Confidence Building, A Fundamental business feat.

Believe alone may not be enough to drive you to your destination. There are many post all over the internet on that topic and in fact I recently crafted one for you. But, what if we needed something beyond believe, something that doesn't just enables you to start up something but equips you with the needed bravado to do it extraordinarily.
That big word is confidence. Take a public speaker for example. He does his research and believes in what he’s about to deliver. Believe takes him to the stage but confidence backs him to speak.

What You Need to Know About Confidence.

Psychologytoday.com defines confidence as a belief in one's ability to succeed. A research paper on How to build confidence by Yasmine Shahin in 2015 defined confidence as a state of being that makes you feel that you can achieve what you want in life."

Most people are just too scripted in an inferior context that they rob themselves of the right to stand out. The net of timidity keeps them locked up in a cocoon, never to make their mark on the market.
Even though they strongly believe in what they do, they find it hard to express it openly or make a profitable venture out of their ideas. Why?

Because they think they are going to sound foolish and that what they have to say will not make sense. So they sit down and watch other business persons create their own businesses. And One funny thing is that these people will often see the mistakes others are making, and the variety of things others are doing wrong, but they can’t voice out or at least stand up to exploit the opportunities right before them.

Surely, this are the signs of self doubt, but not in your business this time. The problem is that you doubt your potential to emerge successful. You lack the right proportion of self conviction. That invaluable factor that makes you give a deaf ear to anything the folks have to say. You don’t  give an ear, because you are sure of your self and what you represent. And like Yasmine said, you feel and believe that you can achieve what you want in life.
Confidence is what you need to succeed. It is a mantle that stabilizes the feet of it’s possessor. It makes you a professional overnight. With confidence, you don’t panic.

Confidence in Business.

There is a term under business and economy called Business confidence index (BCI)
The business confidence index (BCI) is based on enterprises' assessment of production, orders and stocks, as well as its current position and expectations for the immediate future.

In order words, Business confidence index is the metrics of a business or economy that Portrays how trustworthy the venture is. It's value will either encourage or discourage investors from investing into your business. It reflects profits and loses and how good or badly a venture is operated.

Take for instance, the Business Confidence in Nigeria increased to 17.70 in the fourth quarter of 2017 from -2.60 in the third quarter of 2017.

Consequently, more investors would pump in their funds during the fourth quarter than during the third. This is because in the third quarter, BCI was low therefore investors did not trust the economy,  but the fourth quarter was not so because as investors began to see an improvement in the BCI they knew their funds were entering into a growing economy.
The point I want to make from this is that the business confidence index depicts the trust factor of a company or startup.  But people make up companies, people make up it's board of directors and infact, someone is the CEO.  Therefore a company is a legal person managed by individual persons. So anything that affects the company is as a result of decisions made by the individual person(s) that run the business.

Consequently,  if the confidence index of a business is low,  it simply means that the board of directors or managers of such companies have  very little confidence to take the right decision that could have produced a better result in the current positions and equity of the company.

Maybe we should just check individual confidence index

In business, you never want to keep quiet while things go wrong. Confidence and willpower takes care of that. The true leaders with the right individual confidence index are recognized by the way they handle difficult times.
What it takes to make strong but risky business decisions that could turn profits for your company is a reflection of your confidence factor and how much of a leader you've become.
I’ll explain.

People like to associate with success. A successful person is a confident person. They don’t want to deal with a mediocre because when losses come they bear it together.

Now, when your business is facing hard times, people are watching critically to see if you are showing the needed confidence index and persistence to take on the task. If you are, they hang around, because they want to be proud affiliates or shareholders. But when you act with even the slightest show of indecision, fragility and inactivity, they secede, sell their shares, and close their affiliate accounts. Why? because they don’t find you competent and no one wants to be on the losing team.

More importantly, your investors discover that your individual confidence index in the negative, and the wise investors know that it will sooner or later reflect on your BCI, therefore, they quit.

Confidence qualifies you to compete.

When your associates find a strong bust of self confidence is in you, you automatically become the latest CEO of the most competent board of directors. You will tend to build audiences faster and progress will be made at a rapid rate.
 You don’t need to be a professional, in order to display confidence. All that is required is a strong sense of discipline, and a strong decision to stop worrying about the competition and focus on your goal.

Confidence is that force that gives you a say. You walk into that podium undaunted by what comes your way. You know why? Because you have pride in your sense of person, you are confident that you can tackle anything that comes your way, thus,  you execute decisions with authority after you must have done your research. Take note that confident people don't take stand on decisions because they are right, but because they are not afraid of being wrong.

 Believe can get you going but confidence makes you a professional. A high Confidence index will make your competitors to sweat under their pants because, you will build customer base more rapidly.
The world needs confident people in business, people with very high confidence index. Others listen to and look up to them.

However, building confidence might just be that one spice you are missing. Harness the quickening power of this virtue and find your business or career shooting up like the storms.

Ready to take control and build confidence?

1. Focus on your passion:
When you start wanting to be everything in the world, to look more smarter and professional than you are, you will find your self with no focus and as a result no confidence in public. Focus on that very thing you know, don’t claim what you ain’t. just stick to being you and that will pay of handsomely. What this does is give you more time to research around your passion, and then get professional in that field. When you focus more, you realize more than you would have done without. You become an authority in the field and people listen when you speak.

2. Achieve little success everyday.
Past successes contributes to recent ones. When people comment and leave good review of your business and book. You feel successful and that leaves in you a certain confidence that you are now becoming an authority. So I found a way anyone can utilize that natural phenomena, turn it into a formula that can build confidence and make you the hero you were meant to be.
Set small goals everyday not something you doubt you may not keep to. Set something you can fathom. In business , try making shorter plans. Instead of taking on your financial plans all at once break it into different articles while you work on each one daily or weekly, as the case may be. When you work on that little stuff and achieve success you immediately begin to get some satisfaction, a sense of fulfillment for solving problems. This builds your confidence, and improves your competence – you ability to outshine your competitors.

3. Spend good portion of time to prepare.

Good preparation begets boldness, and boldness yields confidence. When you prepare for what you want to embark on, you get on top, you become an authority in that field and people look up to you. Preparation gets you ready for the opportunity. It makes you competent when the contract finally comes or when you finally start the business. When you are prepared, you will always have something to say, something to write, new ideas to offer, or the right decision to make. This keeps your audience, followers, associates and partners more engaged with you. They believe in you because you are competent. But when you spend the time doing irrelevancies and futilities, pursuing things that does not align with your plan, you end up being unprepared and unready. Then when the opportunity you’ve patiently waited for finally comes, the spectators find you shivering, the audience and associates discovers that you can’t make a decision, the followers and fans find out that you have nothing to offer and thus they let go of you and go for the others. Why? Because they see an incompetent fellow in you. They automatically see that you don’t even trust yourself, “how the hell do you want us to trust you” they keep asking. Start preparing today because luck is that point where preparation meets opportunity.

4. Be sincere with your followers.
Being open-minded with your business partners and followers is a very essential factor, however, most people overlook it.  When you are insincere or not clear about a particular fact, or maybe you try to maneuver, you may  not observe the many eyes and ears that are watching and listening. Then sometimes when you are feeling confident one fellow stands up and makes a reference or drop a sincere bad review. Then you find yourself sweating in front of your audience. Be strict about what you believe, state it plainly, and let all you do in and out of business reflect it. This is to say, be yourself. It saves you a lot of stress and heck in the future.

Instead of being turgid about the competition, build confidence and become competent. Because confidence is creative.

Yasmine says, building self-confidence begins with the process of self-exploration. And I think the process of self-exploration, with what you stand to gain, is worth the time and effort.

5. You don't always have to be right.

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The Clever Act of Taking a Walk – Do You Always Have to Be Busy?

Give yourself a break.

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The society we live in is that whose atmosphere is saturated with hustling and bustling. Busyness in business, bustling in relationships, and the ever-surviving desire to compete. These things rob us of rest, the sense of calm and most importantly, the value of life.

The businessperson is always busy; the entrepreneur is always researching new opportunities. The nursing mothers are always restless and even the domestic house cleaner in a hurry. The corporate worker yearns for some air and the writer is always bleeding on paper. Our world is always found to be in a state of constant chaos due to rumblings of busyness.

And in all these, we hardly have compassion on ourselves. We less frequently commit to rest. However, we keep straining our nerves, clinching our fists in a bid to do extra more.

It is not in physical strain that we must achieve the best. The clench of fist may lead to very little success but calculated actions and decent choices will get you there.

The Two Existing worlds

Time and over again, we are been caught in between two worlds. One, that of a tumultuous and unnerving struggle and the second, of total weakness, idleness, and slumber. It is usually either one or the other.

However, there is evidently a flaw in this model or approach to our businesses, career, and relationships.

In the first world, you produce volumes of scripts, in order words, productivity is tripled. But more often than not, you discovered that what you produced could only mercifully be classified as crumbs.

In order words, productivity becomes a total clinker.

Whereas, in the second world you produce nothing at all. Then here comes the question, “could there be a third alternative?”

What if you could create a completely new existential level; someplace where valuable creativity rather than worthless productivity will be preserved and adored.

The Third Alternative

Some personal development consultants and time management programs tend to focus on productivity. Volumes are appraised instead of value. The question is “how much” and not “how valuable.”

However, this scripting has been generalized. It is now viral as almost everybody practices it whether consciously or unconsciously. This is the reason why in relationships, job security takes preference. The holiday or family vacation can wait once it’s your boss calling. We are committed to restlessness and busyness; we are held in a paradigm of high productivity with little or no emphasis on the value of our labor. We soak ourselves in constant chaos and crisis. By our own hands, we create an atmosphere of sore cataclysm because we don’t find joy in our restless struggle nor peace in a completely deteriorated relationship.

In the midst of our unending struggle, no satisfaction is derived. Being idle makes the situation worse. Therefore, we need the third alternative. The solution rests in a pattern or strategy that upholds productivity and compliments value — value in our personal lives as well as our relationships. We demand a new ideology that senses the need for a chaotic relief. Where calmness and peace with self is maintained. That ideology rests in the clever act of taking a walk.

This principle recognizes that the struggles of life are unending and limitless. So everyone is found in a state of constant hustling or total idleness.

A Little Time Out Will Suffice

Taking some time out of the entire world’s stress will do great good. Struggling all day long consumes your sense of calm. It wears you out and gets you all stressed out. In the third alternative, taking a walk, a little time off from all the bustling energizes you to perform better.

Worthless productivity should be abhorred and value enthroned. You create value by taking some time off that tight schedule to visit a friend, spend some time with your spouse, do charity or take a walk. In productivity, taking a walk can help the brain to quickly gather highly relevant data that can enhance the value and worth of your project.

Taking a walk forbids idleness and slumber but promotes considerable struggle that is in harmony with valuable productivity rather than that which is valueless and worthless.

Quadrant II Activities Are Neglected

It is time to change the script you’ve been handed by parents and peers. That of a chaotic struggle for success to that which promotes calm competition — the third alternative of taking a walk. We tend to believe that in making that extra effort, we attain something greater. However, in doing so we trample on value and overlook impact. We allow the urgent matters eat up the whole time whereas neglecting quadrant II activities that would have made tremendous impact on the relationship we hold so dear and the extra value that would have been added to our productive capacity and competence.

Taking a walk is a clever act in the second quadrant of activities. It is important but not urgent. Perhaps this is why it is often neglected. However, if your focus is not just on productivity but also on impact; on value not on volumes, then it’s time you adopt the new ideology of the third alternative — take a walk. Find time to rest, give yourself breaks and the value and impact of what you do will be doubled. You should all so take some time out of the entire tight schedule to attend to some non-urgent quadrant II activities. You can visit charity homes, buy your spouse a gift, take the kids on an exciting trip.

“It is not in physical strain that we must achieve the best. Calculated actions and decent choices will get you there.”

We often neglect countless quadrant II activities. Taking some time out of business to do these things makes you a person of value. It also adds value to your relationships both with self (mentally, productively) and with other interpersonal relationships. In conclusion, don’t let the thought of business eat up your time with self and persons — take a walk.

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8 Must do’s That Will Help You Get Focused: No Focus, No Fortune.

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An archer without a target will shoot aimlessly and realize nothing; a businessperson without focus will do all the businesses there is and end up frustrated. Have you spent most of the time in your life pursuing several things at a go without an actual goal or target, Or have you left a business for another just because you think the income isn’t rolling as estimated?

Greed Makes You Want To Kill Two Birds With A Stone.

Sometimes, the problem is not from the business but the business owner. When you don’t focus on one task to the finish, you literally vanish your strength in the quest for several others at a go. You are caught in between the dilemma of which bird to kill. Both birds will look pretty and beautiful but there’s just one chance and one stone. Many would go for both birds and end up losing everything.

Although I don’t expect you to completely agree, this is what most people do in business. Bruising the head of two birds with one stone sounds figuratively and connotatively possible. However, have you ever considered what it looks like to kill two birds in reality with one stone? 90 percent impossible.

So why do people keep repeating this mistake? They take an ideology that is meant for figurative speeches and apply it to their lives and businesses. Achieving two tasks at a go is only possible and applicable to very few activities like the daily chores at home or office. Not your career and business.

Focus brings out the best in you and quickly directs you to your fortune. Avoid the temptation of catching all the birds at once and you will flourish.

  They Tried To Kill All the Birds

John C. Maxwell shares a wonderful hunting adventure in his book, “Talent is never enough” republished as “Beyond Talent.” He recounts on an adventure he and a friend had in Buenos Aires of Argentina. The Buenos region of Argentina is known for the uncountable number of doves that parades over the air almost constantly. So, they went dove hunting.

While they stood and watched, thousands of birds will fly past them in so much that the cloud was almost black with them. He and his friend shot freely with the thought, “well, since the air is filled with these black creatures, it won’t matter where we shoot, we’ll certainly kill one.” Tragically, they spent almost two hours shooting and sweating, and you know how many birds they caught? None.

When a man abhors his sense of focus, he loses his fortune.

If you really want to be successful in business, there is one important thing to do. Take a record of all your ongoing business projects, analyze them critically on the basis of your scale of preference. Note that this should not be in determined by which business produces the highest income but on that which defines your true passion.

Take that one business apart from the rest. Begin to focus, deposit your strength and resources into the business, and take it by the horn. You will be amazed when you discover that your potential for success has become a reality.

Life without a priority is baseless. You should have something that sets your impulses on fire — a motivation. A business that you know very well and also love doing. Take it as your priority as far as the world of business is concerned. Let it be the function that determines what remaining resources there is to put into another.

Unless this function is confirmed, other probabilities and uncertainties can wait. Prioritize and focus on your passion.

Diversification should come only when the establishment of that prioritized business function is proven true.

A tree can only sit comfortably on a solid root. When the root is not established, the outer growth suffers uncertainty. Being the jack-of-all-trades and master of none doesn’t seem like what the  pros do. I have discovered that they focus on establishing the root business, they give it all they’ve got, sometimes they feel like they should give up, but they keep going. However, when the root is solidified, they diversify and boom it becomes a seemingly serendipitous materialization of wealth.

He Was Making The Same Mistake

Mike was very bothered about his financial predicament, so he decided to consult me. This guy was not poor he had the money but couldn’t manage it. In order words, he was experiencing the financial yo-yo effect — one day he made a huge profit and the next, he loses everything.

He Pours Out His Grief

“I have been in business for a very long time, but I can’t tell how I suddenly lose the money. I make money every day but somehow I don’t actually find that money in my purse.”

Immediately, I understood his grief. I knew what it felt like to lose everything and to start all over so, I stopped him from spilling all of it because I hated how it was making him feel.

“You are not the first person with this sort of problem, and I am personally a living experience of your story.”
Mike becoming impatient snapped back.

 “Why does it have to be that way,”

 “Because you made it that way.”

He was just trying to let that one in when I continued.

“The problem is not your business, but you.”
Mike was a friend and I knew him to own several businesses. Perhaps, they were just becoming too much for him to manage.
 

 “What is your focus?” I asked.

“To make huge money and build a great animal farm in my old age.” He responded hurriedly.

While that made me want to eke out a laugh, I tried so much to keep myself in check.

I noticed that Mike’s lack of focus was really costing him much. He went on to explain the businesses he did which I will not disclose for a reason best known to me. However, there was actually no focus. It was too much for him, so he found himself running around all day only to make money from one and lose it to the other. Then I advised Mike as follows:

Write a Plan That Focuses On One Business

In order words, make one business the function of all.

I have noticed that many people write a plan that contains more than one business venture. There is no focus in such a plan.

In an episode of the recently concluded series: How to start your business with little or no money, I covered a topic how to write an action plan that gets you started. A Plan can just be the pathway to success, but an action plan built on focus is a narrow path illuminated with a spotlight pointing straight at the goal and target. With this type of plan, you never lose focus. Your potential is at maximum because there is a clear view of your destination.

How Do You Teach Your Child To Crawl?

You probably do know the answer to that but let’s be a little emphatic here. You don’t sit a child and tell him to start crawling. This is what many are doing in business, and as a result, this is costing them great fortune and their potential to succeed. If you neglect focus, you get confused. When the destination is clear and there is a visible and well-written action plan that focuses on one business, you automatically get motivated to pursue and attain success.

Now here’s what we do, we sit him down, get a pizza, and place it a little farther from his reach. Immediately, his instincts becomes triggered; he automatically gets motivated to grab the pizza and so, he starts to crawl towards it.

What’s your goal? Do you actually have a target? What is your focus?

Maybe you are missing a pattern that the rich follow. It’s not about how many businesses you build; it’s about the one you build that thrives. Start building focus today by doing the following.

• Analyze your portfolio: Make a list of all venture and investments you’ve placed. Analyze these platforms based on their yielding capacities and scale of importance.
• Define your passion: After a careful analysis, choose the one that aligns with your passion. Something that drives you to action. It is that business you will willingly do for free if that's what it takes to keep going.

• Synchronize your passion with the business and career 
• Pursue that one that matters and do it with all you’ve got: Start working on that segmented and specialized business platform. Do all it takes, do more research and keep the hustling to the full. 
• Define what your success will look like — To grab the pizza: In order to know when you've succeeded, you should first know what success means for your business. Does it mean constantly increasing customer base, increased product sales and revenue? Does it mean good business reviews or how many branches the company has got?
• Don’t get distracted: Don’t get lost in the sea. Focus on your destination — the pizza. 
• Make sure you have an action plan 
• When you’ve attained your definition of success, you can choose the next plan that synchronizes with your passion, and iterate the process.

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Discover How Meditation Can Multiply Your Productivity.

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Encarta dictionaries define meditation as the emptying of the mind of thoughts, or the concentration of the mind on one thing, in order to aid mental or spiritual development, contemplation, and relaxation.

Meditation dates back to over 2000 years ago. Several religions and deities have practiced it. It has been used a long time ago as a tool for contemplation and relaxation. People meditate for several reasons ranging from a tool for relaxation to a gateway of answers and solutions. In old and present times, people seek forms of knowledge from the metaphysical dimension through apport and séance. These were all intense forms of meditation, which proves that its use was validated long ago.

Great books like the Bible and Koran all make clear the importance of a silent meditation or contemplation with God. And meditation is an integral part of Religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Chinese philosophy, and Buddhism.

For example, In Hindu practices, a yogi (a person who practices yoga) enters into a state of intense commitment to the search for knowledge through meditation in the cross-legged “lotus position.” He goes beyond the limitation of flesh and connects with an infinite source of knowledge. This is done through intense concentration and focus on a particular subject.

Far back, it was a means of seeking information and a communication link with a deity. However, meditation has transcended ages and as such, better and contemporary needs for it has been discovered.

Contemporary Needs for Meditation

Meditation has long existed and the many who practice it have had various reasons for their involvement. However, the subject of meditation continues to prevail even in these contemporary times and its relevance continues to expand.

Well, since am not a fan of superstition, I believe there are normal things cool guys can achieve with this important tool. Here are a number of things meditation can do for you.

#1 Stress Relief

Even though you may not realize, in most cases you spend most of your day worrying about what to eat, the children’s school fees, their clothing and many other things. These activities are urgent and demand your immediate attention. Your boss calls from work; your spouse demands your attention; you want to protect the relationship, but job security seems to have more priority. As early as 4am you are up and running. The kids should get to school on time; you can’t even be late for work because it has its penalty.

Most of our time is spent on one urgent activity or the other, and by the end of the day, we are completely stressed out. Sleep time comes, but they are spent on calculations and projections for the next day.

Perhaps if you gave yourself some time to think and meditate, you will discover that you can have the peace of mind you so deeply desire. Meditation integrates a process of clearing the mind of every thought and worries and centering all neuro nerves on the one thing that gladdens the human mind. It is a great tool for relief and in fact, I have personally discovered that no matter how stressed out a person may be, the one solution that has always prevailed is to find a quiet place to meditate. It is in these precious moments that you discover a deep sense of rest and relaxation.

Among the many things you can do with meditation, stress relief is very important and advantageous to humanity as a whole. However, we rarely find time to engage in the exercise of deep contemplation which leaves us filled with the anxiousness of the next thing to do and the next problem that will pop up.

#2 Problem solving

Have you discovered that it is when you pause a moment to have a careful contemplation that you realize exactly where you kept the car key you’ve spent hours looking for?

Scientists have stated that giving yourself intermittent breaks in a project will help improve your productivity. This is because when you’re into the hustling and bustling, the brain does the same and as such, it has to access several fragmented directories in order to get the exact information you need to be successful at a task. Taking a break relieves the brain of pressure and helps him concentrate on the most important data, therefore increasing your likelihood of a success.

Mathematicians, programmers, and core inventors have been seen to solve the most challenging questions after a contemplative sleep or rest. These persons go to bed with a problem in mind, and then they sleep over it. In order words, they meditate on these problems while they sleep. And the sequel is a problem solved.

I call it the meditative sleep. They utilize this incredible tool to assess knowledge that otherwise would have been impossible or very time-consuming to assess. Isn’t it amazing how this works?

Meditation is a good problem-solving instrument even though we hardly recognize this fact. With this ancient and yet contemporary instrument of significant change, we can solve the most challenging of problems. So yeah, meditation is the big word.

#3 Self-awareness and contemplation.

Self-awareness is a state of consciousness with self in relation to other people. It is how deeply you understand your own self and how these understandings of your core values affect the other person. How the habits you act out influences who you are and the surrounding people.

Many times over, we live the entire day in values that contradicts our fundamental principles. And as such, we cause conflict with self, purpose, and persons. Do you know how many people you offend in a day? Of course, you don’t.

The only way to be fully self-aware of the people you hurt and how our actions affect your environment is by finding time to meditate contemplatively and living a principle-centered life.

In contemplative meditation, you are able to see what you wouldn’t see otherwise. You discover how your actions affect the other person. That level of self-awareness alone is enough to create a highly positive interpersonal relationship with the people around you.

You can begin to see how important meditation can be regardless of your status and the level from which you operate. And as you begin to expand each point, you will find out the unlimited ways it can apply to your businesses, relationships, and family.

In the business organizations, bosses will begin to realize the tremendous impact on productivity meditation is going to have if upheld. Some managers will call it brainstorming but regardless; meditation is a very great problem-solving tool especially in the business setting.

In organizations, departments with pressing problems should be given the time to meditate. Individuals that hold key roles in the running of a department should also be allotted time for their personal contemplation. You will be surprised at the tremendous flow of ideas and solutions to problems. In these sessions, participants will even tend to establish a bonding effect with their roles and duties, which makes the managers less pruned to embark on a “do this and that” type of leadership.

Meditation also applies to relationships. If spouses could find time to meditate, then they will find a sense of relaxation and stress relief even in the midst of their boisterous schedule and commitments to work, family, and kids.

How about in social gatherings. We could be more conscious of the other people’s feelings, more self-aware and thus improve our social relationship with others.

How to Meditate Effectively.

Some personal development advisers and bloggers opine that one should meditate within the early hours of the morning. However, I don’t seem to accept that formula because it does not work for me. I'm sure there are a number of folks out there that might have the same view as I do. I still do my meditation during my own time and it works for me.

Here’s my little piece of advice, if the morning hours is not a good time for you, then find another time that works for you and stick to it. It doesn’t have to be sometime in the morning, afternoon or night, it just has to be a time you feel good about. And this is so because a prerequisite for an effective meditation is that you must be at peace with yourself, you should be able to concentrate and concentration is only realizable when you're committed.

Secondly, meditation requires one to clear the mind of all thoughts and every form of disturbances. That is more of the reason why it is recommended that meditation is done in a very quiet environment. One should be able to put behind every thought and forms of disturbances. It is also at this stage of meditation that you are able to find relaxation; a sense of calm and an apparent separation from the world’s disturbances.

Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end. — Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 – 1986)

The third stage is the point of focus and the reason for meditation. Do you wish to discover the solution to a problem or to become more aware of yourself and your relationship with the people around i.e. how your actions affect your social relationships? Whatever the point of focus is, you have to concentrate all attention and brainpower on it. It is then that you begin to realize a stream flow of ideas and a bunch of revelations you will otherwise not have discovered.

Meditation is a natural way of seeking knowledge or better still, it is a way of unlocking the right brain's visual and intuitive skills together with the left brain's logical and analytical skills. It doesn’t have to be superstitious. Anyone anywhere can always use this tool for increased productivity.

These are the three stage of mediation. So how about taking out time to figure out the many problems you could solve with effective meditation. I bet you will be marveled at the result.

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Episode 8: Why Your Preparation Will Be Futile Without Consistent Practice

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Preparation is the basic and most essential element of business success. However, in most cases we find it hard to act out our preparation, to create a mark that will speak volumes of our preparedness. What impedes or hinders us from making a difference even after the much preparation? Perhaps, there is already an answer to it.

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
— Stephen King

Preparation Is Prerequisite For Success.

Preparation is getting ready. We become a better version of ourselves by preparation. There is no magic to it, there is no abracadabra; preparation is simply the most essential element of success.

Preparation precedes success

As algebra precedes calculus in mathematics, and crawling, walking in the developmental stages of a child, so is preparation a prerequisite for success. The prepared person will win if he shows up. The prepared, will always have an edge over others. They are at an advantage even over the most talented of men because they have mastered their skills and sharpened their saws through deep commitment and devotion to the learning process.

The next time you walk up to an event in which you are one of the participating players or presenters, one of the many questions that silently linger in your heart would be, “am I really prepared for this?” This again proves that preparation precedes success.

Preparation is a very important factor for any real success. You need to be actively present in what you profess to represent. Are you an entrepreneur businessperson, a business coach, an athlete, a scholar?

“The best way to succeed in business is to be in business”

You’ve Been Prepared Mentally

This series has centered on preparing you to be able to take on whatever business idea, career or craft you wish to pursue. It means to help you find and utilize your opportunities.

Opportunities come to us in many ways, but sometimes we don’t even recognize them and consequently we miss our big chance. Preparation opens your eyes to opportunities. It helps you see beyond the normal. However, this is not just about recognizing opportunities but utilizing it.

The ability to recognize and utilize opportunities is more of a mental exercise, and from the very beginning, we’ve focused on building that exceptional mentality for success.

Some of these mental preparations are as follows:

•         The start formula

•        How to exorcise your fear to start

•        What hinders you from success

•       The action plan that activates the start formula

All these, prepare you mentally and set you in the right mindset for action. They inscribe the basic principles of success so that you win mentally and when you win mentally, you are already a winner.

Preparation Vs Practice

Preparation is getting something or somebody ready in advance. Nevertheless, preparation and practice is sometimes mistaken to mean the same thing but this is not so.

Practice means the act of repeating something to get better. It is the performing of a task so that a person gets accustomed to it. Practice is the continuous repetition of an activity, a consistent participation in a craft in order to get better. It involves the activities a person does, in respect to his jurisdiction that makes him a better artisan.

In other words, a prepared person denotes a ready or set person whereas practice involves all the activities after which a person or a thing is certified set or prepared.

Going back to the maxim, “preparation is prerequisite for success.” It can also be said that “practice precedes preparation which in turn is prerequisite for success.”

Before attaining the state of preparedness, one must have practiced repetitively whatever be his craft. Practice is the successive realization of set goals for the basic purpose of getting better and preparation is the state at which practice accounts for a mastery in the said skill or craft.

Does Practice Have To Stop?

However, the problem with some of us is that we are too fast to assume the state of preparedness. It takes time to get prepared; more than we even conceive. Preparation costs practice and indefatigable commitment.

A football team spends days practicing for a 90 minutes match, the same way a speaker will spend several hours for a 30-minute speech. Consistent and unrelenting Practice is the cost one must pay for attaining a state of preparedness. However, when you are truly prepared, success is not farfetched.

Even after reaching a state of preparedness, practice is just too precious a thing to let go. We tend to forget about perfecting in things and areas we’ve already been awarded excellence.

Statistics shows that only one-third of adults finish an entire book after their last graduation. This proves that our teachability drops rapidly immediately we attain erudition in a given profession. Why does it have to be so? Why do we have to stop practicing?

When you stop learning or practicing, your preparedness dwindles. You become less and less competent until you are back in a pit you once triumphed. The Mathematics professor will always say, “Friends, if you leave Mathematics, Mathematics leaves you.”

It will all be for nothing if you do not practice consistently or participate actively in your craft. If you hope to build a career in singing, writing, marketing, or entrepreneurship and you do not find a way to sing, write, market or find new business opportunities respectively, every day, then there is absolutely no way you can get to success and remain at it.

Success is not a one-time achievement of a predetermined goal as many people see it. It is a gradual and systematic acceleration towards that goal. What this means is that every step you take, and every action, can lead either to your success or to failure.

Here is the bottom line. No matter how good you get in your business or profession, find ways to practice every single day and even when you attain erudition in a profession, keep practicing.

Here is a simplified progression flow.

Writers, write; investors, invest; businesspersons, build businesses; athletes, participate in sports. Every single day, in the very best way you can, always practice and you’ll be surprised how good you’ll get.

As you begin to figure out ways you can start practicing your craft, note that a couple of things can always hinder you from practicing.

#1 Friends

Friends are great tools for success as they can be an inhibition to growth. The friends we keep determine most of our actions and that is how it is. When a writer has a friend whose center is pleasure and entertainment, you can imagine how impossible that combination is. More often than not, the writer will certainly be dissuaded from embarking on a project he has at hand perhaps due to a party that will be held at some place after the next two or three streets.

When you discover a friend who inhibits your productivity, perhaps that’s not a good union and I think there’s an obvious action to take — Keep away. This is because friends are important determining factors of our success rate. You think you're the boss of your life, well that’s only partially true. Your friends subconsciously rule you and since they do, it is an unarguable fact that you need better friends.

#2 Your Boss

Many people work for money and not for passion. Some of these persons are innocent about this because they never did have a choice. People take on roles in organizations or positions in business premises mainly due to frustration and the unavailability of a second choice. Thus, they work for money and not for their passion. Their day-to-day actions are inconsistent with what they actually want to be or do. Therefore, they don’t practice their craft because their busy-ness does not align with thier core values.

Your bosses push you away from the activities you really care about, and then they allot you some stuff that is irrelevant to your craft and profession. The point is that if in your place of work, you are not delegated to activities that concern your career or interest, your boss may be trampling on your practice environment.

Do you suffer from a tight schedule at work? Are you delegated to do things that are incongruous with your career? Then maybe you are spending precious time under the wrong boss.

#3 Your Environment

The environment plays an enormous role in the making of a person. Whether you emerge a winner or a loser, your environment has the major answer. Many a time, we tend to be the eagle that dwells amongst chickens. We tie ourselves to a strange environment and as such, we are greatly affected. We undermine our potentials and tend to put up with the flow of things around us. However, we consequently live a life whose potential talents and fortune lay waste on an island of no return.

If you dwell among wolves, you tend to act like one; the eagle raised in a chicken’s pen thinks he is a chicken and acts as such. Therefore, until you break loose from your hallucinations and move to the right environment for your craft, you may never soar like that eagle did.

You may be spending time in wrong place all this while and that might just be the reason you cannot practice. Your environment plays an important role in making you the success you want to be. You can’t be the eagle that dwells among chickens. That’s insane.

#4 Family

I do not want to talk much about this, because there is no avoiding it. My advice is that you figure out the perfect timing so you can practice your craft and still get back to family. Family time is fabulous time — don’t mess it up.

For instance, a writer may decide to write within the hours of 3am to 4:30am then she wakes by 5am in order to attend to the kids and get them early to school. However it applies to you, make sure you find time and practice.

Here are a few things you can do to create the best aiding environment for practicing your craft.

• Change your friends. Speaker Joe Larson says, “My friends did not believe that I could become a successful speaker, so I did something about it. I went out and found me some new friends.” You too can do the same. Nothing should stand in your way to success; it is just too costly a mistake to make.

•  Be Always at the right environment — don’t be the eagle in a chicken pen.

• Change your boss — of course, you can. Find yourself a new boss who understands the importance of working in a position that is consistent with your craft and interest.

• Schedule your practice time so it does not coincide with family time — respect family)

You may be a professional athlete but if you do not show up on the event day, it won’t matter. You may be the most sophisticated investor, but if you do not start investing, how will you discover? You may have gathered all the financial education on business building, but if you do not build a business for real, it just won’t matter.

Revisit the action plan; get to work with it, research opportunities where you can practice your craft, for it is in practicing that you get prepared. Being a practitioner in the field is the only way you can get better. Your ideas will remain an illusion until you show up and become a real practitioner. No financial education will compensate for your inaction. You may not perform very well in the first few months or years, but trust me, the exponential power of action will soon catch up with you.

Always look for means to practice your craft for real. If it means changing all your friends, do it. Even if it requires leaving your current geographical environment, board a flight immediately and if you cannot afford one, use a taxi. Whatever it takes, however much it will cost, be a practitioner.

The lessons taught in this series, will not matter if you do not keep practicing them. Remember the quote by famous Roman philosopher Seneca, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” And the only way to be truly prepared is to practice constantly. You have a choice to start today and smile tomorrow.


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