Has it occurred to you that good manners can mean the difference between success and failure in many aspects in our lives? How many times have you seen business deals being called off because of an etiquette mistake?
Well, I have seen it, experienced it many times and I am sure you have too. Although I am not too picky about too many rules of etiquette, there are some through which I take cues about a person’s attitude, and that sometimes drives my decision making.
So, let’s talk a little about manners and social etiquette today.
Early in my childhood, I saw my Dad and the elders in my family stuck to the radio listening to the live commentary of the game for hours. Every time there was a cricket match, the old little radio in our home was the most important gadget in our home.
So, I learnt a lot about cricket and the players early on. But I didn’t appreciate the game because whenever it happened, I would be deprived of the radio set for as long as the Cricket match was played, and to my dismay, it would usually go for 5 days.
My Affinity With Cricket Started With Sachin’s Entry
However, my interest in Cricket rose in 1989 when I was still in school. I read a newspaper article about a 16 year old boy who was selected for the upcoming India-Pakistan cricket match and how everybody was excited about this new player, Sachin Tendulkar. I was impressed. I have been hooked to cricket since then!
Sachin, since then, began a journey of setting new standards in cricket. He practically dominated every bowler in the world and, in fact, he became a standard that every bowler was to be measured against. It was so much fun to watch him play when he was in his swing and the way other teams feared the little master on the field.
Every business leader wants to have an inspired team. Every team members joins the team with an intention to be self-motivated to add value to the organization. But, something happens on the way and most business teams are no more inspired.
Why does that happen?
It also happens that the places of service where we expect people to be the least enthusiastic, we get an excellent service by an enthusiastic individual and where we expect people to be at their best (even in the private sector), we experience the worst.
I received this story in an email a few days ago. Since the email address was not known to me and subject of the email was not an indicator of the content either, I almost deleted it. But then I decided to just see the content, and now I thank God I did because the story I am going to share with you is what the email contained.
It is possible that you may have heard about this story before. But I was amazed by the story as this was my first encounter and therefore, I thought it is worth sharing with you. I am sure you will enjoy the story regardless.
I love reading books on Leadership and personal development. I love to enhance my knowledge and sometimes, just to get a reconfirmation of what I already know about leadership.
Among many incredible lessons, one thing I’ve come to realize is, everybody is a leader at a certain level. We all have the ability to lead ourselves and be an example for somebody else. And the good news is, we all lead.
All leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less. ~John Maxwell [tweet this]
Everybody has some influence and that indicates the depth of their leadership. But then, why is it that some leaders can mobilize nations, and others, who have all the wisdom, all the knowledge in the world, have no influence?
There are two kinds of people in the world as we perceive – successful people and those who are unsuccessful. But there is a third kind which we know as ‘average people.’
Average category falls right in the middle. You can’t call them successful because when they do get there, they will move out of this category. And you can’t call them unsuccessful because they are doing okay from their perspective. Oh and by the way, they don’t like to be called average.
He who is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. ―Benjamin Franklin [tweet this]
Recently, I came across a very interesting book written by a palliative nurse, Bronnie Ware. She named her book as, "The Top Five Regrets of The Dying". It is a book that touches our lives in the most relatable ways.
Ask any young kid about what they would like to be when they grow up. It's amazing to know how almost all of them will tell you about their dream of becoming top athlete, top cricketer, doctor, engineer, top spy, astronaut etc. At the same time, you will find almost none of them who will tell you that they would like to be average at anything when they grow up.
One thing I absolutely take seriously is to begin the day with gratitude. This is the most powerful way I have found to prepare for the day after getting up.
Another thing I do in the morning to at least take 15-20 minutes to read a few pages from one of my favorite personal development books. Not just once, I have read some of these books several times and I love to go back to them whenever I get the opportunity. Interestingly, my reading habit helps me feel even more grateful and be more intentional about my life.
Dreams have power, and simply because of the power of a dream, I am going to work with Richard Branson! I am so excited about it.
[note background=”#F6F6F6″] This is a guest post by Aistis Zidanavicius. He is an entrepreneur and a blogger. To connect with him, check out the links to his social media profiles in the Author Box at the bottom of this post. [/note]
A year ago I got a dream. I had a dream to meet Richard Branson. He has been one of my those inspiring personalities I have always admired. He has been one my heroes because of many things he accomplished in life and because of his relaxed and positive attitude towards everything he does.
Just a few days ago my dream came true and I want to share this story with you today. I hope my story gives you the inspiration to dream big and have faith.
Time wasters are on top of the list these days because of so many distractions everywhere. Time wasters are things that steal time from your life. Time wasters rob you of the time you would ordinarily have kept and used for more productive endeavors.
There are many such activities you and I engage in that can be productive, if we are careful. Otherwise, these activities can become huge time wasters; pushing us away from our dreams and goals.
However, it’s amazing some ‘experts’ miscommunicate things and make healthy activities as time wasters. They make those things look as if they are really not worth spending time on. The goal of this post is to list some of the good things in life that can be a life saver and turn into time wasters if we are not careful about them. While many ‘experts’ make these look like time wasters, I think we can have many blessings if we take these activities seriously, consciously and make a decision to be productive.
The List Of So Called Top 10 Time Wasters
So, here is the list and I will let you go through them and decide for yourself if you think these are time wasters for you or a blessing, if you choose to make it so. Here you go:
