The Importance of Self Reliance

“Be willing to go alone!
Many who started with you won’t finish with you.”

Tony A. Gaskins, Jr.

Each human being is on their own unique journey through this world.  On our path, we meet countless others, many who influence our lives in ways we may not even understand.  Some of these people do more than simply cross our paths, however.  Sometimes, they join us on our walk, maybe for a short while, occasionally for a long time, and rarely outside of our family ties, a person will share our adventure for nearly a lifetime.

Although the company is welcome, and it’s always nice to have the support and encouragement of others, no matter how many people accompany us along the way, WE are the only ones responsible for our own future!  Our story is written by the characters who populate our lives, yes, but you must always keep in mind that YOU are the central player on your stage!  You must be ready, willing and able to go alone, and to take responsibility for yourself.  Nobody else can do for you the things that you need to do in order to be a successful person.  Whether you seek success in your business or personal life, the key is to know in your heart that you can make it on your own if you need to.  

Be open to those around you, allow them the opportunity to grow with you, support them as they support you, but remember that they walk their individual road just as do you.  Be self assured, make good decisions, choose which direction is best for you, and you will find that your self reliance and independence is the most effective means of accomplishing your every goal!

How to Handle Emotions When Making Investment Decisions | Boomers, Markets & Money

Here’s some great advice on making wise investment decisions, and how cooler heads prevail.

How to Handle Emotions When Making Investment Decisions | Boomers, Markets & Money.

Pursuing Dreams

“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old,
they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.”

– Garcia Marquez

 

Millions of people have proven over and over that they’re never too old to follow a dream.  Take for instance the case of Henry Blodget, a journalist turned Wall Street executive who suffered a major setback in his career.  He fell from the top of the heap, lost his reputation, and could have easily admitted defeat.  Determination and perseverance, however, gave him the fortitude to pursue new avenues, a sort of plan B.  His story is fascinating, and an inspirational tale of how anybody can recover from a devastating blow if they are resolved to do so.  Click to watch the interview with Timothy Mullaney of USA Today, his open and honest story of his fall from grace, and how he got back up and dusted himself off is a real eye-opener.

Using the internet and blogging the news, he has created a brand new chapter in his life.  His story goes to show that having a dream, setting goals, and working to achieve them are limitless! Neither time, age nor education can stop the determined entrepreneur from building an empire.  Henry Blodget is no different from anyone else with a vision, except for the fact that he TOOK ACTION to make it happen!

Take action today!  Your dream will never become your reality until you TAKE ACTION, so get busy!

Set Many Goals to Achieve Wealth | National Business Services & Development

Set Many Goals to Achieve Wealth | National Business Services & Development.

Reside in the Moment

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”

~ Lao Tzu

Think about where you are right now, in the literal sense. You’re likely seated at a desk, either at work or home, or perhaps a coffee shop, staring at your computer or phone. Even though that’s where you are physically, where is the most important part of you? Where are your thoughts?

You might be watching the clock in anticipation of your next break, lunch or the end of the work day. You may be thinking about what happened yesterday, last month or even ten years ago. You could be worrying about a bill that is due, an upcoming event, or dreading something you’ve been putting off that you’re not looking forward to. One thing that is nearly certain is that very few of you reading this are present in this moment.

We are often everywhere but where we are. There are two places where we tend to spend too much of our time – in the past or in the future. Unfortunately, spending so much of our time in these head spaces leads to missing out on the experience and adventure that is life, something we are given only ONE chance to enjoy!

Anxiety and depression are NOT healthy or pleasant to experience. Make the conscious decision to move out of those places and take up residence right here in the present. Look at your surroundings and take in what is all about you right now. If you are outside, take in the sky, enjoy the trees, appreciate the colors that paint the canvas of your world! Draw a deep breath and smile. Have a conversation with the people around you rather than tapping your phone excessively. And face it, we’re all guilty of that innocuous crime, but make an effort to BE WITH those you’re actually with, the change will be noticed and reciprocated by those around you, and will make for a much more enjoyable interaction. It’s all about residing in the now!

We often look toward the future for our happiness and blame the past for our lack of it, but the secret is that true joy is only found in the right now. Move into this moment and you’ll find what you’ve been searching for. When you move out of the past and the future, you can begin to reside in and enjoy your right now.

Experience Happiness

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”

~ Frederick Keonig

Everyone lives their life in pursuit of happiness – it’s what drives us to do almost everything that we do.  Of course, we are all different, and what makes one person happy is not always going to make another person experience that same happiness.  For some, happiness comes in the form of relaxing in front of the television; for others, a vigorous workout.  Many people find happiness spending time alone, while others enjoy nothing more than being with family and friends.  All of this is obvious, innate knowledge that hardly needs to be stated, yet very often people will lose sight of their happiness in the very pursuit of it.  It’s easy to do, because much of our joy is tied to the future – I’ll be happy once I’ve graduated, I’ll really be happy when I land that big job, I’ll FINALLY be happy once I retire.

All of these things are great, having a purpose and a set of goals is crucial to a happy life, but TRUE happiness comes only to those able to recognize the joy that exists on their path to the future.  Balancing your personal and professional worlds can be tricky, and it is up to the individual to prioritize what matters.  The unfortunate reality is that too many business professionals make the mistake of valuing their profession over the actual happiness that is right in front of them.

Measure your happiness in the now, and not in the future.  Acknowledge those little things that would make you smile, if only you weren’t too busy to notice them.  Gauge your joy by being present, awake and aware of the good that exists in your corner of the world, because what else is life for, if not to experience happiness?

The Value of Experience

“Experience teaches only the teachable.”

– Aldous Huxley

Experience is your single most valuable asset, something that is uniquely yours, something you accumulate from the day you’re born and can never lose.  Life constantly throws unexpected hurdles your way, often without warning.  When you encounter these hurdles, your reaction tells a great deal about your character and abilities.  When confronted with difficulty, how do you react?  Do you crumble under pressure, perhaps avoid the problem altogether, or do you face it head on?

The entrepreneur welcomes adversities at every turn, and do you know why?  Simple – because they are opportunities to learn, and to grow stronger.  Challenges that may seem like problems at first are nothing more than opportunities in disguise.  If you can recognize that fact, if you can keep an open mind and seek out the best in a bad situation, success will surely follow.

The simple fact is that you are in control of how you react to a given situation.  You can either bend and break under the weight of your problems, or you can resist the urge to give in, and become a stronger person for having faced down your difficulties.  You may not always win, the outcome may not always be optimal or in your favor, but the one thing you can say is that you tried.  Your best approach is always a positive attitude, because negativity begets negativity, but a positive outlook will exponentially grow and spread, giving you and those around you a hopeful feeling that no matter how bleak a situation may seem, a happy ending is only possible if you work toward one!

An open mind allows you to extrapolate useful experience that can be applied to future situations.  You must remain open minded, and recognize that life is constantly teaching you lessons.  Be open to learning these lessons, because every day is a test, and the more you know, the better you will perform.  Opportunities, otherwise known as problems, present themselves all the time, so learn from them, take the knowledge and experience you gain, and use it to your best advantage!

Avoid Distraction to Achieve Success

“It’s not the hours you put in,

it’s what you put in the hours.”

― Sam Ewing

Slacking off.  We’ve all been guilty of it from time to time.  Even the most driven and dedicated entrepreneurs can become distracted by outside influences, and before long, you’ve lost valuable time.  

Time is the only asset that we have that cannot be replaced once it’s gone.  The window of opportunity we have from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed is very narrow, and it’s crucial to our success that we use that time wisely.  Closing out the world and focusing strictly on the task at hand is one useful method, and multitasking is another, but these are no guarantee that distractions won’t get in the way.

Discipline is the most effective and powerful habit a person can develop.  When you have a job to do, tell yourself that you have to get it done, that you must focus, and that there is NO REASON to pay attention to ANYTHING other than the task at hand!  Create an environment for yourself that facilitates productivity; remove distractions, let those around you know that you are unavailable, unplug your electronics, whatever it takes to allow you to zero in on and work toward accomplishing your goal.

These are but a few simple steps that you can take to make sure that you’re not just putting in hours, but you’re putting real, actual work into the hours that you’re putting in.  Choose to make your time count, and success will surely follow!

Set Many Goals to Achieve Wealth

“If your only goal is to become rich,
you will never achieve it.”

-John D Rockefeller

Goals make all the difference between success and failure; they are the engines that run our lives.  Without a purpose, without a goal to achieve, there is no reason to get up and go to work every day.  Some people have simple goals – work for someone else, collect a meager paycheck that will barely cover the rent, and have enough cash left over to buy groceries.  These are the tiny goals of the vast majority of the world – but – there is a very small subset of people who dream of more.  

We entrepreneurs want more out of life than making ends meet.  We feel a compulsive drive that pushes us to be bigger and better than we were the day before.  Our goals are above and beyond those of the average person, however, we must be realistic in our aspirations.

If you dream of being rich, GREAT!  YES!  By all means, let that be one of your goals!  There is a but here, though, and it’s a big but…

BUT…  We need to comprehend that there is more to life than getting rich.  We need to have other objectives to focus on, things that will make our lives full and rich in other ways than success in business.  For what is success, if you’re miserable?  If you live in a city that doesn’t offer the kind of life you desire, for instance a beach, a nightlife scene, or a peaceful rural setting, then you owe it to yourself to set the goal of moving someplace that DOES offer what you want.  If you wish to see the world, then find a home near an international airport, grab your passport, and go!  Explore this planet if that’s what you desire!  Make time for your happiness, don’t wait for happiness to make time for you!

John Rockefeller said “If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it,” and it is easy to understand that being rich is not simply about having a lot of money.  There are many kinds of wealth, but being truly rich comes from being happy and living a full and pleasant life, and the way to make that happen each and every day is to have a list of goals, both short and long term.  Daily goals can be as simple as taking care of the dry cleaning or mowing the lawn, and long term goals as complex as retiring to Belize before reaching a certain age.  Others are goals ABOUT goals, such as sitting down and planning your next vacation, or taking time to schedule next semester’s classes…  Whatever it is that you desire, whatever achievements you hope to make a reality, whatever personal mountain you want to conquer, IT IS POSSIBLE!  All you need to do is set your sights on numerous finish lines, and focus focus focus on having the discipline to cross them one at a time, and before you know it, you will be both financially AND spiritually rich beyond your wildest dreams!