Redefining Success

Real life situations around me prompted me to make one of my key life decisions: rewriting my definition of success. Instead of acclaim or advancement or achievement, I decided that for me success means having those closest to me love and respect me the most.

If you want to redefine success the way I did, here are some ways to put your decision into practice:

Determine your priorities.
How much of your calendar is devoted to your family and/or close friends? On your budget and to-do list, where do you write in your loved ones? No relationship can survive for long on leftovers.

Decide on your philosophy.
Once your loved ones are a priority, you have to decide together what you want your family to stand for. What values will you live out? For us, the bottom line was to cultivate and maintain:
- Determination to serve God,
- Commitment to God's will
- Diligence in all endeavour
- Continual growth,
- Discipline and
- Contributions to life and lives.

Develop your problem-solving strategy.
In all facets of life, the best plan is to expect problems, stay committed, and develop a strategy for getting through the rough times. Better understanding, Positive change, and Growing relationships are strategies in my opinion.

...Judge Not Yet

It is easy and handy for us to judge a book by its cover. For reason as small as our unwillingness to read.

We should never judge by appearance. How would your life be different if…you stopped making negative judgmental assumptions about people you encounter? Let today be the day…you look for the good in everyone you meet and respect their journey.

Then you are a just LEADER!

Aside MONEY

It is a general norm that money is the bedrock of any business. When starting any enterprise or business, we all know the value of having plenty of capital (money). But I bet we both know or at least have heard of people who started with no capital who went on to make fortunes. How? you may ask. I believe there are actually some things that are more valuable than capital that can lead to your entrepreneurial success. Let's concisely consider some of them:

1. Time: The time you set aside not to be wasted, not to be given away. Time you set aside to be invested in an enterprise that brings value to the marketplace with the hope of making a profit. Now we have capital time. How valuable is time? Time properly invested is worth a fortune. Time wasted can be devastation. Time invested can perform miracles, so you invest your time.

2. Determination: Determination says I will. I will find someone to buy into my idea before today is over. If it works once, it will work again.

3. Courage: If you've only got $1 and a lot of courage, I'm telling you, you've got a good future ahead of you. Humans can do the most incredible things no matter what happens. Haven't we heard the stories? It's humans. You can't sell humans short.

4. Ambition: “Wow! If I can sell three, I can sell 33. If I can sell 33, I can sell 103.” You can be dazzled by your own dreams of the future.

5. Faith: And you have to believe your service your product. And she then starts to believe in herself. Let your self-esteem starts to soar. These are investments that are unmatched.

Financial independence is sine qua non to good leadership. Be wise.

Inspired IDEAS

Ideas plus Inspiration; that's the mixture that really turns things on, sends an entrepreneur program into high gear. We need ideas for the goals and plans and we need inspiration for the emotional vitality. To put it to work, to make it flow, to make it multiply.

However, the greatest step toward success is self-confidence. The greatest builder of self-confidence is self-esteem, and self-esteem comes from doing the daily things you know you should do.

Sometimes your self-esteem will start to soar when you make some critical decisions. Decisions to walk a new road, to start a new direction, to start a new discipline, to knock new doors.
Turn on your wheel of success, in 2014.

Opportunity & Preparation

John Wooden a basketball coach once said, "When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare." In other words, we should prepare ahead of opportunities. Likewise, we need to be prepared with the necessary skills and abilities to meet opportunities.

Here’s what preparation is not: Knowing all the answers before you start. The key is to recognize when you know enough to start down a road. Otherwise, you’ll be plagued with the paralysis of analysis.

Ask yourself what will happen to your options in the meantime. Will some be eliminated as time passes (for example, if someone else’s decision will impact it)? If waiting will eliminate an important option, decide and act now.

Leading and Listening

Developing stronger leadership skills is an important act for virtually everyone in business. But becoming a better leader doesn't always require attending a pricey seminar. Sometimes, simple acts can have an immediate impact.

Being a good listener is a needful but rare quality in leaders. Every day, spend good time with someone who has something to say about a challenge or opportunity your business or society is facing. It might be an employee, relation or a friend. Leaders often talk too much and don't truly listen to the people around them, who often have valuable insights. But good ones do! As a JUST leader, listen to other people with the same level of attention and open mind as you would listen to a consultant or outside expert. You don't always have to follow the advice, but this exercise can help you get out of the same-old patterns of thinking.

Less wonder, God made our ears two.

Two Sides of PRIDE

When you think of the word pride, does it strike you as positive or negative? There are certainly many positive types of pride. It’s good to “take pride in our work.” We like it when someone tells us, “I’m proud of you.” And nearly everyone wants to live in a neighborhood where people display “pride of ownership.” All of these expressions communicate a positive kind of pride: dignity, respect and honor, traits that we all can embrace.

But pride is not always positive. Pride can also mean conceit, arrogance, or superiority. This kind of pride is based on self-centeredness, and it’s destructive. Selfish pride is especially destructive to relationships. That’s because the opposite of loving others is not hating them but rather being self-centered.

Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better looking than others. If every one else became equally rich, or clever, or good looking, there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.

So how do we solve the problem of pride? I believe there are several steps we can take to counteract our tendency toward self-centeredness.

1. Recognize and Admit Your Pride. The first step is to realize that one is proud.

2. Express Your Gratitude. Henry Ward Beecher said, “A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.”

3. Practice Servanthood. A person who is truly great is always willing to be little. Serving others requires us to focus on their needs rather than our own.

4. Laugh at Yourself. There’s an old saying, “Blessed are they that laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be entertained.” Once you begin to look for humor in your behavior and situation, you find it everywhere.

If your pride pushes you toward performing with excellence, doing your best, and finding joy in the accomplishments of others, it’s probably helping you become a better leader.