Success Stimuli

One good way to ensure success in life is to surround yourself with success stimuli…

What is success stimuli you ask?

Success Stimuli is whatever it is that helps stimulate the motivation, desire, and action for you to achieve your success goals.

I always make it a point to spend some time every week to read or watch videos that stimulate my mind and encourage me to move forward on my path to success. There are two types of motivation – one that comes from within you and one that comes as a response to something external. This type of motivation doesn’t last very long – but it comes as a burst and lasts long enough for us to do something phenomenal!

Many great decisions have been taken during this burst of motivation that has come from success stimuli

There are many options you can choose from to help you get this kind of motivation.

1. Books. Get yourself books like Chicken Soup for the Soul that have short stories of people like you. Buy self help books that focus on success. Read biographies of the people you idolize.
2. Videos. Watch videos of successful people. Google search a name you idolize and listen to their advice. Search for videos containing little anecdotes by successful people. Learn their secrets and apply them
3. Blogs. Many people blog about their experience on their path to success. Whether they have just begun, or are well progressed on the path, little stories and insights will always inspire

To get you started on your search for success stimuli, here is a link to a blog by one of my best friends…

She is a single parent doing great things… An entrepreneur and social activist, she also finds time to have fun and balance her life. And best of all? She documents her journey on her path to success on her fun filled blog – Furiously Fab Muslima

Confusion During Decision Making - How to Beat it!

Many times, when it comes to important decisions in life, goal setting, you tend to get deeply confused. Decision making becomes a burden and all you want to do is run away! Anything to take you away from the decision making procedure! It’s understandable.  After all, setting smart goals is not child’s play. It requires a great deal of thought and a great deal of introspection!

So, if goal setting, or in general any form of decision making is confusing you, try out this step by step procedure and clear the confusion from your mind!

1.       Take 2 clean sheets of paper. Paper A is for your options and paper B is for your expectations.

2.       Put your confusion down on paper A.

3.       Write down the various options you are contemplating about without worrying about what is right and what is wrong. Leave the decision making for later.

4.       Then on paper B, write down what you expect to come out of the decision. For example, if your decision is about which organization to join after college, jot down all the expectations you have from your ideal job organization.

5.       Once all the points are written, tally them with the options. Give 1 point to each option for every expectation that it will meet.

6.       Once you give out all the points, you still hold 3 points for your feeling. You see, in spite of all logic, many decisions are made based on feelings

7.       Give these three points to the options in any way you want. 1 point each to your top three favorites or 3 points to your most favorite or 2 points to your favorite and 1 point to something you love.

8.       During this decision making, however, don’t think of what option got more points and which got less. Don’t try to balance anything out. It wouldn’t help your confusion one bit!

9.       Pick the top three options – the ones with the highest points.

10.   Now, close your eyes clear your mind of all the confusion and let the decision making start.

11.   Choose one option at a time, keep your eyes closed, and imagine yourself in that option. Keeping with the above example, imagine yourself in the organization, visualize a day in the office, and clearly see what is going on and how you feel about everything.

12.   Repeat the procedure with each option.

Once you finish the step by step decision making procedure, you will have a clear idea of what you want. What you feel exited about and what is it that will give you satisfaction. Use this process to clear confusion, and set smart goals for your future

Success - Today (part 2)

A continuation of the checklist... What did you do today to take yourself closer to success?


Did you... 

Get a new perspective on something after your morning prayer?

When we immerse our mind in prayer, something else takes over our being. Prayer time is the closest we can get to the all knowing, all seeing infinite. When we pray, God listens, and God answers. If something is stuck or is bothering you, pray for help, meditate on it, and you will definitely get the new perspective you were looking for!

Discuss a new strategy at lunch?

Lunch time is that one hour in the middle of the day when you take a break from the stress of work, sit with like minded colleagues and friends. This is when you get the chance to get away from the mundane day to day chores and think from 50,000 feet above. This is the time when you can look at life from a different angle and examine the major strategies at play. This is also the time when you discuss it and renew your resolutions

Get lost in an exciting task and forget to have your evening tea and snacks?

When work is exciting, you know that you are doing something right! And when you get so lost in it that you forget to eat and drink, you should realize that Success is very near indeed. Do what you love, and love what you do. This one little ‘mantra’ can take you to new heights!

Success - Today (part 1)

What did you do today to take yourself closer to success? - Checklist

Did you...

Wake up in the morning with a plan?

When you decide your plan for the day early in the morning, there is a higher chance that you can accomplish what you want. You will be able to plan the time available wisely. Also, your first thoughts in the morning tend to stick with your throughout the day, so wake up with careful thoughts!

Think while brushing your teeth, of the various things you need to accomplish today?

The time that we spend staring at the mirror, trying to come out of our sleep world is probably the most undisturbed alone time we will ever get during the day. Also the time when our brain is just getting active and trying to figure out the where, what, why, and how of the waking world… This is the best time to give some thought to how you intend on accomplishing your set tasks for the day.

Get killer ideas in the shower?

There is something about standing in a steaming bath with hot water pouring down on your head! This is the best place for creativity… The kind of creativity that you can’t help… It is an involuntary action of your brain. It spits out ideas on whatever topic you are focused on. So, when you get into the shower, focus your attention on your latest problem / project and let the ideas flow.

The list continues in the next post

Meanwhile, tell me what you do during the day that gets you closer to success!

Take a Break

Since I’m back after a long break, let me start anew writing about breaks.

Away from this hectic routine, away from all the hustle bustle of work and other pressures. A time to yourself to let your hair down is a must! Take a break, have some fun.  You deserve it… and with all the hard work you do, you earned it!

Among all the different ways to break away from routine, my personal favorite is the Amusement Park! Whatever your age, there is nothing more refreshing than a day pack with friends, laughter and enough adrenaline to get you through many days to come!

Amusement Park (Photo credit: iNFdesu)

Keep putting in all the effort possible, and take a break every now and then, Success will come automatically!

Journey of Life

Life is a journey… not the end result!

So you might say… then why are goals given so much importance? Aren’t they the end result of something?

Like I want to graduate from college, I want to land a good job, I want a big house near the city, or I want to become a billionaire!

Yeah, goals do end up seeming like end results at first glance. But if you look deeper, you realize that goals are actually a state of living. For example, graduating from college is a life changing experience. The experience itself and everything that comes in life because of it is what the goal is all about.

The big house near the city – is something you live in. Coming first in a race, or finishing a 10 mile marathon are some other examples. The goal seems like an end result but it is the journey of finishing the race/marathon and then living with the sense of achievement is in actuality what the goal stands for.

Success can be truly achieved and truly enjoyed only when you treat life as a journey. Have fun with what you do, enjoy every moment of the effort and the luck that get you where you want to be.

Life is a journey… not the end result!

Right Things to Focus on…

So what should you actually focus on to be successful?

1)      Your idea of success. As I always say… define what success is to you and then focus on that.

2)      Contributing something. Either to the society at large or to a specific group of people.

3)      Ethics. Make sure whatever you do is ethically right.

4)      Quality. Give your customers what they expect, and then some more.

5)      Punctuality. Stick to the promised timeframe.

6)      Integrity. People should be able to trust you. Why would they do business with you if they didn’t?

7)      Enjoyment. If you enjoy working, it shows! You end up infecting others with it too

Make sure you focus on these 7 simple ‘right things’ and watch yourself become more and more successful by the day.

And yes, success does bring in more money… that’s inevitable! Just as long as you don’t make it the focus J



If You Focus on Making Money…

Cha-Ching!

When you do something with your focus on making money, you’ll never actually make it. Let me tell you why.

1)      Money making becomes your main goal

2)      When you need to make an important decision, it’ll be based on whether your profit will increase and not on whether it is beneficial to the task at hand

3)      You will automatically try to take shortcuts to make more money – faster

4)      The ethical boundaries you set for yourself will start to fade

5)      All the time, you will be thinking of how much money you made instead of trying to better the quality of your offering

6)      You will miss out on wonderful opportunities for growth that don’t promise too much profit but can actually take you places

7)      The worst of all – Your orientation shifts from what can I give… to what will I get… and the customer can sense this

The result of all this is that whatever your offering – It’ll become less appealing to your customers and thus you end up not making much money after all!!!

Keep your focus on the right things, and the money will follow. What are the ‘right things’? You’ll see in the next post…

Till then, take your focus off making money!



Little by Little

                               

Just like little drops of water make an ocean, a little effort put in constantly can make an ocean of change!

All you need to do is regularly put in some time and effort towards your cause. You can do a number of things to bring about a positive change in your life as well as the lives of those around you. If your goal is to spread awareness, spending ½ hour a day doing just that on the internet can take you quite far in a couple of years…

If you goal is to make friends, an hour a day on social networking sites and within no time, you’ll be surrounded by friends. If your goal is to make a little extra cash, an hour a day doing odd jobs and you have what you need.

If your goal is to start a new business and you are hard pressed for time, an hour a day of effort and within a few months, your go to plan is ready. If you want to help the needy, an hour a day of fund raising and they can get all the help they need.

Putting in a little time everyday for a specific goal keeps you enthusiastic, motivated and takes you one step closer to success – everyday!

Standards

I agree India is a land of tolerance… We tolerate everything – the crowd, the traffic, the untidiness, the lack of discipline etc.

As customers, we even tolerate shoddy work and low quality results.

But, the line has to be drawn somewhere, and this is where it starts. When it comes to work, the tolerance levels for quality and integrity have been decreasing and rightly so! In a global atmosphere as we are in today, high standards are expected.

And in countries like India, standards and quality are differentiators. They are what make you better than your competitors. Among the scores of products/ services available, the ones that deliver on time and with expected quality are the ones that will survive in the long run.

It’s not enough to just finish the job anymore. For true success, meticulously planned and high quality work is what will work and get you noticed.

Crazy Ideas

If anyone told you that you can make clothes out of milk… would you believe it? Would you take it seriously? Or would you say they were crazy and shrug it off? What If I gave you proof that this is possible… would you still shrug it off?

Yeah it’s a crazy idea, quite a startling one too. But all great inventions begin as crazy impossible ideas. The light bulb, the telephone, the telescope… all were crazy ideas in their time. Heck there was even a time when people thought that earth being round was a crazy idea.

The human mind has 70,000 thoughts per day! Even if 1% of those thoughts are new ideas, then an average human produces around 700 ideas a day!!! Multiply that with the number of humans on earth, and I can’t even try to count that number! Let’s just say ideas are in abundance J

Now, how many of these are crazy ideas – I’m sure a majority of it are LOL. And we shrug off most of them thinking they are impossible or that they are embarrassing. Somewhere hidden in that plethora of crazy ideas are the seeds to some amazing discoveries/inventions and in turn some amazing successes!

Next time you get a crazy idea, don’t just shrug it off; see if you can become the next BIG thing…

BTW, here’s the proof I mentioned – clothes from milk

Tests: Not the True Predictors

I came across an article that has Narayan Murthy talk on how the quality of students in IITs has deteriorated over the years. Do you know that the entrance tests to these institutions are extremely difficult? They are so difficult that some students would rather go to a different technology institute and gain an education than slogging nights to mug up what the coaching classes teach. Then why is it that people who pass this difficult test are being called of low quality? Why is it that when they graduate from these esteemed institutions, they cannot survive and succeed in the work world?



 

Tests are not the true predictors of success! You can mug up something and get very high marks… but do you get an education? Do you actually learn the subject and along with that necessary skills to handle yourself later on in life?

‘Success’ on a test is only artificial success and is no guarantee for actual success! So, when studying, always keep in mind – study and work hard for gaining knowledge and skills. That’s all that matters in the long run! And the bonus of doing this? Well if you have the knowledge that is being tested, then you have success in the test as well as in the future!

 

Balance

Yay! You found your path to success… Now you are also putting in effort, Tons of it! You have a list of the different areas you want to be successful in life… Great, now no one can stop you from becoming a success… not even you!

But you gotta remember one thing; you need to balance it all out. Some amount of imbalance is ok – like during those tough exams or when you need to crack this big deal! But always, make sure you are in balance. Put in all the effort you can, but also get your 8 hours of sleep. Practice for the math test all night, but go catch a movie after your exams. Work on a project forgetting the difference between weekday and weekend, but plan and go for a relaxing vacation soon afterwards.

On normal days, relax and unwind after a long day at work. Read a book, listen to music, do something really enjoyable that will also de-stress you.

To be able to work at your chosen path and put in all the effort possible, you need a strong and alert mind. A stressed mind is of no help to you. So, relaxing and balance is a very important part of success!

Forgetting Stuff?

How many long pending tasks do you have that are not too important but are also nagging you at all the wrong times?

All of us have these… Like recently, I took on the responsibility of changing my dad’s mobile plan. It’s not too important, not work related and definitely didn’t top my priority list because dad wasn’t in a hurry either. When I was at my computer or near my phone, I wouldn’t remember to do it. And times like while eating, just before sleeping, while watching TV etc. this thought would nag me…

The solution? I wrote it down on my white board! “Blackberry Plan”

The best way to make sure something like this is done is to write it where you can see it. Whenever you remember something small that’s interrupting your normal thought process, write it down. You can use a white/black board like I did. You can also just use a simple post it. Write down the phrase and stick it to your computer screen / desk / wall next to the bed / wherever convenient!

Taking care of the small seemingly unimportant details ensures a smooth journey on your path to success. Never let “I’m too busy” become your excuse for forgetting!

Obstacles

Life is a mixture of good times and bad times. Many times we get to do the things we like to do and many times we are forced to do the very things we were dreading!

Similarly the road to success is filled with fun things; all the beautiful flowers of paradise but you also get thorns and road blocks. Many times, even though you are doing what you love, you will encounter difficulties. This is the way of life…

When you embark on your journey, brace yourself for the difficulties in advance. Prepare yourself well enough to face all the challenges that are thrown your way. If you start your journey expecting it to be easy, you will be in for a big shock and quite a lot of delay. Once you come across a road block and then try to get over it, it gets all the more difficult.  It’s like a 200 meter dash. If the runner is just running a normal race and suddenly a hurdle is thrown in, she stops, and jumps over it. Then, she has to start running and picking up speed. However if the runner was running a hurdle race, she would be prepared for the hurdle. She would then just jump over the hurdle without having to stop or change speed too much.

When you prepare yourself mentally for hurdles and fill yourself with the confidence of overcoming them, you are like the second runner. When the obstacle comes, you will be able to jump over it with greater ease!

Success - Various Forms

It is very important to be successful in life for just about everybody. I’m sure you have an idea of what success means to you… Have you given a thought to what areas in life you want to be successful in? Is it work? Or family? Or Spiritual?

True success is when you can achieve all forms of success. And the true way to success is to work toward all these goals!

Below are all the various forms of success. If any more come to your mind, do add them in your comments

·         Career success

·         Success in relationships

·         Success as a good human being

·         Successful family

·         Spiritual success

·         Success in the roles you play: Sister/Brother/Parent/Child etc.

·         Success in friendship

·         Success in sports

·         Success in leisure

·         A vacation that is successful

·         Success in keeping your mind engaged

·         Successful pet owner

·         Housekeeping success

·         Financial success

·         Success in charity

·         Social service activities related success

·         Success in the stock market

·         Second income success

·         Successful at being happy always

The list can go on…

Make sure you are focusing on all the important aspects of your life!