Browse published articles attributed to Andrew Horton, with full-archive search.
Challenges It is often our most challenging moments in life that offer us the greatest opportunities to grow and expand. Take a real honest look at any challenges you have faced in the past. Are you better or worse off for having faced those challenges? Start to view all challenges as delayed opportunities waiting to be exploited.
All really great leaders know the few leadership secrets I am going to share with you in this article. They know that there are a few crucial personality traits, which they can use to empower themselves as leaders. These personality traits or rather personality powers, will help them to increase their level of influence and as you know leadership is all about a leaders ability to influence their team to perform optimally.
If you thought about this question for just a second, the first thoughts that would pop into your mind would be, “my family”, “my children” or “my spouse”. Now take the time to look a little deeper, is the way you are living your life indicating that you are actually living your life, like those three areas are most important to you. Or is the picture that is reflected back at you telling a very different story? Most people are very quick to state what they value most, as being their relationships or families. When in reality their deeds are painting a completely different picture.
The greatest gift you can give to yourself and everyone around you is the gift of caring and sharing. Commit to view the universe as an abundant place, with sufficient resources to serve everyone. This small shift will allow you to see unlimited opportunities for yourself to achieve all your dreams and that there is enough abundance around to share opportunities with the people around you.
Are you just drifting through life? Too many people just drift through life, going with the flow, never having any direction about where they want their lives to go. They are like a paper cup that blows around in the car park at the shopping Centre. It is totally at the whim of the wind and it just floats around from one side of the car park to the other. Do you know anyone like that?
People often look around their world and see what they believe to be ove ight successes. They look at super achievers and think that they achieved their success due to a lucky break or that they made it to the pinnacle of their career without much effort at all. Usually exactly the opposite is true. It is seldom the case that people who have achieved greatness in any field, got there without a whole lot of sweat and tears.
Who do you surround yourself with, have you chosen your neighbours, friends and associates wisely? Research has shown that we eventually dress, think, talk and act like the people we surround ourselves with, should something that has such a profound effect on us be left to chance? If you want to support your success and give yourself the best chance of succeeding in 2012, then you must invest time to look at all your associations.
Strive to hold the highest consciousness possible and aspire to surround yourself with the RIGHT people. People that reflect the qualities you want to see in your own life. This will help you keep your focus and energy on the business of utilising your excellence and exposing your brilliance. When viewed from a spiritual perspective, people are in essence a reflection of our inner aspirations and people that inspire you are merely people that mirror the qualities that you are waiting and ready to express yourself. People who Irritate you, can be Great Teachersr
Make one of the most important shifts you will ever make and view all challenges as inevitable, manageable and only a temporary inconvenience. Challenges are often the very catalyst that unlocks hidden opportunities and reveals ideas and concepts that may have remained hidden, had you not encountered the challenge. A positive attitude allows you to welcome challenge as an integral part of the success journey and a crucial aspect of the decision making process.
Challenges and obstacles are all a very necessary part of any success journey. Ask any super achiever, who has achieved their success, despite having overcome numerous challenges and obstacles, along their path to success. If they could go back and do it all over again, but this time around, they could avoid the greatest challenge, they faced the first time round.
What obstacles are preventing you from achieving your goal? What must you do to overcome them? Knowing what you must achieve is not enough. You have to anticipate the challenges you are likely to face. Think about what you can do to deal with those challenges and perhaps turn them into opportunities. Going back to the “millionaire goal” we used as an example earlier, some of the obstacles you could expect are Lack of know-how or training, lack of resources, difficult or no access to the people you need for your success, lack of inspiration or the correct mentors or coaches.r
Your Attitude and strength of Character will determine your Altitude. One of the most important choices you must make every day is the type of attitude you project to everyone around you. A positive, optimistic attitude will empower you and set the tone for great success and fulfillment.
It is time to Evolve or Dissolver Change is inevitable, before there were only two certainties in life, namely death and taxes. Now the ever changing and evolving world we live in, where the rate of change is accelerating daily, has seen a third certainty appear, namely “CHANGE”. This leaves you with two choices, bury your head in the sand and hope change won’t affect you or open your eyes and discover ways to use change to your advantage, by innovating and discovering new ways of doing things. Innovation is no longer a luxury – It is a Necessityr
It is possible to change everything in your life with one decision or a single thought. All that you need to do, to start this miraculous process, of creating exactly the future that you desire, is to make that one decision, to begin doing things differently. This single thought can positively change everything in your life. This one single thought or single decision can: • Unlock your hidden potential • Improve your health • Create great wealth • Create great relationships and forge bonds of deep love and connection • Inspire new levels of joy and happiness.r
If you were asked to describe yourself in one word, what would that word be? Would it be something like, honest, obsessed, driven, compassionate, humorous, empathetic or any myriad of other possibilities? Write down the one word you would use to describe yourself. Is it the same word other people would use to describe you?
One of the major factors, which can limit your potential and hold you away from realising your dreams, is the opinions of other people. The secret to succeed and become all you can be is to live independently of the good opinion of other people. No one else’s opinion matters at all and in many cases the opinions, which are being expressed are coming from a place of insecurity on the part of the person expressing the opinion. They want to express their own insecurities and lack of determination, so that they can hobble you and your dreams.
As you travel on your journey towards the success you desire, you obviously understand the importance of having a purpose, vision, mission, a set of very clearly defined goals and finally individual goal specific actions, which you will carry out every day. Once you have this crucial structure in place and you are completely committed to achieving your goals. There are a few tools you can use to support you on your journey.
I believe that the true measure of a person is not found in what they do when they know people are watching, but rather how they conduct themselves even when they think no one is watching. Are you always cordial and empathetic when you deal with people, especially people who carry no sway over your life? When at the checkout at the supermarket, do you smile and greet the person behind the counter.
Society has trained us over the years to turn down the volume on our intuition. We have become to doubt our intuition so much, that we no longer listen to or even believe in our intuition. Your intuition is that little voice inside you that knows before you even think about anything. What little voice I hear you say. It is that little voice that just asked that question. Begin to trust your intuition once again; it is one of the most powerful forces any leader can have at their disposal.
I have been searching for that one catalyst, which turns some people into super achievers and keeps others trapped in mediocrity. I have come up with a number of complicated hypotheses, but the one, which seems to offer the greatest promise, is this really simple one stated below. “When your desire for success exceeds your fear of failure and you discover your own unique reason why that specific level of success is important to you, then NO-THING will stop you from succeeding”r
The majority of people would rather vegetate in front of the television, keep spending major time on minor tasks, spend their days lost in a cycle of “BUSYNESS” and never read another book once they leave school. This makes achieving success and standing out really easy for the select few that commit to daily discipline. Invest their free time into learning and growing, have a crystal clear plan and utilize their available time effectively.
I am sure you have heard the cliché “Life is a Journey, Enjoy the Ride” Bandied about recklessly by people around you all the time. These same people then tell you that they are not enjoying their lives, but when they get the new promotion, their kids go off to varsity or they start to earn a certain amount, then things will change, then they will be happy and start to enjoy their lives. The time to be happy is from this moment forward and the time to be enjoying every step of the journey toward living the vision you have in your mind is right now.
You can never hope to move onto the path of sustainable success, where you will find meaning, value and fulfilment, unless you take inventory of your life first. Explore everything in your life and develop a clear understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. Take a really thorough look at everything and have the courage to let go or change the parts, which are not working and strive to nurture and develop the parts that are.
I believe that it is always the simple option that delivers the best results. To this end I think that leaders therefore have only three main functions in any organisation or company.r
The greatest investment you will ever make is an investment into your on-going personal development. No other investment will ever give you the same returns. As you consistently invest into your most important asset, namely your own self-development, the returns you will enjoy, go well beyond just gains in monetary wealth. You become a better person in every respect. You are better equipped to be a better spouse, friend, employee, entrepreneur, etc. and if directed properly even your health will improve.
Are you allowing the good opinion of other people to limit you in any way? Other people’s opinions can and should not have any sway on you or your life at all. The views expressed by the people around you, is really only an additional tool that you can use to explore any opportunities, overcome challenges or evaluate your progress. An opinion expressed by other people is effectively just another form of feedback. We get to choose how we want to use it or if it has no value at all to just ignore it altogether.
I remember, as a young man, my father used to offer me advice and direction. As great as his intentions were, I never realised that he was speaking from a standpoint of experience and wisdom and that he only wanted to help me avoid, making the same mistakes that he had made. On many occasions, I ignored my father’s advice and encountered numerous challenges and obstacles, which I could have avoided, had I had the foresight to realise that my father’s experience gave him an advantage and a far greater opportunity to be correct.
The numerous changes we see all around us every day and the roller-coaster economy, has presented us with a few new and interesting challenges. Everything continues to change, and will most certainly keep changing into the future. The markets are no longer the same, peoples buying habits and their demand for products has also changed. This continual and never ending ebb and flow of change and the on-going innovation all around us, is driving the development of new products, services and even ways of doing business.
I have often pondered the question around, what drives one person to consistently take the daily actions, which result in great success and what encourages someone else with the same potential, to sit back and do nothing. The research that I am conducting is pointing me towards, a finding that highly driven or inspired achievers find their strength in the power of their imagination. It seems that people, who can visualise a crystal clear picture of exactly what they want in their future, will endure short term pain for long term gain.
Every great leader knows that they must invest time to learn as much as possible, from both their mistakes, challenges and successes. This knowledge will serve them in the present and assist them to plot the best possible course for the future. When plotting any course, all great leaders need to consider two important criteria. They must firstly look inward and draw on all the experience they have gleaned over the years and secondly, they must also look outward, to explore the prevailing conditions, to see how these may affect their progress now and in the future.
We all want to make a difference during our lifetimes, to leave a legacy after we have completed our time on this planet. Making a difference is not just about volunteering to assist people that come from a less advantaged background than you do. You should shift your thinking away from seeing making a difference as an event or something you must do, making a difference is a new way of life, a new way of conducting yourself. This shift will allow you to make a difference, every day in your own unique way, during every moment.
You don’t even need to be very observant to notice that everything around you operates in cycles. There are four seasons every year, we see both day and night every 24 hours and extensive research has shown that we operate best when we work in sync with the ultradian rhythm, which means that we operate optimally, when we work in cycles of 90 minutes, followed by short periods of rest. Our bodies are also tuned in to operate according to the circadian rhythm, which means that we sleep when it is dark and are awake, when it is light.
Failure is really only feedback from our environment or the universe telling us that our response to various events in our lives was not correct. What that in effect means is that our responses did not deliver the outcomes that were desirable at that time. So failure really only serves as an opportunity for us to learn and grow and to find different responses in the future, that will deliver the outcomes we desire.
Great success is seldom if ever achieved in isolation. Irrespective of how much natural talent or ability someone possesses, they still need the support of other people. This is even truer in the case of any leader who wants to successfully lead any team to greatness. The level of success, which any leader is able to achieve is determined by the people they choose to surround themselves with. No leader can possess all the skills, abilities and attributes necessary to be a great leader.
We are fast approaching the end of another magnificent year. How have you been tracking against those hairy audacious goals, which you set yourself at the beginning of the year? If you are less than satisfied with the results you have managed to achieve, then it is time to examine what may be holding you back. Who is in your corner?r
Regardless of your age, gender, ethnicity or even how big or small your dreams may be, self-confidence and self-esteem, coupled with a healthy dose of belief in your potential, are the crucial ingredients for inviting any level of sales success into your experience. No matter how amazing the product or services you are selling may be, you are ostensibly selling yourself. People buy the full value proposition, which obviously includes the products and services, but most importantly they buy the value you the sales professional ads to the offering.
The one new certainty you have in your life in these fast moving and evolving times; is CHANGE. Whether by choice or by circumstance, any change you experience thrusts you out of your comfort zone and into a world of the unknown. We must learn to accept and embrace change in our own lives and our environments. Learning to embrace change and especially the positive changes you know are necessary in your life right now, is one of the most valuable tools you have available, to help you find joy and harmony and success in your life.
If you are searching for exceptional results, you will need to be different and to do things in your own unique and special way. This is one of the best ways for you to stand out from the herd. As long as you choose to remain part of the crowd and you keep doing things that are fashionable, trendy or popular, you will remain trapped in mediocrity. The way to bring extraordinary achievement into your life requires you to take charge of your future and to commit to use your unique strengths and talents.
If you want to finally start moving towards the success you want to invite into your life. It is time to stand out from the crowd and go the extra mile. As long as you allow yourself to remain trapped in your comfort zone. A place where you are, neither content, nor fulfilled your life will continue to flash past in a blur of dissatisfaction. Wrestle Back Controlr
History serves as a great teacher and any wise entrepreneur will look back over the past 100 years and see that there is a definite trend. There is a cycle or market fluctuation, which seems to repeat every seven to ten years. During these cycles, there are periods of easy prosperity, followed by periods of challenge, where prosperity is more difficult and opportunities are scarcer. Look back over the past 100 years and even beyond and you will most certainly see a cyclical trend, with alte ating bear and bull markets.
Your self-imposed comfort zone is an artificial place, which you have created in your mind, which limits your potential, to a minuscule part of what you are really capable of achieving. Break free from your SELF-IMPOSED comfort zone and stop limiting your achieving any longer, because of your lack of believing. Stop accepting mediocrity, because it is comfortable and begin to experiment and explore a little, break some new ground, try something new today.
There is always a trade off when you are attempting to grow the level of success in one area of your life. The challenge is to try to limit the amount of imbalance as far as possible. Success in one area of your life at the expense of other areas is of little value.
It is that time of year again where you reflect on your year and ask yourself how you did. When you look back over your year, are you satisfied with the progress you have made? Or is this just another year where you feel like you have really worked hard, have once again given your all, but you are no closer to realising your dreams than you were in January this year. Every year just seems to get busier and you feel like you are working harder than ever, yet you are just spinning your wheels every day, achieving very little.
Turning Procrastination Into Perseverance If you want to ensure that you always arrive at your chosen destination and that you are never left stranded alongside the roadside. You must always check your fuel before embarking on any journey and top your fuel as necessary, during the journey. To guarantee your success; you must do the same for your persistence and perseverance. Ensure that you have enough perseverance and persistence in your tank, before embarking on any journey to meaningful achievement.
When you look at yourself in the mirror in the bathroom every morning, do you like what you see? Do you feel satisfied and content that the person staring back at you is living a life of meaning and fulfilment, in all areas of their life? Are you asking yourself questions like, “How did I get here” and then not liking the answer or the picture you get in your mind? Yes I am sure that there are areas in your life that are working and you are on track, but I am sure that there are areas in your life, which you feel could be improved.
The real measure of any super achiever is not in how they operate during the good times, but rather how they respond, when faced with any challenges. People who have mastered their life, do not expect things to always go according to plan; they equip themselves with a set of tools, which will help them handle any curve balls, which may cross their path. The secret to invite success into your life and sustain it in the long term, is to be able to regroup quickly, when faced with any challenges and to get back in the saddle as soon as possible after you have been thrown off the horse.
Any great leader knows that the success of their organisation or department depends on the calibre of people who fill their teams and on how well they are able to inspire and influence them. I am sure that you have a picture in your mind of the perfect people, who you would want to fill your teams. What does that perfect team member look like? • What is their energy level like? • What skills or knowledge should they possess? • What is their commitment to on-going learning? • Do they come in early and stay late? • How is their work ethic? • Are they entrepreneurial?r
There is always more than one way to achieve anything, you can choose the hard way and attempt to achieve things by continuing to coast through life without any plan to grow and expand. Or you can make achieving success a cinch by committing to a lifetime of learning and growth, where you strive to consistently improve your strengths, every day Jim Rohn said it so well when he said “You can cut down a tree with a hammer, but it takes about 30 days. If you trade the hammer for an axe, you can cut it down in about 30 minutes. The difference between 30 days and 30 minutes is skills”
Are you choking on the dust of your own regret, for all the great opportunities you have squandered over the years? Is this attitude or philosophy serving you in any positive way? Can you see how living in the past, focused on what might have been, complaining about all the challenges that have come your way is dragging you out into the financial desert, to die a slow and painful death of regret, where your life seems to just continue to spiral out of control.
There are numerous possibilities available, for you to become the best possible version of your unique self. Accept that there is only one version of you on this planet; no one else has your unique mind, life experience, character, attitude and exactly the same philosophy as you. This realisation sets you apart from the average and allows you to see that you can become the best, in your own unique way. I want you to look at yourself and see your unique strengths, abilities, experience and unlimited potential, as tools to begin and sustain your journey, toward the future that you desire.