21 Personal Power Habits

Recently, I re-read a book by Brian Tracy, “Eat that Frog!” and it made a lot of sense. There are 21 topics that he covered in the book, I took some notes based on what I have learnt.

My humble opinion, if you are able to focus on one topic and take action for at least 30 days (it works better with an accountability partner). You will definitely see yourself change for the better.

There you go… the 21 Personal Power Habits (based on my understanding…). All the best in your action.

  1. Have a goal in writing for clarity. When you write down the goal, means you have put in some thoughts for the goal.
  2. Invest some time in advance planning. As the saying goes, “a stitch in time, saves nine…” though we have to expect the unexpected, we are preparing ourselves for any circumstances.
  3. Using the Pareto principle (80/20) to our advantage. Focusing our time and strength on the main 20% of activities to give us 80% of results.
  4. Weighing the critical-ness of the outcomes will point us to setting priorities (urgent versus important).
  5. Apply a system to assign the importance or sequence of tasks using method of preference (ABCDE, High-Medium-Low. Numbering, etc.)
  6. Effort versus results. Which area do you need to get results first? Focus on that first or get someone to help you to complete that area first before moving on to the next one.
  7. Time may be limited to finish all the activities… where you focus your energy, you get the results. Priorities on the most important ones.
  8. 6P’s on preparation: proper prior preparation prevents poor performance.
  9. Invest time in doing research to find out more before starting. What resources are needed? How can you be more resourceful?
  10. Utilise your strengths and talents. Things will be easier when you use your strengths to do it. More will be achieved with higher motivation as when focus on strengths, the less challenging the tasks will be.
  11. Determine the barriers and constraints. When the goal you set is audacious, you will bump into bottlenecks that slow you down. Once identified, get help or overcome them.
  12. Take one step at a time. Chunk the big tasks into smaller ones and keep going. Accomplish the most complicated ones, inch by inch , everything’s a cinch.
  13. Set a deadline for yourself. Some healthy pressure will be good to get things done. Remember the day before you went for your holiday… you get more things done that day…
  14. When are you the most productive? Leverage on that positive flow to achieve better results and getting more demanding tasks done.
  15. Being positive in the journey to get to where you want to be, makes life sweeter… be a fixer and focus on the solutions.
  16. Certain tasks is worth procrastinating. Focus on the high priority, important and adding more value to you.
  17. When you are fresh and full of positive energy, tackle the difficult tasks first.
  18. Divide and conquer. Segregate the tasks into manageable segments then deal with one at a time.
  19. Block your time (calendar) and make time to action with concentration.
  20. Be fast and accurate. Having the sense of urgency with quality execution is a good personal brand to have.
  21. Focus to finish. When you start and stop a task, it will consume more time to complete.

 

To learn more from the Guru, please visit this link:

https://www.briantracy.com/blog/category/personal-success/

 

Let me know how it goes. Enjoy the journey!

 

“Change your habits, change your world!”

5 Observations from a Recent Team Building Program

The other day I was given the opportunity to assist in a team building program at Balik Pulau, Penang. The journey to the program venue was scenic and something different from my everyday travels to work. It was a good and fruitful experience to go to somewhere different plus having different activities for team building. Thank God for a beautiful weather, good food and great people.

During the program, I have observed five -(5) key take-aways as learning from the program (and people). Please take note that the learning is based on my own opinion and opportunity given. Enjoy reading and if you like, perfect practice the learning shared…

1. Invest some time in the nature

“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.” – Vincent Van Gogh

During the program, the people and I were required to walk around the program venue to experience different activities. While walking about, enjoy the fresh air, new surroundings, new experience, new thoughts, new feelings… some how, there is something triggering the sub-conscious. With you own past experience and the new triggers (our 5 senses and environment), comes a new encounter.

The world is truly our playground, there are many things that we can do and learn. Certainly by creating a habit to invest some time in the nature can help to rejuvenate us. We do not have to go far to other states or countries to travel. Just by going to the nearest park where you are staying, is definitely worth the trip.

It is also a good practice to break the monotony and introduce a new activity to our lifestyle. A walk in the park, stroll with our loved ones, enjoying observing people, sound of children playing… take some time to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation. Recharge yourself by investing some time in the nature.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” – Albert Einstein

 

2. Be engaged

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

During the team building program, there were different activities for the groups at different times. I noticed that most of the people are engaged. The people who are engaged are the ones having the most fun and enjoyed the most from the program. Like any other programs, there were a few of them who were not participating (not sure what was their issue; some assumptions I can come up with – not happy as they were requested to attend, out of their norm and comfort zone, and many other human challenges or perceived problems).

For me, since we are there and the people around us were the closest people that we had at that time (should there be any unforeseen or unwanted event happened, but nothing happened on that day, thank God!), why not just have fun and be part of a bigger picture (movement, objective, goal, team)?

We are constantly making choices and the decisions that we make will lead to the outcomes that we get. While we can, let’s make the choice and decide to do our part to contribute in making this world a better place. (suddenly the song “Heal the world” by Michael Jackson comes to mind ;-p )

The choice is yours – to be involved or not… the team is moving towards their goal and getting the results they want. Just like the flight, it will not wait for us… when the time comes, it will just take-off (with or without you).

Our attitude determines our altitude (results, outcome).

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson

 

3. Allocate time to celebrate your wins or losses

“It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” – Bill Gates

Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. At times we hit the target, other times we missed. It takes a lot of perfect practice to be able to constantly and consistently hitting the mark. We definitely feel great when we are able to win. The question is how do we handle or failure?

FAIL is the acronym for First Attempt In Learning. As what I have learnt from NLP certification, failure is a feedback, it means that we may not be doing the right thing, taking the right action or not doing long enough to get the results that is expected (or the results that we want).

When things do not go our way, we have the right to have a bad day, and if everyday is a bad day… something is not right. We need to fine-tune (perfect practice, adjust, learn from the failure) and make it right to get the results that we want.

Someone in the team (at work or loved ones) may have disappointed you or you may be feeling let down (or to put it into a stronger word… betrayed!)… in my humble opinion (and I am still learning), there is no point harbouring ill feelings, use that experience to create a better you. Take action to build yourself, improve yourself or do something for others. What can be done differently to get better results? How can we respond (react) to the event to get better outcomes?

“Celebrate your successes. Find some humour in your failures.” – Sam Walton

 

4. Create memories

“Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.” – L.M. Montgomery

During most of my training, I will remind the participants that… “Today only comes once in your lifetime… we cannot go back to the time that had passed, make the best out of everyday!”

Everyday is unique and special. It is special because we want to make it special. The memory of the day we create can either be a pleasant one or not so pleasant at all. Of course we are not able to control the event that happened (especially the negative ones)… we can somehow filter the ones that we want to create or the learning that we want to adopt.

Another friend of mine shared with me a very interesting phrase, “And this too shall pass…”

Good or bad times, the day will pass and will never come back again. Enjoy while it lasted… choose to create the memories that you want. That you can take control of, my friend. Make the choice, decide, take action and be willing to pay the price. It makes it easier for us, when we are willing to do what it takes to make things happen.

Whatever the outcome is, learn to appreciate that we are alive to experience them. I am sure there are a lot of people who want to be experiencing what you are going through, right now.

“Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them.” – Bob Dylan

 

5. Attitude of gratitude

“When I started counted my blessings, my whole life turned around.” – Willie Nelson

What is that not to be thankful about? Great weather, good food, fantastic company, awesome experience…

Be thankful that we are able to experience such wonders and joy in our lives. There are a lot of people in this world who celebrates with the little that they have and yet there are some who focuses on what they do not have to be miserable.

Please pause and ponder for awhile, are you able to see, smell, touch, taste, walk… there are so many things that you can do to create the memories that you want. Starting today, starting NOW… you can immediately shift your paradigm to focus on the positives. Feeling thankful and be grateful for what you have. All the good times that you had, the learning that you have experienced. Knowledge, skills, exposure… you have a lot more than other people.

It is all in the state of your mind. What are you focus on? What you have or missing? On the things you can control or not? What stories are you telling yourself and what is the meaning of the stories?

You need to take action to change what you can and focus on creating new stories for your life. The moment you change your focus, you are giving power to it. Believe you can and you are already half-way there… the rest will be the actions that you will be taking to make the best out of yourself.

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”  – Oprah Winfrey

 

Now the ball is in your court… how are you going to start making positive change to yourself and people around you. When are you going to invest some time in the nature? How are you going to engage with people around you? Who are you going to celebrate with (whether you win or lose)? What memories do you want to create? How are you creating the memories you want? What are you thankful for?

These are some of the questions you can start to… “Change your habits, change your world!”

 

12 Weekend Habits of Highly Successful People

Have you ever thought of what successful (depends on what success means to you, in this case, people who are busy and had made a name for themselves in the business world) or we can identify them as effective leaders (people who get results)  do during the weekends?

I have come across these twelve leaders and what they do during weekends;

1. Robert Iger (CEO of Disney) – get up early (and never experience “Monday Blues”…)

2. Benjamin Franklin (Founding Father of the United States) – have a plan (fail to plan and we plan to fail)

3. Timothy Ferriss (Author; one of his books, “The 4-Hour Work Week”) –  do not multitask (focus to get better results)

4. Anna Wintour, OBE (Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief) – stay active (and gain more energy to achieve more)

5. Steve Jobs (Apple) – prioritize what’s important (clarity on what gets you closer to your goal and breakthrough)

6. Warren Buffett (CEO of Berkshire Hathaway) – make time for hobbies (life has more meaning in doing what you love)

7. Oprah Winfrey (Media Proprietor) – practice stillness (meditation for 20 minutes a day will improve your mind)

8. Randi Zuckerberg (Businesswoman) – forget FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and embrace JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) 

9. Bill Gates (Microsoft) – take time to reflect (this is how humans improve themselves and learn more)

10. Richard Branson (Business magnate) – give back (release oxytocin and feel happier)

11. Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter Inc.) – get ready for the rest of the week (plan ahead and expect the unexpected)

12. Jay-Z (Rapper) – keep up the momentum (once you get going, it’s going to be tough to stop… keep moving forward)

There you go… some great tips and sharing on what we can do with our weekends. Enjoy your weekend.

“Change Your HABITS, Change Your World…”

Good Habits of Leaders

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Get up early

Majority of the top people in organisations (especially multi-nationals; and they are made known to the public), they wake up early… of course, there are some who prefers to do the opposite 😉

As what Anthony Robbins and other leadership gurus mentioned about having your own time… “the Golden Hour”, “Power Hour” or “Hour of Power”… the time for you to reflect, do your journaling, exercise, meditate, plan your day, strategise your project, do your prayers, read books, and your own important things to boost your motivation.

Of course there are some special people who prefer to do it late at night; anytime is fine as long as you get to utilise your own precious time to add value to yourself.

A lot of people that I have met, they shared with me that they do not have the time. My recommendation, just start with 5 minutes a day and work from there… increase to 10, then 15 minutes and so on… you will need to find time to do what you want to do and get the results.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln

Exercise Regularly

What do you have in mind when you hear the word “exercise”?

Walking, running, cycling, swimming, going to the gym, stretching, skipping, doing push-ups?

Yes, by exercising, we build and strengthen our muscles. Making ourselves fitter and stronger… having more energy throughout the day.

What I have realised, while we are working on our physical strength, we will also need to exercise our brains… the brain is a muscle, the more you use (exercise) it, the stronger it becomes.

How do we exercise our brains?

Reading helps, solving problems, taking on challenges, thinking about solutions, having discussions to share ideas, being curious, asking great questions, having open mind to learn, relax by playing Legos, some puzzles, games, sports… yes, our brains need the workout to be stretched and strengthen.

“Exercise is the key not only to physical health but to peace of mind.” – Nelson Mandela

Attitude of Learning

From the cradle to the grave, I believe that we are in a journey of learning. No matter how young or old you are, we are constantly learning. Whether we are doing well or facing failure (by the way, failure is a feedback – not the end… just a stumbling block experience that we can learn something from). As long as we have positive attitude to learn, we are growing to be a better individual; leader.

In this age of technology, we have access to multiple media to learn from, the YouTube, TED talk, Vimeo, social media – all the good, the bad, beautiful, ugly… everything that we can learn from; it is our choice to select what to learn. And of course, for those who prefer the books or audio books… they are also available.

The term role modelling; learning from a successful individual that we admire – we can learn by watching their interviews, talks, workshops, speeches, etc. In a way, they are like your virtual mentors or coaches (learn from their great questions). WOW! There are really a LOT to learn.

Another good place to learn will be the car; it is also known as “University on Wheels”; how much time do we spend driving everyday?

For instance, if it takes you 20 minutes one-way, you have a total of 40 minutes to listen and learn from self-improvement or any learning topics’ audio books… or you may choose any knowledge or skills that you would like to learn. Definitely a good choice for those who do not like to take the book to read; you can get your player to read to you and learn about the contents. SUPER AWESOME!

Positive Growth Mindset

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

Life is a journey and I guarantee that, there is no perfect journey; like the weather, it changes and it is not fixed… and we are affected by the weather and how we go through the journey, depends on us… what mindset are we practicing?

We can choose to have negative, fixed mindset and feel miserable – having the weight of the world on our shoulders (that’s the price to pay for having negative thinking) or have a positive growth mindset…

What we can learn from Dr. Carol Dweck on Growth Mindset:

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset

Another learning that I captured from one of my mentors… the people that we constantly mix with will somehow influence us, “birds of the same feather, flock together.” Hence, it will be better for us to surround ourselves with people who are positive and having skills to complement us… not compete but complete us.

In my humble opinion, start our day with positives; having the attitude of gratitude (be thankful – so many things to be thankful for), read motivational quotes, stories, inspire ourselves… be alive. Or simply SMILE having positive thoughts. Imagine our mind like a garden, if you are the gardener, how are you going to tend to your precious garden? Are you going to leave your garden full of weeds or flowers? (weeds = negatives, flowers = positives). Your choice.

Talking about choices, I have a model (ABC-BCD) that I have learnt and would like to share with you (feel free to contact me, if you need more information).

 It starts with Awareness; perfect practicing mindfulness, then we decide on the habit / behaviour that we want to change and carry out the action. After some time doing the routine, it will be automatic (unconscious competence).

I believe that from birth to death (cradle to grave), we are constantly making choices and whether or not, we are willing to pay the price (for the choices that we have made)?

“Change Your Habits, Change Your World!”

#habitchange

#habitchange2dot0

#worldofhabits

#dionhabits

 

10 Easy ways to practice Mindfulness

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”   – Victor Frankl

Definition of Mindfulness (Google):

a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

How can we practice mindfulness? Here are 10 easy ways…

1.  Live in the moment (be aware and present… enjoy the moment)

2.  Accept things as they are (events happened and we can control our responses)

3.  Use the power of visualisation (practice positive thinking, see everything in your mind)

4.  Practice mindful eating (know what is going into your body, the quality of the food)

5.  Start your day without any gadgets (there are many other things that you can do 🙂 )

6.  Accept your weak points (focus on your strengths and further strengthening them)

7.  Take small steps (start small and go for small wins)

8.  Wait patiently (patience is key… take a deep breath and let it go…)

9.  Free yourself from all distractions (be aware of the thoughts and focus on what you want)

10. End your day on a positive note (start with positive and end with positive…)

Different people have different ways of achieving the above… find your own way and if it works for you… keep doing and achieve MINDFULNESS.

If it our CHOICE to have a better life, habits, be happy, be healthy… make your choice and enjoy the journey of life.

“Change Your HABITS, Change Your World!”

I am Habit…

As I was going through some articles and poems about Habits… came across this interesting poem that shared in one of the training I attended years ago.

I trust we can all benefit from this poem. Enjoy reading…

The Habit Poem

I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command.

Half the things you do, you might just as well turn over to me,
and I will be able to do them quickly and correctly.
I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me.
Show me exactly how you want something done, and after a few lessons I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of all great men.

And, alas, of all failures as well.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures.
I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine.

Plus, the intelligence of a man.
You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin; it makes no difference to me.
Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will put the world at your feet.
Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.

Who am I?

I am a HABIT! 

“Change Your Habits, Change Your World”

“Your Habits, Your Future!”

Top 7 Habits of High Achievers

Why are some leaders effective and are able to achieve more than others? Have we ever thought of that question before?

What made these high achieving leaders successful? As my mentor and I are working on our new book, I have the opportunity to do some research on this topic.

Here are what I have discovered and of course there are a lot of other habits, let me focus on the critical few – top 7 – for your reading pleasure…

1. POSITIVE THINKING

“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”  – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

What do you gain by thinking negative? In my humble opinion, please save your mind energy and think positive – do it every day and one day, positive thinking becomes your habit.

A great day starts with positive thinking. Also shared by Zig Ziglar, positive thinking is like taking a bath… you need it every day NOT once in a while.

2. HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

“The greatest wealth is health.”  – Virgil

As humans, we have been given the power to choose what we do with our mind, body and spirit. How do you take care of your health?

To exercise or NOT? Sleep? Diet? Choices… Choices… the choice that we make, we have to learn how to pay the price.

We do not have to start with a lot, just focus on starting… bit by bit, step by step… as long as you keep doing, you will see the results. Results will give you the motivation and change in attitude.

3. FOCUS

“So rather than trying to do too many things at once, switch over to a mindset of focusing on just one thing while you are working.” – Timo Kiander

My mentor once shared with me, “if you chase two monkeys at the same time, you ended up with no monkey!”

I trust that if we really want to excel and get results, we need to focus. Like what Robert Kiyosaki mentioned in one of his books, FOCUS means “Follow One Course Until Succeed…”

What are you focus on today? How are you prioritizing your activities?

All of us have 24 hours a day, what would happen when you start to focus?

4. LEARNING

“Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

How do you plan to learn for the rest of your life? It is my belief that from our cradle to the grave, we have a choice to learn and I will make the choice to learn as much as I can. There is a Chinese saying… “We learn as we grow with age…”

Learning is one of the ways to make ourselves smarter. What do want to learn today?

5. START YOUR DAY RIGHT

“Make each day your masterpiece.” – John Wooden

How would you start you day right? Let’s do a 30-day challenge to start your day with the right, “Intention, Gratitude and Appreciation…”

Intention – what are the 3 things you would like to achieve today?

Gratitude – what are you thankful for today?

Appreciation – who are you going to appreciate today and how?

I once read in a magazine article, if you start your day right, the whole day will be fantastic and fruitful.

6. REST and RELAX

“If you do what you love, it is the best way to relax.” – Christian Louboutin

What will happen if we keep working non-stop without rest and relaxation? We will definitely experience burn-out and time will be wasted for us to get back in shape to be productive.

Dale Carnegie said it right, “So, to prevent fatigue and worry, the first rule is: Rest often. Rest before you get tired.”

Find time to do activities that you love and enjoy. Imagine when you find the career and business that you truly love and enjoy doing (to learn and earn)… it would be a bliss.

How are you enjoying your down-time to rest and relax?

7. CONNECT with OTHERS

“If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people.” – Chinese Proverb

I have an author friend who encourages me to talk to strangers. In fact, I can learn a lot of things from strangers. The insight you can get from people is incredible when you listen closely to their stories.

It will also be good to constantly be in touch with our clients / customers / partners / colleagues…  get feedback and for them to feed-forward their expectations and requirements to us. By constant communication, it will help bond all of us.

How do you plan to connect with others? What questions will you ask? What information will you share?

I trust that, there are more habits that high achievers have and I am sharing this Top 7 Habits of High Achievers, so that we can benefit by perfect practicing them.

Have fun and the journey is the reward!

“Change Your Habits, Change Your World!”

“Your Habits, Your Future!”

7 Habits of Selling

As I was preparing for my session next week, the question on “What are some of the good habits of selling?”

Went through my sales books, reflected on my sales experience, thought of what I had shared with my sales team, the things I had shared with my participants in workshops, seminars, coaching and mentoring sessions… resulted to the enclosed points.

1. Identify 

“It’s prospects that buy; not suspects.”

First important habit to keep the business alive. There will be no sale when we are not able to find prospects. The need to call, find and meet new prospects is a must to keep your business going. It may not be easy to make the initial call, even a very experienced sales professional may get the jitters calling a new prospect.

What is the purpose of you calling the prospect? I believe with the right intention; to help the prospect with a better solution, share great benefits with the prospect, ultimately we are providing good quality solution and service to them. With that in mind, I trust that the positive is definitely more than the negative. Have no fear, just do it… Now.

This is the start of a wonderful journey in selling. If you were to ask successful sales professionals, they will share with you all the rejections they have gotten to be where they are today. At times the prospect may not be ready yet for your solution, just go on to the next prospect. As long as you keep going, you will somehow be successful and what does not kill you, will only make you stronger.

2. Interrelationship

“People want to work with people they like and have an easy rapport with”

I remembered during my days in one of the multi-nationals when having workshops with the sales team… I presented this exercise of getting the team to complete this sentence, “People BUY from people they…” and the common answers will be

People BUY from people they LIKE, TRUST, KNOW, BELIEVE IN, HAVE CONFIDENCE IN, RESPECT…

Building rapport is the foundation in any solid relationships, it is the start to many more meetings, friendship and partnership.

What are you doing differently to get people to buy?

3. Investigate

“The quality of the outcome depends on the questions”

As a professional sales, it is our duty and responsible to help our customers to achieve their goals.

We need to ensure that the customers that we work with have good careers by partnering with us. The more successful they are, the better our circumstances will be.

And to achieve that, we need to prepare great questions to help our customers get better outcomes in their business. We ask great questions to find out their needs, issues, impact to their business when the issues are not resolved and important information to assist them in their breakthrough to success.

Prepare yourself with great questions to discover and validate your customers.

4. Ideas

“With the right answers, we can get better solutions”

Creativity (Ideas) is the product of asking great questions, when we have fantastic answers that leads to many ideas that can be transformed into better solutions.

Sales professionals help the customers to mitigate the risks (or risk-free as one of my participants shared) of the best solutions to help with their business.

When there is lack of ideas, solution will be tough to seek. Ask more great questions leading to ideas generation.

Innovation comes from ideas with action, hence we get new services and products as the outcome.

How are you being a catalyst to your customers to convert the ideas into solutions?

5. Investment

“The customers will get their interests when they invest in the right solutions with us”

It is our role as professional sales to help our customers to sow the right solutions in order for them to reap great results.

When they have invested in the right solutions with us, they achieve the results they want and in return, we achieve more. It will be a sense of pride when the customers become successful.

There is a need for us to be with the customers in all stages the moment they signed the contract. It is the beginning of a wonderful partnership, we need to assume responsibility and commit to be accountable for our customers.

We need to make them realise that when they invest their time and resource with us, it is the best investment that they have made. Their investment will get better with us throughout their business partnership journey with us.

6. Introduce

“The whole world will know about you when your customers are happy (or not)”

Today, with the power of social media, branding is very important and how we help our customers are a priority. We can be famous for being the best or the worst, all in the power of our customers’ hands.

I would prefer to be the best and in the good books of my customers. When they are happy, they will give referrals. Their other partners will know about us and potential of doing business with us is high and limitless.

Let us work towards in providing the best to our customers, in return, we become the best for them and their partners.

When our trust level with the customers is high and we are consistently helping them to achieve greatness, we can also ask them if there is anyone else that they would like us to help and be successful.

7. Improvement

“The enemy of a great life, is a good life…”

Even when we achieved a certain level of success, we need to continue improving ourselves. Never be complacent and take your customers for granted.

Constantly keep in touch with the customers, get good information, feedback and feed-forward from them.

I like what Malcolm Gladwell stated in his book, “Outliers” that to achieve mastery, we need to put in at least 10,000 hours of perfect practice.

In my humble opinion, even if we have achieve that level of mastery, we need to have the humility to perfect practice continuous and never-ending improvement.

“Change Your Habits, Change Your World!”

There is a LOT of potential in us… put in more ACTION to realise the potential.

What is your daily routine?

How do you normally go through your day?

What do you start with?

What is your daily routine like?

Different people have different ways of running and starting their day. After doing some reading and learning from others on their daily routines, I would like to share some observations…

There is an ex-SEAL high ranking officer shared in his commencement speech with the university students, first thing to do in the morning is to make your bed right. Some of us will be wondering why, making our bed is important and what is the significance of making the bed?

According to the Navy officer, when we make our bed right, we start our day right. We have accomplished the first task of the day and by doing that, we feel productive and there is a sense of accomplishment. And we will be looking forward to completing more tasks for the day.

At times, our day may not be good and when we return home, when we see our made bed, at least one thing is done right. That, in a way is a source of motivation. That is what the Navy officer is sharing and I believe that starting your day right is important for our well-being.

I would like to share some ideas on starting the day… you can make a choice and make it your own personal project or experiment to make your 2018 and beyond better.

Set theme of the day

What is your theme for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and the rest of the days of the week? For example, Monday is to focus on completing administration work (management, operations, etc.), Tuesday for Sales, Marketing and growth of the company… the key is the power of focus. When there is a distraction, at least you know where to focus on that day.

Start and End with questions

Like Benjamin Franklin, he starts his day by asking the question, “What good shall I do this day?” and ended his day with the question, “What good have I done today?”

As for Marshall Goldsmith, he has his daily active questions;

Did I do my best to…

  • Set clear goals?

  • Make progress to achieve my goals?

  • Find meaning?

  • Build positive relationships?

  • Be fully engaged?

  • And many more…

The power of questions that can trigger deeper thinking and unleash the potential in you. And you will need to put them into action to get the results and get motivated.

Start with exercise

Some leaders start their day with exercise, moving the body to gain positive energy and get fresh morning air. It may not be for everyone, as some may only exercise middle of the day or in the evening. In my humble opinion, as long as you keep moving and be active, it should be all right.

There are a lot of goodness that comes out from an active lifestyle, just do it in moderation. Too much of a good thing may not be that good.

SAVERS Morning Routine

This interesting routine comes from Hal Elrod, author of “The Miracle Morning,” and they are as below;

S = Silence, A = Affirmations, V = Visualization, E = Exercise, R = Reading and S = Scribing.

The way we start our morning can make or break the rest of our day. The SAVERS acronym reminds us of six habits or rituals that can improve our morning routines.

Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail

For those who prefer planning, it can be done in the morning or evening (for the next day). Planning can help us to focus on the things / tasks / activities to do for the day.

Some leaders focus on the top 3 most important things for the day, and they plan their day using calendar (or to-do list and there are a lot of apps that can be used for planning / scheduling).

Just sharing one of the best practices, some leaders will plan for own time and family time.

Blessed are those who are flexible…

Every day is a new day and for some, they do not have any fixed schedule nor routine. They are different every day, how interesting is that?

Different people have different styles, flexibility may stress out some people… and some really love the flexibility and spontaneity. “One man’s meat is another man’s poison…”

My recommendation is for you to do the different routines and experiment, then decide which one is the one suitable for you. You know yourself best.

All the very best in 2018 and beyond.

 

“Change your habits, change your world!”

#habitchange2dot0

#dionocl

10 Habits of Lifelong Learners

 

Today I attended a preview for an Executive MBA and from the presentation, there was a slide which caught my attention.

“Habits of a lifelong learner…”

When I returned home, while spending the balance of my weekend… reflected and remembered that I have not written for quite some time now.

I would like to share the top 10 habits of lifelong learners as below:

1. Never stop learning as learning is a journey.

Albert Einstein shared this interesting quote,  “Once you stop learning, you start dying.”

2. Spread out the learning – chunk it down.

There is no point cramming everything in one learning. So let us take one day at a time. Like what I have shared during workshops, imaging if you improve 1% a month, you will improve 12% a year! How about 1% per week? It adds up to 52% a year… what is stopping us from learning?

3. Action will get results.

“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” – Carl Gustav Jung

I do believe that when we put in the action, we get the results and when we get the results, we will be more motivated as well.

4. Visualise the goal (as if you have already achieve it).

“What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” – Napoleon Hill

When we know where we are headed (and see it clearly in our head), chances are better we reach the destination in no time. Example when we want to finish fixing the jigsaw puzzles, we will refer to the picture on the box (begin with the end in mind). Then comes the strategies and execution…

5. Seek out to learn.

One of my mentors used to share with me… “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear…”

Once we have decided to learn (ready with the right learning attitude), somehow we are more receptive and will be able to absorb the learning better.

What are the areas that you can further learn? Take it as a “mini-project” to work on enhancing yourself.

6. Coach and Mentor others.

“You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar

It is also true when we make others happy, in return, we are happy too.

I have decided to coach and mentor as many people as I can because when I do that, I can learn from others that I am coaching or mentoring. The questions we prepared before the coaching sessions, planning and organising, research and development and not forgetting the questions that others asked (especially when we are mentoring).

There is no limit in learning as long as we have an open mind.

7. Challenges are opportunities in disguise.

If it does not kill us, it will only make us stronger… take a rest if you must, just do not throw in the towel! As long as you keep moving, one day you will arrive.

As I looked back (reflected), I have learnt that problems / challenges that I went through have taught me A LOT! We may not be able to have control over the events, with enough practice and awareness, we can learn how to respond (or react) to the situation and get better outcomes. Even if we fail, we can learn from the failure (via reflection, feedback, coaching, mentoring… and many other ways to learn).

8. Be part of learning via participation and collaboration.

There will be a lot of opportunities presented when we attend seminars, workshops, conferences, networking or any social events… let’s do our part to participate and collaborate.

It could be running projects in the organisation, corporate social responsibility, or tasks… look out for ways to be part of the team to contribute (at the same time, learn!).

9. Use technology.

What is stopping you from utilising the technology to learn?

Articles, e-learning, YouTube, TED Talk, GoogleTalk, Feedly, Twitter, Podcasts… and many others… there is an endless streams of media that we can have access to…

Turn your commute to work as “university on the move” or you can listen to audiobooks while exercising… be creative… what is needed is to prioritise when and how we want to learn.

10. Have fun and enjoy the journey.

Oh… might as well enjoy it while we are at it… YES?

Ultimately, it boils down to the choice that we make… to learn or not to learn?

Whatever choice we make, we got to pay the price.

Have fun and enjoy your learning journey.

“Let go, let life, and enjoy the journey…!”  ― James A. Murphy

One last thing, when was the last time you visited the public library? 🙂

“Change your habits, change your world!”