Tuesday, 28 August 2018
Some things poor people do that rich people avoid!
One thing rich people don't do: they do not watch excessive TV nor focus on reality shows or chase celebrity gossip...if you think you are rich and indulge in these things, trust me you are not as rich as you should be. Let the discussion start! post your comments here..
Sunday, 6 May 2018
ACHIEVING FINANCIAL EXCELLENCE BY APPLYING 'THE PRINCIPLES OF COMPOUND EFFECT '
THE
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOUND EFFECT
Let me start by quoting
John C Maxwell whose Quote states, "You will never change your life
until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in
your daily routine". This quote applies to all of us here
today, students, parents, and teachers alike. However, because the young ones
amongst us are just starting life and having so much time in their hands, they
have a better opportunity to apply the principles conveyed in the quote. I
therefore request that much more than anyone here today, the graduating
students should pay more attention as I rely on the principle of the quote to
explain some of the lessons from 'the Compound Effect'. I will
share some of my notes extracted from the book, emphasised by my own experience
with the principle of Compound Effect'.
‘WHAT DO
WE MEAN BY THE ‘COMPOUND EFFECT?’
I quote the author; Quote ‘the
Compound Effect is the principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of
small, smart choices.…Whether you are using this strategy for improving your
health, relationships, finances, or anything else for that matter, the changes
are so subtle, they are almost imperceptible (i.e. Unnoticeable).…’Unquote
The ‘Compound Effect'
teaches a simple principle of achieving and sustaining success by doing little
things at a time and the incredible impact these little efforts can have on
your life when added up. Darren Hardy (the author) makes the argument
that the only path to success is through the continuum of small, unexciting,
and sometimes difficult daily disciplines compounded over time. It
is the strategy of reaping huge rewards from doing small, seemingly
insignificant actions. Over time these small actions add up to
yield excellent and good results.
Presented in an
equation, you have:
Small choices +
consistency + time = Significant Results.
Dear Graduating students,
The compound effect is based on the principle that decisions shape
destiny. Little, everyday decisions will take you either to the life
you desire or to disaster by default. It is a set of fundamental principles
that have guided the most phenomenal achievements in business, relationships
and beyond. The principles will help anyone beat competition, rise above
challenges, and create the life he deserves.
At this stage, I will like
to list some of the principles underpinning the COMPOUND EFFECT PHILOSOPHY.
These are principles you need to apply as you take deliberate steps to add value
to your life. Principles you must sow into daily, little by little
and expect the benefits to be compounded over time. Please listen carefully and
take good note. Ensure you are a better person after listening to these points…
1. Your Choices Matter. Be careful with the
choices you make. Understand that your Choices are at the center of all success
and failure. It is what we choose that makes the biggest difference. Too often
we sleep walk through our choices, i.e we make unplanned choices only
to find ourselves wondering why we are not
happy, healthy, or successful. We default to choices that our society and
culture tells us we should do. We must be careful as it is not the big choices,
but small choices that derail us. Often, we don't consciously think about it,
but these small decisions can really change things. If you want to improve your
life, you must improve your decisions. I
believe the most important element in making good decisions is making conscious
decisions. This is when you consider the pros and cons of your
decisions before making them.
2. Take 100 Percent
Responsibility. Always take 100 percent responsibility for everything that
happens to you. You alone are responsible for your situation. If you always
take 100 percent responsibility for everything you experience, if you
completely own all of your choices and all the ways you respond to whatever
happens to you, you hold the power. Everything is up to you. You are
responsible for everything you do, didn't do or how you respond to what is done
to you. If you have ever blamed traffic for being late, or decided you are in a
bad mood because of something someone else did, you're not taking 100 percent
personal responsibility.
3. Tracking your Progress. Tracking your
progress and missteps is key for long-term success. All winners are
trackers. You cannot improve something until you measure it. Likewise, you
can't make the most of who you are, your talents and resources and
capabilities, until you are aware of and accountable for your actions. Tracking
will revolutionize your life. Regardless of whether you think you are aware of
your habits or not, start tracking. Doing so will revolutionize your life, and
ultimately, your lifestyle. (For example, if you carry a small notepad in
your pocket, and write down every single money you spend for thirty days, it
will bring to you an instantaneous awareness of the many money choices you make
that result in money pouring out of your pockets. Logging everything you spend
will create a completely new set of choices and disciplines around your
spending. Tracking is a simple exercise. It works because it brings
moment-to-moment awareness to the actions you take in the area of your life you
want to improve. You will be surprised at what you will observe about your
behavior.)
4. Ensure you take
action. Be bold and take a Step forward when necessary. When you are not
happy about your life, you must be unhappy enough to do something about it, the
situation will not change until you take ACTION. For a situation to change, you
must take actions. Circumstances don’t change by themselves. Our actions will
change existing circumstances.
5. Find a Success Partner. There are few things as
powerful as two people locked arm and arm marching towards the same goal. To up
your chances of success, get a success buddy, someone who will keep you
accountable as you cement your new habits while you return the favour. Have a
‘Performance Partner' and Create 30 mins for each other weekly during which you
trade your wins, losses and fixes. Learn to solicit the needed feedback and
hold each other accountable.
6. Work on Yourself. "If you want to
have more, you become more. Success is something you attract by the person you
become" (Jim Rohn). We should ask ourselves the question:
"Who do I need to become?" Let us consider the example that you are a
man desiring a good wife, with certain attributes. Ask yourself, "What
kind of a man would such a woman be looking for? Who do I need to become to be
attractive to a woman of this substance"? Then go to work on becoming and
achieving those qualities. It works. The key is your getting clear on who
you had to be to attract and keep a woman of the quality you want, and doing
the work to achieve that. This works for everything else we want. Try it.
7. Entertainment vs Education
Ratio. How
do you split your time between Entertainment and Education? What is your
entertainment vs education ratio? The top 20% of successful people spend their
time focused on education. Stop wasting your time reading useless stuff that
add no real value or consuming negative stories, watching the news and more.
The news MOSTLY aggregates the worst, saddest, and most stressful stories every
day. Instead, Learn Daily. Are you learning each day? This is
a major key to success. No business is going to keep someone around just for
showing up. You must be equipped with sufficient knowledge to add value.
Organisations tend to keep their knowledgeable staff.
8. Eliminate the Trigger for
your Bad Habits. Identify triggers for your bad habits: the who, when, where,
and what, that prompts you to start your bad habits. Start by eliminating these
triggers, then throw them out. Remember the adage ‘a problem known/well
defined, is a problem half solved’. Be honest with yourself, we all have
weaknesses but become better people by identifying these weaknesses and
consciously working on them.
9. Always go a Little Bit
Beyond What People Expect. Try a little harder. No one achieves greatness by doing
merely what is expected of him. What determines the excellence of your
greatness is what you put over and above what is expected of
you. Remember, there is that ‘extra’ that makes ordinary to
become extra-ordinary.
10. Patience is the Answer. In order for the compound
effect to work, you need to be patient. Most of these daily changes won’t
provide immediate results. For example, if you reduce your
calories by 150 today, you won’t see a difference today or even this week.
The same is true with working out. You can work very hard at the gym and you
won’t see results today or this week. Same logic applies to the compound
effect principle. These daily disciplines must be given time to produce
results.
CONCLUSION
For the Compound
Effect to be effective as a tool to achieving success and to make a
real and lasting difference in any life, it must be combined with consistent
and positive actions. As you leave this community today, I encourage you to
allow this lecture and its philosophy become your guide. Let the ideas sink in
and produce genuine, tangible, and measurable outcomes for you. Take immediate
action on your new insight and knowledge. Make a choice from today to make the
next five years better and an improvement of the last 5 years. Choose to change
your life, once and for all. Stay focused on the simple but profound
disciplines that will lead you in the direction of your desires.
Thank you for your
valuable time. I look forward to reading about your success story.
This article is an extract of a paper delivered by Rear Admiral K
O Komolafe (Rtd) during the 2017 valedictory ceremony
of Caleb British International School. It has been published with full
permission.
Friday, 27 April 2018
8 ways to achieve financial excellence in 2018
8 ways to achieve financial excellence in 2018
1. Create a budget and a financial plan for the year.
Create a budget and a financial plan for the year and do this early enough. Your budget and financial plan for the year is your guide. Without a guide, you cannot measure performance. With your plan, you can check compliance and areas you have deviated from your plan.
If you haven’t made a financial plan yet, it is not too late to do that. Everyone needs a simple ‘cash budget’. This is a budget that will show your expected cash inflow and planned outflow for a specified budget period (for a month, quarter or year). With this, you will be able to tell your cash position at any point in time. You can also take this further by encouraging those close to you to keep a budget, as this will help you jointly stick to your plans. As part of your 2018 financial plan, set a savings and a spending target for yourself. This way, all of your expected funds will already have an assignment and not remain idle. There is a popular saying that ‘the devil finds work for the idle person’….That devil is also eager to find work for your idle funds.
2. Enlarge your knowledge of financial issues
It is important to educate yourself on activities in the financial market. We all cannot be gurus and experts but we can have basic knowledge that will steer us in the right direction. Subscribe to valuable newsletters and set time aside to periodically review these. Watch Government decisions and have your ears close to the financial market.
3. Keep good financial records
To be in control of your finances in 2018, you must keep good records. You need good records as they form the basis for good trail for tracking and analysing performance against your financial plan. Good records are very essential for managing Fixed deposit investments with banks. Ensure you have documents to back up all your investment transactions with banks and take note of key dates. Keeping a tab on these dates also means you can proactively plan for maturing investments and negotiate for good rates early. With your records, you can also make periodic review of your bank transactions and pick up anomalies early. All these will help you achieve your goal of financial excellence and success.
4. Take Financial decisions promptly
If an investment opportunity opens up or when considering an investment, avoid procrastination and take decisions promptly. This does not mean you should take decisions without having full information. You must ensure you have answers to all your questions. However, once all the necessary information is available, take your decisions promptly. Many have paid dearly for taking late decisions.
5. Know your worth
Many people do not have a good knowledge of their worth. In order to have financial excellence in 2018, you must draw up a personal Balance sheet. How much are you worth? What are your assets and liabilities? What do you have and what do you owe? Undertaking an exercise to know what you are worth will also help you know which assets are growing or depleting and point you towards taking the right decisions. Who do you owe? Take a review and ensure you settle indebtedness on time to avoid increase in your liability. Bank loans, Government taxes etc must be properly settled to avoid exposures that may result in financial penalties.
6. Retirement plans
The best time to plan for life after active work is from day one! Our active years are meant to provide for both the active and non-active years. No matter how long you have been working or running your business, approach 2018 with the knowledge that someday, you have to stop working. This knowledge will guide your financial decisions and ensure you make proper plans for long term investments that will finance your requirements in retirement. Whatever your situation may be, saving and investing money today is better than waiting until tomorrow. Start now.
7. Diversify your portfolio
What are you worth in Landed Property, stocks, cash and otherwise?. Is your portfolio properly diversified? Are there assets that can be pooled to earn better yield? Financial excellence requires that you do not put all your eggs in one basket. Spread your investments wisely to enable you spread your risks and take advantage of various sources of income. Be conscious of the fact that you can have variety of options even within an investment option. Eg Stocks, what mix of shares should you invest in as a player in the capital market? If you need help with taking the right decisions with managing your investment portfolio, be ready to spend some money for expert advise. Even though such payment may initially deplete your finances, in the long run, you will be better off.
8. Take care of your health
Set a target to take care of your health. Health is the greatest wealth. Illnesses are expensive especially if you run your own business. It is better to limit Business shut-down period or absences by proactively deciding to stay healthy. 3 key pieces of advice to meet this target- eat healthy, be physically active and attend to signs of illnesses early. Many have almost lost their lives by procrastinating seeking medical attention. Be knowledgeable about your health too. Your capability to make money or grow on the job depends on your being healthy and alive!!!
***Bimbo Komolafe FCA, FCIB writes from Lagos and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)