It Took me 24 years to know this

Its 24th March 2012 and i have realized that is how long i have been on this earth
this Saturday i choose to reflect on what i have learned over the years

1-The Glass If Half-Empty Or Half Full
Whatever way you look at it is how it is. Every situation you are in can be seen from a negative or from a positive perspective. I don’t like negative people, so I always try to see everything from a half-full perspective. It makes life more enjoyable!

2-Complaining Gets You Nowhere
Life is unfair. Get used to it. Sometimes you are the underdog and you get handed the crappiest hand out of everyone. Complaining about how unfair or how difficult something is will not make your life better. It’s going to make you suffer and it’s going to cause others to get seriously annoyed with you.
Don’t complain. Take action and change what’s bothering you!

3-There Is No Free Lunch
Promises of free gifts, free education, free money…99.9% of the time they are a trick. There is always something attached to it, because hardly anyone does something for free.
Don’t count on a free lunch, work hard for your own success. Every now and then you may get lucky and someone will genuinely offer you a free lunch, in that case, enjoy it!

4-Easy Success Doesn’t Exist
Overnight success or instant millions only exist if you win the lottery or inherit a fortune.
Yeah you might get lucky sometimes, or have an amazing idea like the creators of Youtube did. Most of the time it takes a damn long time and a lot of hard work to achieve success. This is not a bad thing, and it’s not a problem at all. Just be prepared to work hard.

5-Girls Are Awesome
Haha, kind of random. But I love girls. They’re so…girly and feminine. They have this awesome energy that makes me feel so alive.
Yeah they can be dramatic, and illogical and confusing…but that’s the biggest reason why they are so awesome. Life would be rather dull without girls

6-Failure Teaches You A Lot About Yourself And The World
Even though I’m just 24, I’ve succeeded and failed more times than most people have in a lifetime.
Initially I always thought that failure was devastating, that it meant I was not a worthy human being and that I should bury my head in shame. Luckily I learned that failure is an essential part of growth and success.
The more you fail, the more you learn and the closer you get to succeeding.
The most important thing to remember about failure can be summed up in this fantastic quote by Will Smith:
“Don’t let failure get to your heart and don’t let success get to your head”.

7-Not Everything Has A Happy Ending
Life is not the movies, and bad things can happen to you. You can get sick, you can have accidents, you can get beat up, you can lose money.
Once again, don’t let it get to you. Keep your heart stainless. If things get bad, move through it as best you can and stay optimistic.

8-There Are Some Really Bad,Evil And Nasty People In The World
Unfortunately not everyone is good. There are some truly nasty, destructive and hateful people out there. They will purposely go out of their way to make you miserable or to destroy what you are trying to build up.
Stay away from those kinds of people and if they don’t want to listen, kick their ass (just kidding)

9-There Are A Lot Of Good People In The World
I would say that there are much more good than bad people. While most people may be inherently good and on a neutral level, there are also many people who go out of their way to make a difference.
These are the kinds of people that you want in your life. Make friends with them, respect them and try and be one of these good people yourself.

10-You Can Live With Less
You don’t need a mansion in every continent, or a Ferrari, or $10 million in the bank.
Although money is certainly nice to have and something to strive for, you can be perfectly happy with a small apartment, great friends, an awesome girl and enough money to pay the monthly bills.

11-Friends Are (Very) Important
In fact, I’d go as far as saying that having a couple of true friends in your life is absolutely essential to your happiness. There’s nothing like having a friend who you can count on, who will do anything for you and who’s always keen to hang out or start an adventure with you.
If you have these kind of friendships, don’t let them fade. Hold on to them because they are priceless!

12-There Is Always Someone Better
There is always someone who is better than you in everything. Even if you are the best in the world at what you do, it’s just a matter of time before someone comes along who will be better than you.
This is not a bad thing at all. Try your best and strive to keep getting better, but don’t get hung up and frustrated because there are others out there who are better than you. That’s going to make you miserable.

13-Even When You Think You Suck, You’re Awesome
There will be times in your life when you feel like a useless douchebag. You may think you suck at something, you may think you are a failure or you may feel like the biggest idiot in the world.
Truth is that everyone feels that way sometimes. No matter how much you think you suck, there are people out there who look up to you and who respect you. You still have awesome qualities…so don’t ever forget that. You’re already perfect!

14-Treat Others As You Want Others To Treat You
Do you believe in karma? Well, whether you do or don’t, I really believe that you will get treated in the same way as you treat others.
If you’re a good person and you’re nice to others, this will likely happen to you. If you’re an ass to people and treat them like crap, at some point it will feel like the whole world is turning against you because you will get back what you sent out.
You will reap what you sow. So sow positivity!

15-Always Expect The Unexpected
Hardly anything ever goes as planned. That’s life and that is what makes life awesome.
You never know at what point your perfect life is going to crumble or at which point your crappy life is going to turn awesome. Try to think about possible situations that could happen and be prepared how to act in case those situations occur.

16-Your Ego Is Your Downfall
Your ego is a nasty thing. It can cause arrogance, over-confidence and stupidity if you’re not wanting to admit you are wrong and still carry on going.
I have learned that it is best to remove my ego from all situations. If I’m doing something purely for validation or pride…I ask myself if there is any other reason why I’m doing it. If not…then it’s just my ego wanting attention and I usually don’t do it.

17-You Can Learn Something From Everyone
No matter how smart or how dumb someone may seem, I really think that everyone has some golden nugget of wisdom to share. Whether it is a way of eating, a handy little trick to get something done or an age-old wisdom…never think that you can’t learn something from someone.

18-You Can Make Something From Nothing
You can start off with absolutely nothing and build a massive empire. You can create products or items that millions of people across the world will use.
You can write articles that hundreds of thousands of people will read. If you can imagine it, you can create it.

19-It’s Nice To Help People
One of the most rewarding things to do in life is to help someone else improve their life in some way.
If you can share your knowledge or skills with someone. Even just help someone out with a place to stay or a loan for them to start a business, you can make a world of difference.
Sometimes a smile is all it takes for you to help someone have a better day.

20- Work Smarter, Not Harder
Ridiculous hard work usually makes you more successful than others.
What will really make you successful beyond your wildest dreams is working ridiculously hard following the smartest and most proven to work methods.
I can work really hard and dig a huge hole in my garden. Will that make me successful? No! (Unless I find gold). But if I work really hard on creating something that everyone needs, that is going to make me wildly successful.
Work smarter, not necessarily harder.

21-Never Stop Learning
Life is one constant school. From the moment you are born you start to learn, and I think the biggest mistake a person can make is to stop learning.
Always keep reading, books are awesome. Keep interacting with people, make connections, learn new skills. Keep trying new things, do something that you have never done before.

22- Boondocks Is The Most Awesome Movie Ever
Out of the hundreds of movies I have seen, my best and favorite is the boondocks animated series.
Its fun, hilarious and very controversial . It brings out various aspects of the society and all the characters in us.Love, hate, youth, work, leadership, social life etc.  On top of it all, it’s a movie you can watch every year of your life without it ever getting boring!

23-Your Health Is Everything
All the success, fame, money and friends in the world mean nothing if your health is so bad that you can’t enjoy life.
Take good care of your body and your health by exercising, meditating and eating healthy!

24-Good Or Bad – It’s Awesome Being Alive
I don’t understand people who say “Life sucks” or “Life is unfair”.
Life is the most awesome thing that you have…ever. Yeah it may be difficult, it may seem impossible to get anywhere and you may have been dealt crappy cards.
But as long as you are alive you have the possibility to achieve anything you want. The mere fact of being able to see, smell, hear, touch and taste is incredible.
Enjoy the awesomeness of life, and appreciate every moment that you have!

(%upgrade reality.)

Strategic Plan 101

While in my first year at the university, every course i did had a 101 attachment at the end
so do not mind my frequent use of 101 because it reminds me of where it all begun.

We all need a place to start. Businesses start from somewhere and in our case this is phase 101.
for businesses, this is not a recipe for success.
But on the same note, if you miss to have a strategy, your business is likely to fail. 
Strategic plan will differ with;

• Business plan
• Operational plan   

Therefore, if you are to make a difference this year, get to your drawing board now
these steps will guide you through in to making smart decisions

1. what is it that you do?
You have to have a clear understanding of what you are good at. Something you can do even without pay. Once you identify this, start thinking how you can turn it into profits for you. Whatever it is, it got to be relevant, intelligent, complete, empowering and elegant.

2. Evangelize your product
If people do not know what you do and how it will affect their lives, you are doomed. It will not sell and nobody will ask for it. At this point, market your product/idea to your target customer. sell the benefits and while doing this, win them over. They need to like you before they like what you are doing. you will get to disarm their resistance when they realize you are honest and what the best for them.

3. Launch
With a few people supporting you, you are ready to enter the market. by this time, your passion and drive are entirely what will keep you moving. Opposition will come your way and test how string you are. It is during this stage that businesses fall and fail to materialize. Do not fall in that category of weak hearts. 

4. Endurance
There are brands which have survived the test of time and those which never survived. Are you going to suck up to what others think? will you allow others to decide for you your course? if you think you are small and can not survive in your market, you better pack up and go because you suck. you will be replaced faster than you think.

5. Know your weakness

Do you know everyone you meet are able to do certain things better than you? Use this to your advantage. Learn how you can use others to better yourself. You are not an all round genius, and so you need to network with various people in order to become successful.

There is nothing wrong with being radical:

Insane targets!!!! hope they are not eating you up. 
You need some room for this:-

Getting success in 2012 is all about sticking to the rule book;
Here is where it all started. (% open forum)


1. Break rules, not hearts
When you break a rule for somebody, you create an act of flexibility in a moment of need. You demonstrate that at your company, every customer is the exception. And you prove that you’re willing to lose something on the first interaction to guarantee a lifetime of loyalty.  When was the last time you went off script?

2. Conduct symphonies, not transactions
Once on a weekend vacation, we stumbled into a charming art gallery. My girlfriend ended up buying this fabulous beaded necklace at a great price. Later, while she was in the bathroom, the owner secretly asked me for her address so she could send Brittany a personalized, hand written thank you note. So I gave it to her. By the time we returned home, the card had already arrived. That’s not service—that’s music. Do your customers evangelize when you’re gone?

3. Deliver inspiration, not packages
During my cousin’s wedding ceremony, there was a traditional blessing over the wine. But he and his bride also performed a new ritual: Spilling a drop of wine. According to Collin, this act recognizes those couples that are not given equal rights. Couples who aren’t as fortunate as he and Robin. As such, it wasn’t just a drop of wine—it was a drop of hope. And those of us lucky to witness that would never think about marital equality the same way again. That’s when it occurred to me: Sometimes you have to make a mess to make a statement. I wonder whom you might inspire by getting your hands dirty. What if you did that on camera?

4. Earn respect, not money
Last month I designed a Brandtag Identity Collage for my client, Closeouts With Class. When I asked their chairman to share his thoughts on respect, here’s what he said: “Respect buys loyalty. It makes your employees stay, makes your customers buy, makes your suppliers sell and makes your competitors drool.” Respect is your baseline. And if you treat it as your intentional commitment, the incidental result (money) will eventually come. Are you helping people feel more respected every time they deal with you?

5. Give gifts, not burdens
If it doesn’t change the recipient, it’s not a gift. If you oblige people to reciprocate, it’s not a gift. And if you make people work hard to get it, it’s not a gift. What you give has to alter people. It has to fill their heart, not clutter their desk. Otherwise all you’ve done is add to the slush pile. Meanwhile, they end up with an office full of useless nouns. When it would have been smarter to give the gift of social elevation, perhaps by giving them a front row seat to their own brilliance. That’s what my friend Derek does. When any of his employees win—in any way—he goes out of his way to blog about it. What gift are you famous for giving?

6. Inject soul, not machinery
Customers need you to bring humanity to the moment. They need you to show up, even when it’s hard. Sadly, this is where smart companies blow it: They try to meet budget by outsourcing the human function. Instead of talking to human operators, customers get robots. Instead of interacting with desk agents, customers get kiosks. And instead of getting an actual e-mail from real person, customers get autoresponders. Meanwhile, all customers want is to be treated like people, by people. Where are you sacrificing experiences for expenses? - THIS DEPENDS ON WHERE AND WHEN

7. Keep commitments, not secrets
Personally, I use a name tag. And not just the sticker—the tattoo of that sticker on my body. Can’t get more committed than that. I wonder what object you will employ to show people you’re not going away. After all: When you commit with both feet, people don’t just pay attention, they pay dividends. What single act have you done every day for the past 10 years?

8. Leave artifacts, not brochures
An artifact is worth saving and sharing. It’s a unique way to extend the influence of your work. And it’s the souvenir you leave with people that has the potential to change and inspire them. At my favorite coffee spot, The Mud House, the owner makes latte art. When your cup of java is prepared, Casey carefully crafts a portrait, landscape or flower into the foam of your drink. It’s a combination of foam, chocolate and cinnamon. And she even does custom orders, should there be a particular image you’d prefer. That’s an artifact: Done by hand, done with love. And your challenge is to figure out how to stop wasting paper and start leaving something behind that matters. Does your fancy brochure actually influence customer decisions?

9. Send love letters, not pitches

Love isn’t a weakness—love is the bell that’s always ringing. The question is: Is your brand brave enough to hear it? Simplifilm certainly is. They’re a video production firm run by my friend Chris Johnson. When he finds a dream client, he doesn’t assault them with an endless stream of marketing materials and sales literature. Instead, he sends them an e-mail that reads: “We love you guys a ton. We wrote you a love letter. I know it’s tacky, but we can’t help ourselves. And although we have more than plenty of business, we want you. We believe what you do is vitally important.” Once a prospect reads the love letter, it’s pretty damn hard to resist. The point is: Your brand is measured by how you love. Lead with your heart. Will you tell customers you love them before somebody else does?

10.  Build bridges, not barriers
If it were just you, it would be hard to survive. If it were just you, there would be nobody to lean against. And if it were just you, there would be nobody to keep you on your toes. If you want to build a bridge to your competitors, treat them like partners. Take a hint from Progressive Insurance. Almost 20 years ago, they became the first auto insurance company to provide its rates alongside the rates of other companies. That way, consumers could easily compare and decide—even if they didn’t use Progressive. And today, they still lead the industry. Because they’re willing to share in almost every direction. How could you convert your competitors into a power source?


Remember: There’s nothing wrong with being radical.