by Angela Taffs | Mar 4, 2015 | Business Success, Personal and Lifestyle
What do you do when you have a decision to make? How do you make decisions? A big one at that. One that could have serious implications on the future. Are you just not too sure what to do and are scared of making the wrong choice. So what to do.
How do successful people make decisions?
Successful people make decisions and quite often make them fast. They may be in situations where a decision has to be made immediately and they are fully aware that the worst possible thing for them to do is procrastinate and not make a decision at all. After all, any decision is better than no decision.
Procrastination and indecision will cause more problems than making a ‘wrong’ decision and the problems we will then have to deal with afterwards. By doing nothing, the indecision will prey on our minds and blur our thinking. Consider a piece of paper. You don’t know where to put it so you put it on a pile on the kitchen counter. Another piece arrives and the same happens. Before you know it, the pile has grown and there is no room for anything else on the counter without it all spilling on to the floor. The same will happen with your mind. Cluttering your mind with indecision will remove the room for positive creative thought and it will become dimmed and your energy drained.
How to make decisions
Sleep on it
This is incredibly powerful. Before going to bed write down the problem or situation you need to make a decision about. Just before you go to sleep, ask yourself ‘What is the right decision for me’ or ‘what is the solution’ The power of the subconscious can be seriously underestimated and by doing this, it is amazing how you will awake in the morning with a clear solution.
Stop thinking about it
By consistently thinking and worrying about the problem, the mind becomes blurred and you become stressed. Try to clear the problem from your mind and think about something else. You may just be surprised when at the most unexpected moment the light bulb comes on and the solution is staring you in the face.
Test out the decision
So consider the implications of the different outcomes dependant on different decisions. Don’t concentrate on the immediate effects but look into the future, 6 or 12 months ahead. What will the situation look like then based on each possible decision. Looking at longer implications can help us with short term decision making.
Go connect with nature
Trying to make decisions in a high pressure environment can cause the wrong one to be taken. You will be surrounded by other things that will continue to demand your attention and pull you in different directions. Give yourself some time out and go connect with nature. It can have a very therapeutic effect and help you to think clearly once again. Go for a walk in the woods or sit by the river. Allow your mind to ‘breathe’ and have space. Often just a short period of time in the fresh air with no interruptions can help you to see clearly once again.
Start with the end in sight
What is the end result that you want to achieve? Too many times we start our decision making process by worrying about how we are going to do something, how we will afford it, how we will tell someone. Concentrate on the long term goal and work backwards. What do you want long term? Let that help you make the decision and you will then find ways to deal with all the other little things in the way once the big decision is out the way.
Write it down
Instead of keeping a jumble of ideas swirling around in your head, write them down. Get a sheet of paper, the larger the better, and some marker pens and just jot down whatever rambling thoughts spring to mind. They do need to be in any order. Just jot them all over the page. Pin the piece of paper up on the wall and leave it there for a few days (or whatever time restriction you have). As you walk past, add another thought however random. Let your mind run free. When ready sit down and reflect on all the different thoughts. You may surprise yourself with what ideas you come up with using this method.
Go with your gut feeling
Sometimes it can be as simple as tossing a coin if you have two options to choose from. Give a heads or tails to each option and see where the coin lands, then listen carefully to your gut reaction. How do you feel? Does it feel right? Many successful business people have made major decisions based on their gut reaction. Don’t’ be afraid to listen to yours.
So go put these tips into practice and make that decision once and for all. You will feel so much better once you have done it.
by Angela Taffs | Mar 3, 2015 | Business Success
Whether you want to be successful in life or successful in business, what are the secrets to gaining that success? Why are some people more successful than others? What do they do that unsuccessful people don’t? Follow these simple ways below to give yourself the best chance of success.
Simple ways to be successful
Plan
Fail to plan, plan to fail. This is so true. If you don’t have a plan of what you want to achieve, how are you going to know how to get what you want? Write it down. Plan with the end in sight. What do you ultimately want to achieve? Once you have that written down you can work backwards as to how you are going to get there. Take small steps to reach the bigger goal.
Stay focused
Keep looking at your plan and make sure that everything you do takes you towards to your goal, not away from it. It is too easy to get side tracked and led astray so by referring to your plan on a regular basis you can make sure you keep on track and focused on what you ultimately want to achieve.
Find a mentor
Who inspires you? Who has been there and done it already? Who do you trust? Go find yourself a mentor. Watch, listen and learn how they are successful. Don’t ever be afraid to ask someone to be your mentor. Truly successful people love helping others and are only too happy to pass on their experience.
Trust your gut instinct
It may all look good on paper, but if something is niggling inside you and it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. The results of a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that people made the right decision 90% of the time when relying on their gut instinct alone.
Keep learning
The day you think you know it all and decide to stop learning is the first day to your decline. No one can ever know everything there is to know. By keeping learning we open up new ideas and possibilities on a constant basis. We can learn from people, experiences and reading. Life gives us constant opportunities to learn that we should never pass by.
Never fear failure
Failure is a learning curve of how to get it right. I don’t know of any truly successful person who got it right the first time. There is a famous quote about Thomas Edison when inventing the lightbulb
“I will not say I failed 1000 times, I will say I discovered there are 1000 ways that can cause failure”
So when something doesn’t work out, you have not failed, you have just learnt how not to do it.
JFDI
This is the most important of all. The old saying Just f*****g do it. You cannot sit planning and thinking about it forever. You just have to get off your backside and do it.
By following the tips above, you will stand more of a chance of succeeding at whatever you are aiming at.
Good luck
by Angela Taffs | Feb 26, 2015 | Business Success, Personal and Lifestyle
What can Madonna’s fall at the Brits teach us about business?
Last night, Madonna performed at the Brits. Doubtless she would have spent many hours rehearsing. Refining and practicing her routine only for a totally unseen incident to completely derail her. During her performance she had to untie a long cape she was wearing and at an exact moment, a chap holding the other end who could not see what was happening due to being Madonna’s back being turned on him, had to whip the cape from her back.
What happened was that the cape was tied too tight and was not undone when it was whipped off her. This resulted in her being violently pulled backwards down a flight of steps, landing heavily on her back in front of hundreds in the audience and millions of television viewers.
What happened next was the crucial point for me. After a couple of what appeared to be awfully long seconds, Madonna pulled herself awkwardly to her feet but then carried on as though nothing had happened.
So how does Madonna’s fall relate to business?
Madonna proved herself to be a true professional. She had planned everything perfectly, had a huge support team around her to help her and then an unforeseen incident took her crashing to rock bottom (literally). She had two choices at this point.
- She could have felt sorry for herself, hugely embarrassed and whimpered off into the shadows to lick her wounds and the show would have been over for her. People may have felt sorry for her but they were likely to have talked about her downfall when her name was mentioned in the future as that was their lasting impression.
- She assessed the situation with lightening quick speed, picked herself up, dusted herself off and just simply got on with it. She held her head up high and proved herself to be the ultimate professional. People now when they talk her about her downfall are also likely to talk about how professional she is and what an inspiration she is. She will have gone up in the estimation of many.
And this is what happens so often in business.
Something comes and kicks us in the teeth and all the hard work and effort we have put in to building our business suddenly seems pointless. All our careful planning and preparation has been for nothing. We feel sorry for ourselves and feel we just can’t go on any more. We go hide in the shadows until the embarrassment of failure has died down a little and then gradually try to bring ourselves back out in to the open world.
What successful business owners do when faced with adversity is exactly the same as Madonna. They quickly assess the situation, identify what has happened and what they can do to salvage the situation. They pick themselves up instantly and just get on with it once again. No moaning, no whining, no feeling sorry for themselves.
And then they learn from their mistakes to ensure they don’t happen again. They don’t look upon any hiccup in business as a failure. They look at it as a learning curve. I am sure that if Madonna ever wears a cape on stage again she will either have checked it is more loosely tied or she will have a false tie with a Velcro fastening.
So what would you have done in a situation like Madonna’s? Have you hit a situation where you feel you have been treated unfairly and your business has failed? What choice did you, or will you make? Don’t be so quick to feel sorry for yourself and blame the situation for the failure or demise of your business. Use the opportunity to learn a lesson, pick yourself up and get on with it for another day. Act like a true professional. Act like Madonna!
by Angela Taffs | Feb 25, 2015 | Personal and Lifestyle
Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people have on their deathbeds
Bronnie Ware worked in palliative care for many years. What she found was that many people when questioned had the same regrets about life. A real eye opening article and worth some contemplation and consideration by us all.
Here are the most common five:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
by Angela Taffs | Feb 20, 2015 | Starting a Business
Are you employed? Are you truly happy in your job? Be honest now.
Over the last few weeks I have been amazed by how many women I have met who are desperately unhappy with the job they are in but are too restricted by having to pay the bills etc to be able to walk away. They have fabulous business ideas and the talent to make a business work but are just too afraid to take the ultimate step.
Are you like that? How many others out there are like that?
We can all read the self help books telling us to step out of our comfort zone and jump into the unknown where great riches await us. But how many of us really have the belief to take that jump?
There are so many people, both male and female, who feel trapped. They need the immediate ‘security’ blanket of a regular income no matter how unhappy it makes them and with the inherent risk in today’s world that they ‘security’ blanket may be whipped away at any moment and replaced with redundancy.
It takes a truly brave person to leave a 9 to 5 employed job to jump into the unknown, but at the same time, the people I know who have taken that jump are infinitely happier long term than those who have not.
So how about you? Are you brave enough to take the jump?
It is a scary decision. I know because I have been there and done it. I have had success and I have also had failures (or learning curves as I prefer to call them) which resulted in me having to re-enter the world of employment for a while.
If you are waiting for the right time to quit your job and start your own business, I doubt that time will ever come. If you really feel the risk is too big to take, how about testing out your new business in the evenings and at weekends whilst remaining in your employed role? This can be the lesser of two evils and can give you valuable research opportunities as to whether your business will work or not.
The worse thing you can do is to stay in a job you hate, with unfulfilled ambitions and dreams. Life really is too short.
If you would like a chat about your new business idea, get in touch now.
