I am moved by the many many relationships dwindling currently having not survived long after their inception. The Bible says it well; "My people have gone into captivity because of lack of Knowledge" This is a true verdict. If I knew of the 29 nuggets, I would have never made some of the serious mistakes that I have made in life. Whatever the case, I can only improve where appropriate. I am going to write the 29 nuggets to be a blessing to anyone who has not had time to peruse relationships' journals and savor their priceless wisdom. I promise you that after reading the 29 nuggets you cannot evade making informed decisions relationally. Please join me on the 29 days flight to a destination of rest, and relationship bliss.
The nuggets are adopted from a book written by Dr. Neil Clark Warren entitled, "falling in love for right reasons- How to find your soul mate"
We will break the 29 nuggets into 4 classes
1. Screening Dimensions- designed to help you avoid troublemakers and to prevent becoming romantically involved with a problematic person.
2. Core personal Dimensions- these are characteristics in you and your partner that are relatively difficult to alter
3. Necessary skills that can be developed
4. Crucial qualities that can be developed
Lets get started! your soul mate is Waiting!
Day 1 (11th July 2011)
THE SCREENING DIMENSIONS
Consist of 7 nuggets
NUGGET 1 Good Character
- No marriage thrives if one of the partners has bad character. Character means: Integrity , Honesty and Moral uprightness.
- If one of the partners in the relationship lies, cheats, or steals, that bad character will eventually undermine the relationship.
- If you or your partner lies, for instance, the first thing to go in your relationship is TRUST.
- People who willfully and regularly lie, exaggerate, or cheat, have no regard for the rights of others. DON'T BE NAIVE, if he lies to someone else, she/ he will eventually lie to you.
- A person with a character disorder is often a smooth talker, a charmer, a person who knows how to say just the right thing to get what he or she wants. They are takers rather than givers.
- Observe carefully how your partner treats waiters and waitresses at a restaurant. If he or she is short, irrational or disrespectful of someone in a serving capacity, you can be quite sure that the same attitude will one day be aimed at you should you proceed with the relationship.
N/B: Good Character is one of the primary keys to a great relationship!!!!!
See you tomorrow as we walk down the nugget number 2
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
POWER IN GRATITUDE
Please 5 things you are grateful to your God for everyday. After 1 month, you will have done 150 entries, after 10 months you will have done 1,500 entries. This will form in you the habit of thanksgiving that is a main ingredient in wealth creation.
With all your getting, be grateful!!!
With all your getting, be grateful!!!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“All improvement in your life begins with an improvement in your mental pictures.”
—Brian Tracy
—Brian Tracy
CREATIVITY
"PEOPLE GO INTO BUSINESS TO DO WELL
BUT STAY IN BUSINESS TO DO GOOD" Mahatma Gandhi
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."Einstein
One of the most famous quotes from Albert Einstein is, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." You see, Einstein placed incredible value on creativity. His theories and ideas were all about creativity. He made a toy car for his young son out of shoestring and some boxes—that was creativity. When he was down and out and needed money, he posted an ad for tutoring lessons—that was creativity in making money.
Since Einstein was one of the most accomplished and greatest thinkers of our time, an argument could be made that he was also one of the most creative people of all time. You can know more about your product than anyone and have more degrees than anyone you know, but if you don't have a little bit of creativity to take advantage of what you do have, then it is useless.
Credentials and knowledge will do you little good if you lack the creativity to take advantage of them. Einstein once said, "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." I think he was being a little humble and a lot humorous here, but he was once again acknowledging the importance of being creative!
So you may ask yourself, "What is creativity?"
That is an excellent question. Let's go straight to the source to answer it. Einstein said, "Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else has thought."
Robert Kennedy said the same thing this way: "Some look at things that are and ask, why? I look at things that never were and ask, why not?" Robert Kennedy was talking about creativity, just as Einstein was.
So how do you do it? How do you model the creativity of Albert Einstein? First, we need to address the idea of the limiting belief that you are not creative.
There is a prevailing belief that creativity is an inborn trait—you are either creative or you're not. Well, while creativity is an inborn trait, we are all born with a creative brain (your right cerebral hemisphere) and have many creative skills.
Children are naturally curious and eager to explore the world around them and spend hours playing with toys, making up imaginary friends and pretend games. But as we get older, we begin to lose some of our natural creativity as we learn and use more left-brain thinking skills in school and at work.
Research shows that our propensity to generate original ideas drops from 90% at age 5, to 20% at age 7, and even further to 2% as adults! However, unless you have suffered brain damage in your right hemisphere or had it surgically removed, you still have a creative brain; so you are still creative. It's just that maybe you don't use your creative skills as much as you used to.
Now for the good news! You can reawaken your creative brainpower.
What would Einstein tell you in regard to increasing your creativity? Well, we don't have to guess on that one, because he told us. He said, "The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
Develop the curiosity of a child. Leonardo da Vinci, who is said to have been one of the greatest geniuses of all time, also had this creativity. I don't think that it is a coincidence that Da Vinci and Einstein were both extremely creative and that so many years after their deaths we are still talking about them. Let me give you a few of Da Vinci's credentials.
Five hundred years ago, Da Vinci:
- drew blueprints for the world's first helicopter
- drew blueprints for a submarine
- built an extendable ladder whose design is still being used by fire departments today
- built the world's first hydraulic jack
- built a rotating stage
- built a water-powered alarm clock!
Those are some pretty amazing credentials if you ask me.
While curiosity might have "killed the cat," it can help you think like a genius. Leonardo da Vinci had a book of questions. In his journal he would write down questions as fast as they would pop into his head. He would write down questions such as:
Why do birds fly?
Why do they slow down as they land?
What do their feathers do?
The interesting thing is that he didn't worry about the answers. He simply wrote down the questions because he knew something about the power of the human mind. He knew the subconscious mind was powerful and if he wrote down the questions his subconscious mind would continue to work on the answers.
BUT STAY IN BUSINESS TO DO GOOD" Mahatma Gandhi
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."Einstein
One of the most famous quotes from Albert Einstein is, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." You see, Einstein placed incredible value on creativity. His theories and ideas were all about creativity. He made a toy car for his young son out of shoestring and some boxes—that was creativity. When he was down and out and needed money, he posted an ad for tutoring lessons—that was creativity in making money.
Since Einstein was one of the most accomplished and greatest thinkers of our time, an argument could be made that he was also one of the most creative people of all time. You can know more about your product than anyone and have more degrees than anyone you know, but if you don't have a little bit of creativity to take advantage of what you do have, then it is useless.
Credentials and knowledge will do you little good if you lack the creativity to take advantage of them. Einstein once said, "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." I think he was being a little humble and a lot humorous here, but he was once again acknowledging the importance of being creative!
So you may ask yourself, "What is creativity?"
That is an excellent question. Let's go straight to the source to answer it. Einstein said, "Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else has thought."
Robert Kennedy said the same thing this way: "Some look at things that are and ask, why? I look at things that never were and ask, why not?" Robert Kennedy was talking about creativity, just as Einstein was.
So how do you do it? How do you model the creativity of Albert Einstein? First, we need to address the idea of the limiting belief that you are not creative.
There is a prevailing belief that creativity is an inborn trait—you are either creative or you're not. Well, while creativity is an inborn trait, we are all born with a creative brain (your right cerebral hemisphere) and have many creative skills.
Children are naturally curious and eager to explore the world around them and spend hours playing with toys, making up imaginary friends and pretend games. But as we get older, we begin to lose some of our natural creativity as we learn and use more left-brain thinking skills in school and at work.
Research shows that our propensity to generate original ideas drops from 90% at age 5, to 20% at age 7, and even further to 2% as adults! However, unless you have suffered brain damage in your right hemisphere or had it surgically removed, you still have a creative brain; so you are still creative. It's just that maybe you don't use your creative skills as much as you used to.
Now for the good news! You can reawaken your creative brainpower.
What would Einstein tell you in regard to increasing your creativity? Well, we don't have to guess on that one, because he told us. He said, "The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
Develop the curiosity of a child. Leonardo da Vinci, who is said to have been one of the greatest geniuses of all time, also had this creativity. I don't think that it is a coincidence that Da Vinci and Einstein were both extremely creative and that so many years after their deaths we are still talking about them. Let me give you a few of Da Vinci's credentials.
Five hundred years ago, Da Vinci:
- drew blueprints for the world's first helicopter
- drew blueprints for a submarine
- built an extendable ladder whose design is still being used by fire departments today
- built the world's first hydraulic jack
- built a rotating stage
- built a water-powered alarm clock!
Those are some pretty amazing credentials if you ask me.
While curiosity might have "killed the cat," it can help you think like a genius. Leonardo da Vinci had a book of questions. In his journal he would write down questions as fast as they would pop into his head. He would write down questions such as:
Why do birds fly?
Why do they slow down as they land?
What do their feathers do?
The interesting thing is that he didn't worry about the answers. He simply wrote down the questions because he knew something about the power of the human mind. He knew the subconscious mind was powerful and if he wrote down the questions his subconscious mind would continue to work on the answers.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
FACING THE ENEMIES WiITHIN
Adopted from Jim Rohn
We are not born with courage, but neither are we born with fear. Maybe some fears are brought on by your own experiences, by what someone has told you, by what you've read in the papers. Some fears are valid, like walking alone in a bad part of town at two o'clock in the morning. But once you learn to avoid that situation, you won't need to live in fear of it.
Fears, even the most basic ones, can totally destroy our ambitions. Fear can destroy fortunes. Fear can destroy relationships. Fear, if left unchecked, can destroy our lives. Fear is one of the many enemies lurking inside us.
Let me tell you about five of the other enemies we face from within:
The first enemy that you've got to destroy before it destroys you is indifference. What a tragic disease this is. "Ho-hum, let it slide. I'll just drift along." Here's one problem with drifting: you can't drift your way to the top of the mountain.
The second enemy we face is indecision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity and enterprise. It will steal your chances for a better future. Take a sword to this enemy.
The third enemy inside is doubt. Sure, there's room for healthy skepticism. You can't believe everything. But you also can't let doubt take over. Many people doubt the past, doubt the future, doubt each other, doubt the government, doubt the possibilities and doubt the opportunities. Worst of all, they doubt themselves. I'm telling you, doubt will destroy your life and your chances of success. It will empty both your bank account and your heart. Doubt is an enemy. Go after it. Get rid of it.
The fourth enemy within is worry. We've all got to worry some. Just don't let it conquer you. Instead, let it alarm you. Worry can be useful. If you step off the curb in New York City and a taxi is coming, you've got to worry. But you can't let worry loose like a mad dog that drives you into a small corner. Here's what you've got to do with your worries: drive them into a small corner. Whatever is out to get you, you've got to get it. Whatever is pushing on you, you've got to push back.
The fifth interior enemy is over-caution. It is the timid approach to life. Timidity is not a virtue; it's an illness. If you let it go, it'll conquer you. Timid people don't get promoted. They don't advance and grow and become powerful in the marketplace. You've got to avoid over-caution.
Do battle with the enemy. Do battle with your fears. Build your courage to fight what's holding you back, what's keeping you from your goals and dreams. Be courageous in your life and in your pursuit of the things you want and the person you want to become.
We are not born with courage, but neither are we born with fear. Maybe some fears are brought on by your own experiences, by what someone has told you, by what you've read in the papers. Some fears are valid, like walking alone in a bad part of town at two o'clock in the morning. But once you learn to avoid that situation, you won't need to live in fear of it.
Fears, even the most basic ones, can totally destroy our ambitions. Fear can destroy fortunes. Fear can destroy relationships. Fear, if left unchecked, can destroy our lives. Fear is one of the many enemies lurking inside us.
Let me tell you about five of the other enemies we face from within:
The first enemy that you've got to destroy before it destroys you is indifference. What a tragic disease this is. "Ho-hum, let it slide. I'll just drift along." Here's one problem with drifting: you can't drift your way to the top of the mountain.
The second enemy we face is indecision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity and enterprise. It will steal your chances for a better future. Take a sword to this enemy.
The third enemy inside is doubt. Sure, there's room for healthy skepticism. You can't believe everything. But you also can't let doubt take over. Many people doubt the past, doubt the future, doubt each other, doubt the government, doubt the possibilities and doubt the opportunities. Worst of all, they doubt themselves. I'm telling you, doubt will destroy your life and your chances of success. It will empty both your bank account and your heart. Doubt is an enemy. Go after it. Get rid of it.
The fourth enemy within is worry. We've all got to worry some. Just don't let it conquer you. Instead, let it alarm you. Worry can be useful. If you step off the curb in New York City and a taxi is coming, you've got to worry. But you can't let worry loose like a mad dog that drives you into a small corner. Here's what you've got to do with your worries: drive them into a small corner. Whatever is out to get you, you've got to get it. Whatever is pushing on you, you've got to push back.
The fifth interior enemy is over-caution. It is the timid approach to life. Timidity is not a virtue; it's an illness. If you let it go, it'll conquer you. Timid people don't get promoted. They don't advance and grow and become powerful in the marketplace. You've got to avoid over-caution.
Do battle with the enemy. Do battle with your fears. Build your courage to fight what's holding you back, what's keeping you from your goals and dreams. Be courageous in your life and in your pursuit of the things you want and the person you want to become.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
7 Principles to Maximize Your Profits in Any Market
ADOPTED FROM BRIAN TRACY
The most pressing problem or need facing business owners today is the ability to attract more customers and make more sales.
There are seven essential elements of high profit businesses. In times of turbulence and rapid change, when all bets are off in the current economy, it is essential that you come back to these seven principles over and over again. Here they are.
Principle One: Become a Great Leader.
The fact is that the best businesses have the best leaders, at every level. The job of the leader is to establish the vision, values, mission, purpose and goals of the company. If the leader is not absolutely clear about each one of these, it is not possible for anyone else in the company to be clear about them either.
The leader’s job is to lead. It is to make the critical decisions that determine the fate and future of the business. The job of the leader is to be clear about what he or she wants to accomplish and then get everyone in the company focused on that end goal.
The leader must be goal-oriented. He/She must have clear, specific written goals and plans to achieve each critical business objective, especially those of sales, cash flow and profitability.
The leader must be result-oriented. He must focus the limited resources of the company on those areas where the greatest results are possible.
In addition, you must be people-oriented, solution-oriented, sales-oriented, and cash flow-oriented. These are the requirements of leadership in a turbulent business in a tough market economy.
Principle Two: Develop a Great Business Plan.
The process of developing a business plan forces you to think through every critical element that will determine your business success. You must have a plan for selecting your products and services, developing your marketing, selecting the right people, getting the money you need, designing your sales process, arranging for distribution, service and collection of payments, and many other factors.
Especially, you must be absolutely clear about the critical numbers in your business. There is always one number that is more indicative and predictive of your success than any other and you must decide what it is. It may be number of sales, size of sales, profitability of sales, number of repeat purchases per customer, or rate of growth. There are thirty-five different measures that may be applicable to your business and you must be absolutely clear about which measure is most important to you.
Principle Three: Surround Yourself with Great People.
Your ability to interview, select, hire and deploy excellent people is the control valve on your success in business. Fortunately, you can become excellent at the process of finding and keeping good people with a little instruction, guidance and practice.
The best companies have the best people. The second best companies have the second best people. The third best companies are on their way out of business. Sometimes, the selection or de-selection of a single person can have a major difference on your business results.
Principle Four: Offer a Great Product or Service.
This is perhaps the most important element of business success. The product or service must be truly excellent. It must cause customers to say, upon using your product or service, that, “This is a great product!”
This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where your business intelligence most shows itself. This is where you demonstrate that you are on the high road to greater sales and profitability. It is when you can continually focus on making your product or service so attractive and helpful that people literally want to tear it out of your hands.
Fortunately, most products start off as average or below average. They are then improved over time, making them more and more attractive and desirable to more and more customers until people start to say, “This is a great product!” This is one of the most important strategies and skills that you learn in our book.
Principle Five: Develop a Great Marketing Plan.
In reality, all strategy is marketing strategy. The key to success or failure in your business, once you have an excellent product or service to sell, is to attract more qualified prospects to your offerings.
Your marketing plan must position your product or service as the most desirable and attractive of all similar products or services available in your market at this time. You must practice specialization, differentiation, segmentation, and concentration. You and your team must be absolutely excellent, every single day, at getting the phone to ring, at getting more and more people to call you and contact you to learn more about your products and services.
Your marketing plan will determine your success or failure as much, if not more, than any other single factor.
Principle Six: Perfect a Great Sales Process.
The rule is that, “nothing happens until a sale takes place.” It is amazing how many companies have excellent products and services, excellent people, and excellent plans, but they have given little or no thought to the sales process. The sales process refers to every single point of contact that you have with a potential customer, from the first time they see or hear about you, all the way through to the closing of the sale and the payment of the price you charge.
You and your sales team must be excellent at prospecting, establishing rapport, identifying needs accurately, presenting persuasively, answering objections, closing the sale, and getting re-sales and referrals from happy customers.
One small improvement in any one of these key areas can lead to dramatic improvements in the number of sales you make, the amount of cash you have coming in, and the profitability of your business.
Principle Seven: Create a Great Customer Experience.
In the final analysis, your ability to satisfy your customers at such a high level that they say, “This is a great company!” and they want to buy from you again, and bring their friends, is the key determinant of your success.
The key to a great customer experience is to make your customers feel happy, pleased, satisfied and wonderful about dealing with you. This is something that you must work on, in competition with every other company who wants to offer a great customer experience. Fortunately, there are specific, proven, tested methods and techniques that you can use to get your customers to come back to you over and over again, and to refer you enthusiastically to others.
The most pressing problem or need facing business owners today is the ability to attract more customers and make more sales.
There are seven essential elements of high profit businesses. In times of turbulence and rapid change, when all bets are off in the current economy, it is essential that you come back to these seven principles over and over again. Here they are.
Principle One: Become a Great Leader.
The fact is that the best businesses have the best leaders, at every level. The job of the leader is to establish the vision, values, mission, purpose and goals of the company. If the leader is not absolutely clear about each one of these, it is not possible for anyone else in the company to be clear about them either.
The leader’s job is to lead. It is to make the critical decisions that determine the fate and future of the business. The job of the leader is to be clear about what he or she wants to accomplish and then get everyone in the company focused on that end goal.
The leader must be goal-oriented. He/She must have clear, specific written goals and plans to achieve each critical business objective, especially those of sales, cash flow and profitability.
The leader must be result-oriented. He must focus the limited resources of the company on those areas where the greatest results are possible.
In addition, you must be people-oriented, solution-oriented, sales-oriented, and cash flow-oriented. These are the requirements of leadership in a turbulent business in a tough market economy.
Principle Two: Develop a Great Business Plan.
The process of developing a business plan forces you to think through every critical element that will determine your business success. You must have a plan for selecting your products and services, developing your marketing, selecting the right people, getting the money you need, designing your sales process, arranging for distribution, service and collection of payments, and many other factors.
Especially, you must be absolutely clear about the critical numbers in your business. There is always one number that is more indicative and predictive of your success than any other and you must decide what it is. It may be number of sales, size of sales, profitability of sales, number of repeat purchases per customer, or rate of growth. There are thirty-five different measures that may be applicable to your business and you must be absolutely clear about which measure is most important to you.
Principle Three: Surround Yourself with Great People.
Your ability to interview, select, hire and deploy excellent people is the control valve on your success in business. Fortunately, you can become excellent at the process of finding and keeping good people with a little instruction, guidance and practice.
The best companies have the best people. The second best companies have the second best people. The third best companies are on their way out of business. Sometimes, the selection or de-selection of a single person can have a major difference on your business results.
Principle Four: Offer a Great Product or Service.
This is perhaps the most important element of business success. The product or service must be truly excellent. It must cause customers to say, upon using your product or service, that, “This is a great product!”
This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where your business intelligence most shows itself. This is where you demonstrate that you are on the high road to greater sales and profitability. It is when you can continually focus on making your product or service so attractive and helpful that people literally want to tear it out of your hands.
Fortunately, most products start off as average or below average. They are then improved over time, making them more and more attractive and desirable to more and more customers until people start to say, “This is a great product!” This is one of the most important strategies and skills that you learn in our book.
Principle Five: Develop a Great Marketing Plan.
In reality, all strategy is marketing strategy. The key to success or failure in your business, once you have an excellent product or service to sell, is to attract more qualified prospects to your offerings.
Your marketing plan must position your product or service as the most desirable and attractive of all similar products or services available in your market at this time. You must practice specialization, differentiation, segmentation, and concentration. You and your team must be absolutely excellent, every single day, at getting the phone to ring, at getting more and more people to call you and contact you to learn more about your products and services.
Your marketing plan will determine your success or failure as much, if not more, than any other single factor.
Principle Six: Perfect a Great Sales Process.
The rule is that, “nothing happens until a sale takes place.” It is amazing how many companies have excellent products and services, excellent people, and excellent plans, but they have given little or no thought to the sales process. The sales process refers to every single point of contact that you have with a potential customer, from the first time they see or hear about you, all the way through to the closing of the sale and the payment of the price you charge.
You and your sales team must be excellent at prospecting, establishing rapport, identifying needs accurately, presenting persuasively, answering objections, closing the sale, and getting re-sales and referrals from happy customers.
One small improvement in any one of these key areas can lead to dramatic improvements in the number of sales you make, the amount of cash you have coming in, and the profitability of your business.
Principle Seven: Create a Great Customer Experience.
In the final analysis, your ability to satisfy your customers at such a high level that they say, “This is a great company!” and they want to buy from you again, and bring their friends, is the key determinant of your success.
The key to a great customer experience is to make your customers feel happy, pleased, satisfied and wonderful about dealing with you. This is something that you must work on, in competition with every other company who wants to offer a great customer experience. Fortunately, there are specific, proven, tested methods and techniques that you can use to get your customers to come back to you over and over again, and to refer you enthusiastically to others.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Einstein's Ability to Risk and Willingness to Be Wrong
ADOPTED FROM JIM ROHN
The early life of Albert Einstein gives us some clues to the great man that he would become. He was never one to dominate conversation to prove his intellect. Even as a child he didn’t talk much. It has been said that he didn’t talk until the age of 3 (there are conflicting accounts on this). However, what is not conflicting is that it took him a little longer to talk than the average child. But, we must remember that Albert Einstein was far from average.
Einstein’s parents hardly coddled their firstborn. They gave him tremendous freedom to roam and grow. This no doubt had a positive outcome on his development. When he was just 4 years old, he was allowed to roam the neighborhood alone. Believe it or not, his parents even encouraged him to cross the street on his own at this young age. They watched the first few times to ensure that he looked both ways, but soon he was on his own doing this.
Now, keep in mind when he was crossing the street he wasn’t dodging Fords, Chevrolets, Mercedes or cars with a lot of horsepower. He was dodging only true horse power! In other words, he was dodging horse-drawn carriages. But, it was still very dangerous for this young child. In our world today, I would not encourage my 4-year-old to roam the neighborhood alone or even allow him near the street. With that being said, the principles of self-reliance and risk that Einstein’s parents implemented in his life are ones that we can perhaps model on a smaller scale. Einstein certainly modeled this behavior with his own son on a smaller scale.
In his late 20s, Einstein moved to Zurich with his first wife, Mileva, and their son. Friedrich Adler was living near Einstein and they became great friends. They would often get together to share ideas. Oftentimes their sons would get rowdy and it would be hard for the two men to talk. Other parents might barge in and tell their sons to be quiet, that they are having a meeting. Not Adler and Einstein. These great thinkers would climb into the attic to carry on their conversation. They allowed their boys to grow and explore even if they were noisy.
His freedom as a child and the freedom he gave his son were in part due to his attitude on failure. He was not afraid to fail. After all, he tackled some of the most perplexing questions of our universe. Many would have shied away from tackling these questions simply because the rate of failure seemed extraordinarily high. However, it is evident that Einstein was not afraid to be wrong or to fail.
When Einstein was 50 years old, reporters were hounding him for an interview during the time in which he was working on a unified field theory. Put into layman’s terms, this meant he was working on a theory that would put the entire universe into a mathematical equation. He had the attention of the world. Reporters parked outside his home in hopes of an interview. Many kept all-night vigils waiting for the story. As a rule, Einstein did not chase the spotlight and dodged the requests often. It was the same in this instance as well. He did, however, allow an interview with one reporter from the New York Times. You see the New York Times was edited by Carr Van Anda, and Van Anda had found an error in one of Einstein’s previous equations. Imagine that! The editor of the New York Times finding an error in the math of Einstein! Don’t you think that Einstein must have been irate that the editor would point this out? He must have been insulted. Actually, on the contrary, Einstein was impressed and that is the reason he allowed an interview to this reporter from the New York Times. You see, Einstein was not afraid to be wrong, and when corrected he was not insulted.
At Princeton, Albert Einstein was more like a kindly uncle. When he arrived in 1935, he was asked what he would require for his study. He replied, “A desk, some pads and a pencil, and a large wastebasket—to hold all of my mistakes.”
Albert Einstein spent his last two decades trying to reconcile quantum physics with relativity. His holy grail—a so-called “Unified Field Theory”—eluded him. He once casually mentioned to a colleague that he was on the verge of his “greatest discovery ever,” before admitting that “it didn’t pan out” just two weeks later.
One day in his twilight years, he received a letter from a 15-year-old girl asking for help with a homework assignment. She soon received a curious reply: a page full of unintelligible diagrams, along with an attempt at consolation: “Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics,” Einstein told her, “I can assure you that mine are much greater!”
The man who was the greatest success at mathematics also failed a lot at them. But that didn’t stop him from moving forward.
Not only was he willing to take risks in math, he also risked when he gambled. While attending a physics symposium in Las Vegas one year, Albert Einstein, to the astonishment of many of his sober-minded colleagues, spent a fair amount of time at the craps and roulette tables.
“Einstein is gambling as if there were no tomorrow,” an eminent physicist remarked one day. “What troubles me,” another replied, “is that he may know something!”
Too often in life, we attempt to spend all our energy demonstrating how we are right instead of accepting constructive criticism and getting better. This was not true of Einstein. Not only was he not afraid of being wrong, he was not afraid of being corrected. Ask yourself honestly: How do you respond when you are corrected? Do you lash out or are you grateful?
If you want to develop the mind of Einstein, you must not be afraid to fail and allow yourself the opportunity to fail. Herman Melville put it this way: “He who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great.”
Thomas Edison, when he was constructing the light bulb, built 1,000 prototypes that did not work before he successfully built one that we still use today. A reporter asked Edison how it felt to fail 1,000 times. Edison replied, “You misunderstand. I did not fail 1,000 times. I successfully found 1,000 ways that the light bulb would not work.” Edison, like Einstein, did not view failure the way so many do. They viewed it as acceptable and a way to learn and grow.
The fear of failure could have paralyzed Einstein and Edison, yet it did not. What about you? Are you so paralyzed with fear that you have settled for mediocrity? Don’t allow that to happen. Embrace risk and failure. Learn that it is okay to be wrong, and run headlong into the rewards of risk, as Einstein did.
The early life of Albert Einstein gives us some clues to the great man that he would become. He was never one to dominate conversation to prove his intellect. Even as a child he didn’t talk much. It has been said that he didn’t talk until the age of 3 (there are conflicting accounts on this). However, what is not conflicting is that it took him a little longer to talk than the average child. But, we must remember that Albert Einstein was far from average.
Einstein’s parents hardly coddled their firstborn. They gave him tremendous freedom to roam and grow. This no doubt had a positive outcome on his development. When he was just 4 years old, he was allowed to roam the neighborhood alone. Believe it or not, his parents even encouraged him to cross the street on his own at this young age. They watched the first few times to ensure that he looked both ways, but soon he was on his own doing this.
Now, keep in mind when he was crossing the street he wasn’t dodging Fords, Chevrolets, Mercedes or cars with a lot of horsepower. He was dodging only true horse power! In other words, he was dodging horse-drawn carriages. But, it was still very dangerous for this young child. In our world today, I would not encourage my 4-year-old to roam the neighborhood alone or even allow him near the street. With that being said, the principles of self-reliance and risk that Einstein’s parents implemented in his life are ones that we can perhaps model on a smaller scale. Einstein certainly modeled this behavior with his own son on a smaller scale.
In his late 20s, Einstein moved to Zurich with his first wife, Mileva, and their son. Friedrich Adler was living near Einstein and they became great friends. They would often get together to share ideas. Oftentimes their sons would get rowdy and it would be hard for the two men to talk. Other parents might barge in and tell their sons to be quiet, that they are having a meeting. Not Adler and Einstein. These great thinkers would climb into the attic to carry on their conversation. They allowed their boys to grow and explore even if they were noisy.
His freedom as a child and the freedom he gave his son were in part due to his attitude on failure. He was not afraid to fail. After all, he tackled some of the most perplexing questions of our universe. Many would have shied away from tackling these questions simply because the rate of failure seemed extraordinarily high. However, it is evident that Einstein was not afraid to be wrong or to fail.
When Einstein was 50 years old, reporters were hounding him for an interview during the time in which he was working on a unified field theory. Put into layman’s terms, this meant he was working on a theory that would put the entire universe into a mathematical equation. He had the attention of the world. Reporters parked outside his home in hopes of an interview. Many kept all-night vigils waiting for the story. As a rule, Einstein did not chase the spotlight and dodged the requests often. It was the same in this instance as well. He did, however, allow an interview with one reporter from the New York Times. You see the New York Times was edited by Carr Van Anda, and Van Anda had found an error in one of Einstein’s previous equations. Imagine that! The editor of the New York Times finding an error in the math of Einstein! Don’t you think that Einstein must have been irate that the editor would point this out? He must have been insulted. Actually, on the contrary, Einstein was impressed and that is the reason he allowed an interview to this reporter from the New York Times. You see, Einstein was not afraid to be wrong, and when corrected he was not insulted.
At Princeton, Albert Einstein was more like a kindly uncle. When he arrived in 1935, he was asked what he would require for his study. He replied, “A desk, some pads and a pencil, and a large wastebasket—to hold all of my mistakes.”
Albert Einstein spent his last two decades trying to reconcile quantum physics with relativity. His holy grail—a so-called “Unified Field Theory”—eluded him. He once casually mentioned to a colleague that he was on the verge of his “greatest discovery ever,” before admitting that “it didn’t pan out” just two weeks later.
One day in his twilight years, he received a letter from a 15-year-old girl asking for help with a homework assignment. She soon received a curious reply: a page full of unintelligible diagrams, along with an attempt at consolation: “Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics,” Einstein told her, “I can assure you that mine are much greater!”
The man who was the greatest success at mathematics also failed a lot at them. But that didn’t stop him from moving forward.
Not only was he willing to take risks in math, he also risked when he gambled. While attending a physics symposium in Las Vegas one year, Albert Einstein, to the astonishment of many of his sober-minded colleagues, spent a fair amount of time at the craps and roulette tables.
“Einstein is gambling as if there were no tomorrow,” an eminent physicist remarked one day. “What troubles me,” another replied, “is that he may know something!”
Too often in life, we attempt to spend all our energy demonstrating how we are right instead of accepting constructive criticism and getting better. This was not true of Einstein. Not only was he not afraid of being wrong, he was not afraid of being corrected. Ask yourself honestly: How do you respond when you are corrected? Do you lash out or are you grateful?
If you want to develop the mind of Einstein, you must not be afraid to fail and allow yourself the opportunity to fail. Herman Melville put it this way: “He who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great.”
Thomas Edison, when he was constructing the light bulb, built 1,000 prototypes that did not work before he successfully built one that we still use today. A reporter asked Edison how it felt to fail 1,000 times. Edison replied, “You misunderstand. I did not fail 1,000 times. I successfully found 1,000 ways that the light bulb would not work.” Edison, like Einstein, did not view failure the way so many do. They viewed it as acceptable and a way to learn and grow.
The fear of failure could have paralyzed Einstein and Edison, yet it did not. What about you? Are you so paralyzed with fear that you have settled for mediocrity? Don’t allow that to happen. Embrace risk and failure. Learn that it is okay to be wrong, and run headlong into the rewards of risk, as Einstein did.
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