Tag: sucess

CHILDHOOD DREAMS

DREAMS AS A CHILD

Everyone has a profession or two that they aspire to be when they grow up. Some children, for example, want to be firefighters, while others want to be physicians or professors and lots more. This is where everything starts. Dreaming is what gives a child the wings to fly, the hope to survive and the will to become successful in future. Childhood and early adulthood experiences may mould and mould these dreams. Many of these children grow up to abandon their childhood ambitions whereas some of these children, continue on their road to pursue their aspirations and become the professionals they’ve always wanted to be.

My Childhood Aspirations When I reflect on my life, I realize how wonderful it has been. I had an absolutely fantastic childhood and consider myself to be quite fortunate. I grew up in a home with two loving parents who have been there for me through thick and thin, and for that I am eternally grateful, forever. My parents instilled in me the belief that I could be anything I wanted and that I could do everything I set my mind to, they made me believe that nothing is impossible and you can gain what you want if you work hard. As I grew older and developed into the person I am now, my dreams evolved.

DREAMS AS ADULTS

When people consider their life dreams, they frequently consider whether or not they are childlike fantasies. Adults are continually influenced by what is considered juvenile or practical, as well as how others would see them if they pursue their aspirations. Most people who are going to follow all of their childhood aspirations are emotionally immature in some way. Bringing this down to the level of students has a similar effect. After all, when children reach a certain age, the adults in their lives dismiss their dreams as infantile or kiddish which is very much seen among the people in the current generation. Despite the fact that it can drive someone’s willingness, childishness is usually regarded as negative or problematic in some way. People can be motivated by a variety of emotions that are considered juvenile, such as wrath, sadness and many more.

When broken down by gender, it appears that gender stereotypes were still present in the minds of today’s adults when they were children. Pilot (13 percent), Athlete/Olympian (10 percent), and Police Officer or Detective (6 percent) were the most popular dreams for boys, while Vet (12 percent), Teacher (11 percent), and Dancer/Choreographer were the most popular ambitions for girls (6 percent). I’ve had a range of interests and occupations throughout my life that have given me a lot of pleasure. But when it came to my work and something I’d be doing for the rest of my life, I couldn’t think of anything that would make me truly happy.

Some people have an easier time moving on from their “childhood aspirations” than others. As they become older, they develop interests behind the scenes or in theater administration, which they can turn into an internship, which could lead to a full-time job. That’s just fine with them but this is not fine by me.

Soft Skills.

Soft skills… Every one of us has heard this phrase. Also, you might have heard from employees, grad students, millennials, school students, or young people complaining that they lack certain soft skills. 

There is a wide range of skills that falls under the term “Soft Skills”. These skills are also known as “transferable skills”. 

A definition of Soft Skills:-

Soft skills are certain sets of traits and interpersonal skills that don’t depend on the acquired knowledge. Soft skills include common sense, the ability to deal with people, a positive flexible attitude, or how you approach life and work.

The good news is one can learn and enhance their soft skills over some time. Though it is often hard to do so. Like Hard skills, one can work on their Soft skills and can make themselves capable of using them. One can’t measure Soft skills by any exam, the only way to measure the development of one’s Soft skills is by knowing how one manages relationships around them. 

What are the most important Soft Skills?

Well, there are a lot of Soft skills. But, mentioned below are five skills that you need to learn/enhance:-

★ Communication Skills

The most essential skills include Communication skills. People with good communication skills can maintain/build good relationships around them. Also, they are likely to avoid misunderstandings and can make any workplace better. 

★ Decision Making

Being able to make decisions is a crucial part of life. Everyone one of us has to make decisions in our day-to-day life from what we want to eat to what we should wear.  But sometimes the actual decision doesn’t seem to matter; what matters is that you have made one and moved on.

★ Time management

Time management can help you finish any work within the deadline. Time management is sometimes described as having a ‘good work ethic’. Also, it is very useful for organizing family or team.

★ Leadership skills

These skills are needed to take the lead when necessary. These skills include the ability to manage and motivate others, and to commissioner work. One can learn leadership skills by enrolling in many leadership training courses. 

★ Creativity and problem-solving skills

These skills are as highly valued as leadership skills because they are hard to develop. Although it is being believed that creative thinkers are born not made. But like any other skill, these skills can also be developed. 

The skills mentioned above along with other Soft skills are required in every field whether you are a student, an employee/employer, a business owner, etc. You can reach to various programs to develop and enhance your soft skills. 

Fear of failure

The word fear is what comes between us and our dreams. It stops us from reaching our potential. It makes us think about questions like what will happen if we don’t succeed or what if I end up making a fool out of myself?

Think about the number of times you did not do things because of the fear of failure.

It stops you from doing simple tasks like giving an answer in class because you are afraid of the answer being wrong. You are afraid of what the teacher and the students will think. Well, the teacher must have appreciated the efforts of trying and would have corrected you and the students don’t care. Do we care if people give the wrong answer? No right

Here is the thing about people, they simply don’t care about us. They are way too involved in their own lives. People sometimes do try to bring us down but, they are just transferring their fear in our lives. So, we don’t have to listen to them nor care about how they are going to react.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone,” rightly said by Neale Donald Walsch. I can tell you by my experience the best decisions that I took in my life were after overcoming my fear. I wanted to start a YouTube channel ever since I was 14. Now at the age of 19, I actually started it. It took me a long time to start it simply because, I was unsure of how people around me would react. But, recently enough I stopped caring about what people have to say. I uploaded the video for my happiness without thinking about people or the number of likes or views I will get. My video did get a lot of support and appreciation from people. I succeeded and got a good response but, even if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have stopped I would keep trying without letting fear take over me.

Failing is totally fine. We learn so many new lessons from our failures. We get more knowledge from failure than we ever would get from succeeding the first time.

Our life is all about trying new things so stop sticking to your comfort zone. Stepping out of the comfort zone is a big step in itself. It gives us more courage and confidence. So, keep trying even if it comes with the cost of failure.  

We need to stop thinking of failure as a big thing. We need to start treating it as a step towards success. Even the most successful people faced failure and that’s how they got on top.

So, keep challenging yourself to come out of your comfort zone and try things you want. Give yourself regular tasks which you don’t do because of fear. Go volunteer to speak in front of people, even if you mess it up it is okay. Next time you will be way more confident. The only way to grow in life is through failure.

“One day you’ll leave this world behind, So, live a life you will remember” a great line from a song by Avicii, and to live the life you will remember you need to stop fearing things. 

3 best Books That Teach You To Be Rich

BOOKS CAN CHANGE ANYTHING

What’s your money strategy? Do you even have one?

If not, it’s not uncommon. Until two years ago, I didn’t have a financial plan, whatsoever.

Even though I’ve been reading about money, finance, and investing ever since I made my first few bucks as a teenager, I never created a financial plan.

But now, I think every single working professional needs a financial strategy. How do you spend your money? How much do you save? What are your thoughts about debt? How do you invest your money? How much money do you need to retire?

1. The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Clason

This book was published in 1926 and as far as I can tell, it was the first popular book on personal finance.

Usually, I’m not into parables. But this is a great book. It’s the only parable that I’ve read that makes the message of the book even more powerful.

What it comes down to is this: Rich people are rich because they save their money, don’t get in debt, and don’t spend their money foolishly.

Clason recommends to save 10% of your income (I believe you should save 50% — more on that later). He calls saving “paying yourself first.” That’s an important mindset.

You only get rich by paying yourself. Don’t foolishly spend all your money on things you don’t need. When you do that, you pay others, not yourself.

Everyone should read The Richest Man In Babylon — the earlier the better.

2. Your Money Or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

What I enjoyed most about this book is that it teaches you to transform your relationship with money. This will change your life.

Money is something you trade your life energy for. Think about it. You work to earn money.

But you spend your time to work. That’s why Robin and Dominguez spend the first part of this book to make us aware that more is not better.

More money is especially not better if you have to put your own well-being on the line. It’s never worth it. Just ask the family of the bankers who committed suicide during any recession.

If you want to live a healthy and wealthy life, you must detach yourself from money. Instead of striving for more, get better at managing your money.

Save it. And don’t waste it on stuff you don’t need. Your Money Or Your Life starts out strategically and gets more practical towards the end.

One thing I don’t agree with is retiring early. I don’t want to retire and sit on a beach. That’s because my mentors, who are beyond the retirement age, still work and are very happy. I aspire to do the same.

But I also want to build enough wealth that I don’t “have” to work if I don’t want to. That’s one thing Robin and Dominguez also believe in.

3. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham (with commentary by Jason Zweig)

I bought my first stocks when I was 20 years old. At the time, the finance sector was doing great, and I thought it would be good to invest in ING, the major Dutch bank.

Oh yeah, I should mention that this was in 2007, right before the financial crisis. I invested €1500 in ING and €500 in AEGON, a Dutch asset management firm.

It was about half of my savings at the time — a lot of money for a student. And a few months later, when Lehman Brothers collapsed, my stock portfolio was worth only a few hundred euros in total.

Man, I was so pissed off. I can’t even tell you how livid I was. But looking back, I understand that losing money is a part of investing.

And fortunately, I didn’t sell and waited until the stocks recovered. That took eight years, though.

I decided to not invest in individual stocks anymore. And The Intelligent Investor is one of the most important books that helped to realize investing in stocks is not for me.

If you already know that you don’t want to invest in individual stocks, you don’t have to read this book. However, if you are interested in finance, I highly recommend it. The commentary by Jason Zweig, a WSJ columnist, is also excellent.

P.S. I skipped the chapters about stock analysis because I’m not going to use it.