10 Tips For Being The Best You Can Be

What do Susan Boyle, Paul Potts and J K Rowling all have in common - apart from they happen to be British? Their success did not come about overnight, or easily. Not for any of them came instant fame, and recognition in the spotlight.

"The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, 
or the luster of it will never appear"
Daniel Defoe

No matter how frustrated, troubled or dispirited on the surface, deep down everyone I have met is truly extraordinary. However hidden, the human spirit, the diamond is always there; in you, in me.

For many of us, these times are rough. Perhaps now we can come to know and appreciate more fully our capacity for endurance and the brightness of our human spirit. What is more, we can take the polishing more into our own hands.

Here are some tips you might like to consider:

1. Know what you want

Maybe you have a talent you have longed to express and develop. If not, you probably know how you would like to be experiencing your life - perhaps with more happiness, better communications with the ones you love, greater fulfilment in your work.

Knowing is deeper and stronger than wishful thinking or hoping. It is a conviction so solid that you can base your life on it.

"There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self."
Benjamin Franklin

2. Engage with your intention

Daily nurture your vision - see, feel, hear how you will be experiencing the fulfilment of your the life you want, both inwardly and in the world. Use your imagination.

J K Rowling's Commencement Speech at Harvard is inspiring and real:

Watch Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

3. Practice your passion - take action

If you have a talent, keep working with it. If you would like to be happier, do things that make you happy. Better communications? Be willing to learn, practise, improve - and make mistakes from time to time. Your intention will speak volumes. Fulfillment? Adjust your attitude.

"Nothing will work unless you do." 
Maya Angelou

4. Raise your energy - turn up the heat

Love yourself and be grateful for all you have in your life, right now. Pay attention to your blessings. Look up. Learn to forgive and laugh at the mistakes you make along the way. Each day, feel the enthusiasm for your vision, as if it has already happened. Stay open for the remarkable to take place. It will.

"There are two ways to live your life - one is as though nothing is a miracle, 
the other is as though everything is a miracle."
Albert Einstein

5. Gather positive people around you

At the very least, spend time with people who are supportive and for you. Enrich yourself by getting to know others who are actively creating the best for themselves, and learn from them.

"If you have zest and enthusiasm you attract zest and enthusiasm. 
Life does give back in kind." 
Norman Vincent Peale

6. Get rid of what is unnecessary

Clear the clutter! Live lean with only that which you need around you. The feeling of freedom you gain will liberate you closer to what you really want.

7. Organize yourself for success

Find ways of dealing with life's necessities so that you are not distracted by them. Only agree to do what you will actually do. Learn to say no to what does not fit for you.

"If we did all the things we are capable of doing, 
we would literally astound ourselves."
Thomas A Edison

8. Set no time limits

Learn to live in the present moment and respond to your intuitive guidance. There are times when to act; times when to hold. You will get to know which is which.

"We have time enough if we will but use it right."
Johann Wolfgang von Geothe

9. Believe in yourself - believe in your vision

Feeling doubtful? In these challenging times, young children may teach us something. As adults, we can also be persistent in going for what we value.

Consider the words of Imogen, walking with her father in the park, and Stephanie, her tv heroine:

So I'm in the park with my just-turned-three-year-old daughter when she asks:

Daddy, can I have an ice cream?
I don't think we have time. We've got to go soon.
There is always a way, Daddy.
What?
Stephanie says, there is always a way!
Who says?
STEPHANIE!

"A visionary is one who can find his way by moonlight, 
and see the dawn before the rest of the world."
Oscar Wilde

10. Treasure yourself

Do the things that show you care for yourself: eat foods that serve your body; drink plenty of water; get enough sleep; exercise regularly; make time and space for fun; stay focussed on your vision and intention. Taking care of your health is a wise investment of your time and attention.

"The diamond you are, you wear within you. 
You can call on its beauty and power when you want to stand forward and dazzle." 

How Competition Strengthens Start-Ups

Accepted wisdom holds that the less competition a business faces, the more it thrives. This concept is at the core of Blue Ocean Strategy, the 2005 best seller by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, which advocates launching in uncontested markets in order to avoid the pain of going head-to-head with rivals in the “red ocean.”

But new research shows that exposure to competition in the early stages of a firm’s life increases its long-term survival prospects.

We studied British tax data covering nearly 2 million companies launched in the UK from 1995 to 2005, looking at the competitive environment the companies faced in their first few years and at how long they remained in business. We found that companies launched in crowded markets had higher odds than others of failing in the first year—but if a company survived during this early period, it had a much greater chance of making it to the three-year mark. A firm’s early exposure to competition appears to have an immunizing effect, in much the same way that a person’s exposure to illness can create antibodies that provide long-term protection.

What Doesn’t Kill You...

How does competition help young firms thrive? A challenging environment causes start-ups to be tightly focused on satisfying customer needs along with lowering and containing costs. Consider Southwest Airlines, which launched in the crowded airline industry in 1967. Early competition forced it to create an efficiency-based, low-cost culture, one that prioritized quick turnarounds at the gate (to maximize the use of each plane) and turned its no-frills approach (such as the lack of assigned seats) into a marketing strategy.

Managers who understand the benefits of early competition can work to create conditions that will heighten its effect. Some of the 400 companies in the Virgin Group, the travel and entertainment conglomerate owned by Richard Branson, face limited direct competition. So Virgin’s managers create internal competition by measuring teams within a company against one another and by measuring each company’s performance against that of others. Venture capitalists can foster a similar dynamic by taking care not to overfund a new business, since having too much cash on hand can make it difficult to build a low-cost culture. This is one reason why Sequoia Capital, the Silicon Valley fund, has a policy against funding companies started by children of superrich families, whose deep pockets may make it hard to develop frugal managerial instincts.

Of course, early competition has a downside: Some new businesses fail before they have time to build up the immunity we describe. Still, smart managers of young businesses will bear in mind the advantages of exposure to safe levels of external competition or to a competitive environment that’s been generated inside the organization. Such exposure can have long-lasting positive effects on efficiency and survival.