Millionaire Theory

 

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Introduction

 

 

Why is it that very few people have been fully successful in living the kind of life they want but not others? Why is it that that most of us claim just “luck” to be the deciding factor of our destinies when we have been bestowed with the two hands, two feet, one brain, and the “free will”? What immerses some humans in their dreams so much so that they start following them blindly, without knowing that they how they would reach there? What makes other people help them in following their dreams while at the same time killing their dreams? Are you missing something from this short journey of your life on earth? Too many questions, one simple answer – The habituated qualities!

 

 

We are living in a fast-paced world that is changing more than ever in human history. In this century you cannot solve today’s issues with the previous solutions. While some wealth creation advice are timeless, it makes little sense to refer to old advice from decades or centuries ago to succeed today.

 

 

It seems that the majority of people are pretty lousy when it comes to an understanding why people succeed or fail. They will give you an answer which is just one small piece of the puzzle - the high achievers are born predisposed to certain productive talents and lacking in those that cause failure. In fact, successful people are the ones who live their life the way they want to live. They reach their personal and professional goals not because of who they are but because of what their qualities or characteristics are which in turn develop their habits or the things they do every time.  

Today there are new problems: money is facing hyperinflation, the US Dollar is losing its value, property prices are going up so fast the average family cannot even afford, and the middle class is being wiped out

 

The first thing you would require, to get what you want in life, would be an unprecedented surge of motivation. You would waste your precious time looking here and there for the sake of getting motivated. What we have done is that we have researched the top and common qualities of the super successful people in the world, mostly from the 20th and 21st century. We have also researched on their real-life stories that are in harmony with these top qualities. Each time you would read a story, you would start getting boosted up. You would simultaneously like to acquire those qualities into your life and make them your habits. The short and to the point details of each quality are also provided in each chapter for this purpose.

 

While you are reading about these qualities, listen to the words in your heart as well as in your mind. Slow down and let each quality feel like your own for the time being. Imagine what it would be like if that characteristic trait was already yours and then work towards acquiring that quality in your life. Just dreaming about being the person you want to won’t take you there. You have to see what makes them different from you. You have to see what makes them do those things differently which, to your surprise, you too might be doing almost daily. Then you have to analyze what thing stops you from acquiring that quality if you ever tried it. Remove that impediment and see the magic. - However there are also new opportunities: the Internet, Cryptocurrency, Forex, E-

Commerce, and more.

 

Neither we have any personal liking for the people mentioned in this book, nor do you need to have. The real motto behind writing this book is to make it clear that the humans are such smart creatures that their highest potentials are locked in the process of possessing and using these qualities (or maybe a few more). The people mentioned in this book have unlocked their respective highest human potentials, and it is the need of the hour to spread those stories, and the qualities associated with them, to every person living on this planet now and to those who will be born shortly (our kids). We can make ourselves achieve whatever our minds perceive, just by having a little bit of discipline in acquiring and enhancing these qualities. Then, the excellence and perfection that would embrace our world would be worth watching. This is why I created this Training - to bring you up to speed with how wealth creation can still work for you.

 

Chapter 01 - Habits of Successful People

 

 

Think of the first thing that you do in the morning when you wake up. Do you hit the snooze button and go back to sleep? Or do you get up with a smile on your face as soon as the alarm goes off and start getting ready to face the day? If you answered the latter, they could be well on your way to achieving your success.

 

It might not sound like a big deal but start the day early and having a good morning routine are habits that most wealthy and successful people have. Have a look at why these two habits are important and think about how you start your day.

 

 Starting the Day Early

 

 

Most regular people set their alarm at night before they go to sleep. They set it at a particular time because they know that waking up at that moment gives them enough time in the morning to get ready and get to work. Some people hit the snooze button for an additional 15 minutes of sleep. This throws off their morning routine. The 15 extra minutes that they spent sleeping would need to be compensated later on by hastening their other morning rituals. The haste adds unnecessary stress and anxiety so early in the morning.

 

The stress from the morning could be carried over throughout the rest of the day as schedules could get thrown off even with just 15 minutes of extra sleep. People could end up being late for work and missing important meetings. In their haste to leave, they might forget important documents at home. Worse still, they might end up getting into minor accidents because they are driving faster than usual. The possible consequences of hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock are endless.

 

Unlike other people, a successful person would usually set his alarm at night and then wake up promptly as soon as it goes off. This is his way of controlling his day instead of just reacting to it. When you do your morning routine without the need to hasten your actions, you start the day relaxed and focused. You are not reacting to the idea of being late by rushing through breakfast or skipping it altogether. Instead, you have complete control of your morning and have the peace of mind knowing that you have enough time to do your routine and get to work. When you have complete control over your actions and emotions, you are setting the pace for the rest of your morning routine and the rest of your day as well.

 

For some people, getting ready means waking up at 5 AM, while for others, it could mean waking up at 7 AM. That’s because some people take longer to get ready while others don’t. There’s no exact formula for the right time to wake up, but most successful people wake up very early in the morning to be able to do more and maximize their day.

 

 

 Having a Good Morning Routine

 

 

How you start your day will dictate how you live your life. If you start your day by answering your emails, for example, you are doing something for the somebody else first thing in the morning. This action tells you that you are prioritizing work over everything else. This could also possibly subconsciously make you think that other people’s needs are more important than your own.

 

On the other hand, if you start by doing personal things like meditating, exercising or setting personal goals for the day, then you are prioritizing yourself before anything else. This is what a successful person does. Successful people know that they have the power to control what happens in their life. Therefore, they make it a priority to work on their selves first thing before everything else. They know that they alone can determine their success or failure, so they work on their most important asset which is their mind, body, heart, and soul.

 

Start with your body. A good morning routine consists of doing something that will maintain your health. Things, like exercising, maintaining proper personal hygiene, eating breakfast, drinking water, and the like, are some of the examples of routines that you can do that’s good for your body. Having a healthy body gives you more energy to tackle the toughest tasks of your day.

 

Doing some quiet reading is a good morning routine that will feed your mind. Reading increases your knowledge and feeds the mind. Try quietly reading news articles or try reading a book in the morning and see what happens. Setting personal goals for the day is another way to nourish your mind. Your daily goals give your mind a virtual roadmap that it can follow to help you attain success. Having a clear picture of what you want to could make it easier to reach it. Setting daily goals also helps you organize your day.

 

For your heart and soul, simple morning routines like cuddling with your loved ones, praying, and meditating can do wonders. Meditation and prayer support relaxation, whereas spending time with loved ones in the morning promotes bonding and fosters communication. When you feel relaxed, you are more centered and focused on achieving your goals instead of reacting to stress and anxiety. When you feel loved, you feel more inspired to succeed.

 

Case Study:

 

 

Bill Gates, the richest American and the chairman of Microsoft, had visualized the computers running on every desk and Microsoft software on every computer long before it ever happened.

 

Bill Gates has described his imagination and foresight as one of the greatest assets to achieving business success. He developed new technology and designed new opportunities due in large part to the creative thinking aspect of engineering. Where is the world of technology going? How can we create and innovate existing concepts? How do people imagine the future regarding a certain medium? Whatever the industry, dreaming up the future is the first step towards seeing it realized. Creating something that solves a problem, fills a need or engineers innovative solutions begins with making the transition from creative thought to applied principles.

 

•        Bill Gates states that his biggest personal regret is not learning about global poverty and indecencies that plague many countries sooner in his

life.

 

•        He took to social media this year during college graduations and gave many millennial graduates advice on where to go from here, including staying energized and focusing on the sciences, energy, and artificial intelligence industries.

 

 

•        His philanthropic aspirations show us that, even though business is important, people still have a responsibility towards the world around us.

 

•        Managing your time effectively is key.

Chapter 02 - Failure Is For Your Improvement

 

Perhaps the most difficult part of trying is failing. For instance, one may try every step mentioned in the Law of Attraction and that of Hill’s principles yet end up with nothing but a broken hope of becoming rich. This failure can be the sole reason for the person to give up all their faith with the promising power of their mind. Some people can be so disheartened over a single failure that a second trial is way too scary to consider. What people must be reminded of is that the greatest achievements recorded in the history of humankind were completed successfully after several trials and failures. Failing is a necessary evil for a person to grow.

 

Most people are afraid of failure primarily because it has the power to bring strong feelings of being foolish, useless and incompetent. Nonetheless, failures can always happen to anyone at any time or place. What one must learn is how to handle the situation accordingly.

 

A positive mindset can eliminate the fear of failure. Everyone experiences failures, yet people differ on how they behave after the said experience. This is because people differ in the kind of outlook they utilize to view their life events. In reality, what matters is not what one experiences, it is how one reacts to such experience. Thus, changing one’s mindset regarding failure is the key to handle them effectively.

 

Failures are opportunities for people to improve themselves and aim for the better. Instead of fearing failure, people must consider it as a challenge. This way failure itself will serve as a motivation for people. Indeed, there are several ways on how one can view failure aside from it being the dark and scary experience. Moreover, there are plenty other ways on how one can deal with the said experience.

 

One of which includes not taking failure personally. Failing is an experience that describes one’s interaction with the world. It is never about the person; thus, it must not be taken personally. One must learn to be objective with his/her experiences.

 

If one does not want to encounter failure, then they must stop thinking about it.

 

Sometimes people fear failure so much that they unwittingly are making it their goal.

 

Focusing too much on failure will result in its manifestation.

 

 

Lastly, one must develop his/her perseverance. Quitting after a failure will lead a person nowhere; on the contrary, a person facing failure straight in the face is courting the greatest success.

 

A lot of wealthy and successful people say that the road to success is never easy. It often requires sacrifice, sweat, blood, and tears for you to achieve your goals and enjoy a successful life. On top of all that, you will encounter mistakes, failures, and rejections along the way. All these can easily discourage and distract you from achieving your goals. What keeps successful people from throwing in the towel is their persistence.

 

Persistence means that you never give up on working and achieving your goals despite all the hardships and obstacles that you encounter along the way. It is so easy to up and quit when you are faced with tough and seemingly impossible to overcome obstacles. But when you persist and never give up, there is a deeper feeling of satisfaction in knowing that you worked through it and then end up winning.

 

 

Take Jack Ma for example. The founder of a multi-million dollar online buy and sell the company was said to have been rejected by Harvard 10 times before he finally succeeded in life. Other famous success stories include Thomas Edison who was described by his teachers as someone who is “too stupid to learn anything” and Walt Disney who was once fired from a job at a newspaper company because he supposedly “lacked imagination.” Today, Thomas Edison has over 1,000 patents to his name and is a worldfamous inventor. Walt Disney’s company is now worth billions of dollars and is the one place where imagination thrives. These setbacks obviously did not deter them from pursuing their dreams, and they have succeeded.

 

These people, who are now millionaires and billionaires in their rights, became successful because they believed in their talents. They know that the opinion of one person is not the opinion of the entire planet. They believe that somewhere in the world there is a person who shares their ideas and could help them succeed. They persisted with their passion, whether it’s for drawing or for inventing, without heeding the naysayers who always try to bring them down.

 

Persistent people succeed in life because they don’t see mistakes and failures as permanent roadblocks to their success. They see them as temporary setbacks where lessons can be learned. Mistakes are opportunities to try again and not quit altogether.

It just means they haven’t found the right formula yet, so they need to start again. Their positive attitude towards failure help keeps them going and trying another experiment using different variables from their previous failed experiments.

 

Being persistent is considered as a quality of a person with a strong character and inner strength. A person who is persistent will endure the hardships and take on the toughest of tasks to gain more rewards. They are the ones who never complain and never quit.

 

Making a habit out of persistence can make you a winner no matter what the outcome is.

 

Only people who persist can reach their dreams.

 

 

Don’t confuse persistence with being a pest. The paparazzi are perfect examples of what being a pestis. To them, it's just persistent when they pursue a celebrity for a picture. But when they are trying to get photos of a celebrity’s private or intimate moments, then it’s no longer persistence. There have also been many instances where people get into accidents just by trying to avoid paparazzi. There’s a fine line between persistence and being a pest. Don’t be the latter.

 

To make a habit of being persistent, you must practice strengthening your willpower. You must also discipline yourself into enduring despite all the hardships that come your way. Setbacks are already considered as a given. You just have to power through it and try again.

 

If your business venture did not work out, don’t be discouraged. Learn from your mistakes, look at it from a different angle and try again. Even if you get rejected several times, don’t let it dampen your spirits. Thomas Edison was once said that for his many failed experiment he insisted that he did not fail and that he just found 10,000 ways that did not work. Look at the positive side of failure and learn from it.

 

Find people whom you trust and love to help you get up from this setback. Take a breather and then try again. Sooner or later you will find something that will succeed.

It’s just a matter of finding the right formula at the right moment. Re-evaluate, review and try again.

 

Whether you like it or not, at some point in your life, you will encounter failures and mistakes. How you handle these problems dictates how much you will succeed in life. Handle problems like they are insurmountable obstacles, and you would have stopped experimenting altogether and never experience success. But handle them as temporary setbacks and lessons learned, and you would have been able to reach the right formula for success with your persistence.

 

 

Case Study:

 

 

Colonel Sanders is one icon that is worth knowing. More than just recognizing him as the person who started KFC, the generations to come should know his contributions to the food industry and gain inspiration from his life.

 

Colonel Sanders went through a lot before he finally succeeded. He also started late in his life. That is something we can look up to for inspiration. The life of Colonel Sanders teaches us to never give up. If we endeavor continuously for our hopes and dreams, we can achieve things similar to what Colonel Sanders had done. Remember that every time you see his face on the KFC logo.

Chapter 03 - Invest In Yourself

 

 

 

 

Investment is about increasing the value of your assets, in other words, it is about maximizing what you have.

 

Let’s take investing in property as an example. You could buy a home, and wait ten or twenty years, until the market values it much higher than the purchase price, or, you could invest time, effort and a little money in improving it, repainting, redecorating, maybe adding a pool.

 

By doing those things, you accelerate the rise in the market value of the home.

That’s what flipping property is all about.

 

The same goes for people. If you get a job, and you stay there twenty years, you’ll be earning more when you leave than when you started, simply due to cost of living increases. You may never be promoted, or take on any new functions or even learn anything, but by the time you leave, you’ll be making more money.

 

If, however, you invest in yourself, learning, acquiring new skills, constantly seeking new challenges, chances are, somewhere along the line, you’ll be noticed, and that will translate into promotions, raises and maybe even moving to newer, greener pastures.

 

What it boils down to is simple: what you put in is what you will get out.

 

 

 

Your Positioning Determines Where You’ll End Up

 

In real estate, there’s a saying “ all that counts is location, location, location!” Since you are the designer, architect, and builder of your lifestyle, how you position yourself will determine where you end up.

 

If you sit in a corner, quietly waiting for life to happen to you, chances are, you will go unnoticed, regardless of your skills, talents, and value.

 

If you make sure you are visible, and that you not only accept credit for your achievements, but demand it, you will find that you will be noticed, and be far more likely to climb the ladder to any success you dream of.

 

Think of positioning as the sales function for You Incorporated. You’ve worked hard, invested time, money and effort to have the skills and knowledge you have. Now you need to market your product. Would you venture out there to sell something with a lousy, handwritten letter, and a stilted, disjointed sales pitch? If you did, you’d be a terrible salesperson! No, you’d make sure that you looked the part, had slick sales materials, and your pitch was polished to a fine sheen. You’d prepare, and position yourself, and your product, to be irresistible to your clients.

 

That’s exactly how you need to handle your life. Positioning your product – you – in such a way that your clients – the world – just can’t say no. Give them an offer they can’t refuse. Look, speak, and act, like you know what your worth is, and no one will doubt for

a second that it’s true.

 

 

What Comes After Your Name Determines It’s Worth?

 

Have you ever looked at the business card of a professional? Chances are, there are a series of letters, all of which indicates their success in studies. From MD to Ph.D., MBA and more, those little letters mean a whole lot regarding how the world perceives you, right from the word go.

 

Consider it – if you see one of those cards, even if you have not seen the person, you already have a picture of what they must be like, right? Learned, successful, happy, and wealthy?

 

You’re probably right. Although studies cannot give us everything, taking the time and effort to invest in ourselves by broadening our knowledge, shows the world that we value ourselves, and that, in turn, increases the value the world places on us.

 

Doctor Phil, the well-known psychologist, likes to say, “You teach people how to treat you.” That’s one of the reasons that the letters behind a name mean the difference in how people perceive and treat you.

 

Of course, it’s not only letters that come after one’s name. Consider the articles that you read. For instance, you may read something about Richard Branson. He never finished school, but the words “billionaire entrepreneur” or “founder of the Virgin Empire” nearly always succeeds his name Those words were out there, not by a university or a piece of paper, but by his efforts.

 

 

Your Network Reflects Your Net Worth

 

  

Remember when your mom told you to stay away from someone because they were a “bad influence?” That doesn’t stop when you grow up. Consider that the more people you know, the more opportunities you will be exposed to. The more opportunities you encounter, and take, the more our chances of increasing our net worth will be.

 

Then again, by shear mathematics, your network is your greatest personal and professional marketing tool. Whether you’re looking for a job, or business opportunities, your network is the best place to start.

 

You may be wondering why I say that. Consider, however, that you have a network of ten people. Each one of those ten people have ten of his/her own. By the time you reach the third tier of your network, you will have over one thousand people in your extended network.

 

For this reason, you need to look after your network by keeping in touch with key people that add value to your life.

 

True success, whether financial or otherwise, is dependent on the right connections, building and maintaining your network makes a lot of sense. But building a power network takes you even further. You need to be clear about the criteria of the people you include in your power network. Do these people have something you value and do you have something to offer them? The power network is about giving and taking with the understanding that the more you give the more you will receive. No one likes takers but we all value those who share of their resources and ideas.

 

Not all your networks are going to be about business or career success and they shouldn’t. You need networks that fuel you in other areas like a spiritual network of friends who help you grow in your spiritual journey. You need a fun network of people that you enjoy hanging out with and so on it goes. Your worth is not only measured in dollars and cents and your network must also be balanced for real growth and success to follow. Grow your network and grow your net worth.

 

The Value Of Your Positioning

 

 

By the same token that your qualifications and achievements determine your worth, they also determine their own.

 

People are never purely a sum of what they know, on paper or otherwise. Personality, drive, ambition, and many other factors come into play, and it’s the sum of those parts, that ultimately determines your value, and your worth.

 

However, in a purely literal sense, your qualifications and achievements, the things that come after your name, will impact on your earning capability – at least initially.

 

Consider that the starting salary for a high school graduate can be as low as a minimum wage– sometimes even less. A university graduate however, could command a good premium starting salary just because of what he brings into the room with him/her.

 

 

What’s the determining factor? In an entry-level position, it would be the letters behind your name.

While a degree, diploma or certificate can never determine your total worth, or indeed, your chance of success or failure in the long term, they will certainly help you get your foot on the first rung on the ladder to success.

 

There is huge value in taking time and spending resources on positioning yourself by increasing your knowledge, experience, finding and growing the right network. This is not only about having ‘bragging rights’ but also about creating real value in who you are and what you have to offer the world.

 

Invest In Being Future Smart

 

 

If you want to be successful, you’re going to have to learn to become more intuitive. What the market wants today is not necessarily what it will want tomorrow or the next day, and if you focus on only providing what is required and desired today when tomorrow rolls around, you may find yourself obsolete.

 

Not to mention that the world’s most successful people have all, in their own way, been pioneers. Developing new, unheard of ways to deliver their products, services, or message, to the world.

 

Without that pioneering spirit, we’d all still be sitting in a cave, waiting for lightning to strike so we could have a hot meal.

 

Paying attention to what the world is going to want, as much as what it wants now, will stand you in good stead when the time comes.

 

If you are going to lead a significant, meaningful life, you need to become future smart and be part of inventing the future you want for yourself and the world around you. Many people have been caught by surprise in the recent global recession because they thought what they had would always be what they will need to stay ahead in the future. Don’t be caught by surprise, become future-smart.

 

Case study:

 

 

Tiger Woods claims to have been using creative visualization techniques for attracting success from a very early age. He has been using the incredible power of his mind to visualize exactly where he wants his golf ball to stop. Today, he is one of the famous and successful golf players all over the world. Top Olympic athletes and other great sportsmen simulate the game in their heads and visualize themselves as the winner and a star performer a day before they play it.

 

It has been studied that if the sportsmen are trained in their minds about the tips and tricks of their game, they perform with equal results (or sometimes better) than the sportsmen who train for equal time actually on the ground. It is because our mind cannot distinguish between something which has been visualized over and over again in the mental imagery and something that happened in reality.

Chapter 04 - Dream Big

 

 

 

All successful people are optimistic, and all optimistic people are, in one or the other way, sooner or later, successful in accomplishing their goals of life. The optimistic people tend to see the glass half full, not half empty. They believe that the whole universe is friendly towards them and helping them in achieving their dreams. However, what most of the people tend to do is they remain optimistic till whole of the journey towards their goal, and when they are about to reach the goal, they lose patience, become victims of criticism and turn their backs towards the goal when even the goal tries to pull them back but all in vain. This is the reason we don’t have a success story for every dreamer and rags to riches story for everyone who is poor.

 

 

A dollar bill on the ground

 

When Bill Gates was asked if he would find a dollar bill on the ground, would he bother picking it up? To this, he replied that he would be more than willing to. Warren Buffett responded to it saying that if Bill Gates would miss he wouldn't. It is not like they are hungry for money, but it is the optimistic built up of their mind by which they perceive things that lead them to be the richest persons today.

 

 

Wisdom of early 20th century

 

The successful people of the early 20th century had so much optimism filled in them that many of the entrepreneurs of today regard them as their teachers even if they might not have met them directly. W. Clement Stone is described as a paranoid, not the one you see in the asylum but an inverse paranoid. While a paranoid may believe that the world was plotting to do him harm, he believed the world was plotting to do him good. He used to look for opportunities in every challenging or difficult situation, and use those opportunities to empower and enrich him or advance his causes. Napoleon Hill mentioned in one of his famous books, these golden words: “Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”

Similarly, John D Rockefeller always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.

 

 

Attitude to climb matters, altitude of mountain doesn’t

 

It is really up to us that how we perceive any situation or any opportunity. Henry Ford was a highly optimistic entrepreneur, and he believed that if we think we can do a thing or we think we can’t do a thing, either way, we’re right. So, it is not the problem or the obstacle in our way that matters; it is our attitude towards the obstacle that matters and determines whether or not we can proceed towards our goals.

 

 

Why are we right either way according to Ford?

 

In other words, the question is, does positive thinking work or it is just a pseudoscientific fact? If you think and believe that you can’t do something or can’t accomplish any task within a particular time, you simply won’t. Now, if you think you can, or constantly put yourself into believing that you can and (and then when the mind also responds back that “yes you can”), you are more likely to do the things necessary to make it happen. Then, finally, when you have a clear picture of yourself having that task accomplished (which happens by positive thinking and positively visualizing the goal as accomplished), you surely will find the path necessary to get there and will accomplish that task even before your set deadline. Thus, positive visualization helps you in defining the target so that you can shoot your automatic target recognition enabled hard-work missile. Regardless of how curved the path is, your hard-work missile will hit the target.

 

Establish an objective or goal for your life. Success is purpose-driven. Hence, to be a successful person, you need to have precise intentions. Since we have different desires and passions, you need to figure out what yours are and discern the things that make you happy and use it as a source of motivation. Once you determine this, you may build your life purpose around it. You may even try to make a career out of something you genuinely love. More success is guaranteed if you are doing something that you are truly passionate about. Additionally, your goals and objectives should be realistic and attainable.

 

Visualize yourself as a successful person. Imagining your success accurately can pave the way for easier and more effective implementation. In the long run, you will be convinced of your capacity to fulfill your goals, which in turn brings you more motivation and helps you build self-confidence. Similar to how engineers first envision the building before they create it, you should be able to picture what your success will look like vividly. However, make sure that your inspiration is healthy and positive. Do not succumb to narcissism and lose your way in the process. Remember that there are others like you who want to be successful and competition is inevitable.

 

 

Figure out what success means to you. The conventional definition of success was explained in the first chapter. But, as mentioned earlier, each person has his or her definition of success. Obviously, if you aim to thrive, you need to be able to set your own goals and standards of success and not emulate other people’s benchmarks. But most importantly, these standards should be measurable; otherwise, you may spend the rest of your life trying to achieve an indefinite goal. For instance, if your goal is to become good at your job, you can work hard to get a raise or even a promotion. However, you still have not fulfilled your goal because there is a chance for you to become even better than you already are. It will become an endless cycle and whatever you have achieved at present will never suffice. So, instead of setting an expansive goal, create a specific, quantifiable target to accomplish.

 

Determine what expertise and materials are necessary for you to realize your goals.

 

Once you have set your objectives, you need to figure out what it takes to achieve them.

 

 

Know when to reduce your self-confidence. The axiom when it comes to business and career is that high confidence is a must to get things done. Even though this is true for the most part, lower self-confidence is also needed for success sometimes. First of all, it makes you more receptive to evaluation and feedback and allows you to be more critical of yourself and your capacity. Being overconfident will make you dismissive of other people's opinions and critique. To be a successful person, you need to be able to appraise yourself and your skills effectively. For example, if you have a big presentation due the next day, you do not stop checking for possible oversights, and you rehearse what you are going to say over and over again until you do it flawlessly. Lastly, being less egotistic will lead you to better relationships. Respect begets respect, and if you want to work with other individuals smoothly and efficiently, you should know how to make it less about you and more about the team as a whole.

 

Recognize which abilities you need to hone and which ones you can outsource. Particular skills can either be acquired naturally or after continuous learning and practice. Even if you believe that you are capable of taking on several tasks all at once, this is simply not practical because it is time-consuming and can cause you to burn out. If you have more than one undertaking at hand, the best solution would be outsourcing. Knowing how to outsource less essential tasks is convenient because it helps you to get more work done in the least amount of time possible. Plus, it gives you the chance to concentrate on things that are more indispensable to your craft. Using the previous example of starting a business, you can outsource computer-related duties to information technology experts to help you get started.

 

Create a timeline for when you want to accomplish your goal/s. If you do not affix a specific deadline for when to attain your objective, then you would not know whether you have succeeded or failed. When arranging a timetable, take note that it needs to be demanding but realistic and feasible at the same time.

 

Stay inquisitive about life. The most successful individuals have an unquenchable thirst for curiosity. When they have questions that are left unanswered or are uninformed about how certain things work, they do not just let it slide. Instead, they find a way to figure out whatever it is they do not know. Frequently, these inquisitions take them on a chase for self-discovery, wherein the journey and the destination are as equally important.

 

 

Case Study

Elon Musk has proven himself to be a visionary and an effective leader, and this is evident from the many interviews and quotes attributed to him, as well as anecdotes from the people around him who know him on a personal level. It is also quite evident that he is using his influence, the best that he can, to inspire others around him to aim for excellence and reach for something better.

 

Vision encompasses your overall goals or ambitions in life, referring both to general aspirations as well as more specific targets. Having a vision in life will endow you with a drive to keep going regardless of obstacles that may come up. Vision also keeps you on track, lessening diversions from the tasks and responsibilities at hand, especially when there are distractions that lurk along the way and may derail you from your aspirations

in life.

Chapter 05 – Passion – The Key to Your Success

 

 

 

Passion allows you to be more than you think you can - key to success. It is also what ties you through when you are not seeing results yet or going through tough times

 

Most people can’t do this because they don’t exactly know what they want and what their passion is. And if you’re not sure what it is that you want, chances are you may drift and not achieve very much.

 

This is understandable, especially when you consider that we are living at a time in history when life is incredibly hectic. By the end of the day, you may be exhausted, and the last thing you wish to do is plan your life’s goals.

 

Then, by the time the weekend rolls around, you may be so exhausted that thinking about your life’s biggest dreams is very far from your mind. Life can be hard, and when you’ve had many disappointments along the way, it may be difficult to believe that you can really can achieve all those dreams you had as a child.

 

The great thing though is that it’s very easy to discover what you want to achieve in your life, even if right now you’re not sure what you want. When you know what you want from life, you’re much more likely to achieve it. Many people know exactly what they want, and achieve their goals as a result. In a moment, I will share with you a simple technique that will help you to quickly uncover the goals that will be most meaningful to you.

 

Disappointments and Setbacks

 

 

It’s rather sad that by the time many people reach their late 20s, they have had so many disappointments and setbacks, they literally close down their own ability to dream big.

 

There can be a big difference between someone who is 15 years old and someone who is

 

30. Often when we are still young, life can seem full of amazing possibilities, and we can be excited about the future. Yet 15 years later, we may have had the stuffing literally knocked out of us by the harsh realities of life. Careers that went wrong, relationships that didn’t turn out as we expected, illnesses, and all sorts of other disappointments.

This is all a part of growing up and learning that life is not always a bed of roses.

 

Our challenges can enable us to become wiser, stronger, and more capable individuals, or they can cause us to become disappointed, disempowered, and disillusioned by life. Have you ever felt this way yourself? I imagine you probably have, as most people do at some point in their lives. In fact, my own experience is that most of the people I have met over the years feel disempowered and disillusioned by life to a very significant extent.

 

It is these disappointments that condition us to expect even more challenges in the future. And sadly, we often experience what we believe may happen. In step seven, you will learn powerful new ways to overcome your self-limiting beliefs, so that you can start dreaming big again, and start making exciting plans again for your future. For the moment, let’s look at where you are right now. If you know exactly what it is that you want to achieve, I congratulate you because you are one of the very few who knows what they desire.

On the other hand, if you’re like most people, you may not know exactly what you want

 

— you’re probably not consciously aware of all your life’s biggest goals. However, I’m

 

happy to say that you can fix this, and it’s so simple that you may even wonder how you never thought of it before.

 

 

Do This Exercise: Discover What You Want from Life

 

To start figuring out what you really want from life, do this simple exercise.

 

 

Step 1: If you want to discover what you really want from life, all you need to do is look at your life right now and write down all the things in your life that cause you to suffer. All the things that create pain for you on some level. They could include such things as your relationships, your career, your income and finances, your health, your family, your current abilities, your weight, your emotions, your level of happiness, and a wide range of other issues.

 

As human beings, we are all very similar, and therefore I am pretty certain that there are many things in your life right now that you are not particularly happy about — things that you really do want to change.

 

Step 2: The next step is to convert those problems into concrete goals. All you need to do is convert each one into its complete opposite. For example, if you always seem to experience unhappy relationships, then you can create a goal to start having deep,

 

fulfilling, lasting relationships from now on. On the other hand, if you find your career unfulfilling and you’re yearning for a change, then it’s easy to create a powerful new goal that by say six months from now, you’ll be working in a job that you will find both exciting and deeply fulfilling.

 

Likewise, if you always seem to be broke at the end of each month, or if you are unhealthy, or dissatisfied with any area of your life, you can easily create goals to achieve the opposite of what you are currently experiencing. Simply for the very reason that you are currently suffering from each of these areas of life means you can transform them into goals that are very powerful — goals that will motivate you to create the change that you want to see. It’s really quite simple, isn’t it?

 

Absolutely anything that has been causing you to suffer, especially if it’s been going on for a long time, can be converted into its opposite to create a powerful new goal.

 

 

Here is a process chart to clarify the exercise:

 

 

At this point, you may believe that it’s impossible to change, particularly if the problem has been going on for a very long time, or that it may be too difficult to transform. Since it’s never changed before, why would you even consider that it might change in the future? It’s almost natural to be pessimistic, especially when you seem to have all the evidence to validate that it’s impossible to change.

 

As Henry Ford, creator of the first automobiles once said: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't - you're right.” I love this saying, because it’s so true. Many people hold themselves back enormously because of what they believe. However, in step seven you will discover some very powerful tools and techniques that you can use to overcome this conditioning — and this conditioning is definitely holding you back, right now!

 

You will learn ways to once again open up your belief in the possibility of a great future.

We will work together to bring you back to the point that you were in childhood, where you truly believed anything was possible, where you were excited about the future, and where you could hardly wait to get started.

 

Let me reassure you, you can achieve virtually anything that you want in your life, providing you set clear goals, take the right actions, and start using the strategies and tools that you discover from the next chapter onwards.

 

 

Wants and Needs

 

In Napoleon Hill’s classic book Think and Grow Rich, he explains the importance of summoning up a deep burning desire to achieve your goals. This is because desire is a powerful propelling force for change.

 

We all have desires, and desires can be highly motivating, but desires can also get completely out of control, and they can literally drive us in ways that are detrimental to us. A deep desire to help other people can literally change the world. On the other hand, the constant desire for more and more money, and material possessions, can be very destructive and completely unfulfilling.

 

 

Desire can be a very powerful creative force, and without it we could not live. It is desire that makes you get out of bed in the morning, to eat, sleep, and work to pay for everything that you consume, and to look after your loved ones. Even your ability to watch a movie, to read, relax, or to listen to music is a fruit of your desire.

 

Your entire life is the expression and reflection of your desires. Desire in and of itself is neither positive nor negative. It’s completely up to you whether it becomes creative or destructive.

 

To avoid it becoming destructive, you need to understand the difference between what we want and what we need for our happiness and well-being. You need to realise that needs are completely different from wants. There are all sorts of things we truly need in our life. We need food, clothing, shelter, fulfilling relationships, security, exciting new experiences, and a whole range of other things.

 

A need is something that we must have in order to live in a way that enables us to truly enrich our lives and that may also possibly contribute to other people’s happiness. It’s something that’s not necessarily emotional, but it supports our life at a very deep level.

 

Wants are things that you don’t truly need—things you could survive without or that don’t make you truly happy. For example, you may want a big house, expensive cars, and a life of abundance and endless free time. However, do you honestly need these things to be truly happy? If you achieve goals such as these, there is no guarantee you will find any of them truly fulfilling.

 

For example, you might want to work far less and have twice the income. You could have this desire so that you can free up your time and have the money to travel the world and experience new things. This is a really great desire and one that can definitely contribute to your long-term growth, happiness, and fulfilment. On the other hand, you may have exactly the same desire because you hate your work, or simply because you are lazy, and you prefer to do as little as possible.

 

I discovered this myself a long time ago when I started to taste the material benefits of success. I started spending a lot of money on top of the range cars and all sorts of fun “toys”. At first, they made me feel successful, but quite quickly I realised that I didn’t actually need those things to have that feeling of success inside. I discovered that the excitement of having such things didn’t last very long. In fact, I found that they didn’t contribute much to my life or my happiness in any meaningful way.

 

You can feel rich and successful right now without having any trinkets to prove to yourself that you are rich and successful. Now, please don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that you should pretend to be rich and successful, when you may not be so at this moment. I’m definitely not saying “fake it until you make it”, as that could make you go broke quite quickly!

 

What I am saying here is that it’s important to start working on overcoming low selfesteem and gradually improving your self-value. The amazing thing is that when you do this, your environment will start reflecting that inner change, and you will encounter external opportunities that will enable you to improve your finances, and increase your material benefits.

 

So, whenever you create any really big goal for your life, it’s important to discover your Big Why – the true underlying reason why you want to achieve that goal, and to be deeply honest with yourself. When you uncover your Big Why, you will have an awesomely powerful motivating force that can drive your life in exactly the direction that you both want and need.

 

When you desire something, it’s important to ask yourself whether you really need that thing, or whether you just want it? Try to figure out whether you’re just avoiding some form of inner change or lack of self-esteem. You need to ask yourself — do you need it in order to achieve something truly worthwhile, and something that can also contribute to the happiness of others?

 

It’s always really helpful to look at your desires in this way, especially if you are creating really big goals for your life. So, when you think you want something, or when you’re setting your goals, remember to ask yourself do you really need it, or do you just want it to avoid something else?

 

Do This Exercise: How to Discover Your Big Why

 

 

If you’d like to know whether you just want something or if you really need it to achieve your life’s overall plan, this is an exercise that can be very revealing.

 

Write out each of your goals and add the words “so that” after each one. Next, fill in your reason after the words “so that”, and this will bring you even deeper. Keep on going deeper by adding more “so thats” until you discover your single motivating reason for your goal.

 

Example goal: To work half the time for twice the income…

 

 

 

•       So that: I have more free time, and I can do whatever I want

 

 

•       So that: I can learn new things and experience more of life

 

 

•       So that: I can discover what I like doing best

 

 

•       So that: I can start spending more of my time doing things that I love

 

 

•       So that: I can experience more excitement and passion most of the time

 

 

•       So that: I can live my life to the fullest

 

 

•       So that: I can be deeply happy and truly fulfilled

 

 

•       So that: I can be a positive influence on others

 

 

•       So that: They can also achieve their goals and become happy too

 

 

 

Big Why for this goal: In this case, your goal could be to work less, make more money, and have more free time, so that you can help others also achieve their goals and become happy too.

 

 

Here is a process chart to clarify the exercise:

 

 

When you drill down through each of your goals like this and get to the Big Why, you will become filled with a deeper sense of purpose, connection, energy, and passion. It’s these feelings that we are after here, because they will help you enormously in transforming your goals into reality — in the fastest way possible. A goal that is fuelled with a burning desire or powerful motivating force behind it is truly unstoppable!

 

On the other hand, after doing this exercise, you may find that some of your goals don’t really have a Big Why at all, and they are not as meaningful as you at first believed them to be. You may discover that these goals are just helping you to avoid something you don’t really want to face.

 

You need to make sure you do this exercise fully, because it can help you to avoid wasting a lot of time and energy on goals that are not as important as you at first believed them to be. It can also enable you to inject a lot of passion and energy into goals that you discover are truly worthwhile, and this will greatly speed up your ability to achieve them.

 

What Is Your Passion?

 

 

•                   Knowing exactly what you want is important - When you know what you want, you are far much more likely to achieve it.

 

•                   You have been conditioned - Your disappointments and setbacks have conditioned you to expect a mediocre life. What you expect then limits what you can achieve.

  

•                   Discovering what you want is easy - Write out a list of all the dissatisfactions and frustrations in your life. Converting these into their opposites can create powerful goals.

 

•                   Wants and needs - You may want something because it enables you to avoid something you don't wish to face, whereas a need is something that can truly improve your life.

 

•                   Your Big Why - By using the Big Why technique, you can drill down to discover the single underlying motivation behind each of your goals.

 

Case Study:

 

 

Apple founder Steve Jobs. Do you know that he was kicked out of his own company by the board over his own personal visions and how he was running the company? It clearly sounds discouraging and cruel, but not for Steve Jobs. Jobs believed in his vision and knew that he was going to continue believing and acting towards what he liked to do. After he got kicked out, he ended up starting a new startup computer company - NeXT which developed a next generation operating system, arose to become the CEO of Pixar, which turned small animations studio into a global animation organization with massive fame and eventually redeemed control of Apple. The people, who believe in themselves and their vision, don’t care about being knocked down or getting failed. They know that they can rise from zero again due to their mastery of the process of achieving. He took his failure of getting kicked out of his own company in a positive way helping him to gain more experience at other companies. He made Apple one of the greatest companies of all time and his own story of self-belief a history.

Chapter 06 – Structuring your Critical Thinking

 

 

 

Have you ever thought that critical thinking could help you to be objective? It actually can. To appreciate this, bear in mind the fact that whenever you are engaged in critical thinking, you are not going to respond to something instantaneously. Instead, when you hear something, whether it is a question or a statement, you are going to ensure you heard it right. Then you will proceed to assess what it could mean in the context it was said. Only then will you be set to make a decision depending on whether it is something you can believe or relate to or not. What you will eventually see is that after evaluating all the different sections of what you have listened to, and you have had the opportunity to consolidate the different meanings, the conclusion you come to is normally one that is reasonable and objective.

 

How to Structure Your Critical Thinking Process?

 

 

•       Pick out the distinct ideas in the material you are trying to assess

 

•       Check how those ideas relate to one another, or how they contrast against one another

•       Assess the relevance of every idea, and also its importance

 

•       Identify the distinct arguments in the material you have, and proceed to assess how much weight each one of them bears.  

•       Now create arguments that demonstrate how far you agree with specific arguments as presented, and also look how far you differ with any of the ideas or arguments.

 

•       Take note of any inconsistency your find within the arguments presented. If you find any obvious misstatements, extract them, so they are seen as such.

 

•       Suggest a solution for any shortcoming you identify

 

 

•       Summon your personal values during your analysis, so that they are reflected as you design your arguments to counter those that you differ with.

 

After speaking of distinct ideas and evaluating their veracity, can you now see there is no way you can argue out of ignorance? To pass the test of critical thinking, your arguments must be glaringly different from what is passed on along a gossip thread. Yours must, of necessity, be supported by facts from start to finish.

 

Something else you need to note when considering critical thinking is that having knowledge is not sufficient. You should be in a position to put the events you know about, and other facts that you know, in a logical arrangement, and you need to be pretty clear of what point you are putting where, and the reason for it. The point here is that in your critical thinking, you need to have the competency to analyze data and real issues in a manner that makes sense of the information you have. Once you are able to put what you know in the right perspective, the knowledge you have can serve a more superior cause.

 

 

Why Critical Thinking Is Important?

 

 

As you have just seen, your critical thinking helps you to contribute to a higher cause using the knowledge you have. You can now look at the points that follow, to see how this process helps.

 

•       You get to note any arguments that have no basis

 

 

•       You get to note any fallacies contained in the information

 

 

•       You get to introduce objective arguments

 

•       You get to strengthen any objective arguments already presented with additional facts

 

•       You get a chance to beef up the good arguments with logical arguments

 

 

•       You get a chance to contribute positively to the tasks you find constructive

 

 

•       You get opportunity to improve on existing theories

 

 

•       You get opportunity to improve on the mode of operation in place

 

 

•       You get opportunity to modify the way institutions run, and to enhance their strong points.

 

In essence, therefore, any time your knowledge is needed and it is important that it is analyzed and assessed with objectivity, critical thinking comes in handy.

 

 

Does Critical Thinking Hinder Creativity?

 

 

No, it doesn’t. On the contrary, many critical thinkers are adept at thinking beyond the norm, beyond the surface, beyond the scope ordinary folk may think or essentially thinking outside the box. That is, without dispute, being creative, innovative and probably even adventurous with your imagination. In short, the fact that you are called upon to use logic when thinking critically does not disqualify you from being creative. What you cannot afford to be, even with your imagination working freely, is reckless. Instead, you evaluate points, and if they do not make sense under the circumstances, you let them go.

 

Fruits of Critical Thinking

 

Streamlining thinking

 

 

By streamlining what is meant is giving your thinking direction. You will appreciate how important this is when you consider that you, very likely, do not have the monopoly of certain information on which you are basing your arguments. As such, it is what you have as your values and your level of competence as a critical thinker that determine the kind of argument you come up with, and how helpful that argument will be to all involved.

 

Or do you think legal experts lose cases because they have inadequate information? For most part, this isn’t the case. Often, one party is better at critical thinking than the other,

 

or personal values of one party are at loggerheads with those of the jury, and thus the two sides cannot concur – same information, same statutes, yet different arguments and varying deductions.

 

The same logic is in play in other fields such as business, policymaking and so on. When serious decisions are to be made, research is conducted in order to gather data and information. It is analyzed within the perimeter of critical thinking, and then final decisions are made.

 

Helping to improve the global economy

 

When you are dealing with market forces today and resources that are available, and also the locations where those resources are found, you need to have the data available that is well analyzed in order to form useful information. Critical thinking is central to this process, otherwise you would have resources underutilized, others over-employed and yet others misused. With critical thinking, for example, you get to determine whether it is viable to put up a factory in one location or another, and if it is economical to use labor-intensive methods of production as opposed to mechanical based processes.

Such basic considerations can lead to you putting up an industry in Country A as opposed to Country B, and even exporting products to Country B instead of another country. Mark you, critical thinking pre-supposes you are ready with enough information to help you make decisions, or that you are going to do the necessary research in that regard and know what criteria you need to explore.

 

 

Have you noted the implication here that you do not use crude data for your decisionmaking? This cannot happen where critical thinking is involved. In fact, it would be taking too much risk in business, in politics and even in your personal life, to purport to use information in its crude form. For that reason, it is important that in big projects, you have a team of people analyzing the information at hand, and doing it in an appropriate context, so that the information is put to good use. Why else do you think institutions that think big form think tanks?

 

Something else worth noting is that critical thinking calls for you not only to be equipped with adequate information, but also to be broader in your thinking. This is the era of technology, remember? And you can seize great opportunities at a global level if you do your critical thinking right, whatever your specialty is. Being able to search and communicate globally helps you with your timing; whether you are looking at export opportunities, favorable import prices, more suitable immigration rules or anything else. And all these process are part of the critical thinking process.

 

 

Helping to enhance efficiency in communication

 

In critical thinking, you get to organize data in a way that gives a sensible picture of something or a situation, one that helps you to form an opinion, and even make a decision based on that picture. In critical thinking, you also get to analyze and assess

 

data, with a view to forming a well thought out opinion regarding the situation. In short, you can only present an idea with valid arguments when you have been engaged in critical thinking.

 

Enhancing creativity

 

 

Do you ever imagine that creativity begins and ends with organizing colors and patterns to form a captivating picture? Well, it does not. It extends far beyond that, including being able to organize ideas in different ways, and then assessing what each set of ideas reflects. You can use some crude analogy to bring this point home, of the idea of eating and the idea of living. Depending on how you organize those two ideas, you could be living to eat or eating to live. Do you realize how differently you would tailor your life in each case? The basic point here is that critical thinking will drive you to digging up more ideas, discarding some ideas and also adopting others. All this thinking, and weighing of ideas, ends up sharpening your creativity in a significant way.

 

Promoting self-reflection

 

 

As you engage in critical thinking, you gauge every move you want to make in advance, and weigh up its pros and cons. And since you are intent on having a fruitful life, you consider the option you have in all spheres of your life. Only after reasonable comprehensive assessment do you choose the root to follow. Of course, your values come into play all the while. So, inevitably, self-reflection cannot be skipped whenever you are engaging in critical thinking.

 

Providing a solid foundation for any scientific findings and development

 

 

Here, we are talking of a field that deals with facts and precise data, and not assumptions and generalizations. As such, critical thinking is unavoidable if you are to make any headway in science. Scientists are actually known to develop theories after serious critical thinking, and the theories and principles they come up with end up standing the test of time. Think of the Law of Buoyancy, the Law of Reflection, the

Oxygen Theory of Combustion and such other theories.

 

 

Providing grounds for democracy

 

 

Well, without introducing politics into the issue of critical thinking, you will appreciate that being able to make an informed choice of your own volition is part of democracy. In fact, how can one contend there is democracy at work, for instance, if information is not being disseminated in its correctness, in whole, and in a timely manner to those engaged in voting? How, also, can anyone conclude there is democracy at work, if the environment is not conducive to questioning the data provided, or even to check the veracity of the information given? In short, whenever critical thinking is enabled, democratic space is created and people involved are happy to make informed choices.

 

It is such a process that helps to root out politicians who are opportunists and give chances to politicians of vision, those willing to sincerely serve their voters. It is also such a process of critical thinking that allays people’s baseless fears, some of which may result from general biases and prejudices.

Case study:

 

 

Warren Buffet always simplifies the technical details so that it becomes easier for all his shareholders to understand the business in which they have invested. This is a sure sign that he really understands his own businesses. He believes in communicating well with each and every person who is important to his business.

Chapter 07 – Know your Talent

 

 

 

Knowing your talent is as important as knowing your numbers.

 

 

The people you surround yourself with your organization make or break your success. No one succeeds alone. The individuals you hire, promote and entrust with critical information—the professionals you expect to execute your company mission—are your greatest competitive advantage or the biggest drag. They’re the champions for your company or a substantial drain on time, money, resources and potential.

 

 

So many times, business owners recruit and develop leaders without realizing that their hiring and development choices are random, impulsive, disjointed and disconnected to their objectives and strategies. Their choices are not adding value. Their people are, more or less, hastily drafted into the organization through a borrowed hiring process, never truly onboard, and then neglected regarding performance management and development. It’s no wonder so many employees, and leaders feel disengaged, uninspired and checked out.

 

Stop for a moment and consider the people in your organization. Do you remember why you hired that vice president of sales or operations? What made you think that controller was the best person for the job? Was it convenience—his application hit your desk when you had a hole to fill? How did your senior team get to where they are today?

Were they promoted? Hired from the outside? Why this and not that person? What

 

skills does each bring to the organization that makes him or her a valuable player?

What characteristics make each a cultural fit for your company?

If you feel stumped, you’re not alone. We surround ourselves with people. But why do we feel, in so many instances, like we are stuck with what we have, that we are carrying dead weight or that we do not have the right “fit” for an important leadership position? As an owner, you might be thinking, “How did I let this happen? Can I turn this around?”

 

Yes. What you need is a working knowledge of your talent inventory across your enterprise. Working knowledge of your talent allows you to align it with the greater strategy. Businesses need good people. And as an owner, you must have a working knowledge of your talent bench.

 

This book is your field guide to Strategic Talent Management, a platform with nine Centers of Excellence that will help you analyze, understand and implement organizational improvements surrounding your people. Strategic Talent Management puts you in the ready position to enhance value, optimize talent, prepare for growth, posture for sale, or transition to the next generation.

 

Strategic Talent Management gives you the know-how, intelligence and control to leverage your people. You can recruit top talent, train and develop the best players, and ready your talent for new challenges. It gives you the agility to deploy top talent. By working this system, you can lead your company toward peak performance.

 

With the right mindset and people on your team, and the right equipment (talent management) to steer them toward a win, the only variables should be external

 

conditions. Strategic Talent Management prepares you for those X-factors because you’ll have the team in place to compete in any environment.

When an organization prioritizes Strategic Talent Management, builds bench strength and goes to market with a high-performing team, it will:

 

•  Increase profitability

 

 

•  Attract top talent

 

 

•  Create an environment for people to do their best work

 

 

•  Bring value to the community

 

 

•  Broaden transition options: keep the wealth engine in the family or owned by the employees

 

•  Realize that its leadership philosophy is powerful and execute it successfully

 

 

How Strategic Talent Management Works

 

 

With Strategic Talent Management, you start where you are and address your greatest “people pain.” Many owners begin this journey by identifying a single problem (such as recruiting), then a trend is spotted: Perhaps the business repeatedly recruits and hires people who fail the organization after six months.

 

Working through the nine Centers of Excellence, you’ll prioritize what competencies require the greatest attention immediately. Then, you’ll work through the Strategic Talent Management continuum. The framework is fundamental, while the processes are designed to suit your company’s human capital needs; and you’ll draw from the

 

framework provided in this book to support a new way of thinking about

Strategic Talent Management in your company.

There might be pieces-parts of the talent management continuum already in place at your organization you can rely on. But there will be holes. Those gaps are where errors in hiring and the way we deal with people altogether can occur.

 

Here is how the Strategic Talent Management framework is organized:

 

 

Strategy and culture: These bookend Strategic Talent Management so that your people are intrinsically connected to your drivers for success.

 

Corridors: These are the three key components for creating a talent infrastructure for your company. You can think of the Corridors as “levels” of the process, and they align with the lifecycle of your talent. The Strategic Talent Management Corridors are Talent

Acquisition, Talent Development, and Talent Deployment.

 

 

Case Study:

 

 

Mark Zuckerberg’s success is undeniable. His decisions have come a long way, but one may ask how he managed to achieve all of these. What are the secrets beyond his indomitable rise?

 

The following list shows the answers to this interesting question.

 

 

Early Goal Setting                           

 

Most of Mark Zuckerberg’s early life was marked with numerous computer project attempts. But when he saw the potential of Facebook, he immediately focused on it and thought of bigger things. He was a visionary that dreamt of making Facebook a tool that would make the world more open. Creating a fast and effective global communication network was his ultimate goal.

 

 

Never Settling for Less

 

Initially, Facebook was just a pastime. But because of his determined personality, he pursued to make it bigger. His goal served as his motivation to make Facebook as big as possible. He refused to sell Facebook because he did not want it to be subdued by larger corporations. He already envisioned Facebook as a global project. The changes that he made on his project were not intended to make it better by just a step. Instead, he wanted developments that were bigger, bolder and more useful.

 

 

Always Start Small but Aim Big

 

As previously stated, Facebook was just a school project. Even if Mark already had big goals, he knew that starting small was the most effective way to start his venture. He had the patience to spare even in the struggling years of his project. Instead of waiting for a bigger source of capital, he made the most out of his limited resources. He started his project in his dormitory with the help of his friends and only moved to Palo Alto when they deemed it necessary. Up to this day, he still cherishes his humble beginnings and proudly recalls them whenever the opportunity arises.

 

Confidence in Oneself

 

Ever since as a kid, Mark was already considered gifted and genius in the field of computer programming. Right there and then, he knew he already had it. Whatever success Mark achieved, his self-confidence never faltered. Even in instances where he was belittled or criticized, he still stood proud and ready to face another day. After all, his development greatly depends on how he handles himself, especially in adverse times. Instead of pondering on mistakes, he focused on his strengths and tried to purse excellence.

 

 

Focus on What You Are Good At

 

Part of being successful is the influx of other seemingly interesting activities that could potentially distract you from your main passion. But Mark was able to withstand this. His love for programming outlasted his love for other things. He became so focused on his chosen field that he was constantly fending off other things that could hinder his progress. He chose not to finish his college education because he knew that his love for computers would suffer if he continued. He moved to a place that he considered a proper venue that could nurture, support and develop his talent.

Chapter 08 - Do Whatever It Takes

 

 

 

There are many excesses people give for being late- it is one of the classic jokes comedians like to tell. What you might not realize is that every time you are late and come up with some excuse for it, other people resent you. Whenever you are late, deep down inside most people think that you must feel your time is more valuable than theirs and that your plans are more important. It is easy to see how this can kill any chance you might have had of building a successful relationship at a personal or professional level with that individual or group. Being late is one of the most common reasons why people feel someone is not deserving of their trust or respect.

 

Although you might believe that being late is just how you are and that you can't help it, there is no denying that being late is a choice. You let yourself be late. The most successful people in all areas of life value time and punctuality above all else. They get stated earlier, plan, and always plan to arrive ahead of time. Many successful people feel like they would rather be ten minutes early than five minutes late. They arrive early and make plans to get things down while they wait if they do arrive early. Successful people who value punctuality are much less stressed and therefore tend to be more insightful, creative, decisive, and involved. Success has to start anew every day, and ensuring that punctuality remains a key focus for you is a great way to accomplish this!

 

Most successful entrepreneurs are risk takers both in life and in business. They understand that to succeed, they have to take steps that are potentially life-altering to

 

reap huge rewards. But don’t think that they are foolish enough to gamble everything away by taking dangerous risks. What they do is to take calculated and planned risks that won’t put their business in jeopardy and could help them make a ton of money in the process.

 

A bad risk sometimes results from thoughtlessness and impulsive actions. These usually end up making you lose more money instead of the opposite. An example of a bad risk is doing an illegal thing just to save more money or cutting corners that could potentially endanger other people’s lives just to make a bigger profit.

 

Calculated and planned risks, on the other hand, are risks that need careful analysis and planning. When you take calculated risks, you would normally require some background information, historical data, and statistical analysis before you make your next move.

 

These kinds of information will give you an insight into people’s buying patterns, potential gains and losses and profit projections to help you make your decision.

 

When you take a calculated risk, remember to strike a balance between everyday work and the risk that you are taking. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. In this case, don’t put all your money on going after a risky venture. Instead, maintain the parts of your business that are making a profit while taking that calculated risk to move your company forward.

 

Don’t go for every opportunity that presents itself to you. Study each one carefully before making a decision. You don’t want to be in over your head in debt because you tried to grab all the opportunities at the same time. Evaluate which ones are worth doing now and which ones can be done later.

 

One of the riskiest parts of doing business is expanding operations. There are so many factors that can affect expansion that companies are sometimes hesitant to do it. One such factor could be that the surge of the demand for your product may wane quickly before you even got a chance to finish expansion. It is risky because you might not be able to sustain the costs that you can incur with maintaining this expansion and end up losing more. To make a calculated risk regarding expansion, companies would study, take customer surveys and rely on statistical data to back up the need for an expansion.

 

Another risky venture is developing a new product. To grow your company, you must be willing to adapt to the changing world. A new product is sometimes needed to increase sales and interest in your company. It is risky because a new product might not be as well received as your other products. If this happens, you would have expended a lot of time, money, and effort on something that people didn’t pick up on. But you still do it because as an entrepreneur, this is one of the best ways to move your company forward. To make a calculated risk of creating a new product, you must take on market research and be ready for feedback that’s both positive and negative. Positive feedback will let you know which ones you are doing right, and negative feedback will help you fix what it is that you did wrong. Either way, you get valuable information.

 

Some people will discourage you from taking that risk. Some of them have good intentions and are just afraid that you might fail. Others are just manipulative because they want the opportunity for themselves. When faced with advice from other people, try to listen to what your gut is telling you. Your intuition will warn you if there is danger so you should always listen to it. Meditate and be silent as you listen to what your inner

 

self is telling you before you make your decision. Sometimes the best advice comes from within you.

 

Risks will always be a part of life. To make huge gains, you must be willing to take calculated and planned risks. Don’t be afraid to take a leap that make sure that you have the data, the resources, and the strength to face what lies ahead. You might not always get what you planned, but you will never know success if you didn’t try at all. Take a risk but be smart about it. Decide based on valid supporting data and not just on impulse. Trust your gut, trust your team, and trust yourself to make the right move towards your success.

 

Case Study:

 

 

Jack firmly believed that internet is a future. But the reality was not so simple. Among his friends there was nobody who even had heard about Internet before so it was very difficult for them to join his new start-up. Even understanding internet was a mission impossible thing. But Jack has something others do not have.

 

He jokingly talks about his desire to teach in Harvard because his application had been turned down ten times.

 

It was the same tune for his early working years, as he was rejected from 30 jobs! A famous anecdote narrates how he was the only one out of 24 manager applicants to

KFC in China and the only one out of 5 police officers to be rejected. He was even told,

“You’re no good.”

 

 

Jack has dreams, insights and power of execution on what he dreamed.

 

The first secret: Invest on your Dream

 

Jack did not change his belief Internet will come soon in China. May 9, 1995 Jack and

JangIng, his wife and friends gathered 10 thousand yuan (about 18000 USD) to build website named HwangYe (www.chinapages.com). HwangYe’s main business is to translate corporate data into English and send it to Sam’s company VBN in United

States to build their English homepage.

 

But the situation was tough. In China even the word ‘Internet’ was still unfamiliar, local company did not know how to read their data on the web page. There was still big suspicion on the possibilities of internet business in China. Jack encouraged his colleagues quoting Bill Gates’ speech who are also very famous in China.

Conclusion

 

 

 

The final word of advice successful people often give to others is to take it easy on yourself. It is all well and good to be committed and motivated to be successful, but this should not come from working yourself into the ground and making yourself miserable. Success is something to be enjoyed. It is a life full of ups and downs so make sure you aren't too hard on yourself when mistakes happen and that you keep the big picture in mind. Part of the rewards we can reap when we embrace success and make it ours recognizes that what we choose to do day in and day out affects who you will can become and what we can do with our lives. Some parts of the plan to success happen quickly, others take time and patience. As we progress along our road to success, we must always be on the lookout for opportunities and remember that trade-offs will be required. We define success for ourselves, so make your own goals, follow your path to success, and grab hold of it and hang on tight!