Personal Development Archives

How to choose the right partner for your StartUp?

9Apr

By Paul RobinsonNo Comments

How to choose the right partner for your StartUp?

There are many successful partnerships in business. When two or more people get together to do what they are committed to achieve, often the magic happens. Many corporate successes have witnessed legendary partnerships. Microsoft began as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Hewlett Packard started as a partnership between William Hewlett and David Packard. Apple was founded in the partnership between Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. On the other hand there are many partnerships that have failed due to misunderstandings, dishonesty, lack of shared vision and commitment. A partnership is a long-term covenant between two or more people. When choosing a partner, be coldly objective. Try to evaluate potential partners without regard to emotional ties or just ‘friendship factor’...

9Apr

By Paul RobinsonNo Comments

Personal Development

Focus on your strengths

Whatever we focus on amplifies. This is applicable for building our character as well; when we work on strengths it fortifies us and when we work on shortcomings, we create more of it. Simple psychology is, focusing on strengths gives you a sense of pride and thus you operate at ease. On the contrary, focusing on weakness leads to self-doubt and fear; fear grips your natural flow and hence chances of failure is higher. It is a vicious cycle. All of us are created unique and diversified potential is always a team’s strength. We are all capable of doing something exceptionally well that most others can’t and vice versa. If others cannot do what you do reliably well, then you are dispensable in your career. In order to become indispensible, you need to stay as unique as possible. I...

Why PAIN! is a great motivator for CHANGE?

9Apr

By Paul RobinsonNo Comments

Managing Change, Personal Development

Why PAIN! is a great motivator for CHANGE?

One of the major reasons why many people are not successful is, the lack of motivation. We lack motivation to do something when we have no reason to do it. The ‘why’ behind what we do is the motivation to do it. If you get a big enough ‘why’, you can get away with any ‘how’. It’s always the reasons come first and answers come second. We need to have solid and enough reasons to achieve almost anything. When purpose is lost, we are just nomads or vagabonds. Think about this for instance, when we have enough reasons to have our basic necessities in life, like food, clothing and shelter, we have them. People who do not enjoy luxury may not have enough reasons for having those luxuries. The key is this. People who enjoy all the luxuries have enough reasons to have them on the first place. F...

Why most people don’t achieve their goals?

9Apr

By Paul RobinsonNo Comments

Personal Development

Why most people don’t achieve their goals?

Why most people set goals but they don’t realize them. Why New Year resolutions last only few days or weeks? Why do some people fail to stick to their decisions and goals and later invent excuses to justify their in-actions? New findings in neuropsychology pave the way about how our brains are wired and how we are conditioned. Many resolutions fail right from the goal setting part. Most of goals fail because we set them consciously but goals are achieved more subconsciously than consciously. Since most of our behavior is automatic and habitual, they are operated through a subconscious process of conditioned responses. If there is a contradiction between the conscious choice of resolutions and the subconscious ways of believing and achieving goals, often we do not materialize any of our...

9Apr

By Paul RobinsonNo Comments

Documentary Films, Personal Development

Ten tips to maintain work-life balance

Though success is relevant term, still the word carries a lot of importance and meaning to a lot people. We want to give our best at work and home too, but most of the time this is not possible. The real question is, ‘can we give the best at our work and be successful, and at the same time still lead a rich and fulfilling life?’ The answer is ‘Yes, we can.’ We do come across many people who are both successful and happy with their career and life. After keen observation, we found out that they take their life lightly and work seriously. In the lighter side of life, they relax, rejoice and spend quality time with family and friends; and on the work front, they are focused, agile and highly result oriented. How do they do that? Here is how: #1. Stop the balancing act Work and life ...

9Apr

By Paul RobinsonNo Comments

Personal Development

The importance of Learning and Growing

The word ‘earn’ is comprised in the word ‘learn’ because they both go hand in hand. Alvin Toffler, a famous futurist once said that ‘the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot “learn, unlearn, and relearn.” We are living in the conceptual age where previous concepts are getting replaced by new ones. If you want to grow yourself, you need new skills that are relevant for today’s changing times. Basically there are four types of skills that are required to succeed today: Life skills, technical and professional skills, people skills and conceptual skills. The term ‘Life Skills’ refers to the skills you need to make the most out of life. Life skills are usually associated with managing and living a better quality of life. T...

9Apr

By Paul RobinsonNo Comments

Personal Development

How to develop disruptive thinking?

Disruptors think about creating value for others. They don’t compete with others instead they create unmatched value which will help them dominate the market place. Disruptors target on an unmet need; they deviate from the mainstream and find new streams of value creation and revenue generation. You too can be a disruptor if you develop the ability to think like one. # Great disruptors see the world differently. They see opportunity while most see difficulty. Renaissance Florentine philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli said that entrepreneurs are “simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.” # Disruptors are Uncomfortable with status-quo. Disruptors are the ones who challenge the status-quo. ...

9Apr

By Paul RobinsonNo Comments

Business Strategy, Personal Development

Strategic Quitting

We have heard that ‘winners never quit; but then we have also heard, ‘doing the same things over and over will not get us a different result’. Winners quit the right stuff at the right time. They know when to hold and when to fold. A strategic quitter exits from the current platform and they do it when they see no future in that industry. They quit at the right time knowing the right time is at a distant or the idea is too old fashioned and plentiful. Successful companies have quitted on several projects that weren’t working. Successful business leaders like Richard Branson, Larry Page and Jeff Bezos have let some companies live and others die and always, ceaselessly, experimenting. In total, while Branson is known to have started some five hundred companies, he has also shut down the ...

9Apr

By Paul RobinsonNo Comments

Personal Development

Disadvantages of Experience Fixation

We can get wiser by experience but on the other hand we can get fixated on something while negating the usefulness of anything new. Experience Fixation is fundamentally getting fixated on to something that is old and familiar, and choosing to dislike other things that are not in accordance with their previous liking. For example, we get fixated with the music we liked and the movies we have grown up with. Over a period of time those genre become something like a fixation of choice keeping a deaf ear and blind eyes to enjoying anything new. As we grow older we become less and less open to new things. While many people love the comfort of having familiar ground underfoot. They will say, “I only listen to the songs of (some popular artists from a certain period) and all these...

9Apr

By Paul RobinsonNo Comments

Personal Development

The importance of Disrupting Yourself?

One particular challenge most companies face today is in the area of dealing with change. As people and companies get older, it’s easier for them to come up with a new idea but it’s highly unlikely for them to let go of an old idea that has worked well in the past. We associate a lot of success today with the idea of disruption whether it’s individual or organizational. Ever since Clayton Christenson coined the word ‘disruptive innovation’ in his 1997 bestseller, ‘The Innovators Dilemma’, many academicians and management consultants have hailed these words to continuously reiterate the need to stay relevant in this ever-changing world. Disruption is a form of creative destruction that displaces an existing market, industry, or technology and in turn produces something new, more effi...