There is a great book "Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People" by Steven R Covey, I have extracted some important notes from it, which can enhance individual's effectiveness, these are some points, one should study the book.
Habit is an overlapping of knowledge, skills and attitude. Knowledge is what to do, skill is how to do and attitude is why to do or want to do.
Effectiveness is the P/PC balance. P stands for production of desired results and PC stands for production capability. Most people define success almost entirely focused on P, getting the golden eggs. Effectiveness is the balance between production of desired results and production capability.
The Seven Habits Are As Follow:
1) Be Proactive
2) Begin With The End In Mind
3) Put First Things First
4) Think Win/Win
5) Seek First To Understand Then To Be Understood
6) Synergize
7) Sharpen The Saw
Habits 1, 2 and 3 are habits of character; they will enable us to move from dependency to independency, which leads to private victory. Habits 4, 5 and 6 are outward expression of character, we can also say that these are the habits of personality; they will enable us to move from independency to interdependency, which leads to public victory.
1) Be Proactive (We Are The Programmers):
Take responsibility for your life. Get out of blaming, circumstances or conditioning for your behavior. We are free to choose the response for every stimulus, and our response reflects our results, so don’t be the part of any herd, due to your mental conditioning by circumstances i.e. family, media, friends, government, social interaction etc. Be wise, and so be yourself.
Buddha put it very well, “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense”.
Effective people are proactive i.e. they take responsibility, their behavior is a product of their own decisions based on values, rather than being a product of their conditions, based on feelings. Opposite of proactive is reactive, proactive is being positive and reactive is being negative.
We are responsible for our results and so we are in charge of our own destiny. We shouldn’t be victimized by circumstances. Allen Roosevelt says, “No one can make you feel inferior, without your permission”, Gandhi says, “They cannot take away our self-respect, if we don’t give it to them”.
So if we control our destiny, we should be proactive. That is acting in anticipation of future problems, needs and changes.
Be Proactive is a habit of personal vision, that we are indeed in control or it shows that we are the programmers, not a program.
2) Begin With The End In Mind (Writing A Program):
This habit enables us to write a program of our life. This is a habit of leadership, it deals with direction. Write your mission statement and value system. Decide your value system and decide the right direction. Have you ever climb the ladder of success and got to the top run and realized it was leaning towards the wrong wall. To achieve self-control, write your mission statement, and then further write your goals and work to achieve it. Make a promise and work to keep it.
3) Put First Things First (Living A Program):
This is the habit of management; it deals with the speed, coordination, logistics and going in that direction.
Put first things first is the habit of time management. Habit 3 is taking habit 2 and making it happen, it’s organizing and executing around your priorities. Habit 2 is those priorities and habit 3 is doing it, habit 3 is discipline.
Habit 3 is the tempo, physical creation and habit 2 is the mental creation. Habit 2 writing a mission statement and setting of goals and priorities, while habit 3 is organizing and executing steps to achieve those goals and mission.
4) Think Win / Win (Public Victory – Win / Win Attitude):
Think win/win is a golden rule in action, which is, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. The habit of thinking win/win for both ends, embraces in 5 dimensions. First is character i.e. habit 1, 2 and 3, second is the quality of relationship i.e. the emotional bank account. Third, the agreements are made or the expectations that are being created. Fourth, how we organize structure and system to reinforce that win/win relationship and win/win agreements. Fifth is the process of how we do the other four.
Win/Win is not just being nice, nice guys finish lasts in results Lose/Win. Win/Win is much tougher than the Win/Lose behavior, far more rigorous than the authoritarian behavior. Why? Because, you not only have to be nice, you have to be courageous; you not only have to be empathic, you have to be confident; you only have to be considerate and sensitive, you have to be brave. It’s the balance between courageous and consideration; it’s the balance between self-respect and respect for others.
There are five basic elements to this win/win agreement:-
I) Desire Results: What is it? What we want to accomplish.
II) Guidelines: Define guidelines to work within, like values, things they should not do, identify the things which may push you to failure. Identify the key points for successful agreement. These are guidelines.
III) Resources: Identify the resources; they can grow up on them. Work on these guidelines to accomplish the desired results.
IV) Accountability: There should be a strict sense of being accountable to accomplish those desired results and win that accountability.
V) Consequences: What things will be resolved, if the results are accomplished. That is where we have our compensation system tied in there, where promotions, where psychic rewards, where possibly we have to give a new job. Plus identify all the natural consequences happens, if the job is well done and how well it lubricates the whole business.
Habit of think win/win is the attitude of seeking mutual benefit, to do so, we have to communicate, so here habit 5 comes, and it is called “Seek first to understand then to be understood”, it’s a habit of communication. Habit 6 is the ultimate fruit, it’s called “Synergize”, and it produces new creative solutions between the differences between us, better than the, I proposed or you proposed initially. That’s the opposite of compromise, its synergistic; the whole is greater than the some of its parts.
5) Seek First To Understand Then To Be Understood (Public Victory):
It’s the habit of communication, listen a person from a frame of reference of him, not our autobiography. We see the world as we are, not as it is.
Most people want first to be understood, and when both parties want first to be understood simultaneously, then that’s a dead dialogue. They are not really listening; they are either speaking or preparing their speech. This habit is to communicate, first by listening and then by expressing.
Seek first to understand then to be understood. Diagnose before prescribe. We should say, “Let me fully understand first, what you position is, until you feel like I understand it and then we will see whether my proposal has any relevance or not”, “You worry about these things, if we don’t go this direction, these problems will be resolved, do I understand”, and he will open more. There is always a reason, why someone does not understand, identify that reason by opening the conversation by listening.
6) Synergize:
Synergize is a habit of producing new creative solutions between the differences between us, better than I proposed or you proposed initially. That’s the opposite compromise, it’s synergistic. The whole is greater than the some of its parts.
Synergize means to value differences by bringing different perspectives together in a spirit of mutual benefit and mutual respect.
7) Sharpen The Saw (Maintenance):
Sharpen the saw is the habit of maintenance. This habit will help us to cultivate the other six habits. It’s this habit, if we do it right, we do it completely, and regularly, it will automatically develop the other six habits. It’s the habit of personal PC.
There are four dimensions to the human personality, and we will find all the six habits involved in the sharpening of the four dimensions.
I) The Physical
II) The Spiritual (that’s our value system)
III) The Mental
IV) The Social Emotional
To sharpen the saw means is to exercise these four dimensions; and organize your life, so that you have time to spend in quadrant 2 activities. Minimum of one hour a day will maintain the six habits.
I) Physical: Do a good exercise program, which must involve stretching, cardio exercise and bodybuilding.
II) Spiritual: Spiritual exercise involves habit 2 (leadership), where we renew our commitment and values to a well developed system, and do it in a way, that’s congruent to our own philosophy (That’s to follow the teachings of Islam and live on it. Pray to Allah five times daily).
III) Mental: Spiritual activity is producing leadership, which is habit 2; then mental planning and doing and staying with that leadership is habit 3. So in this mental exercise, we visualize our plans and goals for the week and then review it each day to make sure that our life is in harmony with our mission and long-term goals.
IV) Social Emotional: Social emotional sharpening the saw, embraces habits 4, 5 and 6 (these are the habits of public victory). So that we must say to ourselves, “I am going to approach this relationship with the win/win attitude, and I’m going to seek first to understand then I also want to be understood, but I will not seek to be understood until the other feels like I understand, and then I’m going to get in a creative problem solving with that person. Synergize is to see if we come up with a better solution than what we originally proposed to each other, come up with a better psychological agreement.
Paradigm Shifts:
A paradigm is the way we see the circumstances, the way we see the relationships, the way we see the roles, the way we see the world. It’s the lens of our glass through which he sees the whole world.
If we really want to significantly improve people’s behavior, then change people’s picture of their roles. For instance, if we know that we are going to teach a large group of people tomorrow, this same material we are learning would that affect our learning today. Dramatically, because we have a different role in our head, we have changed our role.
If we want to make small improvements in relationships, organizations, families, marriages and ourselves, then work on our behavior and attitude. If we want to make major, significant, quantum type improvements, then change our paradigm, change our way of thinking, change the way we see the world.
We should change our paradigm, our role; so that we could interpret into new light. It isn’t quiet happens to us that affects our behavior, it’s our interpretation of what happens to us. Einstein put it well, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at, when we created them”. It requires a new level of thinking, a new paradigm.
All Seven Habits Are Paradigm Shifts Explained As Follow:
1. Be Proactive:
The traditional popular paradigm is that we are not responsible, we are a product; we are a program. Paradigm shift is that we are responsible for our life, our destiny; we are not a program but a programmer.
2. Begin With The End In Mind:
The traditional paradigm is that we are acting out of the script given to us, that we are really not in charge, and that the goal setting is useful and helpful, but usually not result is great accomplishments because of all the other forces play upon our life and keep us from accomplishing those goals.
George Bernard Shaw says “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are, I don’t believe in circumstances. People, who get on in this world, are the ones who get up looked for the circumstance they want, and if they can’t find them, they make them”.
3. Put First Things First:
We will find that most people are surrounding a paradigm of quadrant 1. They are always prioritizing into daily checklist, just managing the crisis, and the problems of their lives.
That is action paradigm shift, whether believe it or not throw away simple calendars, throw away appointment books; instead write our mission statement, our long-term and short-term goals from weekly to monthly, semi-annual, annual, 3 years and so on. Have a long-term calendar, where we can work on a weekly basis, rather than daily checklists. Write down the plan, that how you are going to accomplish those goals to a weekly and monthly basis. And then have a mental toughness and discipline to stay with it.
4. Think Win / Win:
Think win/win is so deeply countered the win/lose scripting programming of the most people’s lives. We should be focused for win/win agreement; all win/lose and lose/win agreements results in lose/lose. Think of customer, if you go for the win/lose agreement, wouldn’t you loose your customer in longer run.
5. Seek First To Understand Then To Be Understood:
The traditional and very popular paradigm is that, most people seek first to be understood. And when both parties want first to be understood simultaneously that’s called the dead dialogue. They are not really listening; they are either speaking or preparing their speech.
Listen a person from a frame of reference of him, not our autobiography. We see the world as we are, not as it is. So, diagnose before prescribe.
6. Synergize:
Habit of synergy is traditionally defined as compromise, very few people experience what synergy is really like. It’s a whole new world of adventure, excitement, creativity, new options, new opportunities, and whole new way of thinking. Einstein put it well, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved, at the same level of thinking we were at, when we created them”.
7. Sharpen The Saw:
Sharpen the saw is itself a paradigm shift. The normal operational paradigm that exists is not valence; it doesn’t focus on all four dimensions of human personality. It may focus only on physical one, so people are into exercise, or perhaps a mental one, so that they become readers of books, or it may focus only on the spiritual ones, so people are into deep meditation.
The key is balance between all four dimensions and also requires constant attention, a daily attention on all four dimensions.
Applications Of Seven Habits To Business Organizations:
Be Proactive: Organizations which are highly proactive are making their own future. A business which is proactive is in charge of their destiny in a relatively hostile environment.
Begin With The End In Mind: It develops a mission statement of a company, a purpose statement, a value system that everybody is involved in its formation.
Put First Things First: Corporation lives accordingly, by putting first things first. It uses that as the criteria about which everything else is evaluated.
Think Win / Win: In all relationships between suppliers, employees, owners, managers, customers, and public, think win/win for mutual benefits.
Seek First To Understand Then To Be Understood: Understand a customer, understand first, before we design products, before we sell services. Understand our people, our employees, before we know how to organize the culture, try to influence the culture, and then seek to be understood, and then seek to have influence. Diagnose before prescribe.
Synergize: Get deeply involved with our customers, and understand their needs. Come up with creative new solutions, and if we help produce it with them, they will be highly influenced about by you, in fact it will test your professional integrity, because they will do about anything you tell them to. Just like someone had confidence in a doctor, will do anything doctor told them to do.
Sharpen The Saw: This is a self-renew habit for organizations. What organizations do, to renew itself? An organization has to rethink all of its operations against the higher criteria of change out there in the environment and the mission statement. So that the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation is kept alive. It has to fundamentally ask this question, “If we did not have this practice, if we did not have this policy, if we did not have this product, would we adopt it today”. That takes courage and expression of move away completely.
Difference Between Principle & Practice:
All these seven habits are the principles and natural laws that will hold over time for individuals and organizations.
A principle is a natural law; a practice is its expression in a particular circumstance. For instance, let’s say that we have a principle of serving the customer well; a practice may be to listen carefully to the customer wants and give him that particular thing. By another situation we don’t have access to the knowing, what customer wants, so we may have to do some research to understand generic needs out there of customers and then adapt to that.
The point is everything we work with principles, we work with natural laws, but they express themselves in a numbers of different ways in different circumstances. The key is to get our life around principles, and then let everybody sense their conscience, what the appropriate practices are in different situations.
If we teach people practices, we make them depended. If we say to a new employee, “do this and do this”, now hat happens when a change comes, they are looking to us again, they are depending upon us. There is no PC (production capability) in it. We give a man a fish, we feed him for a day, we teach him how to fish, and we feed him for a lifetime.
Teach principles and let people govern themselves in selecting the practices. Arnold the great historian says “The whole history of mankind institutions and societies themselves, can be summarized in simple formulae, Challenge & Response”, the challenge is external, the response is internal. If we respond equal to the challenge, it is success. If the response is obsolete because of a new change, even though it was once applied and once worked, it will lead to failure. That’s why we operate on principles not practices, the principles will always stay no matter what the circumstances is, but the practice is vary all over the place.
In organization, the key is to get the entire culture around the mission statement and set the values, and then you don’t have to supervise them.
Circles Of Concern And Influence:
Envision in mind two circles, the inner circle is called the circle of influence and the outer circle is called the circle of concern, it’s a much larger circle, it may be ten times as large. The inner circle, are those concerns of which you have direct influence, direct control. If we think through all seven habits, we will come to realize that there is only one place to go to work and that is the inner circle of influence, things which you have direct control, because the nature of that energy is proactive, it’s value driven, it’s positive energy, which enlarges less things and magnifies them and the inner circle of influence gets larger and larger.
Focus on the circle of influence, see what we can do about it, be positive and act upon it in anticipation, and be proactive with the positive energy. Our power of influence is the function of us, not other people denying us access, just work within the present circle of influence with positive energy, work on these seven habits and then watch what begins to happen, we will realize a significant change for good.
On the other hand, if we give our energies to the outer circle of concern, we will find the inner circle will get smaller. Why? Because we are neglecting it and the nature of energies are focusing on things outside of our circle of influence. So this magnifies the things which are out of our control and shrinks our control.
Remember this, if we ever think, the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem; if we ever think that the problem is with somebody else, what will be the circumstance. Einstein put it well, “The Significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of think we were at, when we created them”.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastination
1) Set A Table: Decide exactly what you want, clarity is essential, write out your goals and objective before you begin.
2) Plan Everyday In Advance: Think on paper. Every minute you spend on planning can save you five or ten minutes in execution.
3) Apply The 80/20 Rule To Everything You Do: Twenty percent of your activities will account for eighty percent of your results. Always concentrate your efforts on that top twenty percent.
4) Consider The Consequences: Your most important task and priorities are those that can have most serious consequences positive or negative on your life for work. Focus on these tasks above all alls.
5) Practice The ABC Method Continually: Before you begin on a list of tasks, take a few moment to organize them by value and priority, so that you can be sure of working on your most important activities.
6) Focus On Key Result Areas: Identify and determine those results that you absolutely positively have to get done to do your job well and work of them all day long.
7) Obey The Law Forced Efficiency: There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important things. What are they?
8) Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin: Proper prior preparation prevents poor performance.
9) Do Your Homework: The more knowledgeable and skilled you become at your key tasks, the faster you start them and sooner you get them done.
10) Leverage Your Special Talents: Determine exactly what it is that you are very good at doing or could be very good at, and through your whole heart into doing those specific things very very well.
11) Identify Your Key Constraints: Determine the bottlenecks are choke points internally or externally that set the speed at which you achieve your most important goals, and then focus on alleviating those constraints.
12) Take It One Oil Barrel At A Time: You can accomplish the biggest and most complicated job, if you just completed one step a time.
13) Put A Pressure On Yourself: Imagine that you have to leave town for a month, and work if it has to get all your major tasks completed before you left. Define deadlines for your tasks, to put pressure of yourself.
14) Maximize Your Personal Powers: Identify your periods of highest mental and physical energy each day and structure your most important and demanding tasks around these times. Get lot of rest, so you can perform at your best.
15) Motivate Yourself Into Action: Be your own cheerleader. Look for a good in every situation. Focus on a solution rather than on a problem. Always be optimistic and constructive.
16) Practice Creative Procrastination: Set that you can’t do everything you must learn to deliberately, put off those tasks that are low value, so that you have enough time to do the few things that really counts.
17) Do The Most Difficult Tasks First: Begin each day with the most difficult task, the one task, that can make the greatest contribution to yourself and your work, and resolve to stay at it, until it is complete.
18) Slice and Dice The Task: Break large complex tasks down into bite size pieces and then just do one small part of the task to get started.
19) Create Large Chunks Of Time: Organize your days around large blocks of time or you can concentrate for extended periods on your most important tasks.
20) Develop A Sense Of Urgency: Make a habit of moving fast, on your key tasks. Become one, as a person who does things quickly and well.
21) Single Handle Every Task: Set clear priorities, start immediately on your most important task and then work without stopping, until the job is 100% complete.
JUST DO IT
2) Plan Everyday In Advance: Think on paper. Every minute you spend on planning can save you five or ten minutes in execution.
3) Apply The 80/20 Rule To Everything You Do: Twenty percent of your activities will account for eighty percent of your results. Always concentrate your efforts on that top twenty percent.
4) Consider The Consequences: Your most important task and priorities are those that can have most serious consequences positive or negative on your life for work. Focus on these tasks above all alls.
5) Practice The ABC Method Continually: Before you begin on a list of tasks, take a few moment to organize them by value and priority, so that you can be sure of working on your most important activities.
6) Focus On Key Result Areas: Identify and determine those results that you absolutely positively have to get done to do your job well and work of them all day long.
7) Obey The Law Forced Efficiency: There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important things. What are they?
8) Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin: Proper prior preparation prevents poor performance.
9) Do Your Homework: The more knowledgeable and skilled you become at your key tasks, the faster you start them and sooner you get them done.
10) Leverage Your Special Talents: Determine exactly what it is that you are very good at doing or could be very good at, and through your whole heart into doing those specific things very very well.
11) Identify Your Key Constraints: Determine the bottlenecks are choke points internally or externally that set the speed at which you achieve your most important goals, and then focus on alleviating those constraints.
12) Take It One Oil Barrel At A Time: You can accomplish the biggest and most complicated job, if you just completed one step a time.
13) Put A Pressure On Yourself: Imagine that you have to leave town for a month, and work if it has to get all your major tasks completed before you left. Define deadlines for your tasks, to put pressure of yourself.
14) Maximize Your Personal Powers: Identify your periods of highest mental and physical energy each day and structure your most important and demanding tasks around these times. Get lot of rest, so you can perform at your best.
15) Motivate Yourself Into Action: Be your own cheerleader. Look for a good in every situation. Focus on a solution rather than on a problem. Always be optimistic and constructive.
16) Practice Creative Procrastination: Set that you can’t do everything you must learn to deliberately, put off those tasks that are low value, so that you have enough time to do the few things that really counts.
17) Do The Most Difficult Tasks First: Begin each day with the most difficult task, the one task, that can make the greatest contribution to yourself and your work, and resolve to stay at it, until it is complete.
18) Slice and Dice The Task: Break large complex tasks down into bite size pieces and then just do one small part of the task to get started.
19) Create Large Chunks Of Time: Organize your days around large blocks of time or you can concentrate for extended periods on your most important tasks.
20) Develop A Sense Of Urgency: Make a habit of moving fast, on your key tasks. Become one, as a person who does things quickly and well.
21) Single Handle Every Task: Set clear priorities, start immediately on your most important task and then work without stopping, until the job is 100% complete.
JUST DO IT
Some Worthy Ideas [not business ideas :)]
WORTHY IDEAS
Focus on passive income and spend your time acquiring the assets that provided passive or long-term residual income – passive income from capital gains, dividends, residual income from business, rental income from real estate, and royalties.
Never build emotional life on the weaknesses of other people, by doing so we empower their weaknesses to control us, we magnify them, we strengthen them, en enlarge them.
If we really want to significantly improve people’s behavior, then change people’s picture of their roles. For instance, if we know that we are going to teach a large group of people tomorrow, this same material we are learning would that affect our learning today. Dramatically, because we have a different role in our head, we have changed our role.
If we want to make small improvements in relationships, organizations, families, marriages and ourselves, then work on our behavior and attitude. If we want to make major, significant, quantum type improvements, then change our paradigm, change our way of thinking, change the way we see the world.
The key to our circumstances and our lives is to think about our paradigm, the lens of our glasses that we are looking through. And perhaps we should change our paradigm, our role to reframe the whole situation, so that we could interpret into new light. It isn’t quiet happens to us that affects our behavior, it’s our interpretation of what happens to us.
In business, we could be on people’s back, to treat the customer well. But how do we treat that person, the key is to always treat the employee exactly as we want them to treat our best customer. What if that was a paradigm, we treated a customer like a volunteer, because that’s a customer is, and we treat an employee as an associate. Rather treat an employee as a volunteer; because they have to volunteer there best thinking, their best loyalty and enthusiasm. We can buy a person’s back but not their mind, we can buy a person’s hand, but not their heart. This kind of dedication, commitment and loyalty must be earned by taking care of the goose, don’t get greedy for the golden eggs.
Emotional bank account is like the financial bank account, in which we make deposits and we could take withdrawals. If we make many deposits into the relationship, the trust level goes higher and higher and the communication comes to very easy, effortless and effective.
The quality of the relationship in business, is the quality of the relationship with the customer, how does the customer perceived our business, products and services.
Six Ways of Building Emotional Bank Account with All People
1) Simple kindness, simple courtesies like: if you will, thank you, I appreciate that, how are you today.
2) Honesty
3) Making and keeping a promise
4) Managing of expectations
5) Loyalty
Effective people are proactive i.e. they take responsibility, their behavior is a product of their own decisions based on values, rather than being a product of their conditions, based on feelings. We are the programmers not a program.
We don’t think efficiency with people, we think efficiency with things. We manage things, and lead people.
Remember, if we ever make a presentation, and describe the other person’s point of view better than he or she can, then that person will be highly influenced by us.
Focus on passive income and spend your time acquiring the assets that provided passive or long-term residual income – passive income from capital gains, dividends, residual income from business, rental income from real estate, and royalties.
Never build emotional life on the weaknesses of other people, by doing so we empower their weaknesses to control us, we magnify them, we strengthen them, en enlarge them.
If we really want to significantly improve people’s behavior, then change people’s picture of their roles. For instance, if we know that we are going to teach a large group of people tomorrow, this same material we are learning would that affect our learning today. Dramatically, because we have a different role in our head, we have changed our role.
If we want to make small improvements in relationships, organizations, families, marriages and ourselves, then work on our behavior and attitude. If we want to make major, significant, quantum type improvements, then change our paradigm, change our way of thinking, change the way we see the world.
The key to our circumstances and our lives is to think about our paradigm, the lens of our glasses that we are looking through. And perhaps we should change our paradigm, our role to reframe the whole situation, so that we could interpret into new light. It isn’t quiet happens to us that affects our behavior, it’s our interpretation of what happens to us.
In business, we could be on people’s back, to treat the customer well. But how do we treat that person, the key is to always treat the employee exactly as we want them to treat our best customer. What if that was a paradigm, we treated a customer like a volunteer, because that’s a customer is, and we treat an employee as an associate. Rather treat an employee as a volunteer; because they have to volunteer there best thinking, their best loyalty and enthusiasm. We can buy a person’s back but not their mind, we can buy a person’s hand, but not their heart. This kind of dedication, commitment and loyalty must be earned by taking care of the goose, don’t get greedy for the golden eggs.
Emotional bank account is like the financial bank account, in which we make deposits and we could take withdrawals. If we make many deposits into the relationship, the trust level goes higher and higher and the communication comes to very easy, effortless and effective.
The quality of the relationship in business, is the quality of the relationship with the customer, how does the customer perceived our business, products and services.
Six Ways of Building Emotional Bank Account with All People
1) Simple kindness, simple courtesies like: if you will, thank you, I appreciate that, how are you today.
2) Honesty
3) Making and keeping a promise
4) Managing of expectations
5) Loyalty
Effective people are proactive i.e. they take responsibility, their behavior is a product of their own decisions based on values, rather than being a product of their conditions, based on feelings. We are the programmers not a program.
We don’t think efficiency with people, we think efficiency with things. We manage things, and lead people.
Remember, if we ever make a presentation, and describe the other person’s point of view better than he or she can, then that person will be highly influenced by us.
Recommended Books On Entrepreneurship
I got this list from www.entrepreneur.com, some years back; its not there now. Got some great names, which are also included in my personal list.
One Minute Manager
Zero to One Million by Ryan P. M. Allis
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Rich Dad's Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki
New Venture Creation by Jeffrey Timmons
Zero to IPO by David Smith
Good to Great by Jim Collins
The E-Myth by Michael Gerber
The Young Entrepreneurs' Edge by Jennifer Kushnell
The Young Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting and Running a Business by Steve Mariotti
The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship by William D. Bygrave
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker
Good to Great by Jim Collins
At Work with Thomas Edison by Blain McCormick
Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen
On Entrepreneurship by Harvard Business Review
Entrepreneurship.com by Tim Burns
The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
Fire in the Belly - an exploration of the entrepreneurial spirit by Yanky Fachler
The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Obtaining a #1 Ranking in the Search Engines by Ryan Allis
What Clients Love by Harry Beckwith
Building Thousands of Links to Your Site by Ryan Allis
Net Results 2 by Rick E. Bruner
Prot駩 Training Program by Jay Abraham
Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
Principles of Marketing by Kotler and Armstrong
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey
Succeed and Grow Rich Through Persuasion by Napoleon Hill
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons by Napoleon Hill
The Student Success Manifesto by Michael Simmons
Secrets of the Young & Successful Jennifer Kushnell
Soul of Money by Lynne Twist
Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
The Millionaire Mind by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D
One Minute Manager
Zero to One Million by Ryan P. M. Allis
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Rich Dad's Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki
New Venture Creation by Jeffrey Timmons
Zero to IPO by David Smith
Good to Great by Jim Collins
The E-Myth by Michael Gerber
The Young Entrepreneurs' Edge by Jennifer Kushnell
The Young Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting and Running a Business by Steve Mariotti
The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship by William D. Bygrave
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker
Good to Great by Jim Collins
At Work with Thomas Edison by Blain McCormick
Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen
On Entrepreneurship by Harvard Business Review
Entrepreneurship.com by Tim Burns
The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
Fire in the Belly - an exploration of the entrepreneurial spirit by Yanky Fachler
The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Obtaining a #1 Ranking in the Search Engines by Ryan Allis
What Clients Love by Harry Beckwith
Building Thousands of Links to Your Site by Ryan Allis
Net Results 2 by Rick E. Bruner
Prot駩 Training Program by Jay Abraham
Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson
Principles of Marketing by Kotler and Armstrong
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey
Succeed and Grow Rich Through Persuasion by Napoleon Hill
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons by Napoleon Hill
The Student Success Manifesto by Michael Simmons
Secrets of the Young & Successful Jennifer Kushnell
Soul of Money by Lynne Twist
Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
The Millionaire Mind by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D
Collection Of My Favorite Books
This collection of books can help alot in being a successful businessman, these all books are gems, and very worthwhile to read, still I'm gonna highlight some, which are extremely recommended (must read stuff). I have written the subject of the books in brackets after their names.
BOOKS COLLECTION
1. Rich Dad Poor Dad (financial education) by Robert Kiyosaki
2. The Secret (power of thinking) by Bob Proctor
3. Eat That Frog (procrastination) by Brain Tracy
4. Snow Ball (Warren Buffett Biography) by Alice Schroeder
5. The First Billion Is The Hardest (Autobiography) by T. Boone Pickens
6. Call Me Ted (Biography) by Ted Turner
7. Why We Want You To Be Rich (financial education) by Robert. K & D. Trump
8. The Strangest Secret (self-development) by Earl Nightingale
9. Lead The Field (self-development) by Earl Nightingale
10. Real Estate Investing For Dummies by Eric Tyson
11. Rich Dad’s ABC’s Of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy
12. Rich Dad’s Real Estate Riches by Dolf de Roos
13. Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant (financial education) by Robert T. Kiyosaki
14. Rich Dad’s Guide To Investing (financial education) by Robert T. Kiyosaki
15. Rich Dad’s Real Estate Advantages (legal loop holes) by Sharon L. Lechter
16. Rich Dad: Guide To Investing In Gold & Silver by Michael Maloney
17. Rich Dad’s How To Predict Future (DVD) by Robert T. Kiyosaki
18. Grunch Of Giants (predicting future) by R. Buckminster Fuller
19. The Richest Man In Babylon (financial education) by George S. Clason
20. How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie
21. The Millionaire Next Door (financial education) by Thomas J. Stanley
22. Buffettology (Warren Buffett’s secrets) by Mary Buffett
23. Direct Line (self-development) by Earl Nightingale
24. Essence Of Success (self-development) by Earl Nightingale
25. Think And Grow Rich (self-development) by Napoleon Hill
26. Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
27. Awaken The Giant Within You (self-development) by Anthony Robbins
28. Unlimited Power (self-development) by Tony Robbins
29. The Science Of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
30. Who Moved My Cheese (self-development) by Dr. Spencer Johnson
31. One Minute Manager (Business) by Dr. Spencer Johnson
32. The Intelligent Investor (Stock Investments) by Benjamin Graham
33. The Interpretation Of Financial Statements by Benjamin Graham
34. One Up On Wall Street (Stock Investments) by Peter Lynch
35. The Neatest Little Guide To Stock Market Investing by Jason Kelly
36. Stock Investing For Dummies by Paul Mladjenovic
37. How To Be A Billionaire (financial education) by Martin S. Fridson
38. 9 Steps To Financial Freedom by Suze Orman
39. Trump University Real Estate 101 by Gary W. Eldred
40. Trump Strategies For Real Estate by George H. Ross
41. Trump: Think Big (entrepreneurship) by Donald J. Trump
42. Trump: The Art Of Deal by Donald J. Trump
43. Trump University Entrepreneurship 101 by Michael E. Gordon
44. Confession Of A Real Estate Entrepreneur by James A. Randel
45. 2 Years To A Million In Real Estate by Matthew A. Martinez
46. What Every Real Estate Investor Needs To Know About
Cash Flow…And 36 Other key Financial Measures by Frank Gallinelli
47. The Complete Guide To Buying And Selling
Apartment Buildings by Steve Berges
48. Investing In Real Estate (5th Edition) by Andrew McLean
49. The Pre-Foreclosure Property Investor’s Kit by Thomas Lucier
50. Investing In Duplexes, Triplexes, And Quads by Larry B. Loftis
51. Financial Shenanigans (financial statements) by Howard M. Schilit
52. 400 Latest & Greatest Small Business Ideas by Terry Kyle
53. The Last Lecture (self-development) by Randy Pausch
54. As A Man Thinketh (self-development) by James Allen
55. The Greatest Salesman In The World (self-help & sales) by Og Mandino
56. Getting Things Done (self-help, productivity) by David Allen
57. Way Of The Peaceful Warrior (self-help & success) by Dan Millman
58. The Eight Pillars Of Prosperity (self-development) by James Allen
59. The Way To Wealth (biography, success) by Benjamin Franklin
60. The Art Of War (self-development, success) by Sun Tzu
61. A Message To Gracia (biography, self-development) by Elbert Hubbard
62. Maximum Achievement (success) by Brain Tracy
63. The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness To Greatness by Stephen R. Covey
64. The Psychology Of Selling: The Art Of Closing Sales by Brain Tracy
65. Zero To One Million (business, entrepreneurship) by Ryan P.M. Allis
66. Good To Great (entrepreneurship) by Jim Collins
67. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses
Don’t Work And What To Do About It (1995) by Michael E. Gerber
68. The Portable MBA In Entrepreneurship by William D. Bygrave
69. The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Business Law by Constance E. Bagley
70. How To Read Financial Report (Accounting) by John A. Tracy
71. Accounting For Dummies by John A. Tracy
72. Reading Financial Reports For Dummies (Accounting) by Lita, MBA Epstein
73. Economics For Dummies by Sean Masaki Flynn
74. Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
75. The Accounting Game, 2E: Basic Accounting Fresh
From The Lemonade Stand by Judith Orloff
76. Accounting For Non-Accountants by Wayne Label
77. Freakonomics (economics, sociology, statistics) by Malcolm Gladwell, Steven
78. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make
Big Difference (marketing, business, psychology) by Malcolm Gladwell
79. Outliers: The Story Of Success (business, psychology) by Malcolm Gladwell
80. Financial Statements: A Step-By-Step Guide To
Understanding And Creating Financial Reports (Accounting) by Thomas R. Ittelson
81. The Art Of The Start (entrepreneurship) by Guy Kawasaki
82. Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
83. Principles Of Marketing (sales, marketing) by Philip Kotler & Gary
84. Rich Dad’s Success Stories by Robert T. Kiyosaki
85. Rich Dad’s: Advanced Guide To Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy
86. Think Big And Kick Ass (success, management) by Donald J. Trump
87. A New Earth: Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose
(psychology, self-help, spirituality) by Eckhart Tolle
88. The Pursuit Of Happiness (autobiography) by Chris Gardner
89. A Measure Of A Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier
90. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account Of The Mount
Everest Disaster (autobiography, mountaineering) by Jon Krakauer
91. It’s Not About The Bike: My Journey Back To Life by Lance Armstrong
92. The Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio (investing) by David Gardner
93. Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind (financial education) by T. Harv Eker
94. Crash Proof: How To Profit From Coming Economic
Collapse (economics, planning and forecasting) by Peter D. Schiff
95. Currency Trading For Dummies (Forex Exchange) by Mark Galant
96. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (consumer behavior, human psychology & decision making ) by Dan Ariely
97. Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion (sales) by Robert B. Cialdini
98. The 4-Hour Work Week (entrepreneurship) by Timothy Ferris
99. Home Buying For Dummies (real estate) by Eric Tyson & Ray Brown
100. Shift: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Time by Gary Keller, Dave, Jay
101. Wall Street Journal: Complete Real-Estate Investing Guidebook by David Crook
102. Mortgages For Dummies, 3rd Edition (real estate) by Eric Tyson
103. Bargaining For Advantages (sales) by G. Richard Shell
104. Getting To Yes (sales & money) by Roger Fisher
105. Influence: Science And Practice (sales) by Robert B. Cialdini
106. Basic Economics, 3rd Edition by Thomas Sowell
107. Keeping The Books (accounting) by Linda Pinson
108. The Worldly Philosophers (economic history) by Robert L. Heilbroner
109. Learned Optimism (self-development) by Martin Seligman
110. Crucial Confrontations (self-help) by Kerry Patterson & Joseph
111. Authentic Happiness (self-help) by Martin Seligman
112. Influencer: The Power To Change Anything by Kerry Patterson & Joseph
113. The Art Of Public Speaking by Stephen Lucas
114. The Quick And Easy Way To Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie
115. How We Decide (Business & Psychology) by Jonah Lehrer
116. Meltdown (Economics & Current Events) by Thomas E. Woods Jr.
117. Lords Of Finance (Economic History & Bankers) by Liaquat Ahmed
118. The Return Of Depression (Economic Condition) by Paul Krugman
119. Presentation Zen (presentations & communication) by Garr Reynolds
120. What Every Body Is Saying (body language) by Joe Navarro & Marvin
121. The Definitive Book Of Body Language by Barbara Pease & Allan
122. The Five Dysfunctions Of A Team (Leadership) by Patrick M. Lencioni
123. Winning (management & leadership) by Jack Welch
124. The Epiphany (On Startups, Entrepreneurship) by Steven Gary Blank?
125. The World Is Flat (Economic History) by Thomas L. Friedman
126. The Dollar Crisis (Economic Conditions) by Richard Duncan
BOOKS COLLECTION
1. Rich Dad Poor Dad (financial education) by Robert Kiyosaki
2. The Secret (power of thinking) by Bob Proctor
3. Eat That Frog (procrastination) by Brain Tracy
4. Snow Ball (Warren Buffett Biography) by Alice Schroeder
5. The First Billion Is The Hardest (Autobiography) by T. Boone Pickens
6. Call Me Ted (Biography) by Ted Turner
7. Why We Want You To Be Rich (financial education) by Robert. K & D. Trump
8. The Strangest Secret (self-development) by Earl Nightingale
9. Lead The Field (self-development) by Earl Nightingale
10. Real Estate Investing For Dummies by Eric Tyson
11. Rich Dad’s ABC’s Of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy
12. Rich Dad’s Real Estate Riches by Dolf de Roos
13. Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant (financial education) by Robert T. Kiyosaki
14. Rich Dad’s Guide To Investing (financial education) by Robert T. Kiyosaki
15. Rich Dad’s Real Estate Advantages (legal loop holes) by Sharon L. Lechter
16. Rich Dad: Guide To Investing In Gold & Silver by Michael Maloney
17. Rich Dad’s How To Predict Future (DVD) by Robert T. Kiyosaki
18. Grunch Of Giants (predicting future) by R. Buckminster Fuller
19. The Richest Man In Babylon (financial education) by George S. Clason
20. How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie
21. The Millionaire Next Door (financial education) by Thomas J. Stanley
22. Buffettology (Warren Buffett’s secrets) by Mary Buffett
23. Direct Line (self-development) by Earl Nightingale
24. Essence Of Success (self-development) by Earl Nightingale
25. Think And Grow Rich (self-development) by Napoleon Hill
26. Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
27. Awaken The Giant Within You (self-development) by Anthony Robbins
28. Unlimited Power (self-development) by Tony Robbins
29. The Science Of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
30. Who Moved My Cheese (self-development) by Dr. Spencer Johnson
31. One Minute Manager (Business) by Dr. Spencer Johnson
32. The Intelligent Investor (Stock Investments) by Benjamin Graham
33. The Interpretation Of Financial Statements by Benjamin Graham
34. One Up On Wall Street (Stock Investments) by Peter Lynch
35. The Neatest Little Guide To Stock Market Investing by Jason Kelly
36. Stock Investing For Dummies by Paul Mladjenovic
37. How To Be A Billionaire (financial education) by Martin S. Fridson
38. 9 Steps To Financial Freedom by Suze Orman
39. Trump University Real Estate 101 by Gary W. Eldred
40. Trump Strategies For Real Estate by George H. Ross
41. Trump: Think Big (entrepreneurship) by Donald J. Trump
42. Trump: The Art Of Deal by Donald J. Trump
43. Trump University Entrepreneurship 101 by Michael E. Gordon
44. Confession Of A Real Estate Entrepreneur by James A. Randel
45. 2 Years To A Million In Real Estate by Matthew A. Martinez
46. What Every Real Estate Investor Needs To Know About
Cash Flow…And 36 Other key Financial Measures by Frank Gallinelli
47. The Complete Guide To Buying And Selling
Apartment Buildings by Steve Berges
48. Investing In Real Estate (5th Edition) by Andrew McLean
49. The Pre-Foreclosure Property Investor’s Kit by Thomas Lucier
50. Investing In Duplexes, Triplexes, And Quads by Larry B. Loftis
51. Financial Shenanigans (financial statements) by Howard M. Schilit
52. 400 Latest & Greatest Small Business Ideas by Terry Kyle
53. The Last Lecture (self-development) by Randy Pausch
54. As A Man Thinketh (self-development) by James Allen
55. The Greatest Salesman In The World (self-help & sales) by Og Mandino
56. Getting Things Done (self-help, productivity) by David Allen
57. Way Of The Peaceful Warrior (self-help & success) by Dan Millman
58. The Eight Pillars Of Prosperity (self-development) by James Allen
59. The Way To Wealth (biography, success) by Benjamin Franklin
60. The Art Of War (self-development, success) by Sun Tzu
61. A Message To Gracia (biography, self-development) by Elbert Hubbard
62. Maximum Achievement (success) by Brain Tracy
63. The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness To Greatness by Stephen R. Covey
64. The Psychology Of Selling: The Art Of Closing Sales by Brain Tracy
65. Zero To One Million (business, entrepreneurship) by Ryan P.M. Allis
66. Good To Great (entrepreneurship) by Jim Collins
67. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses
Don’t Work And What To Do About It (1995) by Michael E. Gerber
68. The Portable MBA In Entrepreneurship by William D. Bygrave
69. The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Business Law by Constance E. Bagley
70. How To Read Financial Report (Accounting) by John A. Tracy
71. Accounting For Dummies by John A. Tracy
72. Reading Financial Reports For Dummies (Accounting) by Lita, MBA Epstein
73. Economics For Dummies by Sean Masaki Flynn
74. Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
75. The Accounting Game, 2E: Basic Accounting Fresh
From The Lemonade Stand by Judith Orloff
76. Accounting For Non-Accountants by Wayne Label
77. Freakonomics (economics, sociology, statistics) by Malcolm Gladwell, Steven
78. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make
Big Difference (marketing, business, psychology) by Malcolm Gladwell
79. Outliers: The Story Of Success (business, psychology) by Malcolm Gladwell
80. Financial Statements: A Step-By-Step Guide To
Understanding And Creating Financial Reports (Accounting) by Thomas R. Ittelson
81. The Art Of The Start (entrepreneurship) by Guy Kawasaki
82. Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
83. Principles Of Marketing (sales, marketing) by Philip Kotler & Gary
84. Rich Dad’s Success Stories by Robert T. Kiyosaki
85. Rich Dad’s: Advanced Guide To Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy
86. Think Big And Kick Ass (success, management) by Donald J. Trump
87. A New Earth: Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose
(psychology, self-help, spirituality) by Eckhart Tolle
88. The Pursuit Of Happiness (autobiography) by Chris Gardner
89. A Measure Of A Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier
90. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account Of The Mount
Everest Disaster (autobiography, mountaineering) by Jon Krakauer
91. It’s Not About The Bike: My Journey Back To Life by Lance Armstrong
92. The Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio (investing) by David Gardner
93. Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind (financial education) by T. Harv Eker
94. Crash Proof: How To Profit From Coming Economic
Collapse (economics, planning and forecasting) by Peter D. Schiff
95. Currency Trading For Dummies (Forex Exchange) by Mark Galant
96. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (consumer behavior, human psychology & decision making ) by Dan Ariely
97. Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion (sales) by Robert B. Cialdini
98. The 4-Hour Work Week (entrepreneurship) by Timothy Ferris
99. Home Buying For Dummies (real estate) by Eric Tyson & Ray Brown
100. Shift: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Time by Gary Keller, Dave, Jay
101. Wall Street Journal: Complete Real-Estate Investing Guidebook by David Crook
102. Mortgages For Dummies, 3rd Edition (real estate) by Eric Tyson
103. Bargaining For Advantages (sales) by G. Richard Shell
104. Getting To Yes (sales & money) by Roger Fisher
105. Influence: Science And Practice (sales) by Robert B. Cialdini
106. Basic Economics, 3rd Edition by Thomas Sowell
107. Keeping The Books (accounting) by Linda Pinson
108. The Worldly Philosophers (economic history) by Robert L. Heilbroner
109. Learned Optimism (self-development) by Martin Seligman
110. Crucial Confrontations (self-help) by Kerry Patterson & Joseph
111. Authentic Happiness (self-help) by Martin Seligman
112. Influencer: The Power To Change Anything by Kerry Patterson & Joseph
113. The Art Of Public Speaking by Stephen Lucas
114. The Quick And Easy Way To Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie
115. How We Decide (Business & Psychology) by Jonah Lehrer
116. Meltdown (Economics & Current Events) by Thomas E. Woods Jr.
117. Lords Of Finance (Economic History & Bankers) by Liaquat Ahmed
118. The Return Of Depression (Economic Condition) by Paul Krugman
119. Presentation Zen (presentations & communication) by Garr Reynolds
120. What Every Body Is Saying (body language) by Joe Navarro & Marvin
121. The Definitive Book Of Body Language by Barbara Pease & Allan
122. The Five Dysfunctions Of A Team (Leadership) by Patrick M. Lencioni
123. Winning (management & leadership) by Jack Welch
124. The Epiphany (On Startups, Entrepreneurship) by Steven Gary Blank?
125. The World Is Flat (Economic History) by Thomas L. Friedman
126. The Dollar Crisis (Economic Conditions) by Richard Duncan
Collection Of My Favorite Success Quotations
SUCCESS QUOTATION
1. Albert Einstein defined insanity as “Doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results”.
2. Warren Buffett says the following about diversification “Diversification is protection against ignorance; it makes very little sense if you know what you are doing”.
3. Donald Trump says, “People, who are capable of thinking for themselves, will rarely be part of any herd”. The best way to have an edge is to live on one.
4. “Intelligence is the ability to solve problems” by Robert T. Kiyosaki.
5. “There are no guarantees, but being ready sure beats being taken by surprise” by Donald Trump.
6. Alexander Graham Bell’s statement: “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. If you can control your energy then you stand a good chance of creating and controlling your own wealth”.
7. Don’t be shortsighted, be a global-thinker.
8. You can’t learn to swim from a textbook. Same is true for Business; you can’t learn business from textbook or business school. Nothing compares with the frontline experience.
9. “What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us” by Emerson.
10. “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp” by Robert Browning.
11. If your reality begins with dreams, your dreams will become your reality.
12. Giving up is always an easy option.
13. Birds of a feather flock together.
14. Back to the script idea, I heard someone say once that we are all in charge of writing our own movie, and that movie is our life. Imagine yourself writing scenes – what kind would you want to have? Somehow, I don’t think we’d choose drudgery, boredom or poverty. It’s not only no fun to write, it’s boring and depressing to watch. Write the script, likewise your favorite character from your favorite movie. Give yourself a little freedom to develop into something or someone you’d actually like to be.
15. In The War of Art, Pressfield says, “Many people think amateurs do not play for money, but they play for the love of the game. In reality, the reason amateurs are amateurs is because they do not love the game enough.”
16. Donald said, “If something is going to affect your life, it’s best to know as much as you can about it”.
17. Creativity and control makes you rich.
18. Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst.
19. The biggest risk we all face is not moving forward with that we’ve learned.
20. Abraham Lincoln says, “I don’t think much of a man, who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”
21. “Know everything you can about what you’re doing”, says Fred Trump.
22. True success is in obeying God, says Ali A. Dogar
23. Golf legend Gary Player’s saying “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
24. “The best way to deal with problems is just to keep going, to persist and continue working at solutions”, says Donald Trump
25. “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity”, says George S. Patton.
26. “What you cannot enforce, do not command”, says Sophocles.
27. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is then not an act, but a habit”, says Aristotle.
28. Ask yourself, “What can I learn today that I didn’t know before?”
29. “The first and best victory is to conquer self”, says Plato.
30. “The quality of a person’s life is in directly proportional to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor” by Vince Lombardi.
31. The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
32. Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favor the prepared mind.”
33. Think Big. Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.
34. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow
35. Unless you are willing to drench yourself in your work beyond the capacity of the average man, you are just not cut out for positions at the top.
36. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
37. “You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do” by Henry Ford.
38. They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you make them feel.
39. Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
40. Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
41. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.
42. Perhaps the very best question that you can memorize and repeat, over and over, is, "what is the most valuable use of my time right now?"
43. To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work.
44. When faced with a challenge, look for a way, not a way out.
45. The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.
46. Formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune.
47. To earn more, you must learn more.
48. The poor and middle class work for money. The rich have money work for them.
49. Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.
50. “Every company has room for the man, who has a definite plan of action, which is to the advantage of that company” by Napoleon Hill.
51. It’s not what you have (money), its what you do with what you have.
52. “Most misfortunes are the result of misused time” by Napoleon Hill
53. We don’t see the things the way they are. We see the things the way we are.
54. “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for” by Sokrates.
55. The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.
56. “A quitter never wins and a winner never quits” by Napoleon Hill
57. “If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there” by Robert Kiyosaki.
58. “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing” by Steven Covey.
59. Don’t ever give up.
60. Fear keeps people small. Run towards your fears. Embrace them. On the other side if your greatest fear lives your greatest life.
61. Get out of the stands. Get on the court. Play the game of life.
62. Be positive, what you think, is who you become.
63. When someone does well, applaud! You will make two people happy.
64. While most are dreaming of success. Winners wake up and work hard to achieve it.
65. To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.
66. Watch you thought; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
67. What a mind can conceive and believe can achieve.
68. “The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire, the size of your dream, and how you handle disappointment alone” by Robert Kiyosaki.
69. “The only difference between a rich person and poor person is how they use their time” by Robert Kiyosaki.
70. “Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow” by Robert Kiyosaki.
71. It’s not how much you make that counts but how much money you keep.
72. Education is the foundation of success. Just as scholastic skills are vitally important, so are financial skills and communication skills.
73. “The rich buy assets. The poor have only expenses. The middle class buys liabilities they think are assets” by Robert Kiyosaki.
74. “Character isn’t something you were born with and can’t change, like your fingerprints. It’s something you weren’t born with and must take responsibility for forming” by Jim Rohn
75. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment
76. “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better” by Jim Rohn
77. If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
78. Let others lives small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.
79. “The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become” by Jim Rohn
80. Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you can’t get more time.
81. “If you do what you have always done, you’ll get what you have always gotten” by Tony Robbins
82. “In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes are lives, but what we do consistently” by Tony Robbins
83. “It’s not knowing what to do, it’s doing what you know” by Tony Robbins
84. “People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals – that is, goals that do not inspire them” by Tony Robbins
85. There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.
86. “In times of change, the learners will inherit the earth. While the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exist” by Eric Hoofer.
87. Your results are an expression of your level of awareness.
88. George Bernard Shaw says “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are, I don’t believe in circumstances. People, who get on in this world, are the ones who get up looked for the circumstance they want, and if they can’t find them, they make them”.
89. “The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life, seems to arise from over-rating the difference between one permanent situation and another…. Some of those situations may, no doubt, deserves to be preferred to others; but none of them can deserve to be pursued with that passionate ardor which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice; or to corrupt the future tranquility of our minds, either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly, or by remorse from the horror of our own injustice.” Adam Smith (1759).
90. Many of life’s barriers and obstacles come from within. We create limits for ourselves, but once those barriers are broken, we realize the biggest barriers are our beliefs.
91. “When you want success as badly as you want the air, then you will get it. There is no other secret of success.” Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC)
92. “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking” William B. Sprague.
93. “Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds”, says Albert Einstein.
94. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right” – Henry Ford.
95. “I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become” – Oprah Winfrey.
96. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan.
97. “What you get by achieving your goals, is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals” – Goethe.
98. It’s not what we do, that determines our success; it’s how we do it.
99. Our level of energy, our ability to access direct and utilize energy is more important to our success or failure than our heredity and education.
100. We should do what we love to do. When pursuing our dreams, we run into many obstacles and this is life. So if we don’t love what we do, we will back off or quit whenever we face an obstacle. But when we love what we do, then we try hard and pass over or around the obstacles and succeed to achieve our dreams.
101. “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” William James (1842–1910)
102. “Habits of thinking need not be forever. One of the most significant findings in psychology in the last twenty years is that individuals can choose the way they think.” Martin Seligman.
103. “Active, successful natures act, not according to the dictum ‘know thyself’, but as if there hovered before them the commandment: will a self and thou shalt become a self.”
104. “Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul that have been restored and brought to light in this age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this—that you are the master of your thought, the molder of your character, and the maker and shaper of your condition, environment and destiny.”
105. “Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results … We understand this law in the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental and moral world—although its operation there is just as simple and undeviating—and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it.”
106. We don't attract what we want, but what we are. Only by changing your thoughts will you change your life.
107. “A person is what he thinks about all day long” says Emerson
108. “Circumstances do not make a person, they reveal him” James Allen
109. Poverty can happen to a person or people, but the defensive actions such as blaming the perpetrator will only run the wheels further into the rut.
110. Most of us are anxious to improve our circumstances, but are unwilling to improve ourselves – and we therefore remain bound.
111. "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." Buddha.
112. “People work perfectly.” Program in new thoughts, actions, and feelings and you get a new life.
113. If one person can do something, anyone can learn to do it. We can model the thinking and behavior of people who are already successful in order to achieve similar results.
114. You cannot not communicate. Everything about you—eye and body movements, vocal tones, habits—is a form of communication. It is not difficult to sense when what a person is saying does not match with who they are.
115. The meaning of your communication is the response you get. People receive information filtered through their mental map of the world. How you communicate must be constantly adjusted so that the message you want to be received is the one that is received.
116. We must do, what we have to do, in order to do, what we want to do.
117. Education is the only way out, out of ignorance, the way out of darkness, into the glorious light.
118. What is popular is not always right, what is right is not always popular.
119. If the lesson of history teach us anything, it is that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us [Anon]
120. We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
121. You miss 100% of the shots, you never take [Wayne Gretzky]
122. You must be the change, you wish to see in the world [Gandhi]
123. An inventor is simply a fellow, who doesn’t take his education too seriously [Charles F. Kettering]
124. Success is not the key to happiness; happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful [Albert Schweitzer]
125. Am I not destroying my enemies, when I make friends of them [Abraham Lincoln]
126. Failing to prepare is, preparing for failing.
127. Einstein says, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at, when we created them”.
128. It isn’t quiet happens to us, that affects our behavior, its our interpretation of what happens to us.
129. Allen Roosevelt says, “No one can make you feel inferior, without your permission”.
130. Gandhi says, “They cannot take away our self-respect, if we don’t give it to them”
1. Albert Einstein defined insanity as “Doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results”.
2. Warren Buffett says the following about diversification “Diversification is protection against ignorance; it makes very little sense if you know what you are doing”.
3. Donald Trump says, “People, who are capable of thinking for themselves, will rarely be part of any herd”. The best way to have an edge is to live on one.
4. “Intelligence is the ability to solve problems” by Robert T. Kiyosaki.
5. “There are no guarantees, but being ready sure beats being taken by surprise” by Donald Trump.
6. Alexander Graham Bell’s statement: “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. If you can control your energy then you stand a good chance of creating and controlling your own wealth”.
7. Don’t be shortsighted, be a global-thinker.
8. You can’t learn to swim from a textbook. Same is true for Business; you can’t learn business from textbook or business school. Nothing compares with the frontline experience.
9. “What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us” by Emerson.
10. “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp” by Robert Browning.
11. If your reality begins with dreams, your dreams will become your reality.
12. Giving up is always an easy option.
13. Birds of a feather flock together.
14. Back to the script idea, I heard someone say once that we are all in charge of writing our own movie, and that movie is our life. Imagine yourself writing scenes – what kind would you want to have? Somehow, I don’t think we’d choose drudgery, boredom or poverty. It’s not only no fun to write, it’s boring and depressing to watch. Write the script, likewise your favorite character from your favorite movie. Give yourself a little freedom to develop into something or someone you’d actually like to be.
15. In The War of Art, Pressfield says, “Many people think amateurs do not play for money, but they play for the love of the game. In reality, the reason amateurs are amateurs is because they do not love the game enough.”
16. Donald said, “If something is going to affect your life, it’s best to know as much as you can about it”.
17. Creativity and control makes you rich.
18. Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst.
19. The biggest risk we all face is not moving forward with that we’ve learned.
20. Abraham Lincoln says, “I don’t think much of a man, who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.”
21. “Know everything you can about what you’re doing”, says Fred Trump.
22. True success is in obeying God, says Ali A. Dogar
23. Golf legend Gary Player’s saying “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”
24. “The best way to deal with problems is just to keep going, to persist and continue working at solutions”, says Donald Trump
25. “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity”, says George S. Patton.
26. “What you cannot enforce, do not command”, says Sophocles.
27. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is then not an act, but a habit”, says Aristotle.
28. Ask yourself, “What can I learn today that I didn’t know before?”
29. “The first and best victory is to conquer self”, says Plato.
30. “The quality of a person’s life is in directly proportional to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor” by Vince Lombardi.
31. The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
32. Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favor the prepared mind.”
33. Think Big. Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.
34. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow
35. Unless you are willing to drench yourself in your work beyond the capacity of the average man, you are just not cut out for positions at the top.
36. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
37. “You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do” by Henry Ford.
38. They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you make them feel.
39. Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
40. Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
41. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.
42. Perhaps the very best question that you can memorize and repeat, over and over, is, "what is the most valuable use of my time right now?"
43. To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work.
44. When faced with a challenge, look for a way, not a way out.
45. The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.
46. Formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune.
47. To earn more, you must learn more.
48. The poor and middle class work for money. The rich have money work for them.
49. Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.
50. “Every company has room for the man, who has a definite plan of action, which is to the advantage of that company” by Napoleon Hill.
51. It’s not what you have (money), its what you do with what you have.
52. “Most misfortunes are the result of misused time” by Napoleon Hill
53. We don’t see the things the way they are. We see the things the way we are.
54. “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for” by Sokrates.
55. The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.
56. “A quitter never wins and a winner never quits” by Napoleon Hill
57. “If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there” by Robert Kiyosaki.
58. “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing” by Steven Covey.
59. Don’t ever give up.
60. Fear keeps people small. Run towards your fears. Embrace them. On the other side if your greatest fear lives your greatest life.
61. Get out of the stands. Get on the court. Play the game of life.
62. Be positive, what you think, is who you become.
63. When someone does well, applaud! You will make two people happy.
64. While most are dreaming of success. Winners wake up and work hard to achieve it.
65. To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.
66. Watch you thought; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
67. What a mind can conceive and believe can achieve.
68. “The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire, the size of your dream, and how you handle disappointment alone” by Robert Kiyosaki.
69. “The only difference between a rich person and poor person is how they use their time” by Robert Kiyosaki.
70. “Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow” by Robert Kiyosaki.
71. It’s not how much you make that counts but how much money you keep.
72. Education is the foundation of success. Just as scholastic skills are vitally important, so are financial skills and communication skills.
73. “The rich buy assets. The poor have only expenses. The middle class buys liabilities they think are assets” by Robert Kiyosaki.
74. “Character isn’t something you were born with and can’t change, like your fingerprints. It’s something you weren’t born with and must take responsibility for forming” by Jim Rohn
75. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment
76. “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better” by Jim Rohn
77. If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
78. Let others lives small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.
79. “The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become” by Jim Rohn
80. Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you can’t get more time.
81. “If you do what you have always done, you’ll get what you have always gotten” by Tony Robbins
82. “In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes are lives, but what we do consistently” by Tony Robbins
83. “It’s not knowing what to do, it’s doing what you know” by Tony Robbins
84. “People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals – that is, goals that do not inspire them” by Tony Robbins
85. There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.
86. “In times of change, the learners will inherit the earth. While the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exist” by Eric Hoofer.
87. Your results are an expression of your level of awareness.
88. George Bernard Shaw says “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are, I don’t believe in circumstances. People, who get on in this world, are the ones who get up looked for the circumstance they want, and if they can’t find them, they make them”.
89. “The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life, seems to arise from over-rating the difference between one permanent situation and another…. Some of those situations may, no doubt, deserves to be preferred to others; but none of them can deserve to be pursued with that passionate ardor which drives us to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice; or to corrupt the future tranquility of our minds, either by shame from the remembrance of our own folly, or by remorse from the horror of our own injustice.” Adam Smith (1759).
90. Many of life’s barriers and obstacles come from within. We create limits for ourselves, but once those barriers are broken, we realize the biggest barriers are our beliefs.
91. “When you want success as badly as you want the air, then you will get it. There is no other secret of success.” Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC)
92. “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking” William B. Sprague.
93. “Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds”, says Albert Einstein.
94. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right” – Henry Ford.
95. “I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become” – Oprah Winfrey.
96. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan.
97. “What you get by achieving your goals, is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals” – Goethe.
98. It’s not what we do, that determines our success; it’s how we do it.
99. Our level of energy, our ability to access direct and utilize energy is more important to our success or failure than our heredity and education.
100. We should do what we love to do. When pursuing our dreams, we run into many obstacles and this is life. So if we don’t love what we do, we will back off or quit whenever we face an obstacle. But when we love what we do, then we try hard and pass over or around the obstacles and succeed to achieve our dreams.
101. “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” William James (1842–1910)
102. “Habits of thinking need not be forever. One of the most significant findings in psychology in the last twenty years is that individuals can choose the way they think.” Martin Seligman.
103. “Active, successful natures act, not according to the dictum ‘know thyself’, but as if there hovered before them the commandment: will a self and thou shalt become a self.”
104. “Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul that have been restored and brought to light in this age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this—that you are the master of your thought, the molder of your character, and the maker and shaper of your condition, environment and destiny.”
105. “Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results … We understand this law in the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental and moral world—although its operation there is just as simple and undeviating—and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it.”
106. We don't attract what we want, but what we are. Only by changing your thoughts will you change your life.
107. “A person is what he thinks about all day long” says Emerson
108. “Circumstances do not make a person, they reveal him” James Allen
109. Poverty can happen to a person or people, but the defensive actions such as blaming the perpetrator will only run the wheels further into the rut.
110. Most of us are anxious to improve our circumstances, but are unwilling to improve ourselves – and we therefore remain bound.
111. "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." Buddha.
112. “People work perfectly.” Program in new thoughts, actions, and feelings and you get a new life.
113. If one person can do something, anyone can learn to do it. We can model the thinking and behavior of people who are already successful in order to achieve similar results.
114. You cannot not communicate. Everything about you—eye and body movements, vocal tones, habits—is a form of communication. It is not difficult to sense when what a person is saying does not match with who they are.
115. The meaning of your communication is the response you get. People receive information filtered through their mental map of the world. How you communicate must be constantly adjusted so that the message you want to be received is the one that is received.
116. We must do, what we have to do, in order to do, what we want to do.
117. Education is the only way out, out of ignorance, the way out of darkness, into the glorious light.
118. What is popular is not always right, what is right is not always popular.
119. If the lesson of history teach us anything, it is that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us [Anon]
120. We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
121. You miss 100% of the shots, you never take [Wayne Gretzky]
122. You must be the change, you wish to see in the world [Gandhi]
123. An inventor is simply a fellow, who doesn’t take his education too seriously [Charles F. Kettering]
124. Success is not the key to happiness; happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful [Albert Schweitzer]
125. Am I not destroying my enemies, when I make friends of them [Abraham Lincoln]
126. Failing to prepare is, preparing for failing.
127. Einstein says, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at, when we created them”.
128. It isn’t quiet happens to us, that affects our behavior, its our interpretation of what happens to us.
129. Allen Roosevelt says, “No one can make you feel inferior, without your permission”.
130. Gandhi says, “They cannot take away our self-respect, if we don’t give it to them”
Most Imortant Skills & Attributes Of An Entrepreneur From My Personal Experiences
Why are some people able to identify and lead the opportunity to consummation while others can't and continue to be part of the ordinary crowd? The entrepreneurship phenomenon incorporates concepts from several disciplines like economics and psychology; and the interpretation of the term so far has been varied according to perceived understanding of different school of thoughts. According to Cunningham and Lischeron (1991), there exist six different schools of thoughts having various interpretations of entrepreneurship. The definition of an entrepreneur has evolved continuously for several decades as the temptation to explore the most competitive economic catalyst has been increasingly realized by governments across the world which led to extensive research into the understanding of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship.
Cole’s experience reflects the varied nature of the phenomenon entrepreneurship as he sated (Cole, cited in Gartner, 1988, p.1),
“...for ten years we tried to define the entrepreneur.
We never succeeded. Each of us had some notion of it—what he thought was, for his purposes, a useful definition...”
In the past, much research done on understanding entrepreneurs focused on the traits or personality characteristics of the entrepreneurs in an attempt to identify them using a common set of traits which proved to be insufficient. After reading different approaches described by Bridge et al (2009), I deduce that with minor exclusions these approaches complement each other for understanding of the phenomenon entrepreneur. Cognitive viewpoint of an entrepreneur is much more rationale as it offers an insight into the decision making process and its dependence on perceived reality.
Cole’s experience reflects the varied nature of the phenomenon entrepreneurship as he sated (Cole, cited in Gartner, 1988, p.1),
“...for ten years we tried to define the entrepreneur.
We never succeeded. Each of us had some notion of it—what he thought was, for his purposes, a useful definition...”
In the past, much research done on understanding entrepreneurs focused on the traits or personality characteristics of the entrepreneurs in an attempt to identify them using a common set of traits which proved to be insufficient. After reading different approaches described by Bridge et al (2009), I deduce that with minor exclusions these approaches complement each other for understanding of the phenomenon entrepreneur. Cognitive viewpoint of an entrepreneur is much more rationale as it offers an insight into the decision making process and its dependence on perceived reality.
Recent work by Delmar on the cognitive models of entrepreneurship is substantial (Delmar, cited in Bridge et al, 2009). It all starts with believe in oneself (perceived self efficacy) which leads to positive attitude which is a key element for the intentions to be converted to entrepreneurial behavior. Krueger called these intentions the entrepreneurial 'potential' (Krueger, cited in Bridge et al, 2009). McGee (2009) found the entrepreneurial intentions to be the precursors of entrepreneurial activity. Both personal factors such as personal traits, experience, perceived self efficacy and the contextual factors such as social and economic structures are the key influential parameters for intentions. The integrated approach as adopted by Krueger introduced personal desirability as a crucial factor for long term sustained and prevalent entrepreneurial behavior. Bridge et al. considered perception to be the most important element of the Krueger's model.
It is implied that every potential entrepreneur have a clear vision. The seemingly strongest primary variables or the skills and attributes of an entrepreneur are high perceived self-efficacy, opportunity obsession and high perseverance.
Self-efficacy
Boyd and Vozikis defined self-efficacy as 'a person's belief in his or her capability to perform a given task' (Boyd and Vozikis, cited in Bridge et al, 2009, p.79). Intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy augment each other. Bridge concluded as does Krueger that perceived self-efficacy leads to intentions which ultimately lead to behavior. Self-efficacy relates to thinking process, perception, the cognitive side and so it is more amenable to change through intervention than personal traits as Bridge et al. expressed self-efficacy as 'proximal' and personal traits as 'distal'.
A good example of self-efficacy is the prolonged endeavor undertaken by Earl Nightingale to find the answer for the question that why some people are successful and others not. The importance of perceived self-efficacy was realized by Earl Nightingale as 'We become what we think about' originally presented by Napoleon Hill in his book 'Think and Grow Rich'. The findings were the result of interviews of 500 highly successful and influential people like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) is the self-confidence that one has the necessary competence to succeed in realizing the discovered economic opportunity. McGee et al. (2009) believed that ESE can be raised by intervention through training and education. He stressed the need for further research and refinement of the ESE construct because he found it to be a promising element in the understanding and the improvement of the entrepreneurial activity. I consider it to be the intrinsic and primal foundation of an entrepreneurial act.
Opportunity Obsession
Timmons & Spinelli (2009) suggested that successful entrepreneurs are obsessed with the opportunity they recognize to be of high potential than with the other issues such as money or resources. Entrepreneurs are always on the look for new ideas by observing market trends and identifying patterns to exploit the opportunity with the highest potential. Kirzner described the notion of opportunity recognition as ‘lookout for hitherto unnoticed features of the environment’ (Kirzner, cited in Markman & Baron, 2003).
A good example of the ability to recognize and exploit an opportunity of high potential is that of Tom Stemberg. After business school and 15 years into the supermarket business, he started to look for a high potential opportunity and after considering several he found a substantial economic opportunity. Main Street shops in America were selling ballpoint pens for $2 (wholesale price about 30 cents) and more, Stemberg soon recognized the same pattern for several other office supplies used by small businesses; he believed that the whole office supply business could be revolutionized by exploiting this opportunity pattern. He and Leo Kahn founded Staples and he succeeded in what he believed. He went onto develop several other successful new ventures.
Essentially a successful entrepreneur learns from experience what it takes to be successful and after that success comes often. Same is the reason why Timmons & Spinelli (2009:51) expressed 'Entrepreneurs rely heavily on their own previous experiences … to come up with their breakthrough opportunities'. Opportunities of high potential exist even in tough economic climates and an entrepreneur can identify them. Warren Buffett justly reflects his investment intellect as 'We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful'; I believe an entrepreneur adept at interpreting human psychology is more likely to succeed in identifying and exploiting high potential economic opportunities.
High Perseverance
All successful entrepreneurs show a very high degree of diligence towards their vision. Bandura (Bandura, cited in Markman & Baron, 2003) finds that under challenging conditions such as financial and social adversity, individuals with high perseverance are more likely to succeed than the individuals who fail to persevere. Markman & Baron (2003) argues that entrepreneurs usually embark upon innovation to provide 'new combinations' and they often face substantial uncertainty regarding market acceptability; high perseverance is the principal and decisive element of success in such a case.
A good example of high perseverance is that of Steve Jobs. The biography of Steve Jobs (Mullins, 2009) the founder and the CEO of Apple highlights his spirit for high perseverance throughout his career. Jobs intrinsic motivation seems not to radiate from the desire for wealth but from innovation, his annual salary as Apple's CEO is famously set at $1. It seems like innovation is much more important to Jobs than affluent wealth. After the inception of the company in 1976, several successful innovative personal computer designs were introduced including the remarkable Macintosh under Jobs leadership. In 1985, Jobs fell out with the Apple board and resigned from the company; he didn't stop but continued to pursue his vision as an innovative leader by taking new initiatives. His desire for innovation compelled him to found the computer software company NeXT and than later on another highly successful company Pixar, a computer animation company. Later NeXT was bought by Apple and Jobs was again installed as the CEO of Apple. The renaissance of Apple under Jobs included the launch of the spectacularly successful iPod music player and more recently the iPhone, a Smartphone with a huge success.
Another example of high perseverance is that of Thomas Edison. He tried approximately 10,000 times before he succeeded in inventing a working light bulb. He commented on his 9,999 failures as learning 9,999 different ways of not making a light bulb light. The only time successful people fail is when they give up. To conclude perseverant entrepreneurs are more likely to be successful than those who are less persistent.
I conclude that the cognitive approach described by Bridge et al. (pp.64-85) is more appropriate for the understanding of the phenomenon entrepreneur as it gives an insight into the decision making process of an entrepreneur and describes about the significance of perception. It gives an understanding of the transition between intentions and behavior and helps to understand how positive attitude influence intentions. It values personal traits and attributes as one of the key influential factors towards the entrepreneurial intentions. Mitchell et al. (2002) believes that the cognitive approach provides the researchers a tool to better define and measure the entrepreneurial activity. Successful entrepreneurs may not have a common set of traits and attributes but they will have the ESE, ability to spot and recognize opportunities and high perseverance common among them. I conclude that self-efficacy as exemplified by Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison is the cardinal decisive factor for entrepreneurial success.
References
Bridge, S., O'Neill, K. and Martin, F. (2009) Understanding Enterprise: Entrepreneurship and Small Business. 3rded. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cunningham, J.B. and Lischeron, J. (1991), 'DEFINING ENTREPRENEURSHIP', Journal of Small Business Management, 29(1), Business Source Complete [ONLINE] Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=athens,ip,cookie,url,uid&db=bth&AN=9609040966&site=ehost-live
(Accessed: 5 November 2009)
Gartner, W.B. (1988), ' "Who is an Entrepreneur?" Is the Wrong Question.', American Journal of Small Business, 12(4), p.1, Business Source Complete [ONLINE] Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=athens,ip,cookie,url,uid&db=bth&AN=5748404&site=ehost-live
(Accessed: 5 November 2009)
Markman, G.D and Baron, R.A. (2003), 'Person-entrepreneurship fit: why some people are more successful as entrepreneurs than others', Human Resource Management Review, 13(2), EBSCO Electronic Journals Service [ONLINE] Available at:
http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=TU1KC5D54AE1HTLT8CTD
(Accessed: 8 November 2009)
McGee, J.E., Peterson, M., Mueller, S.L. and Sequeira, J.M. (2009), 'Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy: Refining the Measure', Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(4), EBSCO Electronic Journals Service [ONLINE] Available at: http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=4FB4BB9BE73D06F4B418 (Accessed: 8 November 2009)
Mitchell, R.K., Busenitz, L., Lant, T., McDougall, P.P., Morse, E.A., Smith, J.B. (2002), ‘Toward a Theory of Entrepreneurial Cognition: Rethinking the People Side of Entrepreneurship Research’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 27(2), EBSCO Electronic Journals Service [ONLINE] Available at: http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=4FB4BB9BE73D06F4B418 (Accessed: 8 November 2009)
Mullins, L.J. (2009) Management and Organisational Behaviour, 8th ed. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall
Timmons, J.A. & Spinelli, S., Jr. (2009) New venture creation : entrepreneurship for the 21st century. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
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(Accessed: 8 November 2009)
McGee, J.E., Peterson, M., Mueller, S.L. and Sequeira, J.M. (2009), 'Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy: Refining the Measure', Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(4), EBSCO Electronic Journals Service [ONLINE] Available at: http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=4FB4BB9BE73D06F4B418 (Accessed: 8 November 2009)
Mitchell, R.K., Busenitz, L., Lant, T., McDougall, P.P., Morse, E.A., Smith, J.B. (2002), ‘Toward a Theory of Entrepreneurial Cognition: Rethinking the People Side of Entrepreneurship Research’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 27(2), EBSCO Electronic Journals Service [ONLINE] Available at: http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=4FB4BB9BE73D06F4B418 (Accessed: 8 November 2009)
Mullins, L.J. (2009) Management and Organisational Behaviour, 8th ed. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall
Timmons, J.A. & Spinelli, S., Jr. (2009) New venture creation : entrepreneurship for the 21st century. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
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