THE BUILDER

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his

employer-contractor of his plans to leave the
house-building business and live a more leisurely life
with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would
miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could
get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and
asked if he could build just one more house as a
personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it
was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He
resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior
materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his
career.

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder
came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the
front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house,"
he said, "my gift to you."



What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he
was building his own house, he would have done it all
so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had
built none too well.

So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted
way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up
less than the best. At important points we do not give
the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at
the situation we have created and find that we are now
living in the house we have built. If we had realized,
we would have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your
house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or
erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you
will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day
more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and
with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a
do-it-yourself project."

Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the
result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your
life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and
the choices you make today

Feel Good Rules

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes, ‘learn from them’..

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent’s generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

MOTIVATION

DIFFERENT THINGS MOTIVATE DIFFERENT PEOPLE

Internal motivation comes from within, such as pride, a sense of

Achievement, responsibility and belief.

There was a young boy who used to come for regular practice but always

Played in the reserves and never made it to the soccer eleven. While he

Was practicing, his father used to sit at the far end, waiting for him.

The matches had started and for four days, he didn't show up for

Practice or the quarter or semifinals. All of a sudden he showed up for

the finals, went to the coach and said, "Coach, you have always kept me

in the reserves and never let me play in the finals. But today, please

let me play."

The coach said, "Son, I'm sorry, I can't let you. There are better

players than you and besides, it is the finals, the reputation of the

school is at stake and I cannot take a chance." The boy pleaded, "Coach,

I promise I will not let you down. I beg of you, please let me play."

The coach had never seen the boy plead like this before. He said, "OK,

son, go, play. But remember, I am going against my better judgment and

the reputation of the school is at stake. Don't let me down." The game

started and the boy played like a house on fire. Every time he got the

ball, he Shot a goal. Needless to say, he was the best player and the

star of the game. His team had a spectacular win. When the game

finished, the coach went up to him and said, "Son, how could I have been

so wrong in my life. I have never seen you play like this before. What

happened?

How did you play so well?" The boy replied, "Coach, my father is

watching me today."

The coach turned around and looked at the place where the boy's father

used to sit. There was no one there. He said, "Son, your father used to

sit there when you came for practice, but I don't see anyone there

today." The boy replied, "Coach, there is something I never told you. My

father was blind. Just four days ago, he died. Today is the first day he

is watching me from above."

Internal Motivation

Internal motivation is the inner gratification, not for success or

Winning, but for the Fulfillment that comes from having done it. It is a

Feeling of accomplishment, rather than just achieving a goal.

Smart Entrepreneur

Smart Entrepreneur

"We are not asking corporations to do something different from their normal business; we are asking them to do their normal business differently…"

Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, 2 September 2002

Smart Entrepreneur puts on the notice board the benefits resulting from integrated management of environmental, social and economic issues. It tells employees: "You can't manage what you don't measure." It introduces performance indicators that are easy to measure and evaluate.

If it were easy to become a millionaire there'd be more of them. And while there are no set guidelines on how to be a smart entrepreneur, there are certain characteristic qualities that are required to make a success of your business. You may already have these qualities are probably others you may need to develop. In short, you will need to be able to determine your weaknesses and think up ways to eliminate them by becoming stronger in those areas. If you have entrepreneurial skills then you will recognize a genuine opportunity when you come across one.

Being a Smart Entrepreneur, you want to work smarter and not harder to grow your business quickly. You realize that the best resources for entrepreneurs like you are Who You Know and What You Know.

Who You Know: You cannot succeed in business without the help of other people. You need to constantly leverage on:

Other People's Money

Other People's Experience

Other People's Ideas

Other People's Time

Other People's Work

Being smart, you need to constantly build your network to include people who can provide you with the above. It is important to not be selfish while building this network. Do not interact with the short term view of what they can do for you. Keep giving of yourself to them and they will reward you ten times over in return.

What You Know: Knowledge is Power. Your education did not stop when you graduated. You need to adopt a habit of life long learning if you want to stay smart. However, you do not need to know everything; you just need to know what resources for entrepreneurs you can access.

Make a habit of learning something new everyday and you will keep ahead of the competition. Take a look around at your business / friends circle. You will find even more advice and resources for entrepreneurs like you.

I have been Greatly Influenced by This Old Parable:

There was a Saint who had a vision about what it was like in Hell & Heaven.

In Hell he saw a huge table laden with food in the centre. Surrounding the table were starving people who all had very long forks attached to the ends of their arms. They could stab the food, but the forks were too long for them to put the food in their mouths. They were all screaming in frustration as they tried to eat the food that they longed for.

In Heaven, the saint saw the exact same table laden with food & people with the long forks at the ends of their arms. However, here the people were all smiling & enjoying the food. What they were doing was stabbing the food & putting it in EACH Other's mouths!

The moral of the story is that our heaven & hell is right here on earth, how much we want to help others & be helped in return is what makes the difference.