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entrepreneurs’ tales, tools & tips experience growth | Feb/Mar 2016 | Issue 8
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Achieve BIG Strides towards your fitness
Emotional Reboot How to light the fire & fan the flames
‘Stop being realistic!’
5 Entrepreneurs who kicked realism to the curb & why you should too
These 3 words... ...will make 2016 bolder, bigger & better
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Welcome to
C
an you believe it’s the 2nd month of 2016 already. It’s gone so quickly.
That’s suggests that if we want to make a some impact on our world this year, we’d better get a move on.
who is capable of making significant things happen. In our cover story, ‘The Mark of Facebook’, we look at Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s Success Factors as well as his top 3 mentors.
Joining our regular And that’s what this 8th issue contributors (Sunil, Lilack, of eg Magazine is all about! Alex, Cheryl and Ru), providing great content with It’s packed full of great tangible takeaway value, we articles by our regular and welcome back Elliot Kay and guest contributors aimed at welcome Caroll Atkins, Miles your Personal Growth. Hilton-Barber, Sarah Flynn, & Colette Machado. This year if you are to do anything significant then you We’ve put together an have to become that person awesome growth experience
eg
for you. It goes up another level in March when we launch eg digest so you can engage with our magazine in a great new way. You can READ, WATCH & LISTEN to each article all for £10 per month or £100 per year. You’ll get to experience growth faster & expect to go further! So, let’s dive in and get ready for a great 2016.
Colin
& the eg Team
Regular Contributors Sunil Bali, Executive Coach, Speaker, Writer
Sunil has been responsible for hiring over 50,000 people and has worked with some great entrepreneurs , professionals and leaders , as a former Head of Talent for two of Europe’s largest companies , Vodafone Group & Santander, and having run a £50 M business himself. He is on a mission to help create authentic, sustainable and rewarding business relationships. To this end he helps entrepreneurs and professionals to generate stronger relationships, results & revenues by showing them how to increase the level of trust people have In them and their business. In this issue Sunil offers an ‘Emotional Reboot.’
Lilach Bullock, Social Media Expert
A business owner, social media consultant, internet mentor and genuine digital guru, Lilach is consulted by journalists and regularly quoted in newspapers, business publications and marketing magazines (including Forbes, Wired, The Telegraph, Prima magazine, The Sunday Times, Social Media Today & BBC Radio 5 Live). Listed in Forbes as one of the top 20 women social media power influencers, she is one of the most dynamic personalities in social media. She actively leverages ethical online marketing for her clients and for CommsAxis. In this issue Lilach shows ‘How to use Instagram to drive traffic.’
Alex Gordon, Speaking Coach
Alex is an accountant by training with years of experience within the City of London and running an accounting solutions practice. His real passion, though, is helping people to discover or rekindle their dreams. He regularly speaks to Audiences asking a poignant question, ‘What is your dream?’ He recently published his book of the same name and travels the UK preaching a message of redefining, refocusing and repackaging talents to bring solutions to your community, customers and clients. He lives in London with his wife Sharon and 3 children. In this issue Alex encourages you to ‘Speak your Dreams.’
Cheryl Nankoo, Executive Coach
Cheryl is an experienced Sales Consultant and Executive Coach with over 17 years business experience. As a Certified NLP Master Practitioner, she has coached and mentored people from all walks of life including senior executives, board members, elite athletes and even other coaches. In 2014 she qualified as an mBIT (multiple brain integration techniques) coach which looks at how we use our three brains (head, heart and gut) to make decisions. In this issue Cheryl suggests you ‘Be your own Life Coach.’
Ru Wikmann, Fitness Model & Personal Trainer
Ru is a model, personal trainer & body transformation coach based in a private health club in Central London. Unlike most fitness professionals, he knows what it is like to be seriously unfit and as a result knows how important the right mental approach is, in order to take action, overcome adversity, and succeed at reaching goas you previously thought were unattainable. Ru has an enviable track record and is known as the sculptor for a reason. When not in the gym or transforming bodies, he can be found strutting his stuff on the catwalk. In this issue Ru helps you realize ‘5 Resolutions you can Keep.’
Guest Contributors Caroll Atkins, Brand Stylist
Caroll Atkins simply put, is a brand styling visionary! For 13 years she has been working with clients to produce creative designs that create effective business. Giving a client's brand a visual style that expresses their intentions to their customers, is mandatory if they would stand out in the crowded consumer market. Having won several awards from the PIAG Association for Brilliance in Print and Creativity in Design, she is very well suited to create something amazing for you! In this issue Caroll shares her ‘5 Tips for Amazing Logos.’
Miles Hilton-Barber, Blind Adventurer & Motivational Speaker
Miles Hilton-Barber went blind in his early twenties, but hasn’t let that stop him from achieving his dreams. As a popular after-dinner and corporate speaker, Miles weaves together rich anecdotes and humour with powerful life-lessons he has learnt whilst overcoming his blindness. He reminds his audiences that “attitude is what determines altitude” and that we too can live our dreams, because “the only limits in our lives are those we accept ourselves" In this issue Miles encourages us on ‘Challenging Barriers in your Life.’
Sarah Flynn, Affiliate Marketer & Digital Business Consultant
As a professional affiliate marketer and digital business consultant, Sarah is passionate about helping like-minded individuals achieve success in life by building online digital income streams and living the laptop lifestyle. Her goal is to add more value to your world than you ever dreamed possible by sharing with you the tools and training that you can instantly use to create a business and lifestyle that you love. In this issue Sarah mobilizes us with
‘5 Reasons why you should Stop Being Realistic.’
Elliot Kay, Author & International Trainer
Elliot Kay is an Author & International Trainer working with business owners and entrepreneurs to accelerate results through his unique Power To Succeed Trainings. He ahs also written 3 books to date. Working across both corporate and experiential training, he has delivered training programmes for the likes of Sky Television, Talk Talk, NHS and Hewlett Packard. Elliot is also a mentor on the Princess’s Trust Innovation Scheme. In this issue Elliot gives you more of ‘The Power to Succeed.’
Colette Machado, Publisher & Editor
Colette is the publisher and editor of Sales Mastery, a monthly digital magazine aimed at sales professionals and business owners worldwide featuring articles written by sales experts to help them improve their selling skills. She also provides PR and copywriting services to small business owners to help them get publicity in the media and connect with their target audience through the power of words on their website, social media platforms or other marketing material. In this issue Colette explores ‘5 essential Sales Skills to grow
your Business.’
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Publishing & Advertising Director Colin Tomlin colin@egmagazineuk.com Resource Development Director Judy Lynch-Tomlin judy@egmagazineuk.com Partnerships Director Cheryl Nankoo cheryl@egmagazineuk.com Project Management & Design Creative Wells Design design@egmagazineuk.com Advertising advertising@egmagazineuk.com 0785 34 33 700 Photography Google Images Dreamstime Fotolia Eryn Grace Kirkcaldy Miles Hilton-Barber Publisher Creative Wells Norwich NR8 6HA Terms & Conditions All materials are strictly copyrighted and all rights are reserved. No part of this online publication may be reproduced in whole or part without the expressed permission of Creative Wells Enterprises. Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, the publisher cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage of any material, solicited or unsolicited. The views expressed in this publication may are not those of the publisher or those of the advertiser. No cash alternative will be offered for Competitions and the publishers decision is final. Previous issues & Resources www.egmagazineuk.com
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Contents
Business GROWhow Stuff in partnership with
The Mark of Facebook We delve into the world of the Facebook co-founder to find out how he joins the dots to connect the World.
Our Top 8 Personal Growth Books Read them and be inspired and motivated to experience growth this year.
Emotional Reboot These 5 entrepreneurs show us how to develop a ‘master mind’ by being part of a great group. It could make all the difference.
Personal Wellbeing
5 Reasons You Should Stop being Realistic Another 5 well known entrepreneurs share why we should resist the temptation to be realistic.
5 Resolutions You Can Keep Every year we make resolutions, and break them. Here are 5 that we’re convinced you can keep. These 3 Words [making 2016 Bigger & Better] Embrace these 3 words and you will have a bigger & better 2016. Guaranteed! Speak your Dreams What is your Dream? Speak it out & learn how to harness the power of your imagination.
Challenging Barriers in your Life Have you ever wondered why some people make so little with so much in their lives, and others make so much with so little. It all boils down to those barriers. The Power to Succeed Just what can you achieve in 3 months if you really apply yourself. Let’s jump in and find out!
Money
8 Ways to Grow your Money in 2016 We explore 8 ways to add more income to your budget for 2016 by using what you already have. You’d be surprized what you can do.
Sales & Marketing
5 Skills you must Master for Entrepreneurial Success As entrepreneurs we tend to underestimate the critical role sales plays in business success. Let’s explore 5 must have skills to skyrocket your sales success. 5 Tips for Amazing Logos A logo is a beautiful thing. And a very important investment for your business. These 5 tips will make sure it’s also the wisest investment you’ll make.
Social Media Masterclass
How to use Instagram to Drive Traffic As Instagram grows in popularity, we look at how we can use it to drive traffic, raise awareness and capture mind real estate.
Personal Development
Be your own Life Coach Here are 8 ways you can coach yourself to make sure you make this your best year ever.
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
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experience growth magazine
‘When you are fully charged, you get more done. You have better interactions. Your mind is sharp, and your body is strong.’
Tom Rath
elements of energizing one’s work and life and features .
In addition to his work as a researcher, writer, and speaker, Tom serves as a senior scientist and advisor to Gallup, leading the organization’s work on employee engagement, strengths, leadership, and well-being.
The book outlines three keys that matter most for our daily well-being, as well as our engagement in our work.
He has written six New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers over the past decade and has been described by business leaders and the media as one of the greatest thinkers and nonfiction writers of his generation. Are You Fully Charged? and the documentary Fully Charged, explores the key experience growth magazine
#1
Drawing on the latest and most practical research from business, psychology, and economics, this book focuses on changes we can make to create better days for ourselves and others. Are You Fully Charged? will challenge you to stop pursuing happiness and start creating meaning instead, lead you to rethink your daily interactions with the people who matter most, and show you how to put your own health first in order to be your best every day.
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
‘
'A global phenomenon... there is, it seems, no subject over which he cannot scatter some magic dust'
’
Malcolm Gladwell
Each chapter tells the story of a different person—famous or unknown, ordinary or brilliant—who has faced an out
'A global phenomenon... there is, it seems, no subject over which he cannot scatter some magic dust'
size challenge and been forced to respond. Through these stories, he explore two ideas.
This is the Observer’s praise for the writer who has given us such gems as The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog saw and other adventures.
The first is that much of what we consider valuable comes out of these kinds of lopsided conflicts due to facing overwhelming odds which produces greatness and beauty.
#2
Using the ancient biblical battle of David and Goliath, Gladwell recasts the seeming underdogs and misfits by David and Goliath is a book about what happens when ordinary people confront giants. By ‘giants,’ he means powerful opponents of all kinds—from armies and mighty warriors to disability, misfortune, and oppression.
experience growth magazine
And second, that we consistently get these kinds of conflicts wrong. He asserts that giants are not what we think they are. Their seeming advantage is usually a disadvantage. After reading this you might even embrace being a misfit
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
#3
Todd Henry Todd teaches leaders and organizations how to establish practices that lead to everyday brilliance.
stubborn idea that we'll always have tomorrow. But sooner or later all of our tomorrows will run out.
He is the author of three books Each day that you postpone the hard work and succumb to the (The Accidental Creative, Die clutter that chokes creativity, Empty, and Louder Than discipline, and innovation will Words) which have been result in a net deficit to the translated into more than a dozen languages, and he speaks world, to your company, and to yourself. and consults across dozens of industries on creativity, Die Empty is a tool for leadership, and passion for individuals and companies that work. aren't willing to put off their Die Empty was named by Ama- best work. zon.com as one of the best books of 2013 and has a simple Todd Henry explains the forces that keep people in premise. stagnation and introduces a three-part process for Most of us live with the tapping into your passion.
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Excavate: Find the bedrock of your work to discover what drives you. Cultivate: Learn how to develop the curiosity, humility, and persistence that save you from getting stuck in ruts. Resonate: Learn how your unique brilliance can inspire others. Henry shows how to find and sustain your passion and curiosity, even in tough times. This book will help you to create and sustain a lasting legacy, something you’ll be remembered for. Long after you have died.
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
‘
Todd explains the forces that keep people in stagnation & introduces a three-part process for tapping into your passion.
’
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Brian Tracy
Bestselling author Brian Tracy cuts to the core of what is vital to effective time management: decision, discipline, and determination. In this fully There just isn't enough time for revised and updated second everything on our 'To Do' list - edition, he provides brand new information on how to keep and there never will be. technology from dominating Successful people don't try to your time. He details twentydo everything. They learn to one practical and doable steps focus on the most important that will help you stop tasks and make sure they get done. There's an old saying that procrastinating and get more of the important tasks done if the first thing you do each today! morning is to eat a live frog, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that it's probably the worst thing you'll do all day. Using ‘eat that frog’ as a metaphor for tackling the most challenging task of your day - the one you are most likely to procrastinate on, but also probably the one that can have the greatest positive impact on your life - Eat That Frog! shows you how to zero in on these critical tasks and organize your day. You'll not only get more done faster, but get the right things done.
#4
‘
Eat That Frog! shows you how to zero in on these critical tasks and organize your day. You'll not only get more done faster, but get the right things done.
’
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
‘
Gather successful people from all walks of life-what would they have in common? The way they think!
’
John Maxwell John Maxwell’s leadership philosophy is simple: ‘Everything rises and falls on leadership.’ As a result, he’s made it my life’s passion to develop leaders at all levels. This is the theme that has permeated his over 70 books and speak to millions of people who value what it takes to become a great leader . This book explores this question: ‘Gather successful people from all walks of lifewhat would they have in common?’ The way they think! Now you can think as they do and revolutionize your work
and life! This easy read, a John Maxwell signature and A Wall Street Journal bestseller,
How Successful People Think is the perfect compact read for today's fast-paced world. America's leadership expert John C. Maxwell will teach you how to be more creative and when to question popular thinking. You'll learn how to capture the big picture while focusing your thinking.
#5
You'll find out how to tap into your creative potential, develop shared ideas, and derive lessons from the past to better understand the future. Explore these eleven keys to more effective thinking, you'll clearly see the path to personal success. You will finish this book inspired to change your thinking and change your life.
Robert Greene Robert is an author and speaker known for his books on strategy, power and seduction. His previous books have all become international bestsellers: The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law and, of course, Mastery.
illegitimate outcast. The secret of their eventual greatness lies in a 'rigorous apprenticeship': by paying close and careful attention, they learnt to master the 'hidden codes' which determine ultimate success or failure. Then, they rewrote the rules as a reflection of their own individuality, blasting previous patterns of achievement open from within.
#6
Around the globe, people are facing the same problem - that we are born as individuals but are forced to conform to the rules of society if we want to succeed.
Told through Robert Greene's signature blend of historical anecdote and psychological insight and drawing on interviews with world leaders, Mastery builds on the strategies outlined in The 48 Laws of Power to provide a practical guide to greatness and how to start living by your own rules.
To see our uniqueness expressed in our achievements, we must first learn the rules - and then how to change them completely. Charles Darwin began as an underachieving schoolboy, Leonardo da Vinci as an
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
you’ll never
...
get there! (If you don’t start)
Michael Phelps Michael Phelps is perhaps the greatest Olympic competitor the world has ever seen. He is certainly the most decorated, having won a mind boggling 22 Olympic medals across 3 Olympic games.
Behind his tally of Olympic gold medals, more than any athlete throughout history, lies a consistent approach to competition, a determination to win, mental preparation, and a straightforward passion for his sport.
No Limits goes behind the scenes to explore the hard work, sacrifice, and dedication that catapulted Phelps into the international spotlight.
Phelps will share remarkable anecdotes about family, his His 8 gold medals in the 2008 coach, his passion for the Olympic games are the One of his mottos is sport, and the wisdom that he backdrop to highlighting his 'Performance is Reality', and it has gained from unexpected remarkable success, from typifies his attitude about challenges and obstacles. training to execution. swimming. Highlighting memorable races
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
#7
John Maxwell John Maxwell’s leadership philosophy is simple: ‘Everything rises and falls on leadership.’ As a result, he’s made it my life’s passion to develop leaders at all levels. This is the theme that has permeated his over 70 books and speak to and valuable lessonswho fromvalue millions of people throughout his career, Phelps what it takes to become a offers candid insight into the great leader . mind and experiences of a world This champion. book explores this question: ‘Gather successful No Limitsfrom will all inspire people walks of lifeanyone to follow their what would they have in passion straight and develop common?’ the will to succeed, getting to The way they think! the finish line whatever the obstacles. Now you can think as they do and revolutionize your work and life! Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
This easy read, a John Maxwell signature and A Wall Street Journal bestseller, How Successful People Think is the perfect
spired to change your thinking and change your life.
compact read for today's fast-paced world. America's leadership expert John C. Maxwell will teach you how to be more creative and when to question popular thinking.
‘
You'll learn how to capture the big picture while focusing your thinking.
No Limits goes behind the scenes to explore the hard work, sacrifice, Explore these eleven and keys to dedication that more effective thinking, you'll catapulted clearly see the path to person- Phelps into the al success. international spotlight. You'll find out how to tap into your creative potential, develop shared ideas, and derive lessons from the past to better understand the future.
You will finish this book in-
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’
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‘
...conventions like ‘paying dues’ prevent progress, & paradoxically, it's easier to build a huge business than a small one.
’
Shane Snow Entrepreneur and journalist Shane Snow, also the cofounder of Contently, analyzes the lives of people and companies that do incredible things in implausibly short time.
These are not shortcuts, which produce often dubious short-term gains, but ethical ‘smartcuts’ that eliminate unnecessary effort and yield sustainable momentum.
How do some startups go from zero to billions in mere months? How did Alexander the Great, YouTube tycoon Michelle Phan, and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon climb to the top in less time than it takes most of us to get a promotion? What do high-growth businesses, world-class heart surgeons, and underdog marketers do in common to beat the norm?
#8
In Smartcuts, Snow shatters common wisdom about success, revealing how conventions like ‘paying dues’ prevent progress, why kids shouldn't learn times tables, and how, paradoxically, it's easier to build a huge business than a small one. From SpaceX to The Cuban Revolution, from Ferrari to Skrillex, Smartcuts is a narrative adventure that busts old myths about success and shows how innovators and icons do the incredible by working smarter—and how perhaps the rest of us can, too.
One way or another, they do it like computer hackers. They employ what psychologists call ‘lateral thinking: to rethink convention and break ‘rules’ that aren't rules.
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
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Success.
Stories.
experience
growth.
5
Resolutions you can keep
by Ru
Wikmann
Fitness Model & Body Transformation Coach
experience growth magazine
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
s
Personal Wellbeing
A
re you feeling reluctant to create New Year’s Resolutions? After years of failed resolutions, I don’t blame you. However, if you pick the right resolutions, you’ll face the New Year head on, ready to make good on your big plans from January 1 all the way to December 31. What kind of resolutions will you actually keep this year? Good question. Here are five resolutions that you can keep and that will help you achieve big strides towards your fitness goals in 2016:
Resolution #1: Get Fishy Giving your health a boost doesn’t have to take an incredible amount of time. With this resolution, it doesn’t even take much willpower. All it takes is modifying your grocery list by buying fish on occasion. Enjoy fish for dinner once a week, and you’ll protect your heart from disease and increase your chances for a longer life. Go with salmon, trout, sardines, haddock, cod or tuna.
Resolution #2: Sweat in the AM
Resolution #4: Down More H2O
In today’s world, it can be difficult to find the time to exercise. One way to increase your odds for exercising each day is to knock it out first thing in the morning. This year, resolve to exercise right after waking up. Adjust your wake up time to accommodate your morning sweat session.
Your body is primarily made up of water. Keep it that way by skipping soda and sipping on water all day long. A great way to make strides toward your watery goal is to fill up the biggest water bottle you can find and go at it. Just consider that, unless you're sedentary, 2L for the whole day may not cut it. If you workout I suggest to up it to 3 -4L, depending on your bodyweight.
Resolution #3: Push Your Body Know that half marathon you’ve been considering? Want to stop feeling the need to eat cake at every birthday party you attend—even when the cake is dry? This is the year you train properly for that race, say no to cake on occasion, and take up mountain climbing. Find someone with the same goal, make a plan to reach the goal, and get started. Once you complete your first goal and see that it wasn’t as impossible as you once thought, you may just find yourself setting even bigger goals for next year.
Giving your health a boost doesn’t have to take an incredible amount of time. Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
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Resolution #5: Stretch Every Day One of the best ways to avoid injury, as we age, is to take a few minutes to stretch daily. This is most effectively done after you have warmed up and before you begin the intense portion of your routine. By taking the best care of your muscles, with stretching, you’ll avoid taking time off for injury recovery and will be able to accomplish your goals quicker. There you have it, 5 realistic New Year’s Resolutions to help make 2016 your best year yet.
experience growth magazine
. girl.
material (In a totally different way)
experience
growth.
3
These
Words by Colin
Tomlin
Publisher, Author & Speaker experience growth
S
is.
o, here we are in the second month of 2016! We’ve waited for it for a very long time and here it
I mean, last year we were at this same point and many of us made the same resolutions, and we now know how it turned out.
A Happy New Year!
So, what will you do different in 2016?
A year to forget all the failures, follies and falters of 2015. ‘2016 will be so different!‘ I hear you say…
Here are 3 things that, I am convinced if you cultivate them, will be the difference maker this year!
…but will it?
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1. Conviction … in your HEART!
Every year we make resolutions. Every year we break resolutions. Every year we repeat the process. Without a conviction we are just performing a series of tasks. After a while it gets boring, gets mundane and simply loses it’s
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
When you feel like giving up, bolster your conviction by reminding yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing and this will release fresh commitment.
appeal. A conviction infuses passion. And passion is the foundation of persistence. So this year make sure your goals are fueled by your convictions. When you feel like giving up, bolster your conviction by reminding yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing and this will release fresh commitment.
2. Conception … in your HEAD!
When Martin Luther King Jnr delivered his famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech he wasn’t just delivering a great speech, he was sharing his ‘conception’ of what his conviction of a racially tolerant society looked like.
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
A concept transforms an idea into something tangible! What is it you want to see happen this year? What do you want to change? Articulate a concept of what it looks like and you will be well on your way to making it happen. If you are starting a business this year, then one of the first things you must do is to work out your product: What is it? what does it look like? Who is it for? This brings your idea alive.
3. Connection … in your HAND!
One of the most memorable statements from my Dad growing up is this ‘No man is a n island. No man stands alone.’ It was a simple reminder
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that we need people. A well known businessman famously observed that ‘he would rather 1% of the efforts of 100 men than 100% of his own.’ Leadership expert John Maxwell said it another way, ‘Teamwork makes the dream work’. You’ve got to make sure that you are connected to the people who you serve and the people who you serve with. If they don’t understand your conviction, they won’t be connected to you and your mission. A great way to do that is to simply stretch a hand into someone’s world… ‘Hey I’m Colin, How can I help you this year?’ Let’s cultivate these 3 things to ensure that we make some massively impressive, important & impactful stuff happen this year.
experience growth magazine
Real.
Life.. Adventure
(In a totally different way)
experience
growth.
Speak your
Dream
& Harness the Power of your Imagination by Alex
Gordon
Speaking Coach & Creator of the ‘Master your Message’ Speaking System
P
eople love to talk, about themselves.
I learned this some years ago while managing a team. It became a secret weapon. No matter what state of mind my staff were in, there was one question when asked or slipped into the conversation triggers the imagination. I applied this while coaching: people who wanted to change their life, small groups of boys
experience growth magazine
who were not being fathered and businesses who were stuck. You could see the light in their eyes once they connected. If you doubt me, test it with the next person you meet. Ask it. So, what do you think the question is? In 1963 Martin Luther King Jnr. declared to the world while championing the civil rights movement, to over two hundred thousand people, “I Have A Dream”.
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Even though he said and did many other things we remember him for this one speech. The conscious mind distils our reality and regulates our interpretation of what we see, hear and feel. The unconscious mind does not know the difference between what is real and what is not. If you doubt what I am saying, why do people cry when watching a movie? It’s a plot on a screen. It’s not real. But through your imagination you experience these emotions, you’re there even though you’re still in your seat. What Is Your Dream? That is it. The world is waiting for you to speak it. Your imagination is ready to perform it. So include these six elements which I wrote about in my book What is your dream.
1. Desire: What do you want for your life?
No one can answer this for you, it must be discovered. It is not a text book answer, it changes as you gain more experience of life and accrue wisdom.
2. Reality: What obstacles are you facing?
Stop trying to drive through the mountain of obstacles that you face. Find a way around it. The greatest obstacle is the way you think. The words you use - I can’t, I don’t know how.
3. Enthusiasm: What are you enthusiastic & passionate about?
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If you are not enthusiastic about what you do you will eventually regret doing it. Your passion drives the outward expression of your enthusiasm. It’s like electricity, it can affect everyone you meet.
4. Attitude: What is shaping your attitude?
Life can make you unappreciative, seeing and living on the negative side, preventing you from stepping up. Choose to become a positive influence even when you do not feel like it. You become like the five closest people around you. So make sure you associate with go-getters and doers.
5. Message: What is the one thing you would like to share with the world?
I believe we all have something to say to contribute to our existence upon this planet. Sometimes we discover it early or later in life. But as soon as you discover that message, share it with the world.
6. Success: What does success mean to you? Very often when I ask this question people give text book responses. But once you tear away the corporate mask you see the true person. What do you mean by that? The things we acquire no longer form the definition but the results we want for each other become the mission of our time we have left. So, what is your dream?
experience growth magazine
Cover Story
by Colin
Tomlin
Publisher, Author & Speaker experience growth
The
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
Mark
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of
experience growth magazine
I
n October 2003, Mark Zuckerberg and some of his Harvard colleagues Andrew McCollum, Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz released this thing called Facemash.
subject of a subsequent lawsuit and film.
It was really their way of injecting a little bit of joyous humour on one of the world’s elite universities by allow people to compare the pictures of two students side by side and voting who was ‘hot or not’.
By the end of that year Facebook had 1 million active users.
To create the site the they used images from Harvard’s servers. Not surprisingly, Harvard executives didn't react kindly to this and moved swiftly to quash the new venture.
Undaunted, his new venture showed potential, with Pay Pal cofounder, Peter Thiel, investing half a million dollars.
8 years after that, Facebook had connected 1 billion active users. What started as nothing more than fun, had now morphed into a serious business making Facebook’s fractious founders incredible influential and wealthy. Today, Mark is the Founder, Chairman & CEO and has morphed from being a computer science geek into a celebrated global entrepreneur credited with connecting a sizeable portion of the globe.
‘The thing that we are trying to do at Facebook, is just help people connect and communicate more efficiently.’
Turn over to read
Facebook Success Factors
By the beginning of 2004, Mark had begun building a new site called ‘thefacebook.com’ amidst accusations from his partners that he had mislead them into thinking that they were building a new site for their new venture, which became the
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and see how they did it.
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
Innovations & numbers through the years 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Issue 8. Feb/March 2016
Facebook founded 1 million active users Launch of Facebook Photos 6 million active users Launches Facebook Mobile Launches Facebook Photos 12 million active users Launches Facebook Video 58 million active users Launches Facebook Chat 100 million active users Launches of the Like Button Launches of Facebook Places 600 million active users Introduces Video Calling 845 million active users Acquires Instagram $104 billion valuation after IPO 1 billion active users Launches Internet.org Acquires WhatsApp 40 million small business Pages Launches Friends Day to celebrate it’s 12th birthday
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Success factors
1. be BRAVE (Passion)
2. be CLEAR (Plan)
3. be QUICK (Prototype)
Facebook was built with a social mission in mind:
Mark started off wanting to connect his world on campus at Harvard. And he knew technology would be the platform to do that.
In his letter to investors, prior to Facebook’s Initial Public Offering (IPO), Mark shared the ‘The Hacker Way’, a concept which underpins Facebook corporate culture.
‘To make the world more open and connected.’ It is a big vision. Maybe it’s born out of idealism, but that mission drives the vision of a company that has so far connected over 1 billion people. You may think that a company the size of Facebook might be tempted to enjoy the spoils of it’s amazing success but that’s not the Zuckerberg way.
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His first online network did just that. That strategy has not changed. He is still pushing the boundaries of technology to drive human connections. So far he has connected over 1 billion people to be exact. The other 6 billion people who are not yet connected are in his sights. And that is why he launched Internet.org.
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Two phases came up: ‘Done is better than perfect’ & ‘Move fast and break things.’ The idea is, if you wait until you’re ready, then it’s too late. This skill came in handy when Google+ tried to take Facebook’s social media top spot.
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
4. be IN TOUCH (People)
6. be a TEAM (Partners)
7. be GENEROUS (Philanthropy)
Facebook is neither about Technology or Tantalizing Profits. It’s all about People. Connecting people to be exact.
Facebook mission has always been driven by a team.
On the birth of their daughter Maxima in November of last year, Mark and his wife, Priscilla Chan announced that they will be giving away 99% of their wealth.
By understanding and serving this innate human desire Facebook has managed to walk through an open door and stolen a march on it’s competitors.
The first team in 2004, went on to fall out but they still were able to create something quite magical. In creating a platform and a product that literally revolutionized the way we communicate.
Many social media companies have come and gone but Facebook remains. Because it never forgot Why it exists.
As chairman & CEO, Mark has also created a team that is capable of taking Facebook & our connections to another level.
There is a lot of speculation about how they will do that. However, he has joined the Giving Pledge championed by Bill Gates & Warren Buffet and wants to make a sizeable contribution to the planet. That sizeable contribution is $45 billion dollars at current Facebook stock prices. One thing is for sure. He has already created a great legacy.
5. be GROWING (Possibilities)
And he is only 31 years old.
Having started Facebook at such a young age, Zuckerberg has had to grow up very fast. As an individual and as a business leader. He did this by finding great mentors and allowing them to expose him to great ideas and experiences. His mentors encouraged him to open himself to a world of possibilities that pushes the boundaries of human connections. Turn over to read
Mark’s Mentors to see who influenced him
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
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1
2
Sean Parker Napster co founder & Tech Entrepreneur
Don Graham Former CEO The Washington Post
Sean and Mark met after he came across TheFacebook on a computer screen at Stanford University.
Dan and Mark’s paths crossed in 2005 as Dan’s daughter attended Harvard with Mark. She told her Dad about ‘TheFacebook’ and Don approached Mark to invest.
Five month’s later he became an employee and the first president of Facebook. After ceding too much control at Plaxo to investors, Sean advised Zuckerberg to build structures to maintain control and was instrumental in fundraising and hiring in the early days of Facebook.
Though that didn't eventually happen (trumped to the table by Accel Partners suggested by Sean Parker) it is likely that Mark got great advice in becoming a visionary leader and running a big company while Dan certainly benefited from his exposure to this social media phenomenon.
3
Mark’s top Mentors experience growth magazine
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
3
Steve Jobs Apple founder & Media Pioneer When Steve Jobs passed away, Zuckerberg posted a touching tribute on his Facebook page: ‘Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you.’ Steve Jobs, coached Mark on building a a great management team by ‘...building as high quality and good things as you are.’
OK here’s a bonus :)
Priscilla Chan & Maxima Zuckerberg Wife & Daughter Priscilla, a Paediatrician & Philanthropist, has been a significant part of Mark’s life, having dated for 10 years before the two tied the knot in May 2012. That means she has been around from the very start of the Facebook journey and no doubt played a significant role, albeit not in the boardroom. At the birth of their daughter Maxima in November of last year, the coupled announced that they would be giving away 99% of their wealth throughout their lifetime as part of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, amounting to about $45 billion. Don’t feel bad for her though I think she will still be very well taken take of :)
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2015
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Work. (In a totally different way)
experience
growth.
by Sunil
Bali
Executive Coach, Speaker & Writer
“...friends who don’t tell me to reduce the size of my dreams, but instead tell me to grow my spirit.”
W
hilst I’m very open minded and welcome feedback, I’m not that inclined to take ‘constructive’ criticism from someone who hasn’t constructed anything.
me of energy. Like a tree it was time to let the dead leaves fall off. I gave those people who don’t appreciate my presence the gift of my absence.
truth. These are people who rather than put out my fire, seek to fan the flames, friends who don’t tell me to reduce the size of my dreams, but instead tell me to grow my spirit.
Last week, I went through the contact list on my phone and deleted the psychic vampires, dream stealers and toxic relationships that drain
I’m fortunate to have people in my life who will push me in exchange for being pushed, who will provide wise counsel, and who will tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
Before any of them became rich and famous, Henry Ford used to meet with four of his friends every month to discuss their businesses and brainstorm ideas. This is what the
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
Emotional
Reboot “mastermind group” developed: Henry Ford – cars and the modern assembly line. Thomas Edison – the light bulb and the motion picture camera. Harvey Firestone – made the first tyres for the Model T and then made a huge fortune off said tyres. Alexis Carrel – Nobel
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
prize-winning surgeon who figured out how to suture blood vessels and prevent infection during surgery. Charles Lindbergh – Hot shot aviator and the first person to make a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He also helped to design the Boeing 747. These five friends regularly bounced ideas off each other.
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Carrel and Lindbergh invented an artificial heart together. Firestone helped get the Model T on the road, and Edison said that his friends helped him to shape his thinking and get him back to the drawing board after hundreds of his prototypes failed. Five heads are clearly better than one.
experience growth magazine
5
Reasons
why you should
Stop being
Realistic! by Sarah
Flynn
Digital Marketer & Web Designer.
S
o I don’t know about you, but I know about me and one thing is for sure. I’m a dreamer. I’ve never ever considered my dreams too big and I've always been confident in myself that I would reach them. There are still so many dreams that experience growth magazine
circle around in my head, yet to be achieved but that’s ok. Success is a journey and I am happy in the knowing that every day I take small consistent steps to making all my dreams come true. One thing I have learnt over the
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
past few years, though is that not everybody is as comfortable as I am with dreaming big and aiming high. A common phrase I hear all the time is… “be realistic…” Just those two small words really offend me, always have and always will. Someone who speaks those words in my eyes, thinks too small. They are instantly placing a ceiling on their dreams and a limit to what they can achieve as well as casting shadows over my dreams.
2. Steve Jobs
“Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do”
All great things that shape the world as it is today began as an idea and was then backed by the belief and confidence that it could be achieved. Take Steve Jobs with Apple and Pixar, Mark If you have heard yourself use Zuckerberg with Facebook or these words before then Felix Baumgartner with his STOP in your tracks right now stratospheric jump. These 3 and read my five reasons why people all had the same belief you should stop being that anything you can dream, realistic… you can make reality.
1. Will Smith
“Being realistic is the most common path to mediocrity”
Had they been “realistic” then our world would be a very different place right now. All 3 were willing to do whatever it took to achieve their dream and they did it. To the average joe they might seem crazy, but without these acts of courage how would we as humans progress?
By being realistic you are selling yourself short. Being realistic is the easy option, the easy way out. Everyone who ever had a dream didn’t succeed by taking the easy option. Taking easy options and being realistic will provide “Always go with you with an average life which your passions. of course there is nothing Never ask wrong with. But if you desire to achieve more and be more yourself if it’s than what you are now, your realistic or not.” going to have to start believing that it is If you have a passion for what possible. you do, your passion will breed the motivation that is required
3. Deepak Chopra
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for you to succeed. Working really hard at something you don’t enjoy is
more likely to result in you quitting when the going gets tough. Working really hard for something you are passionate about will keep you determined and focused on your dream, even when it doesn’t make any sense to anybody else.
4. Albert Einstein
“It is better to believe than to disbelieve; in doing you bring everything to the realm of possibility” Like Steve Jobs said “You can’t connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
However feed it positive thoughts and focus on c reative energy, love, abundance and wellbeing and this is the kind of energetic life you will experience. When you simply change your mindset and start to believe that anything is possible; this is the magical moment and from then on you will be unstoppable.
5. Timothy Ferris
“Doing the unrealistic is easier than doing the realistic” Here’s how Timothy Ferriss puts it in his book: The 4Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich “Ninety-nine percent of people are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the me diocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for ‘realistic’ goals, paradoxically making them the most time and energy consuming.”
whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path”. If you can choose to believe or disbelieve, don’t you think it is a lot more fun to believe?
What do you want to be a part of; the ninety-nine per cent who settle for mediocrity?
Our mind is a powerful tool and your life will be a composite of your beliefs. Keep feeding your mind fears and negativity and this is the kind of life you will experience.
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
Or the one per cent who have the courage to pursue what their heart truly desires?
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Challenging
Barriers in your Life
by Miles
Hilton-Barber
Blind Adventurer & Motivational Speaker
H
ave you ever wondered how come some people make so little with so much in their lives, and others make so much with so little? Whilst participating in an 11-day ultra-marathon in China, running through part of the Gobi Desert, worldrenowned German athlete Stephan Schlect panted a profound thing to me; “For some people, a crisis in their life stops them living and for others, it starts them living..!” As I was growing up, I thought there were two kinds of people in life; happy people (with no problems), and unhappy people (with problems). Then I realised that we all experience problems in life, and that our happiness and quality of life is not so much dependent on our circumstances, but on our response to them! I am blind, having lost my sight some forty years ago to a genetic, hereditary eye disease. As my sight decreased, so did my quality of life, and I resigned myself to the fact that I could never again be really fulfilled, really happy, due to my sight loss. Then an amazing thing happened! My brother Geoff, also blind through the same problem, set sail in his yacht from Durban, South Africa for Fremantle, Western Australia…totally blind and totally alone.
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Fifty-one days and 4,300 miles later, via the Southern Ocean, Roaring Forties and 5 days in a Force 10 gale (which almost took his life) he became the first and only blind person in world history to have sailed across an ocean solo… Everybody, including his friends, told him it was impossible. But it wasn’t Impossible, it just hadn’t been done before. I realised then that I had made a number of wrong assumptions about life. For one thing, 20/20 vision was not the secret of happiness, or everybody with good sight would be driving around grinning like Cheshire cats! And they don’t! I also realised that, although I had no control over my blindness, I did have control over my RESPONSE to it. And this revelation made a world of difference! Louis Braille was blinded at the age of 3, playing with a spiked instrument. Many years later he invented the Braille alphabet, giving back to millions of blind people the ability to read once again. Do you know what he used to make the raised dots on the paper?! The very same spike instrument that blinded him was used to give sight to millions of others! I first perceived my blindness as a terrible handicap, a barrier preventing me from achieving things in life. Now, by changing my attitude towards my blind-
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
ness, it has become a passport, enabling me to achieve many things I probably would never have done with perfect sight. Now, I am not in any way suggesting my blindness equates to the very harrowing, life-threatening circumstances of others, but I am convinced that, for you as well as them, your life is still full of choices, and your quality of life will be determined, not so much by your circumstances, but by your response to them! Well, let me share with you a few life lessons I have started to learn in recent years.
1. Expect the unexpected
Things don’t always go your way in life, things get a bit “pear shaped”, the wheels fall off, so to speak. Read the biographies of people who have achieved great things in their lives, and you will find that they all experienced adverse circumstances, but they learnt to deal with them, and keep going! A wonderful, encouraging Danish Proverb goes like this; “Life does not consist so much in holding a good hand (of cards), but in playing a poor hand well”. We can bellyache and complain about the unfairness of life, or we can make the most of our circumstances. Remember, your quality of life and happiness has a lot more to do with attitude than Circumstances.
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
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2. Never give up
It is simply amazing how much you can achieve by just keeping going, as long as you are pointing in the right direction! I have had so many times recently when my body has wanted me to stop; climbing the frozen slopes of Kilimanjaro at 19,000 feet in the icy moonlight, crossing Antarctica, exhausted by pulling a loaded sledge over big sastrugi (ice ridges) when I couldn’t see them coming, crossing the Sahara, Gobi or Qatar Deserts; running in the Siberian Ice Marathon, running through Death Valley with temperatures 137 Fahrenheit in the shade… it has seemed so easy to stop, and so hard to keep going, but Jon Cook, my sighted guide, and myself have learnt over and over and over again, that you can keep going long after you think you just can’t go another step, either physically or mentally. Another fantastic quote I love comes from T.S. Elliott, “Only he who is willing to risk going too far will discover how far it is possible to go.” I learnt this quote from Major Jay Turner of the Royal Engineers when, accompanied by3 others, we set off to attempt setting a world first by crossing the 200 kilometres of the Qatar Desert non-stop and unsupported. This meant that we would not stop to sleep until we reached the other side, and we would be self-sufficient, dragging more than a third of a ton of water and supplies behind us through deep sand with temperatures up to 40 Centigrade, and humidity sometimes rising
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It is simply amazing how much you can achieve by just keeping going, as long as you are pointing in the right direction!
over 50%. We started on a Tuesday morning at 10.00 hours, and reached the other side of the desert on Friday evening at 16.30 hourssome 78.5 hours later. How did we do it? One step at a time, pointing in the right direction, and
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just not giving up!
circumstances, you can apply these to your life. In brief summary;
3. Dream, decide, plan, persevere
A.
This is a basic life plan I often refer to. Whoever you are, whatever your
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B.
Dream big to achieve big I’ve never met a person who has dreamed small and achieved big things! Decide- your dreams remain just that, until you make a decision to
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
C.
D.
make them happen. Just start telling your friends your decision, and start acting on it! Plan- “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”; “plan your work, and work your plan”. Simple stuff, hey?! Persevere- expect the unexpected; don’t give up- when circumstances change, adapt your plan, but keep your goal!
4. The Circle of Life Draw an imaginary circle around yourself. This represents everything you have done with your life to date. Many people tell me their life is monotonous, that they are unfulfilled, stuck in a rut, so to speak.
Whilst participating in the Marathon Des Sables, requiring competitors to run five-and-a-half marathons in 6 days across the Sahara Desert carrying all their food, equipment and supplies on their back, Jon my sighted guide read me a legend embroidered on the rucksack of a French runner; “He who is not willing to RISK going BEYOND his limits should not complain about the mediocrity of his existence!” Wow! That hit me! Listen to this! “If you keep doing what you have always done, you will get what you have always got!” Basically, you need to get into the ROUTINE of stepping outside your circle, attempting things you have never done before. Sure it is stressful, change usually is,
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
but, in order to achieve new things in your life, this is the only logical route open to you! Let me tell you something I find simply amazing! Whenever you step outside the circle, and do something new, the circle grows bigger and reforms around you; you never need to step back into it. Listen! As soon as you do something new, it is no longer new, as now you have done it, experienced it, and it is part of your enlarged life! That is logical, isn’t it?! When we went to Antarctica, it was the first time a blind person had attempted to manhaul a sledge to the South Pole, and we did not know what to expect, or how I could be guided in crevassed areas, or in a blizzard or whiteout. We were stepping out of the circle, so to speak, attempting something that we knew could be done; it just hadn’t been done yet! I distinctly remember waking up in our tent one somewhat nippy morning, brushing whore frost off my outer sleeping bag and thinking, “Miles, you are still alive, and all of this is very normal and ordinary now!” What had happened?! I had stepped out of the circle, but the circle had then reformed around me as soon as that new experience became part of my life… Listen! Stepping out of your circle, attempting new things, is the way to broaden and enrich your life, to
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achieve your dreams! And it’s not nearly as difficult as you think it isjust dream, decide, plan and persevere, and you will surprise yourself in a huge way with the results! Did you know that everybody in this world who has achieved anything significant or unusual started out as an ordinary person like you or I, and they simply decided to do something that had not been done before, or that they had not done before. It’s not half as difficult as you think it is!
5. Have a lot of fun in life!
Life is serious enough, without you and I adding to it, isn’t it?! I’m a great believer that it’s a waste of time bellyaching about things we can’t change in our lives! As they say, if you don’t like something, change it, and if you can’t change it, change your attitude to it! I think I am happier and more fulfilled in my life right now than I have ever been before, despite my blindness. Fulfilment, after all, is the product of achievement, not inactivity, and I now focus on all the things I can do, rather than regret the things I can no longer do. You should do the same! I think that having a sense of humour, and being able to laugh at yourself and your situation at times is an essential attribute if we are
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going to fulfil our potential in life! Hey! Lighten up a bit! For example, even when my sighted guide and I are stuck in a snow storm half way up a mountain, roped together, we can still see the funny side of it, like me leading the pitch, since we are both “blind” as a result, giving him a break from leading me!
6. The importance of friendship/ teamwork
7. Your attitude to “failure”
Do you know that so many people around us are afraid of trying something new, in case they do not succeed the first time? Silly attitude! We all know about Michael Schumacher, World Formula One champion. Do you know how he got there? Through the process of losing more races than he won over the years, but learning from every race he lost. Take the risk of winning! At the end of my life, I will be more
whatever your circumstances, are an amazing person, with untapped potential. Look at your opportunities, not your limitations. Remember, in most cases, the only limits in your life are those you choose to accept yourself! Your quality of life, as I keep on telling you, is determined, not so much by your circumstances, but by your response to them..! Remember…Dream, decide, plan, persevere… Let me leave you with a few of my favourite quotes…
Fulfilment is the product of achievement, not inactivity, and I now focus on all the things I can do, rather than regret the things I can no longer do. You should do the same! I can only live the big dreams in my life through help from others with different attributes and abilities to myself, like being able to see, for example! On all my expeditions there has been mutual respect, trust and friendship amongst the team, apart from a common goal. If you want to have a good friend in life, be willing to be a good friend to someone else.
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concerned about the things I have not attempted, rather than those I have! My definition of a winner is simply someone who gets up one more time than they fall down. Don’t let your past determine your future- you may have failed in the past, but there is no reason you cannot succeed in the future! Get up, and do it again!
“He who says it is impossible should not interrupt he who is doing it.” (Chinese Proverb) “Only he who is willing to risk going too far will discover how far it is possible to go.” (T.S. Elliott) “Life does not consist in holding a good hand, but in playing a poor hand well.” (Danish Proverb)
You, whoever you are,
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
Real.
Life.. Adventure
(In a totally different way)
experience
growth.
The
Power Succeed to
(What Can You Achieve in 3 Months?) by Elliot
Kay
Author & International Trainer
T
his guy approached me at one of the events I was running.
‘I need your help!’ he said. ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Well, I have had my proposal for a new App. accepted and I have never done any public speaking.’
name is Alexander Ball.’ ‘Nice to meet you. How do you feel about pitching?’ I asked. Alex’s response was: ‘I am shitting myself and this is well out of my comfort zone. I find it hard to speak in meetings with two people, let alone pitching in front of an audience.’
‘Nope’ he responded. ‘My
Do you know that feeling? The feeling when your hands get sweaty, your heart races, and suddenly the sound of
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‘None?’ I asked.
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
your own voice sounds strange?
stopped him and asked:
And the voices in your head are saying things like: I must sound like I don’t know what I am talking about, everyone looks really bored … ooops, what if I get it wrong … aaaarrrggghhhhhh … know that feeling? That’s what Alex went through every time he got up to speak.
‘You do care about this pitch don’t you? And you want this really badly don’t you?’
I then asked him who was the target audience and what was the deal? It turned out it was for one of the biggest banks globally and it would be a three-round pitch and at each round you must be chosen to go through to the next. The first one would be four minutes in a small room in front of the Lions (Their version of Dragons’ Den or Shark Tank); the second one would be for eight minutes and the last round would be in Holland in front of 500 people. Challenge accepted, the work started.
‘Of course I do!’ he responded. ‘Then use this anger to drive this pitch forward. You have a real chance here to create impact, a chance of a lifetime. When you next pitch at me, come from that place of anger and let your passion out.’ The pitch changed completely! His tone changed, it had meaning and passion. End of Session One. ‘Go home and practise it at least 50 times a day, make it happen,’ I told him. We then had a catch up call over Skype and Alex looked good and ready. It was over to him – was he going to do it? Was he going to deliver? Do you sometimes feel that way?
In my heart, I knew he would. The question was: did he believe We started with a one-to-one it? One thing we did during the session where we looked at first session was every time he structuring the pitch. We got flustered and nervous, we carefully looked at the types of agreed he would remind himself words to use for massive impact that this App. wasn’t about him, and how to explain what the App it was about the lives it would does. We went through it again, impact and he would put himself again and again for three hours, aside. To bring you into the loop, repeatedly tweaking and adapt- the App. he wanted to build was ing. People don’t succeed beto offer financial education to cause they can’t, people don’t young people from 8 to 18, resucceed because they stop too placing the piggy bank. Besides soon or give up. that, I can’t tell you anything else. At times I could see Alex getting angry and frustrated, and at one The day arrived and Alex was point he really got angry. I going up. It just happened to be Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2015
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a lovely day in London. The sun was shining and I was busy working on new branding. At the back of my mind, I was wondering how Alex was getting on. After all, my clients’ results are my results. ‘How is he doing?’ is the thought that kept popping into my mind. Then at the end of the day, finally I got the text: I am through! I did a few fist pumps and it was celebration time. We both knew celebrations couldn’t last too long. Now, we had more work to do. We booked in the next session. This time we had to double the time, yet still be impactful and precise. We started to pull the pitch out. I introduced him to the Million Pound Concept, which is: if you had to pay a million pounds for every word you said, you would only choose impactful words, right? What was interesting was that he showed me the cost of building this App. Alex was pitching for a million Euros. This became a million Euro pitch. Again we scripted, practised, tweaked, changed, changed and changed again until we
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were happy with the pitch. We kept his sights on the big picture and also what it would mean for him to get through to the final. By the way, Alex runs marathons and pitching this App. scared him far more. Again, it was over to him to practise, which of course he did. The stakes were high and he had everything to gain. While Alex was pitching this round, I was in America. I was out both delivering training and attending training. We were doing long days. Sleep was something that we I was looking forward to every day. I had finally fallen asleep when I got the text: I am through to the final! We need to talk and get this ready to present in front of 500 people. ‘Great news!’I thought, ‘I’d better get some sleep!’ Within a day, we very quickly jumped on Skype and arranged everything. In the meantime, I said, ‘I want you to go over the pitch, put yourself in the shoes of someone listening to it, and ask: What’s so good about that? What’s in it for me? And why should I care? These are great questions to
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ask yourself when you are talking about any type of product or pitch.’ Alex, being the hard worker that he is, did exactly that. We met once I was back from the USA and worked on his final pitch. We also worked on adding some stage anchoring, gestures, and getting him moving around. We also added music to the pitch, as that was part of the requirement for the big pitch. We worked on everything and it was his moment. I felt a bit like the football manager who has set all the tactics and game plan, then it is over to the players. It was over to him, to conquer his fear, to deliver his pitch, and to be awarded a million pounds in funding. Have you been in that place where you just know it is time for you to truly step up and deliver? One thing we discussed while preparing was to remember that he had earned his spot and he had every right to be there and to pitch along with anyone else on that stage. Not from a place of arrogance, but from a place of
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
self recognition. He had worked very hard and needed to acknowledge it for himself as this would eliminate the ”who am I to do this?” mindset.
Nothing. My phone was blank, no text, nothing, not a peep. Then, at 19:46pm, the text came through… We WON. I was so happy for him, so happy as well as relieved. I had had my own little nervThis was very important. I ous journey for him. Now I had asked if I could fly out could smile and relax. Alex with him to support him at had done it. Yet this turned his big pitch. He was told, no. out to be only the beginning The big day came. He flew out for Alex, which is why I dea couple of days before. We cided to write this only after were texting each other. I my book was kept thinking, ‘This is his big finished. moment. He is ready. He will own this.’ We also agreed that Since raising the money, Alex the day before, the best thing is learning what it is like to be he could do was simply relax. a leader and steering an international team globally. He The day came. Alex got on is finding doors that were stage and delivered the pitch closed for him opening now. of a lifetime. By this point, I He is called into meetings all was back in the UK again. the time to do the pitch and This time, I kept thinking people are offering their about Alex a lot more: ‘Will support to the project. He he get the million Euros? Will recently got offered a 6he deliver? How will he cope month placement in with 500 people and the Amsterdam to work with the Lions asking him tough innovation team and is still questions?’ I had no idea deciding if he will do it or not. what time he was on. I kept He has found that he is seen looking at my watch: ‘Has he in a different way now. done it yet?’ An hour later: ‘Has he done it yet?’ Then a Alex is one of the most few more hours passed. humble people I know and he ‘Surely he has done it now!’ certainly does not crave
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attention. To see him deal with it for me is very I nteresting. The reason I wanted to add this in is because I want you to ask yourself some very serious questions: Where are you missing out on opportunities because you allow head stuff to get in the way? Where are you making the fear to be bigger than the action? Where are you allowing yourself to play small? Where are you not expressing yourself in order not to rock the boat? If Alex had let his fear win, if Alex hadn’t reached out to ask for support, and if Alex hadn’t taken massive action, this would have been another faded dream. Another good idea gone to waste and another opportunity missed. Where are you doing the same? Are you letting your dreams fade away? What if today you committed to yourself to do things differently?
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
Leading.
Change. (In a totally different way)
experience
growth.
8
ways to
GROW your
Income in
2016
(using what you already h
your Home 1. Rent out a Room
Many of us have a spare room in our house that is used as either an office or for storage. However, under the government’s ‘Rent a Room Scheme’, you can currently earn up to £7,500 tax free every year. This means you can earn over £600 per month from that room you currently have just for your clothes horse and suitcases. www.airbnb.co.uk
2. Rent out your Shed or Loft
person. Then why not rent out your shed or loft to things. By things I mean other people’s things. For many people, storage solutions are costly with many hidden costs. www.storemate.co.uk
3. Rent out your Driveway
If you live in a city or near a train station, football club or a popular landmark, your driveway could literally be paved with gold.
Ok, so maybe you don’t want to You could rent out your drive daily, or just for a specific time rent out your spare room to a experience growth magazine
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like match days or shopping trips. www.parkonmydrive.com
4. Make your home a Film Set
You may think that you have to have a huge £multi-million property to even be considered as a film set. However, that’s not always the case. If you have a property which is quirky or unique in any way then film makers, photographers or event planners may well be interested in your property. www.amazingspace.co.uk
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
Money
6
have)
your Car 5. Rent out your Car
earn any up to £3000 per month. Yes you heard that right, per month!
Many families have multiple cars and a lot of the time they are sat on the driveway or www.uber.com outside the house, while you still pay for the overheads, Tax, MOT, Insurance.
www to earn £300 to £600 a day. www.starcarhire.co.uk
8. Advertise on your 7. Turn your Car into Car a Star You can get paid to wrap your
This is a great way to earn money rather than let your car You may think that the only car sit there doing nothing. You get that has been a star is KITT of to earn up to £3,000 per year. Knight Rider fame. But your car can also be a star as most TV www.carclub.easycar.com shows, films or music videos need cars.
6. Share your Car
A number companies offer apps that let commuters use their smartphones to instantly hail a driver to take them to relatively nearby destinations. You could be that driver. And you can Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
There are specialist agencies that source and provide them. Why not register yours and discover it’s star power? You could be earning up to £600 per day.
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car with an advert. You may have to drive around a bit. But there are some companies that do not stipulate that you do. You can earn up to £200 per month without having to change your driving habits. Who wouldn't want to do that and offset the expensive cost of owning and operating a car. www.comm-motion.com experience growth magazine
Become an
Entrepreneur (It’s a much easier way of getting to the top)
5
essential
Sales Skills
to
grow
your Business by Colette
Machado
Publisher and Editor of Sales Mastery, a monthly digital magazine aimed at sales professionals and business owners
Y
our website is looking great, your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts are set up, and you have a marketing plan in place. So you’re all ready to go, right? Hold on! But do you have a sales plan in place for the business? Do you know how your business is actually going to generate revenue into
experience growth magazine
your business?
Clients, sales, income ‌ without these you don’t have Sales, the exact area of your a business. You can have the business that will keep your greatest website, a huge business operating by bring- number of Twitter followers ing in income through the sale or Facebook likes, and you of your products and/or ser- may even network like a pro, vices, is often overlooked and but it is clients and making neglected by small business sales that are the lifeblood of owners. your business. Sales, however is not just an important part of your business - it is an integral part of it.
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As a business owner you NEED a sales strategy! How are you going to bring income into your business? Who is responsible for it?
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
Sales & Marketing
How many clients are needed per month? What are your different income streams? How you can upsell once a client has bought from you? Without any sales into a business, the business will not be sustainable and rather than running a business, you will instead have an expensive hobby. Lack of confidence is cited as the number one reason business owners shy away from selling, whenever possible, and therefore don’t even think about the importance of a sales strategy. So, let’s explore our 5 essential sales skills to grow your business:
1. Handling objections
How good are you at handling objections? Are you used to dealing with rejection and objections? Are you prepared for statements from prospects like “I’m not sure how beneficial it will be for me” or “can I have a think about it and get back to you?” Can you handle these objections and present your points clearly and confidently and explain why your product or service is beneficial for your client?
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
2. Negotiation
If a potential client negotiates the price of a product or service you are promoting to them, where do you fall on the negotiation ladder? Can you present a case of why you won’t lower your prices or don’t think you should? Are you properly prepared if your potential client presents a strong argument telling you perhaps about a competitor that is offering the same as what you are but for a fraction of the price less?
3. Questioning and discovering needs
Many business owners find it very easy to talk about their product or service, but while you are talking, what is the potential decisionmaker thinking? It’s nice but a little expensive, I wonder if she will accept less? When will he/she stop talking? Thinking about the questions you can ask your prospect to discover their needs is very important on both sides.
4. Cold-calling & Follow-up calls
Yes, cold-calling and making those follow-up calls are probably a small
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business owner’s worst nightmare. If you have enough clients coming through the door, then this is something that you may not need to do much of. But if you don’t, following up with the business owner you got chatting to at a business event and making some calls to some potential clients in a brochure who are your target audience may seem daunting but could be a life-saver for your business.
5. Closing
The closing part of the sales process is highly important as it is where you know whether your prospect is going to do business with you or not. Before you see your potential customer it is a good idea to have some clarity on how you are going to bring the discussion to a close. Will you close by summarising the benefits of your products or services? Or will you offer a reduced price if the client appears to want to do business with you, but the price seems an issue? Preparation is key to your sales success! If you don’t have a sales plan or sales strategy in place for your business, don’t be surprised if 6 months into 2016 you realise you have only had two clients. As they say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
experience growth magazine
5
Tips
for Amazing
Logos! by Caroll
Atkins
Brand Styling Visionary
experience growth magazine
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
W
hen it comes to having one of the most memorable, bad-ass, brand building logos out there, I have 5 tips you must follow.
are the most preferred styles because they address this issue.
Yes, there are rules to having the most engaging logo that people remember and lead them to checking out your brand.
2. Unforgettable & memorable!
This will be the case for many years to come.
In today’s market the demand for a consumer’s attention is, simply put, vicious. A typical Your logo is part of person viewing your brand your brand’s promise. It sets online will only spend about 2the tone for your business and 3 seconds, so you must make delivers an expectation to sure your logo is compelling potential clients. Why take a and attractive if you want to chance to mess up this first create engagement. impression? You know what they say, “the first impression is the most lasting impression”.
3. So Fresh, so clean!
Are you a fan of the phrase “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”? Well 1. Keep it in the logo game, it is realsimple! ly not. What it is, is really this First of all, no one wants to phrase “been there seen that”. spend time trying to figure out This is one time that you do what all the cutesy, sentinot want to remind the mental chackis in your logo is consumer of another brand or means. They don’t care! especially if that brand is in a And if they don’t care, you business much like yours. better care. In today’s communication world, the smart phone is king, second is 4. Be timeless, tablets. What this means is your available space to show off your logo and foster brand visibility is smaller and more limited. Simple, flat designs
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
but modern!
Do not confuse trendy for modern. Modern tends to be less stylized. It only captures
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relevant characteristics of the times and does not become bogged down by over stylizing with too many details.
5. Keep the Balance!
One of the things that points out an poorly designed logo from a professional one is the balance and proportions that is used to create it. Even a logo as simple as the Twitter logo is filled with balance and proportions. This is especially useful in logos that utilize both text and graphics. Paying careful attention that these elements work together seamlessly and gives visual balance to the eye, is a critical element to the success of your logo design. While there are many more elements one can add regarding proper logo creation, for the purpose of a brief article, I chose these 5. Many times when I see logos that miss the mark, these are the elements that have been ignored. A logo is a beautiful thing, but mostly it is a very important investment one has made for their business. Make sure it is also the wisest.
experience growth magazine
Work.
Life. Balance. (In a totally different way)
experience
growth.
How to use
to drive traffic to your website
by Lilach
Bullock
Social Media Expert
experience growth magazine
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
Social Media
W
hen it comes to product like say CocaCola does marketing not mean you cannot businesses on and should not use Instagram. social media, most brands and entrepreneurs think about the obvious and 1. Creating your larger networks; Facebook and Identity Twitter. Creating your identity on However, it’s well worth Instagram should be the first considering the likes of step and will come down to Instagram and Pinterest too, how visual you are willing to especially as social media is be. Like with other social evolving into a visual feast. networks you are able to create a bio and have a username. But Instagram now has more your brand’s identity will be than four hundred million conveyed not in your words on users, and boasts more the bio but on the members than Pinterest (circa photos you post out. fifty million), more than Twitter (which has over three Hopefully this is hundred million active monthly something that you have users). already thought about and you understand what your brand So why are people less represents and the tone of voice inclined to market their you wish to project on social products on a platform media is. that rivals Twitter and There are a few examples of spawns out the exact thing brands without a that every marketer will tell tangible product who you need to post on Facebook have managed to create great and Twitter; visual content?! brand identity on the platform. In this article we will outline how you can use Instagram to market your business, increase your brand awareness and drive traffic. Instagram offers a powerful platform for marketers and businesses, yet there is a common misconception that if you don’t have a physical product to sell, the network isn’t applicable. Albeit a great way to directly market a product, the true power of Instagram lies in the ability to connect with users.
Anyone can thrive on Instagram, you do not need to have a tangible product to have success on the platform. It’s often a case of thinking of
It should go without saying that a brand without an identity on the platform, despite how well it is known offline will have a tough time driving traffic from Instagram. You need to make people want to follow you.
2. Use links in your bio
The easiest way in which to lead prospective customers to your website and thus driving traffic to your website is with a link in your bio section. You cannot add links in the descriptor on photos and on videos but that shouldn’t stop you from creating a clear call to action telling them where the link to your page can be found.
This means that all businesses can (and should) use Instagram. Because you do not have a tangible
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
creating ways in to how to entice people to like, share and engage with your content.
The Starbucks example above is also a good example of a clear call to action and the use of links in the bio
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experience growth magazine
3. Use appealing images
persuade people to take some form of action, if the desired result is to drive traffic to your Appealing images are not stock website then you are much images. The sole reason people more likely to get the use the platform is to upload desired action from and view photos. People follow good visuals that people with good content (i.e. motivate the viewer stunning pictures), so do not to take some form use the same old stock images of action than a that everyone else uses. boring image. Appealing images can also
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See the images below.
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Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
4. Use creative videos
5. Use Hashtags
Hashtags are without a doubt one of the best ways to generate Like with using images it is exposure and get more important to use the other form engagement is to use hashtags of visual content too; videos. on Instagram. You can find You can create compelling hashtags relevant to your videos and drive traffic to your business or industry in the website with things such as search box by typing in relevant teaser videos, sneak peaks and keyword terms. It’s worth exclusive behind the scenes experimenting and testing access as well as interviews which hashtags are more with appropriate call to actions effective for your brand so also in which to drive more traffic to mix in a variety of popular your website. Use videos in hashtags as well as less popular which to connect with your hashtags. The below example audience and recommend they from Greenpeace shows a good visit your website for more number of hashtags used details or information. appropriately, without going nuts.
7. Be engaging
and yell “me, me, me”. When people respond to or comment If you are really serious about on your posts, make sure you growing your brand and want are engaging with and to grow an audience and create responding to them in a timely brand advocates, Instagram is fashion. As you would do on the place to do just that. anything other social network, be proactive in your approach. But you have to be as equally open, engaging, and active with your audience. You also need to Conclusion like and comment on other Instagram is well worth people’s posts as well as investing the time in. You can sharing content regularoften generate more ly. Don’t just simply broadcast, engagement on here than the
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
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6. Exclusive content
You will want to make sure that the images and offers you have on Instagram aren’t the same things you always promote elsewhere on other social media sites. Otherwise, there’s no reason for people to follow you on Instagram. You will want to share images and videos that followers can only see on Instagram. Consider offering Instagram exclusive promotions and discounts. Below is an example of car company Renault, who use Instagram successfully.
likes of Facebook. It is important however that you take the time to create content that is appealing and generates engagement. If you get those two key things right then you’re well on your way to having a successful Instagram campaign. If you’d like to learn more how to run an effective and successful campaign get in touch here to see how we can help you.
experience growth magazine
‘ ’
.
Boxing
Clever
.
(In a totally different way)
experience
growth.
Be your own
Life coach
[8 quick tips to coach yourself better] by Cheryl
Nankoo
Executive Coach
1. Take 100% responsibility for your results
always blaming others, making excuses or looking for reasons. People at cause take action. Think of a few situaHere’s a thought I always use, tions in your life where things ‘If it’s to be it’s up to me’. are not going as well as you’d Whatever you decide your it like, are you at cause or at efis, you are the one who will fect? How can you change the ultimately make it happen. situation so that you are at cause?
2. Be ‘at cause’ not ‘at effect’
3. Do things that will empower you
People that are at effect are
Set SMART goals, keep a diary of your progress,
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acknowledge your achievements, get a mentor or buddy and be a mentor for other.
4. Have behavioral flexibility
Be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve success. This is the key. With enough rapport and enough behavioural flexibility, you can greatly I ncrease your chances of achieving your goals.
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
Personal Development
h
]
5. Take Action.
Without action there are no results. Even if it’s only a small step each day, have a plan of action and keep going.
6. Break down barriers
If you find yourself facing a dilemma, ask yourself “what’s stopping me?” Quite often it’s a limiting
Issue 8. Feb/Mar 2016
belief and it’s only yourself that gets in the way. So then ask yourself “what would happen if I could…..?” Then imagine you can, and go for it.
7. There is no failure only feedback.
By taking the learnings from the mistakes you may make, it will enable you to
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continue to improve and remain motivated.
8. Be grateful.
Start the day positively by thinking of all the things you are grateful for. This sets you up for a winning attitude and even brings a smile to your face because grateful people “get it!”
experience growth magazine
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