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Challenges in Agile Adoption

5 Reasons Why Some People Fail To Achieve Their Goals

Maybe you are planning to start a new journey right now, something you have always wanted to do but never did before. You might have also experienced failing to achieve your goals in the past, and now you’re probably asking what could have gone wrong. Those learning experiences have shed light on this phenomenon, and here are five of the known reasons why some people do not see their goals wholly realized.

Fear of taking risks. Risks are part of every business, journey, employment, or activity. They may only differ in the degree to which they affect you, but nonetheless, risks will be present in anything we do. However, it is important that you know how to handle and manage them. They should not keep you from moving forward and achieving your goals.

There are too many goals. Do things one at a time. Choose the most important task that you need to do within a specific period of time. If you find it challenging to determine where to start or what priority to put first, find a consultant who can advise you. You may also buy some self-help books to learn tips and principles for goal-setting management.

Procrastination. You may be surprised that one day, you’ll wake up and realize that you are already wandering rather than focusing on the steps that will lead you to your goal. If you have tasks that need to be done, do them immediately. Carpe diem!

Failure to innovate. Many companies and corporations shut down today because their products are no longer relevant to their market. One of the main reasons for this was their failure to innovate. Eventually, it would be best to look for ways to advance your business, product or system. In this modern world, one way to survive and continue achieving your goals is your breakthrough of spontaneous ideas that will better your endeavor.

Lack of motivation. In most cases, losing your motivation to continue with your goals is the “only” way to fail. You may still have lots of resources and other reasons to continue, but once your drive to accomplish something is gone, that will be the start of your failure to achieve what you put your heart and enthusiasm into.

If you have failed many times, you must keep getting up and moving forward. There’s no other way to achieve your goal than to pull yourself together and face head-on whatever challenge it brings.

Thanks for coming in today.

Chris

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Challenges in Agile Adoption

5 Things To Remember In Goal Setting

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”- Benjamin Franklin

Setting your goal is the most vital aspect of your success. In whatever endeavor you undertake, it is important to ensure that your goal is clear. Generating ideas and concepts is very important but knowing how to achieve them is what matters more. Here are five things to remember in setting your goal:

Be precise. Identify what your “end-goal” is and make sure that you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve. Understanding this principle will serve as your drive and the reason why you do it. It may take some time to develop the skill to eliminate irrelevant and unnecessary details when achieving your goal, but it will definitely help you become precise on what you really want to accomplish.

Be ready. Plan every step that will lead to your goal. Conducting a feasibility study or market research can be a good start. You need to gather all the data that may affect or influence your goal. You might also want to check if you have enough funds, manpower, resources, and skills before proceeding with setting your goal. Being ready can help you prepare for the possible risks and challenges you might be encountering while putting your plan into fruition.

Be realistic. Reaching a goal requires a lot of hard work and twice that amount of patience in order to get there. At the onset, make sure that you set realistic and attainable goals. Setting short-term to medium-term goals can help you trim down variables and be able to make achievable goals.

Be passionate. Nothing beats a person with a heart full of zeal in what he or she has committed to. If you really love what you are doing, it doesn’t matter what situation you are in as long as you are working to achieving your goal. If there is a passion within you, the journey you take will surely be meaningful and fulfilling in its own way.

Be faithful. Avoid jumping from one goal to another. There might come a time that you will face difficulties while realizing your goal, but do not let this stop you. You will be tempted to give it up, find a new objective, or go in circles, but stick to your plan and understand that failure is a part of the process. If you feel like giving up, go back to number 1, and remind yourself of the reason why you’ve come a long way now.

There can be more things to remember in setting your goal, however, the success of your accomplishing it is entirely in the palm of your hands. Care to begin now?

Thanks for coming in today.

Chris

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Challenges in Agile Adoption

10 People Who Turned the Impossible Into Possible

If you feel hopeless while achieving your goal and you need some motivation, read this. These are the people who don’t need to introduce themselves anymore because of their achievements in their lifetime. These people are particularly inspiring because they’ve gone through rejection and failures too, but that didn’t stop them from becoming who they are today.

J. K. Rowling

Before she earned millions, she had to face a failed marriage, being almost entirely broke while raising a child on her own and going to school. When she finally finished writing Harry Potter, she was rejected by a number of publishing companies before getting published. She even had to depend on welfare to survive but now, she’s just one of the richest women in the world.

Winston Churchill

He failed his sixth grade because he struggled in school. He failed in politics for many years every time he ran for public office. At 62, he became the prime minister of the United Kingdom. He was twice elected as such and was also awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature in the year 1953.

Theodor Seuss Geisel

Publishers think his books are not sellable so they rejected him; in fact, 27 of them did. Now, his books are read by children all over the world. He wrote under the pen name, Dr. Seuss.

Ludwig van Beethoven

He was very awkward on the violin. His teachers thought he was not brilliant enough but it did not stop him there. He composed five of the best-loved symphonies of all time even when he was going deaf.

Michael Jordan

He was kicked out of his high school basketball team. He missed more than 9,000 shots and lost 300 games. Now, he is known as the best basketball player of all time.

Henry Ford

He was broke five times and his early businesses failed. Now, he owns the one of the considered as best motor companies in the world.

Walt Disney

He was fired by his newspaper editor believing that he lacked imagination and had no good ideas. He went bankrupt and failed a number of businesses. He is now the owner of the billion-dollar company profiting from the most famous merchandise, movies, and theme parks.

Thomas Edison

His teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He got fired from two of his jobs because he was unproductive. He failed 1,000 times with his invention. Now, we are using his idea to light our homes.

Charlie Chaplin

He was always rejected because his acting was nonsense and will supposedly never sell. Now, he is an icon for making the best pantomimic comedy movies.

Vincent Van Gogh

He sold only one painting his whole life to a friend who paid him a not so considerable amount. He was never successful in life, sometimes even starved. Now, he is one of the best-known artists.

 

So if you ever feel you’re in an impossible terrible situation right now, just look at their lives. It should be enough to tell you to go on and get that dream. It should be enough to push you to dream more and work more for it.

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Challenges in Agile Adoption

Holding Yourself Accountable In Making Your Goals Happen

It’s always easy to blame other people or other things when you fall short of reaching your goals or when you lose the will to pursue them. You might have gone through this kind of frustration before, and you probably just can’t afford to look at yourself as someone to blame for the said disappointment. Well, you can’t really deny the fact that you should hold yourself responsible whenever you arrive at that point in your life. But before even falling deep into that pit, you can actually prevent it from happening by following these tips:

Have the Right Mindset

This is one of the most important things to have when pursuing something. You need to have the right mindset first before doing anything else in achieving your goal. It will set your sail across the ocean you chose to travel upon. When drawbacks or frustration comes, you know where to stand if you have the right mindset. And with that, you will pursue your passion against all odds.

Make Your Priority A Habit

They said it takes literally 21 days to make a deed, a habit. If you have already listed your priorities or the things you need to do to get to your goals, and you find it difficult to do them, try your best to do it religiously for the next three weeks. It’s not only subscribing to an experiment but actually a way of disciplining yourself into following the path you want.

Learn More About Your Goal

Yes, the learning doesn’t stop when the idea strikes. You have all the more reason to educate yourself about what you want to achieve once it does happen. Take the time to read! Or watch videos that are helpful. Absorb more about what you want to achieve because it will also equip you in the process of getting to the top.

These are the things you can do to sustain and help yourself while going through the process of pursuing your dream. Mind you, that road is very rough and hard to take but it will be worth all the sacrifice after you’ve reached what you needed to achieve. Lastly, be patient with yourself. Don’t be too hard on yourself when things go wrong. Always go back to having the right mindset. When all else fails, who else do you have to rely on? Of course, you! So start appreciating what you’ve achieved so far. There may still be a long way to go but at least, you’re on your way.

Thanks for coming in today.

Chris

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Your Life

What Can You Do After You Have Achieved Your Goal

You will not be the same person after everything you’ve gone through. You will become wiser. But what will really happen next after your goal has been achieved? I know you may still need more time to let the thought sink in. It would later make sense when you realize that you have now bigger responsibilities to take care of and that achieving your goals is just too little of what you need to manage someday. Here are the things you need and can do after success:

  1. Create an even bigger goal

We all get bored easily. If you are already done with your past goals, you can always create a new one. It will help you sustain the busyness of the goal that you have achieved. Also, choose a goal that wouldn’t be too risky nowadays. Go out of your comfort zone and learn more about other things.

  1. Fulfill Your Childhood Dream

If your goal had nothing to do with your childhood dream, now is the best chance to fulfill it. Since you will have more time, go back to your roots and look for your lost passion. It might be writing, singing, playing music, or dancing. Everyone has a child’s dream within them and it’s about time to actually do it.

  1. Reconnect With Your Family and Friends

You may have stopped seeing or communicating with them because you’re too focused on your life. Now is the time to reconnect with your family and friends who have been waiting for you for a long time already. If you have broken relationships, call the person and fix it. Don’t let your success blind you.

  1. Join a Community

Join a community with the same interest as you. In that way, you will be helping newbies to achieve their dreams. Expect a lot of questions about how you did it. If vexed at the frequency of messages, just think about you when you just started. Of all the people, you should know how they feel. You should know why an answer from someone successful is everything to them.

These strategies may not be for everyone. You may be looking for other ways to do this after this, either way, is not a problem. What makes you feel comfortable and happy is what matters. Lastly, be remember to stay humble after everything you’ve done. It is always so easy to brag but a real successful man/woman would stay humble and even help others reach their dreams, too.

Thanks for coming in today.

Chris

Categories
Professional Development

Why Having Absolute Belief In Your Goal Is Necessary

When someone succeeds in life, people often ask, how did you do it? It’s the same old question from everyone aspiring to achieve something to everyone who already did it. Some would tell you it’s luck or hard work but when you listen to them closely, you’ll hear their enthusiasm about their dreams. I can hear you whisper in your mind right now, so what? These people believed in their dreams; they believed their dreams were not too much for them to reach or too weird to even propose to others. They believed in themselves and the goals they made and that’s how they did it.  In other words, absolute belief is the answer.

Absolute belief refers to a conviction or faith in something that is unwavering, complete, and unconditional. This type of belief is characterized by the absence of doubt or skepticism, and it often remains firm regardless of evidence or opposing viewpoints.

Let me give you some reasons why having absolute belief in your goal has a great impact in achieving it.

  1. If you don’t, who else will?

You will have to start believing in your aspirations before anybody else will. Who would want to believe you if you yourself doubt your ideas? People will admire you and your pursuit when they see the sincerity in your confidence towards your dream. You’re responsible and obligated to believe in your goals — before anyone else — because that’s the only way you will find means to achieve them.

  1. You are building your self-esteem.

There will be thousands of obstacles along the path when you decide to pursue your dream. Sometimes, these challenges will break you but you just have to keep going because it’s all part of the process. If you have enough confidence in your goals, you also have the same belief that you can surpass them all.

  1. You mold yourself into positivity.

You, of all people, should know that a little bit of negativity will bring you and your goals down. If you really want to succeed in whatever you are aspiring to have or to become, you need to remain optimistic all the time. And that is not possible if you lack faith in your goals. You will have to keep the enthusiasm you had the first time the idea came into your mind to keep yourself surrounded with positivity.

  1. You are ready to fail.

This is not intended to take your hope away from you. You will have to face the fact that failures are waiting along the way. They are there to make you stronger and to equip you to become the person you need to be when success is within your reach. If you don’t have enough absolute belief in what you are pursuing, you will most likely get discouraged. But if you know the potential of your goals, you will not be fragile enough to break easily when discouragement comes.

Lastly, isn’t it nice to know how to answer the same old question, how did you do it? When that time comes, it will be your turn to inspire others.

Thanks for coming in today.

Chris

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Professional Development

Why Is It Important To Have a Goal In Life?

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

Why set goals when you can live life without it? Isn’t it that unguarded moments and spontaneous decisions are the ones that give color to one’s numbered days? Those are the questions that might be playing in your mind when asked about your plans for the future and I won’t tell you it’s wrong to think that way. However, you cannot deny that sometimes, along the way of living that kind of life, you might get lost and think it hard to find your way back. Now, here is where goal setting plays its part. Here are some important reasons why having goals are necessary:

  1. You Have Control Over Your Life

As absurd as this sounds, having a goal will not actually limit you but will give you more control over your life. Why? Because it directs you and helps you in choosing which road to take and which ones to set aside. With that, you will have a clearer picture of your destination in life, which will give you more time to plan and prepare for what you really need for the future you choose.

  1. You Will Know What To Prioritize

Your goals help you filter the most important things to do now from the ones that are only wasting your time. It will save you from exhausting all your time and energy into something you will eventually find trivial. With clear goals in your mind, you will know which ones deserve your precious time.

  1. You Will More Likely Make Better Decisions

When your goals are set, it will most likely help you identify the right choices based on the long-term view of your purpose. You can always go back to your purpose—why you have these goals—and then come up with a decision when put in that kind of situation.

  1. You Will Most Likely Stop Procrastinating

Because you know what to focus on and you have already organized your priorities, it will absolutely give you no time to daydream and simply procrastinate. You will have to be busy making your dreams happen.

  1. You Will Take The Closer Path To Success

Goals guide you to where you want to be and help you determine what you really want to achieve. Just imagine that “goals” are like your path through a thick forest. Imagine having no trail to guide you when walking down the woods you aren’t familiar with. Chances are, you’ll get lost or worse, you will never find your way out. But with a goal to guide you, you know which road to take and that road leads you to where you need to be.

Lastly, goals will motivate you to start working on your future now. It’s never too late to start as long as you know where you are going.

Thanks for coming in today.

Chris

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Challenges in Agile Adoption

3 Books To Read For Ultimate Motivation

Have you been spending time recently thinking about reasons that will make you want to leave your couch or bed and finally do something in life that would matter and make you happier? Instead of sulking in a corner and letting several moments pass without you being productive, why not skim through the following books and find inspiration that will keep you going?

 

Here are three books by best-selling authors that I skim occasionally for inspiration.

 

 

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…and It’s All Small Stuff by Richard Carlson

Life is dynamic; however, too much of its busyness may sometimes leave you overwhelmed by the stresses, the hustles, and bustles that go along with it. Dr. Carlson, an American psychotherapist, and renowned “happiness-specialist”, tells you to pause for a while and take a few deep breaths. He reminds you to leave behind the trivial things — the small stuff — that cause you anxieties. His book offers 100 meditations that will make you live a happier and stress-free life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Believing that essential changes in life must be embraced effectively, American educator and speaker Covey in his book, advises that in order to do this, you must also change your perceptions. He delineates 7 habits that will make you come to terms with your inner self, on top of getting along well with others as you enjoy inward and outward success. These 7 tips which he expounds on in his best-selling book, are to be proactive; begin with the end in mind; put first things first, think win-win; seek first to understand, then to be understood; synergize, and sharpen the saw.

 

 

 

 

 

The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Peale

Considered as one of the originators of “positive thinking”, Peale discloses through his book some tips that would make your life more satisfying. He gives practical guidelines that would make you put your ideas and inspiration into concrete actions. He says that the key to happiness is something anybody can do: “Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Scatter sunshine, forget self, think of others.”

 

 

 

 

 

These are but a few of the widely known highly-motivating self-help books you can browse through when you feel like drawing inspiration from within yourself seems not enough. Go read a few, be motivated, and perhaps next time, your book about life is the one being read by people who once felt like you do now.

Thanks for coming in today!

Chris

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Challenges in Agile Adoption

Kaizen Culture in the Workplace

The improvement in the business

Kaizen is a system that requires interaction and participation from all employees, from the front-line crew to upper management and even the company’s CEO.

Everyone is encouraged to brainstorm and come up with suggestions for improvement regularly. It is a continuous activity carried out throughout the year. Employees from all company levels work together proactively to achieve continuous, small, and incremental improvements to the business processes. This way, different experience levels and skills can be combined to create potent techniques for improving the company’s processes.  Kaizen is a process that, if performed correctly, humanizes the workplace, eliminates hard work while encouraging brilliant jobs, and motivates people to conduct experiments based on their suggestions and learn to identify and reduce waste in the business processes. Implementing Kaizen as an action plan through a series of Kaizen events teaches employees to think differently about their work. They are pushed to think about how their work can be further improved to achieve tremendous success.

Implementing Kaizen in the workplace

There are three stages in the implementation of Kaizen in any organization:

  • Encourage participation – To ensure the active involvement of all employees, awareness about Kaizen must be created. After the necessary awareness training sessions are provided, conduct and promote Kaizen events and reward employees for successfully implementing ideas, which are the results of these events. In such events, the direct involvement of management is also
    important.
  • Training and Education—Proper training is required for executives to learn the essence of Kaizen. The management level should thoroughly understand Kaizen in an organizational vision context, which needs to be followed vigorously to achieve the desired business results. They must also be taught how to be impartial towards everyone and encourage their employees to participate actively.
  • Quality level improvement—After training is completed, people should remain focused on making changes toward improvement. They should take measures to start making small and incremental changes toward achieving long-term goals, like improving efficiency, processes, and quality.

In organizations where Kaizen is being implemented, transparency between different levels of the organization is very crucial. Effective communication should take place between all levels of employees.

While employees are brainstorming for ideas, it is essential that management also gets involved in these sessions. The manager should also ensure that their suggestions and ideas are acted upon immediately and not delayed by a week or month.

Employees should be informed about other activities in the team and how their ideas are being worked upon. People should not feel that their ideas have all gone to waste and are not being used. A positive mindset will help keep Kaizen alive in the organization.

Thus, the constant application of Kaizen creates huge long-term value by developing the culture that is needed for genuine continuous improvement.

Kaizen’s five primary elements

Kaizen is founded upon five primary elements:

  • Quality Circles: A quality circle is a group of people who work on the same or similar project and meet regularly to identify, analyze, and solve work‐related issues.
  • Improved Morale: It is an essential step in achieving long-term efficiency and productivity.
  • Teamwork: Kaizen strives to help employees see that they are all part of a team and need to work together to succeed.
  • Personal Discipline: Employees’ commitment to personal discipline ensures that the team remains strong.
  • Suggestions for Improvement: Gathering feedback from all employees ensures that all problems are addressed before they become significant.

What about your workplace?  Are you continuously improving?  Are you embracing Kaizen?

Chris

 

 

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Challenges in Agile Adoption

8 Ways Leaders Pull the Team through Tough Times

It’s easy to be a leader when things are going well. It can be downright awesome—especially if you get your castle or palace (this may not apply to the typical shift manager).
But when your team is in the trenches under fire, you need some serious leadership skills to hold it all together.
1. Grit: Grit is defined as courage, resolve, and strength of character, but the final blend of those characteristics yields a quality perhaps best summarized by one word: toughness. Good leaders hold the team together in tough times by staying committed to the battle.
2. Optimism: While grit mainly relates to the present, optimism is a component of leadership that looks to the future. A leader with a positive view of the outcome creates a mental framework for the team to pull through because they foster the belief that something great is on the other side.
3. Pragmatism: While leaders need to be gritty and optimistic, they also need to be practical, using intelligence and common sense to navigate the given situation. Having rose-colored glasses for the future is great, but having them on as you look at the present can lead to costly mistakes.
4. Selflessness. A bad leader will try to save their skin, but a good captain goes down with the ship—because he makes sure crewmembers get off first (that said, he doesn’t necessarily have to go down with the ship).
5. Resolution. Tough times are ripe for dissent and mutiny, but a good leader holds command. Sometimes, you have to show tough love and put the proverbial boot down when team members start talking smack. They’ll thank you later.
6. Encouragement. A good leader encourages the team during a tough time to help them find the drive to make it through. Sometimes, encouragement can be as simple as wandering around the group, patting some backs, and giving smiles or friendly words.
7. Preparedness. A good leader never unexpectedly thrusts their team into bad times without some prior preparation. A good leader has a plan to cover all the possibilities and knows what to do if things don’t go exactly the way they were hoping.
8. Bravery. Fear can undermine the entire mission, whether the war is on a battlefield, a sporting field, or the sales floor. A good leader is brave and inspires his team with that bravery.