4 Simple Ways to Transform Your Startup Into a Success

Who said for a startup to become a success it must struggle for years? If planned and executed smartly, any startup can sail on the ship of success without any hurdles.

There are many myths associated with startups like ‘It has to be small because it is a startup,’ or ‘You just need an idea and the rest will follow,’ or even, ‘Investing in marketing or advertising for a startup is a waste”. Just because a startup is something new for you, doesn’t mean it’s new for people too.

There are thousands of others with your same idea already out there in the market. Hence, for your startup to climb the ladder of success as soon as you roll the dice, you better get the right figures i.e you better do what you need to do in the right manner and proportion. Confused? Let us make it more clear to you.

One of the most often quoted statistics is that 50% of all startups fail to survive even five years. And the reasons for their downfalls are so silly that later they repent only if they had taken care of it at the beginning itself, the startup could have survived. A post-mortem of 287 Startups was carried out by CBInsights among which, the common reasons of startup failure that emerged out were:

• Lack of focus, motivation, commitment and passion
• The eagerness of scaling too fast
• Floating with pride and spending a lot
• Ignoring good pieces of advice and falling into the wrong company
• Lack of general and domain-specific business knowledge: finance, operations, and marketing and experience
• Investing blunders and running out of cash
• Improper budgeting
• No getting market exposure
• Poor product/service
• No business plan/strategy
• No/Poor marketing
• Focusing only on profit and not on customers

For a startup to succeed, money and ideas are not enough, it needs a lot of input from your side as well to grow and survive, like your passion, commitment, willingness to adjust, patience and persistence, observation, relationship with all and basic knowledge and skill. But above all, professionalism is the most important factor. Starting small and new is nothing to be taken lightly. How you interact with your investors, clients or customers, matters, after all, they are the one who will make or break your startup.

Here are the 4 simple ways that will reflect your professionalism as well as turn your startup into a success:

1. Two heads are better than one

Go get a co-founder. Studies show that a startup with two founders significantly increases the odds of success. How? Because two balanced and fully invested partners can keep the startup going on their shoulders equally well. A co-founder means you will have someone to rely on, share the load, chip in during critical times, handle responsibilities, motivate each other and so on. In the end, so what you will have to share the fruit of success, at least your startup will have a balanced support which will prevent it from drowning in the future.

Take for example the Mistay Founder Pranav Prabhakar who believes that, “Multiple founders with complementary skills bring in wider perspective to the team. While taking key decisions and at high-pressure situations, it’s always preferable to have someone who can provide support and an alternative perspective,” and hence has Sandeep Jaiswal as the co-founder of Mistay.

According to Sandeep, ‘A co-founder makes it easy to navigate through tough times. A partner with complimenting skill-sets and different style of thinking is important to help avoid mistakes one would otherwise make, he stressed. So having a co-founder is like an extra support for your startup.

“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” – Thomas Edison, General Electric Co-founder

2. Get a website/app or both

If you are thinking an investment into web/app is a big waste of money, then hello, it’s 2018 and today from kids to oldies, everyone is constantly browsing either on a desktop/laptop or on mobile. Your potential customers, clients and investors are out there on all platforms and to make them learn about your startup, you must have a website or app of yours ready.

If you are still worried about the budget, for starters, host your site on WordPress which is the most popular CMS of the planet. Its versatility and possibilities are endless which you can take benefit of or go for professional pre-made website templates that easily available at affordable prices.

3. Let people know

Branding and marketing both are lifelines for a business and just because you are a startup doesn’t mean you can survive without them. Branding means establishing a professional presence in both online and offline medium. Make your company logo, colour and other identities visible everywhere as much as possible. Give your clients pens, diaries or other stationary items with your company logo, this will remind them of your great service.

Also, spend rightly on marketing even if you are running a single campaign, make it an effective one that creates an impact on the people. Don’t forget to check whether the market is right for your product/service. Marketing at the right time only will prove beneficial. For eg., marketing your summer clothes brand during winter is useless.

4. Deliver what you promised

Sticking with your word creates your professional image and even a slight slip in it will bring down your startup empire. Nothing is more irritating than a business failing to deliver what it promised. Don’t brag about anything it will only lose your potential customers, stain your reputation and in a worse scenario, get you in legal troubles. First, deliver what you told them you can gradually add and inform them if you wish to serve more. Until and unless, as a startup, don’t try to go overboard and create a mess of everything.

“Always deliver more than expected.” – Larry Page, Google Co-Founder

Turning an idea from concept to production is no cakewalk. The eagerness to establish into a giant is understandable, but, why take unnecessary big risks and crash in the end? Better study the market first, define what new you are giving, plan at its best, execute smartly and enjoy the rewards.

from
https://addicted2success.com/startups/4-simple-ways-to-transform-your-startup-into-a-success/

4 Steps to Accepting and Acting on Negative Feedback

All feedback is good, but not all feedback is positive. We’re often subject to negative feedback at work for different scenarios such as missing a performance target set by the organization or developing a high-end product idea that flopped after testing.

Regardless of the reason, accepting negative feedback can be difficult—especially if there is pressure across the board to perform in the face of perpetual downsizing, outsourcing, or consolidation.

It can be even harder if you’re just starting out. It’s easy to take the feedback as a personal affront. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Performance feedback isn’t meant to insult or demean, it’s an attempt to rehabilitate.

Think about it, why would your supervisor take the time to talk it out if they’d already given up on you? Because motivating a team also means holding team members accountable for what’s not working. Receiving feedback is a chance to improve and better support those around us.

So next time you’re called into the boss’ office for feedback, consider these four steps below:

1. Detach – Remember that it’s not personal

The first step is to detach, emotionally that is. Before the conversation starts, remind yourself that this feedback is based on job performance and factors that include objective data. It has nothing to do with how nice you are, how fun you are around the office, or how you live your life away from work.

Your supervisor is trying to do their job as well as you’ve been trying to do yours. They feel that talking to you now is vital for your own well-being as a team member and for the team as a whole. If there’s something you’re doing that needs to be better, they have a responsibility to everyone on the team to tell you—and early enough so you can address it and make the end result better for everyone.

“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.” – Elon Musk

2. Information – Focus on the data

Your supervisor’s description of your performance should be specific and actionable, so listen first and take careful notes as you pick up on themes. The earlier you try to respond, the more likely you will appear defensive and only out to present your ‘side’.

If you focus on listening and taking down what observations they have, you are more likely to capture what needs improvement. If you’re focused on improving those things, you’ll ultimately grow and be successful in supporting the organization and remaining an asset to those around you.

3. Vision – Create an image of what improvement looks like

The conversation is over. You’ve left the office and are back in your workspace. Review your notes and think about what your supervisor said. It’s time to work on the counter-image—what does improvement look like? This is an exercise in setting and realizing a vision.

Imagine what it looks like for the opposite of the feedback to be true. Don’t think about the steps to get there yet. Focus on ‘winning’ the situation, accounting for each observation your supervisor provided and experiencing success. Develop a narrative that you can see the same way you can watch a television series play out.

Got the image? Now plan your steps, in reverse from the vision you have to the moment you find yourself in now. You must have a vision of where you’ll end up before you can plan the steps to get there, otherwise you’ll set out on a path that leads nowhere—and therefore never ends.

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein

4. Empathize – Put yourself in the shoes of those around you

This is the most important step. Your supervisor felt it was the best thing for you and the team to tell you where you fell short and afford you a golden opportunity to do better. The truth is the conversation was likely as difficult for them as it was for you. Having to tell a teammate they’re not meeting standards can eat away at a manager, and is challenging because they must now consider what happens if you’re unable to improve.

You both have the organization’s best interest in mind. Feel what it’s like from their side, what it takes to manage the team and support everyone while meeting performance milestones set by senior leadership. Then think about the team around you.

What are they hoping to see from you? What can you do to help them focus elsewhere in the organization where there’s more work to be done? If you can push the envelope of improvement and get your team moving forward, it allows others to worry about the bigger problems ahead that will take everyone’s effort to solve.

Feedback is a tool for improvement, for yourself and those around you. If you’re receptive, you’ll engender trust and remain as an asset to the organization. That goes for managers, too.

Feedback is a two-way street, so if you’re that supervisor, remember to solicit feedback from your employees on a regular basis and rely on these same four steps to improve and look positively to the future.

How do you deal with handling negative feedback? Let us know your tips for others!

Image courtesy of Twenty20.com

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/4-steps-to-accepting-and-acting-on-negative-feedback/

Don’t Let The New Person Have Lunch By Themselves.

Two Questions That Must Be Answered for Your Personal Success

As a practitioner and facilitator of goal setting for the past 30 years, I can say that while I believe in the process of goal setting, it has become a little too restrictive. By that I mean that many of the books on goals setting require boxes to be checked, forms to be filled, I’s to be dotted, and T’s to be crossed.

In the past, three questions had to be answered for goal setting to work its magic. The first question was WHAT do you want. Obviously if you set a goal, it is to acquire something. It could be something tangible like a vacation or a house or relationship, or it could be intangible such as greater patience, better organization, or an elevated level of interpersonal skills.

The next question that had to be answered was WHY do you want it. The underlying psychology behind answering the why question was an internal rationalization process that supposedly set the subconscious at ease and allowed the goal setter to act with effortless execution.

The last question that had to be answered was HOW do you derive what you want. This is a process that I called in my first book, Goals Book, functional decomposition. By that I meant, you break the goal down into imperceptible, almost subconscious behavioral steps that need to be posted into your calendar and acted upon daily.

Guess what? The above process works, and it works well. However, for as many successes as there are in the process there are typically many more failures. The reason behind the number of failures we experience has to do with the rigid, unforgiving process that we put ourselves through on a daily basis, and the guilt that arises from not accomplishing some of the action steps necessary to achieve our goal.

“Don’t bury your failures, let them inspire you.” – Robert Kiyosaki

For years I thought to myself, there has to be a better way to reach your goals, and I believe I found it! The questions haven’t changed, only their underlying motivation. Let me explain:

When there is something that is wanted, it becomes the WHAT. The what process is logical and scientific. Perhaps what you want is not logical or scientific, but asking the what question is. For example, if you need a new car, the what is very simple, it is a new car. Since we all know that a car is a mode of transportation, and transportation in modern society is necessary, wanting a new car is a very logical process.

However, the WHY, is an emotional process. So, the next question after what kind of a car do you want, is why do you want that one in particular, and this is the type of question that evokes emotion.

Perhaps you want a minivan for your growing family because you feel guilty by cramming your partner, three kids, and ice hockey equipment into your current vehicle. Perhaps you are looking for a high-end sports car that you consider to be an emotional extension of your personality. It really doesn’t matter; the fact is the WHY question is emotional.

It’s the HOW question that I have studied the most. Instead of the process of functional decomposition to determine every point perhaps, I thought, that not worrying so much about the how, and let it unfold before you is enough.

Jack Canfield suggested that you could drive across the United States from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean at night only using your headlights. That means that you can travel 4000 miles by only seeing 200 feet in front of you. The how will unfold every 200 feet!

Using this more contemplative approach to goal setting works. Let me give you the steps below:

Step 1: Determine your WHAT. During this process, be as focused and as logical as possible as to what it is you are looking to have, to accomplish, or to become. See what you want in all of its visual splendor. Use your other senses as you see fit.

Step 2: Determine your WHY. In this step, you need to get excited about what you are looking for. This is not just sensual, but emotional! I want you getting so excited about what you want or what you are going to become that it brings a tear to your eye. When you combine the what and the why, that is logic and emotion working together.

Step 3: Don’t worry about the HOW! Yes, your reading that correctly. As long as you can see 200 feet in front of you, that is the next necessary action step. I have been using the system for several years now, and it works! It got me to move to Costa Rica without a clear plan and yet as I am writing this, I am in the process of opening up yet another business! I could never have done this if I try to plan for it.

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” – Pablo Picasso

If you are metaphysical, you can say you threw it out to the universe. If you are psychological, you can say that you made micro adjustments to your subconscious that brought about the desired result. If you are theological, you could say that God helps those who help themselves.

If you’re like me, you realize it’s a combination of all three, and you keep moving forward. I have found that this process has literally changed my life.

I’d love to hear your thoughts below about this method of goal setting!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/two-questions-that-must-be-answered-for-your-personal-success/

16 Powerful Barack Obama Quotes That Will Inspire You to Live a Great Life

Barack Obama was the 44^thpresident of the United States and the first African American to hold the office. After receiving his law degree, he moved to Chicago where he became active in politics and organized influential projects such as Project Vote, a drive that registered thousands of African Americans on voting rolls in Illinois. Some of his other accomplishments include being a member of the U.S Senate and having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Below are 16 powerful Barack Obama quotes that will inspire you to live a great life:

1. “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” – Barack Obama

2. “Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.” – Barack Obama

3. “If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.” – Barack Obama

4. “My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.” – Barack Obama

5. “The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.” – Barack Obama

6. “We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.” – Barack Obama

7. “We need to keep making our streets safer and our criminal justice system fairer – our homeland more secure, our world more peaceful and sustainable for the next generation.” – Barack Obama

8. “We want everybody to act like adults, quit playing games, realize that it’s not just my way or the highway.” – Barack Obama

9. “There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America – there’s the United States of America.” – Barack Obama

10. “Nothing in life that’s worth anything is easy.” – Barack Obama

11. “We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it.” – Barack Obama

12. “Progress will come in fits and starts. It’s not always a straight line. It’s not always smooth path.” – Barack Obama

13. “The cynics may be the loudest voices — but I promise you, they will accomplish the least.” – Barack Obama

14. “One voice can change a room.”- Barack Obama

15. “We see the future not as something out of our control, but as something we can shape for the better through concerted and collective effort.” – Barack Obama

16. “If you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, what you look like or who you love.” – Barack Obama

Which one of Barack Obama’s quotes resonated most with you?

from
https://addicted2success.com/quotes/16-powerful-barack-obama-quotes-that-will-inspire-you-to-live-a-great-life/

6 Important Strategies That Will Help You Grow a Successful Startup

Congratulations – you’re here because you have a bright idea. The kind that prompts you to, pause in amazement to ask yourself why nobody ever thought of this before, tidy your desk, and start searching for advice on how to turn your brainwave into a profitable business. But where should you really begin?

Building a business is one of the greatest journeys you can embark upon. You can’t expect success overnight. Behind the meteoric rise of each ‘Uber for this’ and ‘Airbnb for that’, there are rivers of sweat, oceans of tears and months of lost sleep.

The foundation of a viable business is to identify a problem and provide a good solution – or a better one than your would-be customers can currently find. You should begin by thinking through your business plan and doing your market research. Be prepared to make changes to the product and to redefine your target market in response to your findings.

Your next step is to get the infrastructure of success in place. Become an expert by studying up on specialist sector information. Get get a professional-looking website, clean up your social media, contribute to relevant discussions online and in person: you should be seen as an authority.

Select the platforms you’ll use to market your product – does it need a video demonstration, or are you the author and sage behind the next hit eBook? Then, get to grips with Google. You’ll need to produce regular, relevant content for your site to rank highly, and understand how paid ads work in order to run campaigns or instruct an agency.

Think this summary sounds simple enough? You already know the roadmap to business stardom will be peppered with potholes. Here are six tips to prepare:

1. Get to work

Success is directly proportional to the effort you put in. You’ll be competing for funding and customers with many other companies. Most will have more capital and manpower than your business might see for another decade. If you want to get on level footing, the only way is to grind. Use size to your advantage.

There’s no middle-management or bureaucracy to prevent you from experimenting with new tactics or tailoring services to a particular client’s requirements. Bonus tip? Don’t quit your day job right away. It’s incredible how much time you can free up on evenings and weekends by reducing your Netflix consumption.

“A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.” – Richard Branson

2. Network, network, network

Mingling, schmoozing, hobnobbing – it doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Maybe it seems pointless, or pushes you out of your comfort zone at first, but networking is an extremely  valuable use of your time. Polish your LinkedIn presence, go to business networking events, reach out to people you could learn from. Join discussion forums and contribute to them.

You could even consider applying to startup incubator programs such as TechStars, which offer a curated programme of introductions to both mentors and investors. You can’t predict when one of these contacts will offer a helping hand, but relationship building is key to securing support in your hour of need.

3. Tighten the purse strings

Startups don’t secure their founders a steady stream of income. There will be weeks when you’re flush, and months when your dreams of entrepreneurial success are eclipsed by dreams of a dinner that isn’t ramen. Without the privilege of a reliable income, life is easier to navigate when you’re equipped with budgeting smarts and a steely will. Get used to living within your means. Your salary cut will ultimately translate into a runway extension for your startup.

4. The customer is (still) king

Your brilliance and expertise can’t fund your startup by themselves! Customers put food on your table and sustain the viability of your business. Listen to what they want from you. Be prepared to tailor your offering to their needs. If you get an opportunity to deliver results for someone – seize it. You can offer them a perk no big business can match: flexibility.

5. Shortcuts leave you short-changed

If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing right first time. Don’t give investors a chance to pick holes in your business proposition by spending time and money on work that needs to be re-done. Website bugs or a ‘content farm’ blog can damage the functionality of your business as well as your reputation.

Sure, you’ll get to the stage where your business is ready for a re-brand or an experienced hire brings in the knowledge to optimise your content, but there’s a difference between being keen to improve versus tolerating shoddy work. Get the best you can buy at every stage of growth.

“Don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession and something you love. If you have an exit strategy, it’s not an obsession.” – Mark Cuban

6. Know your ‘why’

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. But how can you cultivate this toughness? In the early stages, you may not have a co-founder or employee to share the struggle. There will be no team to carry you through phases of crippling doubt. Whether you need to adjust the feng shui of your home office, admit that breaks are crucial to your wellbeing or build opportunities to socialise with likeminded individuals into your schedule, take time to work out the foundations of your mental fortitude.

Understand your ‘why’ – the reason behind your passion that gives you a true sense of purpose. Then, work to cultivate a balance. You can’t do everything, but you can make time for family, exercise, and the little things that save your sanity. The ability to self-motivate will serve you in every area of life, whether business is your vocation or not.

from
https://addicted2success.com/startups/6-important-strategies-that-will-help-you-grow-a-successful-startup/

6 Flexible Side Jobs to Pay Off Your Student Loans

College can be a really exciting place for students as they get their first real bout of freedom and liberty, away from their homes. Colleges are also there to train the students for their professional lives, and that is why surviving college life can be tough. You have to worry not only about your grades but also about the money.

You will be paying a tuition fee, rent, bills, and will need cash for other personal needs. Having a side job in college is a must; you need it for that extra money and to pay off your student loans. So, if you are worried about getting jobs and cannot find any, worry no more because we have listed some job ideas for you that you can easily manage while focusing on your studies as well below.

1. Become A Prep Tutor

Students who have recently done their SATs will find it much easier to teach others because it would be fresh in their minds. Prepping and taking the SAT is one of the first and hardest steps to entering college. Most of the students need some guidance to help them do it the right way. Use your experience and knowledge and help other students prepare for their entrance exams.

2. Virtual Librarian

If you love to read or are a researcher, your college research skills will easily land you a unique online position. When you’re a virtual librarian, you will provide the research, reference services, and instructional support, for a college.

3. Data Entry

It’s a job being pursued by many students as a side job because it doesn’t need people from some certain fields or doesn’t require any special qualification or skill. You just need to know how to work and enter data, which is pretty easy. As a proficient typist, you will not find it hard to secure a virtual data entry position full-time or part-time. It’s the best way to earn extra income for paying off student loan debt and not having to work too hard. Earn some money in your spare time in this online and flexible role.

4. Sell Stuff You Don’t need

We always own something that we don’t need, but it’s still in our possession. We can spend our lives without it yet somehow we still have it. The best way to deal with such objects is to get a profit out of them; you are not going to need them, so why not sell them? If an item is no longer bringing you joy, let it bring you money instead.

The cash you can earn will depend on how much stuff you have accumulated over the years. Part ways with your unused goods on online platforms such as Craigslist or eBay. Mobile apps like Letgo also offer a similar service. You will find many local buyers who want to get their hands on cheaper things, or you could get Craigslist or Letgo to help you.

These websites specialize in exchanges among the residents of the same city, and they also do not charge any fees. Ebay charges a sliding scale of fees for the transactions, but their platform is also better suited for other factors like shipping. That also gives you a wider number of potential buyers across the world.

5. Health Care Industry Administrative Assistant

Health care jobs at the clinic and hospital levels are in demand. Both hospitals and clinics seek people who can do part-time evening and weekend shifts to help them in scheduling, insurance verification, and even be the front desk/customer service staff. These jobs can pay from $10-$20 per hour, which is a decent amount even when you do a few hours a month. These jobs offer an opportunity for you so you can develop your communication, customer service, and critical thinking skills.

6. Try Delivery

There are a couple of new apps that allow individuals to deliver goods on their own schedules, providing more flexibility much like ride-sharing app. ‘Postmates’ is an application that employs workers in dozens of cities that can bring food and other goods to consumers. They can pay up to $25 per hour, and you do not need to own a car to deliver either.

The app is not available in all cities, but you can find many other food delivery services in your area that are eager for you to join them. Some analysts have said that, in a few years, the delivery industry will be worth $76 billion, so it can be a very profitable side job for you in due course.

No job is ideal, but in the given circumstances, you need to grab any opportunity you can in order to save up for your loan debts.

Image courtesy of Twenty20.com

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/6-flexible-side-jobs-to-pay-off-your-student-loans/

How to Be Less Self-Centered and More Community Focused for Fun and Profit

Do you want to know the biggest thing standing between you and success? It’s your big fat ego. It’s the focus you put on yourself, both positive and negative, that negatively affects your ability to make meaningful change and ultimately become successful.

It’s those thoughts that run around in your brain, day in and day out, telling you to focus on yourself and your own problems while leaving others to deal with their own stuff. It’s the overwhelming amount of pressure you put on yourself to perform and succeed despite all odds which is, ironically, bringing you down.

Most of us wouldn’t call ourselves self-centered, but chances are the majority of us are. The ego is what allows us to take care of ourselves, but sometimes it can become overbearing and make us forget our deeper purpose.

Here are three counter-intuitive mindset shifts you need to adopt to be happier and more successful while becoming less self-centered and more community-focused:

1. Develop self-acceptance

One of the biggest things that stands between you and success is a lack of self-acceptance.

Learn to accept yourself for you, and you will redefine what it means to be successful. This isn’t your typical “self affirmation” mumbo jumbo that so many self-help gurus talk about. I’m not suggesting you stand in front of a mirror and tell yourself how great you are. Instead, learn to be honest with yourself about your strengths and your weaknesses and then be comfortable with not having the answers.

For instance, if you are trying to start an online business and don’t know the first thing about building an eCommerce website, don’t try to “self affirm” yourself into the belief that you can build the next Amazon.com from scratch.

Instead of all that, remind yourself that, although you are a beginner, you can make a small step progressing towards your goal by using tools and resources available to you. There is no way you can go from zero to hero in an instant. It takes practice and continuous effort.

“The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.” – Mark Twain

2. Have confidence in others

Stop thinking of yourself as the lone wolf, the secretive genius, or the obsessive entrepreneur. People who are competitive and ambitious tend to look at every opportunity as one that has winners and losers. They think of the world in terms “us versus them” rather than “us AND them”.

If you want to truly tap into your potential, you need to stop trying to do everything yourself and develop meaningful relationships with others.

Having friends is an important part of finding happiness and lasting success, but there is something else which is often missing from modern day relationships.

That missing element is confidence; the ability to rely on those around you for help and guidance. It’s not enough to simply spend time with people you find interesting or engaging, you need to develop a deep sense of confidence in them. Trust your instincts and have the confidence in others to ask for help and guidance.

3. Contribute to the community

Research and anecdotal evidence from around the world suggests that one of the best ways to find lasting happiness is to find ways to contribute to your community. For the ambitious, career driven and money-minded among you, this may seem like a complete waste of time, but there is little doubt that by doing well for your community, you will ultimately do well for yourself.

Past performance from individuals and organisations that were able to tap into the collective subconscious and serve some deeper need for their communities proves that people are well-rewarded for their selfless actions.

“With faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve.” – Muhammad Ali

If you want to be happier and more successful, look at how you can contribute to your community. We are all connected in one way or another, but chances are that you have a unique perspective and insight into one or two micro communities that would greatly benefit from your help.

Remember that help can take many forms, and you don’t have to go about reinventing the wheel to contribute to the community of your choice. Look holistically at what you are good at, then take that initial step towards making a contribution.

It’s easy for me to tell you to change your mindset and implement these guidelines, but it is another thing entirely to start to do them. We live in a world that is more connected than ever before, yet somehow we continue to find ourselves drawn inward, focusing on our own goals, issues and problems.

We are in dire need of more selfless action on this planet, but that doesn’t mean you have to completely abandon your personal objectives, hopes and dreams. If you want to create a change in your life and have a greater impact on society as a whole, I heartily suggest adopting all three of these strategies.

What have you done recently do give back to others? Share with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/how-to-be-less-self-centered-and-more-community-focused-for-fun-and-profit/

How Giving Back to the Community Contributes to Your Own Success

For many professionals, a key aspect of a successful career lies in giving back to a community that once helped them to grow as people. Whether it’s to improve our health, to make a difference in the lives of our friends and neighbours, or to form new relationships, giving back can become the cornerstone on which a successful life is built. So, why is giving back to the community important, and what drives so many successful people to give back in such big ways?

Here are just a few reasons why helping others enables us to help ourselves, and why that might just be the biggest reward of all:

1. It Contributes to Our Sense of Well-Being

Although it may not seem obvious at the time, it’s a major truth in life that when we’re helping others, we’re also contributing to our own health and sense of well-being, mentally and physically.

Numerous studies have shown that acts of giving are linked to increased mental health in an individual. As many have said, being generous is not just about making others feel good, it’s mostly about feeling good about what we have done to others. After the act of giving, our brain will release happiness chemicals like dopamine throughout the body, aiding your sense of inner peace.

Studies have also shown that activities such as volunteering can boost self-esteem. In addition, charitable activities may even be good for maintaining a healthy heart, which is a benefit that can have a major impact on our overall health and quality of life.

Maintaining our own sense of well-being is just one component of the importance of giving back to the community, and for many people, a healthy lifestyle often begins with helping others.

2. It Adds Balance to Our Lives

When we give back to our communities and to the world at large, we’re often coming full circle on a cycle that has helped us on our own paths to success. For example, if your life was ever improved because of the kind words and support of a teacher or coach, or if you’ve ever relied on public education to learn new concepts, you may feel that giving back can simply mean providing others in our community with the same opportunities that you’ve been afforded.

The small things matter too. Even the purchase of a locally-made loaf of bread can mean participating in a system where people work hard to help one another; to wit, farmers, truck-drivers, store owners, and many other people all work hard so that we can eat a good meal. So when we give back, we’re really building on the larger whole that helps everyone in society reach their potential.

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. It Expands Our Skills and Experience

When giving back to our community, we’re also often able to expand our skill set and develop new experiences that will aid us in the long run. Often, helping out in the community means developing strong organizational skills and communicating with a wide variety of people to accomplish a task.

That can mean that we’ll come away from the experience knowing more about problem-solving and effective leadership, two qualities that can contribute enormously to a successful life. Moreover, the knowledge that we’ve made a difference in the lives of others can provide a confidence-boost like no other!

It Strengthens Our Networks and Helps Build New Relationships

When we’re helping out in our communities, chances are good that we’ll also be meeting local leaders and expanding our network of friends and colleagues. When we’re meeting like-minded individuals, we’ll be improving our lives in the bargain.

Meeting new people and expanding our network not only benefits our professional life, but it can also improve our health and help us build a solid sense of self-confidence and self-worth.

When we’re surrounded by people with a commitment to helping others, we may also find that we hold ourselves to higher expectations and that the goodwill and positive attitude of people committed to charitable causes improve our mood and self-image.

Networking with other community leaders can also be a form of marketing that shows the true worth of our services or products. When people realize that we’re committed to improving the lives of others, it will speak volumes about the products or services that we’ve worked hard to develop. After all, charitable work gives us the opportunity to be the best representatives of our business and show others what our values and passions are all about.

“Instead of better glasses, your network gives you better eyes.” – Ronald Burt

4. It Increases a Sense of Purpose

The act of giving or the act of kindness can help an individual to gain (or regain) a sense of purpose in life. Just as success becomes easier to achieve when we build on the motivation to overcome obstacles and persevere in face of setbacks.

It’s also true that from time to time we must also strengthen and recommit to our sense of purpose by learning and connecting to the lives of others, so it’s easier to keep ourselves motivated.

Fulfilment from giving will also bring us joy, and no challenge will seem too great because the pathway to further success will become clearer. That is the development of a resilient and successful mindset done right!

These are just a few reasons why giving back is important to leading a healthy life and in finding the passion that will take our work from good to great. With the right attitude and a bit of effort, we can be sure that our contributions to our community can make a difference in the lives of others and help us live healthier, more fulfilling lives.

At the end of the day, the chance to give back to our communities may be one of the most rewarding aspects of a life well-lived. Remember, enjoy the journey, and you just may happen upon a truly life-changing experience in the bargain!

What do you do to give back to your community? Share with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/how-giving-back-to-the-community-contributes-to-your-own-success/

5 Simple Tips to Help You Become Great at Anything

Reading over 70 business and self-help books, traveling all around Europe teaching people soft skills like storytelling and self-awareness, has shown me certain patterns on how to become great at anything. These things sometimes hide in plain sight but we are too distracted to see them. So we skip them, day-in and day-out we keep plowing through, not knowing if the things we are doing are making us any better.

That’s why I will share the patterns I learned on the ground through personal experience and from the best business and self-help books out there. If you follow these tips, success will take care of itself.

1. The Score will take care of itself

John Wooden is one of the most decorated trainers in the history of NCAA. He won 10 national championships in the span of 12 years, including seven in a row. The one thing he never mentioned was the score. He was all about the process.

Of course, everyone who played for him knew that they were playing basketball and that they wanted to win. But the focus was always on the process of playing the game as best as possible. He would often say that the score takes care of itself (a phrase which later described Bill Walsh, another great trainer).

When you create your goal, put it aside and focus on the process that will get you there. If you work the process, the score will literally take care of itself. You can do this through daily habits.

If there’s anything you could point out where I was a little different, it was the fact that I never mentioned winning.” – John Wooden

2. Be, don’t do

The change in your life doesn’t start with you doing something, it starts with your mindset. You first need to become that to be able to do that. Here is an example. If you are a smoker and you want to quit smoking, you will fail if you take the approach of “I am quitting cigars.”

This doesn’t make a fundamental shift in your personality. The actions that we do stem from the perception of who we are. So for us to change our actions, we need to first change our beliefs about that or we will inherently self-sabotage ourselves.

The proper way to deal with this is to say “I’m a non-smoker.” This changes your entire belief about yourself as a person. “I’m a healthy person” vs. “I am going to the gym”. “I’m a reader” vs “I read books”. The examples are endless.

3. You will not rise to the level of your expectations, but fall to the level of your practice

You know in action movies when the main character suddenly gets a power-up through yelling and screaming and comes through with an impossible action? Well, that’s a Hollywood movie. In real life, we do not rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our practice. So the more (and better) you practice, the better you will perform.

Break down the skill which you want to learn into small sub-sets of skills and learn each and every one of those. If you focus on those small parts and improve them, you will become better in the overall skill. This is called deliberate practice.

4. Play the long game

There is a quote by Charlie Munger which goes “No matter what you do, a woman still needs nine months to give birth to a child.” What this means is that sometimes things just need time to catch momentum and start working.

I ran a blog for two years already and it took me a year and a half to cross even 20,000 readers. But in the last six months, I did three times that. Most great things take time to start functioning properly. So prepare for the long game because the biggest returns come at the end of the line.

“I’m not concerned with noise because I’m playing the long game.” – Jay Z

5. Learn daily

If you want to make better decisions, live a more fulfilled life and stay relevant with your skills, you need to learn daily. What better way to do this than to read books and borrow the wisdom (and skills) of the masters that came before us.

There are plenty of mistakes I avoided because of books and plenty of great decisions that I made because of them. All of this comes from the habit of learning daily, a mere reading of 20 pages of a book a day. If you stay hungry for knowledge, you will become (and stay) great at anything you do.

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/5-simple-tips-to-help-you-become-great-at-anything/

Why Remembering You’re Going to Die Will Wake You Up

I lost it. I was at the cemetery yet again —reading the legacies of those who have left this experience. As I wandered around on a beautiful California morning, I’d come across a section where children lay to rest. Anywhere from a few days to a few years, I’d read their tombstones of the legacies they were able to create in a short time: joy, passion, love and wonder.

I wasn’t there to visit anyone in particular, I was there to wake up. Remembering we’re all going to die is a beautiful way to create clarity and make committed decisions now. I never see this as negative, I see it as an incredible opportunity to step into our greatness, instead of putting it off until next month, year or decade.

In this post, I’ll share 5 reasons as to why it’s important to do what you desire and create a life you can’t wait to wake up for:

1. On The Shortness Of Life

One of my favorite texts of all time comes from Seneca, a stoic philosopher who lived 2,000 years ago. And yet, this essay drives a crucial point home: we all have enough time, if we do it right. But often, we don’t. We put our dreams on hold to seek approval from others, we buy into the mentality of “someday” and end up living a life of regret and what could have beens.

We waste our time with mindless entertainment, gossip and caring way too much about what others think. We take the path others have told us is for us, but deep down we know the truth: it’s not.

So, how can you use your mortality to make bold decisions and live the life you’re called to right now? If you’re here, I know this isn’t you.

“Often a very old man has no other proof of his long life than his age.” – Seneca

2. Remember Your Mortality

The first step in harnessing the power of remembering we don’t have much time is simply to embrace our mortality. This simple shift in awareness is what 99% of people avoid: we know our time here is limited, but we rarely think about it.

Usually, this happens until someone around us experiences a crisis or death and wakes us up. Most people live in an illusion that death is very far off and likely won’t happen to them. But it’s not true. According to research by the United Nations, around 6,500 people die every day in the U.S. alone.

Instead of running from our mortality, face it head on and use it as leverage to ask bold questions:

• What do you really want?
• Who are you living for?
• Are you living the life you’re meant for?

As Steve Jobs famously said in his riveting Stanford commencement speech in 2005: “remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.” Every day, take a moment to remember your time here is limited and you have a precious gift. Close your eyes, express gratitude and ensure you set the intention to truly live.

3. Use Reverse Visualization

One of my favorite techniques I use on myself and countless clients or listeners of the podcast is simple: reverse visualization.

We’ve all heard of visualization for success, and it’s a key practice to shift our awareness and gain clarity. But reverse visualization is strategically used to make bold decisions now by leveraging the possibility of regret.

Because most people are slow to make decisions, they miss out on the opportunity cost of a life they can’t imagine. They end up stuck in life, and justify it by saying: “I’ll get around to it next year. When life gets a little less hectic, I’m all in. Someday I’ll launch my own business.”

These are all lies designed to let you and I off the hook from making a committed decision from a place of power.

Pick an area of your life that isn’t working for you and ask a simple question: What does it feel like to wake up in 18 or 36 months when nothing has changed, except your circumstances are much, much worse? Dig deep into that reality —and the ripple effect it causes on every area of your life.

“I would visualize things coming to me. It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That’s the thing. You can’t just visualize and go eat a sandwich.” – Jim Carrey

4. Spend Time With Older People

One of my favorite practices for remembering my own mortality is to have conversations with people in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Undoubtedly, they have the deep wisdom of experience, and have shifted my life countless times.

When I was 24 and on the path to become a financial broker, a 64 year old man looked me in the eye and told me to follow my heart. I could see and feel the regret in this eyes. He had spent his entire life chasing something he didn’t want.

Bronnie Ware was a caretaker for those with little to no time to live, and would have conversations about their biggest regret. She ultimately created a book and platform out of it, compiling the most common themes. Number one was:“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

So, ask yourself: are you on a path designed by others —or one of your choosing? Regardless of the success you create, you’ll feel empty if it’s not truly yours.

5. It’s Your Time

Remembering we’re not here for long is a brilliant way to focus on what matters and release the noise. It’s about living a life on your terms, and not following a path simply because someone said you should. With this reminder in hand, it’s time to go out and make sure you’re living out loud, and never look back with regret.

How do you make sure you’re taking advantage of every single day you’re alive? Let us know how you express gratitude!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/why-remembering-youre-going-to-die-will-wake-you-up/

21 of Dale Carnegie’s Most Influential Quotes From “How to Make Friends and Influence People”

Dale Carnegie is the best-selling author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” He helped people truly grasp how powerful interpersonal skills and public speaking could be to one’s life.

He was born into poverty in Missouri, and worked as a salesman and actor following his college graduation. Additionally, he began teaching public speaking classes which ended up becoming extremely successful. Carnegie was able to sell advice which if applied, could help people from all ages become successful.

Below are 21 of Dale Carnegie’s most influential quotes from his book, How to Make Friends and Influence People:

1. “A person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” – Dale Carnegie

2. “Every successful person loves the game. The chance to prove his worth, to excel, to win.” –Dale Carnegie

3. “Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him.” – Dale Carnegie

4. “Every successful person loves the game. The chance to prove his worth, to excel, to win.” –Dale Carnegie

5. “Pay less attention to what men say. Just watch what they do.” – Dale Carnegie

6. “Ask questions instead of giving orders.” – Dale Carnegie

7. “There is only one way to get the best of an argument — and that is to avoid it.” – Dale Carnegie

8. “Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.” – Dale Carnegie

9. “To be interesting, be interested.” – Dale Carnegie

10. “All men have fears, but the brave put down their fears and go forward.” – Dale Carnegie

To check out more Dale Carnegie quotes, click here!

11. “It raises one above the herd and gives one a feeling of nobility and exaltation to admit one’s mistakes.” – Dale Carnegie

12. “You can’t win an argument. If you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it.” – Dale Carnegie

13. “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” – Dale Carnegie

14. “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.” – Dale Carnegie

15. “Any fool can criticize, complain, and condemn—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.” – Dale Carnegie

16. “Talk to someone about themselves and they’ll listen for hours.” – Dale Carnegie

17. “Names are the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” – Dale Carnegie

18. “Criticism is dangerous, because it wounds a person’s precious pride, hurt his sense of importance and arouse resentment.” – Dale Carnegie

19. “By fighting you never get enough, but by yielding you get more than you expected.” – Dale Carnegie

20. “Winning friends begins with friendliness.” – Dale Carnegie

21. “Remember a name and call it easily and you have paid a subtle and very effective compliment.” – Dale Carnegie

Which one of these Dale Carnegie quotes resonated most with you and why?

from
https://addicted2success.com/quotes/21-of-dale-carnegies-most-influential-quotes-from-how-to-make-friends-and-influence-people/

How to Turn Your Tragedy Into a Legacy

Sometimes, life isn’t just unfair – it’s downright cruel. It punishes those who deserve reward, praises those who deserve reprimanding, and at worst – takes the lives of those who deserve living. The year after I graduated high school, my best friend of nearly a decade was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Not just any cancer – but one that’s most often diagnosed in men over the age of 60.

She biked several miles a day, trained ballet multiple days a week, and didn’t lay a finger on drugs. With an energy so addictive, you could feel it a mile away, and a laugh that echoed through the walls, she turned heads in any room she walked into. Two years later, I was traveling abroad when I got the news she was entering hospice. I booked a 15 hour flight home the next morning to go be with her and sit by her bedside.

We made jokes, caught up on the latest Beauty And The Beast remake, reminisced about embarrassing childhood pictures, retold our favorite stories, and made plans for the future. Three months later, three days before my 22nd birthday and a few months after hers, her cancer won. I watched the most incredible soul get robbed of a life and a future they deserved. And I didn’t understand why.

As many people do, I spiraled into depression for the first time the following month until one day I had a dream with her in it. The next morning, I thought of her and what would make her proud.

“Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live.” – Robert Kennedy

All of a sudden I realized I had two choices: To use her death as a reason to hold back, avoid healing, and never step outside of my comfort zone for the rest of my life or to use her death as fuel to begin living a life she’d be proud of, and make the kind of impact – and legacy – she didn’t get the chance to.

I knew what I had to do. The next day, I opened my laptop and shared my full story on social media for the first time. No walls, no barriers, no filters. Less than a year later, I’d built a six figure online business helping hundreds of other entrepreneurs grow their businesses by sharing their stories and showing up authentically and vulnerably on social media.

All because I realized I had a choice in the face of tragedy. And so do you. You can choose to let your next hardships serve as an excuse for not creating the life you want. You can choose to play the victim, and stop moving forward because life decided to hand you – or someone around you – a poor deck of cards. Or, you can be the difference.

The 1% who sees opportunity amidst the downfall. The 1% who seeks inspiration during healing. The 1% who gathers the strength to build something bigger than yourself and take one step forward when it feels like the world is pushing you three steps back. It’s up to.

Adversity is to be expected. Curveballs are thrown often. And tragedy is unavoidable – that’s why they call it tragedy. Whether the next time it’s you or someone you love facing tragedy head on, remember that joy wouldn’t be in existence without pain. If you never experience the lows, you’d never feel the beautiful, unforgettable highs. Life would be one long, dull ride.

Let yourself scream, cry, curse the world in the moment – but whatever you do, do not blind yourself from the opportunities that lie ahead tomorrow. Most times, they’re in front of you as clear as day, waiting for you to open your eyes and grab them.

“Every tragedy has a lesson equal in significance to its heartbreak.”

Allow yourself time to heal, process, and grasp what is today, then wake up tomorrow with an open heart. Be open to the idea that perhaps everything does happen for a reason, even if we cannot see it.

Open to the idea that the world only deals us cards we’re strong enough to handle. Open to the idea that pain is temporary, and time truly does heal. If you choose to, I guarantee you will come out on the other side a stronger, better version of you.

Your world may be gray, and you may feel like the weight of it is on your shoulders, but I promise, if you take one-half of a step forward every day you will heal. Not only will you heal, but you will find a way to turn your most painful chapter into your most powerful chapter.

A way to leave a bigger impact, create the life you or your loved one would be proud of, and make this world a better place.

So the next time life decides to test your strength – and it will – remember that you control what happens next. A poor deck of cards might be dealt to you at a moment’s notice, but it’s what you do with it that counts.

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/how-to-turn-your-tragedy-into-a-legacy/

4 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Quit Your Day Job for Your Creative Ventures

If you’ve spent anytime online you’ve no doubt come across people like this: “Hi there, I’m Timothy Moneybags and I made a million dollars from my best-selling novel after I quit my job and pursued my dream of becoming a writer!”

While many of these stories are true and can definitely be motivational, this idea that quitting your job is synonymous with finding creative success is just not true. Plenty of people have quit their jobs to become writers and ended up not making a dime, we just don’t hear their stories because they’re probably too embarrassed to share them.

Similarly, stories of people who keep their day jobs, pursue their dreams and find their own personal success don’t seem to be heard as often either for a different reason: It’s not as sexy as someone dropping everything to venture into the unknown.

While it might not sell as well in a Facebook Ad, there are plenty of practical reasons why you should keep your day job if you’re planning on pursuing a creative venture that could replace your income.

Here are 4 reasons why you shouldn’t quit your day job for your creative ventures:

1. Steady Income Means Less Stress

It can be insanely stressful knowing that your creative venture will be 100% responsible for feeding yourself and your family. In a lot of ways, this stress can drain the enjoyment you normally had with your project due to it having to make you money at all costs. Eventually, you’ll find your motivation to try something new becomes stagnant as your fear of disrupting the stability that you’ve built yourself pulls you back to what’s familiar.

If you keep your day job, then you won’t have to worry if your branching out causes your project to fall flat on its face because your bills are already covered. While it’s obviously possible to build something on the side that does sustain you, the idea that you have to quit your job right away, stress out to the point of losing sleep, and then hopefully find success is silly.

You can still work your day job and work on your creative projects at the same time, and keeping a steady source of income will help free you up to explore your passions even if they don’t make you any money.

“There is no downside to a side hustle. There are only benefits to building more than one source of income. A side hustle is the new job security.” – Forbes

2. You Have More Time Than You Think to Hustle

This notion that there isn’t enough time during the day to work on your side project is just not a great excuse. Just ask Gary Vaynerchuk, who systematically has his entire day planned down to the minute. If this man is able to fit an insane amount of time doing what he loves into his schedule every day, you can fit, at minimum, a few minutes in your day to work on your passion.

While, practically speaking, you would have a lot of time in your day if you did quit your job, just look at how you spend the free time that you currently have. Are you pursuing your passion or are you watching Netflix? If you’re like me, you’re probably spending too much time staring at a screen rather than hustling.

If you begin monitoring what you do during your free time, you’ll quickly realize that you do, in fact, have time throughout the week to work on your passion. Over time, you’ll see the time you put into your projects will stack up and you’ll be glad you spent those few hours out of the week working versus watching the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

3. You Have a Backup if Things Don’t Work Out

Let’s be frank: your creative venture could completely fail to make you a dime. The question is, will you still have a way to pay the bills if this happens? As mentioned already, having a steady source of income means less stress for you and a safety net in case your passion doesn’t “stick” in the marketplace of ideas.

Your day job, no matter how boring it may be, provides you with necessary stability that a creative venture might not have right away. So, don’t give in to the romantic notion of quitting your job to “pursue your dreams” if you don’t have that stability quite yet unless you’re willing to take this unnecessary risk.

Be practical, and ensure that your bills have a way to be paid and your family has a person at the helm of their future that is both prepared and stable.

“Quitting a job doesn’t jump-start a dream because dreams take planning, purpose and progress to succeed. That stuff has to happen before you quit your day job.”

4. You’re Free to Experiment Without Worrying About Monetization

As Hugh MacLeod puts it in his book “Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity”, passion projects should be looked at as a separate thing from your 9-to-5 job. The reason being is there isn’t pressure to perform a certain way in order to make money. Instead, the creative person is free to explore different avenues without fear of their project not putting food on the table.

One could argue that this is also why a lot of musical artists come out with songs that sound almost identical to the last song they made. Since the last song sold very well, and they want to continue making a profit off of their art, they’ll take a sort of “conveyor belt” approach to their music and not deviate from the formula that works for them.

While there are definitely fantastic songs produced this way, there’s a kind of commercialism that stains the once hungry and experimental artist before they began profiting off their art, and one could argue that their art suffers because of it.

If one keeps their income generator separate from the creative venture they enjoy, they’ll find the venture to be more satisfying to the soul rather than their bank account.

The best approach, in my mind, is to take a “come what may” approach with your creative ventures when it comes to making money. If you earn anything from it, that’s great! However, don’t let money be the main focus or your artistic expression could be compromised.

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/4-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-quit-your-day-job-for-your-creative-ventures/

The Top 70 Buddha Quotes

Buddhism has been around for over 2,500 years and is a way of life that about 300 million people around the world follow.

At the age of 35, Gautama left the palace walls where he had grown up and ventured into the real world to walk his own spiritual path. Sitting under a Bodhi tree until he became enlightened, ‘Buddha’ attracted a following and dedicated the rest of his life teaching the path of enlightenment and awakening to them.

Buddhism is a very calm, peaceful and fair way of life and these Buddha quotes encompass the philosophy of Buddha’s teachings.

Here are 70 of The Best and Highly Shared Buddha Quotes to enlighten your mind and soul.

 

The Top 70 Buddhist Quotes:

1. “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha

2. “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Buddha

3. “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” – Buddha

4. “In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?” – Buddha

5. “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.” – Buddha

6. “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.” – Buddha

7. “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” – Buddha

8. “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha

9. “If you truly loved yourself, you could never hurt another.” – Buddha

10. “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” – Buddha

11. “There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.” – Buddha

12. “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” – Buddha

13. “However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?” – Buddha

14. “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” – Buddha

15. “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” – Buddha

16. “To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” – Buddha

17. “To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.” – Buddha

18. “The mind is everything. What you think you become.” – Buddha

19. “Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it” – Buddha

20. “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.” – Buddha

 

 

21. “Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.” – Buddha

22. “When you dig a well, there’s no sign of water until you reach it, only rocks and dirt to move out of the way. You have removed enough; soon the pure water will flow.” – Buddha

23. “Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.” – Buddha

24. “You only lose what you cling to.” – Buddha

25. “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.”

26. “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” – Buddha

27. “It is better to travel well than to arrive.” – Buddha

28. “Doubt everything. Find your own light.” – Buddha

29. “The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.” – Buddha

30. “Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” – Buddha

31. “A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.” – Buddha

32. “Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.” – Buddha

33. “In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.” – Buddha

34. “Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.” – Buddha

35. “There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.” – Buddha

36. “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?” – Buddha

37. “Purity or impurity depends on oneself, No one can purify another.” – Buddha

38. “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” – Buddha

39. “True love is born from understanding.” – Buddha

40. “To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others” – Buddha

 

 

41. “You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.” – Buddha

42. “There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.” – Buddha

43. “If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” – Buddha

44. “Pain is certain, suffering is optional.” – Buddha

45. “Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.” – Buddha

46. “To understand everything is to forgive everything” – Buddha

47. “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.” – Buddha

48. “When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky” – Buddha

49. “Patience is key. Remember: A jug fills drop by drop.” – Buddha

50. “Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.” – Buddha

51. “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” – Buddha

52. “A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.” – Buddha

53. “Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.” – Buddha

54. “Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.” – Buddha

55. “Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.” – Buddha

56. “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.” – Buddha

57. “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” – Buddha

58. “The darkest night is ignorance” – Buddha

59. “I never see what has been done, I only see what remains to be done.” – Buddha

60. “Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have.” – Buddha

61. “Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.” – Buddha

62. “People with opinions just go around bothering each other.” – Buddha

63. “If anything is worth doing, do it with all your heart.” – Buddha

64. “It is easy to see the faults of others, but difficult to see one’s own faults.” – Buddha

65. “If you don’t tend to one another, who then will tend to you?” – Buddha

66. “Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.” –Buddha

67. “That deed is not well done, if one has to repent for having done it, and if, with a tearful face, one has to weep as a result of that deed.” – Buddha

68. “Understanding is the heartwood of well-spoken words.”- Buddha

69. “Speak only endearing speech, speech that is welcomed. Speech, when it brings no evil to others, is a pleasant thing.”- Buddha

70. “Radiate boundless love towards the entire world…” – Buddha

from
https://addicted2success.com/quotes/the-top-70-buddha-quotes/