BELIEF

 

What distinguishes the successful person from one who has not realized his/ her full potential is the BELIEF that they are able to begin with and sustain in pursuit of their goals for they Begin Efforts Looking Inwards Embracing Faith. As they say well begun is half done and self belief is the key to beginning a task well. Belief is not something that is alien to us. We were born with it but we were not aware of it. Look at a little child who first begins to turn on the side, then learns to turn over on to its belly and thereafter begins to crawl. While instinct and evolutionary process could explain this progression, one cannot deny that there was an unconscious self belief that propelled this progress. Look at a toddler taking its first steps. It falls, perhaps hurts itself, cries but soon the failure is forgotten and with renewed belief it keeps attempting till he/she has taken the first wobbly steps.

The problem with us lacking belief actually began when we experienced and understood the term fear. Fear sows in us the seeds of doubt and slowly the large majority of us fall into a quagmire of self doubt, insecurity and risk aversion. The antidote for this is calculated risk taking which involves making a realistic assessment of the reality around and then cautiously proceeding to pursue ones goals. Once we repeatedly do this and embrace success, fear is slowly erased and replaced by belief that comes from regained confidence, renewed passion and anticipated success.

The long term means to have BELIEF is in Looking Inwards and finding your strengths, your abilities, your passions and your temperament. In the process you would also become aware of your limitations, your dislikes, your fears and your inadequacies.  The process of looking inwards is a journey to self discovery; a path we often avoid, for fear of confronting the unpalatable. Yet it is this self discovery that liberates us from our self imposed limitations be it in being risk averse or failing to harness our talents. Ironic as it sounds, this is actually a conscious attempt to discover the unconscious powers within that have remained latent but can now be ignited with a zealous spirit and harnessed into a passionate flame that powers us and fires us from within.

Once we realize that we are powerful beyond belief, we need to Embrace with Faith everything that has to be done to attain our goals. As they say Faith can move mountains; and you can imagine how much more easier it is to move ourselves as compared to mountains, provided we have faith in our abilities, our resilience and our cherished desires. Faith transcribes self belief into a self propelling, self directed and self motivated ball of energy that launches itself to attain its goal.

So take a deep look inside and find your destination, then embrace with faith the efforts you have to take and the sacrifices you have to make and Begin your Efforts for that is when your BELIEF will translate into the success that comes with you Beginning Efforts Looking Inwards Embracing Faith.

Action Points:

1. Source a copy of the book You will see it when you believe it by Wayne W. Dyer and get another perspective into Self Belief.
2. Attempt the following task. With nothing else in your pocket other than a handkerchief and your personal id spend a day in the city and if possible raise as much money as you can for your favorite charity (without disclosing your intent or begging). Hints: (a) Do not carry any money or your credit cards with you. (b)You can earn that money by doing odd jobs. (c) Before you begin also write down the amount you believe you can collect for the charity so that you have a worthwhile goal to pursue.
3. Read the post on FAITH - Finding Answers In The Heart by clicking on the following link  http://www.poweract.blogspot.in/2010/01/faith.html

Power Act - from http://www.actspot.com/ is focused on -

Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.

You are also invited to visit our inspirational and motivational blog

http://www.actspot.wordpress.com

IDEA

Each and every one of has had an IDEA or may be many ideas, to make life more enjoyable,  be it to make more money, find more happiness, enjoy healthy relationships or experience bliss.  Each IDEA would have seemed exceptional to us because each one was based on an Innovative Dramatic Exclusive Assumption. Perhaps one of those unique and exclusive prerogatives granted to the human race is our ability to generate ideas for the progress that the human race has made is only due to our constant evolution by leveraging ideas.

On and individual level though, time and time again we would have discovered that almost every idea of ours after the initial euphoria would have created a number of self doubts, seem to have innumerable problems in execution and largely fizzle out. The idea itself maybe very sound to begin with but they fizzle out because ideas are quick to germinate but like plants require to be nurtured with care and patience. To appreciate this one needs to understand the intricacies of an IDEA as under:

Innovation is the key to an idea. It refers to the ability to generate thoughts that are new and different from the existing. This is also the crux of an idea. The focus is on being different, thinking out of the box and generating thoughts that are novel. Yet the problem with innovation is that they take wings immediately but when they attempt to fly  they realize that the wing span is neither ergonomically right nor well developed to soar high as anticipated. This means that the innovative idea has to be studied in depth and redesigned painstakingly to ensure success. Most of don’t have the self belief , the patience and / or the technical, financial and managerial ability to make the innovative idea fructify.

Dramatic ideas refer to the realization that the idea can be revolutionary and dramatically alter our existing world. When an idea strikes us the impact is euphoric because we believe that now we can revolutionize the world with our dramatically different idea. Yet when we attempt to find out more about the acceptance of the idea we have, we are often stupendified to note that ideas similar to ours have existed in varied forms and the whole drama then ebbs out of the idea. At this point for most of us the idea now becomes deflated balloon and we are too weary and fatigued to attempt to adapt our idea to make a dramatic impact again.

Exclusive idea is the belief that the way our idea pans out will be unique, different and just the prerogative of our fertile mind and imagination. In a world full of ideating individual’s exclusivity is a very rare privilege and even that privilege has to be backed by tremendous confidence, financial support and exceptional marketing to ensure that the difference is visible and noticeable. For many of us the exclusivity of the idea loses steam no sooner we realize the price one has to pay to ensure that exclusivity. We are also drawn into a inner conflict of being pragmatic about our idea and daring to risk everything for it. Most of us then retreat to the safety of mediocrity for then we can continue to sustain ourselves.

Assumptions are the common thread that runs through each element of an idea. At every stage we assume that the idea we have is new, impactful and privileged to us alone.  When the realization that our assumptions were wrong in varying degrees hits us we first do a double take as if someone has hit us on the solar plexus. The wind is taken out of us and unless our mental makeup is that of a gritty boxer we do not hear the count of 8 and close our eyes and allow ourselves to throw in the towel. The fault is not in our ideas, it is in our approach to the idea; we cannot take on and build up on our ideas with kid gloves; what we need is the grit, guts and panache of a world beater heavy weight champion.

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Page & Sergy Brinn and the Zuckerberg’s of the world are both testimony and inspiration to the power of ideas. You need not necessarily have to be them but certainly you can try to emulate their ideations, their self belief, their grit and hopefully some glory will also rub off on you when you let your IDEA bloom and allow your Innovative Dramatic Exclusive Assumptions to bear fruit with persistence, fortitude and passion.

Action Points:

1. The simplest idea is to draw up an elaborate New Year Resolution List. For certain you would have done it in the past and by and large the list has remained as it is or perhaps grown in length. Read the post above and notice how almost all of what is said above is reflected in your failure to effectively stick to your resolutions of the past. Do you have an IDEA how you can ensure your current New Year Resolutions can be effectively implemented. ( hint : put a time frame to each resolution, mark timelines to review progress, announce key resolutions to family and friends so that you are more committed to it etc.)
2. Come up with 5 ideas to enhance your income this year by 25 %. Now work on one or more of these ideas and by March end review the progress. If you are faltering find out the reasons why.
3. Come up with 5 more ideas on how YOU will contribute to environment protection and any one of your favorite social causes. Review progress quarterly.

Power Act - from http://www.actspot.com/ is focused on -

Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.

You are also invited to visit our inspirational and motivational blog

http://www.actspot.wordpress.com

VISION

Trendsetters and path breakers are often labeled as visionaries and the reason is that they have demonstrated their VISION by displaying and implementing Vital Insight Supporting Innovative Original Niche. The invention of the wheel is often regarded as the first innovation by man that sowed the seeds of mans quest for liberation from the clutches of the elements that for long confined, restricted and enslaved the free spirit of man. Of course prior to that early man could have also used his / her vision in creating fire by rubbing stones but with the invention of the wheel literally and figuratively the wheels of progress were set in motion.

It was the vision of the Wright brothers to fly that enabled them to etch their names for posterity as the first humans to take off and land an aero plane. It was a similar vision that enabled Louis Pasteur to suggest pasteurization as the simple process to ensure that milk was fit for consumption without risk of illness. Notice that what the Wright brothers set out to do was invent something that didn’t exist while Louis Pasteur through study and experimentations discovered the utility of boiling milk. What is common though is that both of them had the vision to achieve what they set out to do. These examples could perhaps give a mistaken notion that vision is all that scientists and intellectuals set out to achieve. Look around and observe the small and insignificant stop gap arrangements you may have done yourself to meet an urgent need. It could be as trivial as using visiting cards as bookmarks or folding paper and inserting it under a door to keep it from banging shut when the wind blows. These are inspired solutions called creativity and is the seed of vision.

To be a visionary requires 3 steps – think different, see long term, have the courage of conviction to do it. Far too often our vision is a result of a problem needing a solution spurring us on. The essence of vision though, is seeing what does not exist, creating something that never existed and / or letting imagination run wild and then harnessing its power scientifically. The Fosbury flop the most widely used technique in high jump today is tribute to the man who dared to be radically different and succeeded so well, that he ensured that his vision became synonyms with his name and made it a part of athletics folklore. Similarly Henri Fayol’s Principles of management espouse the vision that he had in outlining and distilling the essentials of management.

At heart each of us has a visionary streak for we are blessed with the power of imagination, the ability to think independently and differently and the common sense to discern, prioritize and implement our ideas. The sum total of this is our VISION which translates into Vital Insight Supporting Innovative Original Niche.

Try this:

1. How can you cut a round ( circle shaped) cake into 8 equal pieces using only 3 cuts?
2. List out 5 New Year Resolutions that you have never succeeded in achieving in the past. Can you visualize a different approach to ensure that you can implement at least 3 of the resolutions successful this year.
3. Outline 10 points that would be key to the vision you have for your country.

Power Act - from http://www.actspot.com/ is focused on -

Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.

You are also invited to visit our inspirational and motivational blog

http://www.actspot.wordpress.com

DARE

Most of us have noble intentions, are idealist by upbringing and would love to be seen as heroic when the chips are down. In reality though, notwithstanding our most utopian concept of our self, we falter when we have to stand up to be counted for we do not DARE and go ahead and Display Action Risking Everything. We fear the consequences, we are terrified of being the odd man out and refuse to take risks that could disturb the tranquilly that comes out of adherence to the norm.

We do not dare because we are by and large creatures of habit and we would prefer to traverse the known path, rather than explore possibilities that could be tougher, riskier and possibly life threatening. Other times we do not dare because we do not want to move out of our comfort zone. Those who fear public speaking are classic examples of individuals who prefer to be passive audiences than active participants. There are many who do not dare because they do not see a value proposition in pursuing that path. Remember the time in school when you knew the culprit but did not dare to tell it to the teacher because you did not see how you would benefit from being a tale tattler whilst the risk of being ostracized by the rest of the class was very probable.

Almost all of us enjoy giving a dare to others but could possibly shy away from attempting the same dare, Remember the dares we gave people when playing passing the parcel ?  True some of those dares seem pretty silly and childish on hindsight but all the same they were still challenging then. However there are many who enjoy the thrill of taking on a dare. They would be the first to take on a challenge, find the tallest tree to climb or the attempt to lift the heaviest rock that he/ she can grasp. Ironically it is perhaps this very quality that could be their undoing for false bravado often results in misplaced confidence and taking on very risky dares. This might explain the number of people who get swept away when they go swimming in the beaches despite warnings not to or ending up in fatal car crashes when speeding and losing control.

Then there are the professionals who take on some terribly risky dares. The various circus artistes are a prime example of professionals taking on dares. The care and motorcycle racing drivers are another set of professionals who flirt with danger by daring to race on treacherous tracks and in dangerous weather conditions. The most revered daredevils are the ones who sacrifice their life in the taking on dangerous missions. The policemen, the fire fighters and the soldiers all deserve a special salute for the very nature of their job involves being daring. However, what is significant to the readers is the knowledge that each of us has it in us to DARE; begin by  following the law, the path of righteousness and by championing the cause of the oppressed, the down trodden and the marginalized; all it requires us to do is Display Action Risking Everything.

Action Points:

1. Make a list of interesting dares that can be used whilst playing some party games.
2. If you haven’t attempted any of these, go on DARE to try any or all of them

• Hold a snake / white mice in your hand for 5 minutes at least.
• Sing a song using a karaoke in front of an audience of at least 5 people (your family of 5 counts as audience)
• Go scuba diving / go on a fishing trawler into the sea/
• Wear a traditional attire of a region that is completely alien to you
• Go for a classical music / dance program that you have never ever attended before.
• Try to play some musical instrument that you have never attempted before. (eg. Try to play the saxophone / play the western drums )

Power Act - from http://www.actspot.com/ is focused on -

Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.

You are also invited to visit our inspirational and motivational blog

http://www.actspot.wordpress.com