The Truth About Your Calling

I was watching this video today “The Truth About Your Calling” with Seth Godin and Marie Forleo. It is an interesting talk that makes you think about your choices and things you want to do in life. It is a very easy to understand interview that takes off the pressure of “what I should be doing” from your shoulder and makes you relax to just go and try. To fail and be happy. To push the buzzer before you know the answer.

We are living in a world that everyone is under pressure of becoming the perfect version of themselves. And “Perfect” has a very narrow and specific meaning that is defined through media. When perfect is defined this way more and more people become followers than leaders and more and more people get tired and give up after some attempts.

We should appreciate people that do their best to show we are perfect in every sense we are with all our failures and all our imperfections. We are perfect not because we do everything right, but because we fail and we grow. This way of thinking would make us a leader and not just a follower. And this world right now needs more leaders.

Here are some quotes from the video that I really liked.

“Schools should teach people to lead and teach them to solve interesting problems.”
“Raising free range kids means teaching kids to fail at solving interesting problems because that’s the only way you ever get at solving interesting problems.”
“Don’t wait for the right answer because there are no right answer. There are challenges we can sign up for and emotions we can experience. Your life doesn’t get more sensational when you have more followers on twitter. That’s not what you out to be keeping score of.”
“Productivity is an economic measure of how much you output for the amount of time and resources you put in. Some people have figured out how to be naturally more productive than others per minute, and the way you do that is by having an instinct to ship. Most people hesitate to ship not because it is not ready but because they are afraid.”

“You gain trust and permission to talk to people by showing up in a way that you’d want someone to show up for you.”

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3 Common Mistakes that First Time Entrepreneurs Make

Entrepreneurship comes with a punch in the mouth. Can you take it? Entrepreneurship is not easy. Whatever you want to start that has value and can bring you value is hard to achieve. It is hard because nothing valuable comes easy. There will be many mistakes made, there will be many failures and you as an entrepreneur learn and grow from these failures and mistakes.

There are 3 common mistakes that I’d like to address here that almost all first time entrepreneurs make in their journey:

1) They put all their thoughts and efforts in their product and service

It is important to give value to what you are offering. But putting so much time in the product and service takes you away from putting time for yourself. You as an entrepreneur should come ahead of your product. The mind and soul behind your business determines the quality of it. If you want to have a high quality product or service you have to have high quality standards for yourself too.

Read as much as you can. Gain knowledge in the field you are working in. Get to know the customers. See how you can help them as a human. Work on the values you can offer through your product or service. Learn about leadership. Learn about persuasion. Learn how habits form and how you as an entrepreneur can form right habits that will push you through this rough path.

You have to make every cell of your body and mind work for you to achieve your goal. This is not achievable unless you work on it. Even if you have the best product or service and you don’t work on yourself as an entrepreneur, you will give up. You will get distracted. You will be pushed away and you will fall and you won’t be able to get up and continue.

You are the one forming your future’s success.  Look at yourself and see if you have the characteristics of the successful person you are imagining in the next one, two, three, or 10 years time. See what is lacking and work on those. Instead of putting so much time refining and elaborating your idea, work on yourself first and do other things on the side. Learn as much as you can, grow as a human, be kind to people, always be ready to give a helping hand, listen to successful people, share your knowledge… If you want to become rich, you have to ask others for money. But first you have to make yourself care about them.

2) They give up

Giving up is another common mistake that first time entrepreneurs make. I mentioned that it is not easy to achieve your goal if it is something valuable. You have to give up many things to get what you want from life. This journey is hard but it is joyful as well. Don’t give up when you hear a no for an answer. Don’t give up when you see no sells. Don’t give up when you see no return on the time your are investing.

First of all there are and will be returns on every action you take towards your goal. It is just that we will choose to only see what we want to see. We don’t see the amount of experience we are gaining with each step. You will learn, refine, and act again accordingly. If you believe in your idea you have to be persistent and have patience.

Jack Ma founder of Alibaba says many times in his presentations that he didn’t have any sells on Alibaba for months when they started it. They had to put their own products online, they had to buy them themselves, and they repeated this until they found real  sellers and buyers. It requires patience. As an entrepreneur we have to learn how to become patient no matter how hard it is. Especially these days with the existence of social media and instant feedback, likes and comments, that are making us impatient human beings who need to see quick responses or they will give up.

3) They want to make everyone happy

Steve jobs says it right. “If you want to make everyone happy don’t be a leader. Sell ice cream.” It is true. Your product or service should have a niche target market.

You have to make your target narrow to be able to get attention. Sometimes the people closest to you might say your idea is not good enough and you have to make changes to it. If you believe in it, if you see potentials in it, don’t change it. Don’t listen to those who are saying you have to make your market bigger. Stick to your idea, your market becomes big for you. People will find you for who you are. If you think there are people that their opinion would affect yours, don’t share your idea with them. Start your business, get some results and when it is performing to the level that you are confident about it, then you can tell them.

There are many other things I like to talk about from my experience. There are many things I want to tell all first time entrepreneurs. But I will bring this post to the end by just telling you this; you deserve to live your dream life. There is nothing more valuable in this world than trying to achieve what you want to become in this world.

If you are here reading this post it means you have realized you want to make a change. This is the first step and the most important one. I know what you are going through; all the questions, the excitements, and disappointments that come on your way. I totally understand it. There won’t be a stop to it. You will learn how to deal with your emotions as you grow in this journey.

Entrepreneurship is sailing in the sea of emotions. There will be sunny sky and calm sea, there will be storms as well. You will learn how to deal and sail like an expert. But you have to step into the sea to be able to learn and become a successful sailor. Don’t worry about anything. I want to give you the courage to step in. Take a deep breathe and know that you will only face things that you can handle.

Start making changes to your life now. Tomorrow is too late. Decide today and use every second of your life, changing every cell of your body and mind towards achieving your goal. You should become the success you want to see in the future. When you, your mind, body, and beliefs become that success no matter what you do, it will be successful.

Cheers to all of the first time entrepreneurs who are wayyy ahead of many people in life by deciding to change their life for themselves and others.

 

 

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Books I highly recommend reading

Leaders are Readers!

here are 4 books I highly recommend reading. These will change your perspective on life, business, and relationships.

The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi by Elif Shafak

“This lyrical, imaginative novel by Elif Shafak, the bestselling author of The Bastard of Istanbul and the most widely read female writer in Turkey, unfolds in two parallel narratives. In the thirteenth century, the Sufi poet Rumi encounters his spiritual mentor, the infamous wandering dervish known as Shams of Tabriz, and is transformed from a successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic and advocate of love. In present day Massachusetts, an unhappy American housewife named Ella Rubenstein, inspired by Rumi’s message of love, finds the courage to undertake her own transformation. Blending East and West, past and present, Shafak provides a compelling, dramatic, and exuberant account of how love works in the world.”

 

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

“Why do our headaches persist after we take a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a fifty-cent aspirin? Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup?

When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we’re making smart, rational choices. But are we?

In this newly revised and expanded edition of the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller, Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, we consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They’re systematic and predictable—making us predictably irrational.”

The Power of Focus: What the World’s Greatest Achievers Know about The Secret to Financial Freedom & Success by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Les Hewitt

“Do you know the #1 reason that stops people from getting what they want?
Ten years later, it’s still a lack of focus.
In the The Power of Focus, 10th Anniversary Edition, you’ll discover:

  • How to thrive in a turbulent economy.
  • Proven financial strategies for today’s world that will give you freedom and peace of mind.
  • How to focus on what you do best and let go of the rest.
  • Easy-to-implement Action Steps with every chapter.”

 

Beautiful Money: The 4-Week Total Wealth Makeover by Leanne Jacobs

“Most of us believe that pounding our way through our days is the only way to prosperity and success. We sacrifice time with our loved ones, our weekends, our vacations, and perhaps even our sanity, in exchange for a paycheck. We put ourselves and our health at the bottom of our priority list and give everything to the great pursuit. We want to have it all, but don’t find satisfaction in any of our achievements. Instead, we find ourselves sitting in our offices and big houses feeling unhappy, broke, burnt out, and unfulfilled. Beautiful Money offers another option.
This book does more than show readers how to make more money, streamline personal finances, and learn how to invest and budget. The Beautiful Money program is based on the simple but powerful premise that in order to achieve true wealth, you must connect and align your inner self with clear and specific external actions. Based on Leanne Jacobs’s popular Beautiful Money course, this book shows you how to connect in a deep and meaningful way with yourself and your money. Beautiful Money takes a holistic approach to increasing net worth.”


Let me know what books you have recently read that you enjoyed!

 

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To look for jobs or to have jobs look for us!

How to find a good job

To look for jobs or to have jobs look for us!

Here I am sitting at starbucks reading my book. I look around me from time to time to give my eyes a bit of rest. I notice the table beside me are two men sitting and talking. It is a job interview. One person wearing formal and the other casual outfit. The person in casual outfit asking questions from his phone that is in front of him and the other person talking and trying to convince he is a great fit for this job. The interviewer look blankly at him as he has no idea what he is talking about and just takes notes.

Looks like after all he is not the decision maker; he is just there to pass him on the first level of the interview, share his notes with the higher levels to see if he qualifies to talk to them for the next level. How do I know these? Well, we all have applied to jobs and have don interviews and know all the body gestures, looks, words, and …

While looking at them it comes to my mind that what era are we living in? I know it used to be this way that people go to school, and if they are lucky they’ll learn things they would apply at work and then look for jobs to go to and get hired and make their boss happy every day so they can keep the job. But does it have to be like this today too?

Technology has brought so many jobs and titles with it. Soft skills are more important than ever. Kids know how to make money online. I mean with all these skills and with this great opportunity that is available to almost everyone to show themselves online and be present in front of many people is there a need to feel we need to be hired and prove ourselves so hard to people that don’t even have one tenth of our skills?

I believe it is time that jobs look for people. They wear formal, get prepared for weeks to be able to answer questions and make sure the pay they want to offer would be satisfying enough to get yes from the professional skilled person in front of them.

If you are a skilled person and if you feel you have something to say, you think different and your time worth a lot, then be present. Web has given this opportunity to everyone to talk every day, to show their talents, to be present and share their knowledge. Use this opportunity.

And businesses should look online to find talents. Not through resumes and job postings. That time has gone. Why are you posting jobs and collecting resumes when you have the chance and opportunity to find people who are posting their thoughts, their culture, and their talent online. You can see work samples, you can see their videos and learn a lot about them.

World is changing. And it is out of our control. And adapting to change is not easy. But if you are looking to have talented professionals in your team you should look online to find them instead of going through 100s of resumes that most of them don’t even match the job title.

And if you are looking for a place to know your worth you should become professionally present.

 

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How to do almost anything with ADKAR

ADKAR - project management

The hardest things to achieve are tasks that require us to change. The only reason we are not doing those tasks is because it is hard to change. We might try for a week to adopt the new habits but then again next week we are where we have been before.

 

Change is hard and it is hard for everyone. You are not alone. Change can be on a personal level, or in an organization.

 

If we learn the secret that can help us make the change permanent, then we can easily do things that require the change.

 

There are some achievements that require us to repeat certain things on a daily basis. If you are an Artist you know that in order to be able to draw well you have to draw every day. Muscle memory shapes when you repeat things over and over. And in order to improve we need to do things over and over again to the point that you don’t think any more and you just do it.

 

Have you ever decided to lose weight? Well, I have. When I started losing weight I had no idea there is a technique we can use to change and make the change permanent. There was a great passion in me that pushed me every day. And that passion showed me the way. And now that I look at the ADKAR technique I see that I did the same things that is suggested in this technique.

 

Passion and willingness is the number one thing you can have in anything you do to guide and help you move in the right direction and learn from your mistakes. I highly recommend if you want to do something find the reason you want to achieve it and then make that your passion.

 

What is ADKAR?

 

ADKAR is created by Prosci founder Jeff Hiatt. It is a goal-oriented change management model to guide individual and organizational change.

 

The acronym is the five essential steps that we must take to make a successful change in our habits. These five steps are: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement

 

Awareness: Awareness is about your goal. Why you want to make that change? What is your goal/outcome of the change? Answering this question helps you a lot in staying motivated throughout the process. There will come times that you just want to give up and go back to what you used to do. But repeating your goal gives you the motivation to go forward with the new changes.

 

For me, I had pictured myself in the clothes I have always wanted to wear. I pictured myself in the body I wanted to have and reminded myself of my goal almost every day.

 

If the change you want to make is in a company and for employees, you definitely need to let every employee know the goal and the reason you want to make the changes. It is very important to have a clear reason behind every change.

 

Desire: Desire is what makes you want to make the change. It is very important to have desire for the change. You should be motivated; awareness without motivation would not make you successful on this path.

 

Everyone knows it is healthy to do exercises on a daily basis. But how many are motivated enough to devote some time of their day going to the gym?

 

If you are thinking on a company level, you have to make employees part of the change and make them motivated to participate in the change. Awareness can help them become motivated.

 

Knowledge: you definitely need training and coaching. For me and my weight loss, it was reading books and articles in this regard. I read as much as I could. Learning about the process and how things work helps you be motivated along the way. You don’t get disappointed when you don’t see results. You know it is part of the process. It also helps you to only do things that would actually work instead of wasting your time and energy on trial and errors.

 

In a company, employees must be educated and learn as much as possible. They need to be trained so they would feel more comfortable and confident in making the change.

 

Ability: Now that you have learned and gained the required knowledge, can you actually do it? Having the knowledge about something and actually doing it are two different things. You might need to make some adjustment to your daily tasks and commitments to be able to do the new habits.

 

I had to make time for gym. I had to sleep early at nights so I could go to the gym in the morning. I didn’t stay long in parties so I could go home and sleep early. I crossed over all fast foods and had to put time for cooking at home.

 

In a company level, you have to give employees some time and help them to make sure they can actually do what they have learned to do.

 

Reinforcement: You constantly need to monitor and make sure you don’t give up. I had to imagine myself reaching my goal to make myself motivated to do hard exercises every day. I was going on instagram and checked girls who were in the same process as me to get motivated and continue. I also thought of giving myself a reward after completing 16 weeks of workout without cheating.

 

In a company level, you need to monitor employees to make sure they are implementing the new changes. Knowing the reason behind the change, being involved in the process, having the right knowledge and training, and ability to do the new tasks are all great to make someone motivated enough to repeat the change until they become comfortable doing it every day. But until they become comfortable they need monitoring, help, and encouragement (rewards).

 

ADKAR model is an effective way to give you a guideline on how you can make a change in either your personal life or in an organizational level. Going through the steps you can make all the changes necessary to achieve your goals.

 

ADKAR => Awareness – Desire – Knowledge – Ability – Reinforcement

 

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Go, Make Something Happen

Seth Goding says it right “ Go, Make Something Happen”

Opportunities are endless. You just need to start it. But keep few things in mind. Don’t lose your full time job or whatever you are doing now to cover your financial needs for the sake of this new journey. Start this on the side. One because you don’t want to be financially dependent on it on the first few months. As soon as you see yourself financially dependent on it you may do things that you may not have wanted to do initially and those things might change your path against your favor. Also if you don’t see the result you expected or if you see yourself in debt and in need of money you’ll give it up.

Do the new thing with pure love. This suppose to be what you would enjoy to do your whole life. So make sure you are putting your heart and love in it. Once the grounds are set, shape it. Shape it so that people would see exactly what you are seeing in it. Then inject values in it. You want to pass value to your consumer through your new endeavor. Then get help. Help for business and marketing matters. Because these things matter. Now you are at the stage to expect receiving. Receiving a bit of what you expected to receive. Give it sometime. 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, until you see you are making a bit more than what you are making on consistent bases. Congrats, you just made something happen. Now make sure to continue being awesome, and rock with it.

If you are among those who have made something happen and are now living on that, make sure to leave a comment and tell us how you are feeling, how was your journey and leave a link for us to get to know you and your business a bit more.

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