The Lazy Way to Remember Self Improvement
January 31, 2007
by CG.com Contributor, Aaron Potts
One of the biggest problems that people have with their self improvement efforts is simply that they forget to practice whatever techniques they are supposed to be practicing in order to improve their lives.
The truth of the matter is that you are so used to living your life in a certain way that you often forget to take the appropriate measures to effect long-term positive changes.
Back before the days of computer-generated task lists and automated telephone reminders, people used to tie a piece of yarn around their finger in order to remember that they were supposed to do something. It was a crude, but effective technique.
Read more
‘Best Advice I Ever Got’ Series 10 - Dick Parsons, CEO of Time Warner
January 31, 2007
“The best business advice I ever received was from Steve Ross, who used to run this company. Steve was a friend. It was 1991 or 1992, and I was on the Time Warner board. I was going to be coming over to the company from the banking industry, and we were talking about how to get things done. Steve said to me, ‘Dick, always remember this is a small business and a long life. You are going to see all these guys come around and around again, so how you treat them on each individual transaction is going to make an impression in the long haul. When you do deals, leave a little something to make everyone happy instead of trying to grab every nickel off the table.’
“I’ve used that advice a thousand times since, literally. When I got to this company, for the first seven or eight years I was here I was the principal dealmaker, and I always took that advice with me into a negotiation. Most people in business do not follow that, though. Maybe there was a Read more
‘Best Advice I Ever Got’ Series 09 - Vivek Paul, Former CEO, Wipro Technologies
January 30, 2007
“The best advice I ever got was from an elephant trainer in the jungle outside Bangalore. I was doing a hike through the jungle as a tourist. I saw these large elephants tethered to a small stake. I asked him, ‘How can you keep such a large elephant tied to such a small stake?’ He said, ‘When the elephants are small, they try to pull out the stake, and they fail. When they grow large, they never try to pull out the stake again.’ That parable reminds me that we have to go for what we think we’re fully capable of, not limit ourselves by what we’ve been in the past. When I took over Wipro in 1999, we were the first to articulate that an Indian company could be in the global top ten [of technology services firms]. As of 2004, we were.
“The second-best piece of advice was something I learned from Jack Welch on one of his trips to India. He was commenting that every time he lands in New York he imagines that he’s just been appointed chairman and that this is his first day in the role, and the guy before him was a real dud. He said, Read more
How Well Do You Follow Through?
January 29, 2007
by Travis Wright
In life as well as in golf, the follow through is crucial. It is a very important aspect of personal development. How well and how consistent are you at following through? If you say you are going to do something, do you do it?
Your subconscious thrives on completing tasks, and finishing what was started. When we DON’T follow through accordingly, we break ourselves down a bit. If I tell myself, I’m going to go touch the wall, but then I neglect touching the wall. It has left my subconscious in limbo a bit, and now it may create a bit of stress for you, due to unfinished obligations.
I think that our lack of following-through is more a lack of Read more
