I recently finished reading “Start-Up Nation” by Dan Senor and Saul Singer. The book is written about Israel’s incredible economic growth and how it has survived and thrived despite the many seemingly obstacles such as size, lack of natural resources, and surrounding enemies. The book shares true examples of some of Israel’s top entrepreneurs and businesses to make certain points on why and how Israel has succeeded. Through these stories we learn some of the strategies, ideas, and concepts used to help spark Israel’s economy—things that I believe can be applied in our individual lives to help us reach our own success. Below are three of my favorites from the book.
#1 Chutzpah
“The most careful thing is to dare.”
Chutzpah is defined as gall or incredible guts and each Israeli seems to possess it. Rather than take it easy, be conservative, or hold back because of fear or comfort, Israelis seem to go for it every time. Their ability to embrace intelligent risk-taking has rocketed their economy to great heights. When they have a business idea, they do not hesitate, they start a business. This seeming ability to take risks no matter the circumstance or potential cost has helped Israel compete with some of the top nations in the world. In a similar manner, if we can have the same confidence and “chutzpah” that Israel has shown, our ability to find success will grow immensely!
#2 Philosophy on Failure
“Mistakes are acceptable, provided they are used as opportunities to improve individual and group performance.”
A powerful force behind Israel’s success is their acceptance and lack of fear of failure. Most of us refrain doing certain things because we are afraid to fail but in Israel, failure is not only accepted but often admired. Israel uses failure as a way to learn and they dissect failures thoroughly enabling themselves to maximize their learning while ensuring they do not make the same mistake(s). This powerful attitude and study of failure leads to more start-up companies and entrepreneurs than most every other country in the world! It seems in Israel that failing is simply part of practicing business until you eventually succeed. Developing a similar perspective on failure will greatly increase our own ability to reach our full potential.
#3 Results Oriented
“Be much more about being performance-oriented than about seniority or ranks.”
Unique to Israel is their seemingly lack of respect or credence for superiors. This lack of respect, in the worlds view, is a powerful force in its ability to challenge, improve, and succeed. In fact, in Israel, regardless of rank, tenure, power, or position, it seems everyone is on the same level playing field. An employee freely challenges his boss, a student his professor, a sergeant her general, etc. And this type of behavior is not only accepted but expected. As people, in order for us to be our best, we must be challenged and put to the test day in and day out by anyone and everyone. This also creates constant competition where it is not uncommon for one person’s boss today, to be his employee tomorrow because in Israel you are judged on results. Israel is a great example of what can happen in a society where your latest results are rewarded regardless of tenure, stature, or past performance. Creating a similar environment in our own lives would push us to be our best every single day.
There are many other reasons and examples of what has contributed to Israel’s economic success in “Start Up Nation” but these are three of my favorites. I believe if we can apply these as well as some of the other concepts found in this book in our personal lives, our success much like Israel’s economy, will soar to great heights!
To see how I ranked this book click here.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Using Universal Laws to our Advantage
"Destiny is not a matter of chance but a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it a thing to be achieved." William Jennings Bryan
I believe there exist universal laws that cannot be altered or changed but that can greatly benefit us when we understand them, recognize them, and take advantage of them. Today I want to speak about two of these laws that I believe can and will have a profound impact on our satisfaction and results in life.
The first law is what I call agency. Agency is the ability each of us has to choose. Under nearly any circumstance in life, we have the ability to choose our actions, thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. And what we choose to do results in what we become and who we are. It also results in our success and happiness in life. The power is ours—it is within us to decide our fate in life. Once we believe this, our ability to succeed grows.
Now, there are many roadblocks, misconceptions, and flat out lies that tell us we can or cannot choose something but for the most part, these are self-created in our minds. Whether it our environment, society, our background, or education we all have false beliefs that limit our ability to see clearly and understand that we have total agency to determine our outcomes in life. Thus, our success and happiness is totally up to us regardless of circumstance.
The second law is what I call the Law of the Harvest. Essentially what this law is that we reap what we sow. As a farmer, if I plant seeds to grow corn, I certainly cannot logically expect to have wheat come harvest time. Likewise, it amazes me how many of us believe that we can be untruthful, lazy, selfish, mean, etc. and expect that good will be returned unto us. This just does not happen in life. Thus, the Law of the Harvest teaches us that when we do good, we invite good in to our lives.
What we sow in life, through our actions and the type of people we are, all comes back to us. Though this law does not always happen instantly, meaning we may be deceitful and take advantages of others and gain benefits from this in the short-term, I’ve seen that eventually this law will catch up with us and we will regret our actions. Likewise, if we are dealing justly with others and striving to treat others as we’d like to be treated, we may not immediately notice the benefits from our behavior, but within time, our goodness will be returned unto us.
As we learn about, trust in, and strive to use these universal laws to our advantage such as the Law of Agency and the Law of the Harvest we will have much greater success and happiness in life. And these are simply two of the many universal laws that govern our outcomes and results in life. As we continually strive to improve and search for these laws and use them accordingly, we will have much greater happiness and satisfaction in life.
I believe there exist universal laws that cannot be altered or changed but that can greatly benefit us when we understand them, recognize them, and take advantage of them. Today I want to speak about two of these laws that I believe can and will have a profound impact on our satisfaction and results in life.
The first law is what I call agency. Agency is the ability each of us has to choose. Under nearly any circumstance in life, we have the ability to choose our actions, thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. And what we choose to do results in what we become and who we are. It also results in our success and happiness in life. The power is ours—it is within us to decide our fate in life. Once we believe this, our ability to succeed grows.
Now, there are many roadblocks, misconceptions, and flat out lies that tell us we can or cannot choose something but for the most part, these are self-created in our minds. Whether it our environment, society, our background, or education we all have false beliefs that limit our ability to see clearly and understand that we have total agency to determine our outcomes in life. Thus, our success and happiness is totally up to us regardless of circumstance.
The second law is what I call the Law of the Harvest. Essentially what this law is that we reap what we sow. As a farmer, if I plant seeds to grow corn, I certainly cannot logically expect to have wheat come harvest time. Likewise, it amazes me how many of us believe that we can be untruthful, lazy, selfish, mean, etc. and expect that good will be returned unto us. This just does not happen in life. Thus, the Law of the Harvest teaches us that when we do good, we invite good in to our lives.
What we sow in life, through our actions and the type of people we are, all comes back to us. Though this law does not always happen instantly, meaning we may be deceitful and take advantages of others and gain benefits from this in the short-term, I’ve seen that eventually this law will catch up with us and we will regret our actions. Likewise, if we are dealing justly with others and striving to treat others as we’d like to be treated, we may not immediately notice the benefits from our behavior, but within time, our goodness will be returned unto us.
As we learn about, trust in, and strive to use these universal laws to our advantage such as the Law of Agency and the Law of the Harvest we will have much greater success and happiness in life. And these are simply two of the many universal laws that govern our outcomes and results in life. As we continually strive to improve and search for these laws and use them accordingly, we will have much greater happiness and satisfaction in life.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Doing Your Very Best Every Single Day
One of the biggest challenges of life is living up to our potential and doing our very best every single day. All of us have bad days, days where our effort is less than admirable, where our kindness runs short, where our drive seems weak, where enthusiasm is low, and where our performance is less than what it ought to be. In my opinion, a true measure of success is consistency—specifically consistency in effort. Those who are able to truly give their top performance day in and day out will progress, grow, and achieve results. So yesterday I had one of those “not so good” days and I hate it when I do because I know I should be better and that I can be better. So, below is a list of things I’ve found to be helpful in motivating me to preform my very best every single day.
Compete
Find a hobby that allows and encourages you to compete. Whether you enjoy a good game of golf or jogging or playing a musical instrument find a way to compete with yourself and/or others. Each time you run, keep track of how far or how fast you run and then try to do better the next day, if you play a musical instrument, perfect a piece you are learning. Good competition in my life helps remind me that I must work hard and put forth my best effort in every aspect of my life no matter what I may be doing. When I compete regardless of what it might be, I have found that it keeps my motivation high, helps me to feel confident, and often leads to success in other areas of my life. Competition seems to always put an extra hop in my step, extra excitement in my heart, and an extra degree of focus to my mind.
Be Discontented
One of the worst ways for us to lose our desire to be our very best every day is to believe “we have arrived.” Instead of believing we are great or have reached the top or can’t possibly do more, we should think again. Though we may have achieved some amazing things, there is always more we can do to be better. Rather than thinking we have arrived we ought to think I am grateful for what I have become or accomplished but I ought to be better. Those who live “discontented” with their results, regardless of how phenomenal they may appear will have more success at living up to their full potential day in and day out.
Have Goals
Along the lines of living discontented, we must have goals that motivate us to be better than we are and we must track our progress toward achieving these goals. Once we abandon goal setting and achieving, our ability to put forth our best effort in life greatly diminishes. I have found that good goals inspire me to be better, encourage me to push myself, help me to focus on my top priorities in life, and allow me to maximize my potential. Good goals that we are honestly striving to achieve will help us live at a high level each day.
Live with Urgency
Often we get relaxed and fail to seriously strive to improve because life is going well. What would happen however if you lost your job today, or the competition moved next door, or the stock market crashed? If we can learn to live with urgency and realize that we never know what tomorrow will bring, we will stretch ourselves every day to be our best. When going about our day, we must consider what would we be doing differently if the pressure was really on, and then act in that way. Doing this will help us reach our potential.
Have Favorites
In life there are things that instantly motivate us. It may be a favorite song or movie, it may be attending a ball game or a show, or it may be doing yard work or participating in a favorite hobby, or calling our closest friend. Whatever it may be, whenever you feel your motivation running low, go to these “favorites” and get re-energized. For me it is often simply exercising. When my body works hard my mind wants to work hard too and it helps me to get re-motivated for life. I also have some favorite songs and movies that almost always motivate me when enthusiasm is running low. Going to these favorites in times of need help me to do better every single day.
Know Yourself
Finally, there are many things that get us down, steal our energy, and rob us of our motivation. Whether it may be watching too much TV, shopping in crowded stores, surfing the internet, eating unhealthy, or a million other things find those things that cause you to lose your motivation and stress you out and then avoid them as much as possible. Once we are honest with ourselves and admit what hinders our ability to be our best, we can then improve our consistency in our daily effort by avoiding them. I have found that for me that too much time on the computer or not taking time to eat a good breakfast in the morning are demotivators for me. And knowing this has helped me to be my best more consistently.
Striving to do our very best consistently is not an easy task however following some of the simple ideas above can have a tremendous impact on our ability to do so. And in the end, I believe each of us has the power within us to do our very best every single day!
Compete
Find a hobby that allows and encourages you to compete. Whether you enjoy a good game of golf or jogging or playing a musical instrument find a way to compete with yourself and/or others. Each time you run, keep track of how far or how fast you run and then try to do better the next day, if you play a musical instrument, perfect a piece you are learning. Good competition in my life helps remind me that I must work hard and put forth my best effort in every aspect of my life no matter what I may be doing. When I compete regardless of what it might be, I have found that it keeps my motivation high, helps me to feel confident, and often leads to success in other areas of my life. Competition seems to always put an extra hop in my step, extra excitement in my heart, and an extra degree of focus to my mind.
Be Discontented
One of the worst ways for us to lose our desire to be our very best every day is to believe “we have arrived.” Instead of believing we are great or have reached the top or can’t possibly do more, we should think again. Though we may have achieved some amazing things, there is always more we can do to be better. Rather than thinking we have arrived we ought to think I am grateful for what I have become or accomplished but I ought to be better. Those who live “discontented” with their results, regardless of how phenomenal they may appear will have more success at living up to their full potential day in and day out.
Have Goals
Along the lines of living discontented, we must have goals that motivate us to be better than we are and we must track our progress toward achieving these goals. Once we abandon goal setting and achieving, our ability to put forth our best effort in life greatly diminishes. I have found that good goals inspire me to be better, encourage me to push myself, help me to focus on my top priorities in life, and allow me to maximize my potential. Good goals that we are honestly striving to achieve will help us live at a high level each day.
Live with Urgency
Often we get relaxed and fail to seriously strive to improve because life is going well. What would happen however if you lost your job today, or the competition moved next door, or the stock market crashed? If we can learn to live with urgency and realize that we never know what tomorrow will bring, we will stretch ourselves every day to be our best. When going about our day, we must consider what would we be doing differently if the pressure was really on, and then act in that way. Doing this will help us reach our potential.
Have Favorites
In life there are things that instantly motivate us. It may be a favorite song or movie, it may be attending a ball game or a show, or it may be doing yard work or participating in a favorite hobby, or calling our closest friend. Whatever it may be, whenever you feel your motivation running low, go to these “favorites” and get re-energized. For me it is often simply exercising. When my body works hard my mind wants to work hard too and it helps me to get re-motivated for life. I also have some favorite songs and movies that almost always motivate me when enthusiasm is running low. Going to these favorites in times of need help me to do better every single day.
Know Yourself
Finally, there are many things that get us down, steal our energy, and rob us of our motivation. Whether it may be watching too much TV, shopping in crowded stores, surfing the internet, eating unhealthy, or a million other things find those things that cause you to lose your motivation and stress you out and then avoid them as much as possible. Once we are honest with ourselves and admit what hinders our ability to be our best, we can then improve our consistency in our daily effort by avoiding them. I have found that for me that too much time on the computer or not taking time to eat a good breakfast in the morning are demotivators for me. And knowing this has helped me to be my best more consistently.
Striving to do our very best consistently is not an easy task however following some of the simple ideas above can have a tremendous impact on our ability to do so. And in the end, I believe each of us has the power within us to do our very best every single day!
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