How and when to decide your career change??

Are you still happy with your job?? Do you wake up with the same energy and passion as everyday as you use to before? If no, then believe me my friend it’s time for you to think about a change.

Now how do you decide a career change?? Is this question bothering you as well??  If so, then don’t worry I have listed down some of the things you should consider before deciding to make a change.

  1.  Under-utilization of my skills

You’ve been performing your best in all the tough projects assigned, but the management has not been acknowledging your input. They are currently under-estimating your abilities hence leading to a failure of your attempts to repeatedly work on time consuming and demanding projects. But be alarmed, don’t ever try get rid of such projects, as they are to your benefit, keep a record of all the references you work with on these projects.

  2.  It’s not your passion

Is the job making you feel losing your passion to work? Is it looking more like a duty you just want to get rid of? Then, it’s the end my friend. Stop wasting your time doing the same thing that has lost its charm. It’s not more what you loved doing. And if you keep doing what you don’t love, what’s not your passion; believe you me you’ll never end up tapping your true potential in it. It’s the time for a change.

3.  Boss has started behaving more bossy

Are the things turning un-bearable? Has your boss all of a sudden started behaving with you in a more bossy attitude, is he scolding you all the time? Blaming you for what you were not responsible? Or has he been ignoring your efforts? Whatever the reason concerned is and you feel it’s something valuable than get indulge in searching a new job for yourself. But be careful don’t jump into the fire from the frying pan.

4.  Company is more like a sinking ship

Due to any past events you don’t see a bright future of your company anymore, than plan your strategy. Coming right to the point, it’s your duty, if you think not as an employee than at least as a human being, to lead a helping hand to someone you see drowning. Try your best to help out your company overcome all its obstacles, but if you fail don’t waste time search for jobs that will suit your criteria.

5.  You feel you have more to contribute elsewhere

You have been working on several different assignments and gaining experience and now you feel that you are able to tackle different sort of projects demanding greater effort and skills but the management is not realizing the worth of your potential. If such an event occurs than the best way out is to try and exploit any other opportunity that fulfills your needs.

Time to Quit your Job…

At some point in time you might get feel something, something that’s just not what you wanted…the feeling that’s stopping you from continuing with just what you are doing. Your job has not remained interesting for you anymore.

At a point or another, it might be possible that we all get to pass through such a stage in our life but will we be able to make a right decision?? What factors should we value before getting ahead with our choice?

In the following extract you’ll find certain reasons to consider before making your decision to quit your job: -

1. Nightmares about work: are you spending most of your free time thinking about your work?? If yes than it’s not different from spending hours at your office and not getting paid for it.  This is one of the signs for deciding to change your job.

2. Management issues: believe you me it’s time to mail shot your resumes to some other places and advance for a change if the management of your current job has been getting worse. If you are facing problems with your management crew than proceeding along with the issues is not going to solve your problem, you definitely need to work out a better solution.

3. Your company no longer fosters your growth: you are currently working with a company that’s not providing you with opportunities to learn new experiences to deal with your problems, advance in your career or is just limiting your growth. Than what’s the point in staying with a company that does not train you. Stock internet for some relevant employers that might help you overcomes your problem.

4. You might have realized your hidden talent: in course of working with your current employer you might have realized your hidden talent that you think you can utilize somewhere more efficiently and effectively. When an event like this happens than utilize the opportunity don’t let go your talent as a waste.

5. Affected your appearance: is your current job making you feel depressed day by day? Is it making you fear about the workload you might have to deal with the next day you wake up? And all this is making you compromise your health…you have started getting bags under your eyes or you might have been gaining or losing your weight due to all this stress. Than its better to look another job.

6. Boredom: when seconds begin to feel like minutes and minutes feel like hours…it’s getting difficult for you to pass your time working effectively. Everything is making you feel lazy and less involved in your job than try out something new to work with.

7. Got any better plans: if you think you have planned something better than your current working conditions than it will definitely be beneficial if you proceed with your plan.

8. Something else better satisfies your goals: during your current job you might have come across a job that you think will better serve your goals. It’s usually said that if you work where your goals are satisfied you are able to be more a productive member for your organization as well.

Resume Building Tips

Here you’ll find the top ten resume writing tips that will ensure your resume has all the necessary elements fulfilling the basic criteria of it. Plus I have organized the tips in the most simplified way that will, I hope, aid in remembering.

1.     Get organized

Calm down. Stop being so over excited about writing your resume. Seriously, it will not help. What would actually help you out is planning your output. You need to stock your resume with a sort of vocabulary that has the power to show what you are. Get some research done on your part to prove yourself for the relevant post.

2.    Get your reader known

Write a resume after knowing who will be your audience. Obviously you are applying for a particular post and your resume is definitely going be read by some responsible for the task such as a recruiter, a HR manager or may be your interviewer. Don’t hesitate in describing your personality but be sure that you are precise in your talking. Indulge yourself with the responsibility to reduce the workload of your recruiter by writing an attractive and interest maintaining resume.

3.    Be clear in your saying but concise.

Recruiters are the busiest people; they can’t afford spending their time on reading all your lengthy resumes in detail. Hence it would be better if you make yourself clear by your wording but make sure you don’t end up writing stories. Remember you just need to: -

i)     Write brief sentences outlining your capabilities effectively.

ii)   Use bullet points, to ensure the reader gets all the important knowledge just by glancing through your resume.

iii) Avoid repetition of your skills.

4.    Make your words sound active

Try using active form of verb rather than being passive in your saying. A reader’s interest will be maintained throughout your resume if he will be revealing something exciting about you as he precedes further inside. Make your words powerful enough, that they are able to maintain reader’s curiosity.

5.    Don’t forget the quantitative details.

Make your time worth spending on writing a resume. Try mentioning out your accomplishments in as much quantitative details as possible. It has several benefits, but the most important one is that it will clearly show your reader what you had consummated.

6.    Use white space

Don’t get all your points listed in your resume in way ending up a great mess. If you seriously aim for an interview than please it’s a request that stop being greedy, leaving some space between your points wont tax you much. Be kind to the reader. Think of his workload and responsibility….manage your resume for him so that he is able to get across it quickly.

7.    Be careful of your resume size

Hope you haven’t planned out any stories to be written in your resume. Sorry, but it’s not a story writing competition, why you wasting time both of your own as well as of the reader. Quickly make your skills listed preferably on a page or two.

8.    Are you using the right format

There are three basic formats in which resumes are mostly written, namely: -

a)    Functional

b)   Chronological

c)    Combination

Make use of the format that best suits the requirements of the job.

9.    End up writing a tremendous resume

Ensure, you have followed all the tips mentioned. Hope you have ended writing a resume that best fits the criteria of your job description.

10. Get a second opinion

Before making your resume reach the desk of your employer, make anyone cross check your resume for a finer processing of unseen mistakes that you might not have been able to identify.

Essentials of Project Management

Project management is the process of organizing the components or elements of a project in a certain way to achieve the desired outcome. Project can refer to anything ranging from a plan to introduce a new service to organizing an event such as planning a wedding.

A project should not be what always is linked to a formal business environment; it can be at time of an informal nature as well. All it needs to have is a beginning and an end.

To achieve a desired set of targets a particular project sets, it requires use of certain resources such as; capital, people, time, materials etc.

Project management can be enhanced if conducted in the following pattern:-

1. Defining the project
2. Planning the project
3. Executing the project
4. Controlling
5. Closure

All the elements are explained in detail below;

DEFINING THE PROJECT

This is the initial stage of effective project management. Here the person in charge for the project’s responsibility plans and defines clearly that what the project is and what it hopes to achieve in the near future. The project at this stage of management process is analyzed in dept to predict the likely outcomes of each substitute option if available. For example a manager of investment centre will analyze the different options of investment projects available to him by calculating the return on capital employed and various other ratios.

PLANNING THE PROJECT

This is the second phase of project management. It involves listing all activities and tasks. How are they related to one another, how each task is tied to a specific deadline etc. by developing relations between the activities helps management in planning the time consumption. Plus it also benefits in forecasting the maximum amount of delay that can be accepted in each task to complete the whole project in time.

Defining the requirements is also an essential component of this phase. All the relevant costs that will be incurred are budgeted and pre-defined so that future cash flows of an organization are managed accordingly. For example cost of usage of resources i.e. material, labor hours etc are calculated leading to appropriate calculations of profits.

EXECUTING THE PROJECT

Third phase of project management involves an action plan. Here the manager’s responsibility involves building a project team by grouping people with relevant skills. Here the manager has complete knowledge of the requirements of the project i.e. quantity of workers. At this stage a manager retains control over the workings of the project.

CONTROLLING THE PROJECT

When a project is being performed actual performance of the workers can be matched with the budgeted and variances calculated. Actual performance can be controlled with the application of certain factors to make it work parallel with the budgeted. This phase of project management helps a manager plan effectively by analyzing the quantity of time required for the completion of project fully.

CLOSURE OF THE PROJECT

This is almost the final stage of project management. Here the manager has the responsibility of gathering all the relevant stakeholders to the project and disseminate the information regarding the outcome from the project amongst them.

TIME, MONEY AND SCOPE

These are usually the three interrelated variables considered as an important resource for a project as an input. Change in any one of them may lead to alterations in the other two. For example if the time to complete a particular project is reduced that will directly affect the scope( what can be included in the project) as well as on money; because reducing the time availability may lead to incurring of greater costs such as automating the process, hiring more labor to achieve the desired objectives.

Things to value before deciding the right job for yourself

Finally you are done with your studies. You might have planned something before advancing for your professional life, any ideas, and any goals or might be some jot down points your elders might have told you as important for your career.

But to make the right choice for your job is not an easy to do task. You seriously need to buckle up and get preparing for your future ahead. To be successful in selecting the right career path you need to consider certain valuable things that will definitely help you making the right decision.

Here in the following extract you’ll find some useful information regarding this issue of job selection. We hope you’ll find the following points relevant considering before making your decision to proceed further with your job;

According to your qualifications:

Make sure you decide a job to which you’ll be able to accomplish all its requirements. Avoid choosing demanding jobs that require extraordinary skills and qualifications for their achievement. This will help you in making the right decision for your job selection process as you’ll target a job that will suit your capabilities.

Financial considerations:

Second thing that should target your consideration is salary being offered by a relevant role. If you are highly qualified and have relevant amount of experience for a job but you are being offered a low wage rate than it’s not worth working for it. As that job will not be able to satisfy your needs and as a result might lead to a more de-motivated you.

Structure of the organization:

This is one of the aspect, that is usually least valued by candidates applying for a relevant role but it really does matter. Just think if you’re unaware about the type of structure of an organization you are applying for and after joining that role you get to know you have gotten caught in a really rigid structure that limits growth of its employees, you might feel trapped. Therefore to avoid wasting your time get searching about the kind of structure an organization to which you are thinking to join is based on.

Fulfilling your basic needs:

Have you found a job that fulfills your basic necessities …would it be able to provide you enough money to afford food, shelter etc for you and your family. If yes than what are you waiting for, quickly get joining the role.

Relationships:

Relation between an employee and an employer is the most important factor for the success of a job. If want to ensure your chances of brighter future than join a job where you develop a good relationship with your employer.

Work/life balance: 

Lastly make sure that the relevant job is not going to disturb your personal life. Ensure you join a job that’s not a burden rather it’s what you can easily get managed. By verifying that your job is such that it helps you maintain a balance between your work and life will prove to be worth joining.

As I elaborated earlier, every leader can be a manager, but not every manager can be a leader; the same case exists here. Leadership can exist in the management level of the hierarchy, but not every manger is involved to lead. It can be made simple by supposing that you are working as a manager in a big organization. All the management has to do is to inspect and report. Until, a leader came in as a manager and started taking decisions. Good or bad, he changed the duties of the management level and now this level of the hierarchical structure also possesses decision-making power. Just like in a movie; all is going normal until the hero comes and starts gaining influence and power until the whole system is finally taken-over. We are not going to take things to such a degree, as it is not usually the case on the management level.

In this section, we are going to discuss how can managers be leaders and what is it that takes a manager to be a leader?

How can a manager be a leader?

Management leadership was once quite simple, leadership was seen as a trait few had and few could develop. You either had it or you didn’t, if you had it, you didn’t share it and leaders were given respect more than an equally capable man who was a follower. However, this was the classical approach which has been challenged by many capable business theorists in the past which and has been classified as a wrong belief in today’s modern world where one can even change his/her face. If you are a manager who is bored of sitting behind the same desk for 20 years and now you want to be a leader, than there is no force in the world that can stop you from doing so, if…you are willing to learn! Just like in the cover picture, you can be the main engine of your organization (train). You can be the main driving force of all the people, qualified or unqualified, around you only if you keep a couple of points in mind that are the lifeline of a leader in my point of view.

1) Be the guard of all the knowledge and information to be shared

A leader, by all means sees to it that irrelevant information does not reach useless ears. It is the leader who is to make sure that no valuable information gets leaked, not even in the form of rumours. Just like in the army, the general lays all the plans and everyone puts them to reality. The general has to make sure that nothing reaches the enemy to ensure success for his people. One may question, what to do if the leader gets to know about a traitor who may possibly leak all the information to the competitors? Well, in this case, it usually depends upon the level of information being leaked. If nothing important has yet reached enemy’s ears, the plans may not need to be remade. However, the traitor is no longer to be thought of as family. Groups are never made for an individual; they are made for the general interest of all the people involved.

2) Promote effectiveness, efficiency and motivation

A leader is the one who is always ready to do what possibly seems enchanting. If the leader thinks it’s best to make up teams to complete a task, he should announce it without looking back and encourage others to be important team members. One major force that separates leaders from managers is the high motivation levels found in them. The energy and power at which a leader may perform is usually not the same as in the case of a manager. Leaders need to be active and energetic. If the leadership gets lazy, who will the people follow? Being a leader is not as easy as it sounds, after all. A manager wishing to be one also has to report to the authorities and so should also be looking at the quantity and the quality of the work undertaken other than listening to his/her people. If a manager stopped caring about the firm, he/she simply might lose their job! I guess there would not be any management leadership examples than, would there be?

3) Be a representative of all the majorities and all the minorities

Representing all the people in a group is what differentiates an average individual from a leader. Leaders have long been representing the majorities found in their following therefore ignoring those in minorities. For example, when George W. Bush was president of the United States, it was long argued that the president usually represented and mostly tried to save the rights of his fellow ‘white’ Americans as they represent a huge majority while the African Americans were thought of as being ignored. The argument ended when Barack Obama was elected as President. This ‘Majority’s Authority’ approach is not effective and has not proven to be successful, especially among leaders. A leader should listen to each and every single follower, no matter how many point of views are to be delivered. The people chose you to be their leader, so you have to represent them and fight to protect their rights. At least, that’s what they chose you their leader for. In the case of managers, a leader would listen and respect every single solution, comment and point of view presented by his/her fellow colleagues regardless of the race, religion, class, income, knowledge and experience of the ones presenting it.

4) Stick to your decisions & plans

Adolf Hitler once said, ‘I have only been wrong once in my life, and that was when I thought I was going wrong’, a legendary leader, indeed. Good or bad, that is not the argument here. What I wanted to prove by writing these lines is the level of self-confidence Hitler had. He would go against the world to prove himself once he made a decision, and that’s what shows he was born to be a leader. A leader, who is a manger, should also adopt this approach. If you have made a decision to conduct a strike, so be it; you should be the first one standing out there raising your voice against injustice. If you have made a decision that it is best to go according to the system rather than the people, just don’t look back; for time proves everything. Sooner or later, your people will understand your limitations. Either your decision was good or bad, don’t ever regret it. Experience is the best teacher and experience comes from making mistakes. If you only saw success, what would you know about handling your people in bad times?

Management & Leadership- A general discussion

Management and leadership have long been studied together; many theorists have proven it’s possible that a leader can be a manager. You just need to connect all the dots right to get the correct picture. Management involves looking after the usage of all the limited amount of resources (e.g. labour) available to meet deadlines, targets and long-term goals. Leadership, on the other hand, means is the act of guiding a group of people in the right direction who would be completely lost without you. Management is therefore in the best interests of the system, the organization; that’s why your employer pays you a five-six digit payroll cheque. Leadership is usually to represent the people, the ones following you, to make sure their rights are respected and their voice heard. Both may sound like being the North and the South Poles of a magnet, totally opposite from each other in direction, yet, if both are put together; it would create one of the most powerful forces ever known to mankind.

Leaders being managers is usually beneficial to both the groups; the employers and the employees. As they work like managers, the employers are reassured their interests are not overlooked and the moment they start to lead, it is made sure that rights of employees are not overlooked. Therefore management leadership has helped reduce the gap between both the groups; it helps reduce chances of labour discrimination.

However, just like in the old ‘earth-centred’ view of the universe, in management-centred view of the organisation, managers see themselves as central players. Managers mostly are concerned about respect, image and power. Today, most managers usually want a span of control of 10 hard-working individuals, ready to welcome every delegation. They don’t have the spirit and the vision that takes one to be a leader. The net result is that organisations are over-managed but under-led. Managers consume all their professional lives serving the organizations they work in that they overlook the general interest of their own group; the employees. A typical manager thinks it is best to stay quiet rather than speaking against an unfair dismissal, delayering or a redundancy. After all, he is getting his salary transferred to his bank account every calendar month. The spirit of leadership only wakes up after he himself is treated with such injustice. However, it is of no use then, it is too late already.

Management in today’s modern world

Management has a completely different definition today than it had ten years ago. In today’s highly competitive business environment, everything, and I mean everything, directly depends upon, or somehow is indirectly related to management. In my six years of studying Business in depth, I have mostly read about management. It is the wheel on which the organization proceeds forward. Without the management layer, an organization cannot survive. Even a sole proprietor needs to be a manager although he may not be hiring any employees.

Managers are considered as the most respectable types of professionals after entrepreneurs. Every one wishing to enter the industry now dreams of being in the management for they are some of the highest paid professionals in any type of industry. Managers are the lifeline of any organization. The skills a manager has are rare which, once paired with experience, are invaluable to any business organization. Many managers today are renowned for their countless efforts in bringing the firm they work in to where it stands today. A manager is the one responsible for creating a fair, efficient and a balanced mix of all the limited resources available to a firm. The importance of management to organization is like oxygen to mankind.

In today’s highly competitive industries, enlisting hundreds of firms in a single market, management has successfully dissolved a number of components of leadership in it. With such a pivotal role given to a highly qualified and sufficiently experienced professional, it would not be shocking to see such an authoritarian being the leader too. Microsoft, a highly efficient, creative, successful and a huge IT giant, is facing high levels of profits only because of its marketing management staff. The Chief Executive Officer, Steve Ballmer made it all possible for the mammoth computer producer. Despite being hugely successful under the former legend, Bill Gates, who believed in a product-led approach, Mr. Steve took Microsoft to new limits. He believes that a product would attract the right amount of customers, even more, if the right amount of promotion is done on it. I never said that Microsoft’s products don’t deserve to be revolutionizing the world. Surely, they are of the best quality one might possibly imagine. However, Microsoft is a sales-oriented firm and Steve Ballmer has led it quite successfully with his consumer-producer relation approach. Today, Microsoft has been able to pay back its stakeholders by so much that Mr. Steve is worth a whopping $15 billion!

The concept of management is absorbing a great number of leadership’s genetics. Therefore, today a manager also sees to it that he/she also has some control and some decision-making power rather than just being awarded a huge salary. If you want an experienced manager, the first question you will get from one would definitely be ‘how many subordinates will directly report me?’ i.e. his/her span of control.

Today, it is about gaining influence and working through voluntary co-operation, two of the most important characteristics of a leader. A manager cannot carry his/her duties successfully if he/she does not have a certain influence amongst those concerned. It is nearly impossible for one to motivate the subordinates, if they don’t think of him/her as their leader and don’t feel attracted towards their manager’s persona. All of this discussion may seem a little boring to a student or a new entrant, but once you start your professional life and gain some experience in the relevant field, trust me, you would not like stop studying business management.

A good manager is the one who increases the chances of building people, teams, knowledge and as a result, the whole organization. However, this is a long-term process and requires serious dedication, commitment and loyalty towards your work and your people. Managers create teams to distribute loads of work and increase speed and efficiency. I could fill pages talking about teams but I would simply rail off the topic if I did so. However, a manager is not classified as good or bad by just creating a team; a good manager also takes the team to success. Teams are like toddlers, they will go wherever they find a way. Until and unless there is a strong control and effective decision making authority backing them, teams can never go wrong. A true manager alone is enough to make this decision making authority.

As technology progressed and complex decision support systems were designed; the management layer lost weight. Lesser managers are needed now to take care of the same workloads, even more, due to all the latest facilities provided to them by the organization. Mobile phones and internet has made communication as easy as blinking your eyes. As lesser managers are needed, each could have a totally unmanageable span of control if they tried to ‘manage’ traditionally. The traditional management approach was to be the boss, not the leader. This approach claims to be resulting in a true manager and stated that one should take pure advantage of the position, chair and authority he/she is in. It states that managers are to give orders and impose control. However, the traditional approach was invented way before I was even born and therefore it depended on the conditions and attitudes of the working people back then. Now, management is a lot more than just being an authoritarian.

A leader should have love for knowledge and should adopt flexibility if he/she is to work with today’s ambitious, creative and up-to-date professionals and youth who is the nation’s future. If I was your leader and did not accept any new methods to do a particular task, I would just help gestate the feeling that I am jealous of other, possibly more effective, ideas. Besides being flexible, a leader should be knowledgeable enough that he/she should be the one to give the best solution to a given problem every time. Leadership is something we cannot discuss fully about by reading and writing articles. It involves serious research. Leadership isn’t just about reading these articles and hoping the next morning everyone will feel you are a leader. An individual also requires the Math, the Science, the English, the History, the Geography, the Computer Studies and the Social Studies taught to him/her throughout school and high school to be one. It is a completely different yet a perfect life you want to live. It is not about just giving everything you own to people and get nothing in return. Man can never be interested in something which does not prove to benefit himself. Leaders are the richest people living, ever lived, and surely, to be lived on Earth. You give your people all you have got and they give you all they have. This is what has created this amazing relationship.

Have a look through this article again and again and think about your role at work. What are you doing well? What should you start doing? What should you stop doing? It’s never too late to make even some small changes that will make a huge difference to the way that you lead your staff.

• Get up earlier than your
• Usual time
• Take healthy Breakfast
• Check your portfolio
• Dress up well
• Arrive before at least 20 minutes before
• Observe office environment
• Try to feel relax and comfortable

Checklist

• Know the location
• Interview call letter
• Complete portfolio
• Up dated and error free Resume copy
• Degrees, Experience letters
• References
• Proper dressing
• Professional attitude

Identifying the Key Factors of the Job

Determining the key factors of the position will be the most important step to complete before you can begin to identify the requirements needed to succeed.

This process will require more questioning regarding the need for this position and the prospective of this position in the larger scheme of the company’s goals and objectives.

Following are the key questions to ask:

1. What are the objectives / goals of the company?

2. What are the department and position goals?

3. How does this position support the goals?

4. What would you like to see happen as a result of hiring a new person?

5. What added value do you require this person to bring to the position?

6. What would you like to be able to say about this new hire six month from now?

By writing your answers out you can begin to observe details and objectives that you may not have observed before this exercise and that now can be used as a guide to define the responsibilities of the job.

A Few More Word of Inspiration and Encouragement

“The marvellous richness of human experience, Would lose something of rewarding joy ,If there were no limitations to overcome, The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful, If there were no dark valleys to traverse”.… – ~ Helen Keller ~
“I thank God for my handicaps, For, through them, I have found myself, My work and my God”.… – ~ Helen Keller ~

Achievements

Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.… – Doug Larson

Attitude

The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind.… – William James

Belief

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.… – Anatole France

Change

If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.… – Mary Engelbreit

Challenge

Accept challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.… – George S. Patton

Desire

Plant the seed of desire in your mind and it forms, A nucleus with power to attract to itself, Everything needed for its fulfilment.… – Robert Collier

Poems on Motivation

GOD KNOWS BEST

• This is the beginning of a new day…
• I have been given me this day
• To use as I will
• I can waste it … or use it for good,
• But what I do today is important
• Because I am exchanging
• A day of my life for it!
• When tomorrow comes,
• This day will be gone forever,
• Leaving in its place
• Something that I have traded for it
• I want it to be gain … and not loss;
• Good … and not evil;
• Success … and not failure;
• In order that I shall not regret
• The price that I have paid for it

~ Author Unknown ~

A BEND IN THE ROAD

• If wishes worked like magic,
• And plans worked that way too,
• And everything you wished for,
• Whether good or bad for you,
• Immediately was granted
• With no effort on your part,
• You’d experience no fulfilment
• Of your spirit or your heart

~ Helen Steiner Rice ~

LESSONS OF FAILURE

• Failure does not mean I’m a failure…
• It does mean I have not yet succeeded.
• Failure does not mean I have accomplished nothing…
• It does mean I have learned something.
• Failure does not mean I have been a fool…
• It does mean I had enough faith to experiment.
• Failure does not mean I have disgraced…
• It does mean I have dared to try.
• Failure does not mean I don’t have it…
• It does mean I have something to do in a different way.
• Failure does not mean I am inferior…
• It does mean I am not perfect.
• Failure does not mean I have wasted my life…
• It does mean that I have an excuse to start over.
• Failure does not mean that I should give up…
• It does mean that I should try harder.
• Failure does not mean that I will never make it…
• It does mean that I need more practice.
• Failure does not mean that God has abandoned me…
• It does mean that He must have a better idea!

~ Author Unknown ~

FEARS

• I feared being alone…
• Until I learned to like myself
• I feared people’s opinions…
• Until I learned that people would have opinions about me anyway.
• I feared failure…
• Until I realized that they are only the stepping stones to success.
• I feared rejection…
• Until I learned to have faith in myself
• I feared pain…
• Until I learned that it is necessary for growth.
• I feared the truth…
• Until I saw the ugliness in lies
• I feared life…
• Until I experienced that it depends solely on my attitude.
• I feared death…
• Until I realized that it is only a beginning.
• I feared destiny…
• Until I realized that I had the power to change my life.
• I feared hate…
• Until I saw that it was nothing more than ignorance.
• I feared love…
• Until I realized that I do need the other person to love me back.
• I feared ridicule…
• Until I learned how to laugh at myself
• I feared success…
• Until I learned that it is okay to be the best I can.
• I feared the dark…
• Until I saw the beauty of the stars and moonlight
• I feared light…
• Until I learned that the truth would give me strength.
• I feared growing old…
• Until I realized that I gained the beauty of wisdom every day.
• I feared the past…
• Until I realized that it can only hurt me if I allow it to.
• I feared the future…
• Until I realized that it is only this moment that matters.
• I feared change…
• Until I saw that even the most beautiful butterfly
• Had to undergo a metamorphosis before it could fly

~ Author Unknown ~