When Was The Last Time You Took A Risk?

Hello World,

When was the last time you took a risk? This is a genuine question I am asking. I try to take well evaluated risks every week. This keeps life exciting and also pushes me towards learning something new. Contradicatory to popular beliefs, taking risks also makes you fortune. The key is, you have to be well informed. You have to do your research.

As I said, when you push yourself and learning something new that’s in demand, you can turn that around and make it work for you. You can make it a skill to teach to others, or turn your skill into a business.

In addition, you should actually make your money work for you! Save, but don’t just save, put it into investment. You should always focus on creating a well diversified portfolio.

I know much of the other countries are not as lucky as us Canadians, but hey, if you are Canadian then take advantage of your TAX FREE SAVINGS ACCOUNT. You won’t have to pay tax on any of your interests! You should have a brokerage with Wealthsimple or Questrades, I am sure there are other great ones but, these are the ones with low trading rates. Then invest a good portion of your money on divident paying stocks or a well diversified portfolio that will grow with time.

Make your money work for you! Millennials are both rich and poor according to a Business Insider Article . People born around 1980, joined the workforce during great depression and hence, are still playing catch. Since then the increase of income has been up by 67%, even with that rise, Millennials student debts are holding them back. Millennials also like to spend more than they earn.

Recently we are seeing a lot of Gen Z going into investments and opening small businesses. They are financially well versed as they are in the process of trial and error at a very eary age.

Intead of playing catch up with your generation, take some risks for your personal growth and also financial growth.

Make sure to follow me on TikTok: Dlaofficial_

What Would Happen If You Maxed Out Your Investment Accounts? Compound Your Way To Rich

Hello World, I know I am a bit late; however, I would like to thank all 1,320 subscribers for staying close to my journey. I have been very busy with work and trying my best to keep up with my side goals. In January 2021, I had a vision, and I wrote the blog, Meditation and Manifestation for…

by dlaofficial August 7, 2021

Day In THe LIFE OF A HUSTLER

Hello World, I know I am a bit late; however, I would like to thank all 1,318 subscribers for staying close to my journey. I have been very busy with work and trying my best to keep up with my side goals. In January 2021, I had a vision, and I wrote the blog, Meditation…

by dlaofficial June 2, 2021

Follow Along …

I hope you are enjoying my journey as much as I am! I would love for you to share with your friends and family.

by dlaofficial May 11, 2021May 11, 2021

I need Sleep to Increase Productivity – For the Workaholics

I just learned procedural memory is learnt through REM sleep.  Ah who ever knew! Well, I didn’t! That’s why I am here to share and increase your productivity.  My sleep pattern has been terrible lately. I have been working round the clock, 10 things going through my brain and I have to get everything done!

However, come to realize that would be sloppy job done on all my assignments and goals because there is no focus on my part!  I can’t concentrate and I am getting distracted! I start procrastinating because, I just can’t recall the information as quickly as I am supposed to! That’s trouble! I am already low on time!

Most importantly, whatever I learnt a day before, I can’t remember and apply to my daily work because I am not letting the information set as I am not getting enough sleep.

A lot, of entrepreneurs / go-getters will take pride in the fact that they get 4 hours of sleep.  It signifies to them that they are busy and they get a lot done.  In fact, it is false validation.  They are probably getting work done but are they of quality?

Quality matter people! Quality is everything! It creates a standard for business and you can charge more per your quality of work! 

When you sleep you are actually increasing your chance of productivity and quality of work for the next day. Getting about 7.5 hours of sleep helps you strengthening  of neural connections. You are digesting the information you have learnt through-out the day(s), storing it for reapplication for the future.  When you don’t sleep, the information you want to recall for the future will get diluted.  You won’t be able to recall it as quickly or completely lose it in memory.

The idea is as simple as your daily workout session! When you work-out the entire week, it’s recommended that you add in a rest day.  This is because your muscles need to repair in order to be ready for the next work-out session.  If you don’t take this rest day or any rest days then you will burn out.  Burn out! Yes, that happens to us at work! We burn out when we don’t take a vacation, hence we will definitely burn out when we don’t get enough sleep.

Stay Healthy,

If you need management or business solutions help, please visit: https://dlaofficial.wordpress.com/business/

 

Thank you,

DLA

Let’s connect!

Instagram: Dlaofficial_

BeBee

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Twitter @DilyPie

 

 

Finding Stability in your Passion Project

Hello World,

Everyone needs motivation! Some are positive motivation that are backed by habits and some are derived from no way out situations. Most of my motivations were from no way out situations. This is because people get too comfortable in one way of living. They mistake stability for security. This is actually a very wrong idea.

Stability is not actually security, but it’s similar to a low risk investment. Low risk investments are safer however there is still the word “RISK” attached to it. Here are some examples; you are working 10 years at a stable position but one day you get a layoff notice. You are with your spouse for several years and you planned your entire life with them but then one day health gets in the way. You plan on checking off all your bucket list items after retirement but health gets in the way again or other financial strains lock you down. These are the hidden cost of low risk investments. Low risks means no long term fulfillments.

I am not saying go waste all your savings on high risks stocks! Don’t do that unless you have the means. I am saying, forecast your future and invest more than one stable way. Use your stability as motivation to gain other securities. You have one stable source? That’s great! Now create other sources! I know, I know, here is where I help you answer your next question, where do you start?

It’s hard for some people to find passion because they never had the chance or someone to make them recognize that they excel in it. You start by listing down everything you are good at. You are good at math? You are good art? You are good at sewing? You are good at speaking? You are good at photography? What are you good at? I want you to highlight your top one or three things you are amazing at.

Now I want you to take one of your top 3 that appeal to you the most and really think about how you will develop this. You can enhance your learnings by taking free courses online or researching online. You can reach out to others who actually work on that same project. No matter how simple the project is, network to find out more. Don’t act like you are a “Know it all!”

When you have sufficient research about the topic and knowledge of what’s trending in the market. I want you to devote at least one hour every day doing case studies, or creating samples of the project. Yes, that’s right, every day! I know you don’t have time, you have to take care of work, kids, family, school, kitchen, chores, cat, dogs, husband, boyfriend, wife, girlfriend, mom, dad, grandma, parties, laundry and the never ending list of life. However, I want you to make some time to devote one hour for creativity.

After you have 5 to 10 samples, I want you to present them to your family and friends to gain feedback on how they like it. Your family and friends are not always honest because they don’t want you hurt. Therefore, ask them to be honest and constructive. How can you improve your service or material? Gain at least 5 feedbacks you can improve, yes that’s your goal!

Then I want you tell others what you have been doing and present their sample to them. Put it up on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, anywhere and everywhere. This is just sharing so don’t think too much into it. Alongside that, find a medium where you can display your item and in turn sell them. This will require you to know if you want this to be displayed online or at some ones store? Since I do everything online, I will guide you through your online endeavors.

Don’t expect to make money right away. The people who do are extremely lucky. It takes time and persistence to create a certain following and very few people get famous overnight. Hold on to your passion project and keep working on it every single day till it financially supports and secures you with your other stable sources.

Please feel to contact me if you require consultancy or assistance. I provide full timeframe and guideline to your success…

Thank you,

DLA

Let’s connect!

Instagram: Dlaofficial_

BeBee

Medium

Twitter @DilyPie

Master Negotiation

Hello World,

Do you recall the last time you negotiated and what the outcome was? I am sure you thought of a moment of confrontation with someone. When you hear the word negotiation, you subconsciously start to think of competition between you and the second party. However, that’s not the case! Negotiation is reaching an agreement that is moderately satisfactory for both parties.

How does that work?    

Good question! How does that work? I mean, I want this deal but the other party is definitely not agreeing with anything I am proposing! There are three forms of negotiation, Hard (Aggressive), Soft (Passive) and Principled (Assertive). Aggressive is when you shout, yell, confront, make the other person look bad and do anything to get the deal. Passive, you yield, and come off a bit unconfident. Best practiced is Assertive, you focus on interest and not the position.

Assertive negotiation creates a Win-Win situation for both parties. To create a Win-Win situation you need to define the purpose of the negotiation. Why do you need the negotiation? What purpose will it solve? After we have an answer, let’s assess if our proposal is realistic. Remember you don’t want the proposal to be turned down! Then comes thorough research on the topic of proposal and the party we are negotiating with. Trust me, you are only calling for failure if you are not confident! The only way to gain confidence is by acquiring knowledge about your product and the client! Yes, I know I say this way too often but one more time, PRACTICE! Run through the negotiation points, presentation, slides, speech, numerous times. Now don’t get the wrong idea, you are not there to prove the other side wrong or look desperate for the deal but practicing will boost your confidence and give you an edge when negotiating.

Know what your clients interests are and what they want out of the deal. Always do a Scenario analysis and figure out alternative plans for the proposal. This way if the second party counter offers you are not sitting there blank. Don’t read off the paper! Emphasis on confidence is major! If you are not assertive then you are giving the other party leverage. Keep a poker face, which means even if you are franticly in need of the deal, don’t show it! Be honest about the information you provide and be yourself.

FACT: UK businesses lose estimated $9 million per hour due to poor negotiation

Communication! The most important out of all the information shared; you need to be a good communicator to be a good negotiator. Practice and learn this skill, it’s needed in leadership, business and in your day to day life. You need to focus on pitch and tone of voice, speech, body language and most and foremost be a good listener. In negotiation, no foul words please! Don’t let the emotions get the best of you when things are not going your way. Remember, who ever gets angry first loses as the other person has leverage. Be calm and patient, listen and show respect. How you dress at the meeting has a lot to do with communication as well. It tells the second party how serious you are about the proposal.

You are not competing against the second party, hence you have to compromise. Don’t throw a tantrum, you won’t always get everything. Negotiation is neutralizing conflict, resolving and ensuring mutual gains. Don’t be in a hurry to close the deal. Show patience and buy time from the second party. Inaction, as in buying time will give you more time to think of an alternative counter offer.

RADPAC

The method of negotiating as follows:

Rapport – Share good vibes! Build a relationship. In business, you are negotiating a deal not just for one time gain but for a prospect client!

Analysis – Understand/Research your product and the second parties interest

Debate – The main part of negotiation is the discussion. Stay calm and composed. Don’t assume, the clients can’t read your mind. Be clear about the proposal.

Propose – Propose the best idea to reach the best possible conclusion

Close – Closing the deal. Contracts to be carried out in presence of both parties.

There are many types of negotiations: Day to Day negotiation: flow of work, the negotiation we have with ourselves, our family, our friends, our dogs. Negotiation with a superior, team, Commercial Negotiation, Legal Negotiation. The negotiating conditions of sale, lease, service delivery, etc. Hence sometimes negotiation can get complicated. A lot of businesses use third parties for instance, Lawyers, subcontractors, project managers, etc. as negotiators for deals. This way they  remain positive in front of the client.

Happy Negotiating!

Dla

 

Incorporating Agile and Lean into your daily life

Hello World,

How many of you are in IT Project Management and use Agile methodologies in software development life cycle? Doesn’t matter! If you think about it we all  use Agile in our daily lives (without making it complex of course). If you feel you don’t then let’s start! Incorporating this practice in your daily routine will be a guide towards self improvement and short term achievements which will lead to a sense of satisfaction.

Agile?

What is Agile? Your ability to move quickly and easily. But moving too quickly can actually limit your ability to move effortlessly.  Waterfall methodology suggests to complete your goal sequentially. In SDLC the sequence would be as follows, gather requirements; design, code; perform system testing; perform user acceptance testing (UAT); fix bugs and deliver the finish product. The biggest draw back of this method, once you reached the end product you don’t really know if it will be successful and accepted by customers. If you don’t have a success story to share, then you would have to go back and re-start the sequence once again! In other words, you moved quickly but not efficiently and not easily because you are having to go back.

Now to prevent this sort of disruption Agile kicks in! There is only one main  difference between Agile and Waterfall methodology. In Agile, you adapt to change by customer feedbacks as the software is being developed. You run on a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) or an existing product and improve it as the customer is using it and responding to what to keep and change.

Agile is the process of measuring, learning, feedback and loop. Agile reduces the risk, increases value, adapts while work in progress, and provides better cost management. Agile has it’s backlog in order, there is a clear visibility of what is completed to date. The backlog requirements are sorted by priority. This means the requirements don’t have to be completed in sequence like the Waterfall method and are completed in order of importance. This way the product can be released whenever acceptable rather than waiting on a feature to be ready. User feedback supports with the understanding of where changes are required or when to Pivot. A change is needed when each experiment leads to loss of progress. Since the project is being adapted as user feedback, there is no need to dispose the entire project when there is a negative feedback. This makes Agile more cost efficient.

Real life?

Now in life to lose weight quickly, you would have to give up chocolate, pizza, oil, salt, sugar and carbs. If you go on such a diet, you know you would reach your results quickly. But once you have reached your outcome, you then realize you are not happy! You reached an outcome by overlooking the side effects. Now you are unhealthy, have vitamin deficiency and missing bunch of essential nutrients which is leaving dark spots on your face (often happens in modelling!).

But if you were more Agile, you pick up your sticky notes and run to the whiteboard! You are on search mode without commitment. You would find a diet plan that works for you and read cases where the diet has worked and didn’t work. Also, don’t forget to find the side effects of these plans! Then call up a nutritionist and a personal trainer.

Yes, you will be the Scrum Master and run Sprint meetings with your trainer and nutritionist. You will clarify your requirements with them and specify what you are looking to achieve, being more healthy, losing weight, gaining weight, toning, etc. Your trainer and nutritionist will help you find a proper diet plan and workout plan. You, the trainer and nutritionist will break down the workout and meal plan into parts/iterations. You will set an estimated time of completion on each iteration goals. Set an estimated budget on the following, trainer/nutritionist fees, gym membership cost, and for cost all these healthy fruits and vegetables from Wholefoods.

With each Sprint meeting, you, your trainer and nutritionist will measure your progress and the time it took to get to your goal. This will calculate the Velocity, and you will know how long it’s taking you to complete these goals. Now since, you can’t have a Burndown chart in this example, track your progress everyday. There are many apps such as Lifesum, which tracks your daily meals and workout. If along this whole process you feel this diet plan is just not working for you then Pivot and or search mode again, find another diet plan.

We do this in relationship and in our career as well. We don’t commit on our first date! We keep dating without commitment and experiment and learn about the person. We make mind notes of what the Pros and Cons are until we see that person is a potential. If the person is not a fit in our life then we go on search mode again. Same with our careers, if we hate where we work, we seek guidance and mentors. We plan. Then we educated ourselves in training and skills that will get us a better opportunity to where we want to be. Then we search.

Remember, you just have to measure, learn, review and repeat…

Thanks,

DLA

 

 

Addiction – Are you in denial?

Hello World,

Habit Vs. Addiction

 Do you think addiction is a choice or can people choose to be addicted? What causes addiction? How come some people are more prone to get addicted then others? Most smokers argue that they are not addicted and they can stop whenever if they choose to quit. However, if they do attempt quitting they would most likely fail. It takes more than just motivation and will power to quit something addictive. Habit is something you choose to do and can resign from whenever but having a cigarette daily is definitely not a habit.

Addiction is recognized as a chronic disease, same as cancer and heart diseases. You don’t choose to have cancer and or a kidney failure. Same with addiction, it chooses you! Sure the first smoke, the first few glasses of alcohol, the first game of poker and the first sniff of drug is all you, you made that choice and decision! Though, as you continue you start craving these things, not by choice, but because your body demands it. If you are addicted, you have a chemical imbalance in your brain which results in mental, physical and behavioral changes.

No Control…

Addiction is when we have no control over our mind and behavior due to a substance or a behavior. You can be an impulsive shopper, impulsive gambler, addicted to video games, food, sex, drugs, alcohol etc.  Addiction occurs to people to due to many reasons. Often it’s said that addiction is due to genetics, FALSE! It can happen to anyone! Usually the reasons are depression, sadness, loneliness, violence, sexual/mental abuse, trauma, influence and an environment surrounded by that substance. For example, if the environment you are in such as work, school or home has drugs in the background then you might be influenced in to using it.

Low Dopamine and Serotonin

Addiction is a coping method for depression. Dopamine is neurotransmitter which controls the reward and pleasure area of your brain. It also controls movement in our body, if we are low in dopamine then we are at risk of getting Parkinson’s disease. Serotonin is a chemical that helps balance your mood. Low Serotonin triggers depression. Low Serotonin also can makes us turn quite suicidal. 

Alcohol, smoking, gaming, gambling, drugs, shopping, and any impulsive behavior provides a short term high. People use these to get away from sadness and despair. They think that it’s giving them happiness and eliminating distress. However, they forget alcohol and drugs are anti-depressant. These substances will provide the short term pleasure of fogginess and they will make you forget for a slight period of time. But then it will all come back making you more depressed, asking for more substance to get rid of it once again.

Alcohol, drug, gambling, sex etc. increases your dopamine, so does eating chocolate and winning the lottery. But in addiction, your body becomes greedy and asks for more and more increase of dopamine. When you consume too much the body adapts and confuses your coping method and wants more of the increased pleasure.

Will Power…

Will power isn’t enough! Remember it’s a chronic disease. If you know someone who is addicted then the first step is making them admit they have an addiction. Most people are in denial because of the stigma that addiction has. They know it’s unhealthy but still continue because they can’t stop. The best way to help these people is by helping them admit they have a problem. Then finding a good rehab center. To recover from addiction, people need supervised medical monitoring. Getting Nicotine, won’t help, it’s just replacing cigarettes to increase your dopamine some other way.

Keep it Healthy!

Dla

 

 

 

Dissatisfaction – Good or Bad?

Hello World,

We all go through it! We go through dissatisfaction numerous times throughout the day. Monday mornings are the worst, right?! If we could get 5 more minutes in Bed! We are all dissatisfied of rolling out of our amazing, comfy, cozy, warm bed and head out for that dreadful work. At lunch, we feel dissatisfaction if the first bite of our food does not taste great. Let’s not even mention the rush hour when we are headed home from work, the weather traffic, the rush, let’s just say it takes a while to get home! Even when we are fast asleep at night, we can be dissatisfied with a discomforting position, we have to alter it right away to get back to our good night sleep. These are conditions we don’t pay a lot of attention to. But dissatisfaction arises in many ranges; the ones we tend to focus on more are larger dissatisfaction if life related to Health, Finance, Relationship and Work.

Chasing Happiness…

Why am I not satisfied? What will make me satisfied? Money, fame, success, goals, the end destination perhaps? The answer is No. You will not be satisfied no matter what height you reach. Yes, money will make you comfortable. The attention you receive from fame will give you a short term high. Reaching your success and goals will bring up the question of what is next?! This is a great question, we are never completely satisfied because we always want to grow and progress.

We are always chasing the, What’s Next? This gives us a greater cause of fulfillment. When things feel stagnant in your life, you are forced to make a change. We set keep setting targets one after the other to reach new altitudes and attain short term satisfactions in our life. Maybe you are stuck at a work where the pay is low, you are over qualified for the position and there is no room for creativity, hence no room for growth. The work environment and people are toxic. What should your next step be? Working towards a change of course!

Now some of people can’t make that change very easily. Mostly because of lack of motivation. But I get it, you have responsibilities. You have a family to take care of and expenses. But you can start to work towards the change, even if it’s a small change. If you are dissatisfied with work, you can get education and coaching to upgrade your skillset to apply for better opportunities. Look for the, what is next? If you are dissatisfied with your appearance then let’s work on a meal plan and fix the diet. Let’s research a workout routine and start working for it.

But sometimes life is just a Beep! We just have unexpected life circumstances that unable us from pursuing our set targets, oh you know, good old family and health issues etc. That means it’s time to pick up a hobby you love, trust me this will help! If one part of your life is full of stress and you balance it out with something you love doing then this will assist the mind and body to release stress and toxins (so would exercise! Hint, Hint). Don’t let negativity build up.

Don’t be Pessimist…

Dissatisfaction is amazing, as it shows you where you don’t want to be and pushes you for growth. But what about the people who are constantly complaining and are doing nothing to change that? Yes, we all know one of those friends who’s constantly complain about what is missing in their life but they would never take a step to alter that situation. Why are they so pessimistic? Because, in today’s day and age we are taught to focus on tomorrow more than today. We are taught, to gain happiness we have to reach the destination and forget about the journey that leads up to it. We are taught unhealthy competition; jealousy over someone who is making more than you. We are taught materialism. Happiness equals to more money and things, more and more things, right?! Wrong! Happiness is not what is happening around you but what is happening inside you. You need to forecast the future but be mindful of the present. Being more aware at this very moment will help you gain a different optimistic perspective. You will learn to become more content with your life and at the same time have the motivation to pursue and push for your goals. Focus on the smaller things in life, you are not aware but those bring you the most happiness. Focus on the journey, it’s important.

Everyone has their own battles and you need to focus on yours. Do not compare yourself with others. Use others as examples of where you want to be and what you want to achieve. Learn from their mistakes and use them as a guide and a mentor. Don’t use them as an excuse to complain about what you lack in life. Complaining slows you down, you are not gaining anything by complaining but sympathy by complaining. Plus you should be authentic, you don’t have to wish to live another person’s “great” life, you can have your own great life and be satisfied.

Let’s utilize our dissatisfaction and not let it go to waste!

Thanks,

Dla

Self Doubt – JUST DO IT!

Hello World,

Past Experiences…

Self doubt stems from what we have learnt about ourselves in the past. What parents tried teaching us when we were growing up always plays a part in our lives one way or the other today. Parents want to be a guide for the best of our future however sometime that very guidance may inflict our present self doubt. As you were younger, you may have been told NOT to pursue to choose a certain path in the future because of the following; you can’t be a fire fighter or a cop that is too dangerous! You can’t pursue to become an artist or writer, you won’t make any money! Don’t waste your time on Medical school, you are just not smart enough!

“Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.” ~Cicero

Too dangerous, not enough money/security and you are just not good enough! These thoughts are manipulative. They come back when we are rejected from something we wanted to achieve. These negative thoughts even stop us from pursuing life goals we want to accomplish because we doubt being adequate. We always want to be a perfect fit, if we don’t fit then we are judged.

We think we are not good enough to live the life we dreamt. Many job seekers, doubt their capabilities and don’t apply to the position they are a perfect match for. Self-doubt prevents us from many opportunities that come our way. It’s always there holding us back. It tells you to live life in the social norm and as a mediocre. But this way of thinking is toxic. How do you know you are not good enough, if you don’t try?!

When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt.” ~Honore de Balzac

If you have been rejected, and are letting go of other prospects because you still feel that you aren’t adequate, STOP! Give yourself a bit of time and then assess why you are feeling self doubt. If you feel you are not good at a skill, then let’s put in work to attain that skill. You can’t pass opportunities just because you failed once or twice, remember positive affirmation; Risk – Is it Scarier taking a Risk or Not taking One? … If you are not good at something now, doesn’t mean you won’t get better at it in the future. A kid who is not good at math, doesn’t mean won’t be good later on in time if they have determination.

What you tell yourself is important! If you tell yourself that you won’t make it then you won’t! I believe you, because that’s what you believe. You are setting yourself for failure just by that negativity. But if you think positive, and say, okay well I failed this time but I will learn and get better then that will change things. You are as good as what you believe, so let’s get working!

The Judgemental losers…

They don’t exist in a large number! Yes, they are a few of these judgemental losers who would look at you and say, hmm why are you doing what you are doing! These people are only saying that since they can’t get themselves to pursue their own dreams and they have a lot of time on their hand. Stop worrying about these people! Most people don’t care! They have their own lives to worry about, their own dreams, aspiration, career goals and stress. They are more worried about how to start their day, that month end deadline at work, coming home and cooking dinner and spending time with their loved ones.

Set an example for these people, if they are judging, let them do it! Prove them wrong! You will be more appreciated for trying and trying then to sit back and live the same boring life as everyone else.

How to over come Self -Doubt…

1. Fix your mindset – You got rejected? So is he, and so is she…we all have. But we don’t give up!
2. Positive affirmation – You Are MORE than good enough!
3. When you are feeling self doubt, unwind a bit! Give yourself time to relax and enjoy some quality time. This will give you some to get your thoughts aligned again.
4. Evaluate why you are feeling self doubt – why do you feel you are not good enough and what can you do to become good?
5. Write it down! Where is your Journal? Write down, why you are feeling self doubt and the positives steps you will be taking.
6. Read Motivational articles – You need motivation and their are plenty of people who felt and been where you are. Read how they over came self doubt.
7. You don’t have to do it alone! Find family and friends to talk about your self doubts. Most of the time we over evaluate and exaggerate the situation in our mind. Our loved ones can bring things back to perspective for us. Don’t worry, they will not judge you!

Remember, you are amazing…

Thank you,

DLA

 

Expectations in Relationships

Hello World,

We have all done it…

Why do we expect a great deal from our loved ones? Why do we expect them to just know what to do or say what we want we want to hear? And what if the roles were reversed? Maybe you always expect a birthday present from your parents. Maybe you expect your romantic partner to read your mind all the time. Maybe you expect your best friend to not be late or make you wait for an event. Yes, we have all done it. We all expected and became upset when our expectations were not met. But is if fair? We are missing a point when we put the “expectation” strain our loved ones.

Goal oriented expectations…

Expectations are good for goals and for us. If we are working towards achieving our goals we should always forecast for the outcome we expect. This will help us create plan A, B, and C to tackle any sort of obstacles we may come across; Adaptability – Your Biggest Competitive Advantage.  Having goal oriented expectations is a tool to prevent failure. For example, I know I am expected to complete a 30 minute abs workout every day to achieve the expected body type I want to achieve. If I fail to work out every day then my expectations are not met.

But when that expectation is on someone else…

You are putting in effort to achieve an expected result, is different from when you expect someone else to fulfil your goals. Having expectations on others  behavior is unfair. We forget that! We are good old emotional human beings after all. We are close to our friend, family and loved ones. We take their love for granted and think, hmm they love me so they must know me so well, therefore I expect them to know exactly what I am expecting from them! High expectations on your loved ones is another word for selfish and toxic. We completely forget that they have emotional and physical limitations. They have their own thinking and perceptions, they might not see a situation as eye to eye.

Some people just like taking and not giving. We are selfish because we expect our loved ones to not expect the same in return. We expect from them but become cold when they expect from us. Perhaps it’s because when the roles are reversed we have limitations too!

Roles Reversed…

Do you want to be dependant on your spouse 80% and expect them to fulfill your share of goals? While you put in 20% in the relationship. That is a pretty unhealthy relationship. First off, you are placing strain on your partner. Second, you are giving away your independence, (never become dependant on anyone!). Third, you telling me that you lack self-esteem and you need someone else to help carry your share of work.

A good relationship is when the partners are working on goals in parallel. They share feedback and are constantly motivating each other but they let each other keep their own identity. They let each other work on their own goals and success. And when the two bring their knowledge, and success together they become a complete power couple! These two are unstoppable!

Until next time…

Dla

 

 

Adaptability – Your Biggest Competitive Advantage

Hello World,

We should all adapt and become more resilient…

In today’s time we all need to be resilient to our current, ever changing environment. Not being able to adapt proves to be a BIG disadvantage in today’s day and age. Everything is changing, whether it be business, technology, relationships, you name it. If we are not keeping up and stopping to accept to change with the time then failure is waiting for us outside our front door!

Comfort Zone, what a sweet place! NOT!

Comfort zone is killer! Comfort zone is not letting you progress! I am telling you, comfort zone is your worst enemy! This is what is exactly stopping us from adapting to change. Come on even dating has changed; I remember some time back when some of you use to complain and say, No! I won’t go on a dating site, it’s for losers!!! Now tell me how many of you have Tinder today? But if you had still kept that same old mentality as you had few years back about getting on a dating app/site, who would be a loser in today’s time?!

Yes, you have to adapt with time. If you were looking to date and thinking, hmm the person will just come knock on my door step, well I have news for you sweetheart, the last Tinder statistics update show estimated 50 million users are just taking their chances and finding a partner while you are sitting at home waiting! You will fail to achieve if you don’t put yourself out there, don’t work it and step out of the comfort zone.

Uncertainty…    

Why is it hard to step out from where we are comfortable? Because yet again, we are afraid of the unknown. Uncertainty scares us. We are good where we are, saves us from being judged, failure and disappointment. But it also stops us from progress. Nowadays, a HR Generalist evaluates your candidacy upon your ability to adapt to the work place. They look for the following,

• Handling emergencies or crisis situations
• Handling work stress
• Solving problems creatively
• Dealing effectively with unpredictable or changing work situations
• Learning work tasks, technologies, and procedures
• Demonstrating interpersonal adaptability
• Displaying cultural adaptability
• Demonstrating physically oriented adaptability

In order to master the Adaptability, the skill of being resilient need to be learnt. We have to change our mindset to become more optimistic. If you had a sudden loss of job, what would be your immediate action to that repercussion? An adaptable person, would have a quick Plan A and a Plan B to that unexpected situation. A resilient person, would bounce back right away to put Plan A and B to work. 

Prepare for the worst…

Businesses are always changing and competing with other businesses. Way to sustain in the  ongoing race, businesses use point of sale systems and adaptive data mining applications to collect information to forecast trends. Lightly speaking, Nokia failed to forecast Apples advanced technology innovation. Blockbuster refused to change and adapt to new world of digital on demand television aka Netflix.To adapt and grow, you always have to be on top of the trend.

What to do?

Do your Research, study your market! Think out of the box! Push yourself a little! Be more optimistic and open minded. Set small goals towards the change every day, make sure there is check mark beside them every night. Learn how to forecast, try to predict what might go wrong, and brainstorm Plan A, B and C. Don’t be afraid to fail…

Remember failure is only failure if you didn’t learn anything from it!

Thanks,

DLA