Change Your Attitude...Your Life Will be Changed

[Shamim Ansary]

The 3 Reasons Why Failure is the Key to Success

If you’re like most people, you probably have a bad relationship with failure. You see it as an ending, as proof that your plan didn’t succeed or your ideas weren’t good enough. The truth is, failure happens to everyone. The only thing that separates people who succeed from those who don’t is a proper understanding of the power of failure. Success requires that you learn from mistakes and missteps along the way rather than falling into despair and giving up.

Pay attention to the information here, especially if you’re at a place where failure isn’t your friend, and you will find that opportunity lies in every defeat. Here are 3 reasons why failure is the key to success.
1. Failure is a Function of Trying

The best way to measure your progress at something is the number of setbacks and “failures” you’ve had. If you haven’t failed yet, chances are you aren’t trying very hard. Failure is the blacksmith’s hammer that tempers the sword of success. If you want to get really good at something, you have to fail at least a few times.

If you look at all the great men and women throughout history, you’ll notice that they had one main thing in common. They failed, and they failed often. Think of Thomas Edison. How many times did he fail to find the right filament for his light bulb? There are various estimates, but they all range in the ballpark of a whole heck of a lot. Henry Ford knew of failure intimately. So much so that he is quoted for saying the following: “Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.”

Clearly, failure represents opportunity and growth, not deficit and loss.
2. Success Lies in Seeing Failure as a Tool

Just as all the greats have something in common, so too do the true “failures” of life: their inability to use failure as a tool. When you feel that sinking, desperate sensation known as failure and you take it to heart, you diminish yourself. You give your power away to an external event. Success is about learning how to recognize why you failed, and how you’re going to compensate for it.

I find it helpful to ask myself the following questions upon failures, big and small.

    * What brought about the failure?
    * How much of it is in my realm of influence?
    * How can I use my influence to turn failure into success?
    * What steps do I need to go through to try again?
    * What can I do every day to ensure that my next try is done more intelligently?

You may want to get out a piece of paper and go through that list. Be completely open and honest as you ask yourself each question. Analyze your answers carefully and implement them – don’t procrastinate! Remember, failure is an opportunity, not a burden. Be grateful for a chance to grow.
3. Failure Builds Character

If you look at the events leading up to any significant victory, you’ll often discover failure as the biggest motivator. Just as the Colorado River created the Grand Canyon over a period of millions of years, success can also come in small chunks, and they’re part of any winning strategy. On the other hand, waiting years upon years for something to happen isn’t effective when you can take action now.

So what do you need to consistently test yourself and learn from failed attempts? Character.

Success occurs in leaps and bounds for people who are ready for it. To genuinely create value, day in and day out, requires determination, purpose, and most of all, that subtle yet all-important trait known as character. Failure is a far better character builder than any affirmation or fleeting goal. While each success will propel you by a small amount, failure will forge your career – and your personality – like nothing else will. It’s the difference between a natural lake being formed over thousands of years and a man-made lake coming into fruition in under a year.

***

Success takes willpower, intelligence, determination, and grit. But more than anything else, it requires failure. Use this is an opportunity to reassess your relationship to the true key to success that so many people fear.

[Shamim Ansary]

The 5 Truths That Creates Human Happiness

To be happy is the pursuit of any normal human being. Compared to sadness, happiness breeds an atmosphere of joy and strength that sustains and energizes us.

To be happy at work, to be happy at play, to be happy in our homes and amidst our family is something that all of us desire.

But how do we find this happiness?

Here are five truths that I trust will clearly define it for you.

1. Happiness doesn’t come from what we have

I have seen happier people in an African village hut with a dirt floor than someone I knew who lived in a multi-million dollar mansion overlooking water, with the Riviera and jet skis parked near or on the pontoon, and the 7 series BMW parked in their garage.

It’s a fact that having things, having talent, having money, and having all the trappings will not necessarily equate to happiness in your life.

But how much better it is to be happy with or without – whether you abound or are abased.
2. Happiness comes from what we use

By simply deciding to be happy, no matter what you find yourself doing at the time, it will lead to only one thing – happiness.

I have experienced happiness cleaning toilets, packing shelves, writing and publishing books, conducting meetings as the CEO of my own company, coaching other businesses and speaking professionally.

It’s not what I have done that has been my greatest source of happiness. It has been using what I have at the time with the knowledge and understanding I had. Joy has been bred by having an attitude to be ever learning and ever growing in a state of happiness.
3. Happiness doesn’t come from what we see

Some say ‘seeing is believing’. I would rather declare that ‘believing is in seeing’.

When I have at times had to do things that may not have necessarily fitted my ‘dream’ list of activities, I have learnt to be happy by focussing on my own personal dream for my future, recognising that the current task I may be engaged in is simply a vehicle that is carrying me to my destination.

Life is filled with seasons, and by approaching the summers, winters, autumns or falls and springs of our life with a positive attitude, then happiness can be our companion throughout the coldest morning, the sunniest afternoon, or the darkest night.
4. Happiness comes from what we choose

Choice is a magnificent word. We can, in an instant, choose to be unhappy, and yet on the flipside of that we can also choose to be happy.

Every day, throughout the three years that I owned and operated a cleaning business, I had the choice to either approach each dirty house or factory I faced with a smile or a frown.

Satisfaction was gained by focussing on the end result of each completed cleaning assignment before I even started. Two outcomes were presented to me – a place was transformed into a property that shone in a state of cleanliness that I created and this filled me with a healthy sense of pride, and secondly the financial reward received for a job well done.

In business for myself, I was in charge of my own destiny without being at the beck and call of an employer.
5. Happiness must rise from within

John Mason states that ‘these are the things that mar or bless human happiness.’ So dependant upon how you apply the above four truths, your happiness will be determined.

Happiness must rise from within, unaffected by the circumstances surrounding us.

Take time to develop this winning habit – a state of ‘dissatisfied satisfaction’ that moves you forward towards your dreams, filled with happiness, and you will experience nothing less than a blessed life.

[Shamim Ansary]

The 5 Winning Habits of Successful People... DO You Have Them All

1. They have an end in mind

You feel lost when you do not have a destination to move towards. People who achieved great success have an end in mind. They know what they want and they commit themselves to achieve it.

When you have a goal, you have something to focus on. If you do not have a goal, you will be wandering around feeling lost. Having an end in mind can help guide you towards your destination.

2. Have a reason

Having an end in mind is only one part of the story. Winners have a reason behind their goals. They know their purpose behind achieving their goals.

The journey towards your goals is full of obstacles. Most people gave up half way because they lack reasons behind their goals. However, those who have strong reasons behind their goals have higher chances to move past those obstacles.

The likelihood of giving up is drastically higher if you do not have reasons behind your goals. If you have a goal to lose 20 lbs but lack reasons behind it, you will find it hard to achieve this goal. However, if you have a strong reason such as you want to lose 20 lbs in 3 months time because you want to look your best during your wedding ceremony, the likelihood of losing weight is much higher.

When you have a compelling reason to support your goals, you drastically increase the possibility of achieving it.

3. Have a support group

It is easy to give up when you are alone on this journey. Form a support or mastermind group to help you along the way.

To form your own support group, find like-minded people who want to achieve similar goals. Keep your group small with only two to six people. You need to choose your members carefully. Choose members who are positive, goal oriented and are pursuing similar goals to yours.

If you do not know where you can find your own support group, try out MeetUp.com or related forums to what you are doing (fitness forums, personal development forums etc).

4. They are particular about how they spend their time

If you do not know how you spend your time, you will waste most of your time away. Time is one of our most precious resources. You can waste your money and still manage to earn it back but there isn’t any way for you to get back your time if you waste it away.

You have to be aware of how you spent your time. If you want to achieve your goals but you are spending 70 percent of your time watching TV and hanging out with friends, most likely you will not reach your goals.

Keep a time log. There are many mobile and web-based applications that can help you track where you are spending your time. Rescue Time is a great web-based app that can help you track what you are doing on the computer and how much time you spent on each different site.

Use your preferred time log to get a clear picture of how you are spending your time and make the necessary adjustments. If you are serious about changing your life and achieving your goals, spend more time on the essential tasks instead of time wasters.

5. Try fast, fail fast, keep trying and never give up

It is hard to hit the target with your first try. This is why winners try fast, fail fast, keep trying and never give up. There are many things that you don’t know how to do it and trial and error is one of the ways to help you pick up new stuff.

You can learn faster by trying faster and failing more times in a shorter period. You learn at a slower pace when you are too slow to take action. When you take action to try fast, you will learn at a faster rate and know what things work and what don’t.

You can make the necessary adjustments along the way to make things right and move closer to your goals. If you are slow to take action, you jeopardize the whole process and slow down your progress.

You may face many frustrations during your learning process. However, don’t give up. Keep on trying out new ideas that you had picked up. Keep doing those that work and kick away ideas that don’t work.

There is a short cut to this process. Get yourself a mentor or a coach. Whether you want to lose weight or start your own online business, a mentor who has been there can help you move faster towards your goal.

Since they had already reached where you want to be, they will know about the challenges that you will face and what will work for you. Borrow their knowledge and you will achieve your goals in a much shorter amount of time.

If you decide to make a difference to your life, I challenge you to take action now. Start planning for your goals. Make this year your best year ever. Will you take up the challenge?

[Shamim Ansary]

Achieving Big Goals: Have You Taken Your One Step Everyday

1. Set a goal you believe in

You need a powerful source of motivation to stay consistent in the long term. Because of that, your goal should be something you believe in, something you really care about. Otherwise you won’t be able to keep at it for months or even years.

2. Allocate time for it every day

Don’t just wait until you have time. Instead, make the time. I usually allocate a minimum amount of time to work on my goal daily. You may want to take time off on the weekend and some other occasions, but other than that thrive to meet your commitment.

3. Use the time for real work

What’s the use of allocating time if you use most of it to procrastinate? So make sure that you do real work during it. For this purpose, I use a timer. Whenever I stop working in the middle of a session, I stop the timer. Then I restart it when I get back to work. This way I know that I’ve spent the whole allocated time for real work.

4. Take the shortest path

Allocating time for your goal won’t help if it doesn’t take you closer to your goal. A common pitfall is using the time for things that aren’t really necessary.

To avoid this, always keep your goal in mind and build the desire to achieve it as soon as possible. Setting a tight deadline is a good way to help you stay focused.

[Shamim Ansary]

The 7 Timeless Principles of Achievements

1. It isn’t how much you work, but how you work that makes the difference

Being at the office for 10 hours straight doesn’t mean you got the most done and, what is more important, it doesn’t mean that you brought the most value to your employer.

If you are going to be successful it is important that you spend your time as wisely as possible. Make sure you are always working on your highest value task, bringing value to your employer and yourself.

Working on time management skills that make you able to produce more in less time is a shortcut that will boost you on your path.

2. Hard work pays off

With step one understood, hard work does pay off. Spending an hour more at the office than your colleagues does mean that you get more done. Working the whole day, instead of taking breaks by the coffee machine, makes you a lot more productive. And being the first into the office every morning so that you have time to plan your day will give you the ease of mind you need to produce.

3. The only thing holding you back is your imagination

We can do anything, as long as we set our mind to it. I want to give you an example from the movie “A Knights Tale” with Heath Ledger. When Heaths character, William, is a young boy he is apprenticed to a knight. His dream was to become a knight himself, something that should have been far out of reach as he wasn’t of noble birth, which was required to compete.

His father tells him that he can, if he believes. If he believes it so strongly and works with all his might, it will happen.

As it turns out, he becomes a knight and his dreams are realized.

Of course this is a story, but the moral of the story is based on fact. If you believe something powerfully enough, you will find a way to make your dream reality.

4. Leading a balanced life is the key

A trap many fall into is that they don’t find balance in their life.

You are not successful if you aren’t successful in all 4 major areas of your life: finance, career, family and health.

Succeeding in one doesn’t compensate for failure in another. Spend time on all 4 areas and the synergy effect will help you become more successful in each area as well.

5. Improve every day

Constant improvement is crucial to your success. If you are to become the best you have to continuously improve. Life is a race and if you aren’t running, someone else will pass you.

6. It isn’t your genes that determine your level of success

This was at first hard for me to grasp before I understood it. It isn’t what you are born with that determines how far you will go. It is your discipline, your motivation and your hunger that will make you successful.

Just like I saw with my friends, the only one of us to make the minor leagues was the kid we used to stick out in right field because he could neither throw, catch or run.

7. Be proactive

Always be in charge of your own life. Be in the driver’s seat. Don’t let the circumstances you find yourself in, the stimuli thrust upon you, control you. Control the circumstances and create your own brakes.

Conclusion

By following these principles you have the basis on which you can form your success, the foundation on which to build and realize your dreams. Never give up because whatever and whoever you want to be, you can succeed, if you chose to.

[Shamim Ansary]

Being Successful: 17 Proven Lessons

1. Do what you love

I know that this advice has been repeated many times. But it’s true. And King put it in a way I’ve never seen before:

    For me, not working is the real work. When I’m writing, it’s all the playground…

I love the way he put it. Not working is the real work. Writing time is all the playground. Can you say that about your work? I enjoy what I’m doing, but I still can’t say that not working is the real work. This guy loves his craft at a different level and he’s serious about it. He made similar statements several times throughout the book.

Now, what if you do something that you don’t love? King’s advice is to move to something else:

    If there’s no joy in it, it’s just no good. It’s best to go on to some other area, where… the fun quotient higher.

How high is the fun quotient of your work? Is there joy in it? Or is joy the last word you would associate with your work?

2. Practice, practice, practice

Hard practice is a must for being successful. In fact, this is why it’s important for you to do what you love. If you enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll be able to endure the hard practice needed for success.

    The sort of strenuous reading and writing program I advocate – four to six hours a day, every day – will not seem strenuous if you really enjoy doing these things…

    â€¦ practice is invaluable (and should feel good, really not like practice at all)…

If you don’t enjoy the journey, it’s unlikely that you will be able to pay the price for success. Joy is a big factor that makes the difference between those who make it and those who don’t.

3. Be serious

    If you can take it seriously, we can do business.

Only if you are serious about what you do can you expect to achieve meaningful results. Many people enjoy what they do but they do it only as a hobby. Being serious means being committed to master your field.

4. Ignore naysayers

    If you write… someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.

Naysayers are there. It’s just a fact of life. There are always people who try to discourage you no matter how hard you’ve tried. So rather than getting discouraged by them, simply ignore them and move on.

5. Have a supporter

    Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference.

This applies not just to writing. Whatever field you choose, you need to have someone who support you. You need to have someone who still believes in you when others don’t.

6. Immerse yourself in the field

    If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.

Do you want to get good at something? Fill your life with it. Live it and breathe it. More than just making you familiar with the field, it sharpens your intuition to the point where you can make sound judgment intuitively (like what Malcolm Gladwell discussed in Blink).

7. Be consistent

    I like to get ten pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words… only under dire circumstances do I allow myself to shutdown before I get my 2,000 words.

    The longer you keep to these basics, the easier the act of writing will become.

Being consistent isn’t easy, but it pays off. While what you do daily might seem simple, doing it consistently will make a big difference in the long term.

8. Study the work of others

    You have to read widely, constantly refining (and redefining) your own work as you do so.

Studying the work of others gives you two important benefits. First, it teaches you about the right way to do things. Second, it teaches you about the wrong way to do things. Both are useful.

9. Study the market

    You should also pick up the writers’ journal and buy a copy of Writer’s Market…

    â€¦ the most important thing you can do for yourself is read the market.

In addition to studying the work of others, you should study the market. You need to know what the current state of the market is. What are the opportunities? What are the challenges? Where is the market going? By understanding the market, you’ll be able to make the right decisions.

10. Spot ideas

    Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.

To get ideas, rather than trying to find something new on your own, you just need to spot the ideas around you. That’s why one key to innovation is being a good observer.

11. Keep the momentum going

    Once I start work on a project, I don’t stop and I don’t slow down unless I absolutely have to.

When the momentum is there, you can complete your work with much less time and energy. So keep the momentum going and don’t lose it.

12. Get the first draft out as quickly as possible

    â€¦downloading what’s in my head directly to the page, I write as fast as I can…

Don’t try to be perfect the first time. Simply get the first draft of your work out and refine from there. Working in iterations is the best way to get something done.

13. Get rid of the inessentials

    When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.

In your first iteration, there is a good chance that many unnecessary things are still there. That’s fine because your job is to get the first version done as quickly as possible. But in the next iterations, you should get rid of them. Leave only what needs to be there and nothing else.

14. Be your own first customer

    I am, after all, not just the novel’s creator but its first reader.

When you become the creator of a work, it’s often difficult to see from the perspective of the customers. But that’s important because otherwise your work might go to the the wrong direction. So be your own first customer. Take a critical look at your work. Is it something that you want to use? Is there anything that you need to change?

15. Don’t do it for the money

    Do you do it for the money, honey? The answer is no. Don’t now and never did… I never set a single word down on paper with the thought of being paid for it.

Money is a bad motivation to have. It could make you ignore your heart and you might end up living someone else’s life instead of your own.

16. Do it for the joy

    I have written because it fulfilled me… I did it for the pure joy of the thing. And if you can do it for joy, you can do it forever.

This is perhaps the most important lesson in the book. If you do something for the joy of it, not only can you endure the difficult journey to success but also your life will be fulfilling. What’s better than that?

17. Do it to enrich others and yourself

    Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous,… In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well.

A nice conclusion of the book. If you live a life that enriches others and yourself, you’re living a great life.

Source of these write ups: http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/category/attitude/

[Shamim Ansary]

Your Attitude Is Everything!

1) Heavy rains remind us of challenges in life. Never ask for a lighter rain. Just pray for a better umbrella. That is attitude.
2) When flood comes, fish eat ants & when flood recedes, ants eat fish. Only time matters. Just hold on, God gives opportunity to everyone.

3) Some people always throw stones in your path. It depends on you what you make with them, Wall or Bridge? Remember you are the architect of your life.

4) Every problem has (n+1) solutions, where n is the number of solutions that you have already tried and 1 is that you have not tried yet. That’s life.

5) It’s not important to hold all the good cards in life. But it’s important how well you play with the cards which you hold.

6) Often when we lose all hope & think this is the end, God smiles from above and says, “Relax dear it’s just a bend. Not the end”. Have Faith and have a successful life.

7) When you feel sad, to cheer up just go to the mirror and say, “Damn I am really so cute and you will overcome your sadness”. But do not make this a habit because liars go to hell.

One of the basic differences between God and human is, God gives, gives, gives and forgives. But human gets, gets, gets and forgets. Be thankful in life.

[shibli]

Success today isn't just a matter of having smart people or better technology. Success depends on a team of passionate, highly motivated people in every position at an organization.

[goodboy]

Rightfully, success depends mainly upon the successive correlation among a group of people or activity.

[Shamim Ansary]

Decide which type of a person you are!

[goodboy]

Steve Jobs 12 rules for success:

1. Do what you love to do.
2. Be different.
3. Do your best.
4. Do SWOT analysis.
5. Be Entrepreneurial.
6. Start small, think big.
7. Strive to become a market leader.
8. Focus for the outcome.
9. Ask for feedback.
10. Innovate.
11. Learn for Failures.
12. Learn continually.

[shibli]

No human being can ever claim that he or she does not make mistakes. Only prophets were free from errors with the help of the Almighty. Can any president, any leader, any manager say that he or she never committed mistakes in life....? I have headache, should i cut down my head? Is this the proper solution? There are fifth category of people who make mistakes n learn from them not to make the same again...

[Mohammad Salek Parvez]

for those who believe in the afterworld:
Are we successful if we are failure there ?
: SP :

[rumman]

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind."
-William James

[najnin]

very good writing and need some countable time to read whole article. Now i bookmarked this article and in free time I like to read it carefully. thanks a lot for a good learning writing.

Mst. Najnin Sultana
Senior Lecturer,
ETE, FSIT