How to Succeed in Life

People who are likely to succeed in life have 2 factors in common. This is your chance to see if you are one of the people who will reach success. Most of us have the same opportunity and potential and still there are some people that fail and some who achieve ultimate success.

Factor #1 Overcome Failure

You must overcome failure in order to succeed this is known by many people but the hardest part is to actually do it. Many people reach the point of almost succeeding time and time again. The reason is because a lot of them give up and fail right before they get what they have wanted.

Factor #2 Listen To Those Who Made It

By listening to the people you admire and look up to it gives you that motivation to keep going. Many people see their idols on TV or while on the Internet and just listen to them. This is great to do but would I recommend reading about they're past and find out their story. This will automatically increase your knowledge about your role model and will enlighten you in so many ways.

You must put it in your mind that there is a purpose for me in life and that I will keep going no matter what happens. Remember to use your past experiences as a tool to improve you got me through happiness safely.

All it takes is strong will a very persuasive person to make it a daily habit and it will result in great things to come for you and those around you.

Leadership and Management: 5 Reasons To Set Goals

There is a great phrase that I came across which really captures the benefit of having goals. Goals are merely dreams or desires with legs. If you are a leader, I am sure that you want to be a success and setting goals is one of the key tools that you can use to achieve success. So what are 5 main reasons to set goals?

Reason 1: Increased Focus

If you have a goal it gives you focus something to aim for, a target or vision to work to. The desire to achieve that target keeps you focussed on the things that matter to achieving the outcome that you want rather than getting distracted.

Reason 2: Higher Motivation

Achieving or making progress towards a goal can be hugely motivating. Imagine for example you want to improve your time management. When you start you probably struggle to keep to the discipline of planning your day, keeping track of your time and managing interruptions. Pretty quickly you start to see that the actions you are taking are having a real impact which drives and motivates you to do more.

Reason 3: More Success

If you set yourself a goal you are more likely to succeed. Once you set an idea in your mind that you are going to do something, there is likely to be a much greater chance of success. Why? The reason is that you will go the extra mile to achieve it.

Reason 4: Confidence Building

If you start setting and achieving goals your confidence will rise. I use myself as an example. I left school at 16 with basic qualifications. I started an Accountancy Diploma at night school. Each time I passed a set of exams it gave me the confidence to tackle the next level. Eventually I qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant. It gave may the confidence to apply for more and more senior jobs.

Reason 5: Personal Growth

Every time we set a goal we grow as a person. The reason for this is that we are probably going to have to develop or learn about something to achieve it. Chances are we might even have to step out of our comfort zone to do it. Maybe there was a time when you had to work really hard to achieve a goal around a presentation or proposal. I am sure that in the process of achieving the goal you learned a lot of new skills and about what you could achieve if you put your mind to it.

Bottom Line - Goals lead to action and action leads to results. So what goals will you set to achieve even more success as a leader?

The Role of Leadership In Commitment to Quality

The most important part of any business growth strategy, the most effective business marketing idea, is product quality. If one looks at the true 'built to last' companies that Jim Collins writes about they have at their heart a fundamental, unquestioning, authentic commitment to quality. Every business talks about their belief in, and pursuance of, quality but for most it is just that - talk. They have quality procedures and quality standards and they strive to meet them. But - and this is the real test - they don't actually strive to exceed them and if they need to compromise on quality occasionally to hit the bottom line target, they will.

The best companies commit a significant portion of their profits to continual improvement in quality and never, ever compromise quality for profit. These are companies like Mars, Procter & Gamble and Frito Lay. Mars, still a family run business, that has those family values of hard work and pursuit of excellence at its core, are famous for the fact that every one of their people live and breathe product quality. It is not an apocryphal story - their production and marketing teams not only regularly sample the confectionary products but their cat and dog foods as well. Procter & Gamble virtually invented the phrase 'new and improved' but unlike many others these improvements are real and discernable, the result of years of expensive research, development and testing.

Martin Glenn was for many years the CEO of Pepsico UK which included the flag ship company, Walkers - the UK potato chip version of Lays in the USA. He talks of the role of the leader of the business in nurturing a restless pursuit of perfection in product quality. As he says, "It may just be a potato chip to you but it is what we do and we do it to the very best of our ability, never satisfied that there is not some better way just around the corner if we work hard enough". Easy for leaders to spout the words but what is more impressive is what Martin's team say about him. His VP of Sales, Tom Cuzeo, said in an interview that everyone knew that if there was a smallest problem with a batch of chips they would throw away the lot and start again - they did not need to ask Martin, they knew what his standards were.

Stories are told by Mars employees about how the brothers come on to the production line in their factories around the world and know every single aspect of the process, the machines and how they should be working. They led from the front. August Busch III was similarly passionate about his beer, Budweiser. He visited Ireland once, a market where the brand was very successful, and, legend has it, went in to a busy Irish pub. He was not happy with the quality of some of the Bud they were serving and told the publican they were struck off the distribution list until they could get it right. Everyone watched in amazement as this billionaire business leader then proceeded to give everyone a lecture on how Bud should be poured, and what they were to look for in a great beer. His pride in his product was evident - for him it was personal. Richard Branson rarely sits down on a flight on Virgin - he walks the aisles checking everyone is getting the experience on board they paid for, in fact making sure they get more than they expected.

All very worthy and great for the consumer but does it make money? Yes, it does but it is not easy to say exactly how much profit can be attributed to this kind of obsession with quality. There is evidence you can point to. Martin Glenn compares the size of the potato chip markets in France and Switzerland. In France per capita consumption is much lower than it is across the border in Switzerland. The difference is, he believes, that in the land of William Tell one manufacturer dominates the market and sells a very high quality product. Quality grows the market and commands higher prices and this can be seen in beer, confectionary, pet food and any other category.

However, it is not easy to quantify this and perform accurate calculations on return on investment in quality. It is an act of faith and faith needs leadership. Leaders like August Busch III, Richard Branson, John and Forest Mars instil in their organizations an unquestioning commitment to quality and to its continual improvement. They don't seek to satisfy customers, they seek to delight them. An exact price cannot be placed on this - it is in fact priceless.