Tag Archives: success

The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma

I have never found that reading personal development (pd) books enlighten me to a whole new way of living, a whole new theory, ground breaking results, astonishing returns, etc.

I don’t think this is what change is really about, or really that it’s realistic to think that a human will grasp onto this kind of alteration to life. I feel that change – and learning – is a direct result of connecting with what we are learning, associating our own lives and acts with what we’re reading, and being able to take away new techniques that we might be able to use in our quest to get stronger.

Though drastic change is required and necessary at times, people are much more susceptible to change on a gradual basis. Say, over a year or even 10 rather than cold turkey.

“Success is created through the performance of a few small daily disciplines that stack up over time to produce achievements far beyond anything you could have planned for.”

The Leader Who Had No Title – by Robin Sharma – discussed the importance of realizing that change happens one at a time. Each day if we pick one thing to focus on and grow and nurture, after a year there will be 365 things we’ve learned!

“Leaders are those individuals who do the things that failures aren’t willing to do – even though they may not like doing them either.”

If you’re looking for words of inspiration, with take home notes that will have you returning again and again to re-find tips to find personal success, to re-learn how to lead without a title, then this is your book.

I really appreciate the underlying message of the book, that we can not afford to wait until we have a title to start acting like a leader. Make every day a day where you’ve been sticking your neck out there, leading.

The book guides the reader through a fantastic and life changing day Blake is taken on by an unexpected life guide, Tommy – an old friend of his fathers, who helps enlighten him to the ethics of a leader without a title.

I have talked to some people about this book, and they’ve mentioned how they dislike the authors delivery, which I can associate with. I think for a lot of people this is the awkward feeling of introspection. Reading a pd book really does make you look inside to your own actions, associating with your activities and assessing how your actions can be changed. However, the repetition Sharma employs can at times make one feel a bit silly.

I appreciate what this book is delivering though, the message. It was almost too easy for me to associate with. To me, that is the power of this book.

I suggest reading The Leader Who Had No Title, and if you have read it, I would love to hear how you felt about the book in the comments below!

Accomplishment

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It feels good to do. Just do. To put in a good days of work getting further towards that plan. To itemize and destroy that list of hurtles getting on ones way.

As a human coming into adulthood and maturity, I am starting to realize that there is a difference between a) planning, deliberating, conceptualizing, developing, & shipping and b) thinking, talking, reading, believing, and getting distracted.

I understand how easy it is to get sidetracked with seeing what other people are up to on our favorite social networks – and the motivation they’re sharing with me. I understand how easy it is to find a good movie on and just feel comfortable with it. I understand how easy it is to get immersed in a good bit of fiction -or- non, and feel like it’s at least better than watching television.

But nothing feels like my own personal or collaborative accomplishment does.

True accomplishment, the kind of accomplishment where pride is found.

True accomplishment doesn’t necessarily come hand in hand with success, unless you consider success learning; when you’re pushing yourself to do things, to work, to deliver, you most certainly are going to take home a few lessons learned at the end of the day.

This is where pride is found. This is where contentment is found. This is where belief in oneself is found.

This thought came to me today as I sat here after designing and soldering a new circuit board prototype together. I have been deliberating and thinking and talking about it for so long, always finding excuses like not being able to afford to buy the parts (which is another mind hurdle I’ll leave for another discussion), or that I didn’t have my equipment here to do the work…

Though these may each be valid and hindering me from doing what I must do – budget considering – I want to point out that actually getting down to business, real business and executing… that’s the stuff that feels right and good and is usually just a different angle or viewpoint on the task. I’ve learned that this is the stuff that makes me believe believe in myself, this accomplishment.

Accomplishment. Yes, today I have truly and really taken one step closer to my dreams.

Thinking about this deeper, I think this might be where shoppers get the feeling of accomplishment. Something physical to show for a days work – funny as that may sound to some of us. I think this is also the euphoric bliss one gets after a bout of meditation or yoga. Not only is it a spiritual nurturing, but one comes out feeling like something meaningful and soul building was accomplished.

Whether you find that motivation to accomplish or not is your choice. It takes effort and patience and there are most certainly going to be things that get done and prove to be lessons learned, not successfully completed tasks.

In the end however, the only way I’ve ever found this feeling of satisfaction with myself, with accomplishment, is to actually get out there and do it, to have that moment in time afterwards where I sit and reflect upon what I’ve just done and tell myself: “I’m here, now I know.”

Far Too Easy Doesn’t Get You Far Enough

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It is far too easy to get caught in a tunnel and keep pushing on according to the latest thing we read on best practices: 10 tips of how to get people to (insert marketing goal here).

Far too easy.

It’s far more smarter – and a little bit harder – to develop a strategy that makes sense to you, and your goals.

It’s time to project our thoughts to the long term.

Case Study Time

So we make this newsletter and send it out quarterly, and in 4 years, after we’ve sent out 16 of them, what will that look like and how do we define success? If we assume that each newsletter is carefully crafted for 3 days (24hrs) by our well paid interns at $20/hr, are we finding a return on investment for one newsletter at $480? After 4 years $7680? After the newsletter has been crafted so meticulously and sent out, where does it retire to?

It’s your answer, not mine.

It’s foolish to think that just one is all that’s necessary: just one newsletter will capture their hearts and they’ll be fans forever; if I make just one widget that sells millions, I’ll be set for life!; I’m going to buy just this one last laptop and make sure it’s the best I possibly can buy and it’ll last me a lifetime.

Sure, just 1 may be all that’s necessary about 1% of the time, but in investments, we want to do everything we can to increase that percentage.

Yes, your time is an investment, and so is the time of every person whose employ you are responsible for.

I’ve talked about this before in a personal mission statement. We define what we want life to look like in 10 years, then we define missions to live by for the next 5 years that will drive us in that direction. Then we break down each one of those missions into critical tasks to focus on day in and day out that when adhered to will find us rolling down in the direction we have planned for all along.

This is not the easy way. This is not reading an article on a cool website with Chinese symbols and following a top 10 things to do to make life count list.

This is pounding the pavement, doing the due diligence. This is planning for success.

This is being aware of the habits you’re getting into and asking yourself why?

Why am I doing this?
Why has this been integrated into my life?
Why do I think this is a smart investment?
If I do a case study from my own life, does history prove this logic correct?
Does this align with my goals?

The more you ask yourself this question, the quicker you’ll get at identifying whether it does align or not. Further, it helps to remind us to consciously think about our direction in life, and encourages us to go forth with fury because we are certain it is our quest. With this confidence, it is impossible to hold back.

Perhaps you have a strategy you use to identify the why that works great for you? I’d love to hear in the comments below.

Premium Quality Anything Takes Time

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While being inspired on Twitter one fine afternoon, a friend of mine started talking about how premium quality anything takes time to develop and build. We dove into a discussion about this, and how relevant it is today with the rapidity of growth, economies of scale, and the power of the exponent.

I asked her if she wanted to write something for the site, and she obliged.

It’s comforting to remember that premium quality anything takes time.

By Anna O’Reilly, 21^st Feb 2014

My friend Ned picked up on a thought bubble I wrote for my twitter account, and asked me to expand on the concept within the context of strategies for success.

While considering how to convey the idea in terms of success, my mind kept going back to something I read from an obscure Buddhist text in my early 20s. The words I recall were something like the following: If you wish to become a master, you must begin by learning to sweep a floor.

The notes to the text went on to explain that sweeping a floor properly, along every edge and corner, requires that the sweeper pay attention to detail. The individual who aspires to mastery of the mysteries must first become a master of the mundane. Furthermore, a master must never forget to remain humble. Beginning the journey with a menial task is an excellent leveller to yoke the wily ego. It’s the ego in the end that spoils quality.

The ability to create premium quality actions or articles in any medium requires that the mind of the creator is refined. Quality thinking demands attention to detail, method, logic and discipline without which, abstractions of the imagination become meaningless. There is a correlation here to the link between the concepts of limitation and freedom.

And so, the experience accumulated between learning to sweep a floor with thoroughness and discipline, and the creation of a premium quality work of art, craftsmanship, literature or theory, takes a lot of time.

Getting back to my original statement, it is comforting to recognise that quality anything takes time. In general, the human world around us is demanding and fast. Much of what is produced and promoted is neither premium quality nor considered beyond the value of immediate profits or benefit. In short, many products are shabby and thoughts are half-baked at best.

Those with a taste for quality resonate to a different frequency, dance to a different beat. We expect high quality thoughts and action from our relationships, our work, our governments and ourselves. It’s about context and taste. It’s about noticing the dirt in the corners of the floor and the dust along the skirting. Don’t worry if your project is taking time, it’s supposed to take time to get the best.

Reflection and Mapping

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Today is a day for reflection. Today I review my personal goals. I found an old Mission Statement and wrote: “stay sober (except in private)” which I find quite funny. It was under the section titled Keep Healthy. Not to worry, I don’t think I have a problem.

It’s so very interesting to identify how my direction and path have changed. For example, a big chunk of these has always been graduate from university: check.

Now what?

Find what I can learn from people (Why I love them)

To quote from my success factors from early 2009: “I will keep on trying hard, every single day. No matter what it takes, I will not give up. There will be times when I will feel overwhelmed with the tasks at hand, but I will always know that my best is the best I can do, and that I will always put forth my best effort so I will always be doing my best, which is all anybody can expect from me.”

Talking this over with a friend today, the idea of Desire Mapping came up, a slogan Danielle LaPorte uses for motivation. The concept is kind of self explanatory, but so diverse in execution.

How do you map out your desires, or do you just wing it?

Personal Mission Statement

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Creating a personal mission statement is probably the most effective long term focus machine you can build for yourself that directs you towards success and growth. It allows for you to stay focused, and remind yourself periodically (when you’re most in need) on what you want to stay focused on.

So, to start I brainstorm what it is that I want to accomplish, what are my goals. Take a moment to read about how to set effective goals, but this process of writing the mission statement will also focus your goals allowing you to then find more ‘WOW’ goals. This is critical to keeping yourself motivated and directed towards them.

After you have written down your goals, break them down into sub goals, either point form or get right to sentences about how you’re going to achieve these goals. Think about what specific activities you have to focus on in order to achieve them, like lift weights for 20 minutes a day, read a book for 30 min before bed every night, etc. This way you have a specific goal that doesn’t leave much up for interpretation.

I also like to keep my mission statement tidy. I organize it like a formal report, with a table of contents, and headings, even including a title page, although the content is very personal and not necessarily formal. I like to keep it in a way that it will not be boring for me to read. I will even insert some funny jokes or slang so next time I read it I will be in a good mood.

I find that referring to this personal mission statement on a at least quarterly basis is extremely beneficial for myself. It helps remind me of what I’m focused on, and it also helps me to see what I was aimed at then, and how it has changed now. I am never afraid of editing the document. I may see spelling or grammar, but I will also see things that have changed, and I alter them in the mission statement.

I keep remembering a quote from Gandhi, where he says: “If there is an instance where I have been strongly for a certain topic, and later I learn that the knowledge that I was basing my stance on wasn’t in fact true, or has become more learned, then I will be the first to admit I was wrong, and immediately change my position on the subject.” This is just common sense to me!

Do you have another way that you use to help you stay focused on your goals? I’d love to hear about them.

Exercising the Mind

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The mind, in all matters concerning it, must be exercised in order to keep it healthy and growing strong. It is as a muscle, requiring constant and consistent activity to stay healthy. Sports players, cards players, computer programmers, engineers, and on and on all continually and relentlessly practice their profession; going over and over selected scenarios, developing new ideas, or reaching new depths of creativity are all ways to exercise the mind.

Starting at birth, new parents are encouraged to challenge their child with new responsibilities, play memory exercising games, or teach them multiple languages. This makes headway into the starting of the child’s academic career, where it is quite obvious it is demanded that they do indeed use their brain for scholarly purposes: calculating formulas, creative writing, memorizing biological systems, etc.

It is easy to sit back and let the exercising be demanded of a person and let it grow in a passive pushing mode, but the real character comes when graduation is upon the student.

At this conjuncture in life, the student is now free from all prescribed and demanded learning. This is where personal motivation comes into the equation. The new graduate is only looking for fun adventures and to explore the limits of their newly found freedom; which by all means is necessary in the growth of the person, but there is a certain tipping point, or balancing that needs to be acquired. After all, balance is the key to life.

The exciting part is now that the graduate is indeed graduated, it is upon them to decide which path they wish to explore.

No longer is the learning prescribed, but rather opened up for interpretation where the mind is the school master cracking the whip, and the conscience is the poor school boy waiting eagerly with big wide eyes for what is to come next; open to be influenced.

Activities like reading and writing are great ways to keep the thought process active and firing on all cylinders, which incidentally can also be used to keep the mind focused (this is a good thing). You’ve heard it before, and you’ll hear it again; in this day and age of the internet and instant communication, it’s hard for people to stay focused on one topic for any length of time.

Writing down ideas can help keep the thought process aligned straight towards success, in all essence of the word.

The main point, however, is that without activities that keep the mind thinking, keeping all those neurons sparking like luminescence in the midnight waters, the brain will not keep the doors open to creative thought.

Before you know it, you will be a machine working at a dead end job wondering how you got there, feeling sorry for yourself the whole time.

SO! I encourage you, don’t let it happen to you! Exercise your mind!

Do you have any other ideas or games that will help keep the mind active?