6 Stories 6 Lessons

Lesson 1: Naked Wife
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.” After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob.

After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 dollars and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks,…

“Who was that?” “It was Bob the next door neighbor,” she replies. “Great!” the husband says, “Did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?”

Moral of the story:
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, “I’ll give each of you just one wish” “Me first! Me first!” says the administration clerk. “I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.” Poof! She’s gone. “Me next! Me next!” says the sales rep. “I want to be in Hawaii,relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.” Poof! He’s gone. “OK, you’re up,” the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, “I want those two back in the office after lunch.”

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 3:
A priest offered a lift to a Nun. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said,”Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest removed his hand. But,changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, “Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest apologized “Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.” Arriving at the convent, the nun went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, “Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.”

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 4:
A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A rabbit asked him,”Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?” The crow answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested.

…A fox jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.

Lesson 5: Power of Charisma
A turkey was chatting with a bull “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, but I haven’t got the energy.” “Well, why don’t you nibble on my droppings?” replied the bull. “They’re packed with nutrients.” The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Moral of the story: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it wont keep you there.

Lesson 6:
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the story:
1. Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy
2. Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend
3. And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut !

Steve Jobs 13 Dots :)

DOT ONE: When Steve Jobs launched Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976, they decided to name the company after the fruit that according to legend spurred Isaac Newton’s theories on gravity. Jobs then spent most of his life defying gravity, and defying the odds.

DOT TWO: Starting with the premise that the best ideas are already out there, Jobs negotiated with Xerox to grant Apple engineers access to the Xerox PARC facilities in return for selling them one million dollars in pre-IPO Apple stock. It was from this visit that Jobs collected the ideas behind the fundamentals of today’s PC – the graphic user interface, mouse and pointer.

DOT THREE: How did Jobs go from start-up to listed company in four years? By getting his mentors to work for him. Jobs brought on a local VC, Mike Markkula, who bought shares in the company and subsequently became CEO. He brought in Regis McKenna, the best public relations man in Silicon Valley, to market the Apple II. Markkula was responsible for the early financing of the company, and for taking Apple public in 1980.

DOT FOUR: Despite becoming worth $217 million when Apple listed, Jobs kept relying purely on his intuition. Apple’s head of marketing, Mike Murray, commented, “Steve did his market research by looking into the mirror every morning.” Sales stalled, Jobs’ management style was seen by his board as a liability and, in 1985, he was thrown out of the company he had started nine years earlier.

DOT FIVE: That might have been the end of another entrepreneur story, was it not for Jobs’ perseverance. Having left Apple, he launched NeXT, to provide PCs to the education market. Apple sued Jobs for launching in competition, prompting him to say, “It’s hard to think that a $2 billion company with 4,300 plus people couldn’t compete with six people in blue jeans.” Jobs sold all but one of his Apple shares, and Apple continued to languish, falling from 20% market share to under 5% by 1996. Jobs, in the meantime, struggled with NeXT, burning through $250 million of investors’ money as he tried to market his new computers.

DOT SIX: In the same year that Jobs founded NeXT, George Lucas was looking to sell a small computer animation group he owned. Disney rejected an offer to buy 50% for $15 million, and a deal to sell to Ross Perot and Phillips for $30 million fell through. Jobs ended up negotiating Lucas to under $10 million for the business, thinking he could market the high-end animation computers that the group had designed.

DOT SEVEN: Renamed ‘Pixar’, Jobs’ new company began marketing the Pixar Image Computer to the medical market – with little success. By 1989, with Pixar losing over $1 million each month, and NeXT faring little better, Jobs found himself left with less than 20% of the $150 million he had received when he sold his Apple stock. At the rate he was going, within two years he would be back to zero.

DOT EIGHT: Taking drastic measures, Jobs sold the hardware side of Pixar for several million, taking a massive loss. By luck, an animated short movie the Pixar team produced in their spare time, “Tin Toy”, received an Oscar, and in 1993, Disney approved a full feature joint venture with Pixar called “Toy Story”.

DOT NINE: The victory was short lived with Disney shutting production of Toy Story down later in the year after losing confidence in the script. Then in 1994, Disney lost four executives in a helicopter crash, including Chief Operating Officer Frank Wells. Jobs was left attempting to get Toy Story back on track while also having to close the NeXT manufacturing facility and sales operation. Most of the NeXT team left. The investors, having put in another $100 million, saw that money disappear too. Toy Story, now back on Disney’s agenda, it would need to earn at least $100 million for Pixar to make any money from it at all; more than any other Disney film had made at the time.

DOT TEN: Even so, an audacious Jobs, down to his last dollar, decided to bet that not only would Toy Story be a success, it would enable him to publicly list Pixar and raise further funds. In November 1995, Toy Story opened to enormous acclaim, becoming the highest grossing release of the year, generating over $450 million in sales. One week later, Pixar had its IPO. Less than twelve months after his worst year financially, Steve Jobs was a billionaire.

DOT ELEVEN: Then, in 1996, Gil Emilio (the new CEO of Apple) went hunting for a new operating system and finally found it… in NeXT. Approaching Jobs for his system, Jobs was only interested in selling the entire company. Apple bought it for $377.5 million in cash and $1.5 million in Apple shares. In one fell swoop, Jobs could pay off all his investors and was involved with Apple again – after over ten years.

DOT TWELVE: In 1997 Apple sales were $7 billion and losses were over $1 billion. Jobs took to the challenge of revitalizing Apple. By 1998, Jobs launched the iMac, followed with the iPod, iPhone and iPad. The rise of Apple to become the most valuable company in the world are well documented, but less is known of the trials that shaped Jobs in his darker times.

DOT THIRTEEN: In January 2006, Disney (having rejected the chance to buy 50% of Pixar for $15 million ten years earlier) bought a transformed Pixar from Jobs for $7.4 billion in stock, making Jobs Disney’s largest individual shareholder and a billionaire for the third time.

To become a billionaire is already rare. To become a billionaire from scratch (or from $1 billion in losses) in three entirely different industries is unprecedented.

Jobs died today with a net worth of over $8 billion after having worked for $1 a year for the last 14 years.

Many people have heard his quote “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

What most don’t know was that this was from a quote in the Wall Street Journal in Summer 1993 – Not when he was sitting on a billion dollars, but in his darkest days, outcast from Apple and the Tech community, struggling with both NeXT and an aimless Pixar, and about to run out of money.

That was Steve.

Inspirational Motivational Picture Quotes : Part 19

Here are some amazing collection of Inspirational and Motivational picture quotes on hard work, talent, success, goals, world, change, and many more things.

Hope you get motivated by them 🙂

 

Inspirational Picture Quotes That Will Motivate Your Mind : Part 18

Inspirational Picture Quotes That Will Motivate Your Mind : Part 17

Inspirational Picture Quotes That Will Motivate Your Mind : Part 12

7 Tips For Naming Your Business

Entrepreneurs fret over packaging and a host of other details as they get started, and then leave one of the most important aspects as an afterthought.

The sad truth is that the right name can sometimes make all the difference when it comes to propelling a business to success, rather than just slogging on.

Consider this: Would you like “Patagonian toothfish” on your plate tonight for dinner? Hmm… not so much? Ok what about “Chilean Sea Bass?” That’s much better, right? Or another example is how Marion Morrison put on a cowboy hat, slung on a six-shooter and became “John Wayne.”

Names are quite powerful. I pretty much started as a copywriter. I know that words are incredibly important. Each one has a distinct difference. Get the name right, and you get branding as a by-product of your advertising.

Here are seven things I consider when determining a business-related name:

1. The name needs to sound good when it’s said aloud. I’m a big fan of alliteration, using words that start with the same consonant, Coca-Cola or Jimmy John’s. Just make sure to say it aloud — a lot — and make sure this isn’t a “she sells seashells on the seashore” situation. People need to say the name on the radio, a video or in conversation.

2. Use a name that has meaning to it and conveys a benefit. If you heard it you’d know right away what it is. For example, my first “real” book was called, “Moonlighting on the Internet.” The word “moonlighting” instantly conveyed that this was about using the Internet in your spare time to make extra money. Also make sure the name isn’t too generic. Personally, I think Boston Chicken made a mistake when it changed its name to Boston Market. Don’t try to be everything to everybody with your name.

3. Avoid Web 2.0-ish syndrome. I still don’t know if you spell Flickr with an “er” or not. And I definitely have no idea how to spell delicio.us without looking it up. This sort of mildly dyslexic spelling is so last decade. Potential customers for your new venture of “Computer4You” should be able to easily look up the name, and they shouldn’t be asking whether a “you” is a “u.”

4. Beware initials. They are so boring. Yes, IBM and 3M have gotten away with initials, but these are multibillion-dollar corporations that have been around for decades. You can do the same when you’ve brought in billions of dollars over a hundred years. Until then, rely on a name that is interesting.

5. Use specifics. Don’t use a generic name that doesn’t mean anything. I like names that take advantage of details such as numbers and days. My buddy Tim Ferriss found a pretty specific and compelling name for his book “The 4-Hour Work Week.” Other titles that use numbers to focus in on specifics include “8 Minute Abs” and “5-hour Energy.”

6. Make sure you can trademark the name. Depending on how big you want to build the brand, this is an important consideration. It’s worth it to check USPTO.gov — or a new site called Trademarkia.com— before settling on a name.

7. Test it out on Google AdWords. One of the great features of the “find keywords” tool on AdWordsis that it will list similar search phrases, along with how many global and local monthly searches each are getting. Some AdWords searches with the name you are considering can ensure there isn’t a slightly different name out there that might get more attention on the Internet.

If you really want to get advanced, try to come up with a name that could be eventually used as a verb, or lends itself to the creation of your own “language.” People who go to TED, the conference for Tech, Education and Design, now call themselves “TEDsters.” My company, Maverick Business Adventures, recalls “Maverick Moments” stories about happenings during a trip.

Think it through, and your name will be a multiplier in your favor.

From http://www.youngentrepreneur.com

Courtesy Yanik Silver.

The Secret Rule of Changing Anything

How can we defeat this powerful force — our own mind?
Awareness is the key. It’s the start.
1. Start by becoming aware. Become an observer. Start listening to your self talk, observe what your mind does. Pay attention. It’s happening all the time. Meditation helps with this. I also learned through running — by not taking along an iPod, I run in silence, and have nothing to do but watch nature and listen to my mind.
2. Don’t act. Your mind will urge you to eat that cake (“Just a bite!”) or smoke that cigarette or stop running or procrastinate. Listen to what your mind is saying, but don’t act on those instructions. Just sit still (mentally) and watch and listen.
3. Let it pass. The urge to smoke, eat, procrastinate, or quit running … it will pass. It’s temporary. Usually it only lasts a minute or two. Breathe, and let it pass.
4. Beat the rationalizations. You can actively argue with your mind. When it says, “One little bite won’t hurt!”, you should point to your gut and say, “Yeah, that’s what you said all those other times, and now I’m fat!” When it says, “Why are you putting yourself through this pain?”, you should say, “It’s painful to be unhealthy, and it’s only painful to avoid the cake if you look at it as a sacrifice — instead, it can be a joy to embrace healthy and delicious foods, and fitness!”
There are lots of times when “willpower” fails us. These are the times we need to become aware of our minds.
When we are aware, we can change it. This is a small secret, but it’s life changing. It changed my life, because I can now change anything. I watch, and I wait, and I beat it. You can too.

6 Fail-Proof Ways To Conquer Your Unreachable Goals

Finding the motivation to carry out our goals is a challenge faced by many people. Though reflecting on areas of your life that need to change is a great starting point, you need motivational drive to actually implement these changes. Many people are skilled at reflecting inward and creating a list of accomplishments and tasks they wish to achieve, but then they stop there. As months and days pass by, they either find themselves criticizing their failures or ignoring their goals altogether. The culprit in all of these scenarios is that people lack the motivation necessary to follow through. However, once you learn how to get and stay motivated, you will be on the path to finding the success and happiness you’ve been looking for.

Here are 6 Fail-Proof ways that you can set and accomplish even your wildest of goals.

Creating Reality-Based Goals

To have motivation, you need to have attainable goals. Nothing is as demotivating as setting targets that are too high to achieve. Wanting to be wealthy or skinny are not only vague and too broad, they are a long road to travel with no end in sight. Instead of wealthy, perhaps all you truly need is to implement a plan to pay down your credit cards. The point is that you need to set concise, clear end targets that you can achieve, or you will become unmotivated very quickly.

Build A Road Map For Each Goal

Now that you have a clear list of realistic end goals you want to achieve, it is time to build motivating road maps. Build a separate map for each area of your life you wish to change. There could be motivation maps for categories such as health, finances, career, relationships or any other area of self improvement that you desire to change.

At the bottom of the page, you would place “start,” which signifies where you are at this moment. At the top of the page, you will write your end goal. The important part of this process is filling in the space in between, which is comprised of smaller goals that will help you stay motivated and on the right track. If you were to plan a drive across the country, you would build your itinerary one step at a time. The same is true with a motivational road map. If your end goal is to change your career, for example, the first target would be getting your resume updated. The next in line might be to commit to checking the want ads every Sunday, and so on.

Celebrate Each Achievement

It is very important that you recognize and celebrate each motivational goal on your map. When you’ve achieved the first step, cross it off and pat yourself on your back. You are finally able to see that you are making progress, one step at a time. In the past, you lost your motivation because you didn’t have a plan in place. Your end goal felt overwhelming and too far away. But now you will stay motivated because you see that your targets are within reach, and each day you are one step closer.

Keep Your Eyes On The Motivational Road In Front Of You

Just like when you are driving, taking your eyes off of the road can be extremely dangerous. You can lose your motivation if your eyes are focused on other drivers out there. All that matters on your path to self improvement is you. It doesn’t matter if someone else has a better job, more money or a better physique. You will stay motivated if you understand that your goals are about being the best you that you can be. They are not about becoming someone else. So don’t get distracted while driving toward your targets and keep your eyes on the horizon.

Use Visualization Techniques For Constant Motivation

Your motivation road maps are your inspiration, so keep them close at hand, and see the progress you’ve made in each area of your life. People are motivated when they can see positive change at a glance. When people try to lose weight, seeing the numbers on the scale go down is very motivating. When a company sees their growth and success on a bar graph, they feel there is nothing they cannot accomplish. The same holds true for your own map. Keep looking at how far you’ve come, post it on a bulletin board or some area where you can be motivated by it each day. In addition, take time to relax and visualize what life will feel like when you reach your end goal.

Don’t Let Detours Keep You From Getting Back On Your Path

It is easy to lose motivation when challenges in life occur. Just like when traveling by car, there can be detours, the car can break down or the road can be closed altogether. Put simply, these things happen in life and cannot be avoided. The trouble lies when a setback permanently disrupts motivation. It is ok to put the car in park for a little while, to get your bearings straight – it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. However, do not let the unexpected erase all of your progress to date. Even the most difficult challenges in life such as loss, health concerns or losing a job, can have their own motivational road maps drawn to keep you on your path to self improvement. Remember that the key to happiness isn’t perfection, it is improving circumstances to be the best they can be. No matter what life hands you or what you need to improve, you will feel happier and more successful if you make a motivation road map for each area of your life, so that you can stay motivated to accomplish real change.

The Top 9 Rules That Successful People Live By

The following article appeared in the Harvard Business Review. Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren’t sure, you are far from alone in your confusion.

It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

No.9 Get specific

When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. “Lose 5 kilograms” is a better goal than “lose some weight,” because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you’ll “eat less” or “sleep more” is too vague — be clear and precise. “I’ll be in bed by 10 p.m. on weeknights” leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you’ve actually done it.

No.8 Seize the moment to act on your goals

Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it’s not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.

To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., “If it’s Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I’ll work out for 30 minutes before work.”) Studies show that this kind of strategic planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.

No.7 Know exactly how far you have left to go

Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don’t know how well you are doing, you can’t adjust your behaviour or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.

No.6 Be a realistic optimist

When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don’t underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.

No.5 Focus on getting better, rather than being good

Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won’t improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.

Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.

No.4 Have grit

Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher grades.

The good news is, if you aren’t particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don’t have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking… well, there’s no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.

No.3 Build your willpower muscle

Your self-control “muscle” is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn’t get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.

To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you’d honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don’t. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur (“If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.”) It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that’s the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.

No.2 Don’t tempt fate

No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it’s important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don’t try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don’t put yourself in harm’s way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.

No.1 Focus on what you will do, not what you won’t do

Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., “Don’t think about white bears!”) has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behaviour — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.

If you want change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like “If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down.” By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.

From addicted2success.com.

Hope You Like IT 🙂