Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Investing in your personal growth and development

i believe this article will benefit your life. i got it from a friend

Investing in your personal growth and development is one
of the most powerful ways to produce results in your life.
You may have a specific area of your life that you are not
satisfied with and would like to change; such as your finances,
confidence level, health, career, relationships. What I mean
by growing yourself is taking personal development seminars,
courses, workshops, working with a coach, or joining a mastermind
group anything that focuses on learning about you. It is powerful
taking on the journey of wanting to know more about yourself
and what stops you and gets in your way.

When you do not invest in your own personal growth and
development you keep producing the same results in your life.
Little change and it feels like you are banging your head up
against the wall. You are clueless about what to do and how to
change because the mind that created your problems can not
fix them. Once you take on the task of learning about yourself
you discover new possibilities for solving your problems and
many times they simply disappear.

When you commit to growing and expanding as a person your life
grows and expands as result, there is no way around it. Also
when you grow the people around you grow too and are affected
by your growth. When you experience breakthroughs and
produce amazing results the people around you do too. Every
time I take a seminar or workshop and have a breakthrough
my clients and the people in my life also have breakthroughs
and produce results in their life. If you see growing yourself as
a duty for yourself and for the people in your life it makes your
commitment so much more meaningful. You know that your
growth will have an impact on the lives of others. It always
excites me when I finish a seminar and I get to witness
miraculous things happening in the lives of people around me.

You may be resistant to taking personal development courses
and seminar because you have some concerns about personal
growth and self-help. I can understand because I had some
concerns too at one time. Maybe you fear by taking a personal
development seminar or hiring a coach you are admitting you
have problems or are one of those self-help people? I used to
be so cut off from taking workshops and seminars because I
felt like it was admitting that I had problems or there was
something wrong with me. But what I realized is that we all
have problems, life is full of problems and learning how to
deal with problems powerfully and effectively is not something
to be ashamed of.

It takes courage, commitment, and being open minded to do
personal development work. Every time I take a course and
work with my coach I feel empowered and less like a victim
of the circumstances in my life. I feel excitement and passion
about my life. Before I used to dread life and dealing with
problems. I avoided problems and wished they would go away
but all they did was grow bigger. Now the problems I have do
not scare me because I know I can handle them and I also have
a support system of people who help me when I am stuck and
blocked. Now I embrace a challenge and look forward to the
opportunity to grow. It is a completely different way of
approaching life. I choose to play at the game of life instead
of running from it or being a spectator.

From my experience of becoming open to growing and
expanding myself I also saw that I was stingy and not sharing
with the people in my life about the personal work I was doing.
I did not want to tell people because I was concerned about how
they would react and feared they would judge me. I have heard
things like "you paid for that?" "I could have told you that." So
I kept a lot of what I was doing to myself. But as time went on
people would ask me what I was doing? My enthusiasm for life
excites other people and they want that for themselves. Now I
share openly and honestly about what I am up to and what I
use to help me grow as a person.

My commitment to grow and expand personally has been the
driving force in creating my life the way it is now. I acknowledge
that I can not grow on my own and that I need the support of
others. I accept that in order to produce effective, extraordinary,
immediate results in my life I need to grow and expand myself
by taking classes, working with service providers, reading books,
and being a life time student in getting to know me. I also
became comfortable with saying I do not know what to do and
I need help. I know I want to produce a specific result in this
area of my life and I am willing to learn what I need to in order
to succeed.

There are so many great programs and services out there that
can alter your life and help you create magnificent results. Are
you willing to invest in yourself? Are you open to seeing what
you may have done to cause your life the way it is and find a
new way? I have never regretted investing in my growth and
development becuase I always get something out of it. I also
accept that this is a life long process and one weekend or one
book can not change my life forever. As I change I need
services and support that can help me handle the new
changes and continue to grow. - Adapted
Your assignment:
Think about an area of your life where you would do anything
to change or improve it. Then start looking around for personal
growth services that focus on producing results in that area of
your life. If you do not know where to start, ask people you
know what personal growth and development work they
have done. Ask them what they recommend. When you
find a seminar or class that really excites and inspires you
take a leap of faith and sign up.

Quote of the post
"it's your life...Improve it" - olusegun Adedokun

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Nine Career Building Blocks for Success

You’ve got your basic education behind you and in
your first position, or you’ve been on the job for
awhile, you ask yourself what additional qualities
do I need to help my career? You’ve started a
business and you ask yourself the same question?
What learnable skills are essential for career and
business success?In study after study, and surveys
taken with many executives and successful business
owners the following nine learnable skills and abilities
are the most valued. Even without specific education
or experience these learnable skills will contribute
greatly to your ongoing performance and career
advancement.

The critical nine career building skills and abilities
are: (In no particular order, as each job or business
has its own set of priorities.)

1. Selling Skills
To get people to buy your ideas, services or products
is a quick definition of the selling skill. If you have a job,
you've managed to make at least one sale -- that of
your services to an employer. Business does not happen
without sales. Selling skills are part of the skill category
of Negotiation, which is listed among the nine top skills.
It's so important, before you do anything, you should
read and study one or more of the best books on sales.

2. Writing Skills
Others want to know what you know. So, you to write
it down for them. You have to write it succinctly,
precisely and in a way that is easily understood. You
need to provide them instructive, believable, and
motivational and convincing written material. It should
communicate what you know and what you can do. You
no doubt, definitely, without a question, must be able to
write effectively to get to the peak of your career or
business.

3. Speaking Skills
You must be able to speak up for yourself and your
department at meetings. Getting a pet project or a
budget approved means speaking well and persuasively.
Running effective meetings, interviewing and even
arguing for a raise require good speaking skills. You certainly
must speak well at least one-to-one in order to sell anything.
All of the foregoing requires the same skills as public speaking.
You can learn the skills from a book or class and through
practice. Joining a local Toastmasters club is probably the
easiest way to become comfortable speaking to an audience of
any size, whether it’s to one or one thousand.

4. Leadership Skills
Leadership is the ability to get people to do what you
want them to do. If you are a good leader, people will
do what you've asked them to do, whether or not you
are there to supervise. If you are a great leader, they
will do what you've asked, strive to do it well, enjoy
working for you and try to do more than you've asked,
just to please you. If you are inspired leader, they will do
what you ask, try to contribute as much more as you will
allow, make sure that whatever they do is the highest
quality they can give you, and consider their work not
merely enjoyable, but rather a shared vision partnership
with you. Leadership includes the skills of motivation,
change facilitation, behavior modification and conflict management.

5. Judgment Skills
Good judgment is one of the most valued abilities.
Making accurate evaluations, outlining possible options
and then making a sensible choice is a valuable commodity.
Choices, regarding people, are especially prized. It is the
ability to develop informed opinions. The development of critical
thinking skills, and the careful laying out of options all go
toward building this skill. Carefully examining all the options,
even with less than 100% of the desired information, will more
often than not allow you to make a “good judgment.”

6. Organizational Skills
The management of time. The management of people.
The management of the processes. All organized so that
everything is efficiently accomplished with the least amount
of time and overall cost. A skilled organizer starts with their
own time management and branches out to include subordinates
and other things within their control.

7. Negotiation Skills
Negotiation is the basic ability to persuade others to do what
you want or give you what you want. These talents are closely
related to selling skills and to motivation. Further, they are an
essential component to leadership. You can study and learn
from any number of books the essential skills that will help you
get others to cooperate with you in achieving your mutual goals.
Those who apply this skill successfully on behalf of their
employers and themselves almost always get ahead of their
peers-usually way ahead.

8. Financial Skills
When you get into a management position you must know
about financial planning and budgeting. To move higher, you
must be knowledgeable about all aspects of corporate finance,
cash flow, taxes, return on investment, asset valuation and
valuing mergers and acquisitions are just some of financial skills
you must acquire. However, there's plenty of easy to
understand information in books and seminars as well as
relevant trade journals that will give you a hand.

9. Information Gathering and Technology Skills
This essential skill includes finding the best news, articles,
books, tapes, videos, training and other written and multiple
media sources that keep you current and "in the know" in
your field of expertise. You should also develop and cultivate
access to experts who can assist or direct you to the right
information. A wide network of experts will speedup your
ability to gather information. Storing the information you
acquire, making it easy to access and add to it easily is another
skill you need to acquire. At a minimum you should be able to
make and use databases, to learn and use basic research skills
and to be able to do quick, effective internet searches.You will
not get ahead without knowing how to use all the current
technology relevant to business in general and to your field in
particular. You will not get ahead without it. At a minimum,
you must acquire basic computer user skills. Also if you make
any sorts of presentations, for example, you need to know how
to use projectors, projected video, audio amplification systems,
computer-assisted training programs and computer projected
multimedia.

The nine career building skills all require an analysis
as to where you are now. Need to improve your writing ability?
Start with a plan and do something every day to advance the
skill. Do the same with all of the nine. Build and work a reading
and studying list and in no time you’ll find your career skills
improving.

QUOTE OF THE POST
"Keep improving" - unknown

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

6 Things Every Successful Business Owner Realizes

All successful entrepreneurs employ the same 6 basic
business techniques, no matter what is the business or
the industry.

They all start with the same knowledge, wherever it was
learned. Remember these basics and keep them first and
foremost in your mind; they will apply to any business you
start.

1.To Thy Own Self Be True
To be successful in business, you must be very
self-aware. Many people really don't know their
strengths and weaknesses, or don't plan to take
advantage of strengths and minimize weaknesses.
Consider your strengths and weaknesses honestly,
and write them down. Discover ways to ameliorate your
weaknesses, but don't devote all your time to them.
Place your efforts into things you are good at. Build your
strengths, don't fix your weaknesses, as it is put by the
Gallup Organization in "Now Discover Your Strengths," this
can put you on the path to success.

2.Customers Are Your Main Priority
In every successful business customers come first. If you
forget the importance of the customers, you'll risk the stale
state of mediocrity among your competition. However you
label them - customers, clients, or consumers, must be at the
center of all you do. (remember yesterday's story of the 2
doctors?) Beware, don't just pretend to care, because they
can detect a phony at a distance Make sure to understand
the world as seen by your customers. Ask questions, and
take the time to listen to their answers. And be sure to read
between the lines and listen to what they’re NOT saying.
Pay close attention to nonverbal cues, including body language.
The more effort you put into getting to know your customer,
the more your business will succeed.

3.Relationships Reign Above All
Businesses have never succeeded without networking.
Begin to build relations ships with important people,
whether they be colleagues, experts or mentors, it will
pay off in the end. In a stable environment, a good network
helps your business grow; in uncertain times, the support
of a network helps your business stay on track.

4.Expect Change
We cannot expect things to remain the same. Business's
are much like the human body; they grow, develop, mature,
and transform. Expect and welcome that change it when it
comes. Being aware of potential unexpected events will help
you cope with set backs without sacrificing your sanity. Running
a successful business will take flexibility--straying away from a
set strategy is often necessary to avoid losses. Don't sweat
the details, they most likely will change; try and envision all
the possible outcomes so they do not blind side you. Analyze
your options, and embrace the situation as an opportunity to
overcome by simply taking a deep breath.

5.Keep Progressing
Businesses and those people that own them never cease in
movement. From small day to day actions to major decisions,
a thriving organization is marked by productivity. Think about
how to be more productive and that will then increase your
sales and profits. Don't overlook the possibility of increasing
your business efficiency with new technology. Perhaps, the
remedy for your production problems is automation, or
possibly the solution for your overwhelming internal workload
is outsourcing. It is possible to increase your productivity with
a variety of methods. Find what works for your business and
go with it. A good investment will pay for itself with increased
savings or better sales.

6.Balance Is Key
Business has the tendency to take over a person's life. If not
kept under control, it will. The most outstanding business
owners are summed up not only by their bottom line, but their
top line as well. Their business doesn't take over their life
because they keep life in balance. Due to the difficulty of keeping
a balance between one's private life and one's work, some people
find it necessary to set aside appointment time explicitly for
themselves and their families. This is a great idea! In the same
way that you'd set aside time for a business appointment,
explicitly write "sit down and relax" or "go on a walk with the
kids" in your planner--and then do it! Once you plan out your
day, you can balance out the time you have. Work and life
balance actually increases your chances for business success.

Quote of the post
"Screw it, let's do it" - Richard Branson

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

You'll be successful...

... if you learn from this short tale of two doctors.

A young doctor had great plans for his medical career.
He had the image of the wonderful medical complex
he'd build. He knew precisely where he wanted to be
in a few years time.
Whenever patients came to him he took a lot of their

time telling them about his lofty plans. Word went round
about this young doctors practice. He noticed that each
new month left him with fewer patients.He had a class mate
who equally had lofty goals and dreams.

However, this classmate of his had a different strategy...

He never shared his dreams and goals with his patients.
Rather, he took great pains to make sure they are
well-catered for. His goal was simple: To ensure that
anyone who visited him once will never want to go to another
doctor for anything he could handle.
His patients were very happy ones. He noticed that each

new month his patients were increasing. He saw new faces
who told him what great distances they had to cover just
to see him. And when he made inquiries, he discovered
they were referrals from his past patients.
To cut a long story short, the first doctor quit medical

practice declaring it unprofitable while the second doctor
(the wise one) went on to achieve all his dreams.

What does this story have to do with you as a (business) person?

Simple! Life is all about people and since it is,
everything else in life is all about people - businesses,
ideas, markets, institutions, whatever.

Attend to your prospects' real needs.

Take care of them and they'll take care of you.

Just as a doctor needs patients to show how good a
doctor he is, you need high quality prequalified leads
to jump-start your business and the cheapest mode of
advertisement is also the most effective - WORD OF MOUTH
of delighted clients

Just don't forget to attend to their needs!

Quote of the post
"if you help pthers meet their needs, they'll
definitely help you meet yours "- unknown

Monday, October 15, 2007

Being Rich is a Choice

Do you want to be rich? Everybody will probably say ‘yes.’
Then why is it that so many are struggling financially?
Why is that the majority of the people are in debt?

Research shows that 80% of the individuals will never be
financially free in the way they’d like to be and 80% will
never claim to be truly happy.

Why is that? The reason is simple. Most people are living
their life by default. Every successful and wealthy person
will tell you that you have to decide to be rich and successful.
You have to make a choice that you want to live your life by
design and not by default. Your character, your thinking
and your beliefs are a critical part of what determines the
level of your success.You create the exact amount of your
financial success, so write down exactly how much money you
want to have and by which date and have a strong desire to
reach your goal. When you have this desire, you have to
believe that you can make it happen. Because if you
don’t believe you can do it, chances are you won’t.

There are different things you can do to build your belief.

One way is using by using your subconscious mind
you will achieve your goals much faster. As your subconscious
mind doesn’t know the difference between reality and thought,
you can start creating your ideal life in your mind by visualizing
it. Feel what it’s like to be rich and have abundance in your life.
See what you’re life will look like when you are financially
free.

Another great way to build your belief is to fill your
mind with inspirational stories of other people that have
succeeded. Think about Thomas Edison who decided to
invent the the electrical lamp. He had an idea and he
believed he could do it. He knew that every failure was
bringing him closer to success. When something didn’t
work he tried a different approach. At the end he said
‘I knew I had to succeed, because I ran out of things that
didn’t work’. And when a journalist asked him what it was
like to fail so many times, he answered ‘I didn’t fail the first
9,999 experiments. Inventing the electrical lamp was a
process of 10,000 steps, I just had to take each one of
them.’

Practical dreamers never quit and neither can you if
you want to be rich. Make a plan and keep adjusting it if it
doesn’t work the first time. Every failure brings you closer
to success. You have to be willing to do what it takes. Most
people think this involves only hard work, sacrificing your
health and your family life, or being dishonest, but that is not
true.

Keep in mind that your character, your thinking and
your beliefs will determine your success. If you want to be
really successful and rich, you have to focus on the person
you want to become.

Quote of the post
"your subconcious mind is an underutilized asset"
-olusegun Adedokun