17/07/2014 ~ #NicholasA ~ 7 Life Lessons From Benjamin Franklin. #5 Prepare.

At the foundation of every success achieved in life is a great deal of preparation.

Let's assume you are an architect or a structural engineer.  When asked to draw the plans for two different buildings, a bungalow and a skyscraper, it is quite evident that you will pay a lot of attention to the depth of the foundation on the skyscraper compared to that of the bungalow. This is because the ability for a building to go that tall is determined by the depth of it's foundation i.e. the capacity of it's base to hold up the load that will be placed on it in due course. 

The same thing applies in our careers, business and projects. You cannot grow higher than what your foundation of preparation can accommodate, even if you do, there is high probability of collapse and believe me, it might be a great fall. 

Benjamin Franklin said “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” 

It’s better to not have an opportunity and be prepared, than to have an opportunity and not be prepared. Success loves preparation, are you prepared?  

Someone once defined success as "opportunity meets preparation".

In the area where you seek success how deep is your preparation? or do you just believe that "I can do good when I get there?" Believe me, you won't. 

If the perfect opportunity presented itself, would you be ready for it?

Spend your days preparing for success, so when your opportunity comes, you will be ready.

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you, you have to win it ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be committed to your own perpetual development and 'walk your talk'.

The world is waiting for YOU!

I honour you! 

#NicholasA 

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16/07/2014 ~ #NicholasA ~ 7 Life Lessons From Benjamin Franklin. #4- Be Persistent!

We are still on the life lessons of Benjamin Franklin one of the greatest men that walked this earth. 

Another important character that made him stand out was his ability to persist. You will agree with me that no invention happens over night. It takes continuous research and series of testing and trials before perfection can be achieved. And sometimes this takes months and years as well as loads of resources. But in the end when the new invention has been achieved, the benefit outweighs the work and finance that went into it.

Benjamin Franklin once said “Energy and persistence conquers all things.”

In order for you to win and achieve what you set out for, you must develop a nature that persists, that never gives up, that is not easily put off. 

The truth is, things will not always turn out the way you hoped or expected, and in such cases it is left for you either to hold on or let go. 

Holding on requires passion. You cannot persist at something that you were not passionate about. You will not find reasons why you should not hand in the towel and just walk out. 

“To be a top performer you have to be passionately committed to what you’re doing and insanely confident about your ability to pull it off.“

- John Eliot

One advice is, If you are not passionate about it don't start cos you will not find reasons to hold on when the storms come. 

Go do what you have a passion for. 

And once you start, keep going until you achieve your dreams.  

Never ever give up!

Have a great day. 

I honour you! 

#NicholasA 

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15/07/2014 ~ #NicholasA ~ 7 Life Lessons From Benjamin Franklin. #3 Make Mistakes!‏

“Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out and success will be your friend” ~ Benjamin Franklin.

Someone once said “For me, the most important thing is to get out there and experience the world we live in. Master the technology of people, learn as much as you can about different cultures all over the world, experience new things and don't be afraid to fail. Most significant of all, be human. In that way, you'll have the power to create incredible things.”

Success comes from doing things “right,” and doing things right is usually the result of first doing things wrong. No one gets it right at the beginning. You are certain to make mistakes; the path to success is lined with mistakes and failure. Successful people make a lot of mistakes, but they don’t quit, they keep moving until they arrive at their goal.

Suzanne Collins said “Aim higher in case you fall short”. Give yourself very high expected outcomes and work at it, in case you don’t get there, you are certain to get something close.

Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will fall among the stars.

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them ~ Walt Disney. There is no telling how far you can go until you start.

So, get out there, take off the “caution” shoes and chase your dreams. If you didn’t get it right the first time, go at it again.

You will surely get it if you persist.

The world is waiting for you.

Good morning.

Have a lovely Tuesday.

#NicholasA

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14/07/2014 ~ #NicholasA ~ 7 Life Lessons From Benjamin Franklin. #2 Learn!

Do you have all the information you need? Are you up to date with the latest trend in your industry or line of duty? Do you know enough to stand boldly anywhere in the World?

“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn” ~ Benjamin Franklin.

In today’s world, people love to interact with individuals that have new ideas, new methods, new processes, new thoughts, new solutions etc. It’s just like walking into your school library with thousands of books, nobody goes looking at old books (except you are looking for specific details or history), everyone wants to read the latest edition, why? Because we believe improvements have been made, we are certain that the latest edition would be more beneficial than the previous.

The same goes for anything you are offering to people. They will only seek you when they are convinced you are constantly making improvements and the only way to do so is by learning.

Always be open to learning. You can learn from anyone, and from any situation. You can learn from the fool as well as the genius. Bruce Lee said, “A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”

Wisdom they say is the ‘right application of knowledge’. You cannot apply right what you do not know. Seek to understand.

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow” ~ Anthony D’Angelo

In that direction where you seek success, listen to people who have gone ahead of you, ask questions, attend courses and seminars, read books and articles, research the internet, get as much new idea as possible.

This will keep you winning.

Have a great week.

I honour you!

#NicholasA

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13/07/2014 ~ #NicholasA ~ 7 Life Lessons From Benjamin Franklin. #1 Waste Not Time!

Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America (USA). Franklin was a leading author and printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.

As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass ‘armonica’.

He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania.

His colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and status as one of America’s most influential Founding Fathers, have seen Franklin honored on coinage and money; warships; the names of many towns, counties, educational institutions, namesakes, and companies; and more than two centuries after his death, countless cultural references.

#1. Waste Not Time

“Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.” Your time is your life. If you waste your time, you are wasting your life. 

I’ve never met a successful person who didn’t value their time, and I’ve never met an unsuccessful person who did.

Don’t let other people waste your time either, why is it when someone wants to “kill an hour,” they want to kill your hour as well? Protect your time, it can never be replaced, it can never be replenished, your time is your life.

Use your time wisely...it is important for your success.

Happy Sunday.

I honour you!

#NicholasA

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11/07/2014 ~ #NicholasA ~ The Inevitables of Success. #11 - They Will All Be Worth It!

Picture the life of a seed when planted. It is first separated from its fellows and thrown into the cold earth. Dirt is thrown over it, moisture and water becomes its companion. It experiences rot and decay. All its beauty is lost. These it endures for a period of time and thereafter the highest form of its beauty is revealed. It grows into something admirable and more profitable than its initial state. It brings food to the eater and more seeds to the sower. It gives shade to everyone that would come under it and it is now able to dance in the wind. All of which were never possible while it was a seed. Looking at the outcome, you will definitely agree, the pains were worth the gain. 

This is the same thing that happens to us on the path of success. All of the Inevitable events that will happen to you along the way are there to make you better and more valuable. Success will not come easily, but it will surely come as long as you take decisive steps daily, never giving up. 

Anne Frank wrote “I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains”. Everything I have listed from 1 – 10 in the Inevitables of success are not the sweet things you want to hear about success, they are the direct opposite. They are not there to deter you but rather to make you more determined at achieving success. 

“Winners take time to relish their work, knowing that scaling the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilarating” ~ Denis Waitley. You don’t just get up and climb a mountain, you must first find out what you might likely face along the way, then you prepare for it. That is why you need to pay attention to the Inevitables of success if success is actually what you seek. 

Success is possible to him who believes. 

Believe that you can and you will. 

I honour you! 

#NicholasA 
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10/07/2014 ~ #NicholasA – The Inevitables of Success. #10 – People Will Give You Grief For No Reason!

You’ve done all that you know is right but yet you are still facing oppositions. You’ve tried carrying everyone along, but some have chosen to be on the fence, neither here nor there. You think they are with you but their actions speaks the opposite…what do you do?
Leading a group to success is usually one of the most difficult tasks you can ever undertake. You will need to particularly watch out for this if you are working on a group project. 
One of the things I have come to realize with group project is that you will come across people who will make your group success a tedious task. You will find people who will not play their expected roles, neither will they back out for others to take up those roles while yet another bunch will be specialized in ‘destructive’ criticism of what you have done. 
Steve Backley once said “Like everything in life, it is not what happens to you that really matters but how you respond to it that counts”. In such situations, it is up to you to decide how you choose to respond. You might want to take the fighting position, the dialoging, the ignoring, the confronting etc. But you must first ask yourself if it will give you what you want and if the individual is actually worth it. 
At other times it might need a little compromise to win such people over. The key method here is absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, but add what is essentially your own. You should also bear in mind that you can’t win them all. You might have to let some go in order for you to succeed. 

You do not need to please everyone, actually you can’t, all you need is a good bunch of people who believes in you and are ready to go the extra mile with you. 

Once you’ve been able to get these, your success is near.

And I believe you will.

Have a lovely Thursday.

I honour you! 

#NicholasA
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