articles

Overcoming The Paralysis of Fear

Mon, 17 May 2010 10:20:29 +0100

It is a stated fact that the number one reason many people never achieve half of what they are capable of is the fear of failure. Many of the people who write to me wanting to become successful in their careers, business and relationships often state that the reason they don’t get started is fear. Fear of what would happen if they let go of the security of their current situation. We are creatures of comfort; we’re prone to settle for what we have and what we are used to. What we do not realize is that there cannot be any real growth with out stepping into new territory. If you want to be successful in any area, brace yourself, because fear is going to become your close companion.

It is not the lack of fear that makes successful entrepreneurs to leave their jobs for an unknown future of running their own business. It is acting inspite of fear that makes them succeed.

Nelson Mandela once said “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Which leads me to believe that it is possible to overcome the paralyzing fear of failure and I have proven it over and over again in my own life. Everyone, even the ones who are very good at hiding it, get afraid. We all fear that if we try something bold, something extraordinary we will fail miserably. Our minds quickly run to all that could go wrong and when we choose to dwell on those thoughts then sure enough we find ourselves paralyzed to take the next step.

So how can you overcome this fear and start achieving your goals and attempt what may seem impossible to you now? Well here are a few pointers to help you overcome fear once and for all:

• Identify Your Fear and Evaluate It

So often we are not even certain what is it that we are afraid of, we just know that we are afraid. So ask yourself what am I afraid of? Am I afraid that if I start my business I won’t succeed? Am afraid that I don’t have the necessary tools/resources to get it done? Am I afraid of what others will say if I attempt this? Ask yourself and be brutally honest with yourself, get to the root of your fear.

By identifying your fear you give yourself clarity of what you are dealing with. Only once you have identified your fears can you start evaluating it. If you are afraid that if you start your business you won’t succeed, look for the reasons that will cause you not to succeed. Once you have identified the reasons that could lead to failure start looking for solutions for them. If one reason is “I don’t know enough about running a business” then the solution would be finding information about starting and running a business from books, websites or even getting a mentor.

When you identify and evaluate your fears you are able to really get solutions that will help you overcome it. Fear is a natural feeling and if used properly it will help you evaluate your actions. If fear is unfounded then be willing to press through it. Often when we confront the wall of fear we soon realize that the seemingly strong metal wall was just a whimsy aluminum foil.

• Embrace Failure To Succeed

One of the things you need to realize if you are going to succeed in life is that failure is part of the deal. Ask any successful person and soon you will realize all of them have failed, over and over again. The failure rate of successful people is higher than average because they attempt more than the average person. This is precisely why they succeed.

Michael Jordan, the all time best basketball player said “I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot… and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why… I succeed.” Here is a perfect example of why we need to embrace failure more and more instead of being afraid of it. Only embrace fear if you keep on trying every time you fail.

A practical way to embrace failure in order to succeed is by factoring failure into your plans so that you are not caught by surprise when it happens. What I mean is that when writing a business plan don’t be over enthusiastic about your projected success rate. Instead of saying “we project that we will sell to 80% of the available market to make a profit”, say “even if we only capture 10-15% of the market (which will be a failure)we will still make enough to stay ahead”. People who embrace failure, plan with it in mind and so their chances of succeeding even if they fail is higher.

• Burn the boats

Hernán Cortés was one of the conquerors who virtually destroyed the Aztec empire. He was charged by the King of Spain to conquer the Aztec Empire of Montezuma, in modern day Mexico. With a small, dedicated crew, he set sail. To make sure that his small crew stood firm in the midst of the greatest challenge of their lives he gave an order that put him in history forever. He proclaimed to the army as it landed on the shore “Burn The Boats!” No longer could his crew entertain the thoughts of retreating to their beloved Spain, all they could do was press on to victory or die trying. With no way to make it home besides victory, the resolve of the soldiers was strengthened.

When success and failure are the only options, you have no choice but to follow through. If you have a goal, but are afraid to commit, force yourself into action by burning the boats. Register for an exam in advance if you want to go back to school. Set a deadline to move to a new city without signing a lease. Put in a resignation for your job once you have your clear plan of action. Fear of failure disappears when you realize it can’t save you.

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Buhle Dlamini is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Writer as well as the Founder of Young & Able Youth Advisory Services cc, helping individuals and organizations turn their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their dreams.

Achieving More With Less

Sat, 15 May 2010 13:27:50 +0100

The Key To Balance and Success

“It is not necessary to do extraordinary things in order to get extra ordinary results.”
- Warren Buffet

In the last four days I have touched down in Dakar Senegal, Dallas Texas, Chicago Illinois and now I am in New York City. In the years gone by that would have been impossible let alone being affordable. With the advent of air travel what used to be a long, tedious and costly process of getting from one place to another became a breeze, literally. Technology has shown one in so many areas of our modern lives how to achieve more with less. Sadly even with all the evidence that stares us in the face about achieving more with less being a real possibility many of us are not using this to our advantage.

We all desire some measure of success in our work and life but often we believe that the price we have to pay for it is just too much for us. This may be very well true if we continue to hold on to the belief that in order to achieve more in business, life and work you need to do more. This conventional wisdom is what keeps so many stuck from ever achieving a real measure of success in their lives.

Warren Buffet spells it out in the quote I shared at the beginning of this article, that you don’t need to do extraordinary things or be extraordinary to achieve great results. I listen to him because he has proven this very point over and over in his life. If you are not aware, Warren Buffet is now the third richest man in the world after Carlos Slim and Bill Gates. Warren Buffet is worth in the excess of 50 Billion US Dollars (not Zim Dollars) and gave away to charity about 30 Billion making history in the process. Now most of us when we hear about that kind of money we imagine someone like him having slaved hard for most of his life to get there. The reality is that he didn’t and if we are serious about success we need to take a leaf out of his book.

The 80/20 Principle

Richard Koch wrote a book called ‘Living the 80/20 Way’. In this book he explains the 80/20 principle, which basically states that 80% of our efforts give us 20% of the results and vice versa. Many of us unfortunately live 80% effort side of life ad only get 20% of the results we desire. We are often so busy being busy that we don’t realize that all our busyness is only giving us a trickle of the kind of results we’re looking for in life.

If we are going to achieve the kind of success that we desire a mind shift is important. We need to stop looking for the hardest route to our success and get into the habit of looking for ways of achieving more with less. Often we hear about people who take very few calculated steps and achieve much more than the rest of us. The difference between them and us is that they understand this principle and they make it work for them every time and yielding great results.

If you are tired of working hard but not getting the results you desire take time to creating your roadmap to achieving more with less. Let us look at what you need to look at in achieving more with less:

1. Be Clear About The Results You Seek

''Begin with the end in mind'' is a phrase we have heard before but it is still relevant today if not more. What is the end result you seek in your business, relationships, finances, career and life? Becoming clear on the results helps you to chart your course to them. So when you get up in the morning ask yourself what do I want to achieve today? As you get to work ask yourself the same question, what do I want to achieve in my work today? As you handle your finances ask- what do I want to achieve financially? As you become clearer about the results you seek you engage in the process of being results driven as opposed to working for the sake of working. When you know the kind of results you seek you will automatically eliminate unnecessary activities. It will change the way you do things and often it will make your job much easier.

2. Discover Your 20/80 Route

Now that you know what you want achieve, why not look at what is the shortest route to achieving the end result. It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Now let us look at your current work and life. Has your current way of living and working given you the kind of results you are looking for in the important areas of your life? If not, then start drafting a different route to take you to your desired results. What can you change in your work and life that will be the shortest route to achieving your desired goals? This might mean that in your work you have to make a list of 20% of activities that give you 80% of your desired results. Once you have compiled your list start focusing on only doing these activities because they are your key to achieving more with less.

Let me give you a practical example: in your finances, the best way to get more money with the least amount of work is investing. By investing you get your money to work for you instead of you working for money. But the problem is that many of us don't have enough money to start seeing the real benefits of investing. So most of us just dream about having more money and continue trading our time for a trickle of money that barely sees us from month to month. If you want to start achieving more with the less you have there are a few steps you need to take. First, educate yourself about different ways of investing; a book or a workshop on investing will take a long way towards getting the kind of knowledge you need to start investing. Secondly, once you know about your investment options, you might need to start saving a portion of what you are currently getting to get you to the point where you can start investing seriously. Usually you need between R8 000 and R10 000 to start investing for good returns. From then on you follow simple calculated steps and are now on the road to financial freedom. This will enable you to achieve more with less in the financial area of your life.

3. Manage Your Focus

If you are like many people I know you have spent a lot of time and money on trying to improve your time management skills. I have been one of the victims of the time management craze. Because of our lack of focus on the right things and our misunderstanding of the 80/20 principle, many of us are taking courses on how we can cram more into our workdays. We pay good money to learn how we can beat the clock in our crazed running around while achieving little or nothing to be proud of. I say to you forget time management. YOU CANNOT MANAGE TIME!!! Time is continuous; nobody gets a better share of time, we all get 24 hours in a day. The Millionaire and a beggar on the street corner both get the same 24 hours in a day, what sets them apart is what they focus on in those 24 hours. So I strongly suggest that you start focus management instead of time management. If you manage what you focus on you will start to achieve more with less.

So there it is, you already have in you everything you need to succeed in life the key is getting rid of some of the myths you hold. You don't need to be extraordinary to succeed. You don't need to work extra hard to succeed. You don't need to have a ton of money to succeed. Start utilizing the little you have to achieve more right now. Cheers, I am off to the Time Square, New York is AMAZING!

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This article was written by Buhle Dlamini while in New York on a Business Tour to the USA in 2009.

Present To Wow Like Steve Jobs

Sat, 15 May 2010 12:59:39 +0100

Steve Jobs is now well known the world over for his inventions at apple, even as I write this I am using an Apple MacBook and enjoy music on my ipod. But one thing we can learn from Steve Jobs as entrepreneurs is the way he presents and wows his audiences earning him millions of dollars from sales of Apple products that result from his presentations. He creates a vibe that reverberates around the world. How can you learn some tricks of the trade from the master of the game of WOW in business? Check this Bnet Video to find out:

Committed To Success-Grass Is Not Greener!

Tue, 11 May 2010 23:40:34 +0100

One of the key determinants of your success in your business or career is commitment. The moment you have started on your venture and are working your way towards carving your niche in the market and developing a brand, often you realise that it is not as easy as it looked from the outside. There’s the long hours, difficult customers and financial challenges. Yeah trust me it is not a walk in the park! But you should know one thing, if you work on your strategy, deliver on your promise and stay the course you’ll be laughing to the bank someday!

Somewhere along the way we start to look at other opportunities and even start looking at some corporate positions that are there for the taking. The grass starts to look much greener on the other side, you begin to doubt your vision and reasons for doing what you are doing. This is a normal yet dangerous place to be at, because from this angle it is much easier for you to focus only on the positives from the other side when in reality there are some stinkers on that side too.

The grass is not always greener on the other side, you’ve gotta mow and water your side to make it greener. It’s your grass, you’ve got to water it and when it seems to grow out of control you have to be disciplined to mow it. No matter where you go the grass is going to need same kind of attention no matter what side you’re on. This is the truth we don’t want to hear when we are determined to jump ship and run after a new thing, but it is the truth that you have to heed anyway.

So forget the grass on the other side for a while and concentrate on your own turf. Ask yourself some tough questions here:

How can I mow my grass?

This is about being brutally honest about what it is that you need to cut down on. You have regularly trim off the things that are not necessary and often hinder you from going forward. What are some of the bad habits, bad debts, bad customer service trends, bad spending decisions you have made that you have to eliminate in order to go forward. This is a big and difficult step, one that is crucial to your success. If you are to win you need to focus ruthlessly on those things that will make you successful and cut out the rest. If you Mow your grass and do it continuously you will see some amazing results.

How Do I Water My Grass?

The grass only remains green if it is regularly watered. Without water it will go brown and start to wither, the same applies to your business, your career and life. If you do not water your grass don’t expect it to be green. There are specific things for each business, each career and indeed each life that are necessary for growth. These are keys to your success, if you do them regularly they will make you wildly successful. Depending on what business you are in these things will differ but you must know what they are. Ask yourself what do I need to do consistently to get and stay at the forefront of my industry. What is it that keeps me fresh and valuable to my clients and my company. Keeping your offering valuable is the key. You only remain successful as long as what you have to offer is valuable to those you’re selling it too. Your customers buy value from you, if you work for a company that company needs to get value out you. Identify the value you bring to your customers, improve on it and you will water your grass. It’s just that simple.

You should take some time to seriously look at these two simple questions and start changing your life for the better. Trust me, moving to Australia won’t change your circumstances, if you’re not watering and mowing your grass here you’ll have the same dry patch over there. All you’ll get is a different set of neighbours and new rugby team. So why not stay and make your business, career and South Africa work? It is up to you.

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Buhle Dlamini is an Entrepreneur, Speaker and Writer as well as the Founder of Young & Able Youth Advisory Services cc, helping individuals and organizations turn their potential into performance, succeed in every area of their lives and achieve their dreams. Buhle is also a consulting Project Manager to Heartlines a values-based Mass Media Initiative. Get Buhle’s FREE monthly Success Newsletter by visiting his website at www.youngable.com and visit the membership motivated site at www.motivated.co.za

The Power of Choice and Action

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:17:11 +0100

by Buhle Dlamini

If is to be it is up to me, you have heard this phrase said once or twice in your life I am sure. Yet we do not fully comprehend the magnitude of it's meaning. The direction of our lives, businesses and careers is deeply impacted by two very powerful things that we do every single day- Choice and Action.

Where you are right now is a result of the choices you have made over the years that have led you exactly where you have landed up, OUCH! All you need to do to change your life then is to focus on these two things the choices you make and the actions you take.

Everyday we are faced with thousands of choices and decisions, like whether to get up in the morning or not, what to eat and the list goes on. Most of the choices we make have become automatic because they have become habits. Habits are like a pre recorded choices that your body makes automatically due to the frequency with which they are made. A good movie to watch is CLICK acted by Adam Sandler, in it his decisions start to go on autopilot until he is no longer in control. Lesson here is that we need to choose carefully what habits we develop and what habits we avoid. Let's look at the power of choice and action in some specific areas of your life:

Relationships:

In all our relationships are dependent on what we choose and what we do. You can choose to put more value in those you love and are in relationship with. This will be seen in your actions and your words everyday. Choosing to value your loved one might mean making time to connect with them, encouraging them with your words and putting them first in some things.

Career:

We can change the direction of our careers by choosing carefully where we want to be in the future and asking ourselves what we need to do to get there. The lift to your career success is out of order you gonna have to use the stairs and get there one step at a time.

Finances:

The same applies to your finances, you can choose financial freedom today and start pursuing it. This will mean choosing to have a financial plan for your near and long term future. It will also mean choosing to eliminate unnecessary debt in your life, you can choose to adopt a debt free or minimal debt lifestyle. Finally you can choose to invest in the best way possible for you and sticking to that. By investing a R100 to a R1000 a month you can greatly change your financial future.

So there it is! The power is in your hands. The power of choice and action. Choice alone will get you nowhere, action alone without carefully thought out decisions will lead your to disaster. So the two remain Choice and Action togethe

Increase Your Value Increase Your Worth

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:47:34 +0100

by Buhle Dlamini

Mark Zuckerberg was offered 1 Billion Dollars to sell his invention facebook. It seemed crazy at the time that he would turn down so much money, but facebook today is valued between 5 and 15 Billion. In the real world we determine the worth of any product based on it's ultimate value to us. You pay more for something you consider valuable to you and less for something of less value. This is not being mean to the little guys it's just the reality. Increasing the value of a product automatically increases it's worth.

We understand and agree with this concept when it concerns products and services that we are willing to spend our hard earned money on. But there is a reservation when it comes to people and to ourselves. Some people are worth R10/hour while others are worth R1000/hour and still other are worth R10000/hour. I can hear you protesting about equal rights and equality. That's true we are all equal before the law and before God but our worth in the marketplace is determined by our value to the marketplace.

This means that you can increase what you are worth by simply increasing your value. Do you want to be worth more than what you are being paid now? What a dumb question you might think but the reality is that many of us simply do not think about increasing our worth at all. We complain about soaring prices, interest rates and unlivable salaries but we hardly ever see ourselves as the answer. We think that maybe if we change companies and jobs our situation will change. Many move from company to company only to find that they are still worth the same to those companies. The only way to change your situation is to change your value to the marketplace/company.

How To Increase Your Value:

Make Your Contribution Stand Out

Your job is an opportunity to contribute a value to your company in excess of your cost. In its simplest terms, your job is as secure as your ability to render value in excess of what it costs to keep you on the payroll. If you want to earn more money at your current job, you have to increase your value, your contribution to the enterprise. It's the same for entrepreneurs, if you want your customers to come back and spend more money on your service or product, simply give them more than they pay for. Your contribution determines your value. If you try to get by with as little as possible you will also get as little as possible in return.

Add Value Consistently

I keep my clients for my training and development services in my business by delivering a quality service every time. Every time I am employed to speak, train or facilitate a workshop in a company I make sure that what I do adds value to my clients. The consistency in me adding value to my customers automatically leads to me increasing my value to them. Initially people might complain that you charge too much for your services but if you continually add value to them they start to see your real worth and is no longer an issue.

How can you add value to your current employer or clients? Find the answer to that question and answer it everyday; you'll see the impact on your bottom line.If you want any kind of job security, you must continually work at maintaining and increasing your value in the competitive marketplace.

Value Yourself First; Others Will Do The Same

We get what we deserve in this world. If you think you deserve little your contribution and value-add is often little as well and that exactly what you get. When you believe that you are worth more you will find a way of increasing your value to be paid more. If you see yourself as a person of low value it tends to become a self fulfilling prophecy and when you value yourself more others tend to follow suite.

You've got work to do if you want to increase your worth in the marketplace. So get working you're worth it.

Improve Your Attitude Improve Your Life

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:40:27 +0100

Buhle Dlamini
We have heard it said many times that your attitude determines your altitude but it's amazing how many people still allow their attitudes to limit their progress. Often in life it is not what happens to you that counts but how you react to what happens that set winners apart from those who fail. Deciding your reaction ahead of time will change your life in more ways than you can imagine. Your attitude is entirely dependent on your choice, circumstances are often out of your control but how you look at them and deal with them is up to you.

Here are a few tips to make sure that your attitude is the very best it can be, no mater the circumstances.

Choose To Focus On Your Future

It is always easy to focus on your past and even on the current difficulty than to think about the future. Instead of worrying about who did what and who is to blame, focus on where you want to be and what you want to do. Being clear about your ideal successful future, and then taking whatever action you can to begin moving in that direction is key to a great attitude. Focus your mind, your thoughts, and your mental images on the future and you start thinking more about solutions instead of worrying. This brings us to our second tip.

Be Solution Oriented

Instead of letting challenges loom larger than life when you run into them decide to always be solution oriented. Do not dwell on the problem but let your mind to think about the way out. As you do this regularly your mind becomes trained to be solution oriented and it becomes and automatic reaction. This takes discipline and practice, the first few times it will be difficult to not be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the situation but as you become intentional it becomes easier.

Choose To Remain Positive

Choosing to be positive is not easy when you come home and the tap is gushing water and it will cost you more than you bargained for. Choosing to be positive is difficult when a loved one is diagnosed with a very serious disease and you know that this will definitely cost you and them a great deal emotionally and physically. But choosing to be positive is what you need to not be swallowed up but the challenges you will no doubt meet over and over again in your life. Life is not fair, bad things happen to good people all the time and we don't always get what we deserve. But choosing to remain positive helps you to not drown when others are overwhelmed. It opens you to endless opportunities that negative people will never consider and open doors that only positive people see in the dim light of a challenging situation.

Trust your best weapon in life is your attitude as Victor Frankl discovered in that concentration camp that when the Nazis had stripped him of all his earthly belongings they still could not take away who he was inside, he said "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way."

I hope today you will choose to have a great attitude no matter what comes your way!