04:56 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
One
of the exciting books I have read in recent years is “Lucky or Smart”
by Bo Peabody, a successful entrepreneur who made a lot of money by
starting several businesses that he sold and made him rich. In the book
he looks at why he became so successful, was it luck or was it his
ingenuity? He admits it was a bit of both but mostly luck which he
created as he went along.
We
often hear people saying that to succeed we need to be creating our own
luck. Sounds great, but does one actually go about doing that. And hey
isn’t luck all about chance anyway? Well if that is so, how can some
people be repeatedly lucky in different areas of their lives while
others hit the dead end? There must be something that these lucky
people keep doing that makes them lucky more often than not. Wouldn’t
you want to be one of them instead of just observing from the distance?
If you are serious about creating your own luck as you go
along then you need to consider the art of creating your own luck.
Let’s take a look at what lucky people do consistently to set
themselves apart from the herd:
• Take The Plunge- Seize Opportunities
Lucky
people take the plunge while others dither and tap dance on the edge of
opportunity. Every single day we are presented with opportunities to do
things that could easily lead to other bigger, better things. But,
because many of us undermine or completely neglect these opportunities
of chance, we rarely ever see where the rabbit hole leads. We continue
on with our merry little lives avoiding anything out of the ordinary
instead of looking for a chance to do something or go somewhere
different. If you ask the so-called lucky people what brought about
their lucky break you’ll often hear them say things like: “I just
happened to be talking to this stranger who turned out to be so-and-so
and the rest is history”. Opportunities are created out of chance
meetings, chance conversations that turn out to be vital in roads to
something bigger.
People who create their own luck often take
a plunge in starting businesses that seem like a big risk. They attend
functions where they might meet people who hold a key to their luck.
They often talk to strangers or risk humiliating themselves, which they
often do, but the newspapers only capture the moment of their
luck/breakthrough.
You can choose to be one of the lucky
people by deciding to take the plunge more often in your life. Not all
the plunges you take will lead to great opportunities but the more
often you do it the more likely you’ll hit the mark. Decide to take
more opportunities that come your way to do something different,
something a little risky and see what happens to your luck factor.
The best definition of luck is "luck occurs when preparedness meets opportunity"
• Play Your Strong Cards.
Know
your strengths and try to use them. Know your weakness and try to avoid
having to use them. Most of us spend our time trying to improve on our
weaknesses instead of perfecting our strengths. At school if we were
bad I math but good at everything else, we were encouraged to spend
more time on Math. This kind of thinking has left many of us average
because we do not have any area that we really excel in. If you really
want to create your own luck you need to start focusing on your strong
cards. Don’t pretend to have strengths that you don’t have. You can
develop strengths and overcome weaknesses. But make sure you identify
your specific skills, aptitudes, knowledge, and contacts and use them
wherever you can. This will increase you chances of getting lucky.
As
you develop and play to your strengths your reputation spreads as well.
When I decided to develop my strengths as a communicator it wasn’t long
before people were referring me to perfect strangers and people I
probably would never have met. When you play to your strengths and
excel you open up opportunities for yourself that remain closed who are
happy with being average.
• Give More Than You Take.
Stingy
people constitute of the unluckiest bunch around. If you want to
attract lucky people to your life and business, you need to be prepared
to give. You need to go the extra mile for others without worrying too
much about keeping score. In my experience the old saying “what goes
around comes around” is definitely true in business and in life and
“it” comes around when you least expect it believe me. The Bible is not
mistaken when it says, “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”
When you constantly look for ways to give to others instead of taking,
you’ll be amazed at how much you get as a result.
There are many
ways to give: Give more compliments than you receive; give more value
than what you are paid, give a little expect a little, give more expect
more. The hand that is already full cannot receive anymore but the hand
that is able releases easily also receives easily. Consider some ways
you can give more than you take to those around you. If all you do is
take from others you quickly become someone that others avoid. If you
never pay for the coffee when invited by friends to coffee, your
invitations become fewer.
So are you ready to create your own
luck? The art of creating your own luck becomes easier the more you
practice it. When the above become part of your everyday life you’ll
start hearing people talk about how lucky you are and they’ll be right.
So take every opportunity to get lucky, no one is going give you piece
of good fortune; you’ve got to create it yourself.
************************
Buhle Dlamini
is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Writer as well as the Founder of Young
& Able Youth Advisory Services cc, helping individuals and
organizations turn their potential into performance, succeed in every
area of their lives and achieve their dreams. Buhle is also a
consulting Project Manager to Heartlines a values-based Mass Media
Initiative. Get Buhle’s FREE monthly Success Newsletter by visiting his website at www.youngable.com
11:48 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
The Key To Balance and Success
By Buhle Dlamini
“It is not necessary to do extraordinary things in order to get extra ordinary results.”
- Warren Buffet
In the last four days I have touched down in Dakar Senegal, Dallas
Texas, Chicago Illinois and now I am in New York City. In the years
gone by that would have been impossible
let alone being affordable. With the advent of air travel what used to
be a long, tedious and costly process of getting from one place to
another became a breeze, literally. Technology has shown one in so many
areas of our modern lives how to achieve more with less. Sadly even
with all the evidence that stares us in the face about achieving more
with less being a real possibility many of us are not using this to our
advantage.
We all desire some measure of success in our work and life but often we
believe that the price we have to pay for it is just too much for us.
This may be very well true if we continue to hold on to the belief that
in order to achieve more in business, life and work you need to do
more. This conventional wisdom is what keeps so many stuck from ever
achieving a real measure of success in their lives.
Warren Buffet spells it out in the quote I shared at the beginning of
this article, that you don’t need to do extraordinary things or be
extraordinary to achieve great results. I listen to him because he has
proven this very point over and over in his life. If you are not aware,
Warren Buffet is now the third richest man in the world after Carlos
Slim and Bill Gates. Warren Buffet is worth in the excess of 50 Billion
US Dollars (not Zim Dollars) and gave away to charity about 30 Billion
making history in the process. Now most of us when we hear about that
kind of money we imagine someone like him having slaved hard for most
of his life to get there. The reality is that he didn’t and if we are
serious about success we need to take a leaf out of his book.
The 80/20 Principle
Richard Koch wrote a book called ‘Living the 80/20 Way’. In this book
he explains the 80/20 principle, which basically states that 80% of our
efforts give us 20% of the results and vice versa. Many of us
unfortunately live 80% effort side of life ad only get 20% of the
results we desire. We are often so busy being busy that we don’t
realize that all our busyness is only giving us a trickle of the kind
of results we’re looking for in life.
If we are going to achieve the kind of success that we desire a mind
shift is important. We need to stop looking for the hardest route to
our success and get into the habit of looking for ways of achieving
more with less. Often we hear about people who take very few calculated
steps and achieve much more than the rest of us. The difference between
them and us is that they understand this principle and they make it
work for them every time and yielding great results.
If you are tired of working hard but not getting the results you desire
take time to creating your roadmap to achieving more with less. Let us
look at what you need to look at in achieving more with less:
1. Be Clear About The Results You Seek
‘Begin with the end in mind’ is a phrase we have heard before but it is
still relevant today if not more. What is the end result you seek in
your business, relationships, finances, career and life? Becoming clear
on the results helps you to chart your course to them. So when you get
up in the morning ask yourself what do I want to achieve today? As you
get to work ask yourself the same question, what do I want to achieve
in my work today? As you handle your finances ask- what do I want to
achieve financially? As you become clearer about the results you seek
you engage in the process of being results driven as opposed to working
for the sake of working. When you know the kind of results you seek you
will automatically eliminate unnecessary activities. It will change the
way you do things and often it will make your job much easier.
2. Discover Your 20/80 Route
Now that you know what you want achieve, why not look at what is the
shortest route to achieving the end result. It has been said that the
definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results. Now let us look at your current work and
life. Has your current way of living and working given you the kind of
results you are looking for in the important areas of your life? If
not, then start drafting a different route to take you to your desired
results. What can you change in your work and life that will be the
shortest route to achieving your desired goals? This might mean that in
your work you have to make a list of 20% of activities that give you
80% of your desired results. Once you have compiled your list start
focusing on only doing these activities because they are your key to
achieving more with less.
Let me give you a practical example: in your finances, the best way to
get more money with the least amount of work is investing. By investing
you get your money to work for you instead of you working for money.
But the problem is that many of us don’t enough money to start really
seeing the benefits of investing. So most of us just dream about having
more money and continue trading our time for a trickle of money that
barely sees us from month to month. If you want to start achieving more
with the less you have there are a few steps you need to take. First,
educate yourself about different ways of investing; a book or a
workshop on investing will take a long way towards getting the kind of
knowledge you need to start investing. Secondly, once you know about
your investment options, you might need to start saving a portion of
what you are currently getting to get you to the point where you can
start investing seriously. Usually you need between R8 000 and R10 000
to start investing for good returns. From then on you follow simple
calculated steps and are now on the road to financial freedom. This
will enable you to achieve more with less in the financial area of your
life.
3. Manage Your Focus
If you are like many people I know you have spent a lot of time and
money on trying to improve your time management skills. I have been one
of the victims of the time management craze. Because of our lack of
focus on the right things and our misunderstanding of the 80/20
principle, many of us are taking courses on how we can cram more into
our workdays. We pay good money to learn how we can beat the clock in
our crazed running around while achieving little or nothing to be proud
of. I say to you forget time management. YOU CANNOT MANAGE TIME!!! Time
is continuous; nobody gets a better share of time, we all get 24 hours
in a day. The Millionaire and a beggar on the street corner both get
the same 24 hours in a day, what sets them apart is what they focus on
in those 24 hours. So I strongly suggest that you start focus
management instead of time management. If you manage what you focus on
you will start to achieve more with less.
So there it is, you already have in you everything you need to succeed
in life the key is getting rid of some of the myths you hold. You don’t
need to be extraordinary to succeed. You don’t need to work extra hard
to succeed. You don’t need to have a ton of money to succeed. Start
utilizing the little you have to achieve more right now. Cheers, I am
off to the Time Square, New York is AMAZING!
************************
Buhle Dlamini is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Writer as well as the Founder of Young & Able Youth Advisory Services cc,
helping individuals and organizations turn their potential into
performance, succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their
dreams. Buhle is also a consulting Project Manager to Heartlines a values-based Mass Media Initiative. Get Buhle’s FREE monthly Success Newsletter by visiting his website at www.youngable.com
