Much To Be Grateful For And Generous About!

A quote on a Topic On My Mind these days - Generosity. We live in times of Transformation! These are the toughest economic times - many of us have ever seen, times that find families in large numbers living in their cars, in tents and under bridges. And yet we all sense things may get worse before they really improve. So much to be grateful for and so many causes to be generous with. Dig deep give to others with no reason. Do something generous today for someone. Make it incredible - doing it for someone who can never repay you and even better do it anonymously - it will spread good will. The recipient will not have a single individual they are grateful too but rather a larger unknown "universe".

Generosity is another quality which, like patience, letting go, non-judging, and
trust, provides a solid foundation for mindfulness practice. You might
experiment with using the cultivation of generosity as a vehicle for deep
self-observation and inquiry as well as an exercise in giving. A good place to
start is with yourself. See if you can give yourself gifts that may be true
blessings, such as self-acceptance, or some time each day with no purpose.
Practice feeling deserving enough to accept these gifts without obligation-to
simply receive from yourself, and from the universe.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Self-confidence and Entrepreneurial Success

One of the things I believe is necessary for success as an entrepreneur and in life is absolute, supreme confidence in yourself - It’s kind of like a super power. When I look at the high and low times in my life - they were directly related to my self-confidence level.

Another foundation block to success is a significant event that pushes you to make crucial decision about your life and the direction you want to take, when you’re pushed out on your own with no support. It is similar to people who have failures under their belt seem more real and grounded to me.

I also take my fun very seriously, and mostly in situations where you wouldn’t necessarily feel comfortable and at ease. It’s important to share that happy energy with other people.
The negative energy of people who say No and Can’t is at times almost overpowering to me, I have found it critical to work with positive people - not yes men, so to speak, but people with happy attitudes who are open-minded to what’s possible, who take what’s been done before and improve it, go beyond it, and don’t limit themselves.

For me that also means - If your friends aren’t supporting you, reboot your friends. That doesn't mean discard them - push the refresh button and see what re-opens.

Don’t let what you don’t know stop you. Being a successful entrepreneur is all about potential. If you think about the boulder at the top of the hill, it has more potential value than when it’s sitting on the bottom of the hill. My three three watch words are:

• Disruption - cause it - seek it - leverage it,
• Greed - squash it - give back - pay goodness forward and
• Fear - understand it - embrace it - breakthrough it

As one of the most famous business and management gurus - Peter Drucker said:

The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it
as an opportunity!

Glenn Stephens - Inside Out

A favorite quote of Glenn Stephens - Sharing quotes is a favorite past-time of mine on Glenn Stephens Blog. Glenn Stephens is focused on this today!

The ''Inside-Out'' approach to personal and interpersonal effectiveness
means to start first with self; even more fundamentally, to start with the most
inside part of self / with your paradigms, your character, and your motives.

The inside-out approach says that private victories precede public
victories, that making and keeping promises to ourselves recedes making and
keeping promises to others. It says it is futile to put personality ahead of
character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving
ourselves
Stephen R. Covey

Glenn Stephens Favorite Success Quotes - 1

Was doing my daily web review and noted a few of my favorite quotes about success and happiness. So I am sharing them as Glenn Stephens Favorite Success Quotes - 1.

Hope you enjoy them I do!

I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of
our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that
the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of
well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically
puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may
have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is
the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material
creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external
development alone. The key is to develop inner peace

Dalai Lama

Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with
optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout
for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the
lookout for ways to nurture your dream

Lao Tzu

. . it's worth recognizing that there is no such thing as an overnight
success. You will do well to cultivate the resources in yourself that bring you
happiness outside of success or failure. The truth is, most of us discover where
we are headed when we arrive. At that time, we turn around and say, yes, this is
obviously where I was going all along. It's a good idea to try to enjoy the
scenery on the detours, because you'll probably take a few!

Bill Watterson

Key Traits Of An Entrepreneur

The life of an entrepreneur is different. I have worn the hat of an entrepreneur for most of my adult life. Three stints of in a corporate role – one of 10 years, one of 5 years and my original stint of 4 years with a Fortune 50 company. My last two roles were fast rides to the C-Level in what I call a quasi-corporate role. They were quasi because both of the latter J-O-Bs were in companies organized and acting like corporations but really controlled by the founder/entrepreneur as an active CEO. I had the good fortune to work with very very successful (financially) CEOs. Both of them won Entrepreneur of the year awards and both of them received numerous national and international awards and recognitions for being “successful entrepreneurs”.

When I look back– I kind of laugh and say wow I got the best of both worlds and unfortunately the worst of both worlds! I guess I have the right to actually put myself in the position of an expert having become a student of both the world of an entrepreneur and the world of a corporate J-O-B holder. Of late, as things get busy again the shift happens from thinking to doing, I could not help reflecting on how the life of an entrepreneur is different. As I have mentioned in the past, much of what I write is driven by my own experiences (positive and negative). There may be some overlaps with what I have written in the past, but hopefully, there are enough new thoughts that can be useful to you.

Having a Vision and a reasonably clear perspective on where one is headed over the long-term is critical. At the same time, it is not that important to know the exact roadmap that will evolve over time. More often than not, people get it wrong they focus too much on the near-term and not enough on the long-term rationale of why they are in the business they are in. I call that the “why of the business”

Your vision must be driven by a set of core beliefs (Values) only then will it stand the test of time, criticism and competition. This vision must define a future that is different from the present. The entrepreneur must be able to convince others that the future can be created. The beliefs must be based on a series of logical arguments, and not just a fancy dream.
Your Vision and your Why must be congruent with your values! As an entrepreneur – this is the single most important thing you must get done and stay the course with! As the entrepreneur/owner it is easier to get right and keep right. The need to share it and keep others aligned and supportive is not sometimes necessary. This is so apparent when you have a foot in both the corporate world and the entrepreneur business. Corporations spend millions of dollars every year going through Mission/Vision/Values and strategic planning retreats. Their goal is to first get it, make sure it’s the right thing for the company and then ensure that it gets rolled out with complete buy-in by the employees!

The entrepreneur’s requirement is really simple, it is critical to get the basic vision right for themselves. The vision must be something that makes the entrepreneur wake up every morning, irrespective of how the previous day was. It must be the personal dream that supercharges the entrepreneur and keeps them going when employees might “call it quits for the night”.

I think I have opened Pandora’s box for the comparison of the two – Corporate and Entrepreneur in detail. And then we will have some fun identifying the good, the bad and the ugly of the quasi-corporate!

Check back later for more

Banking and Slavery?

I read this quote the other day and it stuck with me given who it was from and the current state of our financial system. Are you preparing yourself for the inevitable. Debts must be paid! Or dwindled to make easier to pay - What is that dwindling called? Hyperinflation - Brace and prepare yourselves - It Is coming.


"The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight-of-hand that was ever invented. Banking was conceived in inequity and born in sin... But if you want to continue to be slaves of the bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let the bankers continue to create money and control credit"

Quote From:

Josiah Charles Stamp (English Economist, President of the Bank of England in the 1920's and the 2nd richest man in Great Britain, 1880-1941)

Sound Familiar?? Way too familiar

Glenn Stephens Quotes

Favorite Quote of Glenn Stephens

I was reviewing some inspiring quotes recently and crossed this one. It has continued to cycle in my thoughts - So here it is for your contemplation and meditation:

"There are seven things that will destroy us: Wealth without work; Pleasure without conscience; Knowledge without character; Religion without sacrifice; Politics without principle; Science without humanity; Business without ethics."
— Mahatma Gandhi

I could not help but see the root of some of our economic problems in these - how about you? Might see the roots of all our current malaise in our society beginning and continuing here. We all can make a difference: Commit to live our lives with good work, conscience, character, sacrifice, principle, humanity and ethics. It starts with one person.