Are You a Professional?

How you look, talk, write, act and work determine whether you are a professional or an amateur. Society does not emphasize the importance of professionalism, so people tend to believe that amateur work is normal. Many businesses accept less-than-good results.

Schools graduate students who cannot read. You can miss 15% of the driving-test answers and still get a drivers license. "Just getting by" is an attitude many people accept. But it is the attitude of amateurs.

Don't ever do anything as though you were an amateur.

"Anything you do, do it as a Professional to Professional standards.

"If you have the idea about anything you do that you just dabble in it, you will wind up with a dabble life. There'll be no satisfaction in it because there will be no real production you can be proud of.

"Develop the frame of mind that whatever you do, you are doing it as a professional and move up to professional standards in it.

"Never let it be said of you that you lived an amateur life.

"Professionals see situations and they handle what they see. They are not amateur dabblers.

"So learn this as a first lesson about life. The only successful beings in any field, including living itself, are those who have a professional viewpoint and make themselves and ARE professionals" — L. Ron Hubbard

So here's my take on this

• A professional learns every aspect of the job. An amateur skips the learning process whenever possible.
• A professional carefully discovers what is needed and wanted. An amateur assumes what others need and want.
• A professional looks, speaks and dresses like a professional. An amateur is sloppy in appearance and speech.
• A professional keeps his or her work area clean and orderly. An amateur has a messy, confused or dirty work area.
• A professional is focused and clear-headed. An amateur is confused and distracted.
• A professional does not let mistakes slide by. An amateur ignores or hides mistakes.
• A professional jumps into difficult assignments. An amateur tries to get out of difficult work.
• A professional completes projects as soon as possible. An amateur is surrounded by unfinished work piled on top of unfinished work.
• A professional remains level-headed and optimistic. An amateur gets upset and assumes the worst.
• A professional handles money and accounts very carefully. An amateur is sloppy with money or accounts.
• A professional faces up to other people’s upsets and problems. An amateur avoids others’ problems.
• A professional uses higher emotional tones: Enthusiasm, cheerfulness, interest, contentment. An amateur uses lower emotional tones: anger, hostility, resentment, fear, victim.
• A professional persists until the objective is achieved. An amateur gives up at the first opportunity.
• A professional produces more than expected. An amateur produces just enough to get by.
• A professional produces a high-quality product or service. An amateur produces a medium-to-low quality product or service.
• A professional earns high pay. An amateur earns low pay and feels it’s unfair.
• A professional has a promising future. An amateur has an uncertain future.

The first step to making yourself a professional is to decide that YOU ARE  a professional and then work towards making the necessary changes.

Do you feel persecuted?

Oh Boy! I know many who feel this way. It’s a struggle with your inner self. They are so unhappy, it’s like been high on Negativity, So much fear and anxiety. I thought this would be a great topic for me to post today.

So what does Persecution complex really mean?

Persecution complex has symptoms that show a person believes that others are out to get or hurt them in some way. It is utterly ungrounded in reality and at times exaggerated paranoia, but it reflects a belief that everyone has it in for them. It may be seen when the person interacts in normal ways and then over-reacts to perceived wrongs. For example, one person might see the affected individual as going to a restaurant, eating lunch and leaving and going to a library, checking out a book and then going to the dry cleaners to pick up some clothing. What the person with the complex sees is entirely different. They might see a waitress out to get their money by enticing them to get more of the expensive food on the menu and that the waitress purposely delivered their meal late and got the order wrong just to irritate them. Then they may feel that when they went to the library, the library personnel purposely did not offer to help them while they were perusing the shelves and that they chose to check out other patrons before them. After leaving there they may feel people who parked in the handicap spots at the dry cleaners are not really handicapped and they have it in for handicapped people and that's why they took all the spaces and it upsets the person because they have to park far away. After going in to pick up the dry cleaning, and being told it isn't ready yet, they assume it is because the workers did not like them and purposely delayed cleaning their garments and did others first. Of course in 99% of the examples above, nothing could be further from the truth, but the person persists in the belief that everyone does not like them and wants to make their life miserable.

So what’s the cure?

Many say that if the situation is of an extreme nature, it may require the help of a psychiatrist. But I have known many who have got over this problem successfully. With lots of love, and unbelievable amounts of patience and most of all confidence in the patient this situation could be brought to manageable proportions.

No Diploma, No Problem

Ever wonder where the chief executives of some of the world’s most successful companies went to college? Well, don’t tell your kids, but some CEOs never graduated college—and some never even bothered to apply. 

From computers to cruise lines, these CEOs made it to the top without a college degree and defied the idea that to be successful you have to have a diploma. 

The Secret to their success is simple, Just 5 key areas to develop and your there.
1.Job skills.

2.Analytical Skills like creative thinking, reasoning & decision making.

3.Social Skills like interacting, managing & motivating.

4.Certain attitudes like discipline, willpower & ambition.

5.Values like integrity, respect, honesty & tolerance.

Ralph Lauren

Position: CEO, Polo Ralph Lauren
Market Cap: $11.9 billion

Ralph Lauren, the chief executive of Polo Ralph Lauren , established his company in 1967 as a line of men's ties and developed the company into a global fashion empire. Lauren's successful clothing line came from his unique, classic style that went against conventional fashion of the time.

Bill Gates

Position: Co-Founder/Chairman, Microsoft 

Market Cap: $226.2 billion

College dropouts such as Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz are not the only successful business founders who attended, and then left, Harvard University.

during his first year of college.

Gates dropped out of Harvard in his junior year to concentrate all his efforts on a company he called Micro-soft with his childhood friend Paul Allen.

As if founding Microsoft wasn't enough, Gates went on to found Corbis , one of the world largest resources of visual information. He also earned a seat on the board of directors for Berkshire Hathaway , an investment company engaged in diverse business activity.

Today, Gates serves as Microsoft's chairman and as an advisor on key development projects.

Alfred Taubman
Position: Founder, Taubman Centers
Market Cap: $3.3 billion
Alfred Taubman, the founder and former chief executive of Taubman Centers , began his career in retail at age 11 at a Sims department store, where he continued to work through high school. After Taubman graduated, he attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for less than a year, when he was called to military service during World War II. After his service was complete, Taubman returned to the University of Michigan to study art and architecture. Soon after, he proposed to his college sweetheart and transferred to night school. 

Mark Zuckerberg

Position: Founder/CEO, Facebook
Company Value: $100 billion (Recent estimate)
Although Facebook isn’t publicly traded, we can’t leave this chief executive out of a successful college-dropout list—besides you are probably on his site everyday.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, showed an early interest in computers. As a child, he created early communication tools and games from his bedroom. In high school, he created an MP3 program and soon received offers from AOL and Microsoft , which he ignored.

After being accepted at Harvard University, Zuckerberg built a program called Facemash, which showed pictures of students and allowed their peers to vote on who was more attractive

Richard Branson

Position: CEO, Virgin Group
Company Worth: $18 billion
Virgin Media Market Cap: $8.1 billion

Forget graduating from college, this chief executive didn't even finish high school. Richard Branson, the current CEO of Virgin Group , dropped out of high school at age 16 to start Student Magazine . Four years later, Branson founded Virgin Group as a mail-order retailer. He opened his first record shop in London and two years later built Virgin's first recording studio. In 1977, Branson signed his first big name group, the Sex Pistols, and continued to sign popular artists such as the Rolling Stones and Culture Club.

In 1984, Branson developed Virgin Atlantic and the brand began to grow. Today, Virgin Group provides mobile, broadband, TV, radio, finance, health, tourism, leisure, and travel services.

Micky Arison

Position: CEO, Carnival
Market Cap: $19.6 billion
Instead of spending four years in college, this chief executive spent time working his way up the chain of command at Carnival . Micky Arison, the CEO of Carnival, started in the sales department and was promoted to reservations manager in 1974. He was later promoted to vice president of passenger traffic and just three years later he was named president of the company. Arison helped acquire Holland America Line, Windstar Cruises and Westours, allowing Carnival to become one of the leading cruise lines in the industry. Arison showed that it’s possible to work your way from an entry-level position to CEO without a college degree.In 1987, he was appointed chairman of the board and in 2003 he reached the highest position in the company as CEO.

Paul Allen
Position: Co-Founder, Microsoft

Market Cap: $226.2 billion
Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, his childhood friend, is another chief executive who never got a college degree.
According to Allen’s memoir, “Idea Man,” Allen was inspired to write a coding language when he saw the Altair 8800 computer on the cover of a Popular Electronics magazine. Allen knew Gates and he both had the skills to code a programming language for the Altair and after convincing his friend to collaborate, the pair ushered in a new technological era. Today, Allen has a multibillion-dollar investment portfolio, which includes multiple technology and media companies, along with a major real estate redevelopment in Seattle. Allen also owns the Seattle Seahawks football team, the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team, and is part of the primary ownership group for the soccer team Seattle Sounders Football Club.
Allen has given away more than $1 billion toward his philanthropic efforts and has said he plans to leave the majority of his estate to charities.

Richard Schultz

Position: Founder/Former CEO, Best Buy 

Market Cap: $10.1 billion 
Richard Schultz, the former CEO and founder of Best Buy , started working as a paperboy at age 11 and had a series of jobs throughout high school. He had planned to go to the University of St. Thomas, but military service in the Minnesota Air National Guard stopped him from fulfilling his college-bound dream. 

After his service in the military, Schultz worked for his father selling electronic components. A few years later, he founded his own company,The Sound of Music , which sold audio components, sheet music, records, tapes, and instruments. 

In the 1980s, Schultz realized that a small business was not going to survive in a widely evolving industry, so he changed the name of his company to Best Buy and expanded his product line. Schultz felt that consumers would be drawn to his stores if they could see the products they were buying on shelves, instead of keeping them in the back room. This technique helped create a new experience for shoppers.
I am not trying to say Educating oneself is not worth it, many fields require high levels of study, The whole Idea of this is to motivate those who have not studied and who think life is lost and feel down and out. I  have not studied extensively either, but I have achieved something in my life due to hard work and a positive attitude.Anything is possible! Believe in yourself.

How fat is your Wallet?

Slim Down, Back Up, and Organize Your Wallet

I had dinner last night with a friend of mine who kindly obliged to pay the bill. When he took out his wallet I was shocked to see the enormity of it. I've become a bit obsessive about reducing the wallet pocket bump, which inspired me to write this piece.

Is it time to reorganize your wallet? Here are few strategies for doing just that:

1. Take out everything that’s in your wallet..

2. Scrutinize every bit of paper or whatever you find in it (you will be amazed at the stuff you will find)

3. Now start prioritizing to what you want in your wallet and start putting things in.

Once you have finished, you will be amazed to find how much of junk you have left behind with

Simplicity is the key for wallet organization.  The less you have in your wallet the easier it will be to keep it clean and organized

Remember. It is important to keep ONLY what you need and not what you think you are going to need.

What's Your Personality?

The whole point of this post and personality development in general is to develop the characteristics you want to have rather than the ones you’ve been conditioned with.

Personality Development quintessentially means enhancing and grooming one’s outer and inner self to bring about a positive change to your life. Each individual has a distinct persona that can be developed, polished and refined. This process includes boosting one’s confidence, improving communication and language speaking abilities, widening ones scope of knowledge, developing certain hobbies or skills, learning fine etiquettes and manners, adding style and grace to the way one looks, talks and walks and overall imbibing oneself with positivity, liveliness and peace.

The whole process of this development takes place over a period of time. Even though there are many crash courses in personality development that are made available to people of all age groups, implementing this to your routine and bringing about a positive change in oneself takes a considerable amount of time. It is not necessary to join a personality development course; one can take a few tips and develop his or her own aura or charm.

·         You may have heard this a million times “Think Positive”. It works.

·         Smile. And smile some more. It adds to your face value and to your personality as well.

·         Read a few articles in the newspaper loudly. This will help in communicating fluently.

·         Follow table manners and dining etiquettes.

·         Take good care of your health, dress well, be neat and organized.

·         Prepare a chart that mentions your strengths and weaknesses. Now concentrate on the latter and find ways to improve upon the same. Do not forget to strengthen your strengths.

·         Spend some time alone concentrating on you and yourself alone.

·        Practice meditation and yoga. It will help you develop inner peace and harmony that will reflect outside.

·       Do not live a monotonous life. Be creative and do something new all the time. Nothing bigger than the joy of creative satisfaction.

Personality development is gaining more and more importance because it enables people to create a good impression about themselves on others; it helps them to build and develop relationships, helps in your career growth and also helps to improve your financial needs.

After all, personality development is nothing but a tool that helps you realize your capabilities and your strengths making you a stronger, a happier and a cheerful person.

Your current personality, whatever it may be, has been formed in a number of ways. First of all, it is believed that certain traits in our character are hereditary, yet things like our values and beliefs are derived from socialization and unique experiences, mostly from childhood.

Based on that statement, it’s likely that the personality of you and anyone you know is based on:

·         Social experiences (especially from childhood)

·         Unique experiences that you have had in your lifetime

·         The environment in which you grew up and how you had to act

Following are four steps that I have personally used in the past month to help bring about a change in my own personality that have allowed me to literally be the type of person I want to be.

1. Be honest with your current traits (the good and the bad)
2. Define the qualities you want to have
3. Visualize yourself with these qualities
4. Act as if they are present

Beautiful Advice to Follow

In my 20 odd Years in the sales field, I have come across and witnessed so many people throw away their Family Life, Career and Happiness. It’s a shame that people take so long to identify their mistakes, and for many of them, it's too late. I try so hard to help people do the right things and specially to change for the good, which inspired me today after an eventfull days work to write this piece for you all.

An Angel says, 'Never borrow from the future. If you worry about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn't happen, you have worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice.'
Here's my take on it:

1. Pray

2. Go to bed on time.

3. Get up on time so you can start the day unrushed.

4. Say No to projects that won't fit into your time schedule or that will compromise your mental health.

5. Delegate tasks to capable others.

6. Simplify and unclutter your life.

7. Less is more. (Although one is often not enough, two are often too many.)

8. Allow extra time to do things and to get to places.

9. Pace yourself. Spread out big changes and difficult projects over time; don't lump the hard things all together.

10. Take one day at a time.

11. Separate worries from concerns. If a situation is a concern, find out what God would have you do and let go of the anxiety... If you can't do anything about a situation, forget it.

12. Live within your budget; don't use credit cards for ordinary purchases.

13. Have backups; an extra car key in your wallet, an extra house key buried in the garden etc.

14. K.M.S. (Keep Mouth Shut). This single piece of advice can prevent an enormous amount of trouble.

15. Do something for the Kid in You everyday.

16. Carry a Bible with you to read while waiting in line.

17. Get enough rest

18. Eat right.

19 Get organized so everything has its place.

20. Listen to a tape while driving that can help improve your quality of life.

21. Write down thoughts and inspirations.

22. Every day, find time to be alone.

23. Having problems? Talk to God on the spot. Try to nip small problems in the bud. Don't wait until it's time to go to bed to try and pray.

24. Make friends with Godly people.

25. Keep a folder of favorite scriptures on hand.

26. Remember that the shortest bridge between despair and hope is often a good 'Thank you God.

27. Laugh.

28. Laugh some more!

29. Take your work seriously, but not yourself at all.

30. Develop a forgiving attitude (most people are doing the best they can).

31. Be kind to unkind people (they probably need it the most).

32. Sit on your ego

33. Talk less; listen more.

34. Slow down.

35. Remind yourself that you are not the general manager of the universe.

36. Every night before bed, think of one thing you're grateful for that you've never been grateful for before. 

The Power of Perseverance – Finish What You Start & Don’t Give Up!

Today on my way to work I wanted to increase the temperature of the A/C in the car, but for some reason the nob that controls the temperature was just turning without any change. I tried for the duration of my journey (which is 30 minutes from my home to office) without any luck. On the way I was wondering whether should I stop trying, but I told myself “no” I must not give up I will try until I get it done. So I reached office, and hear I was, my car parked , still trying to change the temperature, Many at office were wondering why I am still in the car. Eventually it happened I was able to change the temperature as to my requirement. This inspired me to write this piece on Perseverance.

If the "how to" for achieving success” had to be summed up in just one single word, that word would be perseverance. It is the one characteristic shared by all successful people throughout history.  Perseverance is the true essence of success!

I find it quite ironic how similar persistence and insanity can appear from a spectator's point of view.  Einstein said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Persistence is NOT insanity.  Giving up your purpose or goal due to obstacles - that's insanity! The key to determination is the word "decision".  You must decide what you want before you can get it. Despite the sanity and perfectly legitimate reasoning behind back up plans, I always admired those who refused to even think of a backup plan because they were so determined that their plan was going to work.  Determination takes great self-confidence and decisiveness. You must be willing to completely disregard all alternatives to your decision and set it clear in your mind that you MUST and you WILL.

As Dale Carnegie says “Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.

Do you finish what you start? Do you possess enough inner strength to go through with what you start doing?

How many times have you started to do something with enthusiasm and energy, and then lost your enthusiasm and energy after a while?

How many times have you made promises to yourselves and to others, with the intention of following them through, only to forget about them after some time?

How do you define success? This is how I look at it.

Persistence.  - The act of holding firmly and steadfastly to a purpose, state, goal, or undertaking despite obstacles, warnings, or setbacks.

Determination.  - The quality of mind which reaches definite conclusions; decision of character; resoluteness.

Perseverance.  - Persistent determination.

Most of the time, we don’t finish what we start, we loose our belief , we lose interest, because we realize that,

• We don’t really want what we started doing.
• It requires too much time or money, than what we are willing to invest.
• We realize that there are more important things we want.
• We have a gut feeling that this is not the right thing to do.

Quite often, we make promises and start doing things without prior thinking and analysis. We start doing things due to temporary enthusiasm, in response to something we saw or heard, but when the enthusiasm wanes, so does the desire to follow through.

In all these cases, and other similar ones, our decision to quit what we are doing might be justified sometimes, and unjustified at other times. The problem starts when quit, due to lack of self-discipline and perseverance. If we lack self-discipline and perseverance, how can we achieve anything, even small minor, everyday tasks?

So what’s the Solution?

• Make it a habit to finish what you start.
• Whenever you feel that you are losing enthusiasm and interest, think about and visualize the benefits, and how what you are doing will benefit and improve your life, and other people’s lives.
• Develop self-discipline, finish what you start. Make it a habit. Have faith in yourself.
• Have daily affirmations, read inspiring quotes.

I won’t tell you, “Stick with what you are doing, no matter what”, because if you need to be told this sentence, it means you lack self-discipline and perseverance, and these words won’t help you. You will need to develop these skills, but how can you do so, if you cannot finish what you start?

With just some mind training, you will start to see results. You will begin to finish what you start doing.

 “Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” - Jacob A. Riis