Friday, January 8, 2010
Post #5 - My Success Ideas - Action
http://mysuccessideas.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html
If you are not a first time visitor then I will not waste any more time. As I am sure you remember I believe that there are 4 pillars of success that we must all strive to possess if we are to become successful. I have already shared the first three with you and these were....
1. The importance of having a good Attitude.
2. The necessity to accept Responsibility
3. The power of Decisions.
Today I will share with you what I believe to be the fourth and final pillar of success. This final pillar is absolutely crucial to achieving any amount of success in life. This final pillar is Action.
Now this may seem to be a fairly obvious requirement for success but it is so very crucial that it can't be underestimated. You may have a good attitude and you may make good decisions and are taking responsibility for your life but unfortunately without action you are going to stay stuck in the same place you are today. It amazes me how many people I come across in life who know all the answers, who know exactly what it is they should be doing but are failing miserably at this last step. They are failing to take action !! Lets face it nothing happens without action. You can have all the plans and goals and mission statements in the world...but without action they are worthless. I work with people all the time who tell me where I should be investing my money or what fitness routine I should be following but when I ask them if they are doing this nine times out of ten the answer is "well no, I should be but......". These people are failing to take action!! I think there are many reasons why people may fail to take action, they may be afraid of failing, they may lack confidence or sometimes it is just easier to come home and sit on the couch and put off doing what you know you need to do until another day. The problem with this is that that day never comes. You continue to put it off and the action never comes.
So the next question I suppose would be "How do you get yourself to take action" ? Well that could probably be covered in a post all to itself, but for now there are a few simple things I can recommend. The first is to decide what you want to accomplish and set a goal. Once you know what you want, try some tricks like sticking your goals to the fridge or cutting out pictures of what it is your after ( new car, better physique, new job etc) and posting them somewhere where you will see them on a regular basis. Try reading or listening to motivational material. Every night before bed I try to listen to something inspiring on my ipod. I really enjoy material from one of the all time best, Mr Jim Rohn. The internet is full of all kinds of motivational material, hopefully this blog included, heck you could even share your goals here or somewhere else online for all to see. I find music can be very motivating for me when it is time to go the gym. Something loud and upbeat always gets me in the mood to move. These are just a few simple ideas to get and keep you motivated to take action. The important thing is that you find out what works for. Very rarely will someone come in to your living room to offer you a new job or present a new investment idea. You have to get out in the world.You have to take action. Action is is the crucial step to accomplishing your goals. Without it your best laid plans are simply that......plans and nothing more. That is the reason they say that "Talk is cheap" and that "Actions speak louder than words" . Action is the fourth pillar of success and is absolutely crucial to your future success.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Turning "It" all around...
First - I wanted to remember it because I thought that it was so true and,
Second - and more importantly, I did it so that my kids would see it and ask me what it was all about. Which of course they did!
So what did I tell them? Well I used this opportunity to explain to them that life is full of decisions, some big and some small, and that throughout a typical day,week or year we make countless decisions. I explained that these decisions can play a huge part in the quality of our lives. For more on this see my post on the importance of decisions and decision making here http://http://mysuccessideas.blogspot.com. I also explained that nobody is perfect and that we don't always make the best decisions and thus sometimes we end up on the road to somewhere we don't want to be. Sometimes we refrain from making a decision and instead just end up "going along for the ride" while someone else makes the decisions for us. Before we know it we are in over our heads, doing something we don't want to do or perhaps just unhappy with where we are at in life. The great thing though is that with every passing moment we can turn it all around. In an instant we can make a decision that this is no longer the way that it is going to be. Now of course kids being kids, the next question was "what is it". Well I said.....it can be anything. We can start to change anything in an instant once we decide to change it. This is where I really tried to pass along some wisdom.
Perhaps you are hanging out with friends and you end up at a party with no parents home. You know you shouldn't be there but you "decide" to stay. Then some more kids show up and they have brought some alcohol. Now you are really uncomfortable but nobody else is leaving so you "decide" to stay. Now it's time to leave and someone who has had way too much to drink offers to drive home. As you all walk to the car this is the IT !!! Make a decision. Offer to drive, suggest you all walk home, phone me but with every passing moment you have the opportunity to say enough is enough, things have gone to far and I'm going to do something to change this outcome. It is the same with your life. Maybe you are broke, or in a bad relationship, or overweight or in a dead end job. If you don't like where your life is headed then do something ! Make a decision! It's not too late to turn things around. Say enough is enough and from now on things are going to be different, even if you don't know how you are going to do it. It all starts with a decision, and once that decision is made, then you can go about figuring out how you are going to do it. Once you have made the decision there are all kinds of resources available to help you figure out how to do it. You can follow along on my blog as I share with you what works for me. Better yet don't just listen to me, there are all kinds of people out there with blogs who have some excellent content. Although I think I have a pretty good plan, it is not the only plan. For now I encourage you to give some thought to your life and make some decisions about what you are willing to accept. Remember "That every passing moment is another chance to turn it all around". How many chances are you going to pass up ?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Post #4 - My Success Ideas-Responsibility
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Post #3 - My Success Ideas - Decisions
Ian
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Post #2 -My Success Ideas - Attitude
The first of these pillars may be the most important of all and that is your "attitude". What I mean by attitude is the way you approach and look at things on a daily basis. Throughout my life I have found that you can have two people faced with the exact same situation and yet quite often they will see it in two totally different ways. One person will focus on all the negative facts and think of all the negative possibilities and will thus have a very unenjoyable experience. Now you can observe another person in the exact same situation and just by looking at things in a slightly different light it changes their whole perception of the experience. By focusing on what went right, as opposed to what went wrong, they may actually find the experience enjoyable, or if not enjoyable, then certainly not as unpleasant as the first person. It is the old question "Is the glass half full or half empty?" Now I know this sounds incredibly simplistic and it is simple, but throughout my life I have witnessed the incredible difference a positive attitude can have on not only a situation but also the effect it can have on those around you. As I mentioned in my introduction I work as an airline pilot for a major carrier. Now as I'm sure most of you know travelling by air can be a very stressful and frustrating situation. After thinking about it for many years I believe it has something to do with giving up control of your time and schedule and not having any input, but I will save that theory for another blog. The story I want to share with you is that I have worked and flown with many different pilots throughout my career and they have all come with their own unique attitude, but there was one fellow many years ago who had a profound effect on me. His name was Bill, and Bill was one of the most positive and optimistic people I have ever had the good fortune of meeting. Bill was different than most in that he always assumed that things would work out in the end. I can remember flying with Bill once and when we showed up in the flight planning room a snow storm was just starting to blow in. Now there were no delays yet, but it certainly appeared to me that there was a pretty good chance that we would be delayed and I expressed this opinion to Bill. Bill would have none it, although he admitted that we might get delayed he said that we were going to go straight to the airplane and do our best to get out on time. Well I had nothing to lose so I grabbed my bags and off we headed to the gate. I must admit I wasn't feeling too confident that we would get away on time but If Bill wanted to try...hey why not? Well we came up to the gate with our flight bags in tow and before even looking up at us the ticket agent working the flight says " well I guess there is no rush today, it doesn't look like you guys will be leaving on time ".Well again Bill would have none of it and he told the agent that we were planning an on time departure and that we were now going to go get the airplane ready and if she could get all the passengers on board because if possible we were going to try to leave early ! All the agent could say at this point was "really???" Bill went on to explain to her that at this point it was just a little snow (he was right as it had just started snowing) and that he was headed outside to talk to the ground crew to make sure that they would be ready to go early as well....and he did!! He went straight outside with a big "hello" to the ground crew, asked them how their day was going, and then went on to explain how we were trying to leave early and would appreciate any help from them. Well to make a long story short as flights all around us left late we actually left early!! It was as if Bill's positive attitude had rubbed off on everyone he came in contact with. He even had a name for it...he called it "positive energy". I flew with him for four days that time and everywhere we went Bill had me pass on estimates to the company saying that we were going to be arriving early. Well we didn't always arrive early, and sometimes we were even late, but since we were telling everyone that we were going to be early everyone was always ready and waiting for us. I was amazed at how smooth things went! I flew with Bill many times after that and it was always the same, he was always in a good mood, was always very encouraging, and was always very positive. He truly was apleasure to fly with. This was the first time I thought- hey maybe there is something to this "positive energy" stuff. Well I can tell you for a fact now that it works. I now believe 100 percent that if you go into a situation expecting it not to work out that those around you pick up on that energy and 9 times out of 10 things will not work out. However if you go in with positive thoughts and expecting a positive outcome the opposite is true. Your enthusiasm and optimism will rub off on others and you greatly increase your odds of things working in your favour. Since those days of flying with Bill I have adopted his positive energy attitude and have noticed a tremendous difference in my life, and I find that I am generally just a happier person! Now whenever I work with someone who starts down the "oooh man this is gonna be a long day" road I always tell my Bill story and say we are going to try and be early. Now I am the first to admit that this sounds overly simplistic, and I am not saying that you should ignore negative things in your life and just think positive, that is just hiding from your problems. What I am saying is that you should face your problems and when you start to hear those self doubts or those around you expressing their doubts try and think of the best possible outcome and strive for that. Sometimes all it takes is one person to break the negative cycle and turn things around in a more positive direction. But hey don't take my word for it....try it yourself. When you get up tomorrow tell yourself what a great day it is going to be today. Throughout your day as you tackle the challenges you face be optimistic that you can beat them. Try and send out some "positive energy" of your own!!!! Trust me it works. Now this post has gone on far longer than I had planned but I really wanted to stress the importance of a positive attitude and share with you the change it has had on my life. This is only one of the pillars that I spoke of earlier but I believe it is so very important. Believe me, trust me, what have you got to lose??? Try becoming a more positive person and you are well on your way to leading a more successful life.
If you enjoyed this post please come back tomorrow when I will share with you what I believe to be the second pillar in your base to building a successful life and please feel free to leave any comments you may have.
Ian
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Post #1 My Success Ideas
Ian