19 hard things you need to do to be successful

The simple truth about how ordinary people accomplish outrageous feats of success is that they do the hard things that smarter, wealthier, more qualified people don’t have the courage or desperation to do. Do the hard things. You might be surprised at how amazing you really are.

You have to do the hard things.

• You have to make the call you’re afraid to make.

• You have to get up earlier than you want to get up.

• You have to give more than you get in return right away.

• You have to care more about others than they care about you.

• You have to fight when you are already injured, bloody, and sore.

• You have to feel unsure and insecure when playing it safe seems smarter.

• You have to lead when no one else is following you yet.

• You have to invest in yourself even though no one else is.

• You have to look like a fool while you’re looking for answers you don’t have.

• You have to grind out the details when it’s easier to shrug them off.

• You have to deliver results when making excuses is an option.

• You have to search for your own explanations even when you’re told to accept the “facts.”

• You have to make mistakes and look like an idiot.

• You have to try and fail and try again.

• You have to run faster even though you’re out of breath.

• You have to be kind to people who have been cruel to you.

• You have to meet deadlines that are unreasonable and deliver results that are unparalleled.

• You have to be accountable for your actions even when things go wrong.

• You have to keep moving towards where you want to be no matter what’s in front of you.

You have to do the hard things. The things that no one else is doing. The things that scare you. The things that make you wonder how much longer you can hold on. Those are the things that define you. Those are the things that make the difference between living a life of mediocrity or outrageous success. The hard things are the easiest things to avoid. To excuse away. To pretend like they don’t apply to you.

(Source: Business Insider)

Five morning rituals to keep you productive all day long

Most of us work long hours: 40, 50 or even 60 hours each week. But chances are, given distractions like online entertainment, office snacking habits and ill-designed time management, we're only churning out high-quality work a portion of each day.
Here are five practical steps to incorporate into any morning routine to optimize your time at the office and maintain productivity all day long: 

7 minutes of exercise. 
Why? It's short enough that it won't impact the rest of your morning routine and long enough to shake off any residual sluggishness from the night before -- including that extra glass of wine. There are endless fitness routines to turn to, but the one I like best is called the 7 Minute Workout (and yes, there's an app for that). In just seven minutes, it works all major muscle groups with 12 total exercises.

Start your day out green. 
Sure, we've all been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and it's pretty easy to reach for a bagel, bowl of cereal, egg sandwich or cup of yogurt to get your metabolism going. While all of these options are fine choices once in a while, you'll be shocked at the morning lift you can get from a green smoothie. And healthy juicing requires less time in the morning than toasting a bagel and slathering it with low fat cream cheese. I go quick and easy, blending (for about a minute): one apple, one banana, one orange, a handful of spinach, half of a cucumber, any juice or coconut water on hand, a few cubes of ice and some flax seed. It's cheap, easy and energizing.

Pick 3 wins for the day. 
While you're waiting for that smoothie to blend, get ahead of the evening's conversation with your significant other; you know, the one that starts, "How was your day?"
Decide on the three things that you'd like to accomplish in the next 12 hours in order for you to feel like the day was a success. Sure, not every day will be an epic win, but strategizing in this way will help to move the ball forward. 

Block your calendar to achieve wins. 
One of the most common mistakes people make at the office is not turning to-do lists into time-bound, effective project lists. I've found that people who have mastered this hack are far more likely to deliver tasks on time. It's simple: For each of the big things on your list, block off the amount of time on your calendar that you estimate the task might take; and then add 33% more time just to be sure. If a project is multi day or has dependencies, break it up into digestible chunks. Use one block to plan and a second or third block to accomplish. This simple method will help hold you accountable and immediately help you refocus on the tasks you've prioritized when you do get distracted. Too often, we let one distraction steamroll an entire morning; now you don't have to let that client email derail you from your winning plan for the day.

Power up after lunch. Take the 15 minutes right after lunch to refocus on the day; a kind of professional meditation. Get away from your computer, turn it off, go sit in a conference room and determine what you have on tap for the rest of the day. Think about how the list you set in the morning is shaping up. Are you ahead of schedule? Behind schedule? You'll find that these 15 minutes help you identify how you got derailed, what's causing you distractions and help you to rediscover a rhythm to be productive all day long.
Give this simple formula a try for a week and I think you'll be pleased with the results. 

(Source: entrepreneur)

A smart investor would skip the M.B.A.

Imagine that you have been accepted to Harvard Business School. The ivy-covered buildings and high-powered faculty whisper that all you need to do is listen to your teachers, get good grades and work well with your peers. After two years, you'll emerge ready to take the business world by storm. Once you have that degree, you'll have it made.

But don't kid yourself. What matters exponentially more than that M.B.A. is the set of skills and accomplishments that got you into business school in the first place. What if those same students, instead of spending two years and $174,400 at Harvard Business School, took the same amount of money and invested it in themselves? How would they compare after two years?

If you want a business education, the odds aren't with you, unfortunately, in business school. Professors are rewarded for publishing journal articles, not for being good teachers. The other students are trying to get ahead of you. The development office is already assessing you for future donations. Administrators care about the metrics that will improve your school's national ranking. None of these things actually helps you learn about business.

Consider what you could do instead with that $174,400. The first step should be to move to a part of the country that supports your interests. If that's film, move to Los Angeles. Technology, San Francisco. Oil, Houston. You could live decently in these cities for $3,000 per month. Over the course of two years, that still leaves you $100,000 to invest in yourself.

To decide how to do that, start unpacking the value of an M.B.A. Good business schools deliver two main values: educational content and a network. Acquiring the content is easy: Go online and take the classes using OpenCourseWare or Coursera. You'll get to watch the same lectures, but for free.

Finding and building a network will be more valuable to you than an M.B.A. You cannot buy a network. Your network is built on relationships with people, founded on trust. You also cannot buy trust—it's something built over time. Invest in buying coffee, drinks and dinner for people you want to get to know. This may be deeply uncomfortable, and that's good. It means that building relationships will be easier in the future. Ask people how they got to their current job, what resources they recommend, and what books they think you should read.

Building an army of people who trust you and think you're talented will be invaluable when you look for jobs. Consider investing in hard skills such as programming. Dev Bootcamp, a 10-week training course in programming, costs only $12,200. It takes people with no experience and teaches them how to code. In 2012, 88% of its graduates got job offers at an average starting salary of $79,000. Those outcomes are far better than for students fresh out of M.B.A. programs. According to Payscale.com, the average starting salary for M.B.A. graduates with less than one year of experience was $46,630 in 2012. Dev Bootcamp offers a much better return on investment.

If you aren't accepted to Harvard, the argument against going to business school becomes even stronger. At least with their Harvard M.B.A.s, less than 5% of the class of 2012 was unemployed three months after graduating. But at the University of Southern California, 23% of 2012 M.B.A. grads were still unemployed three months after graduation. And that's at USC, a fairly well-known school. The return on investment of going to Harvard or another top-10 business school has remained relatively high, but the return on going to lesser schools is very questionable.

The prospect of forgoing business school in favor of real-world accomplishments is scary for many new college graduates. Youth employment is the lowest since the 1950s, and for the first time more unemployed people have college experience than not. Competition for new jobs is fierce, with 50% of the world's population under 30. When you are competing against 3.5 billion people, it pays to be different. But getting another university degree doesn't make you different.

Instead of relying on business school to succeed, deliberately practice the skills necessary to become a master in your chosen field. Build a network that supports your professional aspirations. Work on projects that show you can have an impact in the real world, dealing with practical problems.

Most of all, put yourself in the shoes of your future boss and imagine whom you would rather hire: the candidate who built a profitable business over the course of two years, or the candidate who sat in lectures and reviewed case studies to get a degree?

(Source: The Wall Street Journal)

How to Become a Millionaire by Age 30

Getting rich and becoming a millionaire is a taboo topic. Saying it can be done by the age of 30 seems like a fantasy. It shouldn’t be taboo and it is possible. At the age of 21, I got out of college, broke and in debt, and by the time I was 30, I was a millionaire.

Here are the 10 steps that will guarantee you will become a millionaire by 30.

1. Follow the money. In today’s economic environment you cannot save your way to millionaire status. The first step is to focus on increasing your income in increments and repeating that. My income was $3,000 a month and nine years later it was $20,000 a month. Start following the money and it will force you to control revenue and see opportunities.

2. Don’t show off -- show up! I didn’t buy my first luxury watch or car until my businesses and investments were producing multiple secure flows of income. I was still driving a Toyota Camry when I had become a millionaire. Be known for your work ethic, not the trinkets that you buy.

3. Save to invest, don’t save to save. The only reason to save money is to invest it.  Put your saved money into secured, sacred (untouchable) accounts. Never use these accounts for anything, not even an emergency. This will force you to continue to follow step one (increase income). To this day, at least twice a year, I am broke because I always invest my surpluses into ventures I cannot access.

4. Avoid debt that doesn’t pay you. Make it a rule that you never use debt that won’t make you money. I borrowed money for a car only because I knew it could increase my income. Rich people use debt to leverage investments and grow cash flows. Poor people use debt to buy things that make rich people richer.

5. Treat money like a jealous lover. Millions wish for financial freedom, but only those that make it a priority have millions. To get rich and stay rich you will have to make it a priority. Money is like a jealous lover. Ignore it and it will ignore you, or worse, it will leave you for someone who makes it a priority.

6. Money doesn’t sleep. Money doesn’t know about clocks, schedules or holidays, and you shouldn’t either. Money loves people that have a great work ethic. When I was 26 years old, I was in retail and the store I worked at closed at 7 p.m. Most times you could find me there at 11 p.m. making an extra sale. Never try to be the smartest or luckiest person -- just make sure you outwork everyone.

7. Poor makes no sense. I have been poor, and it sucks. I have had just enough and that sucks almost as bad. Eliminate any and all ideas that being poor is somehow OK. Bill Gates has said, "If you’re born poor, it’s not your mistake. But if you die poor, it is your mistake."

8. Get a millionaire mentor. Most of us were brought up middle class or poor and then hold ourselves to the limits and ideas of that group. I have been studying millionaires to duplicate what they did. Get your own personal millionaire mentor and study them. Most rich people are extremely generous with their knowledge and their resources.

9. Get your money to do the heavy lifting. Investing is the Holy Grail in becoming a millionaire and you should make more money off your investments than your work. If you don’t have surplus money you won’t make investments. The second company I started required a $50,000 investment. That company has paid me back that $50,000 every month for the last 10 years. My third investment was in real estate, where I started with $350,000, a large part of my net worth at the time. I still own that property today and it continues to provide me with income. Investing is the only reason to do the other steps, and your money must work for you and do your heavy lifting.

10. Shoot for $10 million, not $1 million. The single biggest financial mistake I’ve made was not thinking big enough. I encourage you to go for more than a million. There is no shortage of money on this planet, only a shortage of people thinking big enough.

Apply these 10 steps and they will make you rich. Steer clear of people that suggest your financial dreams are born of greed. Avoid get-rich-quick schemes, be ethical, never give up, and once you make it, be willing to help others get there too.

(Source: entrepreneur.com)

How to keep track of your good ideas everyday.

You have good ideas. Don't let them disappear.

Good ideas come and go every second, but what doesn’t happen very often is the capturing of those thoughts. You can have the brightest and sharpest ideas that could take your life and business to a whole new level, but they mean absolutely nothing if they're pushed aside and forgotten.

It doesn’t matter what our education levels are or where we come from, we all have great and wonderful ideas. The only problem is that most people let the hustle and bustle of life get in the way and interrupt their ability to capture their golden ideas.
Now, you might not come up with the world’s next greatest invention (or maybe you will). But everything we use in our day-to-day lives was once just an idea. Not every idea will be worth a billion dollars, but perhaps one or two of them can change the trajectory of your business and life for the better.
We all have 24 hours in a day, no more or no less than the next person. Think about how many times where an idea or thought comes to mind but you do nothing about it. There really is no value for us if we don’t take the initiative. The other reason why it is so imperative that we capture our ideas is because coincidence or not, some of our best ideas don't come to us in the office.

Here are three steps to take every day:

Have a system. The best way I have found to capture ideas on a regular basis is to take a systematic approach to it. We all prefer different ways of doing things. Some of us prefer electronic devices while some of us stick to the trusted pen-and-paper route.
Either way, pick what works for you and stick with it. I prefer to log all of my ideas and thoughts into evernote and then at the end of the day analyze each idea. After I dig a little deeper, I transfer the ideas that I may want to act on immediately or in the near future into my moleskin journal.

Pick the good ones. Just because you start capturing your thoughts and ideas doesn’t mean everything that comes to mind is going to be something that you will act on. Finding time alone where you can analyze what you logged for the day helps tremendously. This is where you can determine whether a specific idea is worthy of your time. Throw out what’s useless.

Make it a habit. Just like with any new habit that we try to adopt into our everyday lives, it takes time. I truly believe that if you make a determined effort on a regular basis to capture your ideas, it will greatly benefit your personal and professional life.
Of all the great men and women I have had the fortune to work with, they all knew the importance of keeping track of their thoughts and ideas. Stick with it.

(Source: Entrepreneur)

What rich people have next to their beds

You know what you'll probably find on a successful (read: rich) person's nightstand?

Books. But not just any books, according to Tom Corley, the author of "Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits Of Wealthy Individuals." His research finds that rich and poor people alike are cracking their fair share of spines, but the key difference is that less financially successful people read for entertainment, while rich people read for self-improvement.

Note that Corley defines "rich people" as having an annual income of $160,000 or more and a liquid net worth of $3.2 million-plus, and "poor people" as those having an annual income of $35,000 or less and a liquid net worth of $5,000 or less.

Here's how the numbers break down:

• 11% of rich people read for entertainment, compared to 79% of poor
• 85% of rich people read two or more education, career-related, or self-improvement books per month, compared to 15% of poor
• 94% of rich people read news publications including newspapers and blogs, compared to 11% of poor people

"The overall conclusion that I reached in my research is that your daily habits will dictate your financial success in life, and there are four or five key ones," says Corley. One of those keys, he explains, is self-education. "The rich are voracious readers on how to improve themselves. They're reading self-improvement books, biographies, books about successful people, things like that."

In fact, Corley found that educational reading overlapped with another factor of success: mentorship. After being asked in an interview about his finding that only 24% of the wealthy people he studied had mentors, he went back over the research and found that 93% of those with mentors agreed with the statement, "My mentor was responsible for my wealth."

"The reason why the wealthy people without mentors said they didn't have one was that they got their education through reading books, and through the school of hard knocks," Corley says. Over half of those people were business owners who effectually mentored themselves, through books and experience.
To that end, Corley has included books as one of his five kinds of mentors, which also include parents, teachers, work colleagues, and the "school of hard knocks."

(Source: Business Insider)

Scholarship: Master of Public Policy and Management at UBD

MASTER SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY:

The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) offers an internationally-focused cross-disciplinary Master of Public Policy and Management (MPPM), which is characterised by its focus on nurturing excellence in both policy skills and management qualities. The Programme also emphasises on analytical writing, quantitative and verbal reasoning skills.

IPS is inviting applications from East Asia Summit participating countries to join their MPPM which the second cohort will begin on 27th December 2014. The closing date for the MPPM applications is 17th July 2014.

International Focus

The MPPM is an 18-month programme which the students will spend 12 months in UBD and the third semester in one of the partner policy schools in the United States. They are:

-McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
-Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
-School of Public Policy, University of Maryland
-Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley

In the third semester, students will also be having a two-week study visit to Washington, D.C., meeting people from key policymaking institutions including the House of Congress, policy think-tanks and non-profit sectors.

The MPPM has three specialisation tracks:

* Islamic Governance and Islamic International Relations
* Energy Policy and Management
* Environmental Policy and Management

Advisor Profile

Professor John W. Thomas, Professor of Harvard Kennedy School of Government - Harvard University has been appointed as the Advisor and Eminent Visiting Professor to IPS and MPPM. His vast experience includes establishing the Public Policy Programme at the National University of Singapore, now the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and counselling Asian, African, and Latin American universities on the development of public policy programmes.

Who Should Apply

- High performing employees in the public and private sector with at least 5 years of relevant work experience with high leadership potential
- Those from the international development agencies and non-profit sectors who are contributing in a significant way to the field of sustainable international development
- Outstanding international participants with at least 5 years of relevant work experience with leadership capabilities

Entry Requirements

a) Normally an Upper Second Class Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant discipline from a university recognised by the Senate of UBD with at least 5 years relevant work experience.
b) a minimum English qualification of GCE ‘O’ Level Credit 6 or IELTS 6.0 or TOEFL 550 is required.
c) Also, a minimum Mathematics qualification of GCE ‘O’ Level Credit 6 or one “pass” in a subsequent level mathematics subject is essential.

If you require further information, please do not hesitate to e-mail the Institute of Policy Studies at:

office.ips@ubd.edu.bn, office.ips@ubd.edu.bn or norfarahiyah.tuah@ubd.edu.bn, norfarahiyah.tuah@ubd.edu.bn
Source: http://www.ubd.edu.bn/faculties-and-institutes/ips/

How to Raise Money for Your Business

Whether you've been in business one week or five years, an infusion of funds is always welcome. But what type of financing is best for your business? There are so many factors to consider--from the stage of your business to how much it'll cost to get the money--that just choosing a path to follow can be overwhelming.

To help you get your head around the different ways you can finance the growth of your business, we've compiled mini-guides that cover the basic information on many different financing sources. Read through our guides to learn the basics, and then start hunting!

So you've come up with an idea for a business? Congratulations! Now you need startup financing - that initial infusion of money needed to turn the idea into something tangible. And that's where it becomes tricky.
When you are just starting out, you're not at the point yet where a traditional lender or investor would be interested in you. So that leaves you with selling cherished assets, borrowing against your home, maxing out credit cards, dipping into a 401(k), and asking loved ones for loans. There is a lot of risk involved, including the risk of bankruptcy with your personal finances and soured relationships with friends and family.

This is the hard part behind starting a business -- putting so much at risk. But doing so is the rite of passage to both success and failure. It's what sets entrepreneurs apart from people who collect paychecks.
A major key is to ramp up initial operations as quickly as possible to get to the point where outside investors can see and feel the venture, as well as understand that you took some risk getting it to that point.
Some businesses can also be bootstrapped. They can be built up quickly enough to make money without aid from investors who might otherwise come in and start calling the shots.

With so much at risk, it is important to have a strong business plan in place, and to seek out advice from experienced entrepreneurs and experts -- people who might also invest in your business someday.
Seek out local entrepreneurship advice programs. One place to start looking is the SBA's website, which has a search engine for finding local Small Business Development Centers, SCORE chapters and other resources
What's Next: Once you get over the initial hump, it is possible to seek out funding sources available to more advanced startups and early stage companies.

(Source: entrepreneur.com)

4 Factors to Making the Best Decisions for You

When we’re just starting out, we’re thirsty for advice. How else can we be sure we’re making the right decisions? It’s in our best interest to seek out advice -- lots of it. But there comes a time when you have to start relying on yourself for guidance. The problem is, there will always be another book you could benefit from reading. There will always be another helpful article online for you to discover. There will always be another person you could reach out to.

You may find that you’re relying on the same source to help make your decisions for you. Early on in my career, I developed products for many different industries. When it came to marketing, I consulted my wife, who has a marketing degree from Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree from Stanford. She had worked at numerous consumer-product companies and became vice president of marketing at E. & J. Gallo Winery. All of which is to say -- she had much more experience than I did.

Whenever I struggled to make a marketing decision, I’d ask her for help, and then defer to her advice. She was my crutch. I was leaning on her too much. It was easy to blame her when, in reality, the buck stopped with me. I needed to have total confidence in my own decision-making ability to move forward. I realized that I had to make my own decisions. So I did. And, to my delight, my decisions were good ones! As a result, I grew not only as an entrepreneur, but as a person.

For those that are paralyzed with fear and desperately seeking someone to lean on, listen up. At some point -- sooner than later -- you’re going to have to start making your own decisions as an entrepreneur. Here’s how to make the best ones:

1. Read as much as you can, and then stop reading. I’ve met many entrepreneurs who use books as a crutch. They’re always looking for the next book to read. I love reading self-help books too, but there’s just so much information out there. It can easily become paralyzing. Don’t overdo it. You learn by doing.

2. Make a point of seeking out different perspectives. When we talk to the same people -- and in particular, people who are our friends or care about us -- we draw from a limited point of view. If you’re really interested in learning from others, deliberately seek out those with a different perspective. It’s easy (and boring) to listen to people that share your point of view. But you’ll make better decisions if you force yourself to think about new aspects of the same issues. No decision is ever black and white, and your thinking shouldn’t be either.

3. Be flexible. The only way to keep making good decisions as an entrepreneur is to be open-minded and easygoing. It’s a fact that something isn’t going to go according to plan. Plans change, and being an entrepreneur means being willing to take on risk. If you’re still hung up on something that went “wrong” or holding on to the belief that your original plan will work out, you may end up failing to pursue a different, exciting (and maybe even better) option for yourself and your business. You should have a game plan. But that game plan is more likely to end up looking like a zigzag than a straight line.

4. Own your decisions. They are yours and yours alone. If something goes wrong, don’t blame anyone but yourself. How can you learn from the experience if you abdicate responsibility?
Part of what I enjoy about being an entrepreneur is the fact that I get to make my own decisions. At the end of the day, whether they’re good or bad, they’re all mine. If you’re like me, that reality is frightening, wonderful and totally rewarding.

(Source: entrepreneur.com)