray?
If you do have problems in these areas then the immediate thing to do is to address this problem. Solutions may include a visit to a doctor or psychiatrist to control your emotions.
Careers are made by good time management practice. Failing in a career is often attributed to bad time management. Careers require a lot from an individual which often makes the career the life of the individual. Plan how far do you want to go into your career.
Education is key in achieving your goals. If your goals require you to have a certain kind of degree or require a certain specialization or demand a certain skill to be developed, make plans in getting the appropriate education.
Your family should never be left out of your plans. If you are just starting out then you have to decide if you want to be a parent or when you want to be a parent. You also have to know if you really would be a good parent and how well would you relate to extended family members
Personal financial situations also play a major role in achieving your goals. Have a realistic goal on how much you really want to earn. You also must be able to create plans or stages by which you will be able to reach your earning potential.
Physically gifted individuals may be able to achieve sports related goals like being in the National Basketball association or National Football League. Determining your physical capabilities should be one of your priorities. Physical limitations could however be conquered with proper planning.
As the saying goes -'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy', or something to that effect, is by all means true down to the last the letter. Giving yourself a little pleasure: should be included into your plans.
To start achieving your lifetime goals, set a quarter of a century plan, then break it down to 5 year plans then break it down again to 1 year plans, then 6 month plans then monthly plans, then weekly, then daily.
Then create a things-to-do list for the day.
Always review your plans and prepare for contingencies.
The basics of goal settings should not be so difficult once you get to be familiar with them.
See you at the top....
Attitude plays a very big role in setting and achieving your goals. You must ask yourself if any part of you or your mind holding you back towards completing your simplest goals? If there are any part of your behavior that is being a hindrance or puts your plans into disarray?
If you do have problems in these areas then the immediate thing to do is to address this problem. Solutions may include a visit to a doctor or psychiatrist to control your emotions.
Careers are made by good time management practice. Failing in a career is often attributed to bad time management. Careers require a lot from an individual which often makes the career the life of the individual. Plan how far do you want to go into your career.
Education is key in achieving your goals. If your goals require you to have a certain kind of degree or require a certain specialization or demand a certain skill to be developed, make plans in getting the appropriate education.
Your family should never be left out of your plans. If you are just starting out then you have to decide if you want to be a parent or when you want to be a parent. You also have to know if you really would be a good parent and how well would you relate to extended family members
Personal financial situations also play a major role in achieving your goals. Have a realistic goal on how much you really want to earn. You also must be able to create plans or stages by which you will be able to reach your earning potential.
Physically gifted individuals may be able to achieve sports related goals like being in the National Basketball association or National Football League. Determining your physical capabilities should be one of your priorities. Physical limitations could however be conquered with proper planning.
As the saying goes -'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy', or something to that effect, is by all means true down to the last the letter. Giving yourself a little pleasure: should be included into your plans.
To start achieving your lifetime goals, set a quarter of a century plan, then break it down to 5 year plans then break it down again to 1 year plans, then 6 month plans then monthly plans, then weekly, then daily.
Then create a things-to-do list for the day.
Always review your plans and prepare for contingencies.
The basics of goal settings should not be so difficult once you get to be familiar with them.
See you at the top....
Setting Your Goals - Easier Said, Easily Done PART 1
The basics of setting a goal is an open secret known by top-caliber athletes, successful businessmen and businesswomen and all types of achievers in all the different fields. The basics of setting goals give you short-term and long-term motivation and focus. They help you set focus on the acquisition of required knowledge and help you to plan and organize your resources and your time so that you can get the best out of your life.
Setting clearly defined short term and long term goals will enable you to measure your progress and achieve personal satisfaction once you have successfully met your goals. Charting your progress will also enable you to actually see the stages of completion leading to the actual realization of your goals. This eliminates the feeling of a long and pointless grind towards achieving your goal. Your self-confidence and level of competence will also improve as you will be more aware of your capabilities as you complete or achieve your goals.
The basics of goal settings will involve deciding what you really want to do with your personal life and what short term and long term goals you need to achieve it. Then you have to break down goals into the smaller and manageable targets that you must complete in your way to achieving your lifetime targets. Once you have your list waste no time in tackling your goals.
A good way to have a manageable list is to have a daily and weekly set of goals. By doing this you will be always in the position of going towards you life plan goals. Everyday will give you the opportunity to fulfill a certain goal giving you the feeling of accomplishment.
Setting clearly defined short term and long term goals will enable you to measure your progress and achieve personal satisfaction once you have successfully met your goals. Charting your progress will also enable you to actually see the stages of completion leading to the actual realization of your goals. This eliminates the feeling of a long and pointless grind towards achieving your goal. Your self-confidence and level of competence will also improve as you will be more aware of your capabilities as you complete or achieve your goals.
The basics of goal settings will involve deciding what you really want to do with your personal life and what short term and long term goals you need to achieve it. Then you have to break down goals into the smaller and manageable targets that you must complete in your way to achieving your lifetime targets. Once you have your list waste no time in tackling your goals.
A good way to have a manageable list is to have a daily and weekly set of goals. By doing this you will be always in the position of going towards you life plan goals. Everyday will give you the opportunity to fulfill a certain goal giving you the feeling of accomplishment.
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