Posts Tagged ‘confidence’

16 Steps to having your own desert island

August 15, 2009

I was clearing out my office today and I found a great little book which I’d picked up on Virgin Trains.  The booklet is called ‘Be inspired by time’ and includes contribution from Richard Branson himself.  I was particularly taken by  his ‘Sixteen Steps…’

  1. Pursue profit patiently
  2. Take account of the variables
  3. Adapt to the situation
  4. Know how you need to do things
  5. Recognise the opportunity
  6. Inspiration can come from anywhere
  7. Research can reveal a way  round ‘no’
  8. Respect others, irrespective of what they can do for you
  9. Reputation is everything
  10. Never gamble on something that you have no influence over
  11. Enjoy what you do
  12. Employ the best people that you can
  13. Support and belief can take you far
  14. Use your money to do things
  15. Make every second count
  16. Begin it now.

Although it has a strong business development angle to it, I think that many of these messages apply to personal life too…. perhaps rather than ‘pursue profit patiently’, it’s more ‘pursue success patiently’.


What do you want to achieve? Maybe you’re already there?

April 6, 2009

I recently came across this story in a book. Although I know it’s done the rounds of the internet before, I feel it’s worth repeating here…..

A Harvard MBA took a vacation to a sunny clime where he hired a fishing guide named Joe to help him to land a Marlin.

Joe was in his forties and lived in a modest house by the seashore with his wife and two children. Every day, Joe rose when the sun was warm and took a swim in the ocean with his family. Three days a week he escorted clients out to sea in his boat and they would fish until they hooked a big one.

The four mornings when he chose not to work, Joe would sit in his hammock and read from breakfast until it was time for mid-day lunch with his wife. Almost every afternoon, he picked his kids up after school and took them on ‘an adventure’ or to his workshop for handicrafts. After a long dinner ‘en famille’, Joe and his wife would walk to a nearby cafe where the locals gathered to discuss issues facing their community.

As the vacationing MBA appreciated, Joe’s fishing expeditions were first rate; Joe was a skilled guide, knowledgeable not only about anglers’ tackle but also marine biology, oceanography, meteorology and other subjects about which vacationers were curious. The MBA saw potential for a big, profitable enterprise.

He explained to Joe that it would be easy to put together a group of venutre capitalists to “build your under-performing business”. Instead of inefficiently taking one client out at a time, Joe could have a fleet of high-tech fishing boats, each accommodating a dozen or more clients. With a little strategic advice, he could branch out into related businesses; perhaps build a high-rise hotel on the beach. Most important, Joe could go on TV and become the marketing face for his business, creating a brand that could be franchised at other sleepy fishing communities: “A guy like you could become a celebrity”. The MBA then delivered the clincher: “When that happens, we have an IPO (stock market flotation) and you get rich!”

After listening patiently, Joe asked, “And what then?”

The MBA quickly answered; “Well, you retire to some nice place on the beach, do a little fishing and reading, and get to spend some time with your wife and kids…..”