Mentors matter! Organizations that have a formal #mentoring program have 20% less turnover according to the #GlobalLeadershipForecast via @DDIworld‘s @StephanieJNeal.
Mentors matter!
Success Takes Time and Hard Work—Follow These 5 Steps to Stick With It to the End
We live in an immediate gratification kind of society and why should the idea of being successful be any different?
There are people who really do have a spark. They get a great idea and decide to go for it. But they ultimately fail, only because they do not stick with it long enough for their endeavor to succeed—they did not see it through to the end.
As a blogger and a writer, I have personally learned that success takes time, hard work, and just plain stick-to-it-ness. Have you ever noticed on the web that there are a lot of dead blogs out there (according to the International Bloggers Association, approximately 95 percent are in the blog graveyard along with their deceased Twitter feeds and Facebook pages. It is kind of sad, really. All of these blogs started with excitement. They started with purposeful energy. Now they are just gone. The million dollar question is this: How do you stick with it (whatever “it” is) long enough to succeed? These five steps can help you cross the finish line of this marathon—and you will see your idea through.
- Find the passion.
Embark on this project only if you are passionate about it, because it’s passion that energizes you for the long-haul. If not, you will inevitably tire of it and probably will not stay with it.
- Know your “why.”
Why are you doing this? For me, writing in my journal helps clarify why it is important to me. Ask yourself, how will your idea impact your life? Your career? How will it help others? Your family?
- Write out a plan.
The best intentions can get lost if we don’t have a roadmap to follow. Write out a business plan for your idea that includes tangible action steps. Make them specific. Give them a timeframe.
- Make it a daily habit.
Sometimes to make our big plans and dreams come true, we have to fit them into whatever else we have going on in our lives. You have to find a way to incorporate this plan into your daily life so that it becomes as routine as brushing your teeth.
- Stick with it.
Have the big picture in mind. What are you aspiring to do? Don’t let anything or anybody discourage you. Just do it. Eventually, if you keep the end goal in mind, you will get there. You really will! And when you do, it will be so worth it.
“The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground.” –Author Unknown
This article is shortened down, but originally from Debra DiPietro which is a 2015 SUCCESS BlogStars winner, nominated and voted upon as one of the most influential self-development writers and bloggers on the web for her blog, The Warm Milk Journal.
‘Dreams Are for Losers’
Shonda Rhimes (https://no.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shonda_Rhimes And http://wifey.tv/video/shonda-rhimes-dreams-are-for-losers/ ) hold this speech for the Dartmouth University grads and for me this is a strange thing to say. Yes I can agree if dream is all you do, but if you then put a plan to it… She also says that while you are busy dreaming the successful people are busy doing… Well sorry Shonda Rhimes, but I think the successful people also have dreamed it first and then they do…
I am a dreamer, and I thought to myself that it is a stupid thing to be. Look around, life is terrible and people are terrible and dreaming is naive and dumb. It’s easy to question the things you are when someone else put a question mark on what you believe in.
But then I remembered that speech «I have a dream» by Martin Luther King,that guy wasn’t naive and dumb—far from it. And he didn’t just talk. He did stuff to try to make his dream come true. And the speaking of the dream, the vision, it infused a lot of other people with energy and hope to act and keep on acting, especially when things were terrible.
I identify myself as a dreamer. But to me, a dreamer is also a doer, a doer also a dreamer. I think that by the very nature of doing something with all your heart and hustle, there is an underlying belief there that what you’re doing matters, that it will propel you somewhere, even if you don’t know or ever dreamed of where. I don’t think dreamers have to know where they’re going either. How can you ever really know?
What you call yourself, what moves you, whether it’s a dream or simply the task of the day, doesn’t really matter, at least not to me.
To me what matters is you using your gifts to their fullest, sharing your art, creating your thing, being your kindest self, and allowing it to grow outside yourself, to seep into the life of someone else, to make it a little better.
Because if you dream of being a writer, you should write. The rest is unknowable, and though you can’t always create the exact outcome you intend, what I’ve learned is you do create a special kind of potential, possibility and growth—a kind that will not exist unless you do your dream. Unless you try. Every day. Even when it feels like it’s going nowhere.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t seem to help but say yes to that.
This is based on an article from the Success Magazine and Isa Adney, read the whole article here: Dreams are for Loosers
A challenge for you: DREAM
I know one thing for sure and that is that if you want your dreams and innermost desires fulfilled, then you will have to dare to risk inviting entire life, the highs and lows on the trip and say YES to your dreams.
The easter is over and you will maybe start to plan your summer vacation, and what is better to dream.
Write your dreams down, sign them, sleep/think on them.
Say them out loud. Tell your nearest you dream about.
And let your heart guide you, not your head!
Do you live or do you survive?
Many of us feel that we use our valuable life energy to survive our life instead of living it.
It is one of the things that I most often encountered among people I mentor. Many feel that they have created a life or has «drifted into a life» that they do not know if they want, and they certainly are quite sure that they do not have the energy to maintain. Simply because they are too busy.
The whole life is for many almost become a kind of project to be «done» and «get over». Many of us think sometimes: Is it really what it’s all about?
Many are living the beautiful life, or it seems that way, a life where you actually are not that satisfied with. Maybe they have an exciting job, a big house, beautiful children and a lovely partner. It looks good from the outside, but inside they are seeking and can not find out what really is wrong.
We forget, in other words, how lucky we really are.
So my advice to you is to stop and ask yourself:
Are you able to enjoy your life with an open heart, and you are fully present every day?
Or do you let life and all its opportunities slip by because you care about the past, planning the future and never really in the moment?
Easter is coming up and it is a perfect time to stop and reflect on this matter.
Happy easter!
What are high achievers doing to win in 2015?
One thing I’ve noticed about high achievers is that they all share a lot of commonalities. They all have habits that make them unique, but I find many similarities when it comes to the things that bring them success.
I recently asked almost thirty different high achievers to tell me what they do to set themselves up for success in the New Year. People like Tony Robbins, Dave Ramsey, Jeff Walker, John Maxwell, and Chris Brogan all let me peek into their year-end process.
After studying their responses, I identified eight commonalities. You can look at these like best practices for getting a jump on the New Year.
By far, the most consistent practice high achievers share to set themselves up for a great year is to reflect on the current one. It came up again and again in their answers.
Doing business with this year is crucial for success in the next.
Tony Robbins keeps a journal of “accomplishments and magic moments” that he revisits. He told me he captures standout moments throughout the year and draws principles from these to set his goals for the New Year.
John Maxwell blocks the last week of the year for reflection. He focuses on the events of last twelve months. Why? “Evaluated reflection turns experience into insight,” he said. And that insight paves the path for what’s next.
If a week seems like a long time for this exercise, Skip Pritchard and Daniel Harkavy both do it in just a day.
But it’s a critical twenty-four hours for the next year. “This time sets me up best to make the critical decisions I need to make to live the most purposeful life I can in the year ahead,” said Daniel.
This review process was a little different for each, but most seemed to focus on what went right, what went wrong, and what could be learned for the upcoming year. In those responses were thoughts about the importance of staying positive and expressing gratitude—which leads directly to the other best practices.
– Michael Hyatt
Are You Afraid to Set Goals for 2015 – here is why
Joy is one of hardest feelings to hold onto, isn’t it? Fear is always crouching nearby ready to snatch it from us.
In Daring Greatly Brené Brown talks about “foreboding joy,” the idea that some sort of disaster looms just around the corner no matter how promising things look for the moment. Instead of experiencing joy, even when things are going well, we feel worry, fear, and dread.
I think this reality is especially problematic when it comes to setting goals for the future. We’re afraid—afraid we’ll fail or that others will fail us. It’s safer not to get our hopes up.
The end result is that we’re rarely disappointed. But at what cost? Brown’s research would say that the cost is joy, happiness, fulfillment, satisfaction, and a wholehearted life.
Is that true for you? It’s sometimes true for me. I can’t count the number of times I’ve let worry and dread steal my joy.
What if You Could Kick Fear to the Curb?
Whenever I let fear do the talking, hope always loses the argument. But what if we could gag our fears long enough to dream, and then a little longer to turn those dreams into actionable goals that might actually change our lives for the better?
Think about your family, your finances, your health, your career, or that dream you locked away months or even years ago because it felt too remote, too impossible. What could happen if you could build a plan, starting right now, that was proven to move the needle in the areas of your life that matter most?
Here’s what I know from years of coaching others and my own personal experience: The key reason most of us feel this sense of fear when it comes to goal-setting is that we’ve tried before and failed.
But here’s something else I know: It’s not your fault. It’s the fault of a faulty system. The truth is that traditional New Year’s resolutions and goal setting don’t really work.
5 Days to Your Best Year Ever
That’s why I’ve created 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever, a proven and powerful goal-setting process that helps you kick fear to the curb, reconnect with your dreams, and finally realize your potential.
And it does a lot more, too. In 5 Days To Your Best Year Ever I reveal how to:
- Get crystal clear about what you want in the next twelve months and how you’re going to get there.
- Confront doubt and see the real possibility of breakthrough in your personal and professional life.
- Close the door on the nagging, negative feelings from the past so you can set yourself up for success in the present.
- Take the mystery out of setting effective, reasonable, and achievable goals.
- Connect with your why so you can tap reserves of emotional energy and motivation when things get difficult and conquer the “messy middle” once and for all.
- Finally beat worry, procrastination, and that horrible feeling we all experience of being overwhelmed or simply not enough.
– Michael Hyatt
In the next article I will show you Michael Hyatt`s plan you can use for 2015.
5 Keys to Develop a Plan for Success
When you look at successful people, you will almost always discover a plan behind their success. They know what they want, they work out a strategy that will get them where they want to go, and they work that plan. It is the foundation for success.
So what are some good ideas on developing a plan that will work well and take you to the finish line powerfully and in style? Here are some major points to keep in mind:
- Develop the right plan for you. Your plan is the one you’ll develop that is unique to you and for you. Each of us is unique and motivated by different factors and you’ve got to develop one that is right for you and fits you. Whatever your personality, your strengths and your weaknesses, develop the plan around them. This is not a one-plan-fits-all proposition.
- Keep a journal. Record the ideas and inspiration that will carry you from where you are to where you want to be. Take note on the ideas that impact you most. Brainstorm with yourself on where you are going and what you want to do. Record your dreams and ambitions. Your journals are a gathering place for all the valuable information that you will find.
- Reflect. Create time for reflection ‒ a time to go back over, to study again the things you’ve learned and the things you’ve done each day. Take a few minutes at the end of each day and go back over the day ‒ who’d you talk to, who’d you see, what did they say, what happened, how’d you feel, what went on? A day is a piece of the mosaic of your life.
- Set goals. Your plan is the roadmap for how you are going to get to your goals so you have to have them. Setting goals is the greatest influence on a person’s future and the greatest force that will pull a person in the direction that they want to go. But the future must be planned, well designed, to exert a force that pulls you towards the promise of what can be.
- Act on your plan. What separates the successful from the unsuccessful so many times is that the successful simply do it. They take action. They aren’t necessarily smarter than others; they just work the plan. All disciplines affect each other…. Everything affects everything. That’s why the smallest action is important ‒ because the value and benefits that you receive from that one little action will inspire you to do the next one and the next one. So step out and take action on your plan because if the plan is good, then the results can be miraculous.
— Jim Rohn
Communication is not rocket science
It`s possible to learn for everyone, It requires that you take responsibility. For yourself and your communication.
The only one who can change anything is you.
Maybe we have all witness the security at an airport. Last time I was on an airport i witness a gentleman in front of me put his bags and things up at the Conveyor belt and is doing his best to make it quickly and efficiently.
He forgets to take his belt off, and the security man told him in a direct and commanding tone, to take it off. While taking the belt of he said «Excuse me put it`s actually possible to tell me nice, I just forgot». The security guy almost shout «Just move it».
I don´t think anyone appreciate that tone, neither the gentleman, the security guy or the rest of the people in line…
This story and this type of communication is done daily, maybe once an hour, if not more often, in workplaces, in teams, to customers and among colleagues.
And if you think it is normal, then you’re right. But unfortunately it is also one of the most energy-draining, devastating and in many ways incredibly sad.
For it is really how we want to be?
Is this how we want it, and interact with other people?
What this leads to in the short and long term?
The older I get and the more mature as a person, the more evil it makes me to see and hear that we still treat each other like this and is directly co-creators of bad energy. And the worst of it all is that it is fairly easy to solve.
It requires that you take responsibility, for yourself and your communication.
The only one who can change anything is you.
The four excuses
There are four explanations, we humans often tell ourselves over and over again, when it comes to what is preventing us from achieving our goals.
We call them surface excuses, because immediately below them are deeper reasons why we fail to act.
These four excuses are just a few, we as humans serves up because they are easy and do not require of us that we really take responsibility and act.
Through mentoring, it is possible to get behind the defense mechanisms and act on what really prevents us, rather than focusing on the excuses that immediately seem accessible and reliable.
The four excuses are:
1 «I do not have time»
If you truly believe that you do not have time to work to achieve your goal, you must ask yourself if it is worth getting what you want. If you experience time as a problem, you know that it is because you do not prioritize your goals high enough.
2 «I have no money»
If you think that money can prevent you from achieving what you really want, so the goal is maybe not attractive enough.
What’s important in life is that we each find our purpose – that is what really matters to YOU, what you’re really passionate about, what truly gives meaning and quality of life for you.
If money becomes a goal in itself, life can easily become meaningless. As humans, we also have many other needs that must be met before we feel happy inside.
So if you continue to use your economy as the reason for not achieving your goals, it might be a good idea to work on this position possibly with your mentor.
3 «I do not have the skills»
Here it is important to realize that this is merely a belief, and that limiting beliefs can be changed in the same way as they were created, namely yourself.
None of those we know who have experienced success, had jurisdiction, since they started. Competencies when they first get down the road, as they have received the necessary training.
If you do not have the skills required to work in the field, it has set itself the goal, then I have an education, go on courses, training and thereby improve his skills and competencies. It makes no sense to declare themselves unfit from the start.
4 «I do not have the resources»
«I do not have the right network, I do not live in the right place, I do not have the right education» etc.. Etc.. Indicates that it is time to realize that resources will emerge as side benefits, as long as you begins to act.
If all those who have achieved the goals they have set in their lives, should have waited until they had the resources, most never be taken off.