My Success Blog

5 Ways To Self-Educate Yourself & Master Any Skill

2013-07-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I’m not the biggest fan of a formal education due to the limitations set forth by most curriculum's. However, there are many great ways to self-educate yourself to learn any skill that might not necessarily be taught in a classroom.

Over the last few years, I have mastered many skills and learned hundreds of things through self-education. As time has gone by, I have been able to learn faster and educate myself further.

In this blog article, I’m going to share 5 ways to self-educate yourself & master any skills.

Self-Education Requires Self-Motivation

Before I go into the 5 ways to self-educate yourself & master any skill, I want to talk about the importance of being self-motivated. In order to master a skill, you must want to learn. Nobody will be holding you accountable, you won’t be measured by grades, and you won’t be disciplined for slacking.

In order to successfully master a skill and self-educate yourself, you must be motivated and determined to learn the material. I highly recommend holding yourself accountable and trying to educate yourself on things you actually are passionate about learning. With that said, here are 5 ways to self-educate yourself:

1. The Blogosphere

Blogs are an amazing way to learn a LOT about any topic. For example, QuickSprout teaches you a lot about online marketing and business. I used QuickSprout to learn a lot about online marketing.

You have to look online for blogs or writers who are masters in something that you want to learn. Continuously read and re-read that blog until you have a great understanding of what it says. Then to test your knowledge, go out there and put it into action!

2. Books

With books being available digitally nowadays, you have no excuse to constantly read. I try to read 1-2 books a month on a completely new skill that I want to master. Not only does it expand my knowledge, but it makes me a lot more wiser.

Reading is one of the easiest and fastest ways to educate yourself. You can find books by searching for them in websites such as Amazon, Nook, or even iTunes to see which ones are in high demand.

3. Podcasts

There are so many amazing podcasts out there. Podcasts such as EntrepreneurOnFire exist all over the web-sphere. It may take some time to find, but there is a lot of great content and information awaiting you on these platforms.

Podcasts are a seamless way to absorb a lot of information since it’s usually all audio. You can typically learn and master many skills rather quickly because podcasts really pack a lot of information.

4. Video/Speeches

With the internet, there are numerous places to find videos where people are willing to teach you various things. In addition to that, you can learn a lot from listening to other successful people give speeches.

Whether you go to these speeches in person or find them online, there is a huge community for those interested. The most popular community, known as Ted, provides short and robust discussions that can teach you a LOT.

5. Online Courses

In the last few years, the ability for individuals to learn things online through a course has become extremely popular. Sites like Udemy, TreeHouse, and Coursera have made it easy for instructors to bring their content to students.

These sites can give you an action-packed course that can allow you to rapidly master a skill in as little as a few short weeks. You can even find courses from college curriculums for FREE through some internet searching.

Conclusion

The way we educate ourselves and learn material is changing every day with technology. Thanks to the internet, a college education isn’t always the best method for learning. Feel free to share in the comments below how you self-educate yourself!

10 Things Stopping You From Being Successful

2013-07-28T13:02:00.002-07:00

Regardless of what your profession or craft is, everyone wants to be successful. If success was easy, then everyone would be at the top 1% of their game.

Unfortunately, success doesn’t come easy for anyone. In America, we have something called the 1% which is the epitome of success. 1 percenters are the seen as the most successful individuals in our country, but all of them have had quite a journey to their own success.

Success isn’t easy and it never will be. In this blog article, I will share 10 things stopping you from being successful and how you can overcome them:

1. Putting Things Away For Tomorrow

Procrastination is what they call this. Successful people never save work for another day. They focus on getting everything done when it needs to be done regardless of how long they may have to stay back at the office.

If you’re committed to succeeding at your craft, nothing should stop you from putting in the hours necessary to succeed. Some of the best NBA players have been seen coming to the gym first and leaving last.

2. Friends That Could Care Less About Success

Success can often times be limited by the people you spend your time with. Are you spending time with people who are better than you or on a similar path?

Stop spending time with people who bring you down and don’t add to your success. There’s a saying that goes “If you can’t change your friends, change your friends.”

3. Lack of Belief

If you have ever watched a movie called The Secret, you know how important your inner belief is. Belief is believing that your goals have already been achieved and it’s just a matter of time before you achieve them. The greatest minds in history have been successful through all adversity thanks to their untouchable beliefs.

Stop doubting you and your goals. If you really believe in something and want to achieve it, develop a strong mindset. Be grateful for your achievements along the way and live your life around those goals. Believe you have achieved it and it is just a matter of when the rewards come to you.

4. No Motivation

Staying motivated around the clock while you stay on the grind is not easy. However, motivation is the driving force for success and it’s crucial to find a way to stay motivated as much as possible.

If you want to be successful, you need to be motivated to achieve your success goals. Find things, stories, videos, or even people who motivate and inspire you to stay on track.

5. You Think Failure is Final

Failure is something all success stories have had to deal with at some point of time. The attitude with which you tackle failure is extremely crucial to your success. Failure is not final and it’s just an opportunity to learn.

Learn why you failed and embrace it. Failure doesn’t define you as a person or business, it’s just an event that happened at a time and place.

6. Hobbies Don’t Equate to Success

Many people think part-time gigs and hobbies can translate into huge successes. Unfortunately, the truth is that you have to work your ass off all day and night to be successful.

If you have big plans for success, you need to re-strategize your plan of action. Figure out which things you really want to be successful at and see how you can put all your time into it.

7. Willing to Settle for Anything Less

Successful people set goals and refuse to settle for anything but what they wanted initially. Imagine what would have happened to the world if some of the best athletes, musicians, and entrepreneurs were willing to settle for less. What would happen if NFL teams were willing to settle for conference championships instead of Superbowls?

Do not change your images of success. Change your plan of action if anything. Do not settle for anything less than what you initially planned. No goal is impossible or crazy, it just takes perspiration and serious determination to succeed.

8. Lack of Persistence

Sometimes, it takes numerous tries to get something right. If you’re lucky it make take you 5 or 10 different tries to make something work. If you’re not so lucky, it may take you 200-500 different tries to make something work. Persistence is key and those who give up never realize how close they were.

Don’t give up. If you have goals in mind, do whatever it takes to succeed. It’s important to stay persistent at your craft. Consistently test, experiment, and try new methods of achieving, but never give up.

9. You Don’t Educate Yourself

A degree from college means nothing. Learning and self-education is one of the most important characteristics for success. The greatest masterminds in the world spend time learning something new about their craft everyday, which helped them become the masters of their destiny.

Don’t look at your fancy degree or high school classes as the final stop for education. Continue learning and educate yourself on things that can help you master your own goals.

10. Stop Stressing, Start Having Fun

At the end of the day, success is nothing if you aren’t having fun. It’s okay to have stressful moments on your way to success, but you shouldn’t be stressed out all the time. Whatever your craft may be, make sure it’s something that you’re passionate about and enjoy doing.

Having fun is crucial to success. If you don’t love what you do, you won’t be very good at it. You can try to love something, but it’s just not the same. Find the fun in your craft and leverage that to get to the top.

Conclusion

As I said earlier, success isn’t easy. However, success can be achieved and overcoming these 10 things can greatly attribute to your success.

How Do You Define Success?

2012-08-02T23:22:00.002-07:00

A new study from The Hartford set out to discover what constitutes success in the eyes of small business owners. Here’s what the Small Business Success Study of 2,000 small business owners found:
Overall, business owners are feeling good. One in five (22.9 percent) say their businesses are very or extremely successful. Nearly half (46.8 percent) say their businesses are moderately successful. Just 30.3 percent say their businesses were “slightly” or “not at all” successful. Asked to project forward for the next two years, only 6 percent feel they won’t achieve success in that time frame.

The survey also asked small business owners to choose their top answer from among various definitions of success. The top three responses were:

Make enough money to have a comfortable lifestyle: 24 percent

Do something I enjoy or feel passionate about: 23 percent

Increase the profitability of the business year to year: 18 percent

Other possible answers, including “have the free time to do whatever I wish,” “expand to new markets,” and “sell the business for a substantial profit,” were far below the top three, only garnering single-digit responses.

Based on how small business owners themselves define success, what type of small business owner is the most successful? The Hartford found that the entrepreneurs who feel most successful are those who have 10 to 20 employees and have been in business for more than 20 years.

This group was more likely than average to say their businesses are currently successful. They were also more confident about the future. And they were significantly more likely to admit they’re closer to “complete” success.

What’s enabled them to succeed? The study found two key steps these businesses took: they used professional advisers to prepare for future growth, and they realized that paying employees well attracts better workers and leads to greater success.

Of course, simply having stayed in business for 20-plus years was surely a contributing factor to feeling successful. But it seems to me that entrepreneurs who enjoy the greatest success have a realistic attitude toward their business. They don’t expect miracles, but they do have goals and plans. They’re optimistic and they enjoy what they’re doing. Sounds like most of the small business owners I know!

Success Secrets That Work

2012-08-02T23:16:00.003-07:00

All that it takes to succeed in any area of our life, all we need is to know how things work in that particular area. There are however general rules that apply to all areas.

To succeed in life requires the following:

!. Understanding the meaning of success, or the definition of success, which both mean the same thing.

2. Setting personal goals, learning goal setting techniques and goal setting strategies.

3. Understanding how motivation works and what self-improvement is and its role in motivation.

4. Understanding the right attitude to have in order to succeed.

5. Knowing the importance of human values in success.

6. Finding what you are passionate about.

7. Understanding the role of Willpower in success.

8. Understanding the importance of self-control.

9. Knowing the importance of communication and how to communicate effectively.

10. Understanding the importance of networking.

The success secrets I share with you are secrets that I have learnt while going through the thick and thin of life and learnt from psychology, philosophy, mythology, history, religion, personal development/success literature, management, as well as from my own observation and personal experience.

What I share with you here are fully tried and tested, as I personally use them in my own life and for others; they work with 100% accuracy.

All you need to do is to learn these success secrets and apply them in your life.

Indra Nooyi’s Management Mantras for Success

2012-08-02T22:11:00.001-07:00

Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi, Chairman, PepsiCo is one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Here are some words of wisdom from a business woman whom Time magazine has described as a ‘world class leader.’ Read on.

• You give a team of people a set of objectives and goals and get them all to buy into it, and they can move mountains•Aim high and put your heart into it.

• What’s important is trying to be the best and working to get there. And that’s how you fulfill your potential.

• I’m putting my hand up and saying, ‘Able body, ready to work. I can scrub floors to address big issues.

Work for the right person. Work for a company that wants you to succeed. Don’t play politics and just focus on the job at hand

•Take a stand. Be known for your courage and confidence.

• Success isn’t money, prestige or power because net worth can never define self-worth. True success is being happy with yourself, is being fulfilled. And that comes from devoting your time, your life, to doing what you love the most.

• At the end of the day if I stand back and have regrets, it is never going to work. You just look forward and get on with life.

• What you know is more important than who you know because that’s what gets you ‘who you know.’

• Don’t think of the difficult journey. Think, instead, of the wonderful destination.

• We are too attached to the known security of the past and too wary of the challenging promises of the future. This often leads to complacency or inertia.

• You’ve got to say, at every point in your life, if you were to drop dead, would your epitaph be something that you could be proud of? Is your legacy something that would linger long after you?

• If there is (a glass ceiling), remember it is made of glass and it can be easily broken. All you have to do is try.

• The best test is that I wake up every morning dying to come to work.

• My parents and my grandfather taught me that when you do a job, you got to do it better than everybody else. Simple. You cannot let anybody down.

• When you don’t have a safety net, when you don’t have money to buy clothes for interviews and you are going to a summer job in saris, all of a sudden life gives you a wakeup call and you realise that you have got to work extremely hard to make it happen for you.

• I grew up with a mother who said, ‘I’ll arrange a marriage for you at 18,’ but she also said that we could achieve anything we put our minds to and encouraged us to dream of becoming prime minister or president. She made me learn Indian classical music because that’s what good Indian girls did, but she also let me be in a rock band. ‘You’ve got to be a good Indian woman first,’ she said, ‘but go ahead and dream.’

• As a child in India, my mother would ask a simple but compelling question: ‘What would you do to change the world?’ Today, my answer would be that I want to lead a company that is a force for good in the world.

• We say someone is good company when we enjoy being with them. A good company creates that kind of enjoyment. In the process, it creates a strong sense of identity. People come together in pursuit of the same goals. A team is formed.

• Being a good business starts with being a good employer.

• Good candidates can pick and choose more between companies who make similar offers to them. The deciding factor is the kind of company that they want to work for. They are comfortable in societies with many cultures, they want to work flexibly. They are both more demanding and more in demand. They want success, but not at any price. They want to do some good in the world.

• To be successful in foreign countries, you got to walk a mile in the shoes of those people; while in Rome, do as the Romans do. You retain your Indianness, but you also have to adapt to what that country needs. If you remain too isolated, you will never be successful.

• The toughest thing about transformation is letting your best friends and people you worked with for years leave and go off on their own.

• To attract the best people, we have got to create an environment where people can actually balance life.

• In every change agenda, there is always going to be a percentage of people — like 10% or something — that are not going to agree to the new agenda. They are the casualties of the change. If they have to go, they have to go.

A good company offers employees a career, not just a job. To describe it as a career shows that we have an enduring interest in someone. They are not here today, gone tomorrow and thanks for what we could take from you.

• You should never wait until somebody is ready to say goodbye to tell them how much you value them.

• Today’s is a war for talent. People don’t come into the company and stay for reasons other than compensation

• Ever since I have been in the work life, I have always used a simple rule: Whatever I did, I had to produce an output that was so much better than what somebody else did. So I would work extra hard at it. More hours, yes. More sacrifices and trade-offs, yes. This is the only journey I know. I don’t know what it is to have the cushy life and go home to watch the 6.00 news.

• Leadership is hard to define and good leadership even harder. But if you can get people to follow you to the ends of the earth, you are a great leader.

• I have a five Cs model for leadership: competence (damn good at getting results); confidence to have the courage to make the tough calls; communication skills, to convey your vision and direction; compass pointed north to your true values; compassion — empathy, not sympathy

• As a leader, I am tough on myself and I raise the standard for everybody; however, I am very caring because I want people to excel at what they are doing so that they can aspire to be me in the future.

• To be a CEO is a calling. You should not do it because it is a job. It is a calling and you have got to be involved in it with your head, heart and hands. Your heart has got to be in the job, you got to love what you do, it consumes you. And if you are not willing to get into the CEO job that way, there is no point getting into it.

One of the most important things for a leader is to identify their own core competency. In my case, my core competency is my ability to be able to demystify any complicated problem. I continuously strive to enhance that core competency.

• A leader must have the courage and confidence to stand up and defend his/ her ideas.

• Effective communication is the key to success. Clarity and conciseness are critical for effective communication. I urge you to read speeches of great leaders like Abraham Lincoln or John F Kennedy to see how they were able inspire people.

• Consistency is an important aspect of leadership since it helps build trust in those that follow you.

Be honest in appraisals. If people aren’t performing well, help them ‘cross the bridge’ and get where they need to go by examining why they aren’t performing. Raise the bar as the boss.

• Coaches or mentors are very important. They could be anyone — your husband, other family members or your boss. But you cannot pick them. They will pick you.

• Don’t expect to be on the same promotional track as someone who works five days a week if you work three days a week. In less than ideal situations tough it out, try to change it and then leave even if it means not working for some time.

• The minute you’ve developed a new business model, it’s extinct, because somebody is going to copy it.

5 Reasons Why Trying to be Successful Will Keep You Poor

2012-08-02T21:51:00.001-07:00

Dave Navarro wrote recently that worrying about what you’re doing (or not doing) is the surest way to keep you poor and unsuccessful.
It’s a cracking article with a heap of good points, one of them being that the key difference in the way successful people operate is that they see failure as an integral part of the process of achieving success.
That’s true. Unless you plan on spending all your time underneath your duvet, failure is in your destiny. Trying to minimize or avoid failure will not help you be successful.
But here’s the thing. Trying to be successful will not help you actually become successful, either.
The problem with success

You’re probably here because you want to be a successful person. You want the material and emotional benefits that come with that.
That’s awesome and I want it to happen for you. But while there’s nothing wrong with success, there are five important reasons why success for its own sake is the wrong focus:

1. Success is a moving target

Be honest, what’s success for you?
Is it about launching a product and having people buy it?
Is it about having respect from your peers and mentors?
Is it about doing what you love so you can care for your family?
Too many people don’t create their own definition of success. They chase an idea they’ve patched together from what they’ve read, observed, or think they should be aiming for.
Do you know the feeling of not being wholly convinced that you’re pursuing the right success for you, but you’ve carried on regardless? That’s not how real success is achieved. Because even if you’re outwardly successful, you’ll feel disconnected from it. Achieving the wrong kind of success will always feel hollow.

2. Success is the wrong motivator

It’s too often based on extrinsic factors — the things you believe success can deliver.
Whether it’s physical goods, the feeling that you’ve “made it,” or thinking you’ll be free of worry and stress, these are all externalized projections about what a successful lifestyle will bring you.
When you make decisions based on an external motivator, it’s much easier to second-guess yourself. Motivation that comes from within is much more grounded and more powerful.

3. Success isn’t here, now

If you’re working hard to make something happen, it’s easy to dream about the moment you become successful. We all tend to fantastize about that big pay-off for all our hard work.
That kind of success is always elusively around the next bend. Just a few more weeks or months away. Just a bit more work, and you’ll finally be successful.
But what about now? What’s stopping you from feeling like a success right now, this very moment? Waiting for success in the future takes you out of the game in the present.

4. Success does not eliminate worry or fear

Being successful does not change how your brain works.
Success often increases worry and fear, as you question how you can repeat it or worry about losing it.
What eliminates worry and fear is shifting the patterns of thinking that result in self-doubt and second-guessing.

5. Success is limited by confidence

Perhaps most important, any success you might experience is limited by your self-confidence.
If success is achieved by taking repeated, meaningful action, then what happens if you’re not confident enough to take the actions that scare the crap out of you?
What will you do when things go wrong? Without confidence, you’ll be more inclined to retreat, beat yourself up, and reinforce a negative self-image. Nasty.
Placing your efforts on being a “successful person” is putting energy into the wrong place. It’s allowing in the complications I’ve listed above (and there are more that I haven’t listed) and ignoring how you’re thinking about what you’re doing and how you’re doing it right now.
Instead, what I’m suggesting is that you place your focus squarely on becoming a confident person, rather than a successful one.
To borrow from Dave’s article:
Success is not a person. It’s an event.
Shift your thinking from being a successful person to a confident one, and you’ll experience more success events and more failure events, both of which have abundant rewards. Here’s how to do it, right now.
Engage, today

I’m always banging on about playing a game that matters, for the simple reason that it forces you to deeply engage with something that has personal meaning. It aligns your efforts with what matters to you and ensures that you’re intrinsically motivated to play to the best of your ability.
If you want to be the best tennis player you can be, it will only really happen if you get enjoyment from the act of playing tennis. Start off with the aim of winning a shiny cup and you’re setting yourself up for struggle and second-guessing.
Forget the rules, just play

Rolling around in your head are expectations about what you can and can’t do, should and shouldn’t do, must and mustn’t do. Then you add in all the expectations you have about other people.
And most brain-numbing of all, you have expectations about what other people expect of you.
Forget all of that and just play. The best tennis players aren’t darting around the court thinking about how they should play the game. They use natural ability and learned skills and strategies to play to their best level.
Take confident action

Confident action is about making deliberate choices.
Confident action is using your values, strengths, and talents to support your decisions and the actions that follow.
Confident action is trusting yourself to make the next decision, no matter how this one turns out.
Listen to the voices

Those voices in your head can be confusing, but you need to listen to them (unless they’re telling you to set fire to the town hall), because that’s the only way to recognize what’s real and what’s imagined.
You don’t want to let those voices control your thinking, or you’ll be running in circles forever. But you do want to start paying attention to them, noticing the difference between the voice of fear and one of your best assets, your intuiton.
It’s by acknowledging what goes on in your head that you learn about what serves you well and what holds you back. You learn the voice of imagined fear, you learn the voice of solid doubt (and can take appropriate action in response to those risks), and you learn the still, quiet voice of intuition that will always tell you what you need to know.
Decide what’s important

Don’t shoot the messenger, but things will go wrong and you will screw up.
The good news is that you always get to choose how you think about what goes wrong. A screw-up is only a big deal if you decide it is. By looking at it in a different way, there’s no need to retreat or beat yourself up.
Plus, simply because you’re intrinsically motivated by playing a game that matters, the idea of “failure” has far less power than if you’re extrinsically motivated, and sometimes the power of “failure” disappears completely. You get to decide what’s important.
The real difference that makes success happen

Don’t think in terms of successful people or unsuccessul people. We all experience success and failure throughout our lives — remember, success and failure are not people, they’re events.
People experience success because they’ve achieved a level of natural self-confidence that allows them to take meaningful action.
They’ve achieved a level of natural self-confidence that allows them to trust their behavior, rather than focusing on the outcome of that behavior.
I want to know what you think. How do you see confidence and success? Let us know in the comments.
About the Author: As a leading confidence coach with clients around the world, Steve Errey has a reputation for talking sense and getting results. Get more from him at The Confidence Guy.

FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED

2012-08-02T02:40:00.004-07:00

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.

I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey . . .

I asked for health, that I might do greater things.

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things ...

I asked for riches, that I might be happy.

I was given poverty, that I might be wise ...

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God .. .

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things ...

I got nothing I asked for--but everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I, among all men, am most richly blessed!

14 Ways to Be a Success in Life!

2012-08-02T02:29:00.002-07:00

1. Compliment three people everyday.

2. Watch a sunrise at least once a year.

3. Be the first to say hello.

4. Live beneath your means.

5. Treat everyone as you would want to be treated.

6. Never give up on anybody; miracles happen.

7. Never deprive people of hope; it may be all they have.

8. Pray not for things, but for wisdom and courage.

9. Be tough-minded, but tenderhearted.

10. Be kinder than necessary.

11. Keep your promises.

12. Learn to show cheerfulness, even when you don't feel like it.

13. Remember that overnight success usually takes about fifteen years.

14. Never waste an opportunity to tell people you love them.

10 Steps to a Successful Career Change

2012-08-02T02:13:00.001-07:00

1. Evaluate your current job satisfaction. Keep a journal of your daily reactions to your job situation and look for recurring themes. Which aspects of your current job do you like/dislike? Are your dissatisfactions related to the content of your work your company culture or the people with whom you work?

2. Assess your interests, values and skills through self help resources like the exercises inWhat Color is Your Parachute. Review past successful roles, volunteer work, projects and jobs to identify preferred activities and skills. Determine whether your core values and skills are addressed through your current career.

3. Brainstorm ideas for career alternatives by discussing your core values/skills with friends, family, networking contacts and counselors. Visit career libraries and use online resources like those found in the Career Advice section of the Job Search website.

4. Conduct a preliminary comparative evaluation of several fields to identify a few targets for in depth research.

5. Read as much as you can about those fields and reach out to personal contacts in those arenas for informational interviews.

6. Shadow professionals in fields of primary interest to observe work first hand. Spend anywhere from a few hours to a few days job shadowing people who have jobs that interest you. Your college Career Office is a good place to find alumni volunteers who are willing to host job shadowers.

7. Identify volunteer and freelance activities related to your target field to test your interest e.g. if you are thinking of publishing as a career, try editing the PTA newsletter. If you're interested in working with animals, volunteer at your local shelter.

8. Investigate educational opportunities that would bridge your background to your new field. Consider taking an evening course at a local college. Spend some time at one day or weekend seminars. Contact professional groups in your target field for suggestions.

9. Look for ways to develop new skills in your current job which would pave the way for a change e.g. offer to write a grant proposal if grant writing is valued in your new field. If your company offers in-house training, sign up for as many classes as you can.

10. Consider alternative roles within your current industry which would utilize the industry knowledge you already have e.g. If you are a store manger for a large retail chain and have grown tired of the evening and weekend hours consider a move to corporate recruiting within the retail industry. Or if you are a programmer who doesn't want to program, consider technical sales or project management.