Be Resolved

What makes a person successful ? The gift of the gab, luck, judgement or graft ? Someone wrote that 'Successful people have the habit of doing things failures don't like to do.' Now they may not like doing them either, but they have the ability to identify certain priorities, place them in sequence, execute them and, consequently, be in control. There's the resolution for 2003.

Look Around

We are reminded before sports results are shown of matches about to be screened that 'It's time to look away now.' Timely advice should also stress that when it comes to travel there is much to see locally - 'To look around now' ? When Americans were recently encouraged to explore places close to home, the slogan cleverly expressed it with 'Discover the State You're In.'

Working Out

Long ago hermits would pit themselves against the challenges of loneliness, the elements and sparse diets to display their religious devotedness. It was a variation of 'one man and his god'. In the 18th Century, fashions among established British landowners included creating grottos in their parks and advertising for hermits on fixed salaries. Did some people take this employment as 'going it alone' ?

Business Building

Leaders in business are able to imagine, innovate and inspire. The keys to success also involve realising that common sense, drive and skills with people are more important than brilliant intellect. While legal matters are set in statutes, the rules for building businesses are not set in stone.

Age Rage

The ages for retiring have shifted for recent generations. It looks as if the current shortage of skills will mean the extension of working-lives. That will probably mean people will live even longer - determined partly by having somewhere to go and something to do, the most beneficial of activities. So to keep on going just keep your head down and your hand in, rather than your feet up.

Time and Counting

If you are self-employed and prone to those two 'mind-traps' - procrastination and sidetracking - become aware of what your time is worth. Take your annual income and divide it by 2000, the approximate number of working hours in a year. You will then see how much junk-mail, solitaire-playing, daytime television-watching are actually costing you.

Avoid Great Expectations

The trouble - with many places, such as holiday resorts and recommended cities; people, particularly consultants and new teachers; institutions, like marriage and family-events; even much-heralded web-sites - is that they frequently fail to match the perceptions we carry in our minds. So before building up hopes, lay the foundations for possible failure. It is a lot easier to impress people when expectations are low.

Weighing Things Up

In poor countries, people's body weight generally increases with wealth. In the developed world, the rich tend to be thinner. This is because they can afford to take exercise, which was once the natural by-product of day-to-day work and earning a living. The taking of exercise is now perceived by many as a luxury that has to be paid for, with either money or time.

Make It Out

Occasionally look at those people who are 'creative' - those who make things happen. They have certain knacks which usually involve:
1 - Saving ideas, as well as financial assets, for future use
2 - Being 'early adaptors' when confronted with life's constant changes
3 - Seeing problems in terms of potential solutions rather than of cramping conditions
4 - Devising simple, mental, strategic concepts e.g. the 'alarm clock' becomes the 'opportunity watch'

Today's the day for the numbers 2 & 3. Two is for company and three is for a crowd. Join us to get on !