Why_Its_Important_To_Plan_the_Night_Before

Why It’s Important to Plan Your Day the Night Before

How often do you plan in advance?

Do you plan monthly?

Do you plan weekly?

Do you plan daily?

For all of my clients I always tell them that whatever way they plan, it is vital that they plan their day the night before?

This is something that we discussed in depth at our recent Discovery Day.

Planning your day the night before is one of the most underrated productivity techniques.

Most of us have probably heard this, but do we actually do it?

Before, I used to think that it’s better to plan your day ahead in the morning.

But, what I found out is that it’s more effective to do it the night before.

Here are the reasons why:

1. You will have the most clarity: When you plan the night before, you can look at your day and strategically calculate how it will turn out.

2. You will sleep soundly: One technique you can use is to jot down every single task you need to accomplish and when you don’t have anything in your mind, you’ll sleep much better. Strangely, my brain will try to resolve any problem overnight.

I don’t know how this happens, but I often have the solution in mind the next morning when I wake up.

Every time I plan my day the night before, I get a sense of purpose when I wake up.

Invariably, I know what to do and there’s no need to think about the next step, because I already have it planned out. I just simply get going and be productive after doing my morning routine.

For the most part, mornings can be very unpredictable and you can easily get distracted by one emergency after another.

Before you know it, you’re adding stuff to your list and not knowing what you were supposed to be focusing on because you didn’t plan it the night before.

This is why it’s important. When things are out of control, you can always circle back to your original plan and focus your energy to the next steps you need to do for the rest of the day.

I could go on all day discussing ways to become more productive.

The good news for you is that we will cover all of the above at our next Discovery Day.

If you’d like more information on our next Discovery Day drop me at dean@entrepreneursuccess.ie and I’ll give you all the information.

Places are filling up quickly so if you’re interested let me know ASAP!

All the best

Dean

How Do You Deal With Distractions?

How Do You Deal with Distractions?

I want to share something with you that we discussed at our recent Discovery Day.

It is something that faces business owners every single day.

As a Business Owner some of the key challenges that we struggle with everyday are productivity, time management, cashflow, strategy implementation and outsourcing to name but a few.

So today I want to talk about Productivity and Distractions.

The kryptonite of productivity is distractions.

In the modern world that we now live in, we are exposed to lots of daily distractions that can reduce our productivity.

I remember when I was reading an article that led me to watch a YouTube video, watched another video, and before I knew it, I lost 30 minutes of my working time.

Compared to some, it’s not that bad. I’ve seen people get distracted with text messages, push notifications, and phone calls that derail them.

Once you know about all of the distractions that we are faced it you can then meet them head on!

Now, the question is, how can you deal with distractions?

One thing I do is to set up logistics before distractions take place.

To simply put it, you can prevent distractions that grab your attention.

My top three ways of preventing distractions are:

1 – Set three main objectives every day.

2 – Plan your time in 30 minute increments to keep focus

3 – Increase Your Energy Levels

By setting three main objectives it will give you extreme focus throughout the day.

You can then break this down even further and plan these objectives into 30 minute increments in order to achieve them.

When it comes to energy, we are more vulnerable to distractions when we have low energy levels.

On the one hand, when we feel sub-optimal that’s when we easily get distracted. On the other hand, when you are energized, you are less likely to be distracted.

I could go on all day discussing how you can address distractions and increase productivity.

The good news for you is that we cover all of the above at our next Discovery Day.

If you’d like more information on our next Discovery Day drop me at dean@entrepreneursuccess.ie and I’ll give you all the information.

Places are filling up quickly so if you’re interested let me know ASAP!

All the best

Dean

Why_You_Need_A_Break_to_Be_Productive

Why You Need a Break to be More Productive!

​​Do you think that by working every hour under the sun you’ll be more productive?

If you answer yes to this then you are wrong!​​

It’s a common belief that if we work longer, we achieve more.

For years, I believed that breaks were a waste of time and if I didn’t work most of my waking hours then I wouldn’t be productive. But all of it was a myth.

In fact, taking a break is the key to productivity. Taking a break in-between work is a must to regain focus and to allow your body and brain to rest. The more often you take breaks, the more productive you get.

You start by thinking of your work as taking multiple sprints than a one big marathon. Work in sprints mean you work hard and give all you’ve got for short periods of time.

In between sprints, you can take recovery breaks to replenish your energy. Therefore, you are either fully engaged or not doing anything at all.

The best way to do this is to divide your time in 30-minute increments using the Productivity Planner.

I have incorporated this method into my workday and it has worked wonders.

By tracking my time in 30-minute increments using the Productivity Planner it has allowed me to see the areas:

– Where I am spending my time

– Where I am wasting my time

– Where I should be spending more time

By tracking and understanding my time using the Productivity Planner it has allowed me focus on areas that help grow my business.

If you want a copy of our new Q2 Productivity Planner, email me at dean@entrepreneursuccess.ie and i’ll send you a copy

Fire Yourself Every 3 Months

How to Fire Yourself Every 3 Months

I want to share something with you that we discussed at our recent Discovery Day.

This is for people who are stuck in their business, want to get out of their business and free up more time in their calendar.

You’re probably thinking “Dean, I cant fire myself”!

My company needs me. I’m the one that makes the company grow!

Well listen to me when I say you CAN FIRE YOURSELF!



Let me explain myself!!

In order to “Fire Yourself” every 3 months you need to track exactly where your time is going, every single day. Note it down so you know exactly where your time is going.

Then every 3 months you review it and see where you’re spending the majority of your time.

After reviewing it you discover:

– That in the last 3 months you spent 40 hours on accountancy. So now you need to bring in an accountant part-time.

– You also see that in the last 3 months you spent 20 hours on admin. So now you need to bring in someone to work on admin part-time.

The key to “Firing Yourself” is that you need to be constantly pushing away all the work that’s stopping you from growing the business. Constantly pushing it away, because there’s always going to be loading onto your desk.

The purpose of “Firing Yourself” is that the business is not reliant on you, the business can operate without you and you reduce the amount of time you spend in the business.

Check out our video above on how I “Fire Myself Every 3 Months!

If you have any questions on how I can help you fire yourself every 3 months drop me an email on dean@entrepreneursuccess.ie or call me on (076) 888 6170

 

 

Which Entrepreneurial Level Are You?

Wouldn’t it be great to have the luxury to have ambition, perspective, and philosophy to work less while making more and more money.

Nowadays It is so important to have the work / life balance in order to get the most out of your career and your personal life.

If you think that working every hour under the sun makes you successful you’re wrong. You need to understand and focus on your goals in life in order to get to where you want to be.

This is why it is important to know which level are you on in your entrepreneurial journey:

1. The Entrepreneurial Employee

If you fall in this category, you tend to work with a sense of familiarity and security. Your main priority is financial subsistence, rather than to work on more profitable ventures that might require new experience beyond comfort zone. For a short period of time, you are an excellent employee, but eventually you become bored and burned out. Although you may threaten to leave, you fail most of the time. This is because of your nature to be risk-averse, comforting, and inclined to please others than acting for yourselves or accepting leadership roles.

2. The Self-Employed Entrepreneur

You want freedom from an authority of a boss. A do-it-yourself entrepreneur who have so much drive for autonomy and self-reliance, but lack the necessary administrative, leadership, and managerial skills. With these drawbacks, you tend to work long hours alone, work through all the details in the business, and avoid new and innovative learning methods as well as taking help from other people.

3. The Managerial Entrepreneur

You belong to this level when you prioritise growing your organization in systematic way even if the growth may or may not make sense. You often expand when it isn’t necessary and ignore bottom line profits. More often than not, you will mismanage small, flexible companies into complicated and constrained ones by expanding bureaucracy.

4. The Entrepreneurial Investor/Owner

Your focus is not only creating business, but also on marketing and selling as an investor and / or owner. You don’t concentrate on sales of products and services, but on sales of the whole company that often leads you to successfully franchise your company. Selling companies for profit is your centre of attention, because you primarily view business as investment vehicles meant to be sold, not held for life.

5. The Visionary Entrepreneur

A type of entrepreneur who rises to the level of enjoying many passive-income centers. In this level, you can dedicate as much time as you want to your personal endeavors. You view work as a pursuit that involves turning dreams into reality. You devote your time thinking of great ideas that you can come true. With the immense resources that you have, you are able to create things no one can ever imagine.

Each one of us place ourselves within these five levels of entrepreneurship.

I used to be stuck in the first two levels of entrepreneurship, but I learned strategies that made my business into success and now I am in number 4 and 5!

Now, that I was able to grow my business, I want to share my knowledge on how I grew this into a highly profitable one.

Feel free to drop a message on dean@entrepreneursuccess.ieor call me on (076) 888 6170.

All the best
Dean

P.S. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you grow your business:

1. Grab a free copy of my Productivity Planner

The Productivity Planner allows business owners track their time in 30 minute increments, showing them the areas where they are spending their time, where they are wasting their time and where they should be spending more time on. Download Here – https://goo.gl/TZn1X8

2. Come along to our EXCLUSIVE ‘Discovery Day’ Business Seminar

I’ll show you the “ins and outs” of how I’ve been growing my companies by 20-30% year on year and cutting my hours in the process. I’ll also show you behind the scenes of some of my most successful projects (including the financials behind them and how I pulled it off, step by step).

3. Join the Entrepreneurs and Business Owners LinkedIn group and connect with other business owners who are scaling too.

It’s our new LinkedIn community where Entrepreneurs, SME’s and Business Owners in Ireland meet and discuss best practices in growing a company. Join NOW – https://goo.gl/zfC1dy

4. Work with me and my team privately

If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take you from 5 to 6 figures… just send me a message and with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details!

5 lesson

5 lessons learned from starting & scaling a multi million euro company

Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster of emotions and challenges.

A recent article posted by Forbes stated that 80%  of small businesses fail within the first 18 months.That’s a lot!

There were plenty of times when I was starting out that I was probably very close to making that 80% myself.

Thankfully I came out on top. I have started several businesses in different industries in Ireland, UK and America. These businesses ranged from a fitness studio to corporate events business, travel agent and a software company.

Each and every business had its own challenges and daily frustrations. Validating your business idea, cashflow, acquiring new customers, sales, hiring employees. The list is endless…

By the time you read to the end of this article you will have solid ideas on how to grow your company to its next level. These are some of my biggest ahha moments I’ve had from taking several companies from 0 to 100K+ per month.

small business failure rate

Lets jump in..

Focus on Sales & Marketing!

Sale’s is  the lifeblood of every single company. If you can’t sell, your screwed. You could have the best product or service in the world but without a focus on sales, you’re doomed for failure.

Although sales and marketing are the most important part of business, 80% of business owners never really focus on. Hence the high failure rates for businesses. Seems crazy right…

Peter Drucker, the world’s most famous marketing and management consultant has a famous quote.

“A Business Has Only 2 Functions, Marketing & Innovation”

-Peter Drucker-

The day you started your business is the day you innovated! There is no need to try come up with some new innovation to grow your business until you have the cash flow to do so.

You are no longer an accountant, a beautician or a fitness instructor. You are now a marketer of your product or service, that should be your main focus.

This is a big mindset shift for most business owners that they fail to see. The reason, you think having a fantastic product or service is enough. You worked in a day job where clients were landed on your lap everyday..but you don’t understand how that client got there.

sales

Action Item..

Make sure you spend at least 2-3 hr on sales and marketing every single day!

Get your Numbers dialed in..

You cannot successfully grow your business unless you know your numbers.This is key! You cannot just give your company a goal of 500k of revenue and not have all your numbers mapped out in order to achieve it.

If you were going on holidays you would map out everything that needed to happen to reach your destination. What time you would leave your house to arrive at the airport. What time and where you would catch the bus / train in order to hit your destination by a certain time. Business is no different.

So let’s say you want your company to make 500k this year. What would need to happen to achieve that. We would use the following table to figure this out.

[table width=”100%” style=”border: 1px solid black;margin-top: 40px;” colwidth=”20|100|50″ colalign=”left|left|center|left|right”]
Target Revenue ,500000

Average Sale Value,800
Customer Required ,652
Average Conversion Rate ,20%
Leads Required,3125
Leads Required Per Week ,60
[/table]

 

We now know exactly what needs to happen in order to achieve the growth you want in your company.

You then communicate this back to your employees. The best solution is to have a big whiteboard in your office where you have a daily 15 minute standing meeting around your numbers.

Each employee should have their targets aligned with your revenue goals. When speaking to each employee/ sales person/ marketing executive etc..you ask the following two questions.

1. Where are you against where you need to be?

2. What needs to change to get you there?

By constantly asking these questions and always having your eye on the end goal, you will achieve it.

know your numbers

Action Item..

 

1. Use the above  table, figure out exactly what needs to happen in order to hit your desired revenue as a business.

2. Communicate this to your staff on a daily basis and track on a whiteboard

3.Keep each staff member aligned with your goal on a daily basis.

Who are they..Where are they and what can you give them…

Now that we know how much money you want to achieve as a business, now we want to figure out the following.

1. Who do you want to serve?

2. Where are they hanging out?

3. What can you give them?

Who do you want to serve?

Some of your customers will be a pain to deal with, that’s the reality. Others won’t. You will make twice as much money off a certain customer type over another.

You need to get very clear on exactly who you want to serve as your customer. What do they look like, how much do they make, what are their current challenges and frustrations. This is your customer avatar profile.

So many businesses never take the time to work this out. Believe me, it only makes business harder, more stressful and a lot less profitable.

Ideal Customer Profile

Where are they hanging out?

Where do your customers hang out online. Where can you get their attention in order for them to hear about your product or service. Here is a common list where you can reach most customers online.

1. Google (Search engine optimisation, adwords and Google display network)

2. Facebook ( Facebook business page (organic leads), paid advertising)

3. Instagram

4. Pinterest

Give them what they want…

Once you have figured out exactly who your customer is and where they are hanging out online, you now need to transition to a bait. What I mean by bait is what can you put in front of your potential customer that might solve a problem for them.

This could be in the form of a short report or a checklist.

Example: If you are a builder and you are looking to pick up some new clients, you could write a checklist on “The 10 things you must check before hiring your next builder”

The only people who will optin for this report are people who are potentially looking for a builder.

The above example can be used in almost any industry.

Action Items…

1. Figure out who do you want to serve?

2. Find where they are hanging out?

3. What can you give them?

Conclusion

I honestly believe that if you focused on the above strategy every single day for the first 2/3hrs you will have a steady flow of customers.

Keep things as simple as possible when you are starting out. Focus, focus, focus on one single marketing channel until you are starting to generate consistent leads on a daily basis that are turning into sales.

Starting and growing a business is one of the most challenging things you will ever do. The only thing that will stop you from being massively successful is consistently focusing on the things that will make your sales.

Your Implementation checklist…

    1. Make sure you spend at least 2-3 hours on sales and marketing every single day!
    2. Using the above table, figure out exactly what needs to happen in order to hit your desired revenue as a business.
    3. Who do you want to serve?
    4. Where are they hanging out?
    5. What can you give them?

Download PDF Checklist & Bonus Business Building Mindmap..($97 value)

Dean Gammell, Voted Irelands No.1 Entrepreneur in 2014 is a 29 year old businessman from Westmeath. He employs 35 staff across a broad range of businesses. He started his first business when he was 22 and has since received numerous awards for entrepreneurship and Innovation. Dean speaks nationally on Entrepreneurship and Innovation. You can ad Dean on Facebook here.. (Feel Free to message me on Facebook :)

Business

7 Must have systems to grow any business

Do you ever feel frustrated trying to manage all the different moving parts of your business?

 

Trying to keep tabs on everything is tough unless you put the systems and procedures in place to allow it.

 

The sort of systems and procedures that would allow you to manage your entire business through your iPhone if you wish!

 

Impossible you might think, not for me.

There is a reason Mcdonalds is the most famous franchise in the world.

They understand that in order to be successful they must look at their business as a system and NOT a business.

 

There is a BIG difference.

 

Business

This is where most business owners fail.

They become a victim to their own business because they do not realize the IMPORTANCE of having the right systems in place.

 

Systems that would allow them to step away from their business and for it to still produce a consistent profit and grow without them.

How Do You See Your Business?

You need to start looking at your business like a cash machine with a troop of monkeys running it.

In order for that cash machine to thrive without you, what would you put in place so even a monkey can run and maintain it for you?

I am lucky enough to have found some amazing staff over the years.

However, I have found that in order for the business owner to put the right systems in place, you need to believe it’s going to be ran by monkeys.

When you have this mentality, you will go above and beyond in your systems to make them monkey proof.

For the last number of years, I have spent countless hours making my businesses monkey proof.

I have documented EVERYTHING so when one employee leaves another one can easily be trained in.

When I am on holidays, all my employees know exactly what has to be done and when.

My monkey systems and dashboards are there to make running a successful, profitable company inevitable!

So me, “chief monkey” can work on other, more important things in business and life.

How Can This Be Archieved

So how is it possible to make your business monkey proof in order for you to do what you want when you want?

I have dedicated a lot of my time in this area.

I’ve read hundreds of books and constantly refined a system that revolutionizes any business once these 7 steps are fully implemented.

Business

The 7 Systems I use & Teach Other Businesses To Use:

 

I use a project management software called Asana. Through this software, I run and maintain my entire company.

You do not have to use this, but its what works for me. The business name is the project name.

I then make the following subtasks under that company name.

1. Business Operations

2. Accountancy Systems

3. Sales systems

4. Lead generation

5. Fulfillment

6. Weekly meetings

7. Projects

These tasks are all then broken down further into more subtasks.

We connect the project management software in google docs for anything that requires a description and also use google spreadsheets where required.

1. Business Operations

Everything got to do with running the company. HR, culture, hiring/firing, business dashboard, time management, etc.
Each section is laid out so it is easy to understand and navigate.

2. Accountancy Systems

Most business owners do not realise how much money they are leaving on the table by not having good accountancy systems in place.

A business that is turning over 200k in revenue always has a number of opportunities to increase profits and cash flow through a few tweaks inside their accounts.

Areas you need to consider for your accountancy systems are, Forecasts, P&L, Cashflow analysis, Bank recon, Profit maximisers (Driving labour efficiency, driving profit by driving expenses monthly etc) and of course budgets.

3. Sales systems

Your business will not survive without having a very structured process in place in order to get sales and tomaximize them throughout the customer life cycle.

Through your sales systems you should have the necessary training to allow your employees make the sale.

Sales scripts, Sales upsells/ maximisers, cross-sells, down-sells. Each one designed in order to get the sale and maximize the profit for the company.

4. Lead generation

Lead generation is the life blood of every business. We generate leads in every possible way.

It’s broken down into “lead acquisition” and “conversion“.

We are always looking to improve and tweak both.

However, one thing to note is we only focus on certain channels at one each time, we don’t spread our focus too thin across many and get no results.

5. Fulfilment

Delivering the product the way the owner wants it delivered without any problems. This system is designed so each employee knows exactly what a happy fulfilled customer should look like.

We also describe of how NOT to deliver our product, anything that would be substandard to our end result. By doing this, an employee has no excuses for poor delivery.

6. Weekly meetings

One of the biggest problems with companies is the lack of execution and communication.

We plan this into asana, so that everyone knows where they stand and who is doing what.

This is broken down into Quarterly, monthly and weekly meetings. All meetings are aligned with our yearly goals so we are constantly working towards our year end target.

7. Projects

Every company always has small and big projects ongoing. We break these down in this section. We can see who is doing what and how each project is coming along.

What’s really good about using a project management software is you can assign a person to each of these 7 areas.

That’s crucial in business, someone having clear accountabilities for each area of the business.

Each of the 7 points are broken down further into sub-systems (or sub-tasks) each subtask is either a reactive or proactive task/system.

What I mean by proactive and reactive tasks.

A proactive task/system is put in place to achieve the desired output, ie your goals.

A reactive task/system is put in place as a result of an unforeseen challenge that has happened in the business, you put this in place to overcome this challenge and ensure it does not happen again.

Conclusion

These 7 systems took me years of trial and error to figure out. Each one still evolves to this day as our companies continue to grow.

As a business owner, you have worked pretty hard to get to where you are. Long working hours, stress and daily frustrations. You owe it to yourself to implement the above so the business is less dependent on you. This will allow you to focus on either growing your business in a new direction or working less in your company.

Dean Gammell, Voted Irelands No.1 Entrepreneur in 2014 is a 29 year old businessman from Westmeath. He employs 35 staff across a broad range of businesses. He started his first business when he was 22 and has since received numerous awards for entrepreneurship and Innovation. Dean speaks nationally on Entrepreneurship and Innovation. You can ad Dean on Facebook here.. (Feel Free to message me on Facebook :)

business

Using Goals to Get What You Want From Life!

Whats the one thing I can guarantee you without ever having to meet you? Nothing is going to get handed to you in life. Nothing! Everything you want must be earned through long nights, early mornings, stressful and emotional days.

 

Each and every desire you have in life, that you have mentioned on passing or have dreamed about is as achievable against the amount of time, effort and planning you put into getting it. When you set out on going to a particular destination in your car, you will have an idea of how long it will take you to get there and what route you’re going to take. If you don’t take a car and use public transport then you have to figure it all out. Get the bus to the train station, the train station to your destination and then maybe a taxi. Setting goals should be treated no differently. You need to set yourself a route you can take, what you need to do along that route, how much money you may need, any obstacles that you might come up against on the way. This is the only way you can increase your chances of making it happen.

 

We are very lucky growing up in such a tightly connected world. Compare to 10-20 years ago, the world was a much bigger place and information on certain topics was impossible to find. This makes goals easier than ever to achieve. Everything for you to increase your chances of achieving them is at your fingertips. Your biggest obstacle in achieving them is you, your mindset, work etihc, persistence, determination and planning. You!

 

Case Study:

I have read about a case study numerous times but I cannot find any direct evidence of it. Though I would suspect that the numbers are fairly accurate. The case study is as follows.

 

A graduating class from Harvard were asked; “Have you any written goals for the future?” The results were as follows:

  • 3% had written goals.
  • 10% had goals in mind, but nothing written on paper.
  • 87% had no idea of their goals.
  • 10 years later, the whole class was interviewed again. The results were astounding.
  • The 10% of students who had goals in mind, but nothing on paper were earning twice as much as the 87% who had no idea of their goals.
  • The 3% of had written goals, were earning on average, 10 times more than the 97% combined.

 

The above does not surprise me. 87% of people walk about life haphazardly, going with the flow expecting everything to come to them. They dream and talk about everything they want in life, but never find it in themselves to realise, nobody is going to hand you anything.

 

The Process:

 

I recommend on reading the article as a whole first, then set a date, time and place where you can have 30-60mins of peace to get through as much as possible. The chances of you going through and doing this now is very unrealistic.

 

Decide on the goal.

You should have goals for every area of your life that you want to see improvement. However, being realistic you probably won’t.  It really depends on what you want and what your current circumstances are. Ie whats the No.1 thing you want at the moment more than anything else. For me at one point, all I wanted was my own business. That year that was all I focused on all day every day. If you are starting out with goals, just pick one or two. The most important step is getting started and using goals. You can add more over time. These are the areas I have come up with over time.

 

  1. Health – Your key health goals. I want to be 79kg and go to the gym 3 days per week.
  2. Income – What you would like to make per year. I want to make €150,000 / year
  3. Relationships/Family – I want to spend more time with my family.
  4. Business/Work – You want a certain promotion, own a business,
  5. Experiences – Parachute jump, climb Mount Everest, live with a tribe.
  6. Legacy – What do you want to be remembered for? Great husband/wife, charity work, commitment,
  7. Achievements – What do you want to accomplish? Climb Mount Everest. Retire at 45.

 

Some of the above areas may cross with another area. This does not matter, all you want is to get everything out of your head and down on paper. I would recommend on spending no longer than  one minute doing this initially. Write down your first list as quick as possible. Usually, the most meaningful things will come to you straight away.

 

Recording your Goal:

 

Getting your goal down on paper and out of your head is critical. I like to take it one step further and write all my goals down on a google spreadsheet. From here, everything is a lot more manageable. I can set reminders and share with other people. I will always know where it is. I will share a special spreadsheet I use at the end of the article; this will make life super easy for you and increase the chances of you hitting your goals tenfold.

 

Set your start/deadline date

I like to have start / deadline dates. This lets me know when I need to start planning my next goal and when I need to have the goal complete by.  For every minute you spend in planning, it will save you 10min’s in execution.

 

Assign how much you will think it will cost to reach this Goal (Budget)

A lot of people miss out on this one. You will need a certain budget to achieve a goal. If you want to climb Mount Everest it would cost in the region of €60,000. As of today, 31/12/2013 it costs $250,000 to fly to space with Virgin Galactic. Maybe to build your dream home you will need €500,000. Whatever the amount, it’s something you need to consider.

 

Time Required:

To hit your goals, how much time is required by you. There is no point setting a goal of traveling around the world if you can’t take if off work. Some goals may not take any time as they are goals you accomplish over a longer period. You should consider it for some goals and ignore for others. Something I find very helpful is I take the last week off every quarter. This spaces out my holidays evenly and lets me slot plan well in advance what destinations I am going to visit. 

 

What’s going to stop you from hitting your goals?

Make a list of everything you can think of that is going to stop you from hitting your goals. This is powerful as too many people set goals then when they hit their first obstacle it stops them dead in their tracks.  Make these obstacles your No.1 priority action steps towards that goal, this is called negative planning. I have found that this helps me tremendously reach my goals. It puts you in a different frame of thinking and gives you a much clearer line of sight of how you can achieve your goal. There are bottlenecks to any good plan, you need to look hard ahead to spot these and find a way to eliminate them.

 

How can you leave you your goals so they are inevitable?

This will only apply to some goals but again, I find this very powerful. You are looking for ways to achieve your goal by putting less work on you. So if you want to get fitter, you might hire a personal trainer. If you want to learn a new skill you might book a course right this very minute so you have to go. One of my goals was to eat healthier a while back so now I get fresh fruit delivered to my office every Monday. I noticed before when I had to go out and buy it, I rarely did. I also share all my goals with my PA, once the goals are set, she helps me achieve them. She books trips, checks availability, does research etc. For every goal I complete she gets a bonus.

 

Accountability

Inform someone of your goals, this may be your girlfriend, wife, friend or someone that may be able to help you. The more people you involve, the higher your chance of hitting everything. Make others part of your goal by sharing the experience with them, it will encourage you even more.

 

Break them down

Break down each goal into small manageable pieces. The smaller and more detailed they are the easier the goal will be to achieve. You’re looking for the specific steps in order of sequence from start to finish.

 

Action Calendar

Write down what you need to do for each goal on the following basis.

  • Daily habits / action steps
  • Weekly Habits / Action Steps
  • Monthly habits / Action Steps

 

Review – Set time aside to review your goals. Depending on how disciplined you are, you can either review them daily or weekly. I prefer weekly. I review all my goals on a Sunday evening, review the previous week and plan the following week.

It’s very rewarding to sit down and trash out your life goals. It doesn’t take long for this part, so I would highly advise on doing it. When you have to break down each and every goal into action steps, it can be a bit of a pain. Lucky you, I have a really easy way of doing it. I have made a google spreadsheet that guides you along the whole process and makes everything super easy for you. It will send reminders to your email when you need to start certain goals and when there deadline is approaching. It also breaks up your goals and leaves them a lot more manageable than having a piece of paper. All you have to do, is sign up for my newsletter and I will send you details of the spreadsheet together with a video showing you how to use it.

 

My most important question yet!

So which category do you fall into from the case study?

  • 3% had written goals.
  • 10% had goals in mind, but nothing written on paper.
  • 87% had no idea of their goals.

 

28 Dec 2014 Update! 

I originally wrote this article in 2013 and have learned a lot since this. Some updates that I would like to add. 

I no longer use a spreadsheet to track my goals. I now use Asana.com. The reason I made the move is Asana gives me the option to share my goals with other people, discuss them and make more actionable tasks under each one. I can choose to assign a task to another person or just myself. 

I spend even more time reviewing and updating my goals that ever before. It’s a bit of a cliche but I have found the more planning, preparation and reviewing I have put into my goals the bigger return I get. To make things easy for goal reviewing I take the last Friday off to review all my goals for that month. I also take the last week off of each quarter to review everything from that quarter. Taking so much time off made me nervous initially but It is one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Your circle of friends. Who you hang around with most will either push you towards your goals or pull you away from them. There is a famous saying from world renowned self help guru Jim Rohn, “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” This is very true. If you want to own your own business, then start mixing among entrepreneurs and business people. If you want to earn more money, then start spending more time with people who you admire and look up to. This was a difficult one for me, my childhood friends are happy and in content with where they are at the moment. I on the other hand want to push myself forward, this meant seeking out the people I wanted to be like and start trying to spend some time with them. 

Achieving your goals is by no means an easy task but when you do, it is the most satisfying feeling in the world. Once you are persistent and hungry enough to pursue your goals, nothing will stand in your way! 

 


hacking sleep

Hacking Your Sleep: Extra 14 Hours to Your Week

clock

Are you still going by your days with an 8-hour sleep schedule? We’ve all heard of the magic number 8 as being the required hours of sleep to function well throughout the day. I have been conquering my days with just five to six hours of sleep for quite some time. After all, we all just get 24 hours a day. Imagine having 18 hours rather than the normal 16 hours a day to do everything. By learning to sleep less and improve on the quality of it, you can add an extra 14-21hrs to your week.

Fewer hours of sleep is not new to entrepreneurs. However, don’t you wish you could sleep for six hours and still have energy to run through whole day without involving a huge amount of coffee? I did it and so can you. It’s actually pretty easy once you get over the first 1-2 weeks.


The 8-hour sleep myth

You don’t really need that 8 hours of sleep every doctor recommends. In fact, it can even be damaging to your health. Sleep researcher Daniel Kripke had found that “people who sleep between 6.5 hours and 7.5 hours a night, live the longest, are happier and most productive.”  So where do you start?

Lets take a quick step back and go over some of the science of sleep..

The first thing to remember about sleep is its two main categories: REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and non-REM sleep. REM sleep is known as having an active brain resulting in dreaming. At this stage, your muscles are paralyzed and your eyes dart rapidly. It is advised that you should wake up after the REM stage or during the first stage of a non-REM sleep where there is slow to zero eye movements.

Non-REM sleep occurs in three progressive stages. The first stage would involve a light doze where your muscles are relaxed. Some tend to twitch during this stage. The second stage is when your body temperature drops and your brain waves slow down. Eye movement stops at this stage and the restoration process starts. By stage three, your tissues are repaired and energy is restored. This is also the time when hormones are released. Brain waves are also slower.

Some sleep hacking articles say that each complete cycle happens in 90 minutes but that is not completely true from my research. The length of each stage varies per individual. Researches show that the first REM sleep period would occur within 70-90 minutes after falling asleep. A complete sleep cycle would range between 90 to 110 minutes. This means waking yourself up after exactly 90 minutes would not guarantee optimum energy after waking up. The initial sleep cycles would start with short REM periods and long deep sleep periods. It will slowly shift to longer REM periods and shorter deep sleep periods until morning.

 

Sleep Hacking 101

I did not hack my sleep overnight. It took around three weeks to hack my sleep routine and make my days longer. It is best to do at least a three-week block so your body will not be shocked. You don’t just go to the gym and start lifting the heaviest weights, right? I started reducing my eight hours to seven hours in the first week. An added hour to my day alone was a big boost. The following week, I moved to sleeping for just six and a half hours. On the third week I was already shifting back six hours with ease.

I was not just adjusting my sleeping hours. I did everything to ensure that while I slept, I got the best possible sleep I could. This helps my body recover faster. Quality sleep over quantity is what we’re looking for. There are also different factors to consider when you’re sleep hacking. In this section, I will be discussing the different aspects you need to monitor and hack to get you those extra hours in a day without feeling tired.

Sleeping Rituals

Do you have a morning ritual? One key ingredient of starting your day right is by having your personal morning ritual.This boosts your mood and clears your mind towards your goals for the day. I highly recommend it. If you’re not doing it, start now! Similarly, a sleeping ritual is necessary to prepare yourself for  quality night of deep, energy restoring sleep. Your sleeping ritual will not only help you sleep deeper, it will help fall asleep faster so you are not tossing and turning in bed until.

First, set a reminder for your sleeping time. If you have an alarm for waking up, why not for sleeping? I found out that having consistent sleeping and waking time can be more beneficial than the number of sleeping hours. By setting a reminder, I could start on my sleeping ritual to help  my body produce melatonin and avoid any external factors that can hinder its production. Melatonin is a hormone released by our brain’s pineal gland to control our sleep and wake cycle. I set a reminder an hour before my ideal bedtime to start preparing for sleep. Once it goes off, I make my tea and turn on my relaxing music. I start dimming the lights and relax. Within an hour, my body and mind is already winded down and ready for bed.

Second, take a hot shower. Our body temperature drops around two hours before our bedtime. A hot bath boosts our body temperature and rapidly cools down once we get out of the shower. This drop in temperature will help you fall asleep more quickly. You can also drink a glass of cold water to help your temperature drop. Just don’t drink too much otherwise you’ll be spending the night going to the bathroom. Having a shower would be one of my favourites, I find it very effective.

hot_shower

Third, clear your mind. A lot of sleep problems are actually stress-induced. If you want to feel refreshed in the morning and fall asleep at night, there are a few things you can do to help.

  1. Write out everything you are thinking on a piece of paper. Tie off any loose ends that is going through your mind that may lead to you twisting and turning. Simply state your problem, write the next thing you are going to do about it and when. Get everything down on paper so you are worry free.
  2. End on a good note! Journaling is a great way to reflect on your day. As an entrepreneur I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit. We are too busy looking into the future and assessing our plans/goals. Spend some time going over what went good for you today and what you are grateful for. I try to pick 3 items that went well and that I am grateful for. This always helps put a smile on your face.

Fourth, do relaxation techniques during your sleeping ritual. Relaxation techniques not only releases tension but also helps you fall asleep faster. You can practice deep breathing to let your body know it is now time to relax. I found this a bit weird initially but I have grown to like it, there are a few apps that really help with this. These are:

  1. Headspace
  2. Mindfullness
  3. Deep Sleep

I don’t have any particular favourite as they are all pretty effective.

 

Food and Supplements for Sleep

Did you know that healthy people need less sleep? Changing your diet not only helps in extending your life, it can also stretch your day! Don’t eat within two hours of going to bed. If you must eat make sure its something small. Having a large meal means your body will use up energy throughout the night digesting the food instead of using that energy to recover your body. Have you ever noticed after eating a big meal at night you’re always tired the next morning, now you know why!

sleepfood

  • Take a tablespoon of honey before sleeping. Australian musician Stuart King suggested this and Seth Roberts further suggested you take it with an empty stomach. The amount of glucose in honey actually helps in turning of orexin, a neurotransmitter linked to alertness. I always do this but find it very hard to gauge its effectiveness.
  • Replace your night cap with chamomile tea. Chamomile tea has a mild sedating effect on your restless body and mind. I find this really effective, especially when you turn down the lights in the room and just sink into your couch watching some TV. It’s all about switching off!
  • Eat a banana or almond. Bananas and almonds are rich with magnesium. Magnesium is good for muscle relaxation and sleep inducing hormones. They are also low glycemic snacks which means your body will not be heavily digesting as you sleep. Lucky me that bananas are my favourite fruit!

Vitamin supplements are also a practical and effective alternative to help you sleep. Here are some I personally recommend:

  • ZMA – If you don’t have bananas or almonds near you, then consider taking ZMAs (zinc monomethionine and aspartate and Magnesium aspartate) as your supplements. This supplement is not just for athletes and bodybuilders. The combination helps your body achieve deeper REM sleep. I have a supply of ZMAs by my bed for whenever I feel like I need a deep recovery sleep.
  • Melatonin – Taking melatonin supplements are actually helpful when you are starting to adjust your sleeping hours. Take it an hour before you want to fall asleep for several days. The good thing about using melatonin is you can stop once your body has adjusted. If you’re an entrepreneur who goes around the world, carry a bottle to help you in jetlag.
  • Theanine – If you don’t like the taste of green tea, then grab a bottle of theanine. It is the amino acid found in green tea that reduces anxiety and promotes relaxation.

 

The Ideal Bedroom

Skip the laptop and LCD television in your bedroom. Your bedroom should only be for two things: sleep and sex. A lot of people are becoming sleep-deprived because of their electronic gadgets. How many of you have mindlessly browsed your phone or tablet before going to sleep? How many hours did you actually waste before you felt sleepy? Did you know that the blue light from your electronic devices inhibits production of melatonin? Your bedroom should be gadget-free, unless you are using your phone as an alarm clock. Just resist the urge to check your mail and social media accounts before sleeping.

Don’t forget the lights. A pitch black bedroom is the most conducive environment for sleeping. This means covering up any LED lights and getting a blackout blind if possible. Bats can sleep 18-20hrs a day because they are in a pitch dark, cool environment.

 

Sleeping Positions

I have done a lot of research on this over time and tried all the positions. I always found lying on my side as having the best possible sleep. I use an app called Sleep Cycle to measure how deep of a sleep I go into. Its surprisingly accurate. When I slept on my side, I seemed to do less twisting and turning than if I was to sleep on my back. I recently heard from Dan Levendowski (a sleep scientist / researcher) that this is because when you sleep on your back, gravity naturally pushes down on your windpipe. This causes snoring and tossing/turning in the bed.

 

Technology and Sleep

That blue light from your gadgets may be causing you sleep deprivation but that does not mean it cannot help you hack your sleep. There are a few apps I recommend to track/improve your sleep.

  • Sleep Talk Recorder ($0.99 iOS). I’m not quite sure if I snore, talk, or murmur during my sleep. Sleep talking are usually indicative of some health problems so having an app that records you while you sleep is great! It will also record any twists or turns you do in the bed. I used this for a while and gave me an idea of how much I was unsettled throughout the night. It’s also very funny to hear you or your wife/girlfriend sleep talking.
  • Sleep Cycle ($0.99 iOS) This hack is brilliant for tracking how deep of a sleep you go into. It picks up on every movement you make in bed. The more you move, the lesser quality your sleep is. It also has an alarm setting that will wake you up within a certain time period when you are in your lightest sleep. I love this app!
  • Carrot Alarm Clock ($2.99 iOS). If I want a little challenge, I use CARROT alarm clock. This app requires a series of dexterity mini-games to shut off. Waking up on time would reward you with level ups and new features such as songs, sounds, and mini-games. Perfect if you’re the competitive kind.  Just, have a back-up alarm in the beginning while you unlock the more advance features.
  • Lumie Bodyclock: This alarm does not make any annoying sound to wake you up.It simple starts brightening up like a sun rising about 25mins before your alarm time. By the time your alarm time comes around your room will be bright. Its a nice alternative from your usual screaming alarm though a bit expensive.

 

If you still cannot put down your gadgets two hours before sleeping, then consider purchasing blue light blocking glasses. You can still read on your tablet but allow melatonin production. For you book readers, a red or orange reading lamp by your bedside is better than the usual desk lamps. Remember that technology does not have to control your life if you know how to control it. I strictly follow the no gadgets within two hours before sleeping to ensure my body produces enough melatonin for my sleep. It takes discipline but definitely rewarding the next day.

I finally got extra 2 to 3 hours every day as soon as I learned to hack my sleep. It gives me the perfect time to prepare myself for the day ahead. I work on my goals, do some reading and try exercise. My best days are always the ones where I am up early and I follow my morning routine.

So, what will you do with your extra two to three hours per day once you’ve hacked your sleep?

 

The Sleep Hacking Checklist

Sleep Preparation

  • Set your reminder to go off about 1 hour before your usual bedtime.
  • Make some chamomile tea and switch off, watch some television or read a book.
  • If you are going to take any vitamins, take them 30-60mins before bed. ZMAs recommended.
  • Take a teaspoon full of honey about 30mins before.
  • Take out your journal and get everything out of your head! State what has you anxious, what you are going to do next and by a certain deadline date.
  • Write 3 things that went good today and 3 things that you are grateful for.
  • Set Sleep Cycle app and put it under your pillow.

Here are some questions you can answer to hack your sleep. You can actually experiment on certain activities to find the ideal sleep hack for you.

1.    How many hours do I want to add to my wake cycle?
2.   What is my target sleeping and waking time?
3.   What is my current sleeping ritual?
4.   What is my ideal sleeping ritual?
5.   Is my diet contributing to my sleep?

  • When do I take my coffee (or soda/alcohol)?
  • What is the amount of my caffeine intake?
  • What do I eat for dinner?
  • How many hours before sleeping do I take my meal?

6.   Is my bedroom ideal for sleeping?

  • No blue light coming from gadgets at night? (Y/N)
  • Comfortable mattress and pillow? (Y/N)
  • Temperature between 67-70 degrees Fahrenheit? (Y/N)
  • All lights turned off? (Y/N)

7.    What type of app do I need on my phone to help me in my sleep hack?

  • Sleep Talk Recorder
  • Sleep Cycle
  • Caffeine Tracker
  • Smart Alarm Clock (i.e. Sleep Cycle, Sleep Bot
  • Meditation/Relaxation

Top 100 Inspirational Quotes

Inspirational quotes and motivational quotes have the power to get us through a bad week, and can even  give us the courage to pursue our life’s dreams. We share surprising research into the true triggers of workplace motivation. So in the spirit of self motivation, here are 100 inspirational quotes.

 
 Life isn’t about getting and having, it’s about giving and being. –Kevin Kruse

 Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. –Napoleon Hill

 Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. –Albert Einstein

 Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.  –Robert Frost

 I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. –Florence Nightingale

 You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. –Wayne Gretzky

 I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. –Michael Jordan

 The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. –Amelia Earhart

 Every strike brings me closer to the next home run. –Babe Ruth

 Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone

We must balance conspicuous consumption with conscious capitalism. –Kevin Kruse

 Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. –John Lennon

 We become what we think about. –Earl Nightingale

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore, Dream, Discover. –Mark Twain

Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. –Charles Swindoll

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. –Alice Walker

The mind is everything. What you think you become.  –Buddha

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. –Chinese Proverb

 An unexamined life is not worth living. –Socrates

Eighty percent of success is showing up. –Woody Allen

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. –Steve Jobs

Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is. –Vince Lombardi

I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. –Stephen Covey

Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. –Pablo Picasso

You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. –Christopher Columbus

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. –Maya Angelou

Either you run the day, or the day runs you. –Jim Rohn

Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. –Henry Ford

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. –Mark Twain

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The best revenge is massive success. –Frank Sinatra

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing.  That’s why we recommend it daily. –Zig Ziglar

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. –Anais Nin

If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. –Vincent Van Gogh

There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. –Aristotle

Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. –Jesus

The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you have imagined. –Henry David Thoreau

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything you gave me. –Erma Bombeck

Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.  –Booker T. Washington

Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture the heart. – Ancient Indian Proverb

Believe you can and you’re halfway there. –Theodore Roosevelt

Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. –George Addair

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. –Plato

Teach thy tongue to say, “I do not know,” and thous shalt progress. –Maimonides

Start where you are. Use what you have.  Do what you can. –Arthur Ashe

When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life.  When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I wrote down ‘happy’.  They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. –John Lennon

Fall seven times and stand up eight. –Japanese Proverb

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. –Helen Keller

Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see. –Confucius

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. –Anne Frank

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. –Lao Tzu

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. –Maya Angelou

Happiness is not something readymade.  It comes from your own actions. –Dalai Lama

If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on. –Sheryl Sandberg

First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end. –Aristotle

If the wind will not serve, take to the oars. –Latin Proverb

You can’t fall if you don’t climb.  But there’s no joy in living your whole life on the ground. –Unknown

We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained. –Marie Curie

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. –Les Brown

Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. –Joshua J. Marine

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. –Booker T. Washington

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. –Leonardo da Vinci

Limitations live only in our minds.  But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless. –Jamie Paolinetti

You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing, no one to blame. –Erica Jong

What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. –Bob Dylan

I didn’t fail the test. I just found 100 ways to do it wrong. –Benjamin Franklin

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. –Bill Cosby

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. – Albert Einstein

 The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it. –Chinese Proverb

There are no traffic jams along the extra mile. –Roger Staubach

It is never too late to be what you might have been. –George Eliot

You become what you believe. –Oprah Winfrey

I would rather die of passion than of boredom. –Vincent van Gogh

A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty. –Unknown

It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings.  –Ann Landers

If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money. –Abigail Van Buren

Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. –Farrah Gray

The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself–the invisible battles inside all of us–that’s where it’s at. –Jesse Owens

Education costs money.  But then so does ignorance. –Sir Claus Moser

I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear. –Rosa Parks

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. –Confucius

If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough. –Oprah Winfrey

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. –Dalai Lama

You can’t use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have. –Maya Angelou

Dream big and dare to fail. –Norman Vaughan

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. –Martin Luther King Jr.

Do what you can, where you are, with what you have. –Teddy Roosevelt

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. –Tony Robbins

Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. –Gloria Steinem

It’s your place in the world; it’s your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live. –Mae Jemison

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try. –Beverly Sills

Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. –Eleanor Roosevelt

Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. –Grandma Moses

The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. –Ayn Rand

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. –Henry Ford

It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. –Abraham Lincoln

Change your thoughts and you change your world. –Norman Vincent Peale

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. –Benjamin Franklin

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, “I’m possible!” –Audrey Hepburn

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. –Steve Jobs

If you can dream it, you can achieve it. –Zig Ziglar