I believe we unnecessarily complicate excellence, particularly in business. I'm doing some work for a client, and I've just finished reading articles on Setting Yourself Apart in several business publications, including Forbes and Entrepreneur. The pieces are generally well written and offer decent advice, yet not one offered a straightforward approach that has consistently worked for me. Begin by asking yourself the following question, "What would I, as the average Joe (or Josephine), want?" That is a commonsense approach to providing a service or solving a problem, but it often seems that commonsense is not a common virtue. It is an approach that has generated $millions and other successes in my ventures.
READ MORE »The power of belief has been a fundamental part of our existence from time immemorial. It has been discussed, written about, and experienced for eons. Whether it’s belief in a higher religious being and the power of prayer or a belief in the power of positive thinking for self-improvement, belief is a remarkable concept that has affected and guided billions of people at some level throughout the ages. It is ironic, then, that many of us can have such a strong belief in external things we can’t control but lack belief in ourselves.
READ MORE »I’ve seen a lot of clever acronyms for FEAR, so I had to come up with one of my own: Failure of Excellence, Achievement, and Rewards. Ok, I’ll admit this is a bit of a stretch, but by Failing to strive for Excellence, you’ll also fail to Achieve and miss out on the accompanying Rewards. The reality is the crippling power of FEAR can paralyze us and prevent us from taking action necessary to achieve our goals.
READ MORE »It was almost two o’clock, and as I sat at my desk, the familiar fear began to grip me. The sweat was starting to drip under my arms, and I was glad that I had worn a sweater so no one would notice. I hoped again—as I had for the past three days—that they wouldn’t be there waiting, and I could just make it to my next class safe and sound.I was a freshman at Orangeburg High, and the tension of having several African American kids at what had been a segregated school in South Carolina was still very high. To lessen the opportunities for conflict, I had developed a routine for getting around the campus as inconspicuously as a black kid in an all-white environment could.
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