Tag: Business

Have an open mind

Posted on by philipdodson

Perhaps it’s an age thing, but sometimes we can all get caught in the trap of shutting ourselves off to ideas or new things, often based on not very much.

We get this notion in our head that something in life or business just isn’t for us, or won’t work because we’ve seen it, been there, done that and not just got the T shirt, but the whole shop full of T shirts!!

I had fallen into that trap over recent years, however, in the last 6-8 months I have really opened my mind to lot’s of things I had, in my infinite wisdom as I got older, dismissed as not for me, won’t work, etc etc

And guess what? I was wrong about things, not all, but a good number of things I had dismissed.

Just how far have I gone, well I’ve now tried meditation, yoga, having more days without eating meat, using Facebook, and more recently even being converted to…..writing this with gritted teeth…LinkedIn. I’ll spare you the entire list, but there are many ideas or other opinions that I just blocked out previously.

Once you realise this ‘open mind’ thing is good, it becomes addictive and makes you realise in life that most things are not black or white, right or wrong. After all, do Amazon sell the manual for life itself? No? really, and they sell everything, so I’m guessing it doesn’t exist.

So my thought today is a simple one – keep an open mind, you’ll be utterly amazed by the results.

Keep going whatever ‘shit’ comes your way

Posted on by philipdodson

One thing life has taught me and it’s often the difference between success and failure – is to keep going.

If you’ve got a plan, then stick to it, sure modify and adapt it according to experiences and lessons learned. But stick to it and ignore the people who will always knock it and keep your faith.

All too often we allow others to derail our plans and we allow their negativity to start to create doubt.

Nothing is ever achieved immediately in life and the best things evolve and get shaped by experiences and time. However, absolutely nothing is ever achieved by giving up when the going gets tough. Life and business is not a sprint but a marathon, a series of small steps done well, whatever gets thrown at you.

In life, whether personal or business, there will be ‘shit’ that comes our way and how we deal with this will define us. As long as it doesn’t involve the life & death of people, then no point in worrying about it. Initial reactions sometimes is ‘it’s too hard’ or ‘I give up’ or ‘had enough’ and so on.

Essentially everything has a solution and today’s headline challenges and problems will soon be yesterdays news. Break down the situation in to manageable chunks and work on it step by step, with a determination that, whatever it is, is not going to defeat you.

Success comes in many forms and it is a personal thing, not about the title on business card, the size of your house or how much money you have.

But every person I have viewed as success, according to my set of values, has had one thing in common, determination to succeed whatever the odds and whatever comes their way.

They see challenges as an opportunity to learn and a step to move closer to their dreams.

Just KEEP GOING and believe in YOU.