We have all at one point in our lives received bad service, if you say that you have never received bad service then you are either an infant with an all giving mother, or you have locked yourself in a room and again you have an all giving mother to bring you food and drink.
I was reading an article on news24 where they mentioned bad service, which got me thinking. Why does bad service exist? After some thought a few reasons came to mind. Firstly we have to look at who is serving us, for example when you go to KFC or steers you are not expecting the royal treatment, all you want is your meal and you want it fast.
You don’t want your chips to be forgotten so that as soon as you arrive at your house and sit down to eat jour meal you realise that there aren’t any, and it would take you an extra 30minutes to go back and argue what you paid for.
However the truth is you are served by people who don’t want to be there and really don’t give a dam that you’re starving because they earn so little it actually isn’t a priority to them.
How long have you spent waiting in bank queues? Now I don’t know about you but I work 5 days a week and some weekends. When I go to the bank it is generally on a Saturday, does anyone else find it odd that they are only open till eleven on their busiest day? And only open till four every other day of the week, when you work until 5 what is that about. Technically a bank should be offering you a service not trying purposefully to inconvenience you and charging you for it. So you take your precious day of your weekend and spend half of it waiting in a queue because they can’t have the foresight to plan ahead.
I was at the Vodaworld the other day, the flagship store for Vodacom trying to enquire about a 3g card. Wait for it another line. I waited a half hour to be told I was in the wrong line. No wonder they need a golf course there while you wait, because you’ll finish 18 holes before you get any service.
How often do you go to a restaurant and find your waiter just doesn’t know what he/she are doing, he forgets your drink order and then forgets to take the mushrooms off your pizza for example. Or you spend 30 minutes just waiting for a glass of water, because that doesn’t contribute to your waiters tip.
These are just a few examples. My question is have we just come to expect crap service from everywhere, and what are we doing to stop it?
When last did you send you food back because it was cold or it wasn’t what you ordered, the fact is as long as you don’t the cycle will continue. If you wait longer than a half hour in a bank, report it on hello Peter and join a new bank that has better facilities and they are out there. If your chips were forgotten, don’t just leave it, you paid for them demand another meal and fill out one of the service cards. Start remembering the names of people who serve you. There are thousands of people unemployed in this country why not let someone who is good at the job do it.
I know this is really an entire blog of moaning but quite frankly I’m fed up with having my time and money wasted on a daily bases. If the people aren’t interested because they need more pay, maybe the institution employing them needs to think about that. If they need more training maybe they need to think about that too. Maybe they need better processes or maybe they need to think about that. But they are never going to know unless people say something.
If you are in a restaurant and you don’t get the food you want and you think if you complain they will bring you back food that has been spat on simply get up and leave the restaurant. I did that the other night not quite the same but I was at Cabana and I asked for a glass of water as I am on a diet, Lionel who was with me ordered one to. They asked us if we wanted sparkling or still, we said tap. Call me whatever you like but I refused to pay for water in a country where free water is healthy. They said they only served sparkling or still and refused to give us tap water. We opted to leave and I found a great restaurant up stairs that had fantastic meals and offered tap water, Cabana lost out on a R600 tab and I found a restaurant I will continue to go to in the future.
Why just accept things the way they are when we have a choice? This is not about saving R7 on water, it’s about not doing something you don’t want to, if Vodacom is going to take all day to serve you, go with MTN, and if you can’t get a Telkom phone go with Neotel. If the supermarket is full and only five tills are open go to another supermarket in future. Stop accepting and then complaining about how you had to wait for ages. Which I know is ironic because it is pretty much what I am doing now, but maybe we can all learn from my mistakes.
Please comment below and please add suggestions as to what you would like me to write about next. Or a question you would like answered. And don’t hesitate to click the follow this blog button.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
do atheists exist?
I asked a friend of mine if he had any suggestions for a new blog post for me. “He said why don’t you write about; why the sky is blue, or perhaps do atheists exist?” If you want to find out why the sky is blue you can go to http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html, but I decided I would write about the second question. Do atheists really exist?
Now I thought about this for a bit, because obviously there are people who call themselves atheists and therefore they must exist?
But in order to answer the question properly we have to look at counter arguments and define atheism. Let’s start with the definition.
“Atheism can be either the rejection of theism,[1] or the position that deities do not exist.[2] In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities.[3].
The term atheism originated from the Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without gods"”
So this clearly shows that the word indicates that an atheist is a person who does not believe in “gods”.
Is it as simple as that there are no gods and therefore I am an atheist? Or is there more to it?
Some people choose to argue that there is no such thing as an atheist and people who call themselves atheists don’t understand what they are saying.
It took me a while to think about this post because as a Christian I had to separate myself from my own beliefs in order to make a valid argument, unfortunately, I fear I have not done that, but you can be the judge and ridicule me afterwards.
Now taking away the idea of one specific religion, it could be said that if someone worshiped something that something must be a god to that person, for example the sun to the Incas or the ancestors to some African cultures and altars made of gold or possibly the cow in the Indian culture. (I don’t know enough about African cultures to include them all).
Can we agree on the idea that if something is worshiped it is perceived as a god. We all know the sun for example is not a god, however if it went out one day we may start praying for it. But for the point of this argument let us agree that this is the case.
Now if it is the case that if something is worshipped, it could be perceived as a god then it makes it very difficult to decide does atheism really exists. As we all worship something. Are you saying to yourself I don’t worship anything . But the reality is worship can take many forms. It doesn’t have to be bowing on your knees or clapping hands in a church. Worship is simply doing a task with the idea of praising something or someone or for the purpose of achieving a goal that will show appreciation to the person or thing.
Most Christians will try and display a certain type of lovingness and live a righteous life in order to praise God. This is the case in most religions. As this is the case it could be said that your smallest actions can be praising or worshiping something. Are you starting to see where I am going with this? What have you been worshiping lately?
Do you have a “god” that you worship in your life, everyone has something. For most people, here are a few of the more regularly worshipped gods: Sex, or the opposite sex. How much time do you spend trying to get the opposite sex to like you and want to sleep with you? Money, how much time do you “spend” thinking about money, talking about money or trying to make money? Food, is food your god, are you feeling the pounds pack on you while spending your day waiting for your next meal? There are many more but I think my point has been made.
Now we have to ask the question how can you be an atheist if you are constantly worshiping the ‘gods’ stated above. If you follow a specific religion, are you falling into the same traps? Most Christian’s I know have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ .I definitely have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ on many occasion.
My point is we all put our faith in something, whether it be God or something material. People put their faith in the things they worship.
Everyone has to put faith into something because we aren't omniscient. We only have a finite amount of senses and ability to process things and think about them. What you choose to focus your attention on is your choice but a least be aware that you have a choice and that does not mean you don’t follow a god it just means you don’t believe in a formal religion.
There are more arguments stating that atheism does not exist this is one of them. http://www.mwillett.org/atheism/do_atheists_exist.htm
I choose not to copy paste this as it is not my writing but also has no bearing on my own personal belief however here you go.
As for the rest well you decide.
I will ask all the readers of this blog to please post a comment, I am looking for fresh ideas to write about whether it is long lines in a bank or the tooth fairy, but I would like my readers to decide. Also if you have views on the subject yourself don’t hesitate and please feel free to click the follow this blog button.
Now I thought about this for a bit, because obviously there are people who call themselves atheists and therefore they must exist?
But in order to answer the question properly we have to look at counter arguments and define atheism. Let’s start with the definition.
“Atheism can be either the rejection of theism,[1] or the position that deities do not exist.[2] In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities.[3].
The term atheism originated from the Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without gods"”
So this clearly shows that the word indicates that an atheist is a person who does not believe in “gods”.
Is it as simple as that there are no gods and therefore I am an atheist? Or is there more to it?
Some people choose to argue that there is no such thing as an atheist and people who call themselves atheists don’t understand what they are saying.
It took me a while to think about this post because as a Christian I had to separate myself from my own beliefs in order to make a valid argument, unfortunately, I fear I have not done that, but you can be the judge and ridicule me afterwards.
Now taking away the idea of one specific religion, it could be said that if someone worshiped something that something must be a god to that person, for example the sun to the Incas or the ancestors to some African cultures and altars made of gold or possibly the cow in the Indian culture. (I don’t know enough about African cultures to include them all).
Can we agree on the idea that if something is worshiped it is perceived as a god. We all know the sun for example is not a god, however if it went out one day we may start praying for it. But for the point of this argument let us agree that this is the case.
Now if it is the case that if something is worshipped, it could be perceived as a god then it makes it very difficult to decide does atheism really exists. As we all worship something. Are you saying to yourself I don’t worship anything . But the reality is worship can take many forms. It doesn’t have to be bowing on your knees or clapping hands in a church. Worship is simply doing a task with the idea of praising something or someone or for the purpose of achieving a goal that will show appreciation to the person or thing.
Most Christians will try and display a certain type of lovingness and live a righteous life in order to praise God. This is the case in most religions. As this is the case it could be said that your smallest actions can be praising or worshiping something. Are you starting to see where I am going with this? What have you been worshiping lately?
Do you have a “god” that you worship in your life, everyone has something. For most people, here are a few of the more regularly worshipped gods: Sex, or the opposite sex. How much time do you spend trying to get the opposite sex to like you and want to sleep with you? Money, how much time do you “spend” thinking about money, talking about money or trying to make money? Food, is food your god, are you feeling the pounds pack on you while spending your day waiting for your next meal? There are many more but I think my point has been made.
Now we have to ask the question how can you be an atheist if you are constantly worshiping the ‘gods’ stated above. If you follow a specific religion, are you falling into the same traps? Most Christian’s I know have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ .I definitely have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ on many occasion.
My point is we all put our faith in something, whether it be God or something material. People put their faith in the things they worship.
Everyone has to put faith into something because we aren't omniscient. We only have a finite amount of senses and ability to process things and think about them. What you choose to focus your attention on is your choice but a least be aware that you have a choice and that does not mean you don’t follow a god it just means you don’t believe in a formal religion.
There are more arguments stating that atheism does not exist this is one of them. http://www.mwillett.org/atheism/do_atheists_exist.htm
I choose not to copy paste this as it is not my writing but also has no bearing on my own personal belief however here you go.
As for the rest well you decide.
I will ask all the readers of this blog to please post a comment, I am looking for fresh ideas to write about whether it is long lines in a bank or the tooth fairy, but I would like my readers to decide. Also if you have views on the subject yourself don’t hesitate and please feel free to click the follow this blog button.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Planning for the worst and expecting the best.
Burgers and hotdogs
The other day my boss came up to me and said he was looking for someone who would be willing to sell burgers and hotdogs at an event he was involved in called trials. As soon as I heard there would only be one vender I quickly jumped at the opportunity to make some extra cash. I thought what a breeze this is going to be, stand around sell some burgers and make a whole heap of cash. Sweet!
Well the process began, not only did it involve drawing up list after list to ensure I had everything I needed, as the area was remote and there would be no facilities at all including water. The cost of the operation soon rose and rose. I thought sweet I have all the supplies and as long as I sell out which shouldn’t be a problem as I am the only food seller there I will make a profit.
I had estimated numbers of how many people were going to be there because my boss was able to tell me how many riders there were. I took the amount of riders and added a few spectators and came up with a number of about 120 people. So I stocked about 120 peoples worth of food and drinks.
Then came spread sheet number three, amount/ cost, profit to be made/ potential loss. Now I knew going into this that I had a lot to lose. I was putting up all the money for supplies; I had to pay someone to be there to assist me. But what I didn’t take into account was the little things the things that were not on my list.
I had to buy things like sauce bottles and plastic bags for serving. Then came the cost of getting there, because we were transporting so much we had to take to vehicles, which cost about R200 which was fine, but this all put a huge dependency on selling out.
Well the day came, we all got up at about 04:45 to get dressed and packed, and we arrived after an hour drive at about 07:30 at the venue to set up. Because we were new at the whole thing we didn’t have massive attractive signs to let people know we were there so I walked around from person to person letting them know we were selling food(which helped sales a lot by the way). Only to find out that most had just had a big breakfast at the hotel they were staying in. What I also realised that I had way over catered, opposed to my calculation of about 120 people there were about 70 if that, most of which had brought their own food and drinks due to the fact that no one had ever supplied there before.
By lunch time I was getting stressed we had only sold half of our burgers and almost no hotdogs and cold drinks, cold drinks by the way were my biggest expense and smallest profit margin. These sales I must also mention were mostly due to the fact that I physically walked around and offered people items, and brought it to them. I needed to make sales happen and fast.
Fortunately at three people stated to buy more of our burgers which we managed to sell out on, however we only sole about 12 of the 72 hot dogs I had catered for cost R180. We waited and hoped, the day got longer and longer, eventually I decided to cut my losses, at 17:35 we started to pack up and head home after packing up driving back we got home at about 19:30, with R1000 and a ton cold drinks and hot dog rolls to show for it. Fortunately I managed to sell some of the cold drinks and rolls and left over sausages which earned me R1300 and then just gave away some perishables to my girlfriend’s mom as it would just go off in my fridge.
All in all I lost about R1000 rand, which is better the two I guess. I had the monopoly and I managed to lose money...
Looking back. There are a few things I could have done to prevent this from happening.
1. Is be more pedantic about my costs and potential gains
2. Is to use actual instead of estimates.
3. Analyse potential risk versus gains
4. Put more effort into cost saving.
All in all a very long day with no reward
I have learned a lot though and what I have taken away from this experience is you will never know until you try but expect the best and be prepared for the worst. In my case I should have bought less and guaranteed a sell out that way at least I would have known how much to expect at the end of the day. I do not regret this decision however as I took plenty away from it, When I one day open a business which involves a lot more infrastructure I will remember this incident and ensure I am prepared.
Let me know what you thought of this blog if you are enjoying the new additions, please feel free to make a comment below or become a follower.
The other day my boss came up to me and said he was looking for someone who would be willing to sell burgers and hotdogs at an event he was involved in called trials. As soon as I heard there would only be one vender I quickly jumped at the opportunity to make some extra cash. I thought what a breeze this is going to be, stand around sell some burgers and make a whole heap of cash. Sweet!
Well the process began, not only did it involve drawing up list after list to ensure I had everything I needed, as the area was remote and there would be no facilities at all including water. The cost of the operation soon rose and rose. I thought sweet I have all the supplies and as long as I sell out which shouldn’t be a problem as I am the only food seller there I will make a profit.
I had estimated numbers of how many people were going to be there because my boss was able to tell me how many riders there were. I took the amount of riders and added a few spectators and came up with a number of about 120 people. So I stocked about 120 peoples worth of food and drinks.
Then came spread sheet number three, amount/ cost, profit to be made/ potential loss. Now I knew going into this that I had a lot to lose. I was putting up all the money for supplies; I had to pay someone to be there to assist me. But what I didn’t take into account was the little things the things that were not on my list.
I had to buy things like sauce bottles and plastic bags for serving. Then came the cost of getting there, because we were transporting so much we had to take to vehicles, which cost about R200 which was fine, but this all put a huge dependency on selling out.
Well the day came, we all got up at about 04:45 to get dressed and packed, and we arrived after an hour drive at about 07:30 at the venue to set up. Because we were new at the whole thing we didn’t have massive attractive signs to let people know we were there so I walked around from person to person letting them know we were selling food(which helped sales a lot by the way). Only to find out that most had just had a big breakfast at the hotel they were staying in. What I also realised that I had way over catered, opposed to my calculation of about 120 people there were about 70 if that, most of which had brought their own food and drinks due to the fact that no one had ever supplied there before.
By lunch time I was getting stressed we had only sold half of our burgers and almost no hotdogs and cold drinks, cold drinks by the way were my biggest expense and smallest profit margin. These sales I must also mention were mostly due to the fact that I physically walked around and offered people items, and brought it to them. I needed to make sales happen and fast.
Fortunately at three people stated to buy more of our burgers which we managed to sell out on, however we only sole about 12 of the 72 hot dogs I had catered for cost R180. We waited and hoped, the day got longer and longer, eventually I decided to cut my losses, at 17:35 we started to pack up and head home after packing up driving back we got home at about 19:30, with R1000 and a ton cold drinks and hot dog rolls to show for it. Fortunately I managed to sell some of the cold drinks and rolls and left over sausages which earned me R1300 and then just gave away some perishables to my girlfriend’s mom as it would just go off in my fridge.
All in all I lost about R1000 rand, which is better the two I guess. I had the monopoly and I managed to lose money...
Looking back. There are a few things I could have done to prevent this from happening.
1. Is be more pedantic about my costs and potential gains
2. Is to use actual instead of estimates.
3. Analyse potential risk versus gains
4. Put more effort into cost saving.
All in all a very long day with no reward
I have learned a lot though and what I have taken away from this experience is you will never know until you try but expect the best and be prepared for the worst. In my case I should have bought less and guaranteed a sell out that way at least I would have known how much to expect at the end of the day. I do not regret this decision however as I took plenty away from it, When I one day open a business which involves a lot more infrastructure I will remember this incident and ensure I am prepared.
Let me know what you thought of this blog if you are enjoying the new additions, please feel free to make a comment below or become a follower.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Making Assumptions
The Pope was visiting America the other day and when he arrived a huge stretch limo was waiting to pick him up. As the driver let’s call him Gareth opened the door the Pope requested that he drove. Of course Gareth declined and said “I can’t let you drive what if something was to happen to you?” The Pope then went on to plead to Gareth the driver, saying that they never let him drive at the Vatican and he missed it terribly. Eventually after going back and forth for some time Gareth gave in and said the Pope could drive, so he got in the back and the Pope got behind the wheel. As they pulled off Gareth immediately regretted his decision as the Pope reached 180km’s an hour on the motor way. A speed cop saw the limo speeding past and requested they pull over.
When the limo had pulled over the officer walked up to the window to find the Pope in the driver’s seat. The officer immediately turned around and got on the radio with his Section Chief. Chief he said I have just pulled over a limo for doing a 180km’s per hour but I don’t know what to do. Book them replied the chief, no you don’t understand said the officer it’s someone really important. Who the Mayor? Replied the chief; no bigger than the mayor said the officer. The Governor guessed the chief again, no much bigger than that. Well who then? Said the chief. I think its God said the officer, God said the Chief don’t be silly. Seriously Sir I think its God, I think so because he has the Pope as his driver.
What assumptions have you made lately?
People often say to assume makes an ass out of you and me; “ass – u – me” which I always thought was an annoying statement because quite frankly in life we have to make assumptions at times. For instance right now we are going through a recession, we have to assume things will get better and go back to being normal again. We have to assume this because there is no evidence to suggest that it will go either way but being positive will ensure that we remain sane and instead of panicking we continue with our lives which in turn drives the economy and things stabilize, well that’s what we hope anyway.
But is it wise to assume something? Would it not be better if we were prepared? People often do things on a whim or an assumption (the big picture) without any planning necessary. In such a case you have a 20/80 chance things will work out the way you planned because you have not taking into account external factors. The officer in the story jumped to a conclusion, obviously he was wrong in his assumption, which begs the question, how difficult would it have been to simply ask who the passenger was?
By simply asking questions we can take the guess work out of the equation. This is something I’ve noticed throughout my life in various circumstances. Relationships are a prime example. How often do we tip toe around and plot in a relationship trying guess what our partner or potential partner is feeling or thinking, why can’t we just ask? If he or she does not feel the same you saved yourself a whole heap of time and trouble.
In business we elevate all the guess work by putting together adequate well thought out business plans, top professionals will tell you it took them years before they put their plans into action, especially if there is finance that is required.
Another very popular saying is;” you ask no questions you hear no lies.” My philosophy is you ask no questions you hear no truths, I remember in high school when teachers would ask if anyone had any questions and no one would put up their hands, then after the teacher was finished they would ask their friends to explain what had been said only to have their friends tell them they didn’t know either because they were too embarrassed to put their hand up as well.
I’ll end with this. A person who asks a question is a fool for thirty seconds and person who does not ask a question is a fool for the rest of their life.
Let me know what you think of this post by adding a comment and if you are enjoying these weekly posts please feel free to join this blog.
When the limo had pulled over the officer walked up to the window to find the Pope in the driver’s seat. The officer immediately turned around and got on the radio with his Section Chief. Chief he said I have just pulled over a limo for doing a 180km’s per hour but I don’t know what to do. Book them replied the chief, no you don’t understand said the officer it’s someone really important. Who the Mayor? Replied the chief; no bigger than the mayor said the officer. The Governor guessed the chief again, no much bigger than that. Well who then? Said the chief. I think its God said the officer, God said the Chief don’t be silly. Seriously Sir I think its God, I think so because he has the Pope as his driver.
What assumptions have you made lately?
People often say to assume makes an ass out of you and me; “ass – u – me” which I always thought was an annoying statement because quite frankly in life we have to make assumptions at times. For instance right now we are going through a recession, we have to assume things will get better and go back to being normal again. We have to assume this because there is no evidence to suggest that it will go either way but being positive will ensure that we remain sane and instead of panicking we continue with our lives which in turn drives the economy and things stabilize, well that’s what we hope anyway.
But is it wise to assume something? Would it not be better if we were prepared? People often do things on a whim or an assumption (the big picture) without any planning necessary. In such a case you have a 20/80 chance things will work out the way you planned because you have not taking into account external factors. The officer in the story jumped to a conclusion, obviously he was wrong in his assumption, which begs the question, how difficult would it have been to simply ask who the passenger was?
By simply asking questions we can take the guess work out of the equation. This is something I’ve noticed throughout my life in various circumstances. Relationships are a prime example. How often do we tip toe around and plot in a relationship trying guess what our partner or potential partner is feeling or thinking, why can’t we just ask? If he or she does not feel the same you saved yourself a whole heap of time and trouble.
In business we elevate all the guess work by putting together adequate well thought out business plans, top professionals will tell you it took them years before they put their plans into action, especially if there is finance that is required.
Another very popular saying is;” you ask no questions you hear no lies.” My philosophy is you ask no questions you hear no truths, I remember in high school when teachers would ask if anyone had any questions and no one would put up their hands, then after the teacher was finished they would ask their friends to explain what had been said only to have their friends tell them they didn’t know either because they were too embarrassed to put their hand up as well.
I’ll end with this. A person who asks a question is a fool for thirty seconds and person who does not ask a question is a fool for the rest of their life.
Let me know what you think of this post by adding a comment and if you are enjoying these weekly posts please feel free to join this blog.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
I wise person once said
How wise are you?
I was listening to a speaker the other day talking about the difference between being wise and being smart. Firstly it must be noted that being educated does not mean that you are wise.
Being smart allows you a freedom of knowing the best course of action through a specific situation. Being wise is the understanding of the fact that you do not know everything and that there are people who are smarter and wiser then yourself. Knowing this, allows you to put pride aside and ask questions and receive guidance.
Recently the Idea of mentors has become very popular, although this idea has been implanted by very successful professionals for years. Some of the smartest most successful people I know have mentors, someone to guide your ideas and set you on the right path.
Being wise allows you to understand that no matter how much you know you can still learn something from someone else.
Will smith said something at the Nickelodeon kids choice awards about three years ago which caught my attention. He said “you are like your friends, if your friends are a bunch of thugs you are a thug.”
This is relevant because it important to note that you should model yourself after someone wise. It would be foolish to model yourself after someone who does not understand that they don’t know everything.
When we are growing up a lot of us want to be just like our mom or our dad because to us they are the wisest people we know. We understand that they know far more than us and we seek advice. People often note how fast children learn, although this has no scientific justification, but could the reason for this not be because as we become older we start to believe we already know everything and choose to stop learning.
When I heard this speaker talk about how we need to accept our faults and seek the advice of others it hit a nerve. I am very proud at times and tend to ignore the advice of others because I often feel I know more than them. This speaker made me realise how foolish I had been. When I arrived in Joburg I understood that the only way I was going to survive was if I stole as much information from the people around me as possible and used it to work for me. I modelled myself after the members of my staff who achieved the most, I used the procedure implanted by my company because it has been tried and tested, and subsequently I am now the top money earner in my department.
The foolish man believes he knows everything, the wise man learns from those around him. “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” William Shakespeare
Surround yourself by people smarter and wiser then yourself and you will become wise.
Let me know your thoughts about this blog and feel free to become a follower.
I was listening to a speaker the other day talking about the difference between being wise and being smart. Firstly it must be noted that being educated does not mean that you are wise.
Being smart allows you a freedom of knowing the best course of action through a specific situation. Being wise is the understanding of the fact that you do not know everything and that there are people who are smarter and wiser then yourself. Knowing this, allows you to put pride aside and ask questions and receive guidance.
Recently the Idea of mentors has become very popular, although this idea has been implanted by very successful professionals for years. Some of the smartest most successful people I know have mentors, someone to guide your ideas and set you on the right path.
Being wise allows you to understand that no matter how much you know you can still learn something from someone else.
Will smith said something at the Nickelodeon kids choice awards about three years ago which caught my attention. He said “you are like your friends, if your friends are a bunch of thugs you are a thug.”
This is relevant because it important to note that you should model yourself after someone wise. It would be foolish to model yourself after someone who does not understand that they don’t know everything.
When we are growing up a lot of us want to be just like our mom or our dad because to us they are the wisest people we know. We understand that they know far more than us and we seek advice. People often note how fast children learn, although this has no scientific justification, but could the reason for this not be because as we become older we start to believe we already know everything and choose to stop learning.
When I heard this speaker talk about how we need to accept our faults and seek the advice of others it hit a nerve. I am very proud at times and tend to ignore the advice of others because I often feel I know more than them. This speaker made me realise how foolish I had been. When I arrived in Joburg I understood that the only way I was going to survive was if I stole as much information from the people around me as possible and used it to work for me. I modelled myself after the members of my staff who achieved the most, I used the procedure implanted by my company because it has been tried and tested, and subsequently I am now the top money earner in my department.
The foolish man believes he knows everything, the wise man learns from those around him. “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” William Shakespeare
Surround yourself by people smarter and wiser then yourself and you will become wise.
Let me know your thoughts about this blog and feel free to become a follower.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
how much value do you bring?
How valuable are you?
I used to be the laziest person I knew, at one stage in my life I think I slept about 14 hours a day and not the other way around. Fortunately I had a friend who knew someone who offered me a job.
The job wasn’t the most complex. Admittedly I couldn’t do it for a long period of time but it taught me a lot about deadlines and commitment. Being young I didn’t have family commitments, so I didn’t have to worry about rushing home to see the kids therefore I had no problem with working long hours and public holidays, the job had to be done after all.
When I moved to Reebok a lot of my laziness had been beaten out of me, not at first, when I started I still didn’t truly understand why work was called work and not fun. My time at Reebok was a serious learning curve. I was on a commission structure and therefore if I didn’t work, this meant, I didn’t receive any money for the month. I felt like giving up so many times, thinking this just wasn’t for me. What taught me was that things don’t happen overnight, you have to work for them.
My time in my first job taught me just how much you could get done in a day if you put your mind to it and my time at Reebok taught me that if you push eventually you make things happen.
Then I moved to the big city, Getting up at six in the morning and leaving work at 7 some nights isn’t fun, but I’ve realised that times are hard and although I have a job my salary is still based on my performance so long hard hours have become a part of my life. Admittedly I never really gave too much thought to this because it’s just my ingrained in my personality to work hard if it means I will earn more, let’s face facts I like nice things.
So I work hard, now to get to my point I need to give you some background, I am in recruitment and we are heading into a recession, if people aren’t being employed my company isn’t earning money. So my company like many others have been going through a bit of a hard time and they are looking to stream line. If you are not a contributing party these days you are not going to stick around, the days of doing the bare minimal are gone.
My bosses had a meeting with us the other day where they put our last six months earnings up on a screen and where the figures show I was the top earner over the last six months, now I’ve only been in this position for the nine months so to be achieving the way I am is very unusual, but I put it down to gritting my teeth and working till I sweat. Looking at our figures I was safe to say the poo hit the fan I would probably “fingers crossed” still have a job.
Have you asked yourself recently if you are bringing value to your company? Or are you just coasting by getting your pay check every month but not really contributing?
Just some thoughts let me know what you think and please feel free to join this blog.
I used to be the laziest person I knew, at one stage in my life I think I slept about 14 hours a day and not the other way around. Fortunately I had a friend who knew someone who offered me a job.
The job wasn’t the most complex. Admittedly I couldn’t do it for a long period of time but it taught me a lot about deadlines and commitment. Being young I didn’t have family commitments, so I didn’t have to worry about rushing home to see the kids therefore I had no problem with working long hours and public holidays, the job had to be done after all.
When I moved to Reebok a lot of my laziness had been beaten out of me, not at first, when I started I still didn’t truly understand why work was called work and not fun. My time at Reebok was a serious learning curve. I was on a commission structure and therefore if I didn’t work, this meant, I didn’t receive any money for the month. I felt like giving up so many times, thinking this just wasn’t for me. What taught me was that things don’t happen overnight, you have to work for them.
My time in my first job taught me just how much you could get done in a day if you put your mind to it and my time at Reebok taught me that if you push eventually you make things happen.
Then I moved to the big city, Getting up at six in the morning and leaving work at 7 some nights isn’t fun, but I’ve realised that times are hard and although I have a job my salary is still based on my performance so long hard hours have become a part of my life. Admittedly I never really gave too much thought to this because it’s just my ingrained in my personality to work hard if it means I will earn more, let’s face facts I like nice things.
So I work hard, now to get to my point I need to give you some background, I am in recruitment and we are heading into a recession, if people aren’t being employed my company isn’t earning money. So my company like many others have been going through a bit of a hard time and they are looking to stream line. If you are not a contributing party these days you are not going to stick around, the days of doing the bare minimal are gone.
My bosses had a meeting with us the other day where they put our last six months earnings up on a screen and where the figures show I was the top earner over the last six months, now I’ve only been in this position for the nine months so to be achieving the way I am is very unusual, but I put it down to gritting my teeth and working till I sweat. Looking at our figures I was safe to say the poo hit the fan I would probably “fingers crossed” still have a job.
Have you asked yourself recently if you are bringing value to your company? Or are you just coasting by getting your pay check every month but not really contributing?
Just some thoughts let me know what you think and please feel free to join this blog.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Closing our emotions
I been through many things in my very short life, but I remember my progression. I used to be very open to my emotions, very keen to open up to anyone and very keen to fall in love. Sadly I got older, the more people I met the more closed I became; I started to realise that the more people I met the less I wanted to share. Social interaction taught me that people didn’t like emotions.
I became concerned with how to attract women and being an unattractive guy this wasn’t easy. I read books which taught me tricks. I started to hang out with people who simply got it right. For me it was more about learning “the game” and a huge learning curve.
However, the more I went out and the more girls I met the more closed I became. The first time your heart is broken, you cry tears of hurt and possibly shame. The second time you heart gets broken you get upset, after that you start to think that love is a crock and ultimately end up thinking that love is a load of rubbish.
It’s sad to say that I stopped believing in love for a while; I became cold, cold as ice. I started to understand why certain girls acted the way they did. It became meaningless. The worst part about the whole thing was the more I stopped caring the more successful I became, I have heard and read countless stories of, “players” who use and abuse women. What’s sad is the fact that these people have lost the plot, I can only comment because I was in a similar situation.
We are living in a time where bigger is better, the more the merrier and my personal favourite, go large or go home. How many of us want nice things, flash cars and big houses. These wonderful displays of materialism seem to be applying to our counter parts. How many girls want rich boyfriends with hot bodies and how many boys want hot blond girls with big boobs, and when the model gets old we replace it.
Have we lost track of what is important?
Some people understand the difference between wants and needs, and the line between them. Lately I have been forced to understand the difference, not only in work but also in my emotional well being. I’ve started to look back when I was young and naive and I’m realising that if I had the choice I would go back. Well not back in time but back to that frame of mind, when I was young things were simply black and white, right and wrong with no exception. My needs were simple, I knew what I needed and I worked to achieve them. Love was pure, uncomplicated and there weren’t hidden agendas and mixed messages.
Times are changing around us at an alarming rate, people are taking strain. It’s time we look to what’s important and move away from the rubbish. I’ve had to catch a wake up and look at who are my real friends and who contribute to my life.
My current situation has also forced me to rely on God a lot more for comfort, as well as my support structure. We all need support structures in place. Not only on a financial level, although those would be nice, but we need people who we can share with.
A few of my thoughts...
Let me know what you think of this blog and if you would like me to write about anything , so please feel free to join this blog and or write a comment.
I became concerned with how to attract women and being an unattractive guy this wasn’t easy. I read books which taught me tricks. I started to hang out with people who simply got it right. For me it was more about learning “the game” and a huge learning curve.
However, the more I went out and the more girls I met the more closed I became. The first time your heart is broken, you cry tears of hurt and possibly shame. The second time you heart gets broken you get upset, after that you start to think that love is a crock and ultimately end up thinking that love is a load of rubbish.
It’s sad to say that I stopped believing in love for a while; I became cold, cold as ice. I started to understand why certain girls acted the way they did. It became meaningless. The worst part about the whole thing was the more I stopped caring the more successful I became, I have heard and read countless stories of, “players” who use and abuse women. What’s sad is the fact that these people have lost the plot, I can only comment because I was in a similar situation.
We are living in a time where bigger is better, the more the merrier and my personal favourite, go large or go home. How many of us want nice things, flash cars and big houses. These wonderful displays of materialism seem to be applying to our counter parts. How many girls want rich boyfriends with hot bodies and how many boys want hot blond girls with big boobs, and when the model gets old we replace it.
Have we lost track of what is important?
Some people understand the difference between wants and needs, and the line between them. Lately I have been forced to understand the difference, not only in work but also in my emotional well being. I’ve started to look back when I was young and naive and I’m realising that if I had the choice I would go back. Well not back in time but back to that frame of mind, when I was young things were simply black and white, right and wrong with no exception. My needs were simple, I knew what I needed and I worked to achieve them. Love was pure, uncomplicated and there weren’t hidden agendas and mixed messages.
Times are changing around us at an alarming rate, people are taking strain. It’s time we look to what’s important and move away from the rubbish. I’ve had to catch a wake up and look at who are my real friends and who contribute to my life.
My current situation has also forced me to rely on God a lot more for comfort, as well as my support structure. We all need support structures in place. Not only on a financial level, although those would be nice, but we need people who we can share with.
A few of my thoughts...
Let me know what you think of this blog and if you would like me to write about anything , so please feel free to join this blog and or write a comment.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
I’m getting stressed are you?
I started to feel the effects of stress recently in my life realising I have been getting sick lately, Thus I decided to find out a little more about the subject.
The first thing about stress is that all stress isn’t bad. Some stress is actually very good for you,
let’s face it, we all seem to work a little harder when we are stressed and we often achieve a lot more then we previously believed we could. In other words stress can keep us on our toes.
“The stress response is the body’s way of protecting you. When working properly, it helps you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life – giving you extra strength to defend yourself, for example, or spurring you to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident.”
However I think I’m going to focus on the other kind of stress for this blog. Negativity is starting to spread across our lives, people are losing their jobs and people are taking strain thus I thought it was a relevant subject.
Firstly, what is stress?
According to an article I read; “Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way.” And as we know this could be anything, the fear of losing your job, the fear of breaking up with your partner, the fear of moving to a new town or school or for example being told something unexpected, to name a few.
Stress should not be taken lightly. The effects of stress can cause your body serious harm, for example; It can raise blood pressure, suppress the immune system, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, and speed up the aging process. Long-term stress can even rewire the brain, leaving you more vulnerable to anxiety and depression.
It should be clear to everyone that these symptoms are not minor.
So how much stress is too much stress?
I recently felt as though I was reaching a climax in terms of my stress levels, I was starting to fall ill and I was struggling to sleep. It’s important to take a time out once in a while, separate yourself from the hustle and bustle. It’s important to learn how to recognize when your stress levels are out of control. The most dangerous thing about stress is how easily it can creep up on you. You get used to it and It starts to feel normal. You don’t notice how much it’s affecting you, even as it takes a heavy toll.
Some warning signs include
Memory problems, inability to concentrate, poor judgment, seeing only the negative, anxious or racing thoughts, constant worrying, moodiness, irritability or short temper, agitation, inability to relax, feeling overwhelmed, sense of loneliness and isolation, depression or general unhappiness, Aches and pains, diarrhoea or constipation, nausea, dizziness, chest pain, rapid heartbeat, loss of sex drive, frequent colds.
You may feel like the stress in your life is out of your control, but you can always control the way you respond. Managing stress is all about taking charge: taking charge of your thoughts, your emotions, your schedule, your environment, and the way you deal with problems. Stress management involves changing the stressful situation when you can, changing your reaction when you can’t, taking care of yourself, and making time for rest and relaxation.
Guys think about your life and realise that sometimes we can’t do everything, managing your time better will reduce your stress. For example I used to rush to work every day and feel overwhelmed when I got there. So by the time I have to do my first tasks for the day I was already feeling the pressure. To combat this I have taken the attitude of leaving work a half hour earlier allowing me to relax in the car on my way. Now if I get stuck in a traffic jam I don’t have to stress about being late because I will still be at work on time and if I arrive early I have a jump on the day. An extra half hour to have a cup of tea and relax before getting stuck in.
We need to talk about it, if you are having trouble with something and you feel your life is out of balance or control, go to a friend or a relative and tell them about it. Bottling up, yes it works, it defuses it eventually, a lot of people believe bottling up will cause you to explode they are wrong. Studdies have shown eventually it works however it does take longer and the more you do it the less inclined you are to open up to anybody, which then increases your stress level if you are being stressed out on a regular basis and over a long period of time.
Stop and think about why you are stressed is it necessary, a lot of people get stressed over insignificant things, think to yourself, is my stress justified? If not, then take a deep breath and relax for a moment, this will radically reduce your stress levels.
We all have stress the key is to control it, find a method that works for you and use it. You’re already on your way to living a better longer life.
Well guys here are some thoughts I hope I have helped you get through another day a little happier. If you have any comments they are most welcome and if you would like to be a follower of this blog please feel free to join.
The first thing about stress is that all stress isn’t bad. Some stress is actually very good for you,
let’s face it, we all seem to work a little harder when we are stressed and we often achieve a lot more then we previously believed we could. In other words stress can keep us on our toes.
“The stress response is the body’s way of protecting you. When working properly, it helps you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life – giving you extra strength to defend yourself, for example, or spurring you to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident.”
However I think I’m going to focus on the other kind of stress for this blog. Negativity is starting to spread across our lives, people are losing their jobs and people are taking strain thus I thought it was a relevant subject.
Firstly, what is stress?
According to an article I read; “Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way.” And as we know this could be anything, the fear of losing your job, the fear of breaking up with your partner, the fear of moving to a new town or school or for example being told something unexpected, to name a few.
Stress should not be taken lightly. The effects of stress can cause your body serious harm, for example; It can raise blood pressure, suppress the immune system, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, and speed up the aging process. Long-term stress can even rewire the brain, leaving you more vulnerable to anxiety and depression.
It should be clear to everyone that these symptoms are not minor.
So how much stress is too much stress?
I recently felt as though I was reaching a climax in terms of my stress levels, I was starting to fall ill and I was struggling to sleep. It’s important to take a time out once in a while, separate yourself from the hustle and bustle. It’s important to learn how to recognize when your stress levels are out of control. The most dangerous thing about stress is how easily it can creep up on you. You get used to it and It starts to feel normal. You don’t notice how much it’s affecting you, even as it takes a heavy toll.
Some warning signs include
Memory problems, inability to concentrate, poor judgment, seeing only the negative, anxious or racing thoughts, constant worrying, moodiness, irritability or short temper, agitation, inability to relax, feeling overwhelmed, sense of loneliness and isolation, depression or general unhappiness, Aches and pains, diarrhoea or constipation, nausea, dizziness, chest pain, rapid heartbeat, loss of sex drive, frequent colds.
You may feel like the stress in your life is out of your control, but you can always control the way you respond. Managing stress is all about taking charge: taking charge of your thoughts, your emotions, your schedule, your environment, and the way you deal with problems. Stress management involves changing the stressful situation when you can, changing your reaction when you can’t, taking care of yourself, and making time for rest and relaxation.
Guys think about your life and realise that sometimes we can’t do everything, managing your time better will reduce your stress. For example I used to rush to work every day and feel overwhelmed when I got there. So by the time I have to do my first tasks for the day I was already feeling the pressure. To combat this I have taken the attitude of leaving work a half hour earlier allowing me to relax in the car on my way. Now if I get stuck in a traffic jam I don’t have to stress about being late because I will still be at work on time and if I arrive early I have a jump on the day. An extra half hour to have a cup of tea and relax before getting stuck in.
We need to talk about it, if you are having trouble with something and you feel your life is out of balance or control, go to a friend or a relative and tell them about it. Bottling up, yes it works, it defuses it eventually, a lot of people believe bottling up will cause you to explode they are wrong. Studdies have shown eventually it works however it does take longer and the more you do it the less inclined you are to open up to anybody, which then increases your stress level if you are being stressed out on a regular basis and over a long period of time.
Stop and think about why you are stressed is it necessary, a lot of people get stressed over insignificant things, think to yourself, is my stress justified? If not, then take a deep breath and relax for a moment, this will radically reduce your stress levels.
We all have stress the key is to control it, find a method that works for you and use it. You’re already on your way to living a better longer life.
Well guys here are some thoughts I hope I have helped you get through another day a little happier. If you have any comments they are most welcome and if you would like to be a follower of this blog please feel free to join.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Time to start waking up
Recession time has hit us. South Africa was until recently being relatively unaffected, but clearly this will not continue. The SABC has announced that they have become dependent on government subsidies to sustain themselves as they have taken a R700 million loan. Old mutual found itself in trouble recently announcing that they have used their reserve to recover losses.
People are being retrenched all over the world and the country. Companies have put the alarm bells on and have stopped expanding and have stopped employing, yes the future looks pretty bleak. However there are a few select companies who are doing fantastically. Gijima for example had an 83% profit growth this year, car tracking companies have been on the up and up.
What does the recession mean for us?
It means opportunities have to be found because they are not going to land in our laps anymore. I got sent a quote the other day which read, “Opportunities are never lost, they are simply taken by someone else.” Go out and make it happen, I’ll be honest although the recession has caused uncertainty in my life, it has also brought me great hope. Five years ago I was thinking that it would be impossible for me to buy a house, now with the prices going down I think I have actually have a chance. The interest rate has dropped as well, which means I pay less for car and less for my credit card. These are all positives.
We need to continue, we need to keep moving. The whole problem is that everyone is slowing, people have stopped trading and are holding on to what they have. The problem with this is it slows down the whole process. Trade would be fine if people simply continued. In my opinion this is a media generated recession, Although on a personal note it’s about time that executives started to realise that they have been paying themselves too much.
My company has recently been doing damage control and have started to look for new opportunities as a backup plan, we need to have contingencies for ourselves, and we need to grab at opportunities. A friend of mine has started nine to fiving while he owns his own business. He is basically saying stuff you recession, I’ll be fine.
Have you woken up. Hard work will always bring success, laziness and negatively will achieve nothing. What are you doing to secure your future, are you indispensable?
Let me know what you think of this blog, please feel free to add a comment and if you would like me to write about something please feel free to send me a message.
People are being retrenched all over the world and the country. Companies have put the alarm bells on and have stopped expanding and have stopped employing, yes the future looks pretty bleak. However there are a few select companies who are doing fantastically. Gijima for example had an 83% profit growth this year, car tracking companies have been on the up and up.
What does the recession mean for us?
It means opportunities have to be found because they are not going to land in our laps anymore. I got sent a quote the other day which read, “Opportunities are never lost, they are simply taken by someone else.” Go out and make it happen, I’ll be honest although the recession has caused uncertainty in my life, it has also brought me great hope. Five years ago I was thinking that it would be impossible for me to buy a house, now with the prices going down I think I have actually have a chance. The interest rate has dropped as well, which means I pay less for car and less for my credit card. These are all positives.
We need to continue, we need to keep moving. The whole problem is that everyone is slowing, people have stopped trading and are holding on to what they have. The problem with this is it slows down the whole process. Trade would be fine if people simply continued. In my opinion this is a media generated recession, Although on a personal note it’s about time that executives started to realise that they have been paying themselves too much.
My company has recently been doing damage control and have started to look for new opportunities as a backup plan, we need to have contingencies for ourselves, and we need to grab at opportunities. A friend of mine has started nine to fiving while he owns his own business. He is basically saying stuff you recession, I’ll be fine.
Have you woken up. Hard work will always bring success, laziness and negatively will achieve nothing. What are you doing to secure your future, are you indispensable?
Let me know what you think of this blog, please feel free to add a comment and if you would like me to write about something please feel free to send me a message.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Fishing on the beach
There is a very well known story of a man who was fishing on a beach, when a businessman came up to him and asked why he didn’t use a net? The fisherman replied with, why would I use a net? The businessman replied, well if you use a net you could catch more fish and save money to buy a boat. “Then what” Replied the fisherman. Well then you could catch more fish, save more money and buy more boats until you have a fleet of boats. “Then what” replied the fisherman. Then you can retire... when the fisherman cut in and said “then I can stand on the beach and fish”.
Why do we go to work every day? I was talking to my colleagues the other day and they were talking about what they would do if they won a heap of cash. Some said they would start an orphanage others talked about travelling the world. This got me thinking, I realised I had no idea what I would do. What would you do?
This also got me asking the question, why do we work so hard when happiness can be found without having the nicest car or the flashiest house? There was an advert on the radio a while ago which talked about selling cokes on the beach and making that your business. Some people do it, I have seen many people working and having a perfectly adequate life selling food at parties or clothing at raves etc, now although these people are a bunch of hippies they are happy.
So what makes us happy?
How is failure or success measured? Is success measured by personal growth and satisfaction or is success measured by the perception of others. In other words, is failure measured by not being yourself and it depends entirely in the eyes of your peers?
How often do we do things purely because it seems like the right thing to do or because society is telling us this is how it’s supposed to be? We are taught at varsity to think out of the box. What I find amazing is that we have to be taught to think out of the box. You often hear we can learn from children. Why is that? We were children once, then we were taught to only think in the box and then when we are old enough we are allowed to think out of the box.
Here in lies the problem, some people don’t learn to think out of the box, they simply do the ‘robot- sheep’ thing and do what they are told. They never truly find what really makes then happy. Have you ever heard someone complaining about not being able to do something for whatever reason, or have you ever found yourself complaining that life is constantly against you. What is stopping us from being happy? Why do we always crave more? When is enough?
Please let me know your thoughts on this blog by adding a comment or joining the blog, Thank you for reading!
Why do we go to work every day? I was talking to my colleagues the other day and they were talking about what they would do if they won a heap of cash. Some said they would start an orphanage others talked about travelling the world. This got me thinking, I realised I had no idea what I would do. What would you do?
This also got me asking the question, why do we work so hard when happiness can be found without having the nicest car or the flashiest house? There was an advert on the radio a while ago which talked about selling cokes on the beach and making that your business. Some people do it, I have seen many people working and having a perfectly adequate life selling food at parties or clothing at raves etc, now although these people are a bunch of hippies they are happy.
So what makes us happy?
How is failure or success measured? Is success measured by personal growth and satisfaction or is success measured by the perception of others. In other words, is failure measured by not being yourself and it depends entirely in the eyes of your peers?
How often do we do things purely because it seems like the right thing to do or because society is telling us this is how it’s supposed to be? We are taught at varsity to think out of the box. What I find amazing is that we have to be taught to think out of the box. You often hear we can learn from children. Why is that? We were children once, then we were taught to only think in the box and then when we are old enough we are allowed to think out of the box.
Here in lies the problem, some people don’t learn to think out of the box, they simply do the ‘robot- sheep’ thing and do what they are told. They never truly find what really makes then happy. Have you ever heard someone complaining about not being able to do something for whatever reason, or have you ever found yourself complaining that life is constantly against you. What is stopping us from being happy? Why do we always crave more? When is enough?
Please let me know your thoughts on this blog by adding a comment or joining the blog, Thank you for reading!
Friday, February 27, 2009
A Cage Of Fear
A young man was once sitting and contemplating over his upcoming fight. His opponent was much bigger and much stronger than him and he had a very great chance of getting hurt. He had little chance of winning and his critics made him know this. There would be a large crowd attending this fight, thus the man was worried about being embarrassed in front of his peers. He felt as though he was trapped in a cage, but he decided to fight and there was no way out.
This man had no option but to overcome his fear and defeat this giant, and he did it with nothing but a stick and a catapult. When David won against Goliath he became a hero. Yes he had faith on his side but what if he was too afraid to fight; he would have run away and neither you nor I would know who David was.
Is fear holding you back? Have you had and moments to be great lately and failed because of fear of the unknown?
Sometimes being comfortable can prevent us from reaching our potential. I used to be very shy, I was always afraid of the outcomes of doing something that was out of the ordinary. I was afraid of what others would think if I said or did something that could possibly be perceived as strange. Most of us have been through this more than once in our lives especially regarding relationships, “should I let her know I have feelings for her, what if she laughs at me.” Later in life I came to the conclusion that; so what if I’m laughed at, the moment only lasts a second and at least I had the balls to dear, which is a lot better than being the guy or girl who is the first to laugh but never takes any chances.
In our lives we are faced with similar situations all the time, do we step out of the crowd and dear to be great or do we simply follow and realise at the end of our lives that we were nothing but a sheep.
When last have you stepped out of your comfort zone? Did if feel good? Unlikely, it’s not always going to be easy in fact it’s more likely to be a challenge to do something different but I guarantee it’ll be more rewarding then doing nothing.
I heard on the radio today that 90% of the reason that people die while choking is because they leave the room because they do not want to be embarrassed. 90% of people die from choking because they are afraid of what people think of them.
You have to ask yourself, do I want to die another forgettable face in the crowd? Or do I want to live my life to be remembered?
I don’t have the answers to these questions. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Thank you for reading my blog, please feel free to add a comment and if you are enjoying my bi- weekly additions then please feel free to join as a follower of this blog.
This man had no option but to overcome his fear and defeat this giant, and he did it with nothing but a stick and a catapult. When David won against Goliath he became a hero. Yes he had faith on his side but what if he was too afraid to fight; he would have run away and neither you nor I would know who David was.
Is fear holding you back? Have you had and moments to be great lately and failed because of fear of the unknown?
Sometimes being comfortable can prevent us from reaching our potential. I used to be very shy, I was always afraid of the outcomes of doing something that was out of the ordinary. I was afraid of what others would think if I said or did something that could possibly be perceived as strange. Most of us have been through this more than once in our lives especially regarding relationships, “should I let her know I have feelings for her, what if she laughs at me.” Later in life I came to the conclusion that; so what if I’m laughed at, the moment only lasts a second and at least I had the balls to dear, which is a lot better than being the guy or girl who is the first to laugh but never takes any chances.
In our lives we are faced with similar situations all the time, do we step out of the crowd and dear to be great or do we simply follow and realise at the end of our lives that we were nothing but a sheep.
When last have you stepped out of your comfort zone? Did if feel good? Unlikely, it’s not always going to be easy in fact it’s more likely to be a challenge to do something different but I guarantee it’ll be more rewarding then doing nothing.
I heard on the radio today that 90% of the reason that people die while choking is because they leave the room because they do not want to be embarrassed. 90% of people die from choking because they are afraid of what people think of them.
You have to ask yourself, do I want to die another forgettable face in the crowd? Or do I want to live my life to be remembered?
I don’t have the answers to these questions. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Thank you for reading my blog, please feel free to add a comment and if you are enjoying my bi- weekly additions then please feel free to join as a follower of this blog.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Use the hand you're dealt
Life a game of cards!
A friend of mine gave me the idea to write about how sometimes we get despondent because of the hands we are dealt in life, for example not being as rich as Paris Hilton or as handsome as Brad Pitt.
I thought this was a particularly pressing subject. I often hear people complaining about how they are so poor and how girls and boys do like them. I would be lying if I said I have never thought this myself. Not coming from a particularly wealthy family used to get me down at times especially when I was younger. When I was growing up my family was dirt poor, I remember how my parents struggled to manage their money. This used to depress me when my friends had things that I knew I was never going to have.
Hind sight is a wonderful thing however, I now realise that I didn’t need the full Ninja Turtle set, or the latest Nintendo games. In actual fact all I was trying to do when I was younger was the mini version of keeping up with the Joneses.
Now that was a long time ago and this is now. I’m a little older and wiser, and although I think it’s safe to say that I still like nice things. I continue to ask myself this question... Where is the line between having nice things and competing in an endless race that has no prizes except a big credit history and looming debt?
When we were young the fact that we didn’t have much money was out of our control. Now we’re older and our destiny is our own. If you are unhappy what are you doing to change that?
Complaining achieves nothing. I was recently in a situation where I was not content with my life; things didn’t seem to be going my way. I had only two choices, one was to complain about it and do nothing or I could change something. So I did. I’m not going to dwell on my changes or the effects that they had on me but rather talk about how we have a choice.
When I was younger I used to watch a kids program which had the slogan “knowledge is power”. The more I think about it, the more relevant it is. Recently, I was in fear of losing my job. It was more hypochondria than anything else, but it made me realise that thanks to the amalgamation of knowledge and the contacts that I have made over the years, I could probably start my own business and survive. In other words with the skills I have gained and knowledge I have acquired I have empowered myself.
In other words don’t just complain about the hand you’ve dealt, make changes and take opportunities. If you are a cleaner and you’re content with being a cleaner then you’re an achiever but if you’re a cleaner and you constantly wish to be something better and you are doing nothing about it, then you are not enabling yourself for change and you will live an unhappy life.
A friend of mine gave me the idea to write about how sometimes we get despondent because of the hands we are dealt in life, for example not being as rich as Paris Hilton or as handsome as Brad Pitt.
I thought this was a particularly pressing subject. I often hear people complaining about how they are so poor and how girls and boys do like them. I would be lying if I said I have never thought this myself. Not coming from a particularly wealthy family used to get me down at times especially when I was younger. When I was growing up my family was dirt poor, I remember how my parents struggled to manage their money. This used to depress me when my friends had things that I knew I was never going to have.
Hind sight is a wonderful thing however, I now realise that I didn’t need the full Ninja Turtle set, or the latest Nintendo games. In actual fact all I was trying to do when I was younger was the mini version of keeping up with the Joneses.
Now that was a long time ago and this is now. I’m a little older and wiser, and although I think it’s safe to say that I still like nice things. I continue to ask myself this question... Where is the line between having nice things and competing in an endless race that has no prizes except a big credit history and looming debt?
When we were young the fact that we didn’t have much money was out of our control. Now we’re older and our destiny is our own. If you are unhappy what are you doing to change that?
Complaining achieves nothing. I was recently in a situation where I was not content with my life; things didn’t seem to be going my way. I had only two choices, one was to complain about it and do nothing or I could change something. So I did. I’m not going to dwell on my changes or the effects that they had on me but rather talk about how we have a choice.
When I was younger I used to watch a kids program which had the slogan “knowledge is power”. The more I think about it, the more relevant it is. Recently, I was in fear of losing my job. It was more hypochondria than anything else, but it made me realise that thanks to the amalgamation of knowledge and the contacts that I have made over the years, I could probably start my own business and survive. In other words with the skills I have gained and knowledge I have acquired I have empowered myself.
In other words don’t just complain about the hand you’ve dealt, make changes and take opportunities. If you are a cleaner and you’re content with being a cleaner then you’re an achiever but if you’re a cleaner and you constantly wish to be something better and you are doing nothing about it, then you are not enabling yourself for change and you will live an unhappy life.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
stop and smell the roses
Stop and take a deep breath.
“There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.”
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
The economic crunch has come and people all over the world are starting to feel its effects. Food prices are up, petrol is going up and people are losing their jobs at an alarming rate. I was until recently unaffected by the credit crunch. Yes life was swell I had a well paying job and I was doing alright in it.
Then came the meeting! My bosses and I and some other staff had a meeting recently to discuss how we can make more money, setting targets for each staff member and putting procedures in place to help enable us to meet those targets. Of course when there are targets to be met, a plan has to be made to meet those targets.
Looking at my portfolio I realised that it wasn’t good enough to ensure a constant stream of revenue, thus something had to be done. I had to generate a larger client base and ensure that the jobs I was working on were a success. So I started burning the midnight oil, those of you know me well know that this is not necessarily an uncommon thing, but this time it was different every waking moment over the last while has been spent thinking about ways to ensure my targets are met, and I have been working thirteen hour days. My point is I was getting tired.
I needed to generate income and I needed to rest. Fortunately this was noticed by one of my staff who pointed out that I wasn’t working smart only hard. I’m in recruitment so when we have an interview it takes an hour of our time, what she said to me was that I need to pre-screen my candidates better. In other words don’t just bring everyone in for an interview ensure I have the best coming in thus reducing the amount of time I spend interviewing and increasing the time I have to do other important tasks like admin and if I get admin done at work then I don’t have to do it at home.
Which is what I started doing; this did allow me more time but didn’t change my attitude. I was still on the war path to bring in as much business as possible and work as hard as I could; now I’m not saying this is a bad thing. Setting goals and working hard will always make you an achiever so never stop.
What I did change was the way I was looking at my problems. I was viewing all of them as being of the utmost importance so I was frantically trying to do everything at once. I have now found a system for prioritising my work which enables me to only think about the most important tasks at any given time. Although this has not decreased the amount of work I have but it has taken off some of the pressure I was putting on myself, thus giving me piece of mind.
Now being in an environment that I find myself, it’s quite fast paced so often I tend to feel overwhelmed by how much I need to get done at a given time, which has at times caused me great stress but has also caused me to become frantic and provide sub standard work. What I have found is taking the occasional breath helps. This could be done literally, which does give you a sense of release, but what I really mean is stop and smell the roses once in a while. Take a walk. I find taking a few minutes to drink a cup of tea outside once a day changes my whole outlook for the rest of the day. It’s a time to align my thoughts and get my A into G while relaxing my eyes, because I work at a computer and relax my mind.
Don’t try to pass life by and get ahead of yourself, I believe we need to make plans but sometimes it’s nice to just let plans make themselves.
“Never lose sight of this important truth, that no one can be truly great until he has gained a knowledge of himself, a knowledge which can only be acquired by occasional retirement.”
Johann Georg von Zimmermann
Please let me know what you think of this blog
B
“There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.”
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
The economic crunch has come and people all over the world are starting to feel its effects. Food prices are up, petrol is going up and people are losing their jobs at an alarming rate. I was until recently unaffected by the credit crunch. Yes life was swell I had a well paying job and I was doing alright in it.
Then came the meeting! My bosses and I and some other staff had a meeting recently to discuss how we can make more money, setting targets for each staff member and putting procedures in place to help enable us to meet those targets. Of course when there are targets to be met, a plan has to be made to meet those targets.
Looking at my portfolio I realised that it wasn’t good enough to ensure a constant stream of revenue, thus something had to be done. I had to generate a larger client base and ensure that the jobs I was working on were a success. So I started burning the midnight oil, those of you know me well know that this is not necessarily an uncommon thing, but this time it was different every waking moment over the last while has been spent thinking about ways to ensure my targets are met, and I have been working thirteen hour days. My point is I was getting tired.
I needed to generate income and I needed to rest. Fortunately this was noticed by one of my staff who pointed out that I wasn’t working smart only hard. I’m in recruitment so when we have an interview it takes an hour of our time, what she said to me was that I need to pre-screen my candidates better. In other words don’t just bring everyone in for an interview ensure I have the best coming in thus reducing the amount of time I spend interviewing and increasing the time I have to do other important tasks like admin and if I get admin done at work then I don’t have to do it at home.
Which is what I started doing; this did allow me more time but didn’t change my attitude. I was still on the war path to bring in as much business as possible and work as hard as I could; now I’m not saying this is a bad thing. Setting goals and working hard will always make you an achiever so never stop.
What I did change was the way I was looking at my problems. I was viewing all of them as being of the utmost importance so I was frantically trying to do everything at once. I have now found a system for prioritising my work which enables me to only think about the most important tasks at any given time. Although this has not decreased the amount of work I have but it has taken off some of the pressure I was putting on myself, thus giving me piece of mind.
Now being in an environment that I find myself, it’s quite fast paced so often I tend to feel overwhelmed by how much I need to get done at a given time, which has at times caused me great stress but has also caused me to become frantic and provide sub standard work. What I have found is taking the occasional breath helps. This could be done literally, which does give you a sense of release, but what I really mean is stop and smell the roses once in a while. Take a walk. I find taking a few minutes to drink a cup of tea outside once a day changes my whole outlook for the rest of the day. It’s a time to align my thoughts and get my A into G while relaxing my eyes, because I work at a computer and relax my mind.
Don’t try to pass life by and get ahead of yourself, I believe we need to make plans but sometimes it’s nice to just let plans make themselves.
“Never lose sight of this important truth, that no one can be truly great until he has gained a knowledge of himself, a knowledge which can only be acquired by occasional retirement.”
Johann Georg von Zimmermann
Please let me know what you think of this blog
B
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Final destination
What is your destination?
I was listening to a speaker this morning and he was talking about how the challenges life brings us helps us to reach a point or a destination, whether we want it to or not. This got me thinking about a rough patch I went through in my life a long time ago, back in high school.
Well like most teenagers I also went through puberty, unlike all I had the worst pimples you could imagine. I used to be careful just in case someone touched my face for fear of it exploding. Well this coupled with the lack of a social life, feeling like no girl could ever want me and the stresses of high school brought me to the point where I got depressed. Really depressed so depressed suicide went through my mind.
Being religious however never allowed me to take the next step on this idea, the thought of eternal damnation just didn’t blow my hair back so that was the end of that. Well no! Not allowing myself instant gratification by causing my own death didn’t solve the problem. I was still depressed. And it was just getting worse.
Martin Luther King stated: “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Maybe he had bad acne when he was a child as well. At the time I didn’t know who Martin Luther King was and had no idea what he had said; in fact he had no impact on my life what so ever at the time. So I’ll come back to him later.
The thought that got me through the whole mess was simple, I was in tears one day thinking about how rubbish my life was and how everyone had it good and I had it so bad, generally depressing myself more. The thought was so simple in fact I can out it in a phrase. “Tomorrow is a day” believe it or not this was the thought that pulled me right out of depression.
This may seem like a simple thing but when you think about it, it can change your life like it did mine. I knew then like I know now that the world is probably not going to end tomorrow, the sun is going to continue shining and life will continue to exist. The fact that today may seem gloomy and things aren’t necessarily going my way is not going to impact this. I’m not saying tomorrow all your problems are going to magically disappear but they may the next day.
By which time you may very well have new problems. But this time you are now in a position where you can take them by the horns because your experience has shown you how. “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”
Another thing that pulled me away from my depression was the thought what ‘ I do today is not what I am going to be doing in twenty years’ . There are new adventures just round the corner. But our experience prepares us for those adventures. For example, very few people enjoy high school but looking back without it, we wouldn’t be who we are today. For example how would we have learned to interact with others if we were not social in high school? How would we learn anything if we did not stimulate our brains? Lastly how would we have built any character if it was easy?
So what is my final destination, I don’t know but I’m excited to find out. I am a firm believer in looking on the bright side of things, there is a lesson in everything and every cloud has a silver lining. Sometimes the bad out ways the good, but there can always be some good. If we focus on the good no matter what our destination is we enjoy getting there.
Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment
I was listening to a speaker this morning and he was talking about how the challenges life brings us helps us to reach a point or a destination, whether we want it to or not. This got me thinking about a rough patch I went through in my life a long time ago, back in high school.
Well like most teenagers I also went through puberty, unlike all I had the worst pimples you could imagine. I used to be careful just in case someone touched my face for fear of it exploding. Well this coupled with the lack of a social life, feeling like no girl could ever want me and the stresses of high school brought me to the point where I got depressed. Really depressed so depressed suicide went through my mind.
Being religious however never allowed me to take the next step on this idea, the thought of eternal damnation just didn’t blow my hair back so that was the end of that. Well no! Not allowing myself instant gratification by causing my own death didn’t solve the problem. I was still depressed. And it was just getting worse.
Martin Luther King stated: “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Maybe he had bad acne when he was a child as well. At the time I didn’t know who Martin Luther King was and had no idea what he had said; in fact he had no impact on my life what so ever at the time. So I’ll come back to him later.
The thought that got me through the whole mess was simple, I was in tears one day thinking about how rubbish my life was and how everyone had it good and I had it so bad, generally depressing myself more. The thought was so simple in fact I can out it in a phrase. “Tomorrow is a day” believe it or not this was the thought that pulled me right out of depression.
This may seem like a simple thing but when you think about it, it can change your life like it did mine. I knew then like I know now that the world is probably not going to end tomorrow, the sun is going to continue shining and life will continue to exist. The fact that today may seem gloomy and things aren’t necessarily going my way is not going to impact this. I’m not saying tomorrow all your problems are going to magically disappear but they may the next day.
By which time you may very well have new problems. But this time you are now in a position where you can take them by the horns because your experience has shown you how. “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”
Another thing that pulled me away from my depression was the thought what ‘ I do today is not what I am going to be doing in twenty years’ . There are new adventures just round the corner. But our experience prepares us for those adventures. For example, very few people enjoy high school but looking back without it, we wouldn’t be who we are today. For example how would we have learned to interact with others if we were not social in high school? How would we learn anything if we did not stimulate our brains? Lastly how would we have built any character if it was easy?
So what is my final destination, I don’t know but I’m excited to find out. I am a firm believer in looking on the bright side of things, there is a lesson in everything and every cloud has a silver lining. Sometimes the bad out ways the good, but there can always be some good. If we focus on the good no matter what our destination is we enjoy getting there.
Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
We All Wanna Be Big Rock Stars
We all wanna be big rock stars
I was in my car the other day and I was listening to that song “We all wanna be big rock stars… fifteen cars,”
This got me thinking, I used to want the rock star life style, I used to regularly sing, “take my picture by the pool cause I’m the next big thing!”
But what is the rock star life style, besides actually performing on stage, what is it? The more I read or hear about the “stars” the less I think I want to be one. The song goes,…”and the drugs come cheap we’ll all stay skinny cause be just won’t eat.” Personally I’m not so into the drug thing. From what I’ve seen it makes smart people stupid with them and stupid people become retarded.
Another thing I’ve noticed about rock stars is they all die young. Me I would rather be something with a little more longevity, although I’m kind of looking forward to the next chapter of my life I think I’ll enjoy my time alive as long as possible.
So we all want to be big rock stars… The more I think about it the less I’m interested. I can’t honestly imagine my life sitting around making up nice sounding songs. Furthermore the more you sit around thinking of cool hip songs, the less you actually live, which means your song will have no depth, kind of like talking to an infant.
I think the only part of the rock star life style I do like is the cars. Yes I’m materialistic enough to say I like fast cars, which are generally follow by racy women. Having fallen in love recently and looking to propose, I don’t think I’m interested in fast women, more so I’m less interested in contracting an STD. The real problem is sure you can have loads of fun with loads of girls but the more you do it, the less it means. It’s like a candle, eventually it burns out, and then all you’re left with is old memories of the good days.
You often see the stereotype high school football hero depicted as a washed up loser. Me I don’t want to be a loser.
Where am I going with this?
If we all want to be big rock stars and party all night and sleep all day, take loads of drugs and drink our lives away. Then why did Kurt Cobaine and Elvis Presley kill themselves?
What do you want out of your life? A big fancy car or life that has meaning? Do you want to attend all the big parties, or do you want, to have a few close friends who truly know who you are? The offspring said it in one of their songs. You know everybody’s name but there was no one there you know.”
I’m not sure what I want these days. Sometimes I want to be the guy cut off from the world other times I want to be in a crowd, but most of all lately I want to be an asset to society and not a liability.
My goals are simple do the best I can at whatever I am doing and make a difference wherever I can. I want to find meaning and embrace happiness. I want to cast aside the negative and nurture the positive.
I seek balance…
Please let me know what you thought of this blog; thanks and any advise on this subject or to direct my blog
I was in my car the other day and I was listening to that song “We all wanna be big rock stars… fifteen cars,”
This got me thinking, I used to want the rock star life style, I used to regularly sing, “take my picture by the pool cause I’m the next big thing!”
But what is the rock star life style, besides actually performing on stage, what is it? The more I read or hear about the “stars” the less I think I want to be one. The song goes,…”and the drugs come cheap we’ll all stay skinny cause be just won’t eat.” Personally I’m not so into the drug thing. From what I’ve seen it makes smart people stupid with them and stupid people become retarded.
Another thing I’ve noticed about rock stars is they all die young. Me I would rather be something with a little more longevity, although I’m kind of looking forward to the next chapter of my life I think I’ll enjoy my time alive as long as possible.
So we all want to be big rock stars… The more I think about it the less I’m interested. I can’t honestly imagine my life sitting around making up nice sounding songs. Furthermore the more you sit around thinking of cool hip songs, the less you actually live, which means your song will have no depth, kind of like talking to an infant.
I think the only part of the rock star life style I do like is the cars. Yes I’m materialistic enough to say I like fast cars, which are generally follow by racy women. Having fallen in love recently and looking to propose, I don’t think I’m interested in fast women, more so I’m less interested in contracting an STD. The real problem is sure you can have loads of fun with loads of girls but the more you do it, the less it means. It’s like a candle, eventually it burns out, and then all you’re left with is old memories of the good days.
You often see the stereotype high school football hero depicted as a washed up loser. Me I don’t want to be a loser.
Where am I going with this?
If we all want to be big rock stars and party all night and sleep all day, take loads of drugs and drink our lives away. Then why did Kurt Cobaine and Elvis Presley kill themselves?
What do you want out of your life? A big fancy car or life that has meaning? Do you want to attend all the big parties, or do you want, to have a few close friends who truly know who you are? The offspring said it in one of their songs. You know everybody’s name but there was no one there you know.”
I’m not sure what I want these days. Sometimes I want to be the guy cut off from the world other times I want to be in a crowd, but most of all lately I want to be an asset to society and not a liability.
My goals are simple do the best I can at whatever I am doing and make a difference wherever I can. I want to find meaning and embrace happiness. I want to cast aside the negative and nurture the positive.
I seek balance…
Please let me know what you thought of this blog; thanks and any advise on this subject or to direct my blog
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The wonder years.
When I was younger I always wanted to be, actually I can honestly say that I never really wanted to be anything. I always saw myself sitting by a pool or just having fun on the yacht. It never dawned on me that I would have to work at some point. Then as I got older I decided I wanted to be rich, again it didn’t dawn on me that there was work involved here.
Then I got to standard five when I saw the movie A Few Good Men, suddenly a lawyer became an option. After reanalysing that Lawyers get paid by the hour I decided no, that wasn’t for me. Maybe I should own my own business. Good get others to do the work for me, great plan!
Then I got distracted...
I hit puberty and started to notice the opposite sex! How it ruined my life, just jokes I’m very happy now. I have a wonderful girlfriend, (just in case she reads this)
But looking back on my time I realised that I wasn’t very good with members of the opposite sex, I spent way too much time chasing them with way too little reward. My dreams had become my next conquest or “kiss.” What happened to the driven billionaire? I would spend on average about three to four nights a week at the local night club in search of that special someone or at least that special someone for that night. I lost all motivation to work hard to become someone great instead of someone great for a drink and some laughs.
My life started to fall apart, in going out so much functioning during the day became an impossible task, hence I slept most of my days asleep, now this may seem fine to some of you thinking hey I go out all the time and sleep in the day or some of you reading this and thinking he’s light weight. But the point is it got to me. My life was one big party. When your life is one big party why bother doing anything to stop it?
Slowly things started to change though, the party stopped being fun, I was going out and not having a good time, but it had eaten away at my other interests, I didn’t have anything else to do. The void started to get bigger and bigger and I started to get depressed, but it seemed the only way to overcome this was to party some more, to go out and get that girl to fall for my tricks. Drinking played a role!
I found myself in a crappy job which just sustained my partying, living at home with a serious weight problem.
I had to make a change, but how? I was stuck in a rut! Fortunately for me it did work out and I did meet that certain someone who changed my life. (Yes she put up with my bad habits and faults of which there were many!) I stopped all the partying and left the city. I got a decent job and although I’m no billionaire at least I’m on a track that could lead me in a direction of positivity.
The point of this blog was to ask, what are your dreams? Have you been distracted lately, now your distraction doesn’t necessarily have to be girls and parties? It could be that you are stuck in a job you hate or a relationship that is stopping you from reaching your potential. Think about it and let me know your thoughts.
As for me I’m working hard and watching what I eat. “Even though sometimes still eating it” but hey life can’t be all work and no fun, I’ve realigned my thoughts, my focus is no longer going to be my next score but how I can improve my life not by wishing but by working for it, I don’t believe sitting down and doing nothing has ever done anyone any good, except maybe if they were sick or something.
All I’m saying is watch the line and don’t lose sight of your dreams.
Please let me know your thoughts by adding a comment.
Then I got to standard five when I saw the movie A Few Good Men, suddenly a lawyer became an option. After reanalysing that Lawyers get paid by the hour I decided no, that wasn’t for me. Maybe I should own my own business. Good get others to do the work for me, great plan!
Then I got distracted...
I hit puberty and started to notice the opposite sex! How it ruined my life, just jokes I’m very happy now. I have a wonderful girlfriend, (just in case she reads this)
But looking back on my time I realised that I wasn’t very good with members of the opposite sex, I spent way too much time chasing them with way too little reward. My dreams had become my next conquest or “kiss.” What happened to the driven billionaire? I would spend on average about three to four nights a week at the local night club in search of that special someone or at least that special someone for that night. I lost all motivation to work hard to become someone great instead of someone great for a drink and some laughs.
My life started to fall apart, in going out so much functioning during the day became an impossible task, hence I slept most of my days asleep, now this may seem fine to some of you thinking hey I go out all the time and sleep in the day or some of you reading this and thinking he’s light weight. But the point is it got to me. My life was one big party. When your life is one big party why bother doing anything to stop it?
Slowly things started to change though, the party stopped being fun, I was going out and not having a good time, but it had eaten away at my other interests, I didn’t have anything else to do. The void started to get bigger and bigger and I started to get depressed, but it seemed the only way to overcome this was to party some more, to go out and get that girl to fall for my tricks. Drinking played a role!
I found myself in a crappy job which just sustained my partying, living at home with a serious weight problem.
I had to make a change, but how? I was stuck in a rut! Fortunately for me it did work out and I did meet that certain someone who changed my life. (Yes she put up with my bad habits and faults of which there were many!) I stopped all the partying and left the city. I got a decent job and although I’m no billionaire at least I’m on a track that could lead me in a direction of positivity.
The point of this blog was to ask, what are your dreams? Have you been distracted lately, now your distraction doesn’t necessarily have to be girls and parties? It could be that you are stuck in a job you hate or a relationship that is stopping you from reaching your potential. Think about it and let me know your thoughts.
As for me I’m working hard and watching what I eat. “Even though sometimes still eating it” but hey life can’t be all work and no fun, I’ve realigned my thoughts, my focus is no longer going to be my next score but how I can improve my life not by wishing but by working for it, I don’t believe sitting down and doing nothing has ever done anyone any good, except maybe if they were sick or something.
All I’m saying is watch the line and don’t lose sight of your dreams.
Please let me know your thoughts by adding a comment.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
How do you want to be remembered
When did we stop caring?
Not so long ago there was a movie out called Paying it forward. Now although I must admit the movie didn’t particularly affect me at the time, it seems to be impacting my thoughts recently. Admittedly I’m probably not going to go out and change the world and I’m probably not going to try and feed a nation.
However I think it’s time to be a little more empathetic. Yes, that’s right; I had another life changing occurrence. Last night I was having possibly the most restless night of my life. I couldn’t sleep, I tossed and turned and nothing would get me to sleep. I know what you’re thinking Saturday night why are you trying to sleep any way? Well regardless of why I was tired and I needed the Z’s.
Three o’clock came and went then four o’clock arrived. Now I was finally starting to doze off, when the gate of my complex opened and followed by doof doof music from the car stereo and possibly the loudest talking I’ve ever heard. Then it stopped...
Then a few minutes later my neighbours put their music on full blast and echoed through my flat, five thirty came and this continued, part of me wanted to go over and shoot the bastards and the other part wanted to go over and join in the party. I was infuriated, but then it got me thinking, what types of people are so inconsiderate?
Then however it go me thinking about all the times I’ve been an arsehole to others and most people who know me know I have my moments where I can be the biggest chop ever. Then something Gareth told me rang out my mind. He said you send out messages into the universe and they often come true, so part of me has started to wonder if I’m only being treated the way I have treated others in the past? Is it actually a circle and inevitably it comes back to you?
Again this brought me back to the movie Paying it forward. Which makes me wonder when I look back on it all, would I rather have people think of me as a saint or a dick? Obviously there are other alternatives in between, but my point is how do you want to be remembered? Set goals and work backwards.
Please let me know your thoughts on this post and please post a comment
thanks
Not so long ago there was a movie out called Paying it forward. Now although I must admit the movie didn’t particularly affect me at the time, it seems to be impacting my thoughts recently. Admittedly I’m probably not going to go out and change the world and I’m probably not going to try and feed a nation.
However I think it’s time to be a little more empathetic. Yes, that’s right; I had another life changing occurrence. Last night I was having possibly the most restless night of my life. I couldn’t sleep, I tossed and turned and nothing would get me to sleep. I know what you’re thinking Saturday night why are you trying to sleep any way? Well regardless of why I was tired and I needed the Z’s.
Three o’clock came and went then four o’clock arrived. Now I was finally starting to doze off, when the gate of my complex opened and followed by doof doof music from the car stereo and possibly the loudest talking I’ve ever heard. Then it stopped...
Then a few minutes later my neighbours put their music on full blast and echoed through my flat, five thirty came and this continued, part of me wanted to go over and shoot the bastards and the other part wanted to go over and join in the party. I was infuriated, but then it got me thinking, what types of people are so inconsiderate?
Then however it go me thinking about all the times I’ve been an arsehole to others and most people who know me know I have my moments where I can be the biggest chop ever. Then something Gareth told me rang out my mind. He said you send out messages into the universe and they often come true, so part of me has started to wonder if I’m only being treated the way I have treated others in the past? Is it actually a circle and inevitably it comes back to you?
Again this brought me back to the movie Paying it forward. Which makes me wonder when I look back on it all, would I rather have people think of me as a saint or a dick? Obviously there are other alternatives in between, but my point is how do you want to be remembered? Set goals and work backwards.
Please let me know your thoughts on this post and please post a comment
thanks
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Use your time
The Garfield disease
Growing up I used to watch Garfield and think man I wish I was a cat. Eat and sleep all day what a dream. Through high school I had similar sentiments, just get through another day and hit the hay.
Along came varsity, here where it got exciting because now I had access to car which meant I could get to the local fast food joint. Fantastic the dream was coming true at last, every day I would leave varsity rush off to mc D’s or somewhere grab some chow, head home and sleep in the afternoon.
Now don’t get me wrong sleep is very important, and I still love it but what a waste.
But it doesn’t stop there does it? Once you have Garfield disease it starts to infect your blood stream and finally your brain until you feel like sitting around and doing nothing is normal.
What I was finding was that my life was becoming a blur, I was very happy with doing nothing, and when I had to do something I found ways of prolonging the inevitable. In other words I procrastinated. Anyone who knows me well knows I was the king of procrastination. I would put things off till the very last second.
Admittedly I achieved very little in six years of trying to do nothing, living the dream I thought. I suppose I achieved exactly what I had set out to do.
When I got my job in sales, I was working for my friend’s dad, who hired me because he knew me, maybe he saw potential. I was quite nervous as I had never been in sales before and I did really know what to do. Whilst chatting to my friend about this he said something which changed my life. He said just do everything you’re told and do it as fast as possible don’t put things off. Now at the time I didn’t really realise the impact of this statement, but looking back...
I started the job where I was thrown into the deep end. These words constantly rang through my mind. As soon as I was told to something I did as promptly as possible. I knew myself if I didn’t do it then and there I would forget, slowly but surely I started to fight Garfield disease and I was winning. Every appointment I made brought me closer to beating it. I started applying the rule in my daily life, when someone asked for something I did it immediately, knowing I had done tasks required of me took pressure off my shoulders, I could relax more, The more relaxed I was the less I felt inclined to sleep.
After a relatively successful run in sales I left and moved to the big city. Here I was forced to be in a desk job. Again following the same rule, but what I found was that I wasn’t getting orders anymore it was up to me. But Garfield disease had almost been beaten out of my system by this stage. I started to plan my days, setting aside various amounts of time to perform tasks. I used a check list, enabling me to ensure my work was complete.
I stopped procrastinating. Admittedly my new worked help as they banned facebook. But this wasn’t a problem anymore I had realised how much time I was wasting, I was a new person a productive person, someone who made a contribution instead of just taking and never giving.
Think about these words. How much time have you wasted today?
Please let me know what you think.
Advice is welcome by adding comment below.
Growing up I used to watch Garfield and think man I wish I was a cat. Eat and sleep all day what a dream. Through high school I had similar sentiments, just get through another day and hit the hay.
Along came varsity, here where it got exciting because now I had access to car which meant I could get to the local fast food joint. Fantastic the dream was coming true at last, every day I would leave varsity rush off to mc D’s or somewhere grab some chow, head home and sleep in the afternoon.
Now don’t get me wrong sleep is very important, and I still love it but what a waste.
But it doesn’t stop there does it? Once you have Garfield disease it starts to infect your blood stream and finally your brain until you feel like sitting around and doing nothing is normal.
What I was finding was that my life was becoming a blur, I was very happy with doing nothing, and when I had to do something I found ways of prolonging the inevitable. In other words I procrastinated. Anyone who knows me well knows I was the king of procrastination. I would put things off till the very last second.
Admittedly I achieved very little in six years of trying to do nothing, living the dream I thought. I suppose I achieved exactly what I had set out to do.
When I got my job in sales, I was working for my friend’s dad, who hired me because he knew me, maybe he saw potential. I was quite nervous as I had never been in sales before and I did really know what to do. Whilst chatting to my friend about this he said something which changed my life. He said just do everything you’re told and do it as fast as possible don’t put things off. Now at the time I didn’t really realise the impact of this statement, but looking back...
I started the job where I was thrown into the deep end. These words constantly rang through my mind. As soon as I was told to something I did as promptly as possible. I knew myself if I didn’t do it then and there I would forget, slowly but surely I started to fight Garfield disease and I was winning. Every appointment I made brought me closer to beating it. I started applying the rule in my daily life, when someone asked for something I did it immediately, knowing I had done tasks required of me took pressure off my shoulders, I could relax more, The more relaxed I was the less I felt inclined to sleep.
After a relatively successful run in sales I left and moved to the big city. Here I was forced to be in a desk job. Again following the same rule, but what I found was that I wasn’t getting orders anymore it was up to me. But Garfield disease had almost been beaten out of my system by this stage. I started to plan my days, setting aside various amounts of time to perform tasks. I used a check list, enabling me to ensure my work was complete.
I stopped procrastinating. Admittedly my new worked help as they banned facebook. But this wasn’t a problem anymore I had realised how much time I was wasting, I was a new person a productive person, someone who made a contribution instead of just taking and never giving.
Think about these words. How much time have you wasted today?
Please let me know what you think.
Advice is welcome by adding comment below.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Saving Money on your Grocery bill.
A few tips for saving you some cash
Recently having moved out of my parent’s house into my own pad, I found that my grocery bill was seriously putting a damper on my bank balance. So I thought I would do some research into where my money goes, and give you a few tips on saving money.
The first thing I did was to keep my slips and add up in categories what I was spending money on. Now I’m not going to tell you where my money goes but what I am going to do is point out a few observations you can use to save money.
The first thing I noticed was how much I was spending on lunch, now I like my junk food, but when I added it up it just didn’t seem worth it, for example a Mc Meal will cost you about R24 now, this is pretty much the cheapest meal you can buy at a fast food place. 24 x 20 = R480 per month and like I said this is the cheapest, I don’t really like Mc D’s because it gives you that instant gratification and then makes you feel sick after. What I do love is the Wimpy or KFC now here we’re looking at +- R50 a meal 50 x20 = R1000 per month. So my first piece of advise is make your own lunch, Bread = 6 loaves per month = R60. Ham, if you like your ham R80 per month, Cheese R50 per month, Mayo R30 per month and butter R15 per month, total cost = R255 for lunch for the whole month. You could even add lettuce and Tomatoes into that equation and you will still be saving.
The second thing I notice was how much I was spending on Cold drinks, I’m a bit of a 24hour store junky. What I noticed was how much I spend on drinks at the local garage store; there were some weeks where I would buy a cold drink every day. These would cost close to R10, costing me an unnecessary R50 per week, or R200 per month. My recommendation is either pre-buy drinks from a hypermarket or drink water obviously this is the bigger saving and is obviously healthier, in fact a friend of mine has been doing this for years and he looks great. The same rule also applies for coffee, times are tough and looking cool is off the priority list; take a canteen to work this will save you a fortune.
Now another thing I noticed was how much it costs to buy food stuffs at a supermarket especially in current times. So my third piece of advice is to shop at a hypermarket it doesn’t matter which hypermarket obviously excluding specialised stores but generally speaking you’ll get the better deal when shopping at a hyper store. The reason for this is because the superstores are run by the store manager who sets prices according to the profit he wishes to make, where as the hyper stores prices are governed by the franchise. Also make a note what you’re paying, where and on what brand. If there is cheaper brand use it. Canned food is canned food.
The fourth piece of advice is simply create a shopping list and stick to it, if you find this difficult you could consider shopping online, this will allow you to compare prices and save on petrol. Also obviously you are less likely to buy from the temptations counter if you are not there. Another way to save money is to not shop when you’re hungry, this will only induce you to buy more.
The fifth piece of advice I actually got from Gareth but it applies in the context, we all need indulgences, so decided what yours is going to be for the month and have it once or twice, make the decision at the beginning of the month to not over indulge because then you can budget for it.
In saying this, the thought crossed my mind that you need to keep a budget, how can you save if you do not know what you’re spending.
Dinner time treats are fun but you can save a fortune by preparing them yourself for example Pizza. I have a friend who makes fantastic pizza which can feed a ton of people and I can grantee it costs less than the current up to R70 a pizza. Sure it’ll take you longer but if you save R50 per meal it’ll soon add up.
This is difficult one for city dwellers, but a great way to save money is to avoid shops, if you don’t want to spend money don’t go to places where you can. Just stay away from the mall.
My second last piece of advice is a difficult one, but here it is; I used to be Mr Party, going out all the time to night clubs and spending a pretty penny while I was there. Now What I’m not saying is don’t enjoy yourself. What I am saying is put a limit on it, I barely go out anymore due to a lifestyle change and what I noticed is how much money I have to spend on things I actually want. If we look at the cost of going out and add it up, it gets scary. I’m going to be a cheap date and say a night out at the club costs R300 on average. If you go out three times a week that’s R900, x 4 weeks = R3600 now I know some people who live off that. Bear this in mind. Like I said I’m not telling you to not enjoy yourself, so set limits. Say to yourself you’re only going out once a week. This will already save you R2700 on average, another strong recommendation is just don’t take your wallet, I’ve heard countless stories of people pulling out their credit card on a night out and then crapping themselves in the morning when they see the bill. So set aside the amount of money you expect the night to cost or the amount you are willing to spend and go out with that, when you run out you run out, inevitably you’ll spend less.
And lastly although it has nothing to do with Groceries I thought I would add it anyway. Don’t pay for a gym you’re not attending. Why pay for nothing, because you might use it one day, well when that day comes you can join again, but go out and cancel your subscription if you don’t use it.
I hope this was a useful blog please provide me with comment, it would be much appreciated.
Recently having moved out of my parent’s house into my own pad, I found that my grocery bill was seriously putting a damper on my bank balance. So I thought I would do some research into where my money goes, and give you a few tips on saving money.
The first thing I did was to keep my slips and add up in categories what I was spending money on. Now I’m not going to tell you where my money goes but what I am going to do is point out a few observations you can use to save money.
The first thing I noticed was how much I was spending on lunch, now I like my junk food, but when I added it up it just didn’t seem worth it, for example a Mc Meal will cost you about R24 now, this is pretty much the cheapest meal you can buy at a fast food place. 24 x 20 = R480 per month and like I said this is the cheapest, I don’t really like Mc D’s because it gives you that instant gratification and then makes you feel sick after. What I do love is the Wimpy or KFC now here we’re looking at +- R50 a meal 50 x20 = R1000 per month. So my first piece of advise is make your own lunch, Bread = 6 loaves per month = R60. Ham, if you like your ham R80 per month, Cheese R50 per month, Mayo R30 per month and butter R15 per month, total cost = R255 for lunch for the whole month. You could even add lettuce and Tomatoes into that equation and you will still be saving.
The second thing I notice was how much I was spending on Cold drinks, I’m a bit of a 24hour store junky. What I noticed was how much I spend on drinks at the local garage store; there were some weeks where I would buy a cold drink every day. These would cost close to R10, costing me an unnecessary R50 per week, or R200 per month. My recommendation is either pre-buy drinks from a hypermarket or drink water obviously this is the bigger saving and is obviously healthier, in fact a friend of mine has been doing this for years and he looks great. The same rule also applies for coffee, times are tough and looking cool is off the priority list; take a canteen to work this will save you a fortune.
Now another thing I noticed was how much it costs to buy food stuffs at a supermarket especially in current times. So my third piece of advice is to shop at a hypermarket it doesn’t matter which hypermarket obviously excluding specialised stores but generally speaking you’ll get the better deal when shopping at a hyper store. The reason for this is because the superstores are run by the store manager who sets prices according to the profit he wishes to make, where as the hyper stores prices are governed by the franchise. Also make a note what you’re paying, where and on what brand. If there is cheaper brand use it. Canned food is canned food.
The fourth piece of advice is simply create a shopping list and stick to it, if you find this difficult you could consider shopping online, this will allow you to compare prices and save on petrol. Also obviously you are less likely to buy from the temptations counter if you are not there. Another way to save money is to not shop when you’re hungry, this will only induce you to buy more.
The fifth piece of advice I actually got from Gareth but it applies in the context, we all need indulgences, so decided what yours is going to be for the month and have it once or twice, make the decision at the beginning of the month to not over indulge because then you can budget for it.
In saying this, the thought crossed my mind that you need to keep a budget, how can you save if you do not know what you’re spending.
Dinner time treats are fun but you can save a fortune by preparing them yourself for example Pizza. I have a friend who makes fantastic pizza which can feed a ton of people and I can grantee it costs less than the current up to R70 a pizza. Sure it’ll take you longer but if you save R50 per meal it’ll soon add up.
This is difficult one for city dwellers, but a great way to save money is to avoid shops, if you don’t want to spend money don’t go to places where you can. Just stay away from the mall.
My second last piece of advice is a difficult one, but here it is; I used to be Mr Party, going out all the time to night clubs and spending a pretty penny while I was there. Now What I’m not saying is don’t enjoy yourself. What I am saying is put a limit on it, I barely go out anymore due to a lifestyle change and what I noticed is how much money I have to spend on things I actually want. If we look at the cost of going out and add it up, it gets scary. I’m going to be a cheap date and say a night out at the club costs R300 on average. If you go out three times a week that’s R900, x 4 weeks = R3600 now I know some people who live off that. Bear this in mind. Like I said I’m not telling you to not enjoy yourself, so set limits. Say to yourself you’re only going out once a week. This will already save you R2700 on average, another strong recommendation is just don’t take your wallet, I’ve heard countless stories of people pulling out their credit card on a night out and then crapping themselves in the morning when they see the bill. So set aside the amount of money you expect the night to cost or the amount you are willing to spend and go out with that, when you run out you run out, inevitably you’ll spend less.
And lastly although it has nothing to do with Groceries I thought I would add it anyway. Don’t pay for a gym you’re not attending. Why pay for nothing, because you might use it one day, well when that day comes you can join again, but go out and cancel your subscription if you don’t use it.
I hope this was a useful blog please provide me with comment, it would be much appreciated.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
What have you done today?
What have you done today?
In 1910 a women by the name of Glades was born, she decided she wanted to be a missionary for the church, so she went on courses and trained in Ireland and India, until she felt she knew where God was leading her. After her training she went to leaders of the church and said I have three penny’s to my name, I’m going to build an orphanage. Well you can imagine what happened next. Now being a holy place I doubt they laughed in her face but I wouldn’t be surprised if they sniggered a bit. The leaders of the church told her that there is no way she could build an orphanage with three penny’s, it costs millions they said.
Her reply was simply, I can’t build a orphanage with three penny’s but God can, Glades then went off to work with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta India for fifty five years, where she eventually did get her Orphanage actually she got quite a few and raised millions for orphaned children worldwide. Before she died Mother Teresa won the Nobel peace prize.
This is just one more example of how one person can make a difference. She refused to listen to the negativity of her peers and persisted in following her dream. Now I’m not saying we are all meant to be saints or we must all stop what we are doing to help the poor or needy.
What I am really aiming at is that Mother Teresa had a goal, she set her sights on something and went for it, and it wasn’t easy it wasn’t fun but it had great rewards in the end.
What have you done today? Have you set a goal? Or are you just waiting for something to happen. Something I have learned over the years is that things don’t just happen; you have to work for them, if you want to be smart I suggest you start learning something, if you want to be a springbok consider not watching TV today and going to the gym.
I don’t claim to have all the answers but what I am sure of is that if you set goals and get off your bum and do something about them, you will achieve, it won’t happen overnight but nothing ever does.
Please let me know what you think of this latest blog by adding a comment on the bottom thanks.
In 1910 a women by the name of Glades was born, she decided she wanted to be a missionary for the church, so she went on courses and trained in Ireland and India, until she felt she knew where God was leading her. After her training she went to leaders of the church and said I have three penny’s to my name, I’m going to build an orphanage. Well you can imagine what happened next. Now being a holy place I doubt they laughed in her face but I wouldn’t be surprised if they sniggered a bit. The leaders of the church told her that there is no way she could build an orphanage with three penny’s, it costs millions they said.
Her reply was simply, I can’t build a orphanage with three penny’s but God can, Glades then went off to work with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta India for fifty five years, where she eventually did get her Orphanage actually she got quite a few and raised millions for orphaned children worldwide. Before she died Mother Teresa won the Nobel peace prize.
This is just one more example of how one person can make a difference. She refused to listen to the negativity of her peers and persisted in following her dream. Now I’m not saying we are all meant to be saints or we must all stop what we are doing to help the poor or needy.
What I am really aiming at is that Mother Teresa had a goal, she set her sights on something and went for it, and it wasn’t easy it wasn’t fun but it had great rewards in the end.
What have you done today? Have you set a goal? Or are you just waiting for something to happen. Something I have learned over the years is that things don’t just happen; you have to work for them, if you want to be smart I suggest you start learning something, if you want to be a springbok consider not watching TV today and going to the gym.
I don’t claim to have all the answers but what I am sure of is that if you set goals and get off your bum and do something about them, you will achieve, it won’t happen overnight but nothing ever does.
Please let me know what you think of this latest blog by adding a comment on the bottom thanks.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
What recruiters look for
What recruiters look for:
I’ve been a recruitment consultant for nearly eight months now, so I don’t claim to know everything about the field but I can point a few things that I have picked up and hopefully I can share some of this information in order to help you in your next interview. Bare in mind a recruiters job is to find jobs they are not going out of their way to ensure that you don’t get a job.
As a recruiter consultant it is my professional responsibility and obligation to find, assess and qualify candidates for positions provided for me by my clients or organizations. In order to do this I need to find my candidates first. I like all recruiters use the internet to source candidates CV’s who have the qualifications I need. Most in South Africa use http://www.pnet.co.za/ or http://www.careerjunction.co.za/
So my first piece of advice I can offer to you; is make sure your CV is very clear and legable, use tables to put in a skills matrix, the more detail you have the more likely someone like me will notice you. For example if I get a spec from a company that asks me to find a Java programmer with a small amount of experience, and you are a programmer who specialises in C++ but also knows and would consider the position but doesn’t put it in their CV, well if it’s not there I cannot consider you. So you won’t even make it to the interview.
Once a recruiter understands your focus, he/she will want to know if you have the required core competencies or transferable skills to accomplish the job. A thorough research of employer job descriptions will help you identify the core competencies your CV must feature.
You’ll capture and hold recruiter attention by including only those core competencies relating specifically to your focus. Be careful not to muddy up your personal marketing message by including extraneous skills. If you remember the all-important rule of relevancy, you’ll go a long way toward keeping the reader’s attention on your key skills.
Job seekers must ensure that the contact information they provide on their resume is reliable. Your resume should be updated regularly. In response to one of our postings this week, one of our recruiters received a resume from a job seeker who had a disconnected phone number listed in the resume. The telephone is still a crucial part of the recruitment process; there have been other cases in which individuals are on the phone when we call, do not answer call waiting and allow the phone to continue to ring. Remember--if someone can’t leave a message for you, then they cannot offer you an interview or a position.
Bear in mind that recruiters although some of the more experienced think they are, are not mind readers. Or have special powers of any sort, so if it’s not there they won’t know it.
Now lets just say that you do fit the description they are looking for. You will get a call from a recruiter and he or she will set up an appointment to see you, the reason for this is firstly that they need to evaluate your ability and knowledge through a formal or for the less professional recruiters an informal interview.
The purpose of this is also to interpersonally evaluate the attitude and persona of the individual, this interview also allows the recruiter to evaluate whether or not the candidate fits the corporate culture of the organisation where the job exists.
So my second piece of advice is; come well presented you don’t often find a corporate company where you can dress in slacks and a T-shirt anymore, obviously computer programmers sometimes get away with it but even computer programmers must realise that if they want to work for a large high paying organisation they will have no option but to clean up and have a haircut, Now I’m not saying you can’t get a job if you like your grunge, but what I can say is if you do like grunge you do you need to change your style cause grunge is dead.
Another piece of advice for an interview is; be on time, if you can’t show up on time you obviously don’t really want the job and your commitment probably isn’t there. That’s not to say that you won’t be interviewed or make it through to the next round, but you set a bad precedent. which means, where the recruiter may have highly recommended you they will now simply send your CV if you are qualified.
Now What if it can’t be helped and you really can’t make the interview. Remember it is a recruiter’s job to do whatever it takes to try and fill the position they have been given so generally if you call and reschedule they will be understanding and set another time, don’t do this more than once, again it gives the impression that you are not that interested. Do not just not show up, the reason for this is should you want a job in the future that the recruitment agency holds you won’t get it cause they’ll have a record of your not showing up and marking you as a bad candidate.
Now you’re in the interview, obviously you’re nervous but bear in mind; if you don’t say it the recruiter cannot record it and if they cannot record it they cannot report back to the client. Also please from a recruiters' perspective answers the questions they ask you and not pre decided ones. So often I ask a question and my candidate replies with something that has nothing to do with the question, and in my case all my questions stand alone and thus if the incorrect answer is given, that section in laymen’s terms is failed thus reducing the chance of me providing good feedback to the client thus it reduces your chance of getting the job.
However it’s not as hard as it seems if you have the experience you say you do and you can communicate what you have done and experienced you have as well displaying a positive attitude you should have really good chance of getting the potential opportunity of a life time.
Good luck and happy job hunting.
Please give me any feedback you may have by posting a comment.
I’ve been a recruitment consultant for nearly eight months now, so I don’t claim to know everything about the field but I can point a few things that I have picked up and hopefully I can share some of this information in order to help you in your next interview. Bare in mind a recruiters job is to find jobs they are not going out of their way to ensure that you don’t get a job.
As a recruiter consultant it is my professional responsibility and obligation to find, assess and qualify candidates for positions provided for me by my clients or organizations. In order to do this I need to find my candidates first. I like all recruiters use the internet to source candidates CV’s who have the qualifications I need. Most in South Africa use http://www.pnet.co.za/ or http://www.careerjunction.co.za/
So my first piece of advice I can offer to you; is make sure your CV is very clear and legable, use tables to put in a skills matrix, the more detail you have the more likely someone like me will notice you. For example if I get a spec from a company that asks me to find a Java programmer with a small amount of experience, and you are a programmer who specialises in C++ but also knows and would consider the position but doesn’t put it in their CV, well if it’s not there I cannot consider you. So you won’t even make it to the interview.
Once a recruiter understands your focus, he/she will want to know if you have the required core competencies or transferable skills to accomplish the job. A thorough research of employer job descriptions will help you identify the core competencies your CV must feature.
You’ll capture and hold recruiter attention by including only those core competencies relating specifically to your focus. Be careful not to muddy up your personal marketing message by including extraneous skills. If you remember the all-important rule of relevancy, you’ll go a long way toward keeping the reader’s attention on your key skills.
Job seekers must ensure that the contact information they provide on their resume is reliable. Your resume should be updated regularly. In response to one of our postings this week, one of our recruiters received a resume from a job seeker who had a disconnected phone number listed in the resume. The telephone is still a crucial part of the recruitment process; there have been other cases in which individuals are on the phone when we call, do not answer call waiting and allow the phone to continue to ring. Remember--if someone can’t leave a message for you, then they cannot offer you an interview or a position.
Bear in mind that recruiters although some of the more experienced think they are, are not mind readers. Or have special powers of any sort, so if it’s not there they won’t know it.
Now lets just say that you do fit the description they are looking for. You will get a call from a recruiter and he or she will set up an appointment to see you, the reason for this is firstly that they need to evaluate your ability and knowledge through a formal or for the less professional recruiters an informal interview.
The purpose of this is also to interpersonally evaluate the attitude and persona of the individual, this interview also allows the recruiter to evaluate whether or not the candidate fits the corporate culture of the organisation where the job exists.
So my second piece of advice is; come well presented you don’t often find a corporate company where you can dress in slacks and a T-shirt anymore, obviously computer programmers sometimes get away with it but even computer programmers must realise that if they want to work for a large high paying organisation they will have no option but to clean up and have a haircut, Now I’m not saying you can’t get a job if you like your grunge, but what I can say is if you do like grunge you do you need to change your style cause grunge is dead.
Another piece of advice for an interview is; be on time, if you can’t show up on time you obviously don’t really want the job and your commitment probably isn’t there. That’s not to say that you won’t be interviewed or make it through to the next round, but you set a bad precedent. which means, where the recruiter may have highly recommended you they will now simply send your CV if you are qualified.
Now What if it can’t be helped and you really can’t make the interview. Remember it is a recruiter’s job to do whatever it takes to try and fill the position they have been given so generally if you call and reschedule they will be understanding and set another time, don’t do this more than once, again it gives the impression that you are not that interested. Do not just not show up, the reason for this is should you want a job in the future that the recruitment agency holds you won’t get it cause they’ll have a record of your not showing up and marking you as a bad candidate.
Now you’re in the interview, obviously you’re nervous but bear in mind; if you don’t say it the recruiter cannot record it and if they cannot record it they cannot report back to the client. Also please from a recruiters' perspective answers the questions they ask you and not pre decided ones. So often I ask a question and my candidate replies with something that has nothing to do with the question, and in my case all my questions stand alone and thus if the incorrect answer is given, that section in laymen’s terms is failed thus reducing the chance of me providing good feedback to the client thus it reduces your chance of getting the job.
However it’s not as hard as it seems if you have the experience you say you do and you can communicate what you have done and experienced you have as well displaying a positive attitude you should have really good chance of getting the potential opportunity of a life time.
Good luck and happy job hunting.
Please give me any feedback you may have by posting a comment.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Time to share something you probably didn’t know.
Business planning
I worked in sales for eight months and only when I started my new job was I introduced to business plans. Selling like everything involves work, you get different types of salesmen but one thing I can tell you they all have in common, is that they all feel they are the best.
Being in a recruitment role however I have interviewed a lot of salesmen and I can say without a doubt that the most successful salesmen are the ones that do their homework. This can be done in the form of a business plan. A business plan can be useful in formalizing an initial business idea, qualifying a client, let me explain qualifying a client, a lot of sales people treat all the their clients equally and will make sales no matter how big or small or how time consuming. Good sales people qualify their clients, in other words they decide which clients are worth their while based on services or products they can offer, as well as basing their decision on potential gains.
The most common form of qualifying clients is using a business plan to formalise and evaluate clients or opportunities in business. Here comes the fun stuff.
Steps involved in formulating a business plan.
Step 1 Define a the initial concept,
Your concept could be any general ideal that you have or would like to implement for example a new product or service, a better product or service – improving on current products with improved quality, price, features, reliability, speed or convenience. Your idea could involve taking a product or service to a new geographical area to a new demographic that is currently underserved. For example 28 years ago a man named Grant started a franchise of Nashua in Bloemfontein today he is a multimillionaire using an idea that was not new or unique at the time, he simply had the monopoly in his area. Or you could use the concept of a client you wish to target, an element of the business plan I have become particularly familiar with and have found very useful.
Define your concept.
1. What do you plan to do
2. What need you plan to meet
3. What industry you plan to operate in
4. Why you are different or better than the current players
Obviously this will need to be elaborated on but I will leave that to you
Step 2 Research
The best sales people and businessmen in the world understand that research is probably the most important part of successfully realising your concept. Many people avoid the hard work and think that they know the industry or market enough.
Six factors to take into account when conduction your research. This can be implemented when researching a new business idea a target market for a band or client you wish to target basically, it can be implemented when looking to obtain a buy in from a specific target regarding a specific service or product.
The six factors
1. The industry, gaining an understanding of dynamic forces effecting the industry in which the business will operate.
2. The market, research the preferences and characteristics of of the customers you are targeting
3. Competitors, getting insight into the quality and quantity of competitors of the market in which you plan to operate
4. Collaborators, researching and understanding who you could work with/ partner with.
5. Your product or service, investigating how your product or service will be created and delivered and whether it will be truly unique.
6. Your company model, gaining insight into the options around a profit and operating profit model for the business.
While we’re on the subject of an operating model, I could mention, always keep to your mission. Don’t be afraid to evolve but stay focussed on your vision, don’t lose sight of where you come from and where you wish to go. This will not only keep you motivated but will also make it easier to market yourself and your concept.
Step 3 refine and re-evaluate
The next step is to take all your knowledge that you have gained through your research and redefine the idea minimizing risks, and capitalising on potential gains. This method can be used when dealing with clients as it can provide you with solutions to problem they may be faceing based on you service or product offering.
Here is a time you would focus on business opportunity within the industry, what are the barriers to entry in the industry, in sales you would say who are the gate keepers, what stops you from talking to the decision maker.
Here would be your time to go back to your vision using your new research ideas and tweak ideas.
Step 4 writing the business plan.
Once you have your concept and research under the belt, writing the business plan is pretty easy. Firstly however it has to be said that all the sections are interrelated and cannot be written in isolation, each should be written by people who are fully aware of the contents and intricacies of the other areas of the plan so that the different sections are integrated.
There are 11 headings to consider when writing your business plan, starting with a table of contents. Basically this contains the main headings of your plan. I’m not going to dwell on this it’s pretty straight forward.
2. Executive summary, This is probably the most crucial part of the business plan, as many business plan readers will read the executive summary and then decided whether to proceed further or discard the plan. It is important to keep in mind that the executive summary should be written last and should not exceed two pages. The executive summary must summarise the most important points. For example what, where, when, why and how much.
3. General company description, when doing this for sales use this section to write about the company you are targeting. The general company description is used to give a high level overview on the company and the business it engages in.
This should include the name of the company the type of legal entity who are the owners and what significant assets it is holding. It should also include a mission statement, the companies goals and objectives, the main features of the industry and the most important strengths and core competencies.
4. The opportunity, industry and market, the section of the business plan requires you to communicate how you are planning on entering the industry, the market and the opportunity from the systematic research you conducted before writing you business plan.
For the opportunity you would look at factors like where is the gap in the market, what has given rise to the gap, how was the gap identified and how will the gap be filled. Obviously this is particularly important when trying to obtain buy in for a service offering or product you are trying to sell and if you are making money you are selling a product this applies to all aspects of life.
For the industry it is important to focus on what are the barriers to entry, are the speed bumps in the road, How much power do the customers have, how much power do the suppliers have, are there substitute offerings for product service, who are the competitors and how strong are they, what are the major changes effecting the industry.
For market it is important to keep in mind the size of the market, how fast the market is growing what percentage share of the market you will have and what are the major trends in the market.
5. your strategy, it is important to communicate how you would compete in your chosen market, this is an important factor in sales as it allows you the opportunity to put forward ideas regarding benefits of your service or product. For your strategy it is important keep in mind the focus of the business: broad mass market of a specific niche. And to put emphasis on how your business will succeed in the market. What is unique about your business or service offering? What added value does it bring?
6. Business model, the business model is the profit making engine of business. Here the are five factors to take into account:
1. The source of revenue
2. The major costs involved in generating revenue
3. The profitability of the business
4. The investment required to get the business up an running
5. The critical success factors.
7. Team management and organization, this section requires you to describe the people behind the business, this is particularly important in sales as it provides you with a source of contact details, who are the correct people to talk to i.e.: the decision makers, however for looking at starting a organization this section is where you would put detailed descriptions of the organizations structure, the founders and who is in charge of what.
8. Marketing Plan, Gareth pointed out in his blog recently that marketing is the most important factor of running a business, there are various factors of marketing so lets not forget that we need to market ourselves. However focussing on the formal aspects for marketing these are the factors one needs to keep in mind.
The marketing plan defines all of the components of the marketing strategy; it must draw on market research. Factors involved are: The product, why does it add value? The target market, who are they? Where are they? etc. The positioning of the product or service. The pricing strategy, I was watching the apprentice the other day and price was the factor wthat got one of the contestants fired they just didn’t understand their market and the pricing required.
9. Operational plan, this is where you explain the daily operations of the business, it location, equipment, people processes and surrounding environment. This is a great tool in sales as it enhances your opportunity to make sales by understanding you customers’ environment. This understanding can also assist you to build better relationships with you customer.
10. Financial plan, is a reasonable estimate of your company’s financial future, Key factors here are: start up expenses, a 12 month profit and loss projection, a 12 month cash flow projection, a projected balance sheet and a break even calculation.
11. Appendix, the appendix includes additional documents that the reader may want to refer to.
So there you have it another exciting addition to my blog, hope you found this interesting please give me feedback as I am still evaluating which direction I would like to take this.
I worked in sales for eight months and only when I started my new job was I introduced to business plans. Selling like everything involves work, you get different types of salesmen but one thing I can tell you they all have in common, is that they all feel they are the best.
Being in a recruitment role however I have interviewed a lot of salesmen and I can say without a doubt that the most successful salesmen are the ones that do their homework. This can be done in the form of a business plan. A business plan can be useful in formalizing an initial business idea, qualifying a client, let me explain qualifying a client, a lot of sales people treat all the their clients equally and will make sales no matter how big or small or how time consuming. Good sales people qualify their clients, in other words they decide which clients are worth their while based on services or products they can offer, as well as basing their decision on potential gains.
The most common form of qualifying clients is using a business plan to formalise and evaluate clients or opportunities in business. Here comes the fun stuff.
Steps involved in formulating a business plan.
Step 1 Define a the initial concept,
Your concept could be any general ideal that you have or would like to implement for example a new product or service, a better product or service – improving on current products with improved quality, price, features, reliability, speed or convenience. Your idea could involve taking a product or service to a new geographical area to a new demographic that is currently underserved. For example 28 years ago a man named Grant started a franchise of Nashua in Bloemfontein today he is a multimillionaire using an idea that was not new or unique at the time, he simply had the monopoly in his area. Or you could use the concept of a client you wish to target, an element of the business plan I have become particularly familiar with and have found very useful.
Define your concept.
1. What do you plan to do
2. What need you plan to meet
3. What industry you plan to operate in
4. Why you are different or better than the current players
Obviously this will need to be elaborated on but I will leave that to you
Step 2 Research
The best sales people and businessmen in the world understand that research is probably the most important part of successfully realising your concept. Many people avoid the hard work and think that they know the industry or market enough.
Six factors to take into account when conduction your research. This can be implemented when researching a new business idea a target market for a band or client you wish to target basically, it can be implemented when looking to obtain a buy in from a specific target regarding a specific service or product.
The six factors
1. The industry, gaining an understanding of dynamic forces effecting the industry in which the business will operate.
2. The market, research the preferences and characteristics of of the customers you are targeting
3. Competitors, getting insight into the quality and quantity of competitors of the market in which you plan to operate
4. Collaborators, researching and understanding who you could work with/ partner with.
5. Your product or service, investigating how your product or service will be created and delivered and whether it will be truly unique.
6. Your company model, gaining insight into the options around a profit and operating profit model for the business.
While we’re on the subject of an operating model, I could mention, always keep to your mission. Don’t be afraid to evolve but stay focussed on your vision, don’t lose sight of where you come from and where you wish to go. This will not only keep you motivated but will also make it easier to market yourself and your concept.
Step 3 refine and re-evaluate
The next step is to take all your knowledge that you have gained through your research and redefine the idea minimizing risks, and capitalising on potential gains. This method can be used when dealing with clients as it can provide you with solutions to problem they may be faceing based on you service or product offering.
Here is a time you would focus on business opportunity within the industry, what are the barriers to entry in the industry, in sales you would say who are the gate keepers, what stops you from talking to the decision maker.
Here would be your time to go back to your vision using your new research ideas and tweak ideas.
Step 4 writing the business plan.
Once you have your concept and research under the belt, writing the business plan is pretty easy. Firstly however it has to be said that all the sections are interrelated and cannot be written in isolation, each should be written by people who are fully aware of the contents and intricacies of the other areas of the plan so that the different sections are integrated.
There are 11 headings to consider when writing your business plan, starting with a table of contents. Basically this contains the main headings of your plan. I’m not going to dwell on this it’s pretty straight forward.
2. Executive summary, This is probably the most crucial part of the business plan, as many business plan readers will read the executive summary and then decided whether to proceed further or discard the plan. It is important to keep in mind that the executive summary should be written last and should not exceed two pages. The executive summary must summarise the most important points. For example what, where, when, why and how much.
3. General company description, when doing this for sales use this section to write about the company you are targeting. The general company description is used to give a high level overview on the company and the business it engages in.
This should include the name of the company the type of legal entity who are the owners and what significant assets it is holding. It should also include a mission statement, the companies goals and objectives, the main features of the industry and the most important strengths and core competencies.
4. The opportunity, industry and market, the section of the business plan requires you to communicate how you are planning on entering the industry, the market and the opportunity from the systematic research you conducted before writing you business plan.
For the opportunity you would look at factors like where is the gap in the market, what has given rise to the gap, how was the gap identified and how will the gap be filled. Obviously this is particularly important when trying to obtain buy in for a service offering or product you are trying to sell and if you are making money you are selling a product this applies to all aspects of life.
For the industry it is important to focus on what are the barriers to entry, are the speed bumps in the road, How much power do the customers have, how much power do the suppliers have, are there substitute offerings for product service, who are the competitors and how strong are they, what are the major changes effecting the industry.
For market it is important to keep in mind the size of the market, how fast the market is growing what percentage share of the market you will have and what are the major trends in the market.
5. your strategy, it is important to communicate how you would compete in your chosen market, this is an important factor in sales as it allows you the opportunity to put forward ideas regarding benefits of your service or product. For your strategy it is important keep in mind the focus of the business: broad mass market of a specific niche. And to put emphasis on how your business will succeed in the market. What is unique about your business or service offering? What added value does it bring?
6. Business model, the business model is the profit making engine of business. Here the are five factors to take into account:
1. The source of revenue
2. The major costs involved in generating revenue
3. The profitability of the business
4. The investment required to get the business up an running
5. The critical success factors.
7. Team management and organization, this section requires you to describe the people behind the business, this is particularly important in sales as it provides you with a source of contact details, who are the correct people to talk to i.e.: the decision makers, however for looking at starting a organization this section is where you would put detailed descriptions of the organizations structure, the founders and who is in charge of what.
8. Marketing Plan, Gareth pointed out in his blog recently that marketing is the most important factor of running a business, there are various factors of marketing so lets not forget that we need to market ourselves. However focussing on the formal aspects for marketing these are the factors one needs to keep in mind.
The marketing plan defines all of the components of the marketing strategy; it must draw on market research. Factors involved are: The product, why does it add value? The target market, who are they? Where are they? etc. The positioning of the product or service. The pricing strategy, I was watching the apprentice the other day and price was the factor wthat got one of the contestants fired they just didn’t understand their market and the pricing required.
9. Operational plan, this is where you explain the daily operations of the business, it location, equipment, people processes and surrounding environment. This is a great tool in sales as it enhances your opportunity to make sales by understanding you customers’ environment. This understanding can also assist you to build better relationships with you customer.
10. Financial plan, is a reasonable estimate of your company’s financial future, Key factors here are: start up expenses, a 12 month profit and loss projection, a 12 month cash flow projection, a projected balance sheet and a break even calculation.
11. Appendix, the appendix includes additional documents that the reader may want to refer to.
So there you have it another exciting addition to my blog, hope you found this interesting please give me feedback as I am still evaluating which direction I would like to take this.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Setting goals and working backwards
Introduction
Eight months ago I was working in clothing sales as a sub agent; man I was going to make it rich this was the big time my first real job. The big break! So knowing nothing about clothing sales I tried to soak up as much information about sales as I could, I was going to do it I had found my niche, I was a born salesmen this was what my whole life had been building up to.
Subsequently it was not all as wonderful as I had expected, When you get into sales you are told that in sales there is generally a three month cycle, to find clients make a sale and three months later you get paid, well thirty or sixty days depending on the contract. Now you’re also told that you make your money in commission. No problem, who needs a salary I’m going to be great at this. But it’s not all fun and games.
Yes you make commission but then you use that commission to pay for you phone allowance and your petrol before you know it you’re earning nothing. Now I was expecting this and thus it did not perturb me because i thought all I needed to do is get the ball rolling and this will gradually get better, which they did in fact.
But was it good enough?
After eight months of just making a profit over my expenses, I started talking about the possibility of making a move to the big city Johannesburg. I mean here I am an educated, well spoken, dangerously good looking healthy young man earning less than a waiter. Now although this may be a hippie’s dream it certainly was not mine.
So I decided it was time to make a move, get a fresh start make it happen for myself, remove the safety net that my parents were offering. My next challenge was a direction, not geographically but what did I want to do, what was I good at. I wasn’t bad at selling but it wasn’t working for me in Cape Town what would change if I did it in Johannesburg? I needed something new, so I sent out feelers, started to e-mail my CV everywhere I could, and I got a few responses from various sales positions but coming from the dark place I was, I decided it just wasn’t worth it. Then a few responses came back regarding estate agencies and I thought maybe I could do that I mean it doesn’t take a genius and I had had some exposure to it in the past.
Then finally through a series of fortunate events I was offered a job in recruitment. I bit the bullet and took it not thinking twice, I turned out to be quite a good venture for me as I seem to have a bit of a talent for it.
From this experience however I realised it doesn’t really matter what you do you need to put in the work unless you a model or something.
My point is arriving here in a new city in job I knew nothing about, I realised I had no option I had to set goals and ensure I achieved them or I would be in deep trouble financially and emotionally cause nothing crushes your spirit more than being unemployed with bills to pay and no safety net.
Fortunately I had someone who worked with me who took me under his wing and taught me all about goal setting. I must admit I had never done this before even in school my goal was generally to do the least work possible, but life isn’t like school, you can’t just float by. So first he said what are my goals? Now you start this on a large scale mine at the time was to get my flat furnished and buy a new car. In order to do this I would need X amount of money. So in order to aquire that amount of money I would need to complete X amount of deals a month at work, in order to do that I would have to market and sell to X amount of people per week, per day and I would need to perform various tasks every X amount of hours. In other words I works backwards well it’s been six months since I had this told to me and I now have a very nicely furnished flat and a very nice new car.
Give it a try it works
Set goals and work backwards!
Eight months ago I was working in clothing sales as a sub agent; man I was going to make it rich this was the big time my first real job. The big break! So knowing nothing about clothing sales I tried to soak up as much information about sales as I could, I was going to do it I had found my niche, I was a born salesmen this was what my whole life had been building up to.
Subsequently it was not all as wonderful as I had expected, When you get into sales you are told that in sales there is generally a three month cycle, to find clients make a sale and three months later you get paid, well thirty or sixty days depending on the contract. Now you’re also told that you make your money in commission. No problem, who needs a salary I’m going to be great at this. But it’s not all fun and games.
Yes you make commission but then you use that commission to pay for you phone allowance and your petrol before you know it you’re earning nothing. Now I was expecting this and thus it did not perturb me because i thought all I needed to do is get the ball rolling and this will gradually get better, which they did in fact.
But was it good enough?
After eight months of just making a profit over my expenses, I started talking about the possibility of making a move to the big city Johannesburg. I mean here I am an educated, well spoken, dangerously good looking healthy young man earning less than a waiter. Now although this may be a hippie’s dream it certainly was not mine.
So I decided it was time to make a move, get a fresh start make it happen for myself, remove the safety net that my parents were offering. My next challenge was a direction, not geographically but what did I want to do, what was I good at. I wasn’t bad at selling but it wasn’t working for me in Cape Town what would change if I did it in Johannesburg? I needed something new, so I sent out feelers, started to e-mail my CV everywhere I could, and I got a few responses from various sales positions but coming from the dark place I was, I decided it just wasn’t worth it. Then a few responses came back regarding estate agencies and I thought maybe I could do that I mean it doesn’t take a genius and I had had some exposure to it in the past.
Then finally through a series of fortunate events I was offered a job in recruitment. I bit the bullet and took it not thinking twice, I turned out to be quite a good venture for me as I seem to have a bit of a talent for it.
From this experience however I realised it doesn’t really matter what you do you need to put in the work unless you a model or something.
My point is arriving here in a new city in job I knew nothing about, I realised I had no option I had to set goals and ensure I achieved them or I would be in deep trouble financially and emotionally cause nothing crushes your spirit more than being unemployed with bills to pay and no safety net.
Fortunately I had someone who worked with me who took me under his wing and taught me all about goal setting. I must admit I had never done this before even in school my goal was generally to do the least work possible, but life isn’t like school, you can’t just float by. So first he said what are my goals? Now you start this on a large scale mine at the time was to get my flat furnished and buy a new car. In order to do this I would need X amount of money. So in order to aquire that amount of money I would need to complete X amount of deals a month at work, in order to do that I would have to market and sell to X amount of people per week, per day and I would need to perform various tasks every X amount of hours. In other words I works backwards well it’s been six months since I had this told to me and I now have a very nicely furnished flat and a very nice new car.
Give it a try it works
Set goals and work backwards!
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