Maximise Potential

What does it take to make failure your friend. Ultimately your success will be related to how fast you overcome failure. The Success Journey by John Maxwell is a book I enjoyed which talks about the steps needed to overcome failure. Here they are with my take on each. Appreciate the value of failure    – All successful people have encountered heart breaking obstacles before winning. There is no success without failure. Learn from every failure and understand that it is never final. Don’t take failure personally   – Even if you get fired don’t let that affect your self-esteem. So many times we don’t get the promotion we wanted. This is life and it is difficult. Let’s not make it more difficult by putting ourselves down.    Let failure redirect you  – This means you need to persevere having the larger vision for your life in sight. Never lose the big picture in the midst of temporary failures. Keep a sense of humor – You can do this by taking...

What does it take to grow in life. Ultimately your success will be related to how fast you grow as a person. The Success Journey by John Maxwell is a book I enjoyed which talks about the steps needed to grow. Here they are with my take on each. Choose a life of growth  – Any change in your life requires an unequivocal decision. So you have to commit yourself to a life of continuous growth. Read everything you can in your field, identify the experts in your field and get in touch with them. Listen to all the podcasts and read on philosophy. Start Growing Today – Do it now is the mantra of a successful person. Don’t wait for lightening to hit to start this process. Anything worthwhile takes effort and it requires action today. So start today on your growth plan and take action to implement it.   Be teachable – You have to think like a beginner. All successful people never think they have learnt it all. As John Wooden said “It is what you learn after you know it all that...

“What Matters Now” by Gary Hamel is a wonderful book on management and leadership. He is one of the most effective thought leaders in the world. In his book he identified the reason for Apples success. I believe if we follow these principles we can become better innovators. Here are the 6 ways to become more innovative with my take on each. Be Passionate –  Unless you are passionate about what you do there is no way you can be innovative. You need to have total belief in your product and that passion will result in better market share. Wear your passion on your sleeve. Lead Don’t Follow – If you want to be talked about then you need to really lead and not follow. This doesn’t mean you are always original. Apple didn’t invent the mp3 player but they led with the greatest design which stunned everyone. Even the staircases in apple stores are designed with finesse. Be unreasonable – Of course to do something out of the ordinary you need to be unreasonable. Don’t limit your vis...

We all want to feel vibrant, enthusiastic and charged up for our lives. The Charge is a nice book by Brendon Burchard and it is a decent read. Here are the 7 keys I liked for living a charged life with my take on each. Chargers are open and observant in the moment –  Most of the time we live in the past or are too focused on the future. However when you think of it all we have is the present moment. Make the most of it and enjoy. Your present moments define your future. Take action today don’t wait for tomorrow and never look at the bad events of the past. Chargers are future oriented – I take this to mean creating an exciting picture about the possibilities of your future. Only you can control your thoughts so keep your mind totally focused on your goals. Goals are inherently future oriented and when you always think about your goals you are bound to be charged for the future. It also provides hope. Chargers are challenge seekers – The only way life can be exciting is to c...

What are the keys to performing under pressure? It is one of the keys to achieve big in life. I like the book “Performing under Pressure” by Hendrie Weisinger and J.D. Pawliw-Fry. It has a nice process for performing great when the chips are down. It is called COTE which stands for Confidence, Optimism, Tenacity Enthusiasm. Let’s analyze them one by one Confidence – Self-confidence is achieved when we are competent in what we do. For example if somebody asked me to play violin my confidence will be low because I have no experience there. However if I am asked to speak about project management I will have great confidence. Some of the ways to stay confident are by exercising, taking responsibility for your actions, being open to criticism and focusing your efforts in your strength areas. Optimism – The single quality that characterizes super stars in business like Bill Gates is optimism. It is a great world view to have. Some of the ways to develop optimism are having an opti...

I like Lee Iacocca’s wonderful book “Where have all the leaders gone.” In the book he has a chapter on 9 C's of Leadership . Here they are with my take on each  Curiosity - Curiosity is the hallmark of a creative leader. A leader can be curious by understanding what his team wants and also communicating the vision with crystal clear clarity. A curious leader asks a lot of questions of the team. They constantly learn and show interest in others ideas.  Creativity - Creativity is the not the sole domain of artists. All of us are creative. To be more creative a leader should engage the right brain more. They should have an open mind and be flexible in changing decisions. They should engage in brainstorming sessions with the team to elicit great ideas. Communication - Of course communication is the number one skill of a leader. A leader with a vision but who can’t communicate will not go far. The ability to make the communication simple is the key to effective leade...

Success is a wonderful word we all want to be associated with. I like the book “The Success Journey” by John Maxwell. The reason I like it the way the matter of success is dealt with. It is not only about wealth or health. John Maxwell defined success as knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential and sowing seeds that benefit others. This is a wonderful way to define success and ensures it is not a destination. I like one chapter which talks about the Road map for success. Each letter of the word has been expanded with my take on each Recognize your dream – Of course the starting point of success is to determine what your dream is. What is it that you want out of life and what do you want it to stand for. Taking sometime to decide this is the first step on your success journey. Observe your starting point – If you want to lose weight the first thing you do is weigh yourself. Some of the questions you can ask are how great a distance you have to...

The future is exciting for many people but for others it is also a cause for anxiety. With so much talk about Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Internet of Things and Robots who may take over our jobs this is not an easy time. The future irrespective of which era we lived in is uncertain. I still think the opportunities available to all of us are enormous provided we ride successfully in this era of uncertainty.I have identified the following 10 keys to thrive in the future of uncertainty and take charge of your career. Be abreast of the trends – With the explosion in data, information, technology, change and competition it is absolutely imperative that you ride this wave of change by being well informed on what the future looks like. What you are doing today may not work in another 5 years. One skill which will never become obsolete is the ability to move others and increasing your sales skills is vital in the new era. So be on the lookout for changes and disrupt yourself ...

The School of Greatness by Lewis Howe is a nice book and will get you motivated to action. Most of it is common sense and if you have read any book on success you probably know all of this. It is a good reminder on what is needed to live a great life. Here are the major principles outlined with my take on each. Create a Vision – The first step as always is creating a compelling vision for your life. Go deep on what exactly you want out of life. Write down what you want and look at it daily. Some authors suggest having pictures of everything you want in life and look at it daily. The basic premise is to have a visual view of where you want your life to be in 5 year’s time. Turn Adversity into Advantage  – This is not an entirely new concept. Napoleon Hill famously said “Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equivalent benefit.” There are so many people who have overcome enormous handicaps and irrespective of whatever you are facing there are millions who have had it w...