Revenue conscious or Expense conscious?

“The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.”—Brain Tracy

     Who does not like to be rich in his lifetime? Every one wishes.But it  depends on the focus and right action personal finance management. The focus is required on both revenue as well as expense management for long-term wealth creation. Most of us are giving more focus on expense control than revenue maximization. Let us understand the implications of both.

   

Revenue maximization:

     When  you are more conscious about revenue maximization, the focus would be on generating  more revenue  through business expansion or professional development, etc.. Consequently, the action  and energy would be  on skill development, making yourself competent, looking, for, saving and investment opportunities, etc. In this approach, there is no limit to maximize your  revenue generation possibilities.

Expense control:

     When  you are more  conscious  about expense control, your focus would be  always on reducing the expenses, looking  for cheaper alternatives etc..Your energy  and action would be  cutting down the expenses even if looks required for long term benefits, for example, investing in yourself for future growth etc..But the fact is that beyond a certain point, you cannot control  your expenses as this  seems to be essential.

     The point is  not to be conscious  about expense control, but too much of consciousness  may  not make you  rich, instead  have consciousness  on revenue maximization and moderate control of  expenses may help you  accumulate wealth.Be aware about your control on  wealth creation process and you attract good things in life!

Fast and slow decision making

“Human decision-making is complex. Our tendency to yield to short-term temptations  and even to addictions, may be too strong for our rational, long-term planning.”--Peter Singer

          Analysis of several successful people reveals that their decision-making ability contributes significantly to the success. In addition, it reveals a notable habit on their decision making process. They are FAST on making decisions and SLOW in changing the decision once taken.

  

          For example, Henry Ford demonstrated this habit in his decision making process. This habit only made him  to manufacture his famous Model T car for nineteen years  with only in black colour.When many of his advisors urged him to change the colour, he was firm in his decision to change till change became necessary .This firmness on his decision yielded him a huge fortune.

  

         Most of us have hesitated to take a firm decision in business or in family issues.Even if we take a decision, if  critique comes from many directions   or there are struggles, the immediate tendency will be to give up the decision.That is the moment, we move away from the fortune.

         Even though the decision making  ability  depends  on so many parameters like individual risk appetite, background, knowledge and the circumstances, the awareness  of  being  FAST on taking the decision  and SLOW on changing it will help to improve the quality of life. Reflect on your decision-making habit and you attract good things in life!

Mindset for career growth

“A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.”--Doug Larson

       As you might  have observed that  some people are progressing fast in their career path and some people are not progressing enough despite their  potential.Even though there  may be many  external factors contribute to  the growth, the choice of mindset  and personal qualities exhibited by the individual contributes significantly. The individual either  possesses  a growth mindset or survival mindset and accordingly  demonstrates  the behavior in a professional environment.

Let us understand the two categories of people  and qualities

Growth Mindset  and qualities:

• They  always  eager to learn something new 
• They accept the challenges and  do the mental risk calculation
• Always look for the opportunity  to contribute during interaction, crisis moment and do their best
• Generally they do not bother much about  their defined target set by  others and go beyond
• Their  thinking and solution approach is  always one step ahead of current titles 

Survival  Mindset and qualities:

• They do what is given or asked to do
• When opportunities given, they have always found the reason why can not be done
• Being in the same environment, they are always complaining  others
• They always depend on  someone or forum to take a decision
• They refer to the rules and processes frequently  

  

Being in survival mindset is not a big issue if it is a conscious choice of the individual.However  the awareness of the above mindset will help you to change yourself into growth mindset and  you attract good things in life!

It is never too late

"It is never too late in fiction or in life to revise."--Nancy Thayer

              Everyone wants to achieve something in life.But in reality, not all will have the right environment, and opportunity at a young age to channelize their energy towards achieving.Only a few gifted people have the blessings to achieve at a young age. For others, it may take life long process.The worst part is, during the process, some people give up or eventually become satisfied or contented with the life or even complain about age, health, and circumstances etc.

          However, history reveals that most of the great achievements done by the people at mid age or even later than that. For example, Napoleon Hill writes bestselling books after age 40, Colonial Sanders started KFC restaurant at the age of 65, Soichiro Honda started Honda motors at the age of 42, Mahatma Gandhi became known as a revolutionary person only after 35 when he started fighting against the British and the list goes on. We can draw conclusion that age is not a barrier; no point of regretting about the past and achievements can be done at any point of time.

Hence,

If you have not managed your business so far, it is never too late to transform now…

If you have not managed your relationship well with others, it is never too late to renew it…

If you have not managed your financial or health so far, it is never too late to look into it.

         There is a possibility of new achievements.No point in regretting about the past and complaining about the environments.It is never too late to start a new beginning in any aspects of life and you attract good things in life!

Perseverance mindset– a key differentiator

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."-- John Quincy Adams

            Everyone desires to achieve something great in life and only a few achieve it. The key differentiator between achiever and non-achiever is perseverance mindset. Perseverance can be defined as the ability to continue to do the action despite failures, disappointments, or setbacks. This is one of the most inbuilt qualities of big achievers and great successful people.

             Most of us find easy to step in and do the actions when there are no big challenges or setbacks. When things become tough, we tend to give up. The moment we give up, we become a loser.The winner is the one who faces all challenges and finds a way to overcome any obstacles. They only will be visible to the world. For example, there could be many entrepreneurs started the new business in the same year when Infosys was started. Today Infosys is only visible to the world because they stood against all odds, overcome the challenges and make it big.

             During setback, the challenges can be overcome in two ways; emotionally approach the problem “this shall too pass” and rationally think alternative strategies, which can work to overcome the challenges. Once we overcome challenges with the right mindset, we will be the winner!

             Hence, perseverance or never give up mindset plays a major role in success in either business or personal endeavors. So, whatever you do, proceed to never give up mindset and you attract good things in life! 

You are only one

“Spending too much time focused on others' strengths leaves us feeling weak. Focusing on our own strengths is what, in fact, makes us strong.”--Simon Sinek

       One of the habits that most of us have is to compare ourselves with others. Initially it starts with, for inspiration or general reference, eventually it becomes envy and self-pity. Funny of this habit is we used to compare  with  similar level  people only  like friends, colleagues or neighbors.Poor compares only against  his poor friend, not against  the richest person whom he knows.!!

  

      The process of comparison goes like this. We start comparing with others on skill sets, competency, possession etc, start  amazing and then eventually  looking at self, finding the gap, start  feeling as  inferior, becoming self pity  and weak.When we multiply this comparison habit with so many people, eventually we will become conclude that “ I  do not have any positive qualities or skill set or competency and  I am not deserving of greatness”.

       In this process, we almost forget to look within ourselves and identify our uniqueness. When we look into the design of our creation, it reveals that you are unique in the entire creatures, no one lived like you earlier, and no one will come like you in the future. It is a fact that the thumb impression is unique for each person. If we understand this truth from nature, no point in comparing ourselves with others and forgetting our uniqueness.

      Bringing this awareness into our thought process is difficult since we are brought up amidst negativity, but again it is our choice to become strong! Hence, Start looks within you, identify your strength, good qualities, leverage for your growth and You attract good things in life!

Be grateful for what you got.

     “Develop an attitude of gratitude for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” --Brian Tracy

      There are two kinds of people looking at the life in different ways.The first set of people looks at the life with the achievements they did so far, being grateful, happy and look for next level growth.The Second set of people always looks for what they missed out irrespective of their achievement, becoming skeptical about themselves and lose the sight of future prospects.

          One of the studies in sport reveals that, the person who won the bronze medal use to be happier than the person who won the silver medal. The reason is that silver won person kept thinking about how he missed out the gold medal, forgetting the gift of being achieved silver, whereas the bronze won person kept feeling that he got into the medal winners list and be proud of achieving.

         The point is that aiming for high is good, but not at the cost of forgetting the current achievement and celebration. It is our mindset, how we look into the life, feeling either happy about current achievement despite challenges or cribbing about what we lost.

        Let us celebrate the current achievement, feel grateful, and aim high. With this awareness, you attract the good things in life!

Mastering Personal Finance Management

"Financial freedom is available to those who learn about it and work for it."--Robert Kiyosaki

Everyone wants to be financially secure or free from financial crisis.We may see  that people with higher education and good  positional status in profession struggles with the financial crisis  and it may wipe out their entire life effort. Some of the reasons could be lack of education on personal financial management right from childhood, myths about money and not giving focus on learning and improving the art of financial management. The earlier we start this art of learning in life, better will be our financial freedom.

Most of us think that personal finance is about earning through profession and savings. Actually it consists of four elements viz Earning, Spending, Saving and Investment

Earning:

       It is about earning in line with our potential, skill and knowledge.It is about increasing the competency to earn more through profession.

Spending:

 It is about the expense management, awareness of our lifestyle, spending and accounting. It is about the consciousness of our behavior on spending.

Saving:

  It is excess after spending. It is about awareness on savings consistency.

Investment:

It is about investing the savings or excess in right asset allocation like real estates, deposits, metals and stock markets etc..It is about awareness on right asset allocation, periodic checking of returns, and taking corrective actions on time.

   Planning and consistent execution of all four elements may assure the financial success.Even any one of the element does not give attention much, it may result into financial crisis. As said, it is an art, continuous learning process and can be learned at any age. Hence aware of your financial management behavior and action, you attract good things in life! 

Choice of response to experience determines growth

"The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure."-John C Maxwell

Everyone has success and failure experiences in life.What makes the difference between average and successful people is the interpretation or learning from such success and failure experiences.The way we are looking  at our experiences and taking further action only determines the growth.

For example, your boss is criticizing your attitude towards work and giving some feedbacks. Now you have three choices to respond to the criticism or experience.

Choice of response 1:

    Feeling guilty and becoming sad about the feedback. The consequence may be your self esteem may go down and you may be cribbing about the feedback.Self pity will be increasing and no corrective or forward thinking will take place

Choice of response 2:

    Start defending your position with justification to your boss.Probably you may win the argument, but may lose the sight of the truth in his feedback. You tend to build logics to justify your stand and in this process, you decline to look at the truth. No learning takes place to improve further.

Choice of response 3:

     Listen and seek further clarity. Do introspect. This may lead you to find more truth about yourself. In this process, your mind tends to analyze the fact and accept the need for corrective action for growth.

The choice that you are choosing to any experiences either good or bad determines the further growth or evolution.Hence, Be aware of responding to any experience and you attract good things in life!

Accept Reality first, and then act

"Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune."-William James

       When we come across some unexpected problems  /crisis situation either in workplace or in family, most of us have tendency to blame others for the situation or finding the reasons for the problem. Let us aware of the fact that any event is happening due to some causes, which may be within our control or beyond control. The event happened is happened and cannot be reversed.

      The successful people accept the situation or problem as such and immediately think of the solution to overcome rather than fixing the person or passing the responsibility to others. You shall connect this statement in sports or in business environment where there is timeline pressure. For example, you may recall the behavior demonstrated by the captain Dhoni during the 2011 world cup final match against Srilanka. In a given circumstance, he accepted the reality and took the responsibility to overcome by batting. That shows the behavior of accepting the reality and thinking the solutions rather than fixing the people or wasting time in analyzing.

     To be successful in business or in relationship, first let us accept the reality and think what we need to do to improve the situation.Later, as a continuous improvement, we can understand the root cause of the problem to avoid a recurrence in future. Accepting the reality is leadership mindset and can be developed with practice and you will attract Good Things in your Life.