Success, Health and Wealth

Saturday, 10 January 2015

25 Lessons from the SUCCESS 25

Want to experience personal growth in 2015? We salute today’s leading experts in personal development and present their best advice.

Here, 2014’s most influential leaders in personal development share their insights and strategies in their own words—all (save for a noted few) taken from new, exclusive interviews.

1. Get your breathing to go low and quiet. Nothing can be done well from a state of tension.

2. Look for tracks that lead to your purpose. When did you last feel deep joy, serenity and contentment in your body? That’s the track: joy in the body. How long ago was that? Then find another time and another one.

3. Where in your life have you scheduled things that bring you joy? What can you do in the near future? It can be doing those same activities again, or any one of those, or trying something completely new—but it has to give you that same sense of joy.

4. Trust that this is more important for your future than an extra couple of hours of work. Because if you follow joy, it will bring you to more joy.

Write a personal mission statement that tells you what your purpose is and what values are going to guide your journey. It should be a personal, compelling vision so you know where you’re trying to head and what you want to leave. Something that’s helpful is writing your obituary; that process gives you a sense of what you want to be remembered for.

Look at your mission statement every morning to start your day and set your intention, and then at night, look at it again and ask, How did I do today? Were there some things I could’ve done better? Maybe you need to reach out to some people tomorrow to ask for feedback or give an apology. I believe what Socrates said: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” You constantly need to be proactive about what you’re trying to accomplish.

• Train your mind to serve you. How we live our lives is a result of the story we believe about ourselves. We have to consciously create and recreate our thinking with seminars, reading and the goals we set. It’s important that we develop an achievement-driven mindset.

• Work on communication. The skill set that gives you a passport to the world is your ability to communicate. A high school teacher said to me: “Develop your mind and your communication skills, because once you open your mouth, you tell the world who you are.”

• Create supportive, achievement-driven relationships with people you can learn from. If you’re the smartest one in your group, get a new group. Look at your relationships and evaluate, Is this an asset or a liability? Who should I count on or count out?

• Monday: Grant me the strength to focus this week, to be mindful and present, to serve with excellence, to be a force of love.

• Tuesday: Do not delay difficult decisions or avoid new habits necessary to advance your life. What must be done should be done with haste, for life is precious.

• Wednesday: When you are alive with joy, gratitude and genuine interest in others, you are your most beautiful. Remember that. Now go stun the world.

• Thursday: No blaming. What defines us is not our past but the vision, discipline, resilience and heart we bring to this very day.

• Friday: Today is the gateway to your weekend. Don’t be lazy or play at half-speed. Being excellent today allows freedom tomorrow.

• Focus on your successes, not your failures. I have people make a list of 100 successes in their lives, including getting their driver’s licenses, graduating high school, etc. Most people take for granted the things they’ve done.

• Keep a victory box. It’s a place where you put letters, awards and pictures that make you feel good. Go there when you’re feeling down.

• Try the mirror exercise. Before you go to bed, stand in front of the mirror and look yourself in the eye and say, I want to appreciate and acknowledge you for the following things: (examples: you passed up cake for dessert, you got to work on time, etc.).

• Replace negative self-talk with positive affirmations. They could be things like, I choose to believe I am worthy and deserving of success. Or: I have everything I need to accomplish anything I want. Come up with 10 or 12, put them on your phone or index cards, and read them every day.

If you want to live long, if you want to make a contribution to the world, if you want to be successful in your career, if you want to have happier relationships, if you want to have great intuition and imagination, here are the things you cannot miss out on:

1. Good sleep every day.

2. Meditation for at least 20 minutes every day, either sitting quietly watching your breath or meditating on the big questions in life.

3. Movement. The more you move, the healthier you will be, even if that movement is just walking.

4. Diet. Avoid any food that is manufactured/processed/has a label. I believe in organic food and the farm-to-table diet.

5. Healthy emotions. Start your day by saying, I want a loving, compassionate heart; a joyful, energetic body; a clear, reflective mind; and lightness of being. Let your day orchestrate itself around that commitment. Stay away from grievances, anger, fear, guilt—these deplete your energy.

Understanding mistakes: All people make mistakes. But fruitful people recognize their patterns, observe them and realize that one pattern can cause a ton of problems. Then they go through this doorway, and they never go back.

Identifying mistakes: Be open to the fact that you don’t know everything about yourself. Successful people find feedback systems that keep them in touch with the reality of who they are, what their real performance is and where they need to change.

Changing mistakes: People have to realize it’s improbable that they’ll change and never go back. They’ve got to build new patterns through structure. Structure means time: When am I going to do it? It means space: Where am I going to do it? It means external boundaries: Who am I going to do it with?

SUCCESS: In I Can See Clearly Now, you wrote: “Even the events that could be considered terrible misfortunes contained lessons, blessings and fuel for my soul’s growth.” How can people find those lessons?

Dyer: When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. There are three routes to enlightenment:

• Enlightenment through suffering. Things come along in life, and you ask, Why is this happening? My life is ruined. Time goes by, and you realize that was a great gift. For example, the alcoholic who got arrested for driving under the influence: that was the one thing that made him get sober.

• Being aware of the present moment. When something like this is happening, your inner dialogue goes, What’s the lesson here? Instead of being so attached to it, you become the observer.

• Get out in front of it. Before the negativity and the pain show up, trust your intuition to prevent a crisis. For example, in an argument, play it out in advance: Instead of saying something that will create animosity, say something kind.

1. I use Evernote to store anything I won’t be able to find later: email threads, photos of business cards, clips of online articles. It keeps me as paperless as possible.

2. With Boomerang, an email tool, you can set reminders in case a person doesn’t reply or open your message. That way you don’t have to remember to follow up.

3. The Email Game is a very effective way to get through email faster. It takes you through your inbox and gives you points based on how quickly you respond. It saves 50 percent of my time.

4. RescueTime allows you to block Internet or Facebook access for a certain amount of time. You’re using a system to overpower a lack of self-control.

5. Another one I use every day is Jumpcut, which is free and allows you to enlarge the size of your clipboard to 30 or 40 items. It’s a total game changer.

How does a person become indispensable—the linchpin in his organization?

• Tell the truth to yourself about what you’re afraid of, about the opportunities you are choosing not to take, about the things you are choosing not to see. Until we tell ourselves the truth, we’re not capable of telling others the truth.

• The person who knows how to see—who can see the blank slate, who can see the opportunity, who can see what is new and what is false—is always going to have a significant advantage.

• Be brave enough to turn to someone and say, “Here, I made this. What do you think?” And if they don’t like it, that’s OK. We have to be able to open ourselves to the world and say, “This is my work. This is my opinion. This is something I care about.” Without hiding. Only then can we connect in the world.

Most people fail because they become paralyzed by their fear. You have to choose: “Am I going to face my fears and go see what my life can really be?” or “Am I going to succumb to my fears and do exactly what I’ve always done?” When you go with the latter, you’ve set yourself up for failure yet again because you didn’t even attempt to win. How many times do we allow ourselves to avoid getting things done in our lives simply because we fear what we think the outcome is going to be?

I have taught myself to go try something if there is even a remote possibility of something great happening for my life and my career. You have to learn to convince yourself that the possibility is greater than the inevitability of doing nothing.”

(Excerpted from Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success)

For far too long, too many of us—including you and me—have been operating under the collective delusion that burning out is the necessary price for accomplishment and success. Recent scientific findings make it clear that this couldn’t be less true. Not only is there no tradeoff between living a well-rounded life and high performance, performance is actually improved when our lives include time for renewal, wisdom, wonder and giving.

I wish I had known this when I was your age. I’m convinced I would have achieved all I have achieved with less stress, worry and anxiety. In college, just before I embarked on a career as a writer, I wish I had known that there would be no tradeoff between living a well-rounded life and my ability to do good work. So I’m writing to tell you, “Arianna, your performance will actually improve if you can commit to not only working hard but also unplugging, recharging and renewing yourself.”

SUCCESS: How do you define instincts?

Jakes: It’s that ingrained wonder we have. Those activities in which we find fulfillment. It’s being true to your core, what moves you.

SUCCESS: Why is it important to listen to your instincts?

Jakes: We’re influenced by so much information, which gives us a view of the world around us, but it doesn’t give us any indication of the world within us. If you’re going to be successful, you can only inventory from your own warehouse. When you’re aware of your instincts, you’re able to see—out of all the possible things you could do, be or say—which is most harmonious to your core.

SUCCESS: How can we tap into our instincts?

Jakes: You need to set aside time for reflection, from which you can evaluate, out of all the busyness that has cluttered your life, what the most fulfilling activities are in your life. What makes your adrenaline race? What do you really care about that you would do for free?

Intelligence is being on the edge of the coin and seeing both sides, and you can decide which is best for you. My insights from the edge include:

The rich don’t work for money. The reason most people are in trouble is they are working for money. The government is printing trillions. What the rich work for are assets. If you work for assets, you’re never taxed. If you work for money, you’re taxed.

Never try to get out of debt. Debt makes me rich because financial education teaches me to use debt to acquire assets, and the average person uses debt to buy liabilities: a house and a car. A house is not an asset.

Have true advisers. The biggest mistake people make is they take financial advice from salespeople: real estate brokers, stockbrokers and financial planners. Those are the people who work for money. I listen to accountants, attorneys, bankers. Be careful who you take your financial advice from.

There’s no question that everything I am today is because I decided to grow every day of my life. We cannot go any further than our growth. In the 1970s, my friend Curt Kampmeier asked me what my personal growth plan was. I had none. He said to me, “Growth is not an automatic process.” That was life-changing. He set me on a course of intentional living.

I came to the conclusion that four things would make a person successful: relationships, attitude, the ability to train and equip people, and the ability to lead. I decided to grow in these areas. I also realized I needed to grow my strengths: connecting and communicating with people.

I had these essentials that I would grow in, and then I purposely began to interview people who had these strengths. I began to read books about these subjects and to focus on things that would bring a high return in my personal growth. I do that every day.

When I meet people, I ask questions to help me learn: Are there people you know whom I should know? What book have you read that I should read? Where have you been that I ought to go myself?

Anyone who wants to continue learning daily must be intentional. They have to set aside time. They have to prioritize.

SUCCESS: Your credo is “People first, then money, then things.” Can you elaborate on that?

Orman: You’ve got to take care of who you are first. Money comes from your efforts to go out and work, save, invest—all of that. So money really starts with you, and without you, there is no money, and without money, there are no things. You’ve got to take care of you, and the way you take care of yourself is by having money. And when you then have enough money, you can buy the things you want.

SUCCESS: How can people put this credo into practice in their everyday lives?

Orman: Live below your means, not within your needs. Before you buy anything or spend money on anything, ask yourself whether this is a want or a need. And you need to get as much pleasure out of saving as you do from spending.

• It’s easy to get squeezed into what others want you to do. You have to search your own heart, be willing to say no and be willing to disappoint some people—because you’re not going to please yourself if you’re not true to yourself.

• When you go out expecting to get breaks, expecting people to like you, expecting to be at the right place at the right time, that’s going to open up the door for good things to come into your life. I don’t think you’ll reach your highest potential if you have limited expectations.

• You should be learning something every day. Every person and situation in your life are there to teach you something. Stay open for change. If you’re still at the same place you were five years ago, you’re falling behind.

• Mind your cravings: When you’re stressed and want something salty, put grapefruit juice in a glass of water. That kills salty cravings. If it’s sweet you crave, eat dark chocolate, which will boost your serotonin and calm you.

• Put a cork in it: We store tension in our masseter muscle, the jaw muscle, so take a cork and hold it vertically between your teeth. That relaxes the TMJ, that tensing joint in your jaw. Keep one at your desk.

• Give yourself breathing room: If you’re not five minutes early, you’re late. If you’re early, you have time to slow down, breathe and mentally prepare.

• Make a connection: When you team up with a colleague, it gives you a boost of oxytocin, the feel-good hormone. So go to lunch, share stories, take a coffee break. A moment of connection will reduce stress in both of you.

I’m positive that personal finance is 80 percent behavior and only 20 percent head knowledge. Our concentration on behavior—realizing that most people have a good idea of what to do with money but not how to do it—has led us to a different view of personal finance.

Most financial people show you the numbers, thinking that you just don’t get the math. I am sure that the problem with my money is the guy in the mirror. If he will behave, he can make the money thing work.

The math of wealth building is not rocket science. It is simple, but you have to do it! The principles I teach are common sense, which isn’t so common anymore. They are the principles that helped my wife, Sharon, and me survive going broke and helped us prosper later.

Nowadays I look into the eyes of a gazillion people who have followed these principles and experienced, as we did, excitement, hope and gratitude. I am so thankful that I have not only given them a proven plan for their money but have inspired them to change their family’s future.

Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards. When people ask me what really changed my life 30 years ago, I tell them that absolutely the most important thing was changing what I demanded of myself. I wrote down all the things I would no longer accept in my life, all the things I would no longer tolerate, and all the things that I aspired to becoming.

Think of the far-reaching consequences set in motion by men and women who raised their standards and acted in accordance with them, deciding they would tolerate no less. History chronicles inspiring examples of people such as Leonardo da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln, Helen Keller, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Albert Einstein, Cesar Chavez, Soichiro Honda and many others who took the magnificently powerful step of raising their standards. The same power that was available to them is available to you, if you have the courage to claim it. Changing an organization, a company, a country—or a world—begins with the simple step of changing yourself.

(Excerpted from Re-Awaken the Giant Within)

I bet if we all threw our problems in a huge pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about. That’s why I always give people the benefit of the doubt; it’s one of my rules to live by. There may be a reason why someone is having a bad day; there’s often something we can’t see: She’s not necessarily a bad person, just someone facing a bad situation.

We all have doubts and fears. The thing about fear is that it only needs the tiniest space, the size of an eye of a needle, to get through and wreak havoc. Maddening, but true. So when I was struggling and in doubt, I would simply take the next small step. I would stop and think: “No, life is not tied with a beautiful bow all the time, but it’s still a gift. I’m going to tear away the wrapping like a little kid at Christmas.”

(Excerpted from Everybody's Got Something, about Roberts’ struggle with a rare blood disorder)

Women face huge institutional barriers. But we also face barriers that exist within ourselves, sometimes as the result of our socialization. For most of my professional life, no one ever talked to me about the ways I held myself back. I’m trying to add to that side of the debate. There’s a great quote from Alice Walker: “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” I am not blaming women; I’m helping them see the power they’ve got and encouraging them to use it.

(Excerpted from Harvard Business Review April 2013)

1. Leave everything you touch better than you found it. Leadership’s about innovation, optimization and iteration. Disrupt or be disrupted. Shatter the status quo. Relentlessly improve the projects you work on today.

2. Be scared daily. If you’re not scared, you’re not doing much. And the thing you’re most resisting contains your greatest growth. Feeling frightened is the price brave people pay to do world-class work.

3. Grow more leaders. The best way to build your company fast is to build your people fast. Anyone on a team can show leadership by inspiring others, developing them and growing more leaders around them.

4. Release distraction. An addiction to distraction is the death of creative production. Victims crave interruption and love fake work versus real work. To show leadership is vastly different. It’s about simplicity versus complexity. And becoming a monster of execution.

Every day, I handwrite my 10 most important goals. When you compose yours, write them in present tense as though you’ve already achieved them and attach a date. For example, “I earn [this amount] per annum by Dec. 31, 2015.”

The simpler the statement, the faster your subconscious can go to work on it. The rule is a child should be able to understand your goal and tell it to another 6-year-old child, and that child should be able to tell it to another 6-year-old child. Only write in the positive. Don’t say, “I will quit smoking.” Say, “I am a nonsmoker.” Your subconscious mind cannot conceptualize a negative.

Every time you write your goals, you program them deeper into your subconscious, and you activate the Law of Attraction. You start to attract people of a certain status into your life. You start to see possibilities you haven’t seen before. You start to hear ideas you wouldn’t have noticed before. It’s the most amazing thing.

It doesn’t matter how far you might rise. At some point, you are bound to stumble. If you’re constantly pushing yourself higher and higher, the law of averages predicts that you will at some point fall. And when you do, I want you to remember this: There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction. Now, when you’re down there in the hole, it looks like failure. When that moment comes, it’s OK to feel bad for a little while. Give yourself time to mourn what you think you may have lost. But then, here’s the key: Learn from every mistake, because every experience, particularly your mistakes, are there to teach you and force you into being more who you are.

(Excerpted from her 2013 Harvard University commencement speech)

Source

http://www.success.com/article/25-lessons-from-the-success-25

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

20 Successful Habits I Learned Working For Two Billionaires (Part 2)

In Part 1, we looked at general lessons I learned working for billionaires Oprah Winfrey and Enver Yucel. In Part 2, I continue with deeper insight into successful habits – specifically for business-minded readers seeking to understand how extraordinarily successful people reach the top of their fields.

It’s my honor to share with you Part 2 of successful habits I learned working for two billionaires:

1) Recognize the Value of Simple Ideas

Oprah, Enver, and most of the world’s billionaires got rich not from a complex idea, but from a very simple one. Sure, there are several who do something technical – like create complex hedge funds. But most billionaires figure out how to take something we all like to do, simplify it, and bring more value to the bottom line. So, next time someone asks you to invest in a lemonade stand, don’t dismiss it so easily :-).

2) Be Patiently Impatient

Billionaires realize nothing happens overnight. As a matter of fact, it takes most billionaires decades to become successful. While patience is used for their long-term goals, I’ve witnessed deadlines for day-to-day, short-term goals articulated by my former bosses as “due yesterday.” Being nimble and having the ability to deliver faster than your competitors is what often makes the difference between success and failure. . Think about Oprah often beating a competing TV network to a coveted interview, or Enver launching a school in a country before anyone else. Don’t play with time.

3) Be Gritty

Ask any 10 people to describe Oprah and Enver, and I bet words like “tenacious” and “relentless” top the lists. Billionaires don’t let obstacles or pitfalls keep them from achieving their goals. Just because you fail 100 times, doesn’t mean you can’t succeed on the 101st try . The key is not just having the stomach for failure, but having the strength to face what feels like an endless amount of resistance… and still move forward.

4) Develop Great Oratory Skills

I’ve never seen better live speakers than my previous bosses. Coincidence? I think not. If you can’t articulate your ideas and your vision (in a compelling way) you can’t galvanize the support required to make things happen. This concept was underscored in a recent interview I did with one of the word’s leading public speaking experts, Marshawn Evans. She stated, “the more effectively you speak, the higher your chances of career success.”

5) Grow Thick, Armor-Plated Skin

The higher your heights, the greater number of detractors you will have AND the sharper their attacks will be.This is a basic truth for everyone, but literally watching thousands of people hurl insults at my bosses (without impact) made me realize they possessed an extraordinary layer of emotional resilience. I recall when we filmed the opening scene of Lovetown U.S.A. (and Oprah arrives on a Naval vessel), while thousands cheered, hundreds complained (and ridiculed) her for wasting tax dollars by using a military vehicle. Developing a “shield” is critical . First Lady Michelle Obama said it best: “never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so, when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.”

6) Connect with People Outside Your Community

Your ability to be of influence within your community is directly related to your ability to make connections outside of your community. The technical phrase for this is called “bridging structural holes,” and is eloquently written about in this research by professor Ronald Burt. Both Oprah and Enver possess tremendous bridging capital. They spend a disproportionate amount of their time gathering information from communities of people outside of their core (different age groups, different social class, different ethnicity, different education levels, different careers, etc) and then they share that information within their community. This is where their ability to influence and have power comes from.

7) Over-Communicate Your Message

It’s not just about speaking loudly, it’s about speaking often. I learned this from my favorite professor at the illustrious McDonough School of Business (shout out: Hoya Saxas!). He floated this concept in class one day and it stuck with me. Don’t make people guess or assume, make sure your community understands your message, precisely. Given the abundance of content produced in today’s world, this concept has taken on even more relevance (Note: more content is published in 48-hours now than was published from the beginning of time until 2003. Amazing, right?!). Watch Oprah or Enver closely when they speak for a short or extended period of time. Their format is always the same. They begin by: telling you what they’re going to tell you, then they tell you, then they summarize by telling you what you just heard. We live in a noisy landscape and repetition, repetition, repetition is necessary.

8) Learn to Laugh at Yourself

Most of us know from experience that having a sense of humor about things can make life a little easier. And, there’s science to back that up: being able to laugh at yourself may be a sign of an optimistic personality and it might even improve your mood. Humor has also been identified as a possible factor in the development of personal resilience. “If you can laugh at yourself, you can forgive yourself,” says Rev. Susan Sparks. “And if you can forgive yourself, you can forgive others.” You can’t go more than 2 minutes in a conversation with either Oprah or Enver without them smiling and belting out a laugh (typically at their expense).

9) Be Great at One Thing, First

By focusing on one passion or strength, you can actually be more innovative. The deeper understanding you gain by doing one thing opens up creative new ideas. Ironically, limitations can lead to liberation. As I mentioned in Part 1, billionaires like Oprah and Enver aren’t necessarily great at many things, but they’re damn good at (at least) one.

10) Know a Higher Power

Developing a relationship with a Higher Power will provide you with guidance for making decisions and solving problems. When you connect with a higher power, you can draw upon greater wisdom to help you resolve your problems. I find it fascinating in my analysis of Oprah and Enver, that while they practice different religions, they possess an unwavering faith. I believe that faith is why they strive to have a positive impact on people and society, value integrity and hold high ethical standards for themselves and their organizations.

I sincerely hope Parts 1 and 2 of 20 Successful Habits have helped and will continue to help you blaze your own trail of accomplishments. Putting these things to work in my life has yielded not only more success than I ever dreamed, but more happiness and fulfillment, as well. If you’re ready to learn even more about making your dreams a reality, read this. And remember, dreams don’t work unless you do!

Source

http://paulcbrunson.com/2014/02/20-successful-habits-learned-working-two-billionaires-part-2/

Tuesday, 6 January 2015

Tony Robbins Shares 3 Steps To Creating A Life-Changing Breakthrough

Robbins has consulted with President Bill Clinton and hedgefunder Paul Tudor Jones.

Everyone wants to change something about his or her life.

Whether you want to find love or improve your relationship, master your finances, or finally get in shape, celebrity life coach Tony Robbins says it’s absolutely possible — if you have the right approach.

“There are three steps to creating a breakthrough: three forces that, together, can massively change any and every aspect of your life,” Robbins writes in his new book, “Money: Master the Game.”

They are:

1. Find the right strategy.

To make a lasting change, you have to start with a proven strategy, Robbins says. Planning to eat 500 calories a day to lose weight or trying to get rich off one hot stock tip will not be sustainable over the long term, he says.

How do you find a strategy that works? “I’ve always believed the best way to get a result, the fastest way, is to find someone who has already accomplished what you’re after, and model his or her behaviour.”

2. Understand the power of your story.

Even if you have the right strategy, you won’t get anywhere if you don’t follow through. It’s the stories we tell ourselves that make or break our best-laid plans, says Robbins. If you’re not taking action, he advises you consider the story you’re telling yourself.

Someone trying to save more might limit themselves by thinking deep down: “I don’t make enough,” “I can’t save more,” or “That’s only for rich people.” Is your story holding you back or empowering you? “I always say 80% of success in life is psychology and 20% is mechanics,” he writes.

3. Change your state of mind.

“Your mental and emotional state colours your perception and experience of everything in life,” Robbins says. If you feel afraid or insecure, it’s hard to make a big change, but if you feel like a million bucks, you’re ready to conquer the world.

To put yourself in a strong, determined, and empowered state, he suggests you change your physiology. Research by Harvard’s Amy Cuddy shows that adopting “power poses” alters your biochemistry, making you feel more confident and less stressed.

“That’s how you create a real breakthrough — a new state with a new story and a proven strategy,” Robbins says.

Source

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/tony-robbins-how-to-create-a-breakthrough-change-2015-1

Sunday, 4 January 2015

20 Habits for Success I Learned Working for Two Billionaires

I have spent decades "being educated" -- in college, graduate school, numerous professional certifications, and now a Ph.D. program. All of that schooling and training helped shape the person I am today, but at no point in my life has there been a more profound education than my time working for Enver Yucel and Oprah Winfrey.

Enver and Oprah are two extraordinary people. And on top of that, they're both billionaires. On the surface, they appear to be totally different people. They are in different industries, have different family structures, practice different religions, and speak different languages. However, once you get past their written biographies and dig deeper, you will notice they possess many of the same successful habits.

I had the opportunity to work with both Oprah and Enver for six years collectively and those were, hands down, the best professional experiences of my life. I worked my ass off for them and in doing so absorbed everything I could.

It's my honor to share with you what I learned from them. Here is Part 1 of the 20 successful habits I learned working for two billionaires:

1) Invest in Yourself

This is a very simple concept, but something you would think someone who has "made it" would stop doing. Not at all for these two. I saw them both spend a significant amount of time dedicating their resources to self-development (whether it be a new language, exercise, social media classes, etc.). The moment you stop investing in yourself is the moment you have written off future dividends in life.

2) Be Curious... About Everything

What the average person sees as mundane or overly complicated is not viewed the same way with a billionaire mindset. I once had a 30 minute conversation with Enver about the height of the curbs in Washington DC versus Istanbul, Turkey. Billionaires are incredibly curious; what the rest of the world thinks is a problem and complains about -- that's what these people go and work on.

3) Surround Yourself With "Better" People

I hope this is why they kept me around. Seriously, I never knew my bosses to keep anyone less-than-stellar in their inner circle. There were many times I thought to myself, "Damn, they have dream-teams built around them." Jim Rohn had it right, "You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with."

4) Never Eat Alone

The last time I had dinner with Enver, as well as the last time I ate dinner with Oprah, there were easily 15 people at our tables, respectively. Coincidence? While most of us derive our key information from blogs or the newspaper, power players get their information from the source (other power players), directly. However, just because you can't call up the Obamas and break bread with them doesn't mean eating with others in your circle doesn't carry value. In one of my favorite reads of the last few years called Never Eat Alone, author Keith Ferrazzi breaks down how you can identify "information brokers" to dine with you. I've seen first hand how enormous the benefits are of this strategy.

5) Take Responsibility for Your Losses

I was working for Oprah during the time she was taking heat from the media about poor network ratings. I was also working for Enver during the closing of one of his prized divisions. What I witnessed them both do in response was powerful. Opposed to covering the losses up with fancy PR tactics, both stepped to the stage and said in essence "I own it and I'm going to fix it" and dropped the mic. Guess what? They sure did fix things (It's widely noted Oprah's network is realizing ratings gold and Enver's assets have probably doubled since the division closing).

6) Understand The Power Of "Leverage"

This is something that was quite a shock to me. From afar, a billionaire appears to be someone who is a master at everything. But, in truth, they're specialists in one or a few areas and average or subpar at everything else. So, how do they get so much done? Leverage! They do what they do best and get others to do the rest. Here's a great article on leverage. Keep in mind I see this done with wealthy people and their money all of the time -- they use OPM (other people's money) for most or all of their projects.

7) Take No Days Off (Completely)

I recall going on vacation with Enver several times, yachting up and down the southwestern coast of Turkey (also known as the blue voyage). Sounds ballerific, right? No doubt we had a great time, but mixed in with all that swimming and backgammon was discussion of business, discussion of strategy, planning and plotting. The best way I can describe this habit is thinking about your business or your idea like your literal baby. No matter your distance, you don't stop thinking of him/her (and after just having a second son, I can attest to this).

8) Focus On Experiences vs. Material Possessions

When you have money, your toys are big. However, the vast majority of money I saw spent on their "leisure" was on actual experiences versus the typical car, jewelry, and clothes we're familiar with seeing in music videos and gossip blogs. I recall one time at dinner with Oprah, I spotted a table of about 20 girls off to the side. I later found out Ms. Winfrey was treating some of her graduating girls from her school in South Africa to dinner in NYC. Experiences create memories, and memories are priceless.

9) Take Enormous Risks

This is another one of those successful habits every entrepreneur can attest to. A matter of fact, Entreprenuer.com created a great infographic outlining commonalities of the world's billionaires and one of the most prominent was this characteristic: billionaires are not adverse to risk. What intrigues me even more about Enver and Oprah was that even at their high financial status and success level, they still possessed a willingness to risk their most precious asset (their name and legacy) on new and bolder projects. If you're not taking risks, you're not making moves!

10) Don't Go At It Alone

Nothing great in life is achieved alone. Especially in business, success isn't a solo act. This character trait is akin to "surrounding yourself with better people." It takes teamwork to make the dream work.

Source
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-carrick-brunson/20-habits-for-success_b_4739731.html

Saturday, 3 January 2015

The top 10 wealthiest billionaires definition of 'Success'

If you put 10 of the wealthiest billionaires in the same room, and ask them what "success" means to them personally, this is what they'll tell you..

"The key is not to worry about being successful but to instead work toward being significant." — Oprah Winfrey, media mogul. (Net worth: $2.8 billion)

"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss in enthusiasm." — Donald Trump, business magnate. (Net worth: $3.2 billion)

"I'm not really interested in making money. That's always come as the result of success, but it's not been my goal. I've always had a tough time proving that to people." — Steven Spielberg, filmmaker. (Net worth: $3.2 billion)

"Success is how well you do what you do when no one is looking." — John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Paul Mitchell and The Patron Spirits Company (Net worth: $3.2 billion)

"The idea of lying on a beach as my main thing, sounds horrible to me. I would go bonkers. I like high intensity." — Elon Musk, business magnate. (Net worth: $2.7 billion)

"My definition of failure became not trying." — Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx. (Net worth: $1 billion)

"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose." —Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft. (Net worth: $67 billion)

"You are only as successful as the people who work for you want you to be." — Leonard Lauder, former chief executive of The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. (Net worth: $8.1 billion)

"My definition of success? The more you're actively and practically engaged [in your business], the more successful you will feel." — Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group. (Net worth: $5 billion)

"I've never run into a guy who couldn't win at the top level and didn't have the right attitude, didn't give it everything he had." — Ted Turner, media mogul. (Net worth: $2 billion)

Thursday, 1 January 2015

How to Ask for (and Get) Everything You Want

The best way of getting what you want is thinking about your request before you actually make it.

The big reason many people fail to get what they want is that they are too afraid to ask or they view their requests as all-or-nothing gambits—instead of a series of negotiations and compromises.

But there is a middle ground. Here are strategies to help you begin the “asking” process and avoid becoming upset if things don’t go exactly as planned.

Steps to Success

1. Tell yourself there is nothing to fear except fear itself. Fear of punishment or rejection is why most people hesitate to ask for what they want. They are afraid that going out on an emotional limb will result in humiliation if they fail.

Strategy: Before making your request, take plenty of time to remind yourself of the importance of what you are asking for. Tell yourself the only thing that matters is whether or not you are making good and well-articulated points. By focusing on the merits of your request, not on how you will appear to others, many of your initial fears will fade away.

2. Before you try to sell others, sell yourself. Two of the most important elements involved in asking for what you want—and-getting it—are self-confidence and determination. Unless you believe in your heart that you will eventually win over the other side, you will likely falter or become troubled at the first sign of resistance.

Strategy: An extreme emotional reaction to any hurdle will almost certainly doom your mission, causing the other side to take you and your points less seriously.

Tell yourself from the outset that you may not immediately get what you want. The statement is not the same as saying that you will never succeed, which could hurt your morale and determination. Instead, you are merely facing reality—accepting the fact that you may face a setback. By acknowledging this possibility, you will not be surprised or upset if you are turned down.

3. Organize your thoughts. You can’t expect to get the results you want if the other side doesn’t understand your request.

Strategy: Write out exactly what you want. Then redraft your points until your reasoning is clear, ordered and can be easily related. Practice in front of a mirror, or discuss the points with friends to be sure they make sense and you didn’t leave anything out.

4. When you ask, ask from your heart. Important requests are always better received when those making them are passionate, friendly, polite and firm. Such a stance is difficult to resist. It increases your odds of success... or at least minimizes the chance that your personality or attitude will sabotage your request.

Strategy: Ask in an enthusiastic manner and voice. Maintain steady eye contact to show that you mean business, but also exhibit respect and admiration for the person to whom you are speaking. In general, you stand a much better chance of getting what you want when you make people feel at ease and show them that you are truly excited about what you are requesting.

5. Prepare to deal with resistance. Even if you do everything right, you might still meet resistance. The person you are asking might want to confer with someone else before he/she makes a final decision... or he may want to table his answer, hoping that you’ll retreat from your position once you have had some time to think about it... or he might just say no.

Strategy: If someone resists or challenges your request, be polite and gracious. Do not lose your temper or become discouraged. Instead of seeing the other person’s resistance as a dead end, view it as part of a continuing conversation. Translate every no into a next. Realize a no doesn’t mean stop—it simply means not yet.

6. Learn the art of saying thank you. Whether or not you get what you want, say thank you. Gratitude will leave the other person open to giving you what you want—or more of what you want—sometime in the future.

Strategy: Say thank you directly to the person and follow up with a written note. In some cases, flowers or a gift may be appropriate.

Learning the art of expressing gratitude will force you to focus on the positive. It will also keep you from holding a grudge, which is difficult to hide and only works against you in the long run.

Source
http://www.success.com/article/how-to-ask-for-and-get-everything-you-want

Change Your Mindset to Overcome Your Fears

There’s a lot of fear out there when it comes to doing something new in your life. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. Fear of what other people will think of you. Most people start with the mindset that there’s a lot to lose, so they never take the plunge or even try to take the plunge.
Why is this so often the case?

Is it easier for those who start with little or nothing to succeed?

There are A LOT of blogs out there today focused on lifestyle design and creating the life you want. I’ve noticed a trend with these sites. Most are started either by young people (early to mid 20′s) or those who were forced into situations where they were required to make a change, such as an unexpected loss of a job.
For these people there’s a higher chance of success because the fear is not contemplated, it’s addressed and overcome. So, what do I mean by this?
People who are young don’t have a lot of the responsibilities that their older peers might have, including: large amounts of debt, a spouse and a steady job. It doesn’t take a whole lot for someone just out of college to say ‘hey, screw getting a traditional job, I’m going to travel the world and see what’s out there.’ For someone who has a family and a steady job, it doesn’t even seem like a possibility.
I don’t want to be presumptuous and say that younger people don’t have any fears, it’s more that they have less responsibilities and financial obligations than what the typical 30 or 40-something has. There’s less fear because there’s less to lose and young people smartly use this to their advantage.
What about those who lose their jobs?
Well, this is a little bit different. There sure as hell is fear there, however, there’s no option to ignore it. If you have kids you need to support and a mortgage to pay, then you need to do something. Sometimes those who had traditional jobs and worked their asses off don’t want to go back to another corporate job. The business idea or dream that was once sitting in the back of their mind suddenly seems like a possibility. Now that there is urgency, action is taken.
There is no contemplation, whining and thinking about what if scenarios. It’s do or die time. This is why the success rates are higher. Failure is not an option.
What can we learn from the above?

You need to change your mindset if you want to succeed

Address the fear. Young people have little to no fear because there’s not much to lose. Those who find themselves in unexpected, dire situations don’t have time to worry about their fears. They have to overcome it. So, try to find the middle ground. Face your fears. Write them down. When you spend time to really address what you’re scared of you often realize that your fears are irrational or can be dealt with.
Start living uncomfortably. You might not like what you’re doing, but once your paycheck is automatically deposited every two weeks you sure feel comfortable. It’s safe. It feels good. Get over this and do something that makes you feel uncomfortable. Maybe it’s starting a blog. Maybe it’s learning a new skill. Maybe it’s talking to someone in the field you’re interested in to see how they got to where they’re at. Whatever you do, start mixing it up.
Plan and set goals. While you might be in a difficult financial situation, don’t think you’re trapped because of it. Cut back on expenses. Carefully plan out how much income you need to bring in monthly to safely cover all of your expenses. Figure out what it is you want out of life. It’s crazy how many people don’t do this. You might not be able to quit your job right this moment to travel around the world, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it at all. Make this goal your priority. Start cutting back on other stuff you don’t care about so you can save for travel.
Screw societal expectations. You’re never going to do anything if you’re always concerned about what other people think. It’s very hard for people to get over this and I fully admit that this is a tough one for me as well. The thing is, you have to stop thinking about what other people think. If you look at the most successful people out there, they are doing what they want to do on their own terms. Don’t wait for validation from someone else to do something. That’s just a cop out.
Don’t set yourself up for failure when you haven’t even tried. Don’t think you can’t do it. Don’t make excuses and tell yourself, ‘I’m not young, I can’t do what that person is doing.’ That’s just BS. You were once young and you could have done the same thing then, but you didn’t, so take responsibility for it. There may be some extra hurdles to get over now, but don’t spend a second thinking it’s not possible. There are plenty of people out there making a go at it and doing great.
Act with a sense of urgency. People always think ‘I can start/do that later,’ ‘I’ll wait for next year,’ or even ‘I’ll start tomorrow.’ These are all just excuses to not do anything. Start living each day with a sense of purpose. Steve Jobs said it best at his commencement speech to the 2005 graduating class at Stanford: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I’m about to do today?’
Take calculated risks. You might not be able to up and leave your current job to start your dream business if you have a family support. That’s ok. Start working on it on the side. Make sure you’re generating some revenue. Take risks, but make them calculated risks. Above all, take action. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You have to actually do something if you want to change. Even if it’s starting with something small, that’s fine. Get out there and take some sort of action, however small you think it is.

What are some of your fears? Do you think it’s easier for those who start with nothing to succeed or is it the opposite? I’d love to hear what you have to say.

Source
http://www.fearlessendeavors.com/change-your-mindset-to-overcome-your-fears/