Leadership, Motivation, Storytelling

LEADERSHIP: It’s Not About You.

No Comments

One of the greatest things about leadership is that we all bring something different to the table. If you were to read articles on good leadership qualities, you would usually see factors like integrity, effective communication and influence. These are all wonderful qualities of a leader, but I am going to share something I believe has made me stand out as a leader by putting my people ahead of myself.

I must admit, in my early days as a leader I was all about myself. I had a title and I thought that was all I needed. I thought because of my title everyone would follow me and respect me. I didn’t think leadership was something I needed to work hard at. I had already arrived.

I was wrong!

Lucky for me, I had a few great leaders, who also brothers to me, who cared about me enough to confront me about my selfish attitude. As leaders, we need to be able to recognize people who are not performing at their greatest level and provide support and feedback to them. I had no idea I was failing as a leader and hurting my people because of my pompous attitude.

I do believe that some people are born leaders and learn throughout life to become better leaders. One of the best lessons I learned was that it is not about me. When I made the transition from valuing myself to valuing my people, I was transformed as a leader. My mentor Irfan Khairi, in his book “Nota Jutawan, Nota Motivasi” writes, “When we learn to turn our focus from ourselves to others, the whole world opens up to us.” When you understand this and take the focus away from you, it will change who you are as a leader.

I’d like to share some ways you can work toward valuing your people more:

  • View your people as your biggest success. A good leader supports those around them. Your focus should be on developing them, helping them succeed, and watching them grow into the people they want to become. When your people are successful, it is a reflection on you as a leader. Work hard on your people. They are your biggest asset. Without them, your team can fail.
  • Acknowledge and appreciate people. Everyone wants to be valued. It is critical as a leader to give your people credit and recognition for the incredible things they do. One of the reasons people leave a job is because they feel underappreciated. A leader should never take the credit for the work that their people do. A good leader is a generous leader who recognizes people. Work recognition into the culture of your team. Make a conscious effort to call out your top producers in a recurring meeting. When others see a coworker being recognized, it infuses motivation into your team. Everyone will work harder to be the next person whose hard work is recognized.
  • Know your people. I mean really know them. Sure, you may know their names and their positions and what they are working on, but do you really know them? Do they have children? Do you know where they came from? Do you know what they have done in their lives before they started working with you? Most importantly, do you know their hopes and dreams? Getting to know them in a more personal way will make them feel valued and increase their respect for you as a leader.
  • Leave your ego at the door. People are going to do better than you. You will have people on your team who have significant achievements. They may get another degree, get a certification, or move on to a new position. One of the biggest compliments you can receive as a leader is to have one of your people move on to a better opportunity. Be proud, not jealous.
  • Empower your people. Everyone wants to be trusted to make decisions. Empower your people to make certain decisions. Do not short change them. Allow them opportunities to shine rather than discounting their abilities and doing it yourself. Do you have a big presentation coming up with your executive team? Allow one of your top performers to give the presentation instead. Being empowered will make them confident and help them strive for larger-than-life goals.

Leadership is both a gift and a privilege. You can erode the cohesion of your team if you fail to value them. Everyone on the team deserves to be valued. Each one of them performs an essential part to keep the engine of your company running. When you can put your people’s needs and interests before your own, you will be a more successful leader.

“Inspiring people to become who they were designed to be.” – Shah Al-Ghazali, Founder of SAZ Diversify Legacy.

 

______________________________

DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE IN YOUR ORGANISATION? If you are interested to learn the unique techniques and the easier ways of building your leadership skills for personal and also for your team, let’s apply for our Leadership Storytelling Training. We, at SAZ Diversify Legacy (SAZDL), will help to unleash your inner talent! This program is open for any type of businesses. For more information, you may visit our website: www.sazdl.com

Please CLICK HERE and fill the form to book our training and do not feel hesitate to contact our team at +601123827811 (Aiman) or +60169667912 (Louis), to discuss further.

Continue Reading

Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Motivation

10 THINGS That Great Leader Do.

No Comments

What does a leader look like? Think of two leaders, famous or not, whom you admire and respect. What do they do that is so different? What traits do they have that help them excel at a high level? Leadership is not a great mystery. Great leaders have specific traits in common. These traits can be learned and developed, by you!

As a leader, you need to understand the specific traits that will help you achieve a high level of leadership success. Here are ten tips to help you identify what you as a leader must do.

Look again at the two leaders you identified. Go through each one of the points listed below and notice how they do each one.

  1. Great leaders lead by example with an overriding guiding vision or purpose. They possess an unquenchable passion for successfully implementing the vision of the company regardless of the disapproval of those individuals who fail to see the bigger picture. They don’t waste time worrying about day to day responsibilities or problems. Instead, they focus on where the organization needs to go.
  2. Great leaders know how to be themselves and are proud of who they are. Because they are comfortable with who they are, they are able to do what they need to do and say what they need to say with conviction — and without caring about what anyone else thinks.
  3. Great leaders have the ability to inspire confidence in others. They can clearly and concisely communicate their message to motivate those around them to greater heights of achievement. People will do more for leaders they respect than they would do for anyone else.
  4. Great leaders are never self-serving. Unlike the star employee, they aren’t focused on proving themselves but are focused unconditionally (and not selfishly) on what is best for the organization. They put their vision for the company above their own interests.
  5. Great leaders rarely question themselves. Instead, they listen to their inner voice and trust it completely, allowing it to be their guide with each step they take, even as they move in directions that no one has gone before. To be a great leader, you must believe in this voice and trust that it will always be there to guide you.
  6. Great leaders know when to take advice. They value support from others and bring others into their circle who can provide the counsel they need. They realize how large their tasks are and find the resources and people they need to generate support, which is vital for success. You can develop your top talent by providing them with coaches and mentors, so that they have support when they need it.
  7. Great leaders possess the foresight to move ahead, even in the most questionable times. They take risks and realize the importance of moving forward—daring themselves and others to venture out in new directions. They realize this is part of their responsibility and not something they can turn their backs on. Once they realize the vision, they rise up to the occasion and take the necessary risks required for implementation.
  8. Great leaders love what they do and communicate their passion to others. They exude a passionate energy that rubs off on others around them. They have a light, effortless, and clear persona that is projected to everyone they meet because they are so in tune with their work. Others feel this and want to be a part of the vision that the leader is bringing forward.
  9. Great leaders learn to lead by following. They trust those who are in authority above them and are loyal to them. They are inspired by the vision that is being passed on to them and may even notice themselves liking and wanting to be more like their leaders and managers.
  10. Great leaders NEVER QUIT! They embrace and overcome any obstacles, personal or otherwise, that stand in their way. Thus, they need to do the necessary work on themselves to prevent anything from holding them and eliminate habits that are keeping from being the best leader possible.

 

______________________________

DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE IN YOUR ORGANISATION? If you are interested to learn the unique techniques and the easier ways of building your leadership skills for personal and also for your team, let’s apply for our Leadership Storytelling Training. We, at SAZ Diversify Legacy (SAZDL), will help to unleash your inner talent! This program is open for any type of businesses. For more information, you may visit our website: www.sazdl.com

Please CLICK HERE and fill the form to book our training and do not feel hesitate to contact our team at +601123827811 (Aiman) or +60169667912 (Louis), to discuss further.

Continue Reading

Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Motivation, Storytelling

5 ATTITUDES To Lead With A Gratitude.

No Comments

One of my clients recently shared something that bears repeating. Years ago, when he was a bank officer in training, a senior vice president walked up to him and said, “I know we don’t get to talk much, but I wanted to thank you for bringing such a creative spirit to he workplace. It’s important to shake things up a bit.”

Until then, my client had been worrying about whether he was going too far, whether he was making suggestions and trying things that made his colleagues uncomfortable. But that bank executive’s expression of gratitude washed away his doubt and set him up for a successful career of innovation and thought leadership.

Expressing gratitude is really the art of noticing, noticing what others do and how it affects you. Yes, our co-workers sometimes cause problems, but the vast majority of what our colleagues do helps us and helps the company. By putting more emphasis on leading with an attitude of gratitude, we can build confidence in others, improve productivity, foster innovation and develop positive relationships at work.

Here are five tips for leading through gratitude.

  • Combine gratitude and feedback. Providing employees with frequent, specific feedback is a critical teaching and management tool. Prefacing feedback with “I want to thank you for…” is even more powerful and builds trust and camaraderie.
  • Be specific and authentic. For gratitude to be believable and effective, it needs to be true. Effective leaders take time to notice the many ways in which employees make sacrifices and contribute to the team. Then, they offer specific thanks. “Thank you for staying late every night this week and making our Friday deadline,” not “Thanks for working hard.”
  • Make gratitude intentional and routine. Some managers are so focused on gratitude that they keep a daily log. Even if it’s not every day, take time regularly to reflect on each team member, list the person’s finest qualities and achievements, and make a note of how that person has positively affected you.
  • Make gratitude either intimate or public (but not casual). If you’re taking time to notice the good work your team is doing, don’t waste that effort with a casual “thank you.” Depending on the situation, either sit down and express your gratitude during a calm, private moment or make your “thank you” a moment of public acknowledge in front of your team.
  • Don’t forget about notes, handwritten, please. While e-mails and texts might be convenient, most are easily brushed aside. But the occasional handwritten note can make a big and lasting impression on employees and superiors.

There’s nothing wrong with pointing out areas in which people can improve, that’s another important part of leadership, but almost everyone prefers managers who lead from a position of gratitude. After all, who likes to have their faults highlighted and strengths ignored?

 

______________________________

DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE IN YOUR ORGANISATION? If you are interested to learn the unique techniques and the easier ways of building your leadership skills for personal and also for your team, let’s apply for our Leadership Storytelling Training. We, at SAZ Diversify Legacy (SAZDL), will help to unleash your inner talent! This program is open for any type of businesses. For more information, you may visit our website: www.sazdl.com

Please CLICK HERE and fill the form to book our training and do not feel hesitate to contact our team at +601123827811 (Aiman) or +60169667912 (Louis), to discuss further.

Continue Reading

Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Motivation

5 EASY Steps To Develop Your Leadership Skill.

No Comments

Why are you a leader? Did you seek the position? Was it thrust on you? Is it an expectation? Whatever the reason, understand that few people are born leaders. Most people develop leadership skill one step at a time.

As you work at developing your leadership skill, these five simple processes can speed you to your goal. Soon you will feel confident in your leadership role. You will know how to motivate, communicate, build teams, and help them focus on and achieve their goals.

  1. DESIRE. Start with your desire. While you may have come into leadership through a variety of means, if you want to succeed, you need to passionately want to do a great job of leading people. If you have this key ingredient, you can master all the rest. Because desire is linked to commitment and success.
  2. COMMIT. Commit yourself to a course of action. To be a great leader, you must gain the skills that make people want to follow you. Irfan Khairi said that leadership is getting people to do what you want because THEY want to. So commit to taking the time to learn and train. Be willing to make life changes and skill changes that will make you that kind of leader.
  3. ASSESS. Take stock of who you are right now. What qualities do you have right now that are leadership qualities? Are you excellent with communication or do you sometimes have work undone or done wrong because your directions or expectations were unclear? Are people enthusiastic or reluctant to follow your direction? Can you get your co-workers to agree with you and can you build consensus? Make a list of leadership skills you have and of those you want to develop.
  4. LEARN. Once you know where you want to improve, start learning your new skills one at a time. If you try to learn them all at once you will be fractured and overwhelmed. Don’t rush it. Take time to observe others and how they do it. But don’t try to clone them. You have your own unique strengths and talents you bring to the equation. Learn your personality type and how it helps you become a leader that feels natural to you. You may find books, coaches, and articles useful in learning each leadership skill.
  5. APPLY. Create a “Skill of the Week Club” for yourself and for one week focus on developing that particular leadership skill. Post a note with the skill in a prominent place. Read about that skill each morning before you begin the day. Evaluate your progress each evening. Journal your efforts. Be kind to yourself. Understand that mistakes are a learning opportunity, too. Analyze the error and find ways to fix it and do better next time. Record your thoughts. Your goal is to see improvement through the week. By the end of the week you should be doing a better job of using the skill than you did at the beginning of the week.

When you take it step-by-step you’ll see how easy it is to change. Soon you will find that developing leadership skill comes almost naturally. The process becomes part of your work week and the skills become part of who you are.

 

______________________________

DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE IN YOUR ORGANISATION? If you are interested to learn the unique techniques and the easier ways of building your leadership skills for personal and also for your team, let’s apply for our Leadership Storytelling Training. We, at SAZ Diversify Legacy (SAZDL), will help to unleash your inner talent! This program is open for any type of businesses. For more information, you may visit our website: www.sazdl.com

Please CLICK HERE and fill the form to book our training and do not feel hesitate to contact our team at +601123827811 (Aiman) or +60169667912 (Louis), to discuss further.

Continue Reading

Entrepreneurship, Motivation, Storytelling

7 STEPS TO LIGHT THE FIRE OF DESIRE (Your Desire to Succeed Should be as Great as Your Desire to Help Others Succeed).

No Comments

“The most accurate term for happiness is the one Aristotle used: eudaimonia, which translates not directly to ‘happiness’ but to ‘human flourishing’.”  by  Suhaimi Sulaiman.

The most important lesson for any new graduate, someone early on in their career or even a savvy veteran to understand is that success only works in a reciprocal manner. What that means is, our desire to succeed should truly be as great as our desire to help others reach their big goals. Once we have this purpose and vision aligned, the sky is truly the limit. The opportunities and relationships we’ve always dreamed of begin to come to light.

Let’s start with the cold-hard truth: at our core, we want to succeed because we want to find happiness and satisfaction for ourselves. It’s only human to look out for our needs and focus on “our game” versus someone else’s. To a certain extent, this will take us far in life. But if you look at it on the flip-side, if we focus only on our path and our needs, we won’t get very far.

For one thing, none of us make it on our own. We need the help of others to advance our careers, our personal ambitions and to find a life partner and satisfying relationships. We want to be happy. But in order for us to be both successful and happy, we have to recognize that the same people willing to help us are also looking for the exact same thing for themselves.

And why wouldn’t they? Isn’t that what we’re trying to do? So how do we get people to take an interest in us   to help us achieve our big goals and purpose? We respond by taking an active interest in helping others back. We don’t just do it as an obligation or because we think it’s the right thing to do. We make an active choice to become personally invested in another individual’s success and happiness.

That investment of time is always time well spent  because it has a compounding effect of interest that helps elevate us in our own pursuits.

“Giving back is as good for you as it is for those you are helping, because giving gives you purpose. When you have a purpose-driven life, you’re a happier person.”  by Irfan Khairi.

Looking Out for Yourself and Others.

In a constantly evolving world, we have to look out for ourselves and recognize what we need to do to preserve our self-interest. An emotionally intelligent person is interested in overall success and achievement  not just for themselves, but for their peers. Their inspired leadership and passion, combined with their optimism, drives them to want to do best for themselves AND others.

Too often, we get so self-absorbed and concerned only with “What’s in it for me?” We have to be concerned about this. It’s a must, so don’t let anyone ever convince you otherwise. But in the same way that we should be focused on our self-interest, we should also maintain a spirit of desire and hope for wanting to see the people around us succeed.

Not only is this a brilliant safeguard against envy and greed, it also revitalizes our passion and drives us toward achieving our next goal. It helps us gain allies and builds powerful relationships that come back to help us in a reciprocal fashion.

Take a look at some of the most successful people in the world , for instance like; Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and Warren Buffett just to name a few? What is the common thread between these three (aside from their astounding wealth)? They’re all great philanthropists who give tremendous amounts of money (and their time) to helping causes and people that they believe in.

They’re genuinely trying to leave the world a better place. Their success isn’t enough. Sure, their legacy matters to them, but their humanity enables them to want to help others succeed and find purpose in their lives.

Me, myself as an author who is also a Life Coach, Motivator and Leadership Storytelling Consultant always say this to my fellow apprentices,

“Our passion should be the foundation for our giving. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving. It’s only natural that we will care about this and not so much about that, and that’s okay. It should not be simply a matter of choosing the right thing, but also a matter of choosing what is right for us.”

Help Others and Help Yourself.

Help the people who help you. Help strangers ,  give without expecting anything in return. Seek out the co-workers, community members and partners that are a part of your life. Who in the world would turn down someone who genuinely and authentically wants to help them succeed? If you have a game plan for your own success, chances are you can help someone else with theirs.

If you have the ability, it’s a matter of generating the desire. And sometimes, it’s best to reverse-engineer from what actual success looks like, to help us develop our game plan, which is initially fueled by our passion and desire.

Take this as observed by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley:

“A recent article published in The Journal of Positive Psychology by Daryl Van Tongeren and his colleagues sought to examine (how kindness and happiness help us find purpose) this relationship. In a preliminary study, the researchers asked over 400 participants to report on how frequently they engage in different altruistic behaviors (such as volunteering) and how meaningful their life feels. Participants who were more altruistic reported a greater sense of purpose and meaning in their lives.”

Wouldn’t you want to have a greater sense of meaning and purpose in your life? Wouldn’t you agree that once you do, it’s that much easier to be successful? When you have clearly defined goals and purpose, you’re able to be successful and help others achieve the same success for themselves. You’ll also find that you’re most happy and well on your way to doing even bigger things than you may have imagined.

7 STEPS TO LIGHT THE FIRE OF DESIRE.

Step 1: Get Specific about What you Desire.

Take a moment. Pause. Breathe. Ask yourself: “What do I truly, deeply desire? Is it freedom from debt? More time? More energy? Fitness? Happiness? A certain salary?” Be specific about exactly what you desire. This focus will help you paint a picture that inspires your progress.

Step 2: Know Your “Why” to fuel the fire.

List all the reasons why you desire that goal. Be specific. Go deep. This “why” will drive you toward the desired goal. It will fuel the fire of desire. For me, I have a monetary number in my head that gets us out of debt. But that’s not my “why.” My deeper why is the freedom to give, the ability to propel my family forward, to achieve explosive personal growth and build a powerful personal brand.

Step 3: Know What You’ll Give in Return.

If it’s a monetary Desire, what is the unique service or “super powers” you’ll use or provide to make the Desire come to fruition? If it’s a personal Desire (like learning to play the piano), how will you make time, pay for, what will you trade, or give to get what you want? (Stephen Covey’s “win-win” concept rings true here. To “get,” you’ve got to “give.”)

STEP 4: Set a Date.

This is not a deadline, per se, as much as a day you envision that you will hold what you Desire in your hands. Picture it. Be specific. For me, I envision standing in front of the window at the top level of Burj Khalifa, sipping a hot Black Ivory Coffee while enjoying the view from the skyscraper and feeling free. And that feeling is what fuels my desire fire!

Step 5: Create an Action Plan.

Tony Robbins calls it a “Massive Action Plan.” You can get as detailed as you like. But the key is writing what you will do RIGHT NOW to take action. No dawdling. No waiting for something to happen. You must envision the Desire and be deeply honest with what specific actions you will take to get you there. The key is focus: focus on the goal and the actions you will take toward achieving it.

Step 6: Write Your Statement of Desire.

Write out a full paragraph of your statement of desire. This is a short mantra, a manifesto that you create for yourself that encompasses all of the above. Put it in a note on your smartphone.

Step 7: Repeat Your Mantra 2x Daily.

When you wake up and when you go to bed, repeat your manifesto to yourself. Feel it. See it. Believe it. Trust it.

 

______________________________

DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE IN YOUR ORGANISATION? If you are interested to learn the unique techniques and the easier ways of building your leadership skills for personal and also for your team, let’s apply for our Leadership Storytelling Training. We, at SAZ Diversify Legacy (SAZDL), will help to unleash your inner talent! This program is open for any type of businesses. For more information, you may visit our website: www.sazdl.com

Please CLICK HERE and fill the form to book our training and do not feel hesitate to contact our team at +601123827811 (Aiman) or +60169667912 (Louis), to discuss further.

Continue Reading

Motivation, Storytelling

6 REASONS WHY WE WANT TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS.

No Comments

Each day we are dreaming about our goals. Each day we are moving forward, step closer to the success. Sometimes we are so focused on our objectives that we don’t have time to think why we desire success. What is the reason? Do we really need it? Is it coming from the conscious or unconscious part of our mind?

I have a simple exercise for you, my friend. Don’t worry; it doesn’t require you to move away from screen and it will take no more than few minutes. Just relax and focus thoughts on your latest success you have achieved. It doesn’t have to be something really big and outstanding. A small success that you have recently experienced is absolutely enough. Okay, got it?

Imagine that achieving success is like a journey; sometimes it can be quite easy, sometimes really tough, can be also short or very long. Let’s figure out why you took this journey and what helped you to accomplish it.

Jump in your memories to the point where your journey began. Recall feelings and emotions connected to this moment. What was the reason you decided to set yourself this goal? How did you take your first step? While moving your thoughts on the path toward your goal, try to identify factors that motivated you and increased your energy to go forward. Look also for those who obstructed your journey. How did you cope with them? Finally, arrive to your destination point. What did you feel when you succeed? Were you truly happy or maybe disappointed as the goal didn’t bring you satisfaction and fulfillment?

Don’t worry if above questions was difficult for you. To help you answering them, I share with you the six main reasons, which I identify why we want to achieve success.

1. We want to achieve success because it is a part of our life plans.

Success is strongly related with our life plans. We can distinguish certain milestones in our plans, like graduating, getting a desired job, starting own business or new relationship. Achieving these milestones are successes for us. Each of these goals brings us positive feelings and emotions because we know that our life plans are fulfilling and that we are making visible progress.

2. We want the output related with certain success.

In many cases we want to experience benefits related with the achievement of a certain goal. In our minds, we have a strong association between these benefits and a state when we are successful. This association causes our success to be desirable and enjoyable.

3. We love the taste of winning.

Achieving success is a very positive experience also because it adds value to us and pumps our egos. Achieving success is like personal victory. People love winning. It is very natural. When two children play a game, each of them want to win. It is not important if there is any material prize. They don’t need any additional purpose. It is deep in our nature that we love the taste of winning.

4. We need stimulation.

Knowing that there is a purpose, a goal we want to achieve, it stimulates us to act. The more challenging goal, the stronger success feeling is related to it. This way, we can get a better motivation to achieve bigger goals and we get additional stimulus to self-improve, grow personally and learn to handle challenging goal.

5. We want to compensate lacks and failures from the past.

We all make mistakes. Failures are definitely not nice, but they are unavoidable in our lives and they should always provide valuable feedback. They also raise a strong force that will push us toward further goals. We lost, but in the end we want to win. This victory, preceded by many failures, can compensate all previous unpleasant experiences. This pattern is very often responsible for a reason why we want to achieve success.

6. We find success as a solution for our problems.

Enjoying success is a very positive experience. It can weaken influence of other, bad experiences in our life. We often find it easier to act in one direction, when we expect success, while we avoid handling different, unpleasant problems in our life. What is important is that we are often unaware of this mechanism as it mostly works on unconscious level.

Now, one more time ask yourself questions from the first part of this article. Is it easier now to answer them and identify your reasons?

I’m sure you have just achieved higher level of consciousness, as far as achieving success is concerned.

 

______________________________

You want to get rid the negativity and be brave in facing challenges in life, but you are not strong enough in spirituality and no one want to listen? If you are looking for a Life Coach to help and guide you, then you come to right place. My mission is to help my clients attain transformative change their lives and careers in order to achieve greater success, fulfilment and well-being. CLICK HERE and fill the form to book your slot for life coaching consultation.

The program can be conducted face-to-face or 100% online for those who are far from Kuala Lumpur. I am looking forward for the opportunity to work with you. You may visit my website at: www.shahalghazali.com

Continue Reading

Motivation, Storytelling

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.

No Comments

The pursuit of happiness seems to be a big deal. Bookshelves and magazines fill volumes with the topic. Even our founding fathers thought it rated a line in the Declaration of Independence. It is part of our natural instinct to pursue happiness. The same way we seek to experience physical pleasure and avoid physical pain, we seek emotional pleasure, and attempt to avoid emotional pain. Our emotional enjoyment, or what we can call happiness, is simply part of human nature.

How pervasive is the pursuit of happiness and emotional well being? It is one of the all encompassing motivations that people have once they meet their survival needs. Abraham Maslow pointed this out a long time ago in his hierarchy of needs. When a person is physically comfortable and no longer driven by fear of starving or freezing to death, emotional pleasure becomes a primary pursuit. Happiness may take many forms but it is the underlying motivator in most our decisions.

Even with a natural instinct, constitutional approval and our best efforts, it seems all too easy to create emotional chaos and unhappiness instead. How does this pursuit of happiness get so distorted and take us in the wrong direction at times? While it is easy to discern between the physical sensations of pleasure and pain, emotions are not always direct. We often have a layer of beliefs in the mind that tend to complicate our sense of enjoyment and pursuit of happiness.

Think about shopping for clothes. Unless we are buying a uniform or a necessary item, we generally buy clothes that we believe will enhance our appearance. When we believe that we look attractive, we feel happier. How we look is just a means to improve how we feel emotionally. We make purchases because we feel good, or assume we will feel good with that purchase. The assumed impact on emotions is the principle motivator behind our decisions.

When we buy a car we want to feel good about the purchase. Feeling good is the end result we seek but there are many paths to get there. One person may worry about safety concerns with children in the car. In order to feel better emotionally they buy a large SUV. Another person may have strong beliefs about the environment and feels better when they satisfy these beliefs. They might buy a hybrid car. A third person may be frugal with their money and think it’s stupid to pay full price for anything. Not wanting to fall into their own belief criteria of being stupid, they buy a used car. Each person’s means to feeling happy about their choice is a completely different path in car buying.

The pursuit of happiness, or feeling emotionally good about the choice, is the principle motivator that was met with three different means. Each person has different assumptions and beliefs they have to meet in order to get to that emotion. For these people it isn’t the car or the clothes that makes them happy. They feel better because they have satisfied the beliefs in the mind. Each person’s emotional happiness is behind a barrier of criteria. If they can meet the criteria in their mind they will reward themselves with pleasurable emotions, at least in the short run. Later, their beliefs may change and then they have to go shopping again.

For the SUV owner maybe it wasn’t so much about being happy as just keeping their fear based thoughts at bay with a bigger car. Remember that a large part of feeling good in the mind is about avoiding what we believe feels painful, or potentially painful. This includes using compensating strategies like a large car to keep emotionally painful fears and beliefs at a distance. Compensating strategies don’t eliminate the fear based beliefs, but people rely on them a lot to keep their fears managed.

Where do most people go to satisfy their pursuit of happiness? They try to satisfy the criteria in their mind that tells them what they have to do in order to feel good. That might also mean doing things to compensate for fears and beliefs of something painful happening. The end goal is happiness and all the beliefs, fears, assumptions, and perceptions in the mind dictate the path. You can find these beliefs hiding behind thoughts or comments like, “Ill be happy when…” or, “I would feel much better if..”

In the pursuit of physical enjoyment we get direct feedback. With emotional enjoyment we often have a barrier of beliefs and assumptions filtering our efforts.

Is there a problem in seeking happiness according to assumptions and beliefs? Not really, unless you have followed the criteria in the mind and your pursuit led to unhappiness. Is it possible that what our mind assumes will make us happy isn’t 100% accurate? Disillusioned career choices, broken hearted relationships, and mid-life crisis indicate that our assumptions about happiness often miss the mark. Most of what we have imbedded in our mind about what makes us happy and unhappy comes from other people or marketing agencies and doesn’t address our individual inspirations.

There are other problems with the approach of chasing the mental assumptions of what will make us happy. What happens when our mind tells us what we have to do to be happy but we haven’t met the mental criteria yet? Suppose we believe we will be so much happier if we lose 15 lbs. Our mind can set up the paradigm to be less happy with our body because we haven’t met the requirements for being happy yet. When we let our belief system determine the criteria for being happy, we also unconsciously define more reasons to be unhappy.

What if the mind’s criteria for feeling better emotionally are dependent on things we can’t control? Perhaps we want a promotion, or recognition at work. We can certainly do things to help our case but we can’t make someone promote us or appreciate us. Our mind now uses these external factors as justifications to conclude that we are not as happy as we could be. We end up unhappy because we can’t change external circumstances. If we don’t change the criteria in our mind we miss our opportunity for happiness.

Our pursuit to feeling better and happier has turned into a struggle to get recognized and promoted. Not because it will really make us happier directly, but because our belief system has set this as the means to an emotional end. We might very well get the promotion, a raise, and recognition only to find out we are not filled with joy. Our pursuit of happiness has turned into a pursuit of assumptions in our belief system. The problem here is that we bought into our false beliefs as being true.

If we aren’t aware of how belief structures limit happiness we are likely to try and change external factors in order to be happy. Trying to change factors we can’t control can lead to us feeling frustrated and powerless.

Achieving and creating happiness generally isn’t accomplished the way the mind thinks it happens. Some people are able to pursue their assumptions and satisfy their belief system in their mind. They consider this success and feel good about their accomplishment. This doesn’t work for everyone. Some people are able to feel happy by satisfying their beliefs. But then their beliefs change and they end up chasing new assumptions thinking it will make them feel better. After a while they get tired of the chase or disheartened because the happiness is not lasting. Some people attempt to satisfy the beliefs in their mind all their life and still never feel fulfilled. Maybe their mind moves the target before they get there. Or maybe, just maybe, there is a greater happiness and fulfillment to be experienced than just satisfying criteria in the mind or compensating for its fears.

The pursuit of happiness is real. It is an authentic and natural desire of our nature. For those that feel a deep emotional yearning, simply meeting the criteria of beliefs about what is supposed to make us feel good doesn’t satisfy this yearning. At a deeper level it becomes about the heart’s desire, or satisfying something at the level of the soul. Answering these desires is much more meaningful and emotionally fulfilling than satisfying the beliefs in the mind.

To create, and live in authentic happiness, you will need to learn not to blindly chase the false beliefs in the mind. You will have to pay closer attention to the end goal of emotion and not jump after the first idea the mind offers as a means to get there. When we go after happiness by satisfying the belief system we have taken our eye off the goal and become attached to assumptions and beliefs in the mind.

A new car, clothes, or losing 15 lbs is just a means to an emotion based on a belief. A belief can change and then the emotion shifts. When you don’t have a handle on your beliefs, becoming happy is a moving target that is likely to get away from you.

The pursuit of happiness is a part of our personal constitution and make up as a living being. It is every human’s birthright and it is within every person’s possibility to achieve. To be successful in your pursuit of happiness you will need to dissolve the assumptions and criteria in the mind that interfere with authentic happiness.

In this article I’ve covered what doesn’t make for lasting happiness. In our pursuit of happiness it is important to recognize which paths are illusions and dead ends. A completely different approach to being happy is to create happiness.

 

______________________________

You want to get rid the negativity and be brave in facing challenges in life, but you are not strong enough in spirituality and no one want to listen? If you are looking for a Life Coach to help and guide you, then you come to right place. My mission is to help my clients attain transformative change their lives and careers in order to achieve greater success, fulfilment and well-being. CLICK HERE and fill the form to book your slot for life coaching consultation.

The program can be conducted face-to-face or 100% online for those who are far from Kuala Lumpur. I am looking forward for the opportunity to work with you. You may visit my website at: www.shahalghazali.com

Continue Reading

Entrepreneurship

THE RIGHT WAY TO USE YOUR BRAIN AS AN ENTREPRENEUR.

No Comments

If you’re an entrepreneur or aspire to be one, you almost certainly have a “dopaminergic mind.” This means you have a specific chemical tendency, a genetic gift, that does two things; It tends to make you more creative than other people, and it gives you an often-superior ability to channel your energies toward your goals. Here’s how.

Dopamine, a chemical in your brain, is the “molecule of more”: When you see something new, unusual or potentially useful, you experience a pleasurable surge of interest. You feel it when you see a new coffee shop with a line out the door, find an email from a forgotten friend or see someone cute across a crowded bar. Dopamine is released in your brain because you just discovered something new that will make your future better, richer or more secure.

Some forms of “new” and “better” are obvious to everyone, like the new coffee shop or finding a great new book. Others aren’t so obvious, like stumbling upon a novel solution to a stubborn problem. That’s the basis of creativity: making new connections between things that were previously thought to be unrelated. These connections sometimes lead to new business opportunities. Sometimes they change the world. People with active dopamine systems, like entrepreneurs, are particularly good at recognizing these connections that everyone else misses.

Dopamine does something else, too; It gives you the ability to plan and calculate. In this way, dopamine provides us with a control circuit to complement that novelty-seeking circuit, a complete neurochemical system to discover and then achieve what we want. It functions in every situation, whether earthshaking or mundane, driving us toward more. This biochemical process is no less than the engine of progress, which is the product of thinking up, creating, and providing new things. Therefore it makes sense that entrepreneurs would have more dopamine than other people.

And the more you understand how dopamine works, the better you can take advantage of it.

Don’t try to “fix” yourself.

Dopamine is why entrepreneurs tend to be original thinkers and problem solvers. It is also the reason many entrepreneurs are absent-minded about the mundane details of business. They live in a world of possibility rather than the ordinary world of the here-and-now.

Daniel is a psychiatrist. He once had a patient who was a successful entrepreneur and severely disorganized. His lack of interest in imposing order on the chaos of his life made doing business difficult. Like most entrepreneurs, when he identified a problem he set out to fix it. But, after speaking with Daniel, the two of them decided that the answer wasn’t therapy or a pill. While that might have helped him diminish the disorder, it also would have diminished one of the things that made him a successful entrepreneur: his creative ideas for new businesses that bubbled up from his imagination.

Still, the problem had a solution. Instead of changing the entrepreneur, they changed his situation. Daniel advised the man to hire an assistant. With order imposed by someone other than the entrepreneur, his problem was solved, his creativity and drive intact.

Give yourself permission to wander.

One aspect of creative thinking is the association of things we wouldn’t usually connect. The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson used ordinary objects as musical instruments. Steve Jobs worried about the aesthetics not of art but of business machines. Countless startups have changed our lives by attaching technology to mundane elements of daily life. These radical improvements aren’t the product of rigid agendas and sterile conference rooms. They come from random collisions of unrelated things in the mind of the entrepreneur. But, for that to happen, the entrepreneur must allow herself to do something that looks like a waste of time, doing what amounts to staring out the window.

The ability to make unusual connections comes from letting our attention wander through the abstract and the not-yet-existent. When you let your mind float, you are giving dopamine free rein. Fortunately, that’s easy to do. Go to a museum. Take a hot shower. Dance. Play an instrument. Whatever turns off your focus on the here and now, do it. It is in that unfocused mental space that dopamine remixes the multitude of memories, ideas and abstractions in our imagination.

Recognize the difference between wanting and enjoying.

Dopamine is the engine that drives the modern creation of wealth, but it also has a dark side: It makes us dissatisfied with the status quo. For many, this need to make things better is the driving force behind their entrepreneurship, but most discover that it’s only half the path to a satisfying life. It is the experience in the here and now that provides the rest of human satisfaction, appreciating the things we’ve earned and the company of those we love. This isn’t just a motto from a motivational poster. It has a biochemical foundation.

We are all familiar with the high-powered executive who can afford a beautiful beach house but who is too busy to actually sit in the sand. Dopamine powers such success, but other neurotransmitters in our brain are dedicated to something else entirely, the ability to appreciate the here and now, to “stop and smell the roses,” as the saying goes or, simply, to enjoy things.

With their highly dopaminergic minds, entrepreneurs are naturally more attracted to pursuit than here-and-now enjoyment, yet they will find a new kind of pleasure when they explore this palette of feelings, but it won’t come naturally. They must choose to do so.

And as an entrepreneur, you can. We are not slaves to dopamine. While it inclines us toward wanting, the rest of life is enjoying, and comes with other unique pleasures.

A mindful appreciation of all the successful person has achieved is a true delight, and for many entrepreneurs, a fresh one. The power of dopamine balanced with the here-and-now chemicals of the senses, wanting versus enjoying, comprises the two halves of a satisfying life. In this way we better appreciate why entrepreneurs do what they do, and expand further what creative, enterprising men and women can achieve.

 

______________________________

DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE IN YOUR ORGANISATION? If you are interested to learn the unique techniques and the easier ways of building your leadership skills for personal and also for your team, let’s apply for our Leadership Storytelling Training. We, at SAZ Diversify Legacy (SAZDL), will help to unleash your inner talent! This program is open for any type of businesses. For more information, you may visit our website: www.sazdl.com

Please CLICK HERE and fill the form to book our training and do not feel hesitate to contact our team at +601123827811 (Aiman) or +60169667912 (Louis), to discuss further.

Continue Reading

Motivation

12 THINGS THAT YOU NEED TO PROMISE YOURSELF.

No Comments

  1. To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
  2. To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
  3. To make all your friends feel that there is something good in them.
  4. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
  5. To think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
  6. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
  7. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
  8. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
  9. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
  10. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
  11. To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words but great deeds.
  12. To live in faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

 

______________________________

You want to get rid the negativity and be brave in facing challenges in life, but you are not strong enough in spirituality and no one want to listen? If you are looking for a Life Coach to help and guide you, then you come to right place. My mission is to help my clients attain transformative change their lives and careers in order to achieve greater success, fulfilment and well-being. CLICK HERE and fill the form to book your slot for life coaching consultation.

The program can be conducted face-to-face or 100% online for those who are far from Kuala Lumpur. I am looking forward for the opportunity to work with you. You may visit my website at: www.shahalghazali.com

Continue Reading

Entrepreneurship, Motivation

8 METHODS THAT CAN MOTIVATES YOU TO WORK.

No Comments

Each of us respond to different drives and motivations, but there are many drives we can choose from that not only make our careers more fruitful but also more enjoyable. Those people who experience the “Sunday Blues” are in careers which may provide security and certain freedoms, but they lack joy and fulfillment. Sunday comes around and many of us immediately begin dreading our work week; thereby, ruining the rest of their weekend for ourselves and those we are close with. There is no point in staying in careers that make us miserable. There is so much opportunity in the world. We have to find the correct motivations to go out and make these opportunities happen.

1. Money

Initially, the main thing we view as the most worthy motivating force inspiring us to work hard is money. Making money is a noble and necessary motivation which directs us into our careers and motivates us to stay in them. Money is a tool we all need for survival, but earning money also provides us with feelings of status, success and achievement. Money provides us the freedoms we crave in terms of the lifestyles we want to live. The one thing money doesn’t bring is happiness, as we can see from the many well-known people in our society who appear to have it all, but the decisions they make clearly show us that money is far from the only motivation that drives us to work hard and to feel happy.

2. Purpose

To live a truly fulfilled life we need to have a sense of purpose. Those without purpose live with more depression and feelings of aimlessness than others. When we have purpose we feel directed and more certain about our lives and the directions in which we’re heading. Purpose brings us deeper feelings of security than money could ever offer because money comes and goes. While positions and or circumstances wax and wane creating uncomfortable uncertainties, having purpose keeps us moving forward motivated to reach our bigger picture.

3. Making a difference

There is nothing more fulfilling than knowing that what we contribute in this world makes a significant difference. There are many careers that provide us with the money we desire but that also may come along with a ton of unrewarding stress. Ultimately, we spend the majority of our time in our lives at work so we may as well find a way to make our career meaningful for ourselves and others. The greatest gift of working in careers which give back to our communities is the way it changes and impact our own lives. When we see that what we contribute makes a difference, it makes our careers and our purpose feel that much more rewarding. When we are inspired we are more motivated to get back to the grind each new day.

4. Responsibility

Our career may be stressful, but being irresponsible is even more stressful. When we are irresponsible we dig ourselves into holes that are impossible to get out of; whereas, when we have a solid career and sense of responsibility we trust we can pull ourselves out of just about anything financially. Scott Peck is his book The Road Less Traveled makes the point that there is no such thing as an irresponsible psychologically healthy person. Self-management brings personal development and self-actualization. Being responsible brings us to a sense of balance, feelings of success, motivation and self-trust.

5. Challenge

We grow the most in our motivation when we are optimally challenged. Being in careers which feel like groundhog day every day do not provide enough challenge for us to make any new efforts or changes to our behavioral patterns around working hard. In his book Resilience navy seal Eric Grietens discusses how when we are optimally challenged it is natural for us to rise to the occasion. We want to see and prove that we can leap over whatever hurdles are placed in front of us to glean the satisfaction of having a win at the end game. These wins may be tough to come by and we may fail along our road of challenge, but this is exactly how we develop the resiliency that keeps us motivated and striving for what is next.

6. Community

The work environment, no matter the field we’re in, connects us with other people. Success is never a one-man-job. Being connected individually or to a team brings us into relationships that are meaningful and also to mutually satisfying goals to strive for. As humans we are designed for connection and communication. Community brings us a sense of belonging, the satisfying purpose of our role and increased communication, problem-solving and negotiation skills.

7. Acknowledgement

The greatest reward of all is acknowledgment. We all need, desire and want to be acknowledged when we have performed well and/or when we haven’t. The work environment is the one place that can motivate us from deep within. Acknowledgement can come in the form of a compliment, a raise, a promotion, club trips, bonuses, or support and encouragement. Personal growth and higher visions of what we’re capable of achieving cannot come without the all important ingredient of acknowledgment. Acknowledgment gives us something meaningful to work for or towards. in my book Success Equations: A Path to Living an Emotionally Wealthy Life I explain that acknowledgement is our yardstick for success.

8. Duty

Having a sense of duty, a place to go, things to accomplish and achieve is a great motivation. Having a sense of duty is necessary for the development of a strong identity. Having a career provides us an important role to fulfill that is backed by strong values. When we live our lives motivated by strong values we are given the opportunity to build and define our character. Having a sense of duty is what motivates us to be good to ourselves, honest in our approach to relationships and to develop a positive reputation. There is nothing that will speak more highly of us than our character and what we stand for.

 

______________________________

DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE IN YOUR ORGANISATION? If you are interested to learn the unique techniques and the easier ways of building your leadership skills for personal and also for your team, let’s apply for our Leadership Storytelling Training. We, at SAZ Diversify Legacy (SAZDL), will help to unleash your inner talent! This program is open for any type of businesses. For more information, you may visit our website: www.sazdl.com

Please CLICK HERE and fill the form to book our training and do not feel hesitate to contact our team at +601123827811 (Aiman) or +60169667912 (Louis), to discuss further.

Continue Reading