You are poor because you have no ambition.

JACK MA: Before I founded Alibaba, I invited 24 friends to my house to discuss the business opportunity. After discussing for a full two hours, they were still confused — I have to say that I may not have put myself across in a clear manner then. The verdict: 23 out of the 24 people in the room told me to drop the idea, for a multitude of reasons, such as: ‘you do not know anything about the internet, and more prominently, you do not have the start-up capital for this’ etc.

There was only one friend (who was working in a bank then) who told me, “If you want to do it, just try it. If things don’t work out the way you expected it to, you can always revert back to what you were doing before.” I pondered upon this for one night, and by the next morning, I decided I would do it anyway, even if all of the 24 people opposed the idea.

When I first started Alibaba, I was immediately met with strong opposition from family and friends. Looking back, I realized that the biggest driving force for me then was not my confidence in the Internet and the potential it held, but more of this:  “No matter what one does, regardless of failure or success, the experience is a form of success in itself.” You have got to keep trying, and if it doesn’t work, you always can revert back to what you were doing before. 

As with this quote by T.E. Lawrence – “All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream in the dark recesses of the night awake in the day to find all was vanity. But the dreamers of day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, and make it possible.”

Jack Ma: People lose out in life because of these 4 reasons:

1.     Being myopic to opportunity

2.     Looking down on opportunities

3.     Lacking understanding

4.     Failing to act quickly enough

You are poor, because you have no ambition. You are poor because you do not have the desire to become successful. You are poor because you cannot overcome your cowardice. You are poor because you lack the courage and determination.

Go big, or go home. Otherwise, you’re wasting your youth.

Business Life Self-help

Tuesday, October 04, 2016

Billionaire Jack Ma, the founder and CEO of Alibaba Group, as well as one of the most successful Chinese Internet entrepreneurs, shares his wealth of experiences.

Jack Ma: The mistake I regretted the most

In 2001, I made a mistake. I told 18 of my fellow comrades whom embarked on the entrepreneurship journey with me that the highest positions they could go was a managerial role. To fill all our Vice President and Senior Executive positions, we would have to hire from external parties.

Years later, those I hired were gone, but those whom I doubted their abilities became Vice Presidents or Directors.

I believe in two principles: Your attitude is more important than your capabilities. Similarly, your decision is more important than your capabilities!

Jack Ma: You cannot unify everyone’s thoughts, but you can unify everyone through a common goal.

#1 Don’t even trust that you are able to unify what everyone is thinking; it is impossible.

#2 30% of all people will never believe you. Do not allow your colleagues and employees to work for you. Instead, let them work for a common goal.

#3 It is a lot easier to unite the company under a common goal rather than uniting the company around a particular person.

Jack Ma: What does a leader have that an employee doesn’t?

A leader should never compare his technical skills with his employee’s. Your employee should have superior technical skills than you. If he doesn’t, it means you have hired the wrong person. What, then, makes the leader stands out?

#1 A leader should be a visionary and have more foresight than an employee.

#2 A leader should have higher grit and tenacity, and be able to endure what the employees can’t.

#3 A leader should have higher endurance and ability to accept and embrace failure.

The quality of a good leader therefore is his vision, tenacity, and his capability.

Jack Ma: Don’t be involved in politics

#1 One should always understand that money and political power can never go hand in hand. Once you are in politics, don’t ever think about money anymore. Once you are running a business, don’t ever think of being involved in politics.

#2 When money meets political power, it is similar to a match meeting an explosive- waiting to go off.

Jack Ma: The 4 main questions the young generation must ponder on

#1 What is failure? Giving up is the greatest failure.

#2 What is resilience? Once you have been through hardships, grievances and disappointments, only then will you understand what is resilience.

#3 What your duties are? To be more diligent, hardworking, and ambitious than others.

#4 Only fools use their mouth to speak. A smart man uses his brain, and a wise man uses his heart.

Jack Ma: We are born to live and experience life.

I always tell myself that we are born here not to work, but to enjoy life. We are here to make things better for one another, and not to work. If you are spending your whole life working, you will certainly regret it.

No matter how successful you are in your career, you must always remember that we are here to live. If you keep yourself busy working, you will surely regret it.

Jack Ma: On competing and competition

#1 Those that compete aggressively with one another are the foolish ones.

#2 If you view everyone as your enemies, everyone around you will be your enemies.

#3 When you are competing with one another, don’t bring hatred along. Hatred will take you down.

#4 Competition is similar to playing a board of chess. If you lose, we can always have another round. Both players should never fight.

#5 A real businessman or entrepreneur has no enemies. Once he understand this, the sky’s the limit.

Jack Ma: Don’t make complaining and whining a habit

If you complain or whine once in a while, it is not a big deal. However, if it becomes habitual, it will be similar to drinking: the more you drink, the stronger the thirst. On the path to success, you will notice that the successful ones are not whiners, nor do they complain often.

The world will not remember what you say, but it will certainly not forget what you have done.

Jack Ma: Advice to entrepreneurs

#1 The opportunities that everyone cannot see are the real opportunities.

#2 Always let your employees come to work with a smile.

#3 Customers should be number 1, Employees number 2, and then only your Shareholders come at number 3.

#4 Adopt and change before any major trends or changes.

#5 Forget the money; Forget about earning money.

#6 Rather than having small smart tricks to get by, focus on holding on and persevering.

#7 Your attitude determines your altitude.

Jack Ma: On entrepreneurship

#1 A great opportunity is often hard to be explained clearly; things that can be explained clearly are often not the best opportunities.

#2 You should find someone who has complementary skills to start a company with. You shouldn’t necessarily look for someone successful. Find the right people, not the best people.

#3 The most unreliable thing in this world is human relationships.

#4 Today is cruel, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be beautiful.

Jack Ma: The 4 don’ts of entrepreneurship

#1 The scariest things about starting up is the inability to see, to be snobbish, to be unable to understand what is going on, as well as to be unable to keep up with pace.

#2 If you do not know where your competitor is, or overconfident and snobbish about your competitor, or are unable to comprehend how your competitor became a real threat, you will surely fall behind him. Don’t be the “they” in this idiom: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

#3 Even if your competitor is still small in size or weak, you should take him seriously and treat him as a giant. Likewise, even if your competitor is massive in size, you shouldn’t regard yourself as a weakling.

Jack Ma: On starting your own company

What starting your company means: you will lose your stable income, your right to apply for a leave of absence, and your right to get a bonus.

However, it also means your income will no longer be limited, you will use your time more effectively, and you will no longer need to beg for favors from people anymore.

If you have a different mindset, you will have a different outcome: if you make different choices from your peers, your life will then be different from your peers.

Jack Ma: On opportunities

If there is over 90% of the crowd saying “Yes” to approve a proposal, I will surely dispose the proposal into the bin. The reason is simple: if there are so many people who think that the proposal is good, surely there will be many people who would have been working on it, and the opportunity no longer belongs to us.

About JACK MA: Jack Ma is a Chinese Internet entrepreneur. He is the Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, a family of highly successful Internet-based businesses. He is also the first mainland Chinese entrepreneur to appear on the cover of Forbes Magazine and ranks as one of the world’s billionaires. Ma was named the Financial Times’ 2013 Person of the Year because he personifies the Chinese internet, referring to him as the “godfather of China’s scrappy entrepreneurial spirit.”

Business Life Self-help

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

This article is actually about way more than just fitness or nutrition, actually this is about transforming your entire being, your mind and your entire life. I think most of us, already know these 2 tips below, but may not practice them as often as we should

1. In Chapter 8 in Bill Phillip’s book, Transformation, he starts off the chapter with a shocking story about a man who tragically had his 20-year old son murdered by a teenage gang member 5 years prior.  The story ends up a bit unfathomable to most of us, as it turns out that he actually forgave his son’s killer, in what can only be considered one of the most courageous acts of compassion and forgiveness than most of us could ever even contemplate.

After all, how many of us walk around for years holding clashes with a friend or family member over something silly and stupid that means nothing in the big picture of our lives? However, this courageous father found it in his heart to forgive his son’s murderer, the ultimate act of forgiveness.

For most of us, forgiveness will not be for such extreme event, instead, it will be for smaller things that we’ve been holding deep inside (bottled up inside, causing us hidden stress) against a particular person, maybe a sibling, a parent, a friend, or a spouse.  But what we don’t realize is that these bottled up clashes harm our health, and do very little to “punish” the other person.

“Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for your enemy to die“.

Yes, you’re harming yourself more than the other person by holding onto resentment.

We all make mistakes and if you think back to the story about the father that forgave his son’s killer, was that teenage gang member really an evil person deep down to his soul?  Or was he a victim of society, which led him into the gang lifestyle? There’s always more to the story than what is on the surface.

The most important thing we need to realize is that holding onto anger is scientifically proven to harm our health and make us die earlier.  Bill points out a study in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health involving 2,755 people over 10 years.  According to the study that Bill summarizes,

“Those who repressed anger and held resentments were found to be twice as likely to die of a heart attack compared to people in the study who were able to process and let go of negative feelings.”

Another Very important thing that Bill points out, holding onto a grievance doesn’t give you control over the offender, and it doesn’t “punish” them; it just gives them control over you, and punishes you, because you’re the one holding onto the health-harming stress and lack of peace of mind.

Just think if we all kept these guidelines in the front of our minds daily, wouldn’t the world be a much better place, with less stress, fighting, hatred, resentment, and pent up anger?

2.  This second tip is no less important than the first, and it is very powerful in helping you to live healthier and happier.

This is another important tip to living life to the fullest that was reminded by Bill’s book, Transformation. The story starts off with a day that Bill had the pleasure of meeting fitness icon Jack Lalanne and a reporter from USA Today interviewed them both.

One of the most important questions that the news reporter asked Jack in the interview was

“What should people who want to live a healthy life do first thing in the morning?”

The reporter had been expecting a specific tip about exercise or nutrition first thing in the morning, but instead, Jack replied with an answer that carried some very powerful wisdom, he replied

“A healthy person always starts the day by counting their blessings.”

What Jack Lalanne understands, that so many people don’t, is that gratitude affects not only the health of your mind, but that of your body and your entire well-being too.

One of the most important daily rituals that anybody can take up is to lie in bed for 1-2 more minutes after waking up in the morning and consciously bring to mind all of the things in his/her life that they are thankful for. It’s also important to write down what you are grateful for in your life.

In life everybody has struggles, but everybody also has things that they should be grateful for. This one daily ritual can literally change the biochemistry of your body and mind to put you into a more energetic and “feel good” state about your life, and thereby achieve more of your goals.

Well, according to Bill in Chapter 16 of Transformation, Dr. Robert Emmons, PhD, from the University of California Davis was involved in a large research project on gratitude, and here were some of his discoveries:

ü Those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more often, felt better physically, and had a more positive mindset.

ü Study participants who kept gratitude lists were found to be more likely to have made progress towards important personal goals (academic, interpersonal, and health-based) over a 2-month period.

ü A daily gratitude intervention produced higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness, and energy.

ü Those who participate in a daily gratitude exercise have lower levels of depression and stress and are more likely to offer emotional support to others and help them make it through their difficulties.

The bottom line is that although you may have heard about practicing daily gratitude in the past, are you really doing it daily?  If not, you’re missing out on the health benefits, increased energy, better sleep and mood, goal achievements, and just living healthier and happier!

I told you that these 2 tips today would be powerful in helping to improve your life!

Life

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Habits are the key to succeeding in life, regardless of whether it involves adopting the good ones, or kicking the bad ones. Success will revolve around your habits, so thinking carefully before adopting any new ones that may cause issues when trying to pursue you dreams and desires.

Since becoming successful involves doing small and sometimes fairly average things over and over again until you perfect them, a habit is what’s going to keep you on track and ensure that you continuously improve day by day at your selected skills.

Bad habits can easily kill people’s dreams and desires, because their destructive and not constructive traits. And making destructive traits a habit won’t get you off the ground, they’ll make sure you stay firmly on it.

1. Procrastination

Procrastination is the first habit to drop in order save your dreams and desires from getting washed away. It’s normally the reason that startups never get off the ground, simply because more time is spent on the less important things to make you feel like your making progress; however whilst putting off the important tasks to put off the risk of failing.

I don’t know if you’ve ever watched ‘How I Met Your Mother’ on T.V, but there’s an episode where Ted starts his own architecture firm. He fixates on the setup of his office: desk, computer, ornaments and such, but hasn’t started calling any clients. He later says that the longer he puts off calling clients, the longer he can say he owned an architecture firm that wasn’t a complete failure.

2. Laziness

I don’t know how people expect to get anywhere by being lazy. Many of us are though. We weren’t born like that, we didn’t spend our childhoods sleeping in till noon, doing nothing but watching T.V and eating crap all day long. But as you become older you get hit by problems, gain more knowledge about, and more responsibility within the world.

It’s at that point where you start to develop the habit of sitting back, doing things when you feel like it and generally becoming the lazy person you might be today. Being lazy generally means that you won’t be willing to get up early, work hard and grind to get where you want to be.

You may have the desire to, but because of this bad habit you have, the discipline and drive just won’t be there in order to communicate with your mind and body to get up and do it.

3. Quitting

They say that the temptation to quit is greatest right before people succeed. In other words, when you feel like you have nothing left and you’re ready to throw in the towel, hold on. Success might be right around the corner.

If you quit things very easily and early on with any new hobby or venture you undertake, then you’ll never get past that point of success with them. It’s not because you can’t do it, because you can. It’s because you quit before you even had time to get good at it. The only time quitting makes sense is when you’ve either realized that it’s definitely not what you want to do.

4. Excuses

There are far too many excuses that people will tell themselves daily, that to be honest are pretty terrible. It reminds me of when you sat back in class at school, and would hear every possible excuse being used as to why someone didn’t hand in their coursework on time. And by the time you got asked, you had to come up with a unique excuse that hadn’t been used before, just to give you a better chance of being let off.

I’ll be honest, you can tell yourself every excuse that you want to. Nobody else cares whether you give yourself excuses or not, and they certainly won’t be benefiting you in any way apart from making things easier for you in that very short period. Every time you begin to think of an excuse, think of where you’d be 3 years from now if you told yourself that one excuse every day.

Would you be exactly where you are now?

5. Negative Thinking

A guaranteed habit that kills people’s dreams and desires, is negative thinking, which the majority of us will see on pretty much a daily basis, whether it be within ourselves or from watching others.

Grasp every opportunity. There will be negative sides to be overcome but just think about the positive outcome. This is one habit every dreamer needs to kick.

6. Over-expenditure

Dreams involve money in pretty much every case. Whether you want to go traveling or start your own business, become a professional athlete and so on. They all require various amounts of cash in order to get there. It’s certainly not the main factor, but it’s a pretty important one, and you probably aren’t helping yourself by buying everything in site that will go out of fashion within the next year or so.

Your dreams require spending money, just the same as going out and buying expensive clothes or electronics, but the difference is that when you put your money in yourself and what you want for your future, it’s an investment. It’s definitely not a waste of money. So think twice before you buy that new car, or that new games console, and invest the money in yourself.

Investing is better than spending or saving. The returns from it have the potential to be far greater.

7. Social Media

Social Media kills time, a lot of time. It’s a bad habit, but also a very good one in order to meet new people and as a business or entrepreneur to promote yourself and make new connections. But for now, we’re calling it a bad habit simply for the fact that so many people get distracted by it whilst trying to do some work.

Why do you think so many companies block you from accessing social media websites whilst at work?

Simply because they’re addictive and you’ll end up wasting the companies time. This is definitely one habit to control in order for you to get your work done and progress with the things you’re trying to achieve.

8. Being comfortable

It may sound a bit strange when you read the title. “Surely being comfortable is a good thing right?” It’s a good thing because you’re relatively happy where you are, but it’s a bad thing because you have no idea how long you are going to be comfortable for, circumstances may change. And in the mean time, you’ve stopped working hard, stopped pushing yourself and stopped chasing your dreams.

One day you’ll stop and realize how much time you’ve wasted being comfortable, for it all to now come crashing down on you and put you in a position far, far from it.

I’m not saying that you should never become comfortable, because that’s a great feeling to have. I’m just saying that you should go after what you want and never stop working towards it. Realize when it’s the right time to become comfortable.

Life

Thursday, September 24, 2015