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Archive for the 'Success' Category

8 Ways to Reignite Your Passion

Reignite Your Passion

At times life can be frustrating and overwhelming. It seems like things are a lot harder than they need to be or nothing is going right. You don’t have to succumb to the negative effects of hard work. Instead, you can reignite the passion in your dream and start succeeding.

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Stop being a pansy, and start living your dream

Start Living Your Dream

You’ve thought about it, talked about it, and done nothing about it. It’s time to get yourself up and get your life on track to follow your dream. As I live my words and follow my dream, I want to share my experiences and advice with fellow dreamers who are ready to live their life, already.

The hardest part is starting to live your dream. You need to have a beginning, a push, a first step. Well, here’s step one.

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12 Self-confidence boosting ways to turn Flight into Fight

It’s no secret that people fear interviews, auditions, and most of all, public speaking. As Jerry Seinfeld put it, “The average person at a funeral would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.”

Before interviews and auditions I always get nervous and have to psyche myself up. Usually by the time the actual event comes around, I’ve calmed down and nail it. It’s by no inherent confidence that I do this, since most of the time I can’t eat and feel the horrible twisting of my stomach just like anyone else. Pre-game determination and steps to psychologically get yourself ready will far outweigh even the most overconfident person’s preparedness.

Here are some of the most helpful things you can do to boost your confidence and overcome your fear.

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9 Essential Ways to Get People to Say Yes

Say Yes

How often have you decided not to ask a question because you’re afraid of failure?

I know it’s been more than once for me. Sometimes the answer can be harsher than a “no” and sometimes the answer can be better than a “yes.” Wouldn’t it be nice to know which answer you’re going to get before you ask the question?

Here are 9 ways to lean the potential answer toward your objective and get people saying “yes” to you:

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Now you can support someone’s Big Dream and still be a part of it

Group

Sometimes it’s hard to support someone’s dream without feeling left behind. Other times it can feel like their dream is not at all what you had hoped it would be.

There are ways to feel like you’re part of the dream and have a positive influence, though.

From this experience, and as a big dreamer myself, I learned a few vital ways to help someone achieve their big dream whether or not you can give them the leg up they need.

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Find Your Big Dream Right Now

Find Your Dream

Since I posted the first chapter of Big Dreams I’ve gotten a lot of people telling me they don’t know what their big dream is.

So, since I have struggled with this myself from time to time I found the easiest way to pin it down is to ask myself some specific and concrete questions. I’ve written 15 questions that will help you find your dream, but you will probably only need 1 or 2 before it hits you.

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10 Success Tips from the World’s Greatest Circus

Saltimbanco Cast
There have been a million circus acts, but only one has stood above the rest internationally. So why not take a few hints?

I had the pleasure of taking my father to see the Cirque Du Soleil performance of Saltimbanco for his birthday last week and wanted to share some of the ingredients of success I picked up.

  1. Make your mistakes look they are part of the act. Three times a performer fell off his bicycle and just jumped right back on in a flashy way. Everyone clapped. So what if you screw up? Roll with it. If you perfect the art of making your mistakes look like part of the plan, you are going to be successful.
  2. Always smile. Even when one of the acrobats was falling to his potential doom, he had a big grin on his face. Whether it hurts, or it’s hard to do, just smile through it. If people never see you down, they will think you know what you’re doing and your happiness will be contagious.
  3. People respect risk takers. Two twin girls on a flying trapeze were tossing each other and catching each other by their ankles right before they would have flown into the stadium and surely died. It was amazing. If you do something someone else wouldn’t do, you’ll be envied and trusted. Being strong-headed and confident will win you many friends and opportunities.
  4. Your talent can be used somewhere. If you can do a headstand while lifting yourself by only one hand on your twin brother’s bald head, someone will buy it. From the most mundane to the most bizarre, you can find a niche.
  5. Humor works. Everything in the show was done in a light fashion. Nothing was taken seriously, even if it was very dangerous. This let people relax and enjoy the experience while they are happily smiling and laughing. Humor lets people enjoy you, like you, and want to be supportive of you.
  6. Use a language everyone can understand. For half an hour people were entertained by a guy running around making noises with his mouth and miming actions. Remember, Cirque Du Soleil has no English in it, only French. A room full of English-speakers still got what was going on and related. So use your language in more ways than just with your words. People want to see actions and will understand when you make something familiar.
  7. Make it flashy. The costumes, lights, and set were not only colorful, but also filled with the sound of music from the band. It made the experience inviting and engrossing. Like any great show, you were taken to another world where all your worries were taken away. If you can make a presentation or even speak to people with such wit and whim that they get lost in your words, you can win them over. Work on not just telling the story, but making people want to hear more.
  8. People want you to succeed. Yes, even amidst the “is she going to fall?” and “there’s no way” everyone looked on and hoped that the most amazing things would be revealed before our eyes. Other people may doubt you, but deep down they want to see if you can do it. They want to see what you’re made of. So, show them.
  9. Anticipation is almost as good as what actually happens. Building up to each incredible feat there was a feeling of excitement. The kind of excitement that only comes from knowing you’re going to experience something amazing for the first time. Then it happens. The rush of enjoyment comes to you and is perfect. If you just show people what you can do without showmanship or building anticipation, it will be far less effective. Make them want to see it, make them hunger for it. You’d better have the goods to show though, or you’ll lose credibility faster than Britney Spears.
  10. Include your audience. Before the show the entertainers came out and interacted with the crowd while staying in character. They had everyone laughing and excited about the show. Then, mid-way through the show a character went out and picked an audience member to be on stage with him. While making sound effects with his mouth and miming, he had the audience member follow his actions. When he didn’t comply it was funny, and when he did it was even funnier. The variable of having a real person participating in an unscripted event makes the other audience members really connect with you.

Using these ingredients is a sure recipe for success. Cirque Du Soleil might not have been the first circus, but it’s definitely the best. Many don’t even consider it a circus anymore because of how high class and professional it is.

Now go own the world.

-Ravi Vora

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The Most Important Factor of Success

Puzzle Pieces

No matter what your dream is, you have to be unique to succeed.

You have to fill a niche.

Niche marketing is the process of finding and serving profitable market segments and designing custom-made products or services for them. ( Wikipedia )

In this case, you are the product. All you have to do to sell yourself is to be yourself.

This doesn’t mean you have to be making money or have any sales at all. Instead, I’m talking about being successful and living your dream because you are you.

Being one-of-a-kind is imperative to being the first, last, and the most remembered.

If there was only one person whose blood could cure AIDs, wouldn’t they be pretty popular? What if there was only one person that had light skin and everyone else had dark skin? Now, what if someone created a simple and effective search engine when everyone else was trying to add tons and tons of features to their search engines? I’ll give you a hint: Google.

Being unique doesn’t always mean being the best at everything, or even the stereotypical best in your field.

Every best-selling author isn’t the best writer in the world. A lot of actors aren’t beautiful until after they get famous and some never have to be beautiful. Talent works in many ways.

Anna Kournikova

Sometimes talent isn’t the be-all end-all factor, either.

There are people who are more famous than the #1 ranked athlete in their field. The best example of this? Anna Kournikova. Why do you know that name and face so well when you probably can’t name the top 10 female tennis players? Even though she hasn’t won a single open, and has only been to the finals 4 times in her career, she is still one of the most well known female tennis players of all time.

Why is that? Because she is pretty good and tennis and pretty good looking. Now, how does that work to your advantage?

Simply put, you will be more likely to succeed if you are better than 3/4 of the people at two things than if you are better than everyone at one thing.

Not only is being the best at one very difficult, but it also limits you. You may have to work your entire life to be the best golfer to ever have lived. Maybe you will be the next Beethoven, that is awesome. But if you want to be amazing at piano, sing, and have ridiculous lyrics, then you might have to sacrifice a bit in each area to be successful. By no means should you give up trying to be the best. Instead, you should try to succumb to your favorite and best talents and allow them to intertwine. In this way you will become unique and successful because no one else is so dedicated to what you do.

As long as you’re following your dream and truly living for it, you will be successful.

Now go own the world.

-Ravi Vora

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How to Get the Perfect Idea

Light bulb Sketch

The perfect idea: It’s big. No, it’s huge. It’s sure to get tons and tons of feedback and interest. It’ll be viral and captivating. Even Little Jimmy from the other side of the world will want it. But will it ever get released?

The good idea: Its got the right stuff. It may not be perfect, but it’s definitely feasible. It can be executed soon and well. Maybe the idea has been done before, but not this way. There’s a lot of possibility but all the pieces haven’t quite fit together.

Which one are you going to choose?

If you’re smart, you’ll pick the good idea.

If you’ve got the perfect idea and the perfect resources, then great. More power to you. But, most of the time you won’t have that luxury. Instead, you just have to go for it. You may never get the “perfect” team to do the work. The resources might be out of your reach for now. Hell, your idea may never get to the point of perfection in the first place.

That didn’t stop the world’s leading companies from getting where they are now. Let’s take a few big examples.

Old Facebook Design

Facebook

Or should I say, “The Facebook.” Uglier than sin, this website was fairly unknown and rather clunky in its infancy. It was available to only a few universities and had very basic functionality (except poking… that was always available, thank God). Did it matter? No. Mark and his team worked at adding universities and databases until it became the all-encompassing leviathan we love today.

It wasn’t perfect when it was conceived. It wasn’t perfect when it was released. Actually, far from it. But the kinks were worked out and it moved forward to become a huge success.

Old Apple Ad

Apple

Once upon a time there was no such thing as a pretty computer. Not even Apple had anything you could consider “sexy” without having enough liquor in you to take out a horse. Their market share was so minimal most people would laugh at the idea of owning a Macintosh.

Then something happened. Innovation. Industrial design. Jonathan Ive. Macintosh came from the depths to exert itself as a sexy machine with a beautiful interface and came equipped with plenty of eye candy. Apple became the manufacturers of the only technology that makes you sexier by owning it.

So, how do you get the perfect idea?

You start with the good idea and improve upon it as you go.

You make mistakes, you correct for error. You practice, and practice, and research, and then you practice and tweak some more. The perfect idea is not in the conception, but in the execution. How you do it and how you get it to your target is what really matters.

So figure out how you’re going to get started and get to it. You’ve already got the idea. Run with it.

Now go own the world.

-Ravi Vora

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Stop Worrying About Your Future Once and for All

Boy in Corner

Why aren’t you pursuing your dream?

Most people are afraid to pursue their dreams because they don’t know what the future will have in store for them. They don’t know what’s coming. Bad things could happen. How unfortunate that people with skill, talent, and natural ability get lost because of fear.

It takes drive. It takes determination. It takes will. You have to want it so bad that whatever happens in the future is worth the sacrifices.

It’s time to stop fearing the future and start living for it.

Every day won’t be perfect. Sometimes you will fail. Sometimes no one will want to listen to you. Sometimes everyone will turn the other way.

Sometimes you will succeed, though. Sometimes you will win. Sometimes everyone will rejoice and want more of you.

It is the strength to get through the tough times that makes the good times so wonderful.

It is the nature of the future to be dangerous.

That’s what makes life worth living. Not knowing how your actions or the actions of others will effect your life is why you keep trying every day. The danger of good things happening, the unknown, even the supposed certainties.

We all know we’re going to die. That’s a certainty. But we’ve all wondered “What if I didn’t die? What if there was a way?”

The danger of the future is what makes it wondrous, exciting, mysterious, enigmatic, fantastic, and worth seeing.

So what are you waiting for? Go get it. Reach for your dream. Your life can only get better from here.

Now go own the world.

-Ravi Vora

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