INSPIRATION BEHIND A BRIEF HISTORY OF COCA-COLA

In 1886, Coca-Cola was invented by a pharmacist named John Pemberton, otherwise known as “Doc”. At the end of the civil war he decided he wanted to invent something that would bring him commercial success. Usually, everything he made failed in pharmacies. He invented many drugs, but none of them ever made any money. So, after a move to Atlanta, Pemberton decided to try his hand in the beverage market. In his time, the soda fountain was rising in popularity as a social gathering spot. Temperance was keeping patrons out of bars, so making a soda-fountain drink just made sense. And this was when Coca-Cola was born. However, Pemberton had no idea how to advertise; Frank Robinson came in to help and registered Coca-Cola’s formula with the patent office. Coke did not do so well in its first year. And to make matters worse, Doc Pemberton died in August 1888, meaning he would never see the commercial success he had been seeking.

After Pemberton’s death, a man named Asa Griggs Candler rescued the business. In 1891, he became the sole owner of Coca-Cola. It was when Candler took over that one of the most innovative marketing techniques was invented. He hired traveling salesmen to pass out coupons for a free Coke. His goal was for people to try the drink, like it, and buy it later on. In addition to the coupons, Candler also decided to spread the word of Coca-Cola by plastering logos on calendars, posters, notebooks and bookmarks to reach customers on a large stage. It was one step in making Coca-Cola a national brand, rather than just a regional brand. In 1898, however, Congress passed a tax in the wake of the Spanish-American war. The tax was on all medicines, so Coca-Cola wanted to be sold only as a beverage. After a court battle, Coca-Cola was no longer sold as a drug. As of now, Coca-Cola has been doing as well as it ever has been. In 2006, Coca-Cola and coca-cola enterprises were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 on Fortune 500’s list of best beverage companies. It has been ranked as one of the top companies to work for. As of 2000, it was the top-ranked soda in the United States. Coke has also come a long way from just their original formula. As of 2000, it was the most popular diet drink. In the 90’s Coca-Cola came out with all kinds of different flavored beverages, such as Vanilla Coke, Cherry Coke and Sprite.

INSPIRATION BEHIND A BRIEF HISTORY OF NOKIA

Nokia Corporation also known as NOKIA is a Finnish multinational communications and information technology company, founded in 1865. The company has had various industries in its 151-year history. It was founded as a pulp mill. Dating back to 1865 when Fredrik Idestam, a mining engineer, created a Pulp mill near the town of Tampere, Finland and now focuses on large-scale telecommunications infrastructures, and technologies. A second pulp mill was created in 1868 near the town of Nokia, itself nearby Tampere. In 1871, Idestam together with friend Leo Michelin formed a shared company and called it Nokia, after the town of the second pulp mill. For the next 90 years, Nokia on its own would be a forest and power industry company, with activities such as electricity generation.

Nokia is also a major contributor to the mobile telephony industry, having assisted in development of the GSM and LTE standards, and was, for a period, the largest vendor of mobile phones in the world. Later on, competition heated up, the Symbian platform that Nokia were using was quickly became outdated and difficult for developers after the advent of iPhone OS and Android. To counter this, Nokia started to develop a successor, MeeGo, in 2010. It got to a point when Nokia’s glory days were largely due to the fact that the global demand surge for mobile handsets was something leading consumer electronics firms like Apple, Siemens, Sony and Philips could not foresee. So Nokia ended up competing with two lumbering, erratic messes called Ericsson and Motorola. In the halcyon days before true competition from Apple and Samsung arrived, Nokia delivered what seemed like a dazzling series of innovative breakthroughs. Its global market share soared from 10% to above 30% in a matter of years as Nokia cracked tough markets like China and Brazil with astonishing ease.

SPARKLE YOUR SKILLS WITH TOASTMASTERS

The world needs leaders. Leaders head families, coach teams, run businesses and mentor others. These leaders do not only accomplish, they communicate as well. By regularly giving speeches, gaining feedback, leading teams and guiding others to achieve their goals in a supportive atmosphere, most leaders emerge from the Toastmasters club.

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking, and leadership skills. Beyond that, Toastmasters members are a diverse group, spanning countries and cultures, and all socio-economic backgrounds.

Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. Our organization has more than 345,000 memberships in over 142 countries, dedicated in excellence in communication and leadership. Members improve their speaking and leadership skills by attending any of our clubs in various countries that make up our global network of meeting locations. Every Toastmasters journey begins with a single speech. During their journey, they learn to tell their stories. They listen and answer. They plan and lead. They give feedback—and accept it. Through our community of learners, they find their path to leadership. Focusing on public speaking and leadership skills, Toastmasters is one of the largest organized systems of personal development in the world.

Many people who have labeled themselves ‘introverts’ or lack social skills can find Toastmasters to be a fantastic place to rapidly improve their communication skills. Even if you are currently a very sociable person, Toastmasters can teach you to improve your skills and give you the confidence that comes from being a competent speaker. As in capacity to join Toastmasters, anyone over the age of 18 years can join toastmasters, provided they have the desire to improve their communication and leadership skills while having fun too.

The Mission of Toastmasters International is to empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders. We provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth. If you are in a foreign country and don’t speak the native language, Toastmasters can be a great place to learn. Many members have noted it was a great place to learn English (or whatever language your club speaks). “We learn best in moments of enjoyment” Ralph Smedley, founder of toastmasters.

Toastmasters International Values

• Integrity
• Respect
• Service
• Excellence

There are many importance of joining Toastmasters, but here are a few of the most common:

• Become a Better Public Speaker

The good news is that speaking in public is a learnable skill. Members of Toastmasters club work through a chain of educational programs designed to train them and improve their ability to write speeches, plan presentations, and deliver them. Good public speaking skills are important in other areas of your life, as well. You might be asked to make a speech at a friend’s wedding, give a eulogy for a loved one, or inspire a group of volunteers at a charity event. Joining Toastmasters helps you attain different styles of giving presentations such as; Instead of standing behind a podium, you will walk around and use gestures to engage the audience to make your presentations lively. This movement and energy will also come through in your voice, making it more active and passionate.

• Overcome Public Speaking Fears and cope with your nerves.
  The most positive and supportive audience in the world is a Toastmasters club audience. With this, you shall realize the source of your fears. Your fears may be that you don’t know what will happen when you step to the podium or table to deliver. Speaking regularly in front of a group helps you calm your nerves and communicate effectively. Time will be given you to stand in front of the audience (us) to give speeches or presentations. Fear makes it all too easy to slip into a cycle of negative self-talk, especially right before you speak, while self-sabotagingthoughts such as “I’ll never be good at this!” or “I’m going to fall flat on my face!” lower your confidence and increase the chances that you won’t achieve what you’re truly capable of. You shall gain training on controlling your breath by using deep breathing exercises to slow your heart rate and give your body the oxygen it needs to perform. This is especially important right before you speak.
• Gain the Confidence and Courage to Lead
  Leadership and communication skills are intimately bound. Some might argue that leadership is nothing more than the ability to effectively communicate a vision. At another level, the weekly Toastmasters meetings teach you basic management skills on how to organize a team and run an efficient meeting. Things happen at every meeting and they have to be dealt with by the Toastmaster – that’s management training. Speaking in Toastmasters provides new challenges and plenty of opportunities to be proud of your accomplishments. “The more you expand your skills and talents, the more confidence you have in yourself!”- Chrysta Bairre. Self-confidence builds trust in others. Our leadership core skills are mastering public speaking and communication. As your communication skills improve, your ability to lead will improve as well.
• “Practice” Presentations for Other Audiences
  Everyone has different motivations for wanting to speak better. Maybe you want to improve your presentation skills for your career. Perhaps you want to be able to speak out in your volunteer organization. Maybe you want to complement your portfolio as an author, manager, or other professional with speaking gigs? Whatever the case, Toastmasters is a wonderful laboratory for you to practice your presentations and gain valuable feedback. Indeed countless public speaking coaches and trainers shall coach you to practice your speech/presentations. Whether you shall be practicing in your hotel room or in the car, you will be trained on how you will visualize that as if you are on the stage and can see the audience. You shall visualize doing well. By the time you take the stage, you’d have given your presentation successfully in many times.
• A great place to meeting new people and friends

Toastmasters club is somewhere where the situation breaks the ice for people and naturally gives them reasons to talk to each other freely through learning and having fun. Sometimes people have lots of potential friends in their lives and they just need to do more to try to hang out with them and start a relationship. But the opposite is just as often a problem, when they don’t have many friendship prospects around. In that case they will meet up new friends, socialize to initiate good relationship. It allows you to reliably see the same people several times, so you have a chance to get comfortable with them and gradually get to know them. It’s not that you have one five minute chance to make a good impression and then you may never see them again.

Moreover, it allows you to meet people who are similar to you, in terms of your hobbies and values.

 

To make mention of the toastmasters club  at Ministry of Foreign affairs, Airport City, Accra; Munnira Sheikh being the President (Toastmasters MFA) may be contacted on info@munnirasheikh.com.

Mr. Papa Arkhurst is the DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster) Ghana

Executives for Toastmaster-MFA January 2017 – June 2017

President – Munnira Sheikh
Vice President Education – Marilyn Quarmor
Vice President Membership – Godwin Adjatey
Middle from left to right:
Vice President Public Relations – Albert Sarpong
Secretary – Richard Aggrey
Treasurer – Saana Nyarko-Dabie
Sergeant at arms – Amma Serwaa Frimpong

 

If you decide to join a club with a high volume of new members, be trained meet sociable friends, leaders and other resource persons, I have found this to be even truer as everyone is trying to learn at the same time. For more info on Toastmasters, go to our website www.toastmasters.org or visit http:/4518315.toastmastersclubs.org

ANALYSE YOUR BELIEFS

Sometimes, it can feel like everyone else is achieving his or her goals in life. While you are left struggling to figure out who and what you are meant to be or wants to do respectively. You just can’t make a leap from where you are to where you want to be.  Belief is the acceptance that something exists or is true especially one without proof. It could be faith, trust, or confidence in someone or something. It’s also the state of mind in which a person thinks something to be the case with or without being empirical evidence to proof that something is the case of factual certainty. Your beliefs are always manifested in your words and actions. Start testing and analyzing your beliefs when trying to break out of your comfort zone and achieve something. This strategy changes your understanding, shifts your beliefs and therefore shifts the comfort zone itself.

First of all, identify the belief that you think may be holding you back. This could be a fear of travel, or trouble doing particular jobs─ unconscious mind. With this believe, it exists on an unconscious level and they drive your every thought, word and action. At times our thoughts are ruled or become dominated by superstitious beliefs i.e. the belief of the unknown. For instance, in some parts of Africa, there are some particular days that it’s expected of no one to go fishing, hunting, and also farming. It is believed that their ancestral spirits and other gods visit those places in some particular days. In some other places too, they are not bound to that. In this context, such kind of believe restricts and make others fear reaching their respective targets and attaining their goals in those days; especially, farmers and fishermen. “Self-limiting beliefs are everywhere and a part of all of us to greater or lesser degree” ─ Bruce Frankel.

Also there is a need to ignore the experts; being an expert is said to be best at doing a particular thing. It is believed by many people globally that success is bound only to those who have gone through college education.  And that without college education, one may end up on streets or live miserably. Forgetting that most successful men achieved their dreams even though they were regarded as ‘weak ‘ in class, even though others got dropped out of school. Getting a college degree can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, yet once you are out, there is no guarantee of success. Some of which are Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, etc.

       Thomas Edison was expelled from school in the sixth grade. His parents were told that it would be a waste of time to spend a lot of money educating him because; he wasn’t particularly smart but difficult in class. His mother quickly pulled him from school and taught him at home, since she was a teacher herself. Abraham Lincoln, lawyer, U.S. president. Finished one year of formal schooling, self-taught himself trigonometry, and read Blackstone on his own to become a lawyer. Amadeo Peter Giannini, multimillionaire founder of Bank of America. Dropped out of high school. Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist, and one of the first mega-billionaires in the US. Elementary school dropout. Andrew Jackson, U.S. president, general, attorney, judge, congressman. Home-schooled. Became a practicing attorney by the age of 35 years without a formal education. Andrew Perlman, co-founder of Great Point. Dropped out of Washington University to start Cignal Global Communications, an Internet communications company, when he was only 19.

In addition, Change your thinking. Did you know that one of the most important keys to success is positive thinking? With this key, it is easier to achieve success, improve relationships, have better health, and enjoy happiness, satisfaction and inner peace. Positive thinking is an optimistic state of mind, which sees the bright side of life. “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” says Zig Ziglar How much do you allow negative thinking to take over your life? The more you allow negative thoughts to occupy your mind, the more negative your life becomes, and in time, negativity becomes a habit. You need to learn to know how to stop negative thinking. Sometimes, if negative thinking is too deeply set in, one might need some professional help. However, in most cases, some inner work on your part is what you need, and this can make great changes in your life. According to Ali Brown “Change your thinking; when you replace negative limits in your beliefs about yourself with positive images that focus on your potential, your success increases exponentially”

Next, take good steps towards acting them (reality). You can now do it do act! “I thought, wow! I think I can do this”. “I can do it! In order to conquer self-limitation beliefs, Taking Action is the key” ─ Ali Brown. Become aware of the negative voice that tells you that you aren’t good enough or that you can’t have it all. Notice the feeling that arise and begin to take note of them. “Do the thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.” ─ Oprah Winfrey

We all hold ourselves back by staying within our comfort zones. By analyzing your current beliefs, you might be able to shift them and break free of the ones that cage you. They are responsible for creating the discrepancy between what we say and what we actually do. Start analyzing and testing your beliefs when trying to break out of a comfort zone and achieve something. This strategy changes your understanding, shifts your beliefs, and therefore shifts the comfort zone itself. “Look at where you have made assumptions or have created a story around something that may not be true. Challenge yourself to assign a new, empowering meaning to the experience or situation” ─ Tris Thorpbh

UNLOCK YOUR POTENTIAL

Decision on unlocking your potential is one of the biggest decisions you need to make in life. It is an advantage, a challenge, goal-oriented and often once a lifetime decision which makes you successful. At times creating something into existence tends to be an opportunity for you to show your potential.  As Oprah has said, “Every right decision I have ever made has come from my gut. Every wrong decision I’ve made was the result of me not listening to the greater voice of myself”.

Maybe you thought that by now you’d be famous, or at least wealthy. But our childhood dreams only come true if we make them true. Maybe you might not have accomplished much. And you do not know what is holding you back. Potential is simply the latent abilities developed which leads to future success in this context. Probabilis, being the Latin word for Potential means possible to come up with. Spending countless hours thinking and searching, but still frustrated because nothing seems to answer our questions!  How would you like to break through this conundrum? How would you like to gain access to a process that would unlock your potential for good? Things are always changing.  What matters is how you respond to it.  People who are learners get curious and start to explore the possibilities.  The alternative is to stand on the platform when the train has already left the station and expect to get somewhere.

Here is something to consider: You can achieve everything you really believe you can. Change not your positive beliefs, and you can achieve so much more. Examining your own beliefs about your true potential – and then working to expand those beliefs so they include even greater success – is the easiest way to raise the bar; which is to unlock you are potential. Below are some ways through which you can Unlock Your Potential:

          Remember the gifts you were born with. When you stop to remember what you have instead of worrying about what you don’t have or may not be getting, it changes your perspective for the better. “The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good”. Says Brian Tracy; author of GOALS!

          Know who you really are, Learn to honor yourself and Focus on What You Do Best. We all fake it from time to time and, once in a while, this can be a good thing, but never compromise your personal values and always strive to be your best self. Let’s face it we all like to think that we can do everything and I guess we all have fallen into that trap at one point or the other.  The truth is we all need to find out what we do best, focus all of our energies on those areas and get someone else to look after those things we don’t do so well.

Focus on your strengths. This is so simple: You are good at some stuff; you are not-so-good at other stuff. Focus on the stuff you are good at. Where you are naturally good, you have the potential to become great if you put time into developing those talents. Conversely, if you get too wrapped up in worrying about your weaknesses, you are probably wasting time and energy.

           Believe In Yourself. Yes we all have our doubts and worries about ourselves.  This can either act as a motivator or disempower us.  Believing in you is not about being big headed, cocky or brash.  It is about being courageous and willing to do something to move you forward.  Whatever you do, don’t let fear be your marketing manager. You are talented and full of potential. But if you are like the majority, then I expect you struggle to believe it. Most people are afraid to spread their wings because they’re not aware of what they can do. You are capable of so much more than you think. You need to start believing in your true potential and you need to start doing something about it. Don’t be afraid to be bold Believe in Yourself.

          Start your day the night before. I use to say; “today begun in the dark” It doesn’t matter whether yesterday was good or bad. It’s over. Don’t get stuck there. For that matter, don’t think too much about the future, either. You can’t change the past; you can’t mold the future.   The most successful people I know end their workday by making a list of what they have to do the following day or two ahead. This allows the subconscious to work on things while you sleep. But you can influence what happens right now. Give the present day your full attention and best effort.

         Watch out for negative thinking. Sometimes we get into negative feedback loops and don’t even know it. If thoughts of being helpless and hopeless continue to enter your mind, you might just need to take a nap or perhaps talk with someone who can help.

         Focus on your priorities. Protect your calendar! Your daily agenda can be turned upside down by others and the many requests they send your way. Be selective about what you do because you can’t do it all. As the late motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said, “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have 24-hour days.” Choose your priorities and use your time to accomplish them successfully.

         Set Targets and Milestones. Targets and milestones have three major benefits.  Firstly, they let you see the progress that you are making.  Secondly they act as a source of motivation to keep you going.  Thirdly they provide the basis for taking corrective action if things are not going quite as you expected.

           Focus on your results. It’s easy to become tired or frustrated when the work is hard and the journey long. If you start feeling aimless, act like a 5-year-old and pester yourself with questions. What am I working for? Why am I trying to achieve it? Why does it matter?  Give yourself permission to try things and occasionally get it horribly wrong.  By giving yourself that permission, you will take risks and that is what leads to results.  Reminding yourself of your purpose will keep you focused on the big picture, and your drive to succeed will triumph over adversity.

           Focus on your contribution Continually Develop. The best version of you will emerge when you decide to use your potential to make the world a better place. As author Steve Maraboli says, “You were put on this earth to achieve your greatest self…. Do it courageously.” Be bold and be you. Improve yourself and improve your world.

We all know how easy it is to focus on what we have to do now and forget about developing ourselves.  This is this fast road to staying exactly where you are right now for the long term. Decide to invest in yourself in whatever way works best for you, but do not rest on your laurels.

Watch what you say and think, and keep yourself positive. Forgive those who wrong you and feel grateful for the things that go right. Keep writing down your goals and action plans. When you catch yourself clinging to old ways, let them go. And let yourself feel good about it! Some think that the achievement of human potential is a long and arduous endeavor that should cost thousands of dollars and take years to process. Some think the attainment of mastery is reserved for those with superior abilities, great tenacity, or higher spiritual consciousness, but transformation does not rely solely upon any of these. The fact is that each of us has a unique and great potential that we are born with, and that potential is at the core of who we are. It’s our responsibility to honor that calling and deliver to the world, our authentic self with utter conviction and divine grace – this is our potential!  According to Matthew V. Toone; “You can become and accomplish anything in life! Your successes, greatness, and potential are determined by you alone; and all of the characteristics necessary to achieve your goals and dreams already lie within you. Our success and potential is not determined by talent or ability, knowledge or money, race or gender, or even circumstance or setting – it is created, developed, and determined from within ourselves”.

The essential challenge we face to unlock our potential, is to transform the way we see things, our perspectives if you will, and gain access to distinctions about life that make a difference in the way we think, act, and interface with others. With the proper information, transformation can be instantaneous! The bottom line is that change happens’ the instant you make a choice, which by the way, can also be the instant you limit your reality. Life is based on needs and choices, and it is our ability to make choices that determines our level of effect – our potential!

 

 

The Brain Chemicals That Make You Happy

1. Endorphins

Endorphins are opioid neuropeptides, which means they are produced by the central nervous system to help us deal with physical pain. They also make us feel lightheaded, and even giddy at times. One non-painful way to induce endorphins is exercise.

Endorphins are released after both aerobic and anaerobic exercise as little as 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill for 10 days in a row was sufficient to produce a significant reduction in depression among clinically depressed subjects.

2. Serotonin

Serotonin may be the best-known happiness chemical because it’s the one that antidepressant medication primarily addresses.  Exposure to bright light, especially sunshine, is one way to increase serotonin. Exercise and happy thoughts also stimulate production of this chemical. Some research has found that a higher intake of tryptophan-heavy foods, relative to other foods in the diet, may do the trick as well.

3. Dopamine

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter often referred to as the “chemical of reward.”When you score a goal, hit a target, or accomplish a task, you receive a pleasurable hit of dopamine in your brain that tells you you’ve done a good job. But you can also get a natural dose of dopamine when you perform acts of kindness toward others.

Volunteering has been shown to increase dopamine as well as have other long-term health benefits. And some research has even found that it only takes thoughts of loving kindness to bring on the dopamine high.

4. Oxytocin

Mothers may be familiar with oxytocin, the hormone produced in abundance during pregnancy and breastfeeding. It’s also the high behind MDMA, a popular party drug, which releases oxytocin in the brain. Oxytocin is primarily associated with loving touch and close relationships.

This hormone provides a multiple whammy of warm fuzzies, by stimulating dopamine and serotonin, while reducing anxiety. To get your hit of oxytocin without popping ecstasy, give someone you love a cuddle.

 

(this article was written by Kaia Roman)

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MANAGE YOUR TIME WELL

“Time dips through our hands like grains of sand, never to return again. Those who use time wisely are rewarded with rich, productive, and satisfying lives”. ─Robin Sharma. Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Meanwhile, John C. Maxwell once wrote “Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have.”

To start with, get your time under control. When you practice excellent time management skills, it becomes possible for you to have a sense of control towards your tasks. In order to get your time under control, you need to; firstly list everything you need to do, so as to be reminded on how much you have to do that may feel like the last thing you want. Since you don’t have a proper idea of what is due, it will carry on feeling overwhelming. Secondly, break down big tasks into smaller chunks. Next, you are to prioritize your work list as in today, tomorrow… be realistic about what needs doing now, but remember deadlines are the priority. Also, getting at least one task completely done will make you feel calmer. If you have a deadline coming up, get that piece of work out of the way first. At last you can now put the other tasks in priority order and make a plan to tackle them.

In addition, Time management as a skill; Time management is said to be a skill because it is learnable, and due to that, it can be applied to our lives, tasks everywhere we find ourselves and at all time. it is the number one skill you need to learn if you want to become successful. Without time management you let yourself over to coincidence. You won’t steer your life and you’ll eventually do what others want you to do. If you study and practice time management you take your life in your own hands. You can control and decide where you want to go to. You tend to be more disciplined when at work instead of talking about gossip with your co-workers or aimlessly browsing the internet. “I am definitely going to take a course on time management… just as soon as I can work it into my schedule”.─ Louis E. Boone. If you fail to learn and to acquire time management skills now, in time to come when you need it to accomplish a particular task in lesser time, you may learn to fail; since you wanted it in a rush. Practicing time management has lots of benefits. Once you get the hang of it, you can work more, learn faster and play more.

Next, Determine your long term goals with time management. Long-term goals could be yearly, five years, decades etc. it is greatly demanded of you to be time conscious and manage your time effectively to achieve the best results hoped for. Here are some stages to take you through in order to determine your long-term goals with time management:

• Write your goals on paper. Listing of goals is the basic tool of time management. It is organized by priority and used as a constant tool for personal management. You should plan your life with lists of long-term goals also plan for a year, in advance, a list of what you want to accomplish as at that period. “To stay on schedule I devised a timetable which I had to stick to. I used an electronic calendar which I programmed to send out emails as reminders to myself and my team. This was a very useful tool and it is one that I have used continuously to manage my time effectively.” By a Kent student. A daily list of tasks that need to be done is an essential part of action planning. Refer to and update this regularly.Prioritise items on the list into important/not important and urgent/non-urgent. Such a list can take a variety of formats but an example is given to the right. Update your list daily, crossing off completed tasks and adding new tasks that need to be done. Urgent or important tasks can be highlighted with an asterisk.
• Also, Visit your listed goals frequently. Visiting your goals frequently will help you to recall and think about them all the time. Besides, it can help you think about alternative ways to executing or dealing with to achieve such goals. You should have a reminder system to tell you of when you need to do what: don’t try to remember everything in your head as this is a recipe for disaster! Carry a pen and paper or organizer wherever you go. At the simplest level your reminder system could simply be to use your diary to write down the things you need to do, including appointments and deadlines. Before interviews, it’s fine to write down the questions you wish to ask on a small piece of card or notepad. Make plans to achieve your goals every second, minute, hour, day, week, month, and so on.
• Revise your efforts regularly. The least effort you try to make to help increase the chance to accomplish your tasks or goals should be revised regularly. It’s advisable to increase the efforts to accomplish your goals all times. From Thomas Edison, “my success is due more to my ability to work on one thing without stopping than to any other single quality.”

Moreover, Focus more on your important tasks than the unimportant ones. You’ve got to know what you want. This is central to acting on your intentions. When you know what you want, you realize that all there is left then is time management. You’ll manage your time to achieve your goals because you clearly know what you’re trying to achieve in your life.

‘Urgent’ tasks demand your immediate attention, but whether you actually give them that attention may or may not matter. ‘Important’ tasks matter and not doing them may have serious consequences for you or others. This distinction between urgent and important is the key to prioritizing your time and your workload, whether at work or at home. Remember, too, that you and your health are important. Just because you have lots to do doesn’t mean that doing some exercise, going for a 10-minute walk or making time to eat properly is not important. You should not ignore your physical or mental health in favor of more ‘urgent’ activities. “Make use of time, let not advantage slip”. ─William Shakespeare.

Lastly, be delegative and avoid interruption at work. In the professional environment people are so easily distracted by ‘noise’. Whether its emails, admin or politics, there will always be something that seems so much more important than the actual task. More often than not, people will get caught up with the nice to have activity rather than the critical work which creates more value for the business. “Being ruthlessly focused means you have the ability to cancel out this noise and focus on what is important. It’s a strength in itself to be able to say something is not critical”. ─James Caan

Organize your time. Identify areas of your life where you are wasting time and try to reduce these. A good way to do this is to write down everything you do for a week in meticulous detail and then examine your record to see how you use (or misuse!) your time. “Time management is the mantra of my life”. Says Vir Das .Develop a regular work routine. Keep your workspace tidy so that you can work efficiently. Work to schedule so that you meet deadlines in good time. Don’t leave everything until the last minute. If you have a difficult essay to write, start by drafting out the structure first, this will break the ice. When applying for jobs keep copies of all the applications you have made and keep a log of the date you applied, result, and a record of all your interviews, plus you were questions asked. This will help you to keep track of your progress and spot areas where you could improve. According to Marc Guggenheim, “Time management is really the key for me”.

CREATE YOUR OWN FUTURE

For as much as we are entitled to take decisions as to what to do in life, so also can we create our own future by making vital plans to attain them. “Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now” ─Mattie Stepanek. To CREATE is to bring something that does not exist into existence (reality). Apparently, creating your own future requires setting goals or target and making plans to achieve them in some time to come in life. Creating your own future will help you build a positive, optimistic, result-oriented attitudes and behaviors that virtually guarantee that you will achieve at a higher level.

At the most basic level, this principle involves developing, on an ongoing basis, what you want to accomplish and work toward and how you are going to get there. It also means not putting off decisions and actions so far into the future. Create knowing that life will be uncertain, that there will always be risks, and that change is the norm.

To begin with, Think About the Future. “Every thought we think is creating our future”. Says Louise L Hay, a speaker and an inspirational teacher. In this case, to create your future, you have to think positively; in terms of possibilities, probabilities and certainties. Anytime you think positive about the future, there is a kind of happiness you feel within you and that, such gives you assurance. Happiness can be, essentially, a state of mind, or a particular look on life. But often at times we can often observe how our minds are affected by what goes on around us towards our future. Upon observing this, there is the need to think positive and carry on with life towards you are future. According to Miles Davis, he says, “I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning… Every day, I find something creative to do with my life”.

Secondly, Understand Your Life; where you have been and where your now and create a future fantasy. You may be living a life that doesn’t match your goals or future. Just understand, that is what life gives you at that particular moment. You need to change such life in order to suite your demands towards your future. This is much essential. Too many people whine about not having the life they want. Often it’s more comfortable to complain and blame outside factors for lack of accomplishment or unhappiness than to take time to work on life rather than in it.

Also, Don’t Settle for Mediocrity but make a greater choice. Too many people settle for what is easy rather than engage their energy and creativity to create something different and meaningful. Then they wonder why their work has no significance. There is the need for you to choose to pursue the Awesome Experience that leads to your future. The game of life rewards aggressive players who leverage their energy, smart and not intelligence, and creativity to determine and obtain the life that truly makes them happy; their future!

In Addition, Ignore the Naysayers. You live for constructive criticism. But outside perspective that is baseless conjecture or stems from emotional baggage (could be friends or family), is destructive for achievers. Put these people in a box where they can’t distract you from your ambitions. Find people who get it, and put them in your corner. Engage them in your preferred future, and help them achieve theirs.

Furthermore, You need to be Productive. If you want to be productive, the question you need to ask yourself is: Who do I want to be and where do I want to go? The answers to these questions represent growth in some direction. Spending time to pursue your objectives are important. If you want to be a sales manager, you can’t just sell ─ you have to develop your management skill, also, you have to be building and planning you are skills and experience.

Thus, you need to spend time on the future even when there are more important things to do in the present. Sometimes you need to be irresponsible with your current challenges in order to make real progress on your future when you decide spending time doing things that feel ridiculously and unproductive. Think about you are unproductive habits. How do you defend them and what are the secondary gains? Stop procrastinating!

           Not only being productive, but also, Invest In Your Future. Investing in your future means making some sacrifices in the present to reap reward later. It means preparing for the uncertainties of the future. It also means investing your time and money in something that may not give you immediate return, but which can give you tremendous value later. Many people think about the present. Therefore, when something unexpected happens, they aren’t ready to get into a difficult situation. For instance, many people find jobs with respective to their skills at a particular time without investing into learning to acquire more and advanced skills towards the future, where their current skills wouldn’t be needed; and then when the situation changes, their skills are no longer relevant and they lose their job.

Similarly, start investing early when your situation is still good, not when you lose your current job, because it takes time building up something. Also, be willing to invest both your time and money. It could be difficult spending time and money on something that doesn’t give you immediate return. But it is important that you do that. If you don’t, your progress will be slow and you wouldn’t reach your target in time.

Lastly, Take ACTION! You have to start doing something; both exercises and with creativity. First create and put into action afterwards.

Any journey to the future involves preparation. The elements above represent your guide, based on Munnira’s writings and teachings, for navigating tomorrow. The key points from some of her previous articles shall give you a further understanding of how he arrived at these essential elements regarding thinking about and acting on the future. Both individual knowledge workers and organizations are moving inevitably toward a future that is created one day, one action.  It works! You can really create your own future.

‘A Gem of a person’

Sometimes things become so clear suddenly.  Before clarity you are blaming yourself for everything.  You feel guilt of what you have not done. You are trapped within the desire of being understood loved and consoled. But excuse me. Who the hell will do all this for you? Those who are stringed to you with their unconditional love. Others will just follow their right and wrong rules which are highly dependent on their own egoistic situation and age based desires. Love is not bound to a fact that they gave you birth. But because they have proved in life that they will bear all the hardships all the hurdles people’s talk bad eyes critical situations hunger tiredness and do more than what their adrenaline allows them. More than giving birth is that unconditional love in which they just don’t sit and talk and give suggestions of how to build life. But put in practice the real gentlemen charisma. Honor the dreams they induce in minds.
I am today proud of my father that he held such life. He was not a filmatic good looking hero at his last age. But indeed he was a thorough gentleman throughout his limited beneficial to others’ life, who gave me all the strength to live with pride and respect my female being. This was his true heroism. He did not teach me to fight for my rights but he taught me to create my own paths and build them. He did not teach me to be submissive according to lucrative situations but to hold my dreams firm enough and live them as lucrative. He did not teach me to reply jealousy envious attitudes and cruel behaviors but develop an aura where only right people may fit in. I am able to easily give away my cake because I believe in myself to be a cherry which can embellish peaks. Deserving scale is my respect. I can’t believe how clear he was in his understanding of life. How accurate are his judgement and analysis. How visionary he was for his daughters.  To really build them soft tall beautiful snowy mountains against the possible cruelty of this world could have been a challenge for him. At the same time to indulge a broader vision colorful streams of happiness in life and to give empowerment of inner self must have been an erudite challenge for him. Although I remember him in my prayers but his contribution in our lives is untouchable. His clean clear thoughts to raise his family specially daughters are truly understood to me now and each day. You were a truly learned man of honor. I want to thank you father for being in my life. Else honor killings are not only a part of tribes and villages using hands or guns.