What Is The Plan?

Congratulations if you managed to write down your goals or you defined what success means to you. I am sure you read my yesterday's article where I talked about mentally preparing yourself for the tasks ahead. Its important to acknowledge that the road to success is not easy, however that said your determination to make it and your unrelenting focus on what you want to achieve will provide you comfort on the road ahead. The next part is formulating a plan, its pointless to write the goals down and to even have the right mental attitude if there is no plan. The next biggest question is how will you achieve your goals? The fact that you want what you want badly is not enough, you need a detailed plan on how you will achieve your goals. Without a plan your goals will not achieve itself just because you have written it down.

A plan is set of actions that you will undertake in order to achieve your goals. If you like it is a set of instructions that will produce your goal. It is not anything complicated planning is a process which will help you to focus your ideas and to decide what steps you need to take to achieve your goals in a given set of time. Start with what you will do NOW. There is no point in having an action plan that will start in six months time. Define clearly the steps you will take. ("How do I get there?’’) Think of all the possible things you could do to take you closer to achieving your goal, no matter how small. Break down any large steps into smaller components, so it doesn’t seem so difficult to achieve. What is the biggest obstacle? What could go wrong?
Identify the end point of each step. You will also need to arrange the steps in a logical, chronological order and put a date by which you will start each step. Put these dates into your diary or onto a calendar. Try to set yourself weekly goals: what research you will do into jobs, what skills you will concentrate on learning etc. It’s also a good idea to get into the habit of planning a timetable each evening listing your tasks for the next day or two. Action generates the impetus for further action: if you want something done quickly, give it to a busy person. The best time to do something is NOW! Do not procrastinate as they say the procrastination is the thief of time.

An example of a action plan will be as follows:

Objective: To loose weight
Specifics: To shed 10 kilos
Time: 3 months
Actions:
Exercises:
1. 0500-0530 - Early Morning jog around the park.
2. 1700-1800 - Cardio-Vascular exercise at the gym a) 20 mins on the treadmill
b) 20 mins on the elliptical machine
c) 20 mins in the aerobics class
Diet & Nutrition:
1) Breakfast Day 1
Low calorie muesli no sugar
2) Lunch Day 1
Fruit Salad
3) Supper Day 1
Steamed fish with lots of vegetables

Substitute loosing weight with whatever your goal is, write a specific plan within a time frame that you have given yourself to achieve your goal. Do not procrastinate the time to take action is now.

Prepare For Blood Sweat & Tears

If you spent the last three days of this new year taking up my challenge to commit to paper your goals for this year congratulations, once you have the goals written down then you are half-way through. This article is just a reality check, just before you set out a plan on how you will achieve your goals you need to realise some facts about success.

The world that we live in is highly competitive world, only those that are exceptionally good will make it the rest will live an average life. Its simple in order to succeed in today's world you will need to be stand out from the rest. Its not going to be smooth sailing or a walk in the park. You will have to work exceptionally hard and be prepared to sacrifice some life comforts to achieve what you want in life. Like they say no pain no gain, the same maxim applies in your quest to success.

Suppose you are looking to loose weight, that will mean making sacrifices in your lifestyle. It would probably mean a change of your diet, giving up some comfort foods adopt a more healthy eating no what how much you are averse to it. You might have to join a gym, wake up early and start jogging, it might mean giving up you sedentary lifestyle to adopt a more active lifestyle. If you have decided to go back to school and gain an extra qualification that will give you the urge in life, you will need to study hard, maybe after work, combine studying with your other responsibilities such as parenting and your community activities. Even if you have chosen to start your own business maybe you will at first work alone in your business putting in extra hours before you can high staff. Whatever you will be doing be prepared to make some sacrifices as success will not come easy. Suppose you have chosen to put down a deposit on a house as your goal for this year, and a quick look at your finances will tell you will need extra income, you have taken on a second job even a third job.

Hard work in itself has never killed anyone, working extra hard to make up for lost time is the only way to move your life from mediocre to above average. The situation in your life should move you, there can be no other motivating circumstance other than the state of your life now. If you are tired of being fat and unattractive then that in itself should motivate you enough to weather the sacrifices you will have to make. If you are broke, again that situation should motivate you enough to put the extra hours in overtime or doing a second job to get you out of the situation. You are paid for what you know, if you do not know much then that will be reflected in the jobs that you will take. If you are not happy about the job you are doing then you will need to get an extra qualification or to change careers altogether and the fact that you do not like your current job will spur you study hard. Your situation should move you, it should provide you with the impetus to move forward.

In conclusion you will need to mentally prepare yourself for the hard you will need to put in before you can achieve success.

Here Is A Chance To Start Again On A Clean Slate

As the new year starts you have an opportunity to start again its like starting on a new page, it can also be likened to being born again. Forget what happened or did not happen in 2011, it does not matter any more. You cannot change your past but the actions you will take today will shape your tomorrow. This year I have personally declared it to be a year of action, a year which will be characterised by firm decisions and the resultant action. The best start is to set goals, setting goals is nothing mystique as it appears or sounds, it is in essence defining what success means to you.

Start by defining what success means to you. Does success mean you start living healthily, give up smoking (its expensive anyway), joining the gym, getting into shape? Does success mean buying that car, putting down a deposit on that house, saving for that holiday? Does success require you to get more knowledge, to go back to school, to acquire new skills? To some it might be that they want to spend more time with their loved ones, working hard to make sure their personal relationships work. To some success means starting their own business, being in control of their destinies. While for others it might be getting that promotion at work, applying for that dream job. Whatever success means to you you need to define it first before you go on about achieving it. It is pointless to just talk or even read this without taking action, I am going to ask you stop reading right now and take a paper rather a notebook, write down what success would mean to you in 2012.

Once you have defined your success you will need to write it down, its no use if just think about it and never commit it to paper. A goal is a goal if its defined and written down. I have written about it here when I gave you the example from the classic movie Alice In Wonderland, where Alice wants to go somewhere but cannot clearly define where she wants to go, Cheshire the cat tells it dos not matter which direction she goes she will get somewhere. Well today is the day to discard that attitude if it ruled your life. The idea that you can just drift in life, equating waking up and going to work with achieving something is flawed and will never work. It is probably why a lot of people do not achieve anything in life. They have never bothered to define and commit their goals to paper. It is like getting in car and starting to drive with no clear definition of where you are going and it is no wonder that you will never get anywhere. I

I am not going to labour on the above point but it is imperative that you sit down and write what success means to you. After you have written down your definition of success, you will need to chart a course on how you will achieve your goal. You might have written down that you need to buy a car, you need to be specific, what type of car, a saloon or a estate, a sports utility or a truck, with manual gears or automatic, whether it will be powered by petrol or diesel, even a hybrid electric powered car, what colour will it be, will it have leather seats or fabric covered seats? Most people who successful in life are clear and very specific about their goals, they are not vague about what they want to achieve neither do they ill-defined what they want to achieve. Suppose you want to make money in 2012, how much do you want to make, how will you make it? How much will need to make every month to achieve your target? How much every week, how much each day and consequently how much every day, every hour.

Studies in the past have shown that people get disillusioned about working towards their goals if the goals look unachievable and vague. They give up after a week of trying in January because the goals they set have not be broken down to sizeable chunks to fight goal setting inertia brought about by the looking at the sheer scale of what you want to achieve. There a common English saying that says take of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves. The same principle applies when setting goals, you will need to see what you need to achieve everyday that propels you towards your goals. As long as you are on course everyday then you will be on course every week, the weeks will make months and when 2012 closes you will have achieved what you set out to achieve. Breakdown your goals to monthly targets, then weekly then daily, then hourly if you have to, concentrate on now if you are on target now it will be easier to achieve that epic looking target.

There is no point in setting a goal which is unachievable in your circumstances, it will just frustrate you. The goals you will set need to be realistic, while its good to dream big however setting unrealistic goals is akin to day-dreaming. Successful people do not day-dream they know what they can realistically achieve. A good way of measuring whether a goal is realistic or fantasy is to have a look at the past record. There is no point in saying you will make a million in income when you average income for the past ten years has been averaging less than 25000 in yearly income. Unrealistic goals will look good on paper but will suck the energy out of you. Someone has said before goals should be S.M.A.R.T - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time limited.

I urge to grab this chance you have today, to start on a clean slate by committing to paper your goals. Remember they need to be realistic, specific, measurable and set within a time to achieve it. Happy New Year and a happy new you!

Indecision

You hear it a lot people saying that they do not or did not have a choice but we know deep down that its simply not true. It is an undeniable fact that life is about choices, we make concious and unconscious choices every waking minute of our lives. We choose to wake up from a beautiful sleep and to go to work, we might choose to fake illness and call in ill. We choose the foods we love, when we pick a brand of our favourite ice-cream against another we are making a choice. Well you can argue that choosing a brand of your favourite ice-cream is not as difficult as some of the choices we are faced with in life. I concur however the most arresting situation is indecision, when we do not make a decision we delay the inevitable.

When you are undecided whether to turn right or left even the wind will carry you in any direction. When you do not choose that's when you blame fate because you have left an important decision to it and consequently there is no need to complain, whine and moan because of what fate will decide for you. In most cases indecision is caused by fear of making a wrong decision however when you do not make a decision it will affect you, you will continue stress over it. As you know stress is too arresting it will essential time that could have been spend pursuing activities that pushes you towards your goal, if its unchecked it will manifest itself physically.Suffering from stress can weaken your immune system and that can lead to a lot of health problems. Some of these problems can be of a psychological nature but a lot of them tend to be physical. Emotional stress can lead to high blood pressure. All that just because you feared making a wrong decision.

You need to tackle indecision I have devised a four part action plan to tackle indecision today:

1. Acknowledge the choices you have to make, in cases where you have multiple choices streamline them to just two by eliminating those you do not want earlier. You will need to weigh the pros and the cons of the choices you have.
2. Whether your choice is about business or a personal life, consult a professional adviser, it might be a lawyer, a marriage therapist. Seek counsel from a person who has your best interest at heart, sometimes its best to get such counsel from a person who is detached from the situation you are facing.
3. Begin with the end in mind, what is it that you want to achieve, that will make your decision easier. As I mentioned above indecision is caused by fear for the worst, its human nature. You will need to develop a positive mindset that whatever happens you will be fine. Even if it turns out that you made a wrong decision in the long run it will be a learning curve for you. Trust your instincts you might not have all the facts before you act but believe in your self.
4. Above all ACT, make a decision, stick to it do not look back take that leap of faith. when you act even the wind will propel you forward.

I want to leave you with a quote from a poem by a German author, poet and dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

“Then indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute;
What you can do, or dream you can, begin it;
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

The Five Immortal Lessons From Steve Jobs' Legacy

Today the world of business and technology mourn the death of one of the greatest entrepreneurs to have ever lived. Jobs' life undoubtedly had a profound impact on the tech industry and the way individuals interact with technology. As tributes pour its of no debate that Steve was the best CEO in the last three decades. He was a towering pioneer in all the fields of business he undertook; the Apple Mac revolutionarised the business of personal computing, while personal computers powered by Microsoft software ruled work places, Jobs envisioned people-friendly machines with mouse controllers and icons to click on to activate programs or open files. Pixar changed the world of animated movies forever, Avatar and the new world of 3-D would not be here were it not for Toy Story. The iPod changed the way people carried their entire catalogue of music, the accessory and after thought of iPod the iTunes threatened the entire music industry, CD sales fell, Apple's iTunes store, which has sold more than 16 billion songs since its inception in 2003, has revolutionized the album-based model historically championed by recording studios into singles priced at 99 cents delivered completely online. Then came the iPhone which single handedly toppled Nokia's market share in mobile and smart phones, More than 250 million devices running iOS have been sold worldwide. It became the first iconic touchscreen computer - and ushered in the beginnings of a new, 'post-PC' era. The iPad is slowly starting to take over the world of laptops. Apple's iPad, which was introduced in August 2010, was the fastest adopted consumer electronics device in history, with 3 million units sold within the first 80 days.

Jobs was just 21 when he founded Apple Computer in 1976 with his 26-year-old friend Steve Wozniak in his family garage. From such humble beginnings the company grew into one of the world's most valuable firms, posting second quarter profits of $731 billion in July on revenue of $28.57 billion despite the worldwide economic turmoil. Jobs built the most valuable technology company in the world by market capitalization, with a current market cap of 350.67 billion U.S. dollars. At a time when computer and device manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell are struggling to maintain consistent profitability levels, Apple has seen an upward trend in profit margins, with a net profit margin of more than 21 percent in its most recent fiscal year. Comparatively, HP and Dell have remained stagnant at approximately 7 percent and 4 percent respectively, according to their most recent annual financial statements.

There are plenty of lessons to learn from Steve Jobs for aspiring entrepreneurs and others that are already running their own businesses.

Lesson Number 1: Opportunities Are Right Where You Are
If you look at all Steve Jobs and Apple's products you will soon realise that prior to them coming up with an innovative product, that particular product was already there. Before the Mac and the iMac where launched personal PCs existed, Steve and Apple just made them better. Before he introduced the coloured iMac, PCs were the ugly and ubiquitous characterised by their beige colour. CDs an Albums was the only way to buy music until Apple under the visionary leadership of Steve introduced the iPod and its digital accessory iTunes changing forever how people purchased music. Mobile phones were not new prior to the introduction of the iPhone but its introduction knocked of Nokia of the perch. Nokia had a grip-like hold on the market share of mobile and smart-phones. They did not have invent a new product all they did was to change the existing products, look around you, look at the business that you are in what can you do to change your products? What is it that you use today in your business or at home that you can greatly improve, the ideas and opportunities are right where you are. One the most valuable axiom of business is to find a need and fill it. That is exactly what Steve Jobs and Apple did, they found a need for their products and filled it innovately. If you are already in business what is it that you can do today that can change your industry? That is what Steve and Apple did, apply it to your industry and the results will be amazing.

Lesson Number 2: Do What You Love
You will never make any money doing things that you do not love, you might have found a need but if you are emotionally detached from your day to day activities even the profits will be affected. Steve indulged in a hobby that he loved building the macintosh back in 1973 in his parent' garage with his childhood friend Steve Wozniak, the money followed later. They did not know whether their prototype of apple computer which you plugged into a television was going to make money. They followed their passion and did what they loved, do the same find your passion do what you love and as they say the rest is history.

Lesson Number 3: Follow You Intuition and Trust Your Instinct
Everybody will remember Steve Jobs' inspiring speech to student at Stanford University where he studied initially before dropping out. One of the things he mentions is how his biological mother who gave him up for adoption wanted to ensure that his adoptive parents were college graduates in order that he will go to college. When his first set of parents decided not to take him, the second set were only schooled right up to high school but did promise Steve's biological mother that he would be college educated. So his adoptive parents used their lifetime savings to send him to Stanford University an expensive college. After six months Steve could not see the value in it, he had no idea what he wanted to with his life and he had no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. So he decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. There is one instance where he trusted his instinct, some inner voice told him all was going to be fine. Just before he dropped out he decided to take a calligraphy course which he says later helped him in designing typography which is used by PCs and Apple Macs today. There was no way that he knew for sure that the calligraphy class was going to help him however that did not stop him from taking it. What is your sixth sense telling you, listen to it and develop the habit on following on it trusting it that it will lead you to greater success.

Lesson Number 4: Determination: If At First You Don't Succeed, Dust Yourself and Try Again
It is pretty obvious that if you are going to be successful you will need the ability to get back up when you have been knocked down. Steve Jobs embodied this principle, after being forced from Apple in the mid 80s, it could have been easy for him to retire and spent his fortune sailing on a super yacht but no he went on to start another computer company NeXT which Apple bought in 1997 for $429m setting the return of Steve Jobs to Apple. In business and in life we all encounter unpleasant circumstances, there are times when we knocked off the pedestal but its the mark of champion to be able to get back up.

Lesson Number 5: Leave a Legacy: Be Inspirational
Today's tributes as the world remembers Steve Jobs are along the lines that he changed the world. Not only is it true that he changed the world but he also inspired others to do the same, in 1984 when he was hiring John Sculley from Pepsi he lured him with the words 'Do you want to sell sugared water, or do you want to change the world?' All the staff at Apple have a belief that they can change the world, they are not only working but they are trying to put a dent in the universe. Such type of inspiration is the reason why the teams at Apple are known to work 90 plus hours a week to make their dent in the universe. All the industries job worked in he changedthem forever,chaging the world a multiple times. You may not be able to change the world but real leaders and visionaries such as Steve Jobs strive to do that which is the difference between a manager and a leader.

There are many lessons from Steve Jobs some are industry specific but he has left a legacy which all aspiring entrepreneurs and business people should emulate. R.I.P Steve Jobs.

The Approach

A lot of people go through life by taking short-cuts however if you are to achieve success in whatever you endeavour to achieve there are no short cuts. You might have gone through school by cramming for exams and probably got away with it; but with this recipe to success you cannot cram in order to achieve the desired results. You cannot skip the unpleasant parts and just cherry pick what you want and then expect to have the desired results. Just like I explained in my previous posting the path to success is like baking you are following a recipe there are different ingredients, you cannot leave some out and just make do with those you like.

As a matter of fact this recipe to success which we will reveal in subsequent posts shares the same natural cycle that governs farming. I do not know if you are familiar with farming, my parents were subsistent farmers and there was a natural cycle that we followed I cannot imagine it being done any other way. In Zimbabwe where I was born the farming season started just on the on-set of the rainy season which came around October/November which is also the start of a very long African summer. The preparation of the land was first, tilling and weeding then you would plant the seeds on instinct of that it would not be two or three days before the first rains fell, and naturally we would wait for the planted seeds to germinate. As the plants shoot from the ground and start their growth, we had to pay attention we had to taking out weeds that would choke the growth of our plants and take the nutrients intended for our plants. We had to wait right when the plants have matured to harvest them for corn which is commonly farmed by subsistence farmers such as my parents. As I have illustrated above farming follows a natural process which however impatient you are you will have to follow. Suppose you decide you do want to till the land and will just go ahead and plant the seeds, the rain might not permeate the top soil in order to germinate the seeds. Say you decide to skip the planting of the seeds and will just wait the harvest; well I do not have to tell you what you will find come harvest time.
Before we delve in there is an essential fact that we need to address; the issue of scepticism or doubt which is essentially lack of faith. One important aspect is to acknowledge that you have probably failed that is why you are reading this and that the path that we will reveal has worked for countless people who have found success both in their chosen vocations and as well as their personal life. You cannot go into this half-hearted it is not about trying and then seeing what will happen. It will produce half hearted results, with the path it is black and white, there is no middle ground here, it is either that you are in or you are out, you cannot sit on the fence, you have to give this your all if you want the desired results. Remember that what you sow is what you reap; you can expect a different result to that that you put in. As Johann Wolf van Goethe said;

“Nature understands no jesting. She is always true, always serious, always severe. She is always right, and the errors and faults are always those of man”.

In my next post we will look at defining success and the importance of knowing what you want.

The Elusive Secret of Formula To Success

Is there a formula to success many people have asked in their quest for success in life? The answer is yes there is a secret formula which if followed to the letter guarantees success. Let me home this with an analogy, suppose you want to bake a chocolate cake that you might have seen in a magazine or on television. You will need to get the recipe, look at the ingredients, obtain them if you do not have them and prepare to bake your cake according to the recipe and the method. If it is the original cake that you saw in a magazine or on TV that you want then you will need to follow the recipe and play a very close attention to the method in order to get you the required results. However if you decide that to follow part of the recipe and skip some other parts then the result will be different to the original cake that you wanted to bake. As a matter of fact you will end up with something totally different. Well I suppose you can say its easy when baking a cake to stick to the recipe, but the same principles applied in baking/cooking apply in your quest to be successful.

Like everything else in life, there is nothing new under the sun, there are new numerous examples of people that have been successful in life so in essence you will not be trying something new here. However while it is possible to list all the traits of successful people and just get people to emulate them you will find that in-itself does not guarantee success. Do not despair though because I have mastered that elusive secret formula to success it has taken me almost 12 years to get to this level. I am willing to share this proven formula to success with you. Over the coming weeks I will reveal the formula to you and if you follow it to the letter I do not only promise you success but I guarantee you that you will be successful.

Here take my hand and walk with me on this incredible journey that will change your life forever.