I just came across this really interesting and true quote:
… Because you are in control of your life. Don’t ever forget that. You are what you are because of the conscious and subconscious choices you have made.
— Barbara Hall
It’s amazing how this simple fact slips the minds of so many people, and how they forget that it is up to them to make their lives whatever they become based on the different choices and decisions they take in various situations throughout life.
I just came across a list of the seven lies that prevent people from getting to powerful results in whatever they do in life.
The list of lies goes as follows:
Lie #1: Expect Quick Results
Lie #2: Complaining is ok
Lie #3: Fix it later.
Lie #4: Having an *idea* instead of a plan
Lie #5: Ignoring your talents
Lie #6: Elusive Goals instead of Do-able Goals
Lie #7: Adopting a
– I wouldn’t nag and nag and then nag some more…
– I wouldn’t talk simply for the sake of talking…
– I wouldn’t spend over two hours getting ready to go out for only half an hour…
– I wouldn’t go into panic mode at the slightest hint of a wrinkle starting to form on my face…
– I would always be on time…
– I wouldn’t be a bimbo…
– I wouldn’t be insanely addicted to shoes…
– I would only go shopping when I needed to…
– I wouldn’t obsess on how big or small a certain body part of mine is…
– I wouldn’t be a tease…
– I wouldn’t talk about things I have no idea about…
– I wouldn’t give a shit about this or that celebrity’s new look…
I think you get the idea…
But above all: I wouldn’t complain and nag about how much I want to be treated as an equal to man, and then ask to be treated specially, as a woman, when it suits me better.
These points are inspired from the different annoying things I have seen in a lot of girls and women at work, at the mall, at school, …etc throughout my life.
Obviously not one person can have all these things together, that’d be a disaster, although I’ve seen some people come pretty close, and it’s really rare to find a girl/woman who doesn’t have at least one of them; I believe my dear wife is one of the closest there is to that side of the spectrum; lucky me.
Update: I’ve obviously upset some people with this post, who think that it’s a sexist post. I just wanted to apologize if it came across as such, it wasn’t meant in that way at all. The idea of the post is that we, from both sexes, find a number of annoying things in the opposite sex, and this post just summed some of these things in women. It doesn’t imply in any way that we men are perfect or superior, in fact I know that we’re even worse in our own ways, and I’ll even be posting about that soon.
Last night I finished reading Steve Gottry’s book Common Sense Business : Starting, Operating, and Growing Your Small Business–In Any Economy!
I guess the title says it all and pretty much explains what the book is about.
I went through this book pretty quickly, it’s an easy simple read, in which the author pulls from his business experience and the ups and downs he’s been through to share his experience with the reader and give advice on how to start, operate and grow a small business.
It covers the whole life cycle of a small business, how to build on your assets, how to face your natural enemies and well how to take an alternate route if you’re forced to.
I think it’s a really good read and practical guide based on real personal experience, it’s very useful for any person planning to launch a business or already running one.
I would have liked it to get into a bit more detail on the initial phases of business concept creation and the launch details, but well I’m just being greedy I guess.
If you’re interested, you can buy the book here: Common Sense Business (Steve Gottry).
Why were we created?
That’s one big question; one that doesn’t necessarily have one exact answer, but well depending on who you ask, you’ll be getting a range of different answers.
For example,
A pious person would tell you that we were created to worship God.
A scientist would tell you that we were created to discover the amazing secrets of our world.
A philosopher would tell you that we were created to think.
An artist would tell you that we were created to simulate the perfections and imperfections of the world through art.
A philanthropist would tell you that we were created to help others.
And the list of answers continues, every person bringing his own ideas and beliefs to the table, further confirming that there is no universal answer or truth behind it, much like every other question we have in life.
Out of curiosity, why do you think we were created?
A couple of days ago, I came across this great post on zen habits with 12 tips on how to be a great dad.
The list goes as follows:
1. Put your children’s interest first, always
2. Protect them
3. Spend your spare time with them
4. Give them hugs
5. Play with them
6. Do the
So, yesterday was big presidential election day in France, and Nicolas Sarkozy won; he got 53% of the vote.
I was expecting this, and it came at no surprise to me; I haven’t followed the campaigns closely, because after all it is not a story that is of any special importance to me, but I caught some bits and pieces of debates or talk shows here and there, and Sarkozy is simply put a better salesperson and speaker than S
You live, you learn
You love, you learn
You cry, you learn
You lose, you learn
You bleed, you learn
You scream, you learn
You grieve, you learn
You choke, you learn
You laugh, you learn
You choose, you learn
You pray, you learn
You ask, you learn
You live, you learn
These great words come from one of my favourite Alanis Morissette songs “You Learn“, and the big important keyword here is “learn”, because going through life without learning from our different experiences is basically nothing but a huge waste of time.
Everything that happens to us happens for a reason, and it’s up to us to learn that reason, learn the lessons behind it, and do what is needed to make our lives better and more like we want them to be.
A couple of days ago I finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point“, another business book about how the littlest of things can make a big difference.
The book explores the concept of “epidemics” and how ideas, products, messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do, and what it is that makes them tip over and become an epidemic; starting from the influential kinds of people who can spread the message, to the stickiness of the message itself and the context in which it came to exist.
It’s a very interesting read and provides a new way of thinking for how to handle promoting a product, idea or message; and how to eventually make it a success.
I already read Malcom Gladwell’s book “Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking“, even though this one came out first, and they both follow the same style, explaining the idea and giving a number of examples to illustrate it, which I really enjoyed and which makes the points even clearer.
I recommend this book to anyone in business or interested in business, it gives you a new line of thought that is very interesting and could help enormously in generating a buzz around your ideas and creating a hype around your products, which in the end should result in sales and success.
