What’s the Secret to Your Success?

By Michael S. Hyatt ( President & CEO Thomas Nelson Publishers )

As a CEO, I get asked this a lot. And, I'm always a little embarrassed by it. For the most part, I get the question from people who are in their twenties. They want to know “the secret path to the top.”

This past weekend, I received an email from one of my readers. He started, “I have an MBA, but I must have missed the course on Fast-Tracking My Career. If you had to boil it down to one thing, Mr. Hyatt, what would you recommend to a young, aspiring person such as myself?”

I'm not sure I could boil it down to one thing. Life isn’t usually that simple. But if I really, really had to boil it down to one thing, I would say this: responsiveness.

So many people I meet are unresponsive. They don’t return their phone calls promptly. They don’t answer their emails quickly. They don’t complete their assignments on time. They promise to do something and never follow through. They have to be reminded, prodded, and nagged. This behavior creates work for everyone else and eats into their own productivity. Sadly, they seem oblivious to it.

When I was a kid, we used to play “Tag.” The objective was simple: keep from becoming “It.” If someone tagged you (touched you), you became “it” until you tagged someone else. Whoever was “it” when the game ended, lost.

Business is very similar. People “tag” us in countless ways every day. They place calls. They send emails. They mention something to us in a meeting. Suddenly, we are “it.” And, just like the game, if you stay “it” too long, you lose. The only winning strategy is to respond quickly and make someone else “it.”

Reality is that we live in an “instant world.” People want instant results. They don’t want to wait. And if they have to wait on you, their frustration and resentment grows. They begin to see you as an obstacle to getting their work done. If that happens, it will begin to impact your reputation. Pretty soon people start saying, “I can never get a timely response from him,” or “When I send her an email, I feel like it goes into a black hole,” or worse, your colleagues just roll their eyes and sigh at the mention of your name.

Yet, these are the very people who will push you up or pull you down. You cannot succeed without the support of your peers and subordinates. (Go back and re-read that sentence again.)

As I was making my way to the top, my former boss, Sam Moore, used to ask everyone I worked with, “What’s it like to work with Mike?” “How’s he really doing?” “Do you think he could take on more responsibility?” In responding to him, all they had was their experience with me. If I hadn’t been responsive to them, how do you think they would have responded to his questions? “More responsibility? Are you kidding me? He can’t handle what he has now!” It wouldn’t take too many candid responses like that to tank my career.

And yet this happens to people all the time. I can’t tell you how many meetings I have sat in where people are complaining about someone else’s work habits. “He always waits until the last minute.” “She never plans ahead.” “I can never get him to respond to my emails.” You may think that the people who are making these comments are too far down the food chain to matter. I can assure you they aren’t. They have a way of bubbling to the top where the decisions about your career are made.

The truth is, you are building your reputation—your brand—one response at a time. People are shaping their view of you by how you respond to them. If you are slow, they assume you are incompetent and over your head. If you respond quickly, they assume you are competent and on top of your work. Their perception, whether you realize it or not, will determine how fast your career advances and how high you go. You can’t afford to be unresponsive. It is a career-killer.

My basic rule is this: respond immediately unless there is a good reason to wait. Obviously, this isn’t always possible, especially since I spend so much time in meetings. Nevertheless, I rarely let messages sit longer than a day. Twenty-four hours is the outside edge. If you can’t respond now, then at least acknowledge that you have received the message: “I received your message. I don’t have time to give it the attention it deserves right now, but you can expect to hear from me before the end of the day tomorrow.”

The great thing about being responsive is that it will quickly differentiate you from your peers. People love doing business with responsive people. Nothing will advance your career faster than this.

Quoted from www.michaelhyatt.com

The Success Factor

By Shirley

The Definition of Success? Quite simply it depends. Do you mean ... ?

- Business success

- Successful women and men

- Successful marriages or relationships

- Successful families

- Social success

- Financial success

- Successful career

How we view the world will depend on how we define success. Success can mean different things to different people.

A success story for one person will differ greatly from a success story of another individual. One person may value a career over relationships. A success story regarding a professional achievement will mean more to them that someone who has a successful family life. This, of course may change over time. As we go through life, success and our goals change, depending on circumstances and personal growth.

Success and setting goals.

Most people want to be successful in life and to be considered a success by others. You need to know how you define success. Only once you have completed this exercise, can you then set goals that will result in your success, and identify those critical success factors that you can relate to.

All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. Now I see that I should have been more specific. Lily Tomlin

If you do not know what your goals are, how will you know when you have achieved them? Success is about moving towards what you deem to be important in your life.

Dont compare yourself to anyone else it detracts you from your own goals. What someone else is striving towards may not be what your ultimate goal is.

Once the goals are set, then the hard work begins in order to reach those goals. Richard Branson started his entrepreneurial career from a houseboat. It was through vision, determination, knowing what he wanted to achieve and continually striving towards these dreams, that he reached them.

Success comes in all different shapes and sizes with one common denominator - success is important and it takes work to reach.

Success and money.

Success does not always have to involve money. There are millions of people in the world who may not have money, but they are happy and hence successful in themselves.

Money alone cannot measure success. Does the person who has money feel fulfilled and at peace with themselves? The answer to this question will determine whether or not success has been attained.

The Success Factor.

Regardless of what your specific success is, there are ways to surpass your goal. We have put together success factors that can guide you towards success.

There is no better gratification than being successful. Accept that you are in for some hard work but the results will be incredible. Use the success tips on this website as guidelines and step outside the box.

Quoted from www.the-success-factor.com

The 101 Percent Formula for Entrepreneurial Success

By Jeff Burrows ( Professor of Entrepreneurship at Trump University )

If you are starting a new business, the day will finally come to stop planning and start interacting with your customers. That day is of critical importance. Ultimately, it will determine your success or failure. To get the most from that moment, I recommend an approach that I call giving your customers 100 percent of your promise, plus an additional one percent. How can you deliver101 percent of your promise? Let me explain.

You start by answering this question:

What is my promise to my customers?

Let's say, for example, that you are starting a company that will install swimming pools. If that is your business, this might be your promise:

My company will install only the most durable, beautiful, state-of-the-art pools.

That is a good promise. But it is not enough, because you also need to fulfill:

Your promise plus one percent.

Now, what do I mean by your promise plus one percent?

Let me return to the example of a company that installs swimming pools. If that is your business, you know that deciding to have a swimming pool installed is a very big moment in your customers' lives. But it is also a dangerous moment for you, because your customers are so focused on the idea of having a pool, they will forget that you are going to have to dig a big ditch first. They will forget that your trucks are going to back up and make a mess of the yard. They never stop to think that they are going to be scared silly because their kids are going to want to run around in the work area.

If you can identify and manage that extra one percent of issues, you are going to stand out as a company and make profits.

You can add that extra one percent of value by explaining the whole construction process to your customers, so they will know what to expect. You can introduce all your workers to your customers, so they will not be alarmed to see strangers on their property. You can take extra measures to ensure their kids' safety. And you can completeyour work in a way so that when your pools are installed, your customers will say, --Wow, my yard and landscaping look even nicer now than when the pool company came!--

That is delivering on your promise plus one percent. And it will make all the difference in your company's ability to generate profits and outperform the competition. Your satisfied customers are going to tell people what a wonderful job you did. They will be handing out your business cards to their friends. They will be happy to give you testimonials.

Now, you might say that a pool business is unusual and that the things I say above don't translate to your company. But the principle of adding an extra one percent does translate. Have you ever had a terrific car-buying experience, for example, or a terrible one? If you have, you know that you have told other people.

So build your promise plus one percent plan, and remember to use it in lead generation. Run ads that say that you will care for your customers' landscaping as though it were your own, or that you are a caring, family-run enterprise. The more effectively you communicate how well you manage that extra one percent, the faster your enterprise will prosper.

Jeff Burrows is professor of entrepreneurship at Trump University. This post is adapted from the great success principles that Jeff presents in The Wealth Builder's Blueprint premium self-instructional course from Trump University.

To master the art of starting your own company, be sure to enroll in The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program at Trump University.Classes forming now.

Quoted from www.trumpuniversity.com

Career Success Article: The Secret Key to Mastering Work/Life Balance

Linda M.Lopekevv

Is there such a thing to be had as work/life balance?

Of course there is!

But it helps to understand what is really meant by it in order to manage your commitments toward having any hope of achieving it.

Like “family values”, work/life balance is very easy to talk about and quite a bit more challenging to actually live. Each requires substantial personal commitment, particularly if you want to be successful.

Experiencing work/life balance probably requires an adjustment to your way of thinking. Most people think in one dimension following a linear thought pattern. They see things as absolute and respond only one way, either positive or negative. We can or we can’t do it. Let’s call this first wave thinking.

Some people use expanded thought patterns. They see and compare things from two sides, both positive and negative, and make choices on the basis of analysis. For them the issue is one of “maybe we can AND maybe we can’t”. This is second wave thinking.

People who achieve work/life balance are third wave thinkers. They use complete thought patterns, compare things from multiple angles and see all sides and perspectives. They look at things from the inside out and the outside in. Successful people are almost always grand masters of third-wave thinking. Their approach is always “how can we make this happen?”

Here’s how this translates to the challenge of achieving work/life balance. First-wave thinkers believe it means trading 8 hours of work for the guarantee of an equal 8 hours of time to devote to having a personal life. The second-wave thinkers see work/life balance as 8 hours of work buying 8 hours of personal life but they are willing to invest some or all of their personal time in additional work when they feel it’s the only way open to the reward of success. Sadly, neither one of these groups experience much work/life balance regardless of the number of hours logged at the office or spent at home.

Third-wave thinkers, on the other hand, see that work/life balance is not a matter of equal time for both pursuits. Rather, it is a matter of accepting that to give more to your work, you must get more from your life, and to give more to your life, you must get more from your work. The values actually added and subtracted are always changing as they are in constant motion. And, as long as you remain aware of where you are at any given time in your work and in your personal life, you will always be able to maintain a fine, healthy, and satisfying balance. Welcome to professional nirvana!

To sum up, the people who achieve work/life balance have stopped looking at work as simply a means of making a living and have realized it’s one of the elemental ingredients of making a life. So, the next time you are experiencing dissatisfaction at work and unhappiness in your life and are ready to blame it on a lack of work/life balance, stop and ask yourself this important question, “How do I want it to become and what personal actions will carry me there?”. Then, as they say in the Nike commercial, “Just do it!”

Quoted from www.wiki.cheezhead.com

Bill Gates: Secrets to Success

By David B. Bohl

There is a BBC News article about Bill Gates. In this article he says: “One of the most important changes in the last 30 years is that digital technology has transformed almost everyone into an information worker. A solid working knowledge of productivity software and other IT tools has become a basic foundation for success in virtually every career; beyond that, I don’t think that you can overemphasize the importance of having a good background in math and science.”

“One of the most important changes of the last 30 years is that digital technology has transformed almost everyone into an information worker.”

That’s what Bill Gates wrote in an BBC News article.

He went on:

“A solid working knowledge of productivity software and other IT tools has become a basic foundation for success in virtually any career.

Beyond that, however, I don’t think you can overemphasise the importance of having a good background in maths and science.”

Quoted from www.slowdownfast.com

Ute’s Personal Recipes

My greatest success in business:

“There have been quite a few successes over the years, but the one that means most to me is having been able to grow my first venture a few years ago. It was a language training business whose success exceeded all my expectations! It still gives me a huge sense of achievement since at the time I was also a carer and sole bread winner with three children to look after. Luckily I had a brilliant mentor who made me realise how much strength I have and that I can achieve anything I want, by believing in myself and taking one small step at a time.

My greatest challenge in business:

These days I enjoy everything I do- work and life to me are integrated rather than separate areas. However I am like many busy mums in business who have to juggle different commitments and can find it hard to make time for themselves to recharge their batteries. Whenever I feel pressure building up, the first thing I usually do is check whether I need to change the way I manage my time or whether it’s time to say NO! This helps me maintain clarity and enables me to focus and prioritise what’s important.

What I do outside work:

I enjoy reading, travelling, camping, being by the sea, watching old b&w movies, going to music festivals and art exhibitions. I also like meeting people and having good conversations…

How I achieve Work-Life Balance:

What works best for me is to ‘escape’ and have real ‘time out’ by taking frequent short holidays. Occasionally I also take off my watch on a day off- I then do whatever I want to do, but without any kind of plan. That’s ‘down time’ and total freedom in my world and gives me the balance I need. My husband had kidney cancer 3 years ago, and so these days I try to adjust my workload depending on what’s happening in my life.

Words of Advice for women in business:

My favourite quote is ‘It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves!’ by mountaineer Sir Edmund Hilary. At times, achieving success in business can seem like a mountain to conquer, especially in the early days, or when you are experiencing a setback.

My top tips for women in business are:

1 - follow your vision

2 - cultivate a positive frame of mind

3 - be flexible and open to new opportunities

4 - take one step at a time, and

5- always be true to yourself!

Quoted from www.successnetwork.wordpress.com

Priorities, life goals, and career dissatisfaction

By Dr Rob Yeung

As a business psychologist, I often coach people not only on issues at work, but also more broadly in their lives too.

Quite often, my coachee might express dissatisfaction about a specific issue at work - perhaps bad relationships with a colleague, poor promotion prospects, or team conflict. But then it frequently turns out that they actually have some measure of dissatisfaction about their work/life balance too.

Of course many people are driven to succeed. They feel that they have to do well. But are they actually happy doing what they do?

The Tombstone Test is one way of helping people figure out what matters to them. But, to go into more detail, I often find it helpful to help coachees to work through the 'four Ss' of life and career fulfillment:

- Success - the material trappings of doing well at work. So this might be measured in terms of greater responsibility and decision making power, material wealth, a big salary, a corner office, and so on. How much money, responsibility and power do you need? Does more make you actually happier?

- Status - we all have some need for recognition and respect. And some people need status and recognition more than others - perhaps in the form of job titles or the number of people who look up to us at work. How much status do you need? Are you stuck on the treadmill of earning in order to impress other people when the only person you should be trying to impress is (obviously) yourself?

- Satisfaction - the extent to which we actually enjoy our work. Do you honestly love and have a passion for what you do?

- Significance - the extent to which we feel our work is impacting positively on colleagues, the local community, the environment and so on. Is your work creating a legacy for you and the people who matter to you?

It's a cliche that no one on their death bed ever said they wished they'd worked harder. And working through the extent to which you need the 'four Ss' in your work might help you figure out what direction your career should be going in.

Quoted from www.robyeung.blogspot.com

Azim Premji’s Success Recipe (WIPRO’s Chairman)

You should dare to dream, define what you stand for, never lose your zest and curiosity, always strive for excellence, build self confidence, learn to work in teams, take care of yourself, preserve, have a broader social vision and finally never let success go to your head

--

Wipro chairman Azim H Premji, one of India's most successful entrepreneurs, on Friday prescribed a 10-point recipe for success, based on the very lessons he had learnt during his last 35 years in the organisation.

"You should dare to dream, define what you stand for, never lose your zest and curiosity, always strive for excellence, build self confidence, learn to work in teams, take care of yourself, preserve, have a broader social vision and finally never let success go to your head," Premji said.

The Wipro chairman was delivering the convocation address at the 38 the convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Following is the entire text of the convocation address made by Premji:

I am privileged to be with you here today and to share this significant moment of your life.

The convocation marks the culmination of all the endless nights you worked through, all the anxieties you have gone through facing one examination after another and all the preparation you have put in, not only to enter this prestigious institution but also to graduate from it successfully. It is no mean achievement.

Only a handful of the most talented people in the world have shared this success with you. Let me just say that I am very proud of each and every one of you.

I am a little wary about giving you advice- because advice is one thing young people all over the world do not like receiving. I cannot fault you for that.

The world does look very different when it is seen with your eyes. You are filled with enthusiasm and are straining at the leash to get on with life.

And the world is very different from what it was when I was at your age. Never before has the role of technology been so pervasive and so central. The Internet has breached all physical borders and connected the world together like no other force has done before.

For the first time, opportunities for creating wealth in India are at par with the best in world. There is no need for you to sacrifice the joy of remaining in your own country any more.

All opportunities are accompanied by their own challenges. I thought I would share with you a few of the lessons I have learnt in my own life, while loading the transformation at Wipro, from a small company three and a half decades back into a global corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange. I hope you find them useful.

• Lesson # 1: Dare to dream

When I entered Wipro at the age of 21, it was a sudden and unexpected event. I had no warning of what lay ahead of me and I was caught completely unprepared. All I had with me was a dream.

A dream of building a great Organisation. It compensated for my inexperience and I guess, also prevented me from being overwhelmed by the enormity of the task before me.

What I am happy is that we never stopped dreaming. Even when we achieved a position of leadership in every business we operated in India. We now have a dream of becoming one of the top 10 global it service companies.

Many people wonder whether having unrealistic dreams is foolish. My reply to that is dreams by themselves can never be realistic or safe. If they were, they would not be dreams. I do agree that one must have strategies to execute dreams. And, of course, one must slog to transform dreams into reality. But dreams come first.

What saddens me most is to see young, bright people getting completely disillusioned by a few initial setbacks and slowly turning cynical and some of them want to migrate to America in the hope this is the solution.

It requires courage to keep dreaming. And that is when dreams are most needed- not when everything is going right, but when just about everything is going wrong.

• Lesson # 2: Define what you stand for

While success is important, it can become enduring only if it is built on a strong foundation of Values. Define what you stand for as early as possible and do not compromise with it for any reason. Nobody can enjoy the fruits of success if you have to argue with your own conscience.

In Wipro, we defined our Beliefs long before it became a fashion to do so. It not only helped us in becoming more resilient to stand up to crises we faced along the way, but it also helped us in attracting the right kind of people.

Eventually, we realised that our values made eminent business sense. Values help in clarifying what everyone should do or not do in any business situation. It saves enormous time and effort because each issue does not have to be individually debated at length.

But remember that values are meaningful only if you practice them. People may listen to what you say but they will believe what you do. Values are a matter of trust. They must be reflected in each one of your actions. Trust takes a long time to build but can be lost quickly by just one inconsistent act.

• Lesson #3: Never lose your zest and curiosity

All the available knowledge in the world is accelerating at a phenomenal rate. The whole world's codified knowledge base (all documented information in library books and electronic files) doubled every 30 years in the early 20th century.

By the 1970s, the world's knowledge base doubled every seven years. Information researchers predict that by the year 2010, the world's codified knowledge will double every 11 hours.

Remaining on top of what you need to know will become one of the greatest challenges for you.

The natural zest and curiosity for learning is one of the greatest drivers for keeping updated on knowledge. A child's curiosity is insatiable because every new object is a thing of wonder and mystery. The same zest is needed to keep learning new things.

I personally spend at least ten hours every week on reading. If I do not do that, I find myself quickly outdated.

• Lesson # 4: Always strive for excellence

There is a tremendous difference between being good and being excellent in whatever you do. In the world of tomorrow, just being good is not good enough.

One of the greatest advantages of globalisation is that it has brought in completely different standards. Being the best in the country is not enough; one has to be the best in the world. Excellence is a moving target. One has to constantly raise the bar.

In the knowledge-based industries, India has the unique advantage of being a quality leader. just like japan was able to win in the overseas market with its quality leadership in automobile manufacturing, india has been able to do the same in information technology.

At Wipro, we treat quality as the #1 priority. This enabled us not only to become the world's first SEI CMM Level 5 software services company in the world but also a leader in Six Sigma approach to quality in India.

However, even today I am dissatisfied with several things which we are not doing right in the area of customer satisfaction.

Doing something excellently has its own intrinsic joy, which I think is the greatest benefit of Quality.

• Lesson # 5: Build self-confidence

Self-confidence comes from a positive attitude even in adverse situations. Self-confident people assume responsibility for their mistakes and share credit with their team members.

They are able to distinguish between what is in their control and what is not. They do not waste their energies on events that are outside their control and hence they can take setbacks in their stride.

Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

• Lesson # 6: Learn to work in teams

The challenges ahead are so complex that no individual will be able to face them alone. While most of our education is focused in individual strength, teaming with others is equally important. You cannot fire a missile from a canoe. Unless you build a strong network of people with complimentary skills, you will be restricted by your own limitations.

Globalisation has brought in people of different origin, different upbringing and different cultures together. Ability to become an integral part of a cross-cultural team will be a must for your success.

• Lesson # 7 Take care of yourself

The stress that a young person faces today while beginning his or her career is the same as the last generation faced at the time of retirement.

I have myself found that my job has become enormously more complex over the last two or three years. Along with mutual alertness, physical fitness will also assume a great importance in your life.

You must develop your own mechanism for dealing with stress. I have found that a daily jog for me, goes a long way in releasing the pressure and building up energy. You will need lots of energy to deal with the challenges.

Unless you take care of yourself there is no way you can take care of others.

• Lesson # 8: Persevere

Finally, no matter what you decide to do in your life, you must persevere. Keep at it and you will succeed, no matter how hopeless it seems at times. In the last three and half decades, we have gone through many difficult times. But we have found that if we remain true to what we believe in, we can surmount every difficulty that comes in the way.

I remember reading this very touching story on perseverance.

An eight-year-old child heard her parents talking about her little brother. All she knew was that he was very sick and they had no money left. They were moving to a smaller house because they could not afford to stay in the present house after paying the doctor's bills. Only a very costly surgery could save him now and there was no one to loan them the money.

When she heard daddy say to her tearful mother with whispered desperation, 'Only a miracle can save him now', the child went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jar from its hiding place in the closet.

She poured all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully.

Clutching the precious jar tightly, she slipped out the back door and made her way six blocks to the local drug Store. She took a quarter from her jar and placed it on the glass counter.

"And what do you want?" asked the pharmacist. "It's for my little brother," the girl answered back. "He's really, really sick and I want to buy a miracle."

"I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.

"His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my daddy says only a miracle can save him. So how much does a miracle cost?"

"We don't sell miracles here, child. I'm sorry," the pharmacist said, smiling sadly at the little girl.

"Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I can try and get some more. Just tell me how much it costs."

In the shop was a well-dressed customer. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does you brother need?"

"I don't know," she replied with her eyes welling up. "He's really sick and mommy says he needs an operation. But my daddy can't pay for it, so I have brought my savings".

"How much do you have?" asked the man. "One dollar and eleven cents, but I can try and get some more", she answered barely audibly.

"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man. "A dollar and eleven cents -- the exact price of a miracle for little brothers."

He took her money in one hand and held her hand with the other. He said, "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the kind of miracle you need."

That well-dressed man was Dr Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specialising in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn't long before Andrew was home again and doing well.

"That surgery," her mom whispered, "was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?"

The little girl smiled. She knew exactly how much the miracle cost ... one dollar and eleven cents ... plus the faith of a little child.

Perseverance can make miracles happen.

• Lesson # 9: Have a broader social vision

For decades we have been waiting for some one who will help us in 'priming the pump' of the economy.

The government was the logical choice for doing it, but it was strapped for resources. Other countries were willing to give us loans and aids but there was a limit to this.

In the millennium of the mind, knowledge-based industries like Information Technology are in a unique position to earn wealth from outside. While earning is important, we must have mechanisms by which we use it for the larger good of our society.

Through the Azim Premji Foundation, we have targeted over the next 12 months to enrol over a million children, who are out of school due to economic or social reasons.

I personally believe that the greatest gift one can give to others is the gift of education. We who have been so fortunate to receive this gift know how valuable it is.

• Lesson # 10: Never let success go to your head

No matter what we achieve, it is important to remember that we owe this success to many factors and people outside us. This will not only help us in keeping our sense of modesty and humility intact but also help us to retain our sense of proportion and balance.

The moment we allow success to build a feeling or arrogance, we become vulnerable to making bad judgements.

Let me illustrate this with another story:

A lady in faded dress and her husband, dressed in a threadbare suit, walked in without an appointment into the office of the president of the most prestigious educational institution in America.

The secretary frowned at them and said, "He will be busy all day."

"We will wait," said the couple quietly.

The secretary ignored them for hours hoping they will go away. But they did not. Finally, the secretary decided to disturb the president, hoping they will go way quickly once they meet him.

The president took one look at the faded dresses and glared sternly at them. The lady said, "Our son studied here and he was very happy. A year ago, he was killed in an accident. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial for him on the campus."

The president was not touched. He was shocked. "Madam, we cannot put up a statue for every student of ours who died. This place would look like a cemetery."

"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly, "we don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would give a building to you."

"A building?" exclaimed the president, looking at their worn out clothes. "Do you have any idea how much a building costs? Our buildings cost close to ten million dollars!"

The lady was silent. The president was pleased and thought this would get rid of them.

The lady looked at her husband. "If that is what it costs to start a university, why don't we start our own?" Her husband nodded.

Mr and Mrs Leland Stanford walked away, travelling to Palo Alto, California, where they established the university as a memorial to their son, bearing their name - the Stanford University.

The story goes that this is how Stanford University began.

I wish you every success in your career and your future life.

Quoted from www.carnatic.com

10 Secrets to Success

by Victor Stachura

What is it that makes people successful and I mean really successful compared to you or me? Are they smarter or do they work harder? Are they risk takers or have powerful and influential friends?

The financial newspaper Investors Business Daily (IBD) asked these same questions a few years ago and started a multi-year search for the answer. They studied industry leaders, investors and entrepreneurs to understand the traits they all had in common that contributed to their success. Reproduced here is their list of 10 Secrets to Success along with my commentary on each no-so-secret, ‘secret’.

I decided to reproduce the list here and comment on each of the traits in hopes of motivating you and myself in the process. It’s time for me to take my own advice and start on the path to my dreams. I hope to motivate you, by using myself as an example.

I originally came across this list when I was staring at some papers on a refrigerator owned by someone who was very successful – both personally and financially. My family and I had just spent the night as a guest in a great house in the suburbs of Boston. We were living life large as we played pool in the rec room, drank wine from the wine cellar, and enjoyed a dip in the hot tub. The problem was, neither of the couples in the house owned the property or the life we were pretending to have. You see, my friends were house sitting for the original owner and they had invited us to stay for the weekend.

It wasn’t until the morning after our little ‘party’ that I noticed something taped to the refrigerator – something that impacts me each time I read it. It was the IBD 10 Secrets to Success. Once my head cleared, I quickly copied them down and read them over and over again. After our vacation I made copies and posted them in my home office and inside a journal I decided to keep.

The problem was, after a couple of months I forgot about the secrets and they fell by the wayside. And so did my actions towards my goals. At the time the articles 7 Ways to Grow the Action Habit or How To Motivate Yourself – Self Motivation didn’t exist and I lost my motivation. Well, I re-discovered the list and want to share it with you now. I hope you take these not-so-secret, secrets to heart and realize your dreams – whatever they may be.

1. How You Think is Everything. Always be positive. Think Success, not Failure. Beware of a negative environment.

This trait has to be one of the most important in the entire list. Your belief that you can accomplish your goals has to be unwavering. The moment you say to yourself “I can’t…”, then you won’t. I was always given the advice “never say I can’t” and I’d like to strike those words from the dictionary.

I’ve found that from time-to-time my attitude waivers. A mentor of mine once said “it’s ok to visit pity city, but you can’t stay and there comes a time when you need to leave”. Positive things happen to positive people.

2. Decide upon Your True Dreams and Goals: Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to reach them.

Write down my dreams and goals? Develop a plan to reach them? You mean like a project plan? Yes, that’s exactly what this means. You may have heard the old adage: A New Years resolution that isn’t written down is just a dream, and dreams are not goals.

Goals are those concrete, measurable stepping stones of achievement that track your progress towards your dreams. My goal is to start a second career as a freelance writer – what are your goals?

3. Take Action. Goals are nothing without action.

Be like Nike and “Just do it”. I took action by reaching out and started writing. Every day I try to take some action towards my goals. It may be small, but it’s still an action. Have you taken action towards your goals?

4. Never Stop Learning: Go back to school or read books. Get training & acquire skills.

Becoming a life long learner would benefit us all and is something we should instill in our kids. It’s funny that once you’re out of school you realize how enjoyable learning can be. What have you learned today?

5. Be Persistent and Work Hard: Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Never give up.

I think every story of success I read entails long hard hours of work. There is no getting around this and there is no free lunch. But, if you’re working towards something that you’re passionate about, something you love – then is it really work?

6. Learn to Analyze Details: Get all the facts, all the input. Learn from your mistakes.

I think you have to strike a balance between getting all the facts and making a decision with incomplete data – both are traits of successful people. Spend time gathering details, but don’t catch ‘analysis paralysis’.

7. Focus Your Time And Money: Don’t let other people or things distract you.

Remain laser focused on your goals and surround yourself with positive people that believe in you. Don’t be distracted by the naysayer’s or tasks that are not helping you achieve your goals.

8. Don’t Be Afraid To Innovate: Be different. Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity.

Follow through on that break-out idea you have. Ask yourself “What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?”

9. Deal And Communicate With People Effectively: No person is an island. Learn to understand and motivate others.

Successful people develop and nurture a network and they only do that by treating people openly, fairly and many times firmly. There is nothing wrong about being firm – just don’t cross the a-hole line. How do you deal with people?

10. Be Honest And Dependable: Take responsibility, otherwise numbers 1 – 9 won’t matter.

Enough said.

Quoted from www.pickthebrain.com