TOP 10 INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES FOR ENTREPRENEURS

TOP 10 INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES FOR ENTREPRENEURS

 

#1: Steve Jobs, Apple

 

"Believe that things will work somehow out... follow your intuition

and curiosity... trust your heart even when it leads you off the

well-worn path... You have to trust that the dots will somehow

connect in your future... The only way to do great work is to love

what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't

settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find

it... Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They

somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else

is secondary."

 

#2: Oprah Winfrey, Harpo

 

"What I know for sure is that if you want to have success, you

can't make success your goal. The key is not to worry about being

successful, but to instead work toward being significant - and the

success will naturally follow... If you do work that you love, and

work that fulfills you, the rest will come. And, I truly believe,

that the reason I've been able to be so financially successful is

because my focus has never, ever for one minute been money. Would

you do your job and not be paid for it? I would do this job, and

take on a second job just to make ends meet if nobody paid me.

That's how you know you are doing the right thing."

 

#3: Tony Robbins

 

"A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new

action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided... The most

important thing you can do to achieve your goals is to make sure

that as soon as you set them, you immediately begin to create

momentum. The most important rules that I ever adopted to help me

in achieving my goals were those I learned from a very successful

man who taught me to first write down the goal, and then to never

leave the site of setting a goal without first taking some form of

positive action toward its attainment."

 

#4: Ted Turner, Turner Broadcasting

 

"All my life people have said that I wasn't going to make it... You

can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win."

 

#5: Anita Roddick, The Body Shop

 

"Whatever you do, be different - that was the advice my mother gave

me, and I can't think of better advice for an entrepreneur. If

you're different, you will stand out."

 

#6: Tony Robbins

 

"For changes to be of any true value, they've got to be lasting and

consistent. Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first

thing you must do is to raise your standards... If you don't set a

baseline standard for what you'll accept in life, you'll find it's

easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life

that's far below what you deserve... Whatever happens, take

responsibility... The only thing that's keeping you from getting what

you want is the story you keep telling yourself."

 

#7: Chris Gardner, Gardner Rich & Co.

 

"Find something that you love. Something that gets you so excited

you can't wait to get out of bed in the morning. Forget about

money. Be happy."

 

#8: Donald Trump

 

"I was relentless, even in the face of total lack of encouragement,

because much more often than you'd think, sheer persistence is the

difference between success and failure."

 

#9: Isadore Sharp, Four Seasons

 

"Whatever you do, don't ever use a crutch, and don't ever think of

having an excuse for not having said, 'Yeah, I did my best.'"

 

#10: Trip Hawkins, Electronic Arts

 

"One quality of entrepreneurship is just persistence, not giving up

because you have road blocks and also not giving in because other

people tell you that you're nuts. You are nuts and you should be

proud of it. Stick with what you believe in."

 

CHIPS MASALA

INGRIDIENTS

·        Salt

·        Dania

·        6-Tomatoes

·        3kg Potatoes

·        2-large onions

·        3tbsChilli powder

·        10-15  cloves of garlic

·        5-6 tsp of tomato ketchup

HOW TO PREPARE

1.     Peel the potatoes

2.     Do not use the potatoes with the green patch

3.     For vegetables always use the small knifes

4.     When peeling remove a very thin layer of the potatoes not to drain all the nutrients in the skin

5.     Slice the potatoes into the size your want your fries to be

6.     Wash the potatoes after you finish slicing not to drain the flavor from the potatoes

7.     Wash the potatoes

8.     Heat your oil

.  .   Sprinkle the salt on the potatoes to soak the excess water

1.                        Crush the garlic

11.                        Cut the onions into Julian style

12.                        Cut your tomatoes also into Julian style

13.                        Mix the mushed garlic with the chili powder makes sure it’s mixed thoroughly

14.                        Soak the potatoes with a dry clean clothe

15.                        Use enough oil to fry the potatoes

16.                        Semi cook the  potatoes the remove then  after the oil get s very hot return the  potatoes again on the oil to get them crispy

17.                        Heat the pan

18.                        Then put three table spoons of oil

19.                        Add the onion

110.                        Add the mixture of garlic and the chili powder

21.                        Add the tomatoes

22.                        Add salt on the chips when

23.                        Add the ketchup

24.                        Add the fried potatoes

25.                        Chop the Dania and add then on the masalla chips  to garnish

26.                        And it’s ready to serve

27.                        Serve while hot  

What Money Can’t Buy

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare." —Isaiah 55:1—2

“The best things in life are free,” so the saying goes. Everyone has heard it, but very few actually live like that’s true. In a culture that is constantly reminding us of all the toys that we don’t have, it’s hard to keep focused on what’s truly important.

Take a moment and think about what matters most to you.

What comes up for you? What do you really want? Love, health, happiness, friendship, inner peace, wisdom, freedom, security. The list goes on and on. But did you notice? Not one can be bought with the green stuff that we call money! So then why have we come to be so focused on it?

The prophet Isaiah reminds us about what really satisfies us. The things that can be bought are not what makes us full. As the prophet says, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”

Most of what we pay for is momentarily gratifying, but is not what will satisfy us in the long run. Big, fancy homes are nice, but they don’t make a happy family. Fast cars are fun, but they don’t create genuine respect. No, you can’t buy happiness or respect. They have to come from another source. And they just happen to be free.

Everything we truly care about can be ours if we earn them. But we can’t earn them at a 9-5 job. We only can earn them through 24/7 service to God. We earn them by learning and living His Word.

The Bible is God’s greatest gift to man. “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters …” God’s Word is essential like water. It gives us the basic recipe for living a good life. “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” God’s Word is also luxurious like milk and wine. The Scriptures provide the tools for living an extraordinarily sweet and rich life. The Bible gives us everything we need and everything we want — and it is all at no cost.

Next time you find yourself thinking “If only I had more money … ” remember this truth: There are just some things that money can’t buy. Thankfully, those are the things that really count.

With prayers for shalom, peace.

10 Relationship Don'ts - By James LeGrand

Are you currently doing things that may be negatively affecting your love relationship? We don't always understand the impact of the things we do or say until it's too late. It's important to avoid the things that inadvertently hurt or push our partner away.

Here are 10 things you should never do in a love relationship...ever!

1. Don't stop falling in love over and over again
Successful couples continually fall in love with each other. They find new reasons to be in love with their partner and don't let the petty day-to-day things ruin those feelings. Love doesn't have to die after commitment. In fact, it should grow to ever increasing heights. So, feel free to fall in love all over again....and again...and again.

2. Don't value being right over being loving
Too many of us want to be right more than we want to be loving. We choose winning an argument over continually winning the heart of our loved one. When you have to be right, you are simultaneously making your partner wrong. Don't engage in these 1 or the other conversations. Instead, value your partner's opinion and then offer up yours. They are both opinions, so 1 is not more or less correct than the other. They are simply 2 different perspectives. If you continue to make your partner feel wrong, they will stop offering their opinion to you. That doesn't lead to any place good.

3. Don't stop planning together for the future
It could be planning for the kid's college or the next vacation. It could be planning for retirement or for a friend's birthday party. The key is to keep planning together for the future. When you do so, you create common goals to pursue as a unit. This strengthens the bonds of partnership, friendship, and mutual admiration. Find something you are both interested in doing, and work on it together. You are either growing closer together or further apart. Planning together helps to keep you growing together.

4. Don't stop being attractive for your partner
Many couples stop doing the things that led to the relationship in the first place. If you figured that once you were in a committed relationship that you could stop engaging in attractive behaviors, you were mistaken. Each person in the partnership expected the other to continue doing and saying the things they found attractive. So, flirt. Wear clothing that your partner finds you flattering in. Remind your partner how attractive they are to you. Be playful, be thoughtful and be loving. Be irresistible to your partner and allow them to return the favor.

5. Don't embarrass your partner publicly
Remember this simple rule: Praise publicly and criticize privately. When the need arises to tell your partner something difficult, do so in the most humble, loving, respectful and honest way possible. In public, tell everyone about how fantastic your partner is. Talk about the things you find best in them. Positive attention is a reward of sorts, and what gets rewarded gets repeated. Your partner trusts you with their heart and emotional security. Don't publicly criticize your partner.

6. Don't say "Always" or "Never" while arguing
Whenever we say our partner always does something or never does something, we are exaggerating. The discussion then turns to how the partner being accused must defend themselves against this blatant mischaracterization. The conversation then turns to how you always or never do something. Let's avoid all of this. When you partner does something you don't appreciate, say so then and there. Be respectful, yet honest. Don't pull in past issues. Avoid saying the words "always" and "never" at all costs. Focus on the event or the issue at hand only. Work together to decide how it should be handled next time. Then move on.

7. Don't use intimacy as a weapon
Do you grant intimacy or take it away as a method of persuading your spouse to do what you want? If so, you are cheapening a relationship expression of love by making it a tool of negotiation. Eventually, your partner may not want to express intimacy towards you or receive it from you because of the conditions attached to it. There should be no conditions on expressions of love. Therefore, stop using intimacy as a weapon. This is your partner! Intimacy should come with no strings attached. It is a beautiful and loving expression that should not be used to manipulate your partner.

8. Don't talk negatively about your partner to others
So, your partner does something you think is disrespectful. You tell your friends about it. Later, you and your partner determine it was a simple misunderstanding. When you come back around your friends with your partner, what is their impression? Are they seeing your partner as a disrespectful person? Do they have a full understanding that there was simply a miscommunication between you? We are quick to tell everyone about the bad, and very slow to tell them about the good. Be careful. You could be ruining your partner's reputation even as you know them to be a great person. Avoid talking negatively about your partner.

9. Don't stop nurturing the relationship
Constantly look for ways to assist your partner. Listen with the intent to understand as they talk about things that are important to them. Be present for all of your partner's major life moments. That includes illness, major victories, crushing defeats, and family events. Go out on dates. Vacation together. Treasure warm conversation over a hot meal. Express love to each other in the way your partner needs to receive it. Be supportive at all times. Remember that the one you love and gave your heart to is worthy of the very best from you.

10. Don't break your commitments
Your commitment to monogamy is crucial; so don't go looking outside for what you already have at home. If you say you are going to do something, do that very thing when and how you promised it to be done. Your word has value that diminishes each time you don't honor your commitments. So, honor yourself and your partner by honoring your commitments. Do what you said you would do each and every time. Your partner will appreciate you more for it.

If you are making any of these mistakes, make a conscious effort to put an end to them immediately. You'll be pleased at how much stronger your relationship will be.

Transforming Your Worst Qualities into Your Biggest Assets - By Judy Smith

Whether the problem is debt, infidelity, indiscretion, or merely an embarrassing email sent to the wrong reader, we have all found ourselves in bad situations of our own making. And whether that puts you in a delicate position or a full-blown crisis, it can sometimes feel as if there is no way out. Enter Judy Smith. America's number one crisis management expert, Judy Smith is on speed dial for some of the highest-profile celebrities, politicians, and corporations in the world. But though her business is helping her clients recover from widely publicized personal and professional setbacks, her expertise is applicable to us all. In Good Self, Bad Self, Smith shares her methods, gleaned from years of professional experience, for smoothing over a bad situation while providing the tools to prevent similar incidents from ever happening again.

The way to get through a personal or professional rough spot is by understanding the traits that can lead to our wildest successes and most painful failures. Smith has learned to identify high-risk situations that often lead to marital, financial, professional, or personal imprudence; her ability to anticipate potential personal disasters has allowed her to coach people prior to, as well as in the wake of, crisis.

She has identified seven traits that are often found at the root of a crisis. These traits can be positive and extremely useful but can cause problems when they fall out of balance. Drawing on more than twenty years of professional experience, Smith explains how to prevent these characteristics from interfering with your life.

They are:

· Ego
· Denial
· Fear
· Ambition
· Accommodation
· Patience
· Indulgence

Smith uses examples from high-profile cases to illustrate how celebrities, businesses, and individuals have become victims of their own bad behavior when they let one of these traits fall out of balance. Exploring the underlying factors of some very public and often unpleasant scandals, Smith shows how different situations could have been prevented by recalibrating one (or more) of those seven vital characteristics. As she shares her method of repairing the damage that these situations can cause, Smith also explains what we can all be doing in our own lives to prevent a crisis from getting started. Nobody's perfect, and the same character traits that bring us success can lead to our downfall. It is the way each of us deals with personal character flaws that dictates whether we're going to succeed or fail. In Good Self, Bad Self, Judy Smith distills years of experience to share the tools we all need to face our mistakes and ultimately overcome them.

Don't Worry About Results - By Zig Ziglar

Have you ever watched people bowl? Many of them go through a little ritual before they actually get to the point of hurling their bowling ball in the direction of the pins. They carefully lace up their bowling shoes, and then the hunt for the perfect bowling ball begins. They may put on a bowling glove as well as an elbow brace. As they step to the line they glare at the bowling pins and get into their approach posture. Then they step forward and release the bowling ball down the alley. That's when it gets interesting. As the ball rolls toward the pins the bowler starts deploying facial expressions, body language, and hand signals to "guide" the ball into the best impact point on the pins. As they see the ball drifting into a less-than-perfect point of impact they begin to give voice commands to the ball to correct its course. Of course, once the ball is released it is on the way, and there is nothing the bowler can do to change what is going to happen. The bowler could just as easily release the ball, turn around, and not even look at the impact of ball and pins. The results would be the same.

The bowling illustration demonstrates the futility of "worrying" about results. When you have set your goals properly and planned the action you need to take, it's a waste of time, energy, and emotion to worry about the results of what you have set in motion. When you execute an action step, it is like releasing a bowling ball. The results ball is rolling, and there is little you can do to change the point of impact. Worrying about where the ball will impact the target won't improve or change what happens. The results will be the fruit of how well you prepared and planned and executed the action.

Worrying Makes Problems Worse

Worrying about the results will not change them. I certainly recognize that a certain amount of worry is just part of being human. People have concerns about many things. There are legitimate concerns about money and financial security. There are legitimate concerns about health issues, and there are concerns about our personal and professional relationships. People want all of these things to go well in their lives, and a certain amount of worry and concern is normal. But there is another kind of worry that is not only dangerous to your health; it is dangerous to your success. The kind of worry I'm talking about is "imagined worry." Imagined worry is when you spend a lot of time thinking about the future and what might happen in your life that could be terrible. My late friend Mary Crowley said, "Worry is a misuse of the imagination," and she hit the nail on the head with that remark.

Now you might be wondering why I'm so concerned about worrying and what it has to do with success and expecting to win, so I'll tell you. Worry is the most significant factor that relates to the root of negative thinking. As a matter of fact, worry just might be the engine that starts negative thinking, and if you are involved in negative thinking, you will not expect to win. If you spend an excessive amount of time imagining all the bad things that can happen in your life, you will become a person who is problem-conscious, not solution-conscious. There is perhaps no greater example of how this can be so dangerous than when it involves worrying about health issues. I have known many people who receive bad medical reports, and when they hear the news, they begin to worry so much about it that their life may as well have ended at that moment. Yes, they can have bad days, but they can choose to focus on the good days and what they can still do. They can live in the moment and know full well that tomorrow will be what it is and they can deal with it when it arrives, not before.

Stop Worrying...Start Expecting

Worry is the result of thinking and imagining what might happen in the future. I want to stress the word "imagine." The only reality people have is what is going on in their lives today. It is in the events of the day that life transpires, and anything based on tomorrow is pure speculation. I've learned that if you have planned and prepared, you can have reasonable expectations about the future. If you take care of your health through a good diet coupled with exercise, you can reasonably expect good health in the future. If you save and invest your financial resources, you can reasonably expect to have financial security in the future. If you live by principles of love and service to others, you can reasonably expect to have good personal relationships in the future. Good action today will produce good living tomorrow. Reasonably good expectations for tomorrow are based on positive thinking and prudent action today. Try this: instead of imagining all the bad things that might happen to you in the future based on your fear, start imagining things working out. There's a song titled, "What If It All Goes Right?" by Melissa Lawson. The second line of the chorus is, "What if it all works out, what if the stars all line up..." You have to develop a what if it does go right and work out expectancy if you want to be the winner you were born to be.

I Don't Worry

Worrying is something I quit doing many years ago, and today I can honestly tell you that I don't worry about anything--period! In fact, when the terrorist attack happened on 9/11 and I had to find a way to travel back home, I did not worry about the possibility of another attack. I believe if it is not my time, there's not a terrorist on the earth who can change the will of God about what my lifespan should be. I never worry because I know who I am and I know Whose I am. I know that the principles I live by are true and correct. I also know that I always try to do the right thing, and when you do the right things in life, you don't have to worry about results. As a matter of fact, if I've done the right thing every day I'm not even responsible for results. I just get the benefit of what I do, and the benefits are usually better than I could have hoped for.

Finally, remember that if you have planned and prepared yourself to win, there is no need to worry about the results. Like the bowler who has released the ball down the alley, you must learn there is nothing your worrying can do to change anything. If you have planned well and set good goals, you can have confidence that you know where you want and need to go. If you have done what you need to do to prepare yourself to win, you do not have to worry. You will have no justification to worry about failure. You can expect to win!

NEWSMAKER HILLARY NG'WENO

Hilary Ng'weno

Born in Nairobi on June 28^th, 1938, and educated at Mangu High School and was the first Kenyan to attend Harvard (Class of ’61). He went back to Harvard as the first African fellow of the Harvard Center for International Affairs (1968-1969)

He got married to Fleur Arabelle Grandjouan on December 1^st, 1963. They have two daughters: Amolo Eva, until recently senior program director at the Gates Foundation and currently managing director of Digital Data Divide Ltd, and Bettina Amilie, until recently professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis, and currently on the academic planning team for the establishment of the Aga Khan University in East Africa.

Hilary Ng’weno has been a journalist since 1962, first with the Nation group of newspapers for which he was the first African editor in chief (1964-65) and later as editor-publisher of a number of his own publications, including The Weekly Review 1975-1999). For more than ten years he was also a Newsweek columnist. In 1992, he launched the first fully Kenyan-owned indigenous private TV station in Kenya, STV, but relinquished ownership in 1997 to go into freelance TV production. He has produced dozens of TV programmes, including The Making of a Nation (2007).. Until December 2011 he produced jointly with NTV the weekly TV biographical documentary series Makers of a Nation.

Outside journalism and television production, he has had, and continues to have, a wide range of interests. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Museums of Kenya (1964-1968); chairman of the Kenya Museum Society (1967-1968); a trustee of the East African Wild Life Society since 1978; chairman of Kenya Wildlife Service (1990-1993) as well as a trustee of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWW-International) from 1993-1997.

Though not a trained economist, he served as a member of the Council of African Advisers to the World Bank (1991-1994); for two years (1995-1997) as chairman of the Kenya Revenue Authority, and for three years (1996-1999) a member of Kenya’s Presidential Economic Commission.

He was a member of the Population Advisory Committee of the MacArthur Foundation (1991-1997) and chairman of the Advisory Board of the Rockefeller Foundation’s African Forum for Children’s Literacy in Science and Technology (1994-97). In 1968 was awarded the John D. Rockefeller III Award given to a person under 40 years of age who in the opinion of the trustees of the John D. Rockefeller III Fund has contributed most to the wellbeing of mankind.

25 Reasons to Embrace Criticism

“Criticism is something you can easily avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” ~Aristotle

At the end of the day, when I feel completely exhausted, oftentimes it has nothing to do with all the things I’ve done.

It’s not a consequence of juggling multiple responsibilities and projects. It’s not my body’s way of punishing me for becoming a late-life jogger after a period of cardiovascular laziness. It’s not even about getting too little sleep.

When I’m exhausted, you can be sure I’ve bent over backwards trying to win everyone’s approval. I’ve obsessed over what people think of me, I’ve assigned speculative and usually inaccurate meanings to feedback I’ve received, and I’ve lost myself in negative thoughts about criticism and its merit.

I work at minimizing this type of behavior—and I’ve had success for the most part—but admittedly it’s not easy.

I remember back in college, taking a summer acting class, when I actually made the people around me uncomfortable with my defensiveness. This one time, the teacher was giving me feedback after a scene in front of the whole class. She couldn’t get through a single sentence without me offering some type of argument.

After a couple minutes of verbal sparring, one of my peers actually said, “Stop talking. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

Looking back, I cut myself a little slack. You’re vulnerable in the spotlight and the student’s reaction was kind of harsh. But I know I needed to hear it. Because I was desperately afraid of being judged, I took everything, from everyone as condemnation.

I realize criticism doesn’t always come gently from someone legitimately trying to help. A lot of the feedback we receive is unsolicited and doesn’t come from teachers—or maybe all of it does.

We can’t control what other people will say to us, whether they’ll approve or form opinions and share them. But we can control how we internalize it, respond to it, and learn from it, and when we release it and move on.

If you’ve been having a hard time dealing with criticism lately, it may help to remember the following:

The Benefits of Criticism:

Personal Growth

1. Looking for seeds of truth in criticism encourages humility. It’s not easy to take an honest look at yourself and your weaknesses, but you can only grow if you’re willing to try.

2. Learning from criticism allows you to improve. Almost every critique gives you a tool to more effectively create the tomorrow you visualize.

3. Criticism opens you up to new perspectives and new ideas you may not have considered. Whenever someone challenges you, they help expand your thinking.

4. Your critics give you an opportunity to practice active listening. This means you resist the urge to analyze in your head, planning your rebuttal, and simply consider what the other person is saying.

5. You have the chance to practice forgiveness when you come up against harsh critics. Most of us carry around stress and frustration that we unintentionally misdirect from time to time.

Emotional Benefits

6. It’s helpful to learn how to sit with the discomfort of an initial emotional reaction instead of immediately acting or retaliating. All too often we want to do something with our feelings—generally not a great idea!

7. Criticism gives you the chance to foster problem solving skills, which isn’t always easy when you’re feeling sensitive, self-critical, or annoyed with your critic.

8. Receiving criticism that hits a sensitive spot helps you explore unresolved issues.Maybe you’re sensitive about your intelligence because you’re holding onto something someone said to you years ago—something you need to release.

9. Interpreting someone else’s feedback is an opportunity for rational thinking—sometimes, despite a negative tone, criticism is incredibly useful.

10. Criticism encourages you to question your instinctive associations and feelings; praise is good, criticism is bad. If we recondition ourselves to see things in less black and white terms, there’s no stop to how far we can go!

Improved Relationships

11. Criticism presents an opportunity to choose peace over conflict. Oftentimes, when criticized our instinct is to fight, creating unnecessary drama. The people around us generally want to help us, not judge us.

12. Fielding criticism well helps you mitigate the need to be right. Nothing closes an open mind like ego—bad for your personal growth, and damaging for relationships.

13. Your critics give you an opportunity to challenge any people-pleasing tendencies.Relationships based on a constant need for approval can be draining for everyone involved. It’s liberating to let people think whatever they want—they’re going to do it anyway.

14. Criticism gives you the chance to teach people how to treat you. If someone delivers it poorly, you can take this opportunity to tell them, “I think you make some valid points, but I would receive them better if you didn’t raise your voice.”

15. Certain pieces of criticism teach you not to sweat the small stuff. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter that your boyfriend thinks you load the dishwasher “wrong.”

Time Efficiency

16. The more time you spend dwelling about what someone said, the less time you have to do something with it.

17. If you improve how you operate after receiving criticism, this will save time and energy in the future. When you think about from that perspective—criticism as a time saver—it’s hard not to appreciate it!

18. Fostering the ability to let go of feelings and thoughts about being critiqued can help you let go in other areas of your life. Letting go of worries, regrets, stresses, fears, and even positive feelings helps you root yourself in the present moment. Mindfulness is always the most efficient use of time.

19. Criticism reinforces the power of personal space. Taking 10 minutes to process your emotions, perhaps by writing in a journal, will ensure you respond well. And responding the well the first time prevents one critical comment from dominating your day.

20. In some cases, criticism teaches you how to interact with a person, if they’re negative or hostile, for example. Knowing this can save you a lot of time and stress in the future.

Self Confidence

21. Learning to receive false criticism—feedback that has no constructive value—without losing your confidence is a must if you want to do big things in life. The more attention your work receives, the more criticism you’ll have to field.

22. When someone criticizes you, it shines a light on your own insecurities. If you secretly agree that you’re lazy, you should get to the root of that. Why do you believe that—and what can you do about it?

23. Learning to move forward after criticism, even if you don’t feel incredibly confident, ensures no isolated comment prevents you from seizing your dreams.Think of it as separating the wheat from the chaff; takes what’s useful, leave the rest, and keep going!

24. When someone else appraises your harshly, you have an opportunity to monitor your internal self-talk. Research indicates up to 80% of our thoughts are negative. Take this opportunity to monitor and change your thought processes so you don’t drain and sabotage yourself!

25. Receiving feedback well reminds you it’s OK to have flaws—imperfection is part of being human. If you can admit weakness and work on them without getting down on yourself, you’ll experience far more happiness, peace, enjoyment, and success.

We are all perfectly imperfect, and other people may notice that from time to time. We may even notice in it each other.

Somehow accepting that is a huge weight off my mind.

10 Keys to Happier Living

 

1. GIVING: Do things for others

 

Caring about others is fundamental to our happiness. Helping other people is not only good for them and a great thing to do, it also makes us happier and healthier too. Giving also creates stronger connections between people and helps to build a happier society for everyone. And it's not all about money - we can also give our time, ideas and energy. So if you want to feel good, do good! 

 

Q: What do you do to help others? 

 

2. RELATING: Connect with people

 

Relationships are the most important overall contributor to happiness. People with strong and broad social relationships are happier, healthier and live longer. Close relationships with family and friends provide love, meaning, support and increase our feelings of self worth. Broader networks bring a sense of belonging. So taking action to strengthen our relationships and create new connections is essential for happiness.

 

Q: Who matters most to you?

 

3. EXERCISING: Take care of your body

 

Our body and our mind are connected. Being active makes us happier as well as being good for our physical health. It instantly improves our mood and can even lift us out of a depression. We don't all need to run marathons - there are simple things we can all do to be more active each day. We can also boost our well-being by unplugging from technology, getting outside and making sure we get enough sleep!

 

Q: How do you stay active and healthy?

 

4. APPRECIATING: Notice the world around

 

Ever felt there must be more to life? Well good news, there is! And it's right here in front of us. We just need to stop and take notice. Learning to be more mindful and aware can do wonders for our well-being in all areas of life - like our walk to work, the way we eat or our relationships. It helps us get in tune with our feelings and stops us dwelling on the past or worrying about the future - so we get more out of the day-to-day.

 

Q: When do you stop and take notice? 

 

5. TRYING OUT: Keep learning new things

 

Learning affects our well-being in lots of positive ways. It exposes us to new ideas and helps us stay curious and engaged. It also gives us a sense of accomplishment and helps boost our self-confidence and resilience. There are many ways to learn new things - not just through formal qualifications. We can share a skill with friends, join a club, learn to sing, play a new sport and so much more.

 

Q: What new things have you tried recently?

 

6. DIRECTION: Have goals to look forward to

 

Feeling good about the future is important for our happiness. We all need goals to motivate us and these need to be challenging enough to excite us, but also achievable. If we try to attempt the impossible this brings unnecessary stress. Choosing ambitious but realistic goals gives our lives direction and brings a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when we achieve them.

 

Q: What are your most important goals? 

 

7. RESILIENCE: Find ways to bounce back

 

All of us have times of stress, loss, failure or trauma in our lives. But how we respond to these has a big impact on our well-being. We often cannot choose what happens to us, but we can choose our own attitude to what happens. In practice it's not always easy, but one of the most exciting findings from recent research is that resilience, like many other life skills, can be learned.

 

Q: How do you bounce back in tough times?

 

8. EMOTION: Take a positive approach

 

Positive emotions - like joy, gratitude, contentment, inspiration, and pride - are not just great at the time. Recent research shows that regularly experiencing them creates an 'upward spiral', helping to build our resources. So although we need to be realistic about life's ups and downs, it helps to focus on the good aspects of any situation - the glass half full rather than the glass half empty.

 

Q: What are you feeling good about? 

 

9. ACCEPTANCE: Be comfortable with who you are

 

No-one's perfect. But so often we compare our insides to other people's outsides. Dwelling on our flaws - what we're not rather than what we've got - makes it much harder to be happy. Learning to accept ourselves, warts and all, and being kinder to ourselves when things go wrong, increases our enjoyment of life, our resilience and our well-being. It also helps us accept others as they are.

 

Q: What is the real you like?

 

10. MEANING: Be part of something bigger

 

People who have meaning and purpose in their lives are happier, feel more in control and get more out of what they do. They also experience less stress, anxiety and depression. But where do we find 'meaning and purpose'? It might be our religious faith, being a parent or doing a job that makes a difference. The answers vary for each of us but they all involve being connected to something bigger than ourselves.

 

Finding Your Passion

Following your passion can be a tough thing. But figuring out what that passion is can be even more elusive.

 

1. What are you good at? Unless you’re just starting out in life, you have some skills or talent, shown some kind of aptitude. Even if you are just starting out, you might have shown some talent when you were young, even as young as elementary school. Have you always been a good writer, speaker, drawer, organizer, builder, teacher, friend? Have you been good at ideas, connecting people, gardening, selling? Give this some thought. Take at least 30 minutes, going over this question — often we forget about things we’ve done well. Think back, as far as you can, to jobs, projects, hobbies. This could be your passion. Or you may have several things. Start a list of potential candidates.

 

2. What excites you? It may be something at work — a little part of your job that gets you excited. It could be something you do outside of work — a hobby, a side job, something you do as a volunteer or a parent or a spouse or a friend. It could be something you haven’t done in awhile. Again, think about this for 30 minutes, or 15 at the least. If you don’t, you’re probably shortchanging yourself. Add any answers to your list.

 

3. What do you read about? What have you spent hours reading about online? What magazines do you look forward to reading? What blogs do you follow? What section of the bookstore do you usually peruse? There may be many topics here — add them to the list.

 

4. What have you secretly dreamed of? You might have some ridiculous dream job you’ve always wanted to do — to be a novelist, an artist, a designer, an architect, a doctor, an entrepreneur, a programmer. But some fear, some self-doubt, has held you back, has led you to dismiss this idea. Maybe there are several. Add them to the list — no matter how unrealistic.

 

5. Learn, ask, take notes. OK, you have a list. Pick one thing from the list that excites you most. This is your first candidate. Now read up on it, talk to people who’ve been successful in the field (through their blogs, if they have them, or email). Make a list of notes of things you need to learn, need to improve on, skills you want to master, people to talk to. Study up on it, but don’t make yourself wait too long before diving into the next step.

 

6. Experiment, try. Here’s where the learning really takes place. If you haven’t been already, start to do the thing you’ve chosen. Maybe you already are, in which case you might be able to skip to the next step or choose a second candidate to try out. But if you haven’t been, start now — just do it. It can be in the privacy of your own home, but as quickly as possible, make it public however you can. This motivates you to improve, it gets you feedback, and your reputation will improve as you do. Pay attention to how you feel doing it — is it something you look forward to, that gets you excited, that you love to share?

 

7. Narrow things down. I recommend that you pick 3-5 things from your list, if it’s longer than that, and do steps 5 & 6 with them. This could take month, or perhaps you’ve already learned about and tried them all out. So now here’s what you need to ask yourself: which gets you the most excited? Which of these can produce something that people will pay for or get excited about? Which can you see yourself doing for years (even if it’s not a traditional career path)? Pick one, or two at the most, and focus on that. You’re going to do the next three steps with it: banish your fears, find the time, and make it into a career if possible. If it doesn’t work out, you can try the next thing on your list — there’s no shame in giving something a shot and failing, because it’ll teach you valuable lessons that will help you to be successful in the next attempt.

 

8. Banish your fears. This is the biggest obstacle for most people – self-doubt and fear of failure. You’re going to face it and banish it. First, acknowledge it rather than ignoring or denying it. Second, write it down, to externalize it. Third, feel it, and be OK with having it. Fourth, ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Usually it’s not catastrophic. Fifth, prepare yourself for doing it anyway, and then do it. Take small steps, as tiny as possible, and forget about what might happen — focus on what actually is happening, right now. And then celebrate your success, no matter how small.

 

9. Find the time. Don’t have the time to pursue this passion? Make the time, dammit! If this is a priority, you’ll make the time — rearrange your life until you have the time. This might mean waking earlier, or doing it after work or during lunch, or on weekends. It will probably mean canceling some commitments, simplifying your work routing or doing a lot of work in advance (like you’re going on a vacation). Do what it takes.

 

10. How to make a living doing it. This doesn’t happen overnight. You need to do something, get good at it, be passionate about it. This could take months or years, but if you’re having fun, that’s what’s most important. When you get to the point where someone would pay you for it, then you’re golden — there are many ways to make a living at that point, including doing freelance or consulting work, making information products such as ebooks, writing a blog and selling advertising. In fact, I recommend you do a blog if you’re not already — it’ll help solidify your thinking, build a reputation, find people who are interested in what you do, demonstrate your knowledge and passion.

 

I told you this wouldn’t be easy. It’ll require a lot of reflection and soul-searching, at first, then a lot of courage and learning and experimentation, and finally a lot of commitment.

 

But it’s all worth it — every second, every ounce of courage and effort. Because in the end, you’ll have something that will transform your life in so many ways, will give you that reason to jump out of bed, will make you happy no matter how much you make.

 

I hope you follow this guide and find success, because I wish on you nothing less than finding your true passion.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” -