When you dress for success, you actually make a bold statement about your individuality. More importantly, how you look IS a subconscious manifestation of your innermost thoughts and feelings. Compare, for example, how you feel when you have a sharply tailored double-breasted blazer on and when you are just wearing faded jeans and a pullover that has seen better days.

Being Judged By Appearances

We often judge others at the outset by their physical appearance. Perceptions, however, can be quite deceptive as they are based on our own personal biases. For instance, when meeting someone for the first very time, you will most likely render an ‘opinion’ about him or her based solely on the person’s personal grooming, physical attributes, or the clothes he or she wears within the first few minutes.

Let’s face it, our confidence in partners, friends, and business colleagues are often based initially on subjective experience rather than on objective information. It is only when you get to know the ‘real’ person beyond the facade that your personal opinion changes. You may even have rendered judgments on people without ever having met them. Consider for a moment how you regard media celebrities or even politicians for that matter.

The lesson here is this: with very little objective information to go on at the outset, visual impressions ARE our initial criterion for rendering personal judgments on any individual.

If this is the case, what should we do about it?

Be Confident

People do appear confident and attract attention if they dress for success and are impeccably groomed.  They move about the room with a spirited gait, survey their surroundings with bright-eyed curiosity, and speak in a voice that is warm and engaging. These people easily stand out in a crowd.

First impressions really do count. Why else would successful organizations put well-dressed, enthusiastic, and sharp persons on their reception desks? All the money spent on corporate branding and clever advertising would go down the drain if a prospective client’s first encounter with these companies were with a bedraggled, nondescript person! Just as people generally avoid doing business with organizations that radiate a flat and lifeless image, they also tend to shy away from individuals who do not give off favorable first impressions.

So what impression do you create when you meet someone for the first time?

Dress for Success

The key to dressing for success is to find a style that works for you and the way you live your life. If needed, find out what type of wardrobe suits you best by engaging the services of a personal image consultant, conferring with style-savvy friends, or catching up with the latest fashion trends through magazines. The key here is tasteful simplicity.

Purchase outfits that fit the shape of your body as it is right now – today – not some future image of yourself. Choose clothes that accentuate your best features and minimize those that are less flattering. Pick classic styles with clean, simple lines that flatter your body rather than fight it. Find out which palette is best for your skin color and stick to a restrictive range of colors that highlight your best features.

Shop Smart

Choosing comfortable clothes that attract success isn’t very difficult once you know what suits you best, and you don’t need to spend large amounts to upgrade your wardrobe. Here are some useful tips to ensure smart wardrobe shopping:

1. Buy outfits in a size that fits you well rather than clothes you pray you can only get into after slimming down.

• Begin wearing clothes that are tailor-fitted to hug the contours of your own body. You only need one or two essential pieces, which can then be accessorized and matched with your other clothes so the cost remains low and reasonable.

2. Consider your body type:

• For rectangular-shaped bodies, sharply tailored jackets like double-breasted blazers that do not fit too tightly are best. Do not affix eye-catching details at your jacket’s widest point.
• If you have an apple-shape figure, avoid a very structured look because this will not complement the curves of your body. Less well-shaped designs with shawl collars in soft fabrics like cotton or linen are best for this body type.
• To balance a pear-shaped body, it is necessary to draw attention towards the top half of the body and away from the bottom half. Jackets in vibrant colors with busy patterns or detailed and intricate necklines can achieve this effect. For a flattering look, pair attention-grabbing jackets with darker colored trousers or skirts. Stay away from long jackets that clasp the hips and short jackets that end at the waist, as these tend to make the lower half of your body look even larger. Jackets that end slightly below the hips are more suited for pear-shaped figures because they tend to diminish the hips.
• If you have a long body, go for jackets that give the illusion of raising your waistline and shortening your midsection. Good jacket choices include those trimmed with wraps or belts or jackets with horizontally striped patterns.

3. Resist the urge to buy clothes when rushed for time. Shop for clothes only when you have the time to experiment and refine your choices.

4. Invest your money in the clothing you would most likely wear the most. If you are not a serious partygoer, you will be much better off spending your money on coats and shirts rather than evening apparel.

5. Good quality coats, bags, and shoes are the best approach to looking great. The rest can be simple.

• It is easier to mix and match solids than prints. Prints however, may be used to bridge the gap between two completely different solid colors.
• Classic styles with clean, simple lines are best.

6. Invest in smart accessories including belts, watches, ties/scarves, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc.

• Necklaces can enhance the look of your shirt, sweater, or dress by adding color, brightness, and beauty. You can even make your neck and upper body appear thinner with the right necklace. For example, if you have a solid colored shirt or dress with a rounded neckline, wear a necklace of medium length that hangs in a V-shape. The V-shape will make you the neckline appear narrow and will draw attention away from the arms and shoulders.
• When dressing for work, use smart accessories to dress for success. However, make sure your work-related jewelry doesn’t get in the way. For example, rings that are very large or pointy might be a hindrance if you work with your hands often. Choose jewelry for work that is both sensible and fashionable.

7. Check your existing wardrobe before you go shopping for clothes so you can fill in the gaps rather than resort to impulse buying and purchase more of what you already have.

Do try these tips on how to dress for success and let me know how they work out for you. Do you know of other tips on how to dress for success? Let me know! I would love to hear from you.

We often like to define first what we are aiming for at the onset of any activity – the so-called anticipated result of our actions – so the purpose is clear in our minds. Once a goal is set, we can devise action plans, determine the time required to achieve the objective, and decide what resources are needed to bring about the desired end. With the basics in place, we then go about doing the actual work while we monitor our progress against the plan we put into place.

“Easy! Nothing complicated about it!” you might say.

The problem is, if goal setting were as easy as following the prescribed outline found in many personality development books, why do you often find yourself abandoning your goals midstream?

Let me tell you.

The problem lies in the way we define and subsequently treat our goals!

Let me explain.

All too often, we fail to break down our lofty personal goals into more manageable tasks or, conversely, account for what our action plan can actually deliver.

For instance, if your goal were to lose 30 pounds in 5 months – a classic example to illustrate this point – how would you go about achieving this?

If we were to break down this goal into its component parts, this would mean a weight loss of 1.5 lbs during your very first week, right?

Big mistake!

During your first week, in all likelihood, you will be preoccupied with the basics, like:

• purchasing an accurate weighing scale, if you don’t have one yet, so you can regularly monitor your weight
• consulting a doctor or personal trainer to help you assess which exercise regimen is best for you
• acquiring the exercise gear you need
• mapping out your jogging/walking route or enrolling in a gym
• researching which diet plan to follow
• ridding your household of those tempting treats still found in your pantry or refrigerator

Before you know it, the first week is over and you are NOT 1.5 lbs lighter!

Worse yet, after realizing you have failed at the outset and discouragement sets in, you begin to wallow in misery. You look at your plan in disdain and begin to seriously have doubts. You know very well how this story will end, don’t you?

Goal setting done the right way CAN help you achieve what you set out to do. Just be mindful of the following goal setting tips when formulating your own goals:

1. Be Honest

Using the SMART principle (specific, attainable, realistic, time-bound), define your goals truthfully. If you are not the type who responds well to stretched goals, then be more conservative in your approach!

2. Think Things Through

Define your goals clearly. What do you need by way of resources? What steps do you need to take to achieve your objectives? How long should each task take? How would you be able to tell if adjustments are needed?

3. See in Your Mind’s Eye How Your Plan will Progress

Carefully scrutinize you action plan and see  how this will affect your quantifiable targets. Be mindful of what your action plan can actually deliver and set your goals accordingly. Conversely, make sure your action plan can deliver the desired result.

4. Do the Work

Goals are met only when you do the work required work to achieve them. Wishful thinking or divine intervention won’t help you here, so don’t expect something to happen when you haven’t done anything!

5. Be Flexible

Account for the unexpected. Circumstances change. Be ready to tweak your goals if the situation calls for it but never lose sight of your goals’ underlying essence.

6. Reward Yourself

Pat yourself on the back for a job well done! As you come closer to achieving your goal, celebrate each milestone achieved!

Do you know of other goal setting tips? I would love to hear from you! Just leave me a note and let me know.

If you like to keep up with all the tips I offer on personality development, managing time, and increasing productivity, sign up for my RSS feed or follow me on Twitter! I also offer a free time management course on www.managemytimenow.com!

However, after I had quashed the irritation and anxiety that welled up within me, I realized that the main reason behind these failures was my very own belief system. Because I second guessed myself at every turn and became overly critical of every decision I made, I set myself up for failure from the very beginning.

There are three self-defeating thoughts I regularly grapple with in my battles with failure:

1. “I do not know what to do!”

When confronted with a situation I had not encountered previously, my immediate reaction was to panic! I then quickly found comfort in my ‘tried and tested’ solutions, justifying this instinctive act with the thought, “If it worked in the past, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t now.”

“What’s wrong with that . . .,” you might ask. Well, because I didn’t trust myself, I ignored other solutions that, perhaps, were more feasible, fearing I lacked the knowledge and skill to implement them effectively. I deliberately overlooked certain facts, opting instead to force my stock remedy on the issue at hand. Guess how this ended!

Skill and knowledge come with time and practice. You should never be afraid to explore the unknown. Knowledge and wisdom are acquired through experience. Skills are honed if you put your mind and heart into refining your craft daily. Do not let your fear of the unknown smother your chances of arriving at a better solution. Do your best to cover all bases with solid research. Whatever the outcome, use it as an opportunity to learn. This is the only way you can overcome your own self-doubt.

2. “I am not good enough.”

All too often in the past, whenever I came to a crossroad, I would take the more beaten path because I mistakenly perceived life to be a numbers game. There was safety in numbers, or so I thought, until I chanced upon a documentary featuring stampeding cows blindly following other cows off a cliff!

We are all unique in every respect. No matter what others may say, you ARE good enough and are capable of achieving great things if you believe it to be so. On the other hand, you WILL fail if you think you will. This is perhaps the main cause why people fail.

Be well grounded. Know who you are. Believe in yourself. Winning or being ‘good enough’ comes from within, not from mobs or naysayers.

3. “I am afraid of failure.”

I became petrified with the mere thought of failing at something in the past. As such, I would only act if the outcome were a sure thing. The problem was, recognition, wealth, and praise went to those who took risks and had the battle scars to prove it! I therefore relegated myself to a life blighted with monotony and mediocrity.

The glaring truth is you have not failed until you tried and lost. How would you value victory if you have not even tasted defeat?

Never be fearful of failure. This is yet another reason why people fail in life. If the history of our world is to be the illuminating factor, failure actually means progress! History is replete with men and women who conquered the world DESPITE experiencing failure countless times at some point in their lives.

If you encounter these same thoughts as you tackle your own daily challenges, the key to success is within you. Dig deep and muster the strength to look at yourself in a different light. You already have what it takes to become successful! All you need to do is shift gears. As Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote in his book The Little Prince, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

If you like to keep up with all the tips I offer on personality development, saving time, and increasing productivity, sign up for my RSS feed or follow me on Twitter! I also offer a free time management course on www.managemytimenow.com!

And here’s where you can download your free copy.

Go ahead, give it a shot and let me know what you think.

I’m sure you have noticed how infrequent my blog posts have been and my failed attempts to get back to blog posting and business duties over the last year and half.

And of course the lack of any new products and the lack of emails from me.

So what exactly is the reason? Am I shutting down this website? I thought about it to be honest and I did accidentally did let my other domain expire and I lost a lot of money because of that…Oops! But you can probably tell from that this wasn’t about money at all. It was something deeper..

In simple words here’s what happened to me. I lost my drive. Yes I know I talk about productivity and chasing your goals and I honestly tried convincing myself to get back…but none of those really helped me. It wasn’t that I didn’t have goals…in fact, I did. I thought about my business almost every day but I just never showed up!

Here’s why:

You see, I had lost my intrinsic motivation. I did sit down and create a couple products. You just never heard of them. I sat down and revised my strategic and marketing plans, changed things here and there but something just didn’t feel right.

And it took me a long while to realize what was going on. I thought it was a “phase” so I waited patiently for my intrinsic motivation to come back because I knew it wasn’t a lack of time, goals, plans, action lists or some “push”. It was a matter of losing that inner motivation that makes you jump out of bed in the morning, excited and ready to do something wonderful.

So what exactly was wrong with me? Here’s the scoop

I was going through something of a conflict between my original vision for my business and what I thought I needed to do to reach my business goals. You see, I began reading all about business growth and such and got really uncomfortable about some of the things I was learning like focusing more on aggressive selling and money being the most important thing in business.

You see, I was learning things that contradicted with my vision and being told that that was the only way to grow my vision.

Phew, that’s a tough one to handle. So I had two choices there, I could grow my business and lose my vision or stay where I was.

Can you guess which one I chose? Yes, I decided to stay and not grow my business (which is why the products I created never saw the light of the day because I was scared of losing something more fundamental…my values if I had to sell them aggressively)

Did my turmoil end there?

Unfortunately it didn’t. There was another side of me who wanted to see her dreams grow and her business grow. Trust me, I did everything in power to silence this one!

So why exactly did I decide to come back?

You see, I had almost given up on my dream to protect my values but I was unhappy because I wasn’t working on my vision. And so I kept tossing and turning and trying to get back…

It took me a good year and a half to realize that I could still work on my vision and keep my values.

How?

Well, I have decided to take the road least taken so to speak. You see, so many businesses fall into this trap of maximizing growth and so on that they completely forget about their vision and their customers.

I have decided that I’m going to take a different approach and first focus on my customers and my business. Yes, my business will probably grow at a slower rate than if I were to use an aggressive “Screw everything but the money” strategy but I will be happy!

So here’s the moral of the story:

1. If you ever have to choose between short term success and your vision and values. Choose your vision and your values. Your vision and your values fuel your desire to achieve your goals and affect your happiness.

2. Sometimes its better to step back, think and do the right thing than doing something (that you don’t believe in) just for the sake of doing something. I know I’d have a really rough time forgiving myself if I had ever gone down the road of just focusing on the money.

So folks, there you go..that’s my year and a half in a page and a half

I’m very excited to be back and I look forward to a wonderful journey ahead.

Here’s how it works:

Just go to http://www.getyoursuccessnow.com from your mobile phone and the site should be able to take care of the rest.

I’ve tested it with a blackberry and it looks amazing (if I do say so myself), let me know how it works on your phone.

P.S. I’d love it if you could check out the website from your phone and let me know how it looks. Just hit the comment button below or catch me on twitter.

The meaning of Kaizen

Kaizen doesn’t just mean improvement. It refers to continuous small scale improvement. And, here’s why it works: it’s small and it’s continuous.

Breaking the improvement process into small parts helps keep us focused while the continuous part ensures consistency.

Here’s some other benefits of Kaizen:

• Since you keep your goals small, you are less likely to get overwhelmed
• It reduces frustration and stress
• Helps you focus on improving a process rather than just an end result
• Keeps you committed to your goals since you’re working on it everyday.
• It takes the pressure off because you don’t have to get it perfect right away

Here’s some little things you can start changing with Kaizen:

1. Try changing one little thing everyday with respect to your attitude – listen more than you speak, focus on others, try to think positive. Just one little step, one day at a time.
2. Try owning up to your mistakes. Say sorry when you make a little mistake
3. Try forgiving someone
4. Improve some part of your business/career – maybe pick up a new hobby
5. Learn something new
6. Let go of drama and excuses

You can apply Kaizen to almost any aspect of life. And, the beautiful thing is there is no pressure or guilt involved. When you get sidetracked or don’t achieve what you want, just get up and tell yourself “I get another chance at it tomorrow”.

Now for the final part..

41. Family first -  Of course, Business success is important but that alone cannot make anyone happy. Relationships and family tend to be more important than business success when it comes to happiness. It’s important to keep that in perspective when you bury yourself under paperwork and business planning.

42. Schedule time with your family/friends - We know the importance of planning our tasks at work but when it comes to our family and friends we like to  think that good things will just happen. That never works and creates frustration. So while you’re sorting everything else out remember to think about spending time with your family and friends. Treat it just like a business project and put aside time for it. Just remember this one is probably the most important project on your list.

43. Marketing, marketing, marketing - It doesn’t matter how good your product it, with poor marketing, it’s going to get very difficult. You don’t have to become a marketing whiz but try to become very good at it. It pays for everything else.

44. Keep customers -Your customers keep the business running. And that’s exactly why you need to learn to keep them happy. Keep customers happy and willing to buy from you over and over again.

45. No news is bad news – Follow up with your customers, see how they’re doing and see if you can fix anything up for them. Listen, the average person is not going to call up your business to complain about something minor, they’ll just make a mental note to never do business with you. Following up gives you the opportunity to learn what’s bothering your customers, fix it for them and keep them happy.

46. Build a network – Doing business alone is well lonely. Build a network and use that network. You can use your network to learn about new markets, new marketing strategies, bouncing ideas and for support.

47. 80/20 rule – The 80/20 rule is a famous principle when it comes to business and marketing. Basically, it means that 80% of your income is going to come from 20% of the things you do. Or, 80% of the things you do are only generating 20% of your income. The way to use this rule is to find out what the most important 20% of the tasks that bring you the money are and do them a lot.

48.Learn, Learn, Learn – Put some time aside to learn and discover new things related to your business. I know a lot of people absolutely hate doing this and that’s exactly why this is so important. It will become your competitive edge before you know it.

49. Hire a mentor/coach – There’s working hard and then there’s working smart. I think you need both of them in business. Working hard comes from knowing your market inside out and going the extra mile to keep customers happy. The working smart part comes from working with a coach who can point you in the right direction.

50. Be yourself – It’s your business, you didn’t start it to just follow someone else. Let your personality and uniqueness shine in business. It’s your business, you call the shots.

Alright that’s it from me. Any tips you’d like to share? Let me know in the comment box below!

1. When you sleep – Those 10% discount offers or the “Ok boss, I am working on this project” emails aren’t important enough to sacrifice your sleep for. Turn your phone off  before you go to sleep. Don’t leave it on vibrate because that can still disrupt your sleep. I know I can never sleep soundly when my phone is on vibrate.

Power tip: try turning your phone off an hour before you go to bed so you get to do your daily review/journal/bed time stories/meditation etc without any disruptions. Try it for 7 days, you’ll find yourself a much happier person.

2. Brainstorming - Good brainstorming requires undivided attention. Turn your phone off.

3. Important Projects – Now, I know most of us use our phones for work but I’d like to introduce you to a very powerful concept. It’s called voice mail. Let your voice mail take your calls while you’re working on important projects. This will improve your focus and allow you to get more done in less time and produce better quality results. You can always review your emails and phone calls and return them later.

4. Client meetings etc – This is an extreme example but I’ve had a business owner try to sell me stuff and then excuse themselves to take a call. I understand if their building is on fire or if they need to get some additional information for me but other than that, it’s just plain rude. When you are with a client, that client deserves your full attention.

Power tip: I know most of us don’t answer calls during client meetings but avoid glancing at your phone to quickly read emails or text messages either. Be present in the meeting. It forms a better connection with people and that usually helps with sales.

5. Movies, Lunch, Dates – Avoid taking calls or answering text messages when you’re out with friends and family. This is important not only because it lets you detach and destress but also because it’s a good way of maintaining relationships with your friends and families. There aren’t a lot of people who like to listen to you talking on the phone about the new pair of shoes you bought while you’re supposed to be having lunch or hanging out with them.

Power tip – If you catch yourself texting/emailing in the middle of a movie, lunch or date just put it down and apologize. A lot of us are addicted to our phones so as long as you’re honest and actually mean it when you say sorry, you could earn extra points just for trying to be polite.

Anything else? Ever been caught using your smart phone in the middle of something else? Have a pet peeve about people using their phones at certain times? Just hit the comment button below.

Here’s some of the main things you want to consider or jot down (for later reference) if you’re starting a new business. These are some of the mistakes I’ve made and some of the lessons I’ve learned the hard way. They’re here so you can learn from them and avoid making the same mistakes that I did. Instead, go out and make different mistakes and let me know about them

Read part 1 here

21. Mistakes are a good thing: The more mistakes you make, the more you will learn so stop running away from mistakes and put yourself out there. Don’t let your ego get in the way of your profit. There, I said it. You can hate me for being blunt but it’s true.

22. Take Breaks: I am someone who can focus pretty well which means I rarely take breaks in the middle of a project. I have learned the hard way though that breaks are super important and you will eventually crash at some point if you don’t take breaks. If you’re very focused like me, try breaking your projects into phases and take a day or two off after each phase.  You’ll come back with a lot more new ideas.

23. Take notes: I honestly think you shouldn’t be anywhere without a little notebook and a pen or your blackberry (or some other smartphone). Be ready to take notes anywhere. Your million dollar idea is more likely to hit you when you’re in the middle of something unrelated like grocery shopping rather than when you’re in your boardroom brainstorming. Learn more about the importance of notetaking and how to take good notes here

24. Learn how to be a good employer: Being an employer is harder than we thought (oops!). It requires a LOT of self discipline, accountability and organization – that’s if you ever want to have employees who produce good results.

25. Hire Help: I don’t care how small you are, start hiring others to help you out as soon as you have the resources to do that. You’ll learn A LOT.

26. Hire temporarily with probationary periods: Never never never sign a contract that makes it hard for you to fire anyone. Always keep a good margin between profits and salary paid. That is don’t spend all your earnings paying salaries only. It may sound funny but this is one of the biggest challenges small business owners face.

27. Be honest, learn how to fire: Learning how to fire someone isn’t easy but if someone is ruining the company culture or the working environment, consistently being late for deadlines, not pulling their fair share you have no choice. Firing the wrong employee is one of the best gifts you can give to your business. I know it’s not easy, I struggle a lot with it even when my teams are all virtual so I shouldn’t have that big a problem since I don’t seem them everyday right? Not really.

28. Look into Outsourcing: Outsourcing is very cost effective and can save you tons of time and money. You can find high quality virtual assistants for a fraction of the cost of hiring an assistant locally.

29. Know Your Numbers: Learn how to track your money. It’s not as hard as it sounds and you can use a software like  Quickbooks or Moneydance. I personally find Quickbooks a bit complicated because I don’t have a finance background plus I have other softwares to tell me all my sales numbers automatically. Moneydance is a pretty good software, costs a lot less than Quickbooks and is much easier to learn. I use that one for tracking both my business and personal accounts.

30. Take Your Cut: Once your business starts making profit, you want to start taking a cut. Pay yourself a salary. If you aren’t in that position yet, pay yourself a small bonus amount every month. It will make you feel better and make you feel like you’re actually getting something out of your business instead of just having to put something in all the time. One of the best meals I’ve had in my life was a sub that I treated myself to for being a great part of “Get Your Success Now”. It cost the company a whole $5.95 but got a happy executive. That was the first cut I’d taken after spending thousands of dollars on the business. It honestly make you feel great.

31. Get a Business Account: This should be the first law of business and yet most small business owners don’t have a separate business account. Honestly, a business account doesn’t cost that much. Go to your bank and get the account that makes sense to you. It’s almost impossible to keep track of your money if you don’t. You know 90% of the small businesses fail in the first 5 years right? (that’s according to a research done in the States) You want to stack the odds in your favor and this one’s a biggie.

32. Learn about stress management: I think this one should be done as soon as you decide to start a business or learn about business. Drop everything and learn how to manage stress. And no, you cannot run it on the go.

33. Learn about time management: This is the second thing you should do right after you open a business account. Your time is your most valuable asset and poor time management leads you directly into a high stress zone.

34. Your Business should not be your job: Can your business make you money without you working? That’s question number one you should ask yourself and be able to answer positively. Try working on it everyday till you get to that point.

35. Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket: I think it’s always a good idea to have multiple sources of income. So, take some money out of what your business has made you and invest it in whatever you feel strongly about. (just research first). Not all your earnings need to be invested into your business.

36. Put yourself out there: It’s so easy to hide these days. You can run a business and never see your clients ever. But tell you what? You are not going to build relationships with your clients if you hide and you better build relationships with them if you want to make money on the backend. Pick up the phone and call your customers sometime or send them a personal email once in a while.

37. Pick your opportunities: There’s way more opportunities out there than you can act on.  Pick the best and leave the rest.

38. Create a decision making system: Making decisions can get tricky at times but if you are running a business you need to learn how to think on your feet. Ok, not all decisions have to be quick. I know I’m quite slow at making any major decision but some decisions like what stapler to buy doesn’t need to take an hour. Adopt a 60 second decision making rule for small things like these.

39. Review Your Position every week: Check up on how you’re doing with respect to your goals every week. It will help you stay focused.

40. Create a weekly action list: Once you’ve reviewed where you are, create a list of things you can do over the coming week to get closer to your goals and implement them!

41. Oops that’s part of part 3. Read it here