Act More, Survey Less.

Lately I get a lot of surveys send to me. All my providers of whatever want to know how they are doing and why.

The only thing I actually want of my suppliers is reliability. 
Always deliver, always be there, when stuff does not work fix it. That they really show they care. Not only show care through sending me surveys.

Please, spend all the money you throw at surveys on real care. 

Step Into Fear and Take Action.

For change to happen you do have to take action. Be courageous, take risks and step into opportunities. Which can be fearful. Because you do not know the outcome. 

Stepping into action is fearful. Because you don't know the outcome. But, it is not about the outcome. That's what we have been teached. It is about the process. And when you focus on the process, to be committed on the process, the outcome will be good. The best.

Take consistent action and stay focused on the way of being. Then you will bring your desired reality to life. 

And, the Universe will lend you a helping hand to make opportunities possible.

A writer writes.

If you want to be a writer, write. 

This concept can be universally applied.

Find the best people.

When you want to make a business successful, the team, the people. are essential. 

Flexible and innovative people, and most of the time, in the start of the business or a project, you want generalists in the team. Later on the specialists take over. 

But the main thing is that the people need to be excellent. Excellent in being human. And this is not a trick.

Because real people, honest and trustworthy people, will build up your business.

Set a good example.

It is about how you live your life. Every day. Not about what you say you are going to do.

People are watching you all the time. They see what you are doing. It means less what you are saying. The doing means a lot more. 

I believe that one can, and also will change lives of the people around you by what you do. Each day. 

And by doing, you will change things. Your life, and the ones of the people around you.

Be sincerely kind to everyone around you.

When being kind you create confidence. 

When you give kindly, you will create love around you. 

When you think kind, you will create positivity.

These three ways of kindness I read somewhere. I think it is true. 

When being kind you can make a difference. It rarely happens that your partner comes home and tells you that it was so bad he met kindness that day. Everybody wants to be treated kind. 

And, kindness will bring out more kindness. And it will make you grow stronger. 

Always be transparent.

As an organisation this is a major important point. Every team, every employee should know about what is going on in the company. 

By facilitating full transparency they start living and breathing the company or project. By having access to all the information they know what is happening, and by far most important: what should happen. What they should make happen.

A honest working environment brings security. That they know, or can know, everything what is going on.

And, when there is bad news to share, it does not come as a shock. It also brings in responsibility of employees and possible taking initiative into their own hands.

Trust is a very important base for this. And, if you trust yourself, you should also trust your team.

The need to keep everything the same.

A lot of people feel the need to keep everything the same. Safe and secure. Clear.

And, changes come anyway. Most of the time when you are not asking for them, or not expecting them. Things change. People change. Circumstances come and go. 

Life does not stop for anybody. It moves fast. sometimes very fast. It can go from calm and easy to chaos in seconds. And these seconds can change our lives. 

Unpredictable events have flipped lives upside down, for better and for worse.

Things change. People and circumstances come and go. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.

The question is: "What are you doing afterwards?' That is what counts. How do you cope with the changes?

The coping with change will make you find out who you really are. That is living.

Speaking at conferences and other non entrepreneurial stuff.

Speaking at conferences, writing blogs and keeping your Twitter timeline up to date, as well as your Facebook Page. A lot of people are (only) busy with that. 

But, unless you are Tom Peters or Seth Godin: These are not entrepreneurial actions. It is also being called creating background noise.

Tweets, speeches and blogs are not going to change the world. neither do Facebook posts. They might start something, awareness for example, but that's it. Or they might direct to action. But that is the max.

Action is what real entrepreneurs do. Real entrepreneurs stop talking about what they are doing or what they are going to do, and they DO it. 

Quoting Jerry Springer: "There are three types of people, those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those that ask 'what happened?'"

How entrepreneurial are you?

Measuring your success by material wealth.

Stuff. Or chuff, as I call it. We are bombarded with all kind of images of stuff. 

The idea that advertisements and commercials want to give us is that all this stuff elevates our personal value. That it is connected to success. And to happiness.

Owning, giving, and buying stuff is a measurement for happiness, for success. That's what commercials and advertisements try to tell us. To sell to us.

But, peace of mind, happiness and success have little, or nothing, to do with stuff.

My son and daughters, my wife. Their way of laughing about things. Their smile's. Or a small flower on the side of the road when I bike to Amsterdam.

Working in an environment where I am not being judged. Where I am respected and trusted for what I do, or try to do. 

And the ability I learned from my mother to appreciate the beauty surrounding me wherever I am.

To explore ideas and passions. Al that non tangible stuff. That's what makes me happy.

Today is going to be a great day.

When reading this sentence, it already made you smile, didn't it? This means it is true.

Making a choice, that's where this quote is about. Choose to do certain things.

Choose wisely.

Greener on the other side.

Work on substantial goals.

Are the goals I set high enough? That's a question I ask myself. When you set goals that are far lower then you are able to achieve, you go for mediocrity.

And, most of the time, when it is to late you realize it. The starting point of mediocre goals is most of the time fear for failure. But the truth is when you have a proper goal, failure will bring you closer. It teaches you lessons about stuff that does not work. 

Failure also lets you move on. And mediocrity holds you back from reaching your full potential.

Suppose you experience yourself succeeding, but you still feel incomplete. Then it is time to reevaluate your goals.

Pursue a goal so significant that even if you fail, you are better off for having tried.

Evolve.  

When you liked something at a certain point in life, this does not mean you are still required to like it today.

People change their minds. 

And sometimes I meet people who hold on to an idea or opinion or dream as a sort of act of loyalty to themselves. But according to me this says something about who you once were as a person.

Loyalty to yourself means that you allow yourself to have the freedom to grow. To change. To develop.

The only thing you ever are for sure is unsure. Do not be, or feel imprisoned by some old ways and patterns of thinking. That is the starting point of growth.

Challenge who you are. Challenge what you think. Do it at any given moment in time. That is evolving.

People do business with people.

Starting point of doing business are people. So the way business is done starts with people, persons, you and me.

This is an important acknowledgement. For me as a facilitator in Business University and Knowmads Business School Amsterdam, and also for business education in general. And all training and programs aimed to do more or better business.

No use to put students trough a program, model, spreadsheet, project planning tool or whatever. If the starting point is not human, trying to see the other, trying to take care of the business relationship you have or are building, all is useless.

Thank you Johanna Anna Laura Robert Kristin Leonard Neza Tom and Anastasia for your end presentations which showed a lot of you. 

And of how you will be and act in life. And in business.



I

Stop listening to toxic people.

Everybody knows them and meets them. Every day. Sometimes regularly, in a work situation, sometimes less regular. Toxic people.

You recognise them, because they are convinced that everything is impossible. They are the ones which are very quick in shooting of ideas. They are poisoning your mind. They make you hopeless.

Just stop listening to them. 

When you surround yourself with positive people, people who are passionate, these people will inspire you. They will help you bring your best out of you. And most of the time these positive, non toxic people, are around in your family and amongst your friends. You know, while reading this, immediately whom I am talking about.

Surround yourself with them. They will lift you up when you feel down. 

Yesterday I heard a nice tip: Go once a day or two days trough your phone and call someone without a reason. Call the non toxic ones.

I’m looking forward to it.

Are you looking forward to your day of work? 

When yes, when it is "hard to do" what you are going to do today, it has no meaning to you.  Hard work is easy to do when you like what you do.

If your daily work is becoming uninteresting, boring, hard to do, so is your life, and so are you.

Your daily work is filling a large percentage of your time in your life. A large part of your time here on earth. 

Do work which you want to do. What you dream of doing. To make the majority of your live interesting. By doing so you give yourself an injection. Every day.

The key? Find, and do work that means something to you. Or connect your work to a goal that has meaning.

Looking forward to it?

It's hard to wait for something you know might never happen. 

But it's even harder to give up when you know it's everything you want.
(Unknown)

It was a busy day.

You recognize this feeling. Being busy non stop. 

I do not see my day divided by work and private. I go out of bed around 7 and to sleep around midnight. In between I do stuff. I am busy.

Being busy makes me happy. It is my quest. I feel it because it pulls my actions and efforts in a specific direction. I am striving for it every day. Persisting making things happen. 

I am the happiest when there is a sudden breakthrough. But not only the point of breaktrhough, but the DO-ing to get there.

That is the right way of being busy for me. It is about rhythm. About not stopping. About maintaining my efforts. About enjoying.

Accept the things you can’t change.

There is a saying: that what you are resisting, persists.  

By resisting something you are feeding the thing, or the one, you resist. By putting energy in it, you are feeding it.

Or, as my coach told me: "By using negative energy to push something away, you are actually inviting it to stay".

Big challenge, for me: choose to accept what is. 

I stay positive and active, let go of the need to control, and embrace the process.

Tell yourself the right story.

Every day we tell ourselves stories. Out loud, to others, to confirm our story, and in our heads. We keep on reciting these stories.

By doing so we make up who we are, it has a big influence on all of our lives.

The question is if we tell ourselves the right story. By telling the right story, you will become more loving, more passionate, more courageous. ( meaning: cou·ra·geous  /kəˈrājəs : not deterred by anger or pain; brave.

If you tell yourself the wrong story the opposite will occur.

And, I think you owe it to yourself to get the story right. Right?

Start simple.

This is an advice you hear often.

I would say: simply start.

I’ll give it another try.

Everyone has this thought. And it is a very good starting point.

If you try something, no matter what, you already achieved something. Forget failure, or whatever outcome. By trying you are achieving and trying is always enough. (Not that it should be a reason to keep on trying, but look around you: how many people keep on trying? And if f not, what life do they have?)

You can also be proud that you tried. You gave it, hopefully, your best shot. And when the result is not good enough, try again. Because every mistake teaches you something. About if you still want to achieve that goal, and it teaches you a lot about yourself.

The biggest failure is never trying again. In the end what counts is the courage to continue.

Individuals don't win. Teams do.

This is a saying most of the times used by managers of teams. 

And, it is true. Because no man is an island, and you are always surrounded by people. In your private situation, work, sports, school, university. In life.

So, if you want to win, and not only in the meaning of competition or sports, but make "profit" in your life about the things which move you, see if you can form a team. A team which is committed to make it happen. A team with members who want to make it happen, for themselves, and for the other. 

Or, as Al Pacino says it in Any Given Sunday" Either we heal, as a team, or we will crumble as individuals. The one who is willing to make that extra inch, to make that extra effort for his team-mate, that team will win".

Do you have the feeling that you belong to a team like that?

Are you doing what everyone else wants you to do. 

There is a tremendous pressure from other people around us, which makes us do what we do. From parents, friends in school, colleagues, managers we work for etc.

Most of the time I think: "Life is to short to spend all my time trying to make everyone happy". Apart from that, it is impossible to please everyone all the time. It is impossible for anyone else, beside of you, to know what it the best for you. No matter how much you share with your parents, your friends, your colleagues, they are not connected to your deepest desires, your intuition, your hopes and your dreams.

You have to make choices that take mind, body and soul into consideration. Your mind, your body and your soul, because you are the only person who knows what is the best for you, isn't it?

Always, ALWAYS listen to yourself and what you want first.

Claim a New Paradigm.

Paradigms are about beliefs. Believes that rule your daily life. 

And paradigms are putting a limit you place on yourself. What is really important is to find out why you do it, what is the reasoning that supports your limiting belief in your life.

You can change paradigms by turning the reasoning behind upside down. 

Paradigms most of the time start with the word " because ". By changing that, all of a sudden the reasoning, the belief changes. 

The starting point changes, and by that you can shift old believe systems, old paradigms into new and different, more true, starting point.

Or, as a friend of mine always says when I come up with a reasoning: " the opposite is also true" 

Today is a perfect day for a perfect day.

A decision to make. Can you?

Have a good one.

Today you inspired me.

Yesterday and the day before we had half year presentations of Tribe 6 of Knowmads Business School Amsterdam 

It was amazing. These young people, searching and digging into themselves, who they are, why they are like they are, what they see in their surrounding, what they want to change in themselves and in the world. 

In front of their tribe-members telling about it. What their dreams are, their ideas, their perspectives, their pain and their goals and needs for the coming time at Knowmads.

Inspiring stories. That's where it is about. When you hear young people telling about what they want to do, to change, where they dream of, this inspires. 

I can feel the power of these stories, and I get inspired by that myself. There is this feeling of going into the field of possibilities. Without any boundaries. 

Or, as Nikolaj Sahlstroem put it in his saying goodbye moment today: Thank you. You inspired me.