How To Be Smart (Part 2)

-->

Developing good habits is one sure way of maintaining a healthy life. It improves your emotional intelligence. It’s another phase in learning the art of being smart. Here are some suggested practical steps to continually take to cultivate and sustain good habits:

1.  Always ask questions. Asking questions and questioning everything around us constantly is what makes us smarter. There's nothing wrong with not knowing the whys or the hows! Everybody has something that they don't know. But by developing a healthy habit about asking politely when you don't know something, you'll find yourself getting smarter and smarter.

2.     Set goals once a week. Ask yourself during each goal-setting session, how many of last week's goals did I achieve? Why didn't I accomplish some of my goals and what can I do to give myself a greater chance of success?

- Constantly work hard to achieve each of your goals. Without goals, you would have nothing to hope for. Reward yourself after accomplishing your goal.

- Be organized. You don't need to be a total neat freak, but wasting time is not smart. Of course, there are many geniuses who are completely disorganized (think of the absent-minded professor) but if you're making an active effort to be smart, taking a conscious approach to how you spend your time is a big step in the right direction.

3.     Devote time to education. Educating yourself takes time, and if you want to get smarter it is going to require effort. Education doesn’t just mean attending school and coming out on top of the class. School is just one source of information. If you have straight A's, that doesn't mean that you are smart (though that could mean brilliance). There are many sources of information out there. For example: books, documentaries, and the almost boundless Internet. Exercising an open mind will make you more intelligent and constantly learning will help you achieve your dream of being smart. Don’t expect it to happen overnight. You need to spend a lot of time actively thinking and learning if you want to really be smart.

Source: Wikihow

How To Create Wealth

If your goal is to become wealthy, you have to know how wealth is created.
The answer is contained in two words: “add value.”
All wealth comes from adding value in some way. All wealth comes from serving and satisfying your customers better than they could be served and satisfied by someone else.
Wealth is the result of adding value to them in a way that no one else can match. Think of it as your contribution to someone else and the end-product is the person's satisfaction and by-product is your paycheck which can be in several forms. The more contribution you make, the greater your paycheck. The more people you contribute to, the fatter your paycheck. Thus, it's safe to say that the value you have multiply by the people who benefit "immensely" from that value equals your wealth, or anybody's wealth.
Consider the richest people in the world, Bill Gates, Larry Page, Aliko Dangote and estimate the value they have made to several lives. This insight will give an understanding into the extent of their wealth and their steady and continued rise in fortune.
In your job, you should be looking for ways every day and every week to add value and to become more valuable than you were before.
Throughout your career, your main focus must be to constantly seek out ways that you can add value to your boss, to your co-workers, to your customers, to your suppliers, and to everyone else and anyone upon whom you rely for your success.
This should be your motto: “Add value, add value, add value!”

Credit: Brian Tracy
 

How To Be Smart (Part1)

-->

To be smart is being armed with sufficient information to challenge any problem with possible solutions. For you to be able to do this, you need to continually improve your education. This is the first step in learning how to be smart. Here are some practical suggestions:

1.    Aim to educate yourself. Keep in mind an education isn't the junk you are forced to do in school for diplomas and degrees; it's an understanding of the world around you. People who are naturally curious for some reason begin to stop asking questions the moment they hit school. The truly brilliant mind however, always questions their world and tries to make sense of it. That is the secret to "genius".

2.  Work on your vocabulary. Use a few definitions from the dictionary each day, or subscribe to a "word-of-the-day" service online. You can also take the vocabulary tests in Readers Digest or buy a book on increasing your working vocabulary. Read the dictionary one letter at a time. This will take you at least a year but you will grow intellectually.

3.  Read a variety of books. Reading a lot is often described as the secret to intelligence. The smartest people in the world tend to read every single day. You may not always enjoy it, but reading will open up your mind to a variety of new ideas and experiences. Keep your reading diverse by reading books of all genres including non-fiction.

4.  Educate yourself about the world around you. Cultivate an interest in subjects like current events, interesting facts, funny and inspiring quotations, good books and movies, scientific studies and interesting inventions. Educational television, like PBS, is a great way to learn. Learning to think critically about the world around you by being aware of cause and effect in events will make you much smarter. If you can read much faster than you can speak, it is much more efficient to read a book, or better yet a non-linear electronic document like a wiki than to watch a show for all but the most intellectually demanding or video-dependent learning. Commercial television is particularly bad because its ultimate purpose is to do just enough to keep you at the TV and its ads, not satisfy you so you can do something else.

5. Make connections. Find uses for information, rather than just collecting useless trivia. Burying information somewhere deep in your brain is not useful; you have to be able to access it in real-world situations. Think of real-world situations in which a piece of information will make sense. Then share it and watch it grow!

Source: Wikihow

6 Things To Do To Increase Your Success Rate

We humans (that means me included) often get stuck in a hamster wheel of habit. We do things that aren’t good for us, remain where we shouldn’t and put ourselves through voluntary suffering all in the name of comfort. We don’t know these things are damaging, because it’s normal to us.

Here are six things you should quit doing today, before it’s too late.

Quit Stopping – I’ve completed six half marathons (13.1 miles) over the past few years and each one has been an emotional experience for me.

They say that at the very moment you want to quit, you’re actually almost there. It’s the stupid human in us…we go so far and then our brains take over and tell us it’s too hard. When did we get the memo that life was supposed to be easy all the time?

Think right now about something you keep stopping. You committed to it, but then you suddenly quit because it started to require a little extra elbow grease. A project at work, a relationship, a fitness goal. Remember why you started it, then push onward. Because the more you stop and think about quitting, the longer it’ll take to get to your desired result. Or worse, you’ll never know what it feels like to reach the finish line.

Quit Saying Tomorrow – You know the saying, “Yesterday you said tomorrow?” Seriously, stop that! Delaying or procrastinating around something that you think is important means one of two things. You’re either scared to start because it means your life will change or you want it for the wrong reasons (i.e. someone else is encouraging you to do it).

So yes, that new healthy eating thing you want to do will be very difficult and possibly unpleasant. But every day you wait to start is another day you’re not helping yourself. And you keep telling yourself that you’ll wait until the kids are a certain age before you finish your degree, but is that really the main reason you’re waiting? Or is it because studying is not nearly as exciting as all the other options you have right now? And while you’re at it, why are you donating free money to the gym? They haven’t seen you in months.

Quit Being A Victim – When people tell me they’re doing something or making certain choices because they have “no choice,” it makes me want to bang my head on the table…and then put that on repeat. You have a choice in everything you do. Barring a few really crazy exceptions, no one holds your hand to the fire on anything. And if you’re choosing to remain in a place that isn’t positive, you’re victimizing yourself.

You are not so worthless that you have to keep dating that person. There are other places you could live. And it’s not your schedule that prevents you from being healthy.

Our social groups are great for complaining. We all discuss our problems with our friends and that’s ok. But there are limits. Everyone gets a few opportunities to complain about a particular hardship, but if you seek advice and respond with “but I can’t” (said in whiny voice) too many times, you officially become a victim. Eventually, you’ll have to ask yourself whether you even want to fix the problem.

Quit Saying Yes – Anytime we say yes to something, we’re saying no to something else. So when you say yes to a happy hour, you’re saying no to . When you say yes to a crappy review from your boss, you’re saying no to getting acknowledged for the great work that was overlooked. When you say yes to watching pointless reality TV shows, you’re saying no to doing the dishes. Or if you say yes to staying late at the office, you’re saying no to your relationship.

It could be you don’t need to entirely quit saying yes. You may just need to analyze when you’re saying yes and what you’re trading for it. You might find yourself saying yes to things you don’t even care about and no to things that could make your life better in some way.

Quit Expecting – I got an email the other night from someone looking for advice after reading this article. He told me that he’s been working for the same company for his entire career, rising through the ranks and loving it. But recently he realized he’s hit a wall – he’s had many reviews and each time he meets with management, they’re not giving him the promotion he knows he’s ready for. My question to him was, “Have you asked for it?”

It’s very rare for a company to proactively promote someone at a fast pace. Especially true in older organizations, if you expect your company to promote you when they feel you’re ready for it, you’ll be sitting around waiting for about 10 years to reach the next level.

Your boss is like your significant other. Don’t expect them to read your mind. They’ll only know what you need when you tell them. If you really have your heart set on something (like a promotion), you must be vocal about it. If you don’t speak up, you’re leaving the translation up to them. Expect at your own risk.

Quit Avoiding – Suck it up. We all have things we don’t want to do, but we have to do them because we’re adults. (Should I have started the paragraph with, “Dear Congress”?)

I once managed a team responsible for a corporate-wide project with a lot of moving pieces. There were some majorly miserable elements to that project and there were some really sexy parts (i.e. things you put on your resume) too. As I sat with my boss reviewing progress one day, she asked why I hadn’t finished one particular task (a task that couldn’t be delegated). I responded with, “It’s boring me!” Her response was, “Your point?”

Yeah, life doesn’t work that way. You can’t pluck the fun parts out and leave the tough parts on the table. You take all or none.

If we didn’t have to work hard to reach success, we wouldn’t appreciate it. If there’s something you’re putting off because it’s boring you, it’s hard, physically demanding or tiring…just get up and get it done. Quit avoiding it. There will be rewards along the way and there will be a great sense of accomplishment at the end.

Source: Forbes

Molly is a co-founder and Executive Producer of Haul Studios, the founder of GlassHeel.com and a freelance writer covering business, leadership and innovation. 

KEEP MOVING ON

Never stop learning. Strive to move on. There's no neutral ground in life. No one sits on d fence and gets to anywhere important in life.
After breaking the world's fastest record (which he was holding at the time), Usain Bolt has gone on to steadily win several races in different competitions against fierce opponents. You can always break new ground. He attributed his success to focus, determination, hard work and several other virtues.
The Koch brothers (Charles and David) in d Forbes top ten billionaire list are still making definite marks to increase their investments.
There are no limits for those who desire to move on to greater heights. There's a level beyond you. You simply need to use the eyes of the mind to see more opportunities around you and most importantly take advantage of it. As long as we are breathing, there's room at the top of the ladder. No success is ever enough.

Lessons from Bill Gates

Bill Gates, Microsoft Founder and Philanthropist

When questioned about his incredible success, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, now turned Philanthropist with Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, offered these ten insights to anyone starting out and desiring success. They are worth considering:

1. Life isn't fair, get used to it;

2. The world doesn't care about your self-esteem; it expects you to accomplish something before feeling good about yourself;

3. You won't make $60k (about N9m) a year out of school, or be a vice president with a cell phone. You have to earn it!

4. Do you think your teachers/lecturers are tough? Wait till you have a boss; he is not tenured!

5. Flipping burgers isn't beneath you; your grandparents called it opportunity

6. Your parents weren't always boring; it came from feeding you, cleaning your clothes and paying your bills. So before you rush out to save the rain forest from the 'parasites' of your parents' generation, try delousing your own closet

7. Some schools may have abolished winners and losers, but life hasn't. They may have eradicated 'failing grades' and given you as long as you want to get the right answer. This bears no resemblance to reality;

8. Life isn't divided into semesters. You don't get summers off! Employers aren't interested in helping you 'finding yourself'; you do that on your own time!

9. Unlike television, real people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to work

10. Be nice to nerds; chances are, you'll end up working for one someday!

Think deep about how you want your life. Plan and prepare towards IT!
If you enjoyed this article, please share and comment below.

GROWTH is NOT automatic!

You’re only young once, but you can be immature indefinitely. Each year the Lobster is forced to shed its shell; it’s a pity we aren’t! If you don’t make personal growth your responsibility it’ll never happen. The road to anything worthwhile is always uphill, so the sooner you start climbing the closer you are to reaching your potential.

Growth is your responsibility. When you were a child, your parents were responsible for your growth; now YOU are! Robert Browning wrote, “Why stay here on earth except to grow?” Yet not very many people dedicate themselves to the process of growing. Why? Because growth requires change and most of us are quite uncomfortable with change. Gail Sheehy writes, “if we don’t change, we won’t grow, and if we don’t grow, we’re not really living. Growth demands the temporary surrender of security. It means a giving up of familiar but limiting patterns, safe but unrewarding work, values no longer believed in, relationships that have lost their meaning. Taking a new step is what we fear most, yet our real fear should be the opposite.”

How do you grow? Physically, we all grow by eating well, sleeping well, exercising well. Mentally, we grow by reading, studying, learning and applying. Spiritually, by reading The Word, praying and applying the principles.

What you sow today determines what you reap tomorrow. Oliver Wendell Holmes noted, “Once stretched by a new idea, a man’s mind never regains its original dimensions.” So what are you doing today to become MORE successful tomorrow? Can you think of anything worse than living a life devoid of growth and improvement?