Home Of Inspiration

(Take Responsibility) This one is fairly straightforward. President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that said: “The buck stops here”. What he meant by that was, as President, he did not have the option to pass the buck when it came to mistakes or failure. He was the boss and the buck stopped getting passed with him.  That’s pretty smart advice for any business owner who wants to be more successful. When it comes to the results of the decisions you make, don’t pass the buck. Everyone is happy to take credit for a successful outcome; as well they should if they were directly responsible for that success. That’s the easy part. The hard part is owning up to your own mistakes.  There is somewhat of an inclination to try and blame someone or something else for a negative outcome. The most successful people fight that inclination and accept the blame for their mistakes as readily as they accept congratulations for their successes. They do so because they realize that ...

Slothfulness.  When a child is born, from the time he or she is able to walk, whatever he or she sees an elderly person do, especially his or her parents, the child would always want to do it, or try to imitate, even if the child can't or won't be able to do it, but you'll see the child try to do it. But you'll discover, when the child grows alittle more to the age of being able to do those things, you'll discover slothfulness creep into the child, so much so that, those things you once used to shout at the child to stop doing, you'll now be like forcing the child to do those things for you. Now this slothfulness would continue into the teenage of the child, such that you'll have to at some point, be enforcing the child to do even that which is of his or her best interest; and so the child continues to grow enjoying the help and decision making of the parents. Now the child has fully grown, and has reach the time he has to be the one taking decis...

(Risk-Taking) We’ve all heard the old saying “nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Like most old sayings, there’s a strong element of truth in those words. At the risk of following one old saying with another, without risk, there is not and cannot be any reward. There is an element of chance inherent in every venture and unless that chance is recognized and faced, the venture will never become reality.  That being said, there are people who are natural risk takers, as well as people who are very risk-adverse. The key to success when it comes to risk-taking is understanding what type of person you are and how this personality trait can affect your business when it comes to dealing with risk. It is important to keep in mind that the secret of success when it comes to business risk is mitigating potential damage in favor of  potential  gain. Therefore, neither type of risk personality, in and of itself, provides an advantage over the other when it comes to risk man...

( Focus) In any activity or endeavor, it is important to build endurance. Endurance can be defined as the ability to focus on the task at hand and bring it successfully to a conclusion. Some call it fortitude, other call it strength or stamina. No matter what you call it though, endurance is the ability to persevere and get the job done, no matter what.  Usually, when we speak of endurance, we’re referring to physical activity. Yet, endurance is as important in the business world as it is anywhere else. In business circles, endurance usually takes the form of focus. Instead of physical prowess, it becomes the ability to concentrate successfully on a given task. Focus is a critical skill for any business owner, especially in today’s fast-­‐paced world where success o\en means keeping several equally important balls in the air at one time.  So, how do you focus on multitasking, a situation where, by its very definition, several things are happening at once? Well, the...

Ch. 01: Vision When it comes to survival, we are visual animals. As a species, our eyesight is our most developed sense. We have a stereoscopic sight that can detect a wide variety of colors and shading. This, in turn, lets us see easily see patterns and movement. These combined abilities allowed us to avoid becoming dinner while trying to get dinner for ourselves. Our vision helped us to physically succeed, and it still does today.  When it comes to business success, vision is no less important to survival. However, instead of our sense of sight, this vision involves our sense of imagination and possibility. Vision, in the business sense, is really the ability to visualize successful outcomes. It is the ability to imagine positive results. It is, at its heart, the ability to lucidly dream of where you want to go with your business.  Don’t be afraid to dream. As Henry Ford once said, if you think you can do something or if you think you can’t do something, you...