10 SUCCESS CAPSULES FOR STUDENTS

What is it that makes people successful and I mean really successful compared to you or me? Are they smarter or do they work harder? Are they risk takers or have powerful and influential friends?

The financial newspaper Investors Business Daily (IBD) asked these same questions a few years ago and started a multi-year search for the answer. They studied industry leaders, investors and entrepreneurs to understand the traits they all had in common that contributed to their success. Reproduced here is their list of 10 Secrets to Success along with my commentary on each no-so-secret, ‘secret’.

I decided to reproduce the list here and comment on each of the traits in hopes of motivating you and myself in the process. It’s time for me to take my own advice and start on the path to my dreams. I hope to motivate you, by using myself as an example.


I originally came across this list when I was staring at some papers on a refrigerator owned by someone who was very successful – both personally and financially. My family and I had just spent the night as a guest in a great house in the suburbs of Boston. We were living life large as we played pool in the rec room, drank wine from the wine cellar, and enjoyed a dip in the hot tub. The problem was, neither of the couples in the house owned the property or the life we were pretending to have. You see, my friends were house sitting for the original owner and they had invited us to stay for the weekend.

It wasn’t until the morning after our little ‘party’ that I noticed something taped to the refrigerator – something that impacts me each time I read it. It was the IBD 10 Secrets to Success. Once my head cleared, I quickly copied them down and read them over and over again. After our vacation I made copies and posted them in my home office and inside a journal I decided to keep.

The problem was, after a couple of months I forgot about the secrets and they fell by the wayside. And so did my actions towards my goals. At the time the articles 7 Ways to Grow the Action Habit or How To Motivate Yourself – Self Motivation didn’t exist and I lost my motivation. Well, I re-discovered the list and want to share it with you now. I hope you take these not-so-secret, secrets to heart and realize your dreams – whatever they may be.

1. How You Think is Everything.

Always be positive. Think Success, not Failure. Beware of a negative environment.
This trait has to be one of the most important in the entire list. Your belief that you can accomplish your goals has to be unwavering. The moment you say to yourself “I can’t…”, then you won’t. I was always given the advice “never say I can’t” and I’d like to strike those words from the dictionary.

I’ve found that from time-to-time my attitude waivers. A mentor of mine once said “it’s ok to visit pity city, but you can’t stay and there comes a time when you need to leave”. Positive things happen to positive people.

2. Decide upon Your True Dreams and Goals: Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to reach them.

Write down my dreams and goals? Develop a plan to reach them? You mean like a project plan? Yes, that’s exactly what this means. You may have heard the old adage: A New Years resolution that isn’t written down is just a dream, and dreams are not goals.

Goals are those concrete, measurable stepping stones of achievement that track your progress towards your dreams. My goal is to start a second career as a freelance writer – what are your goals?

3. Take Action. Goals are nothing without action.

Be like Nike and “Just do it”. I took action by reaching out and started writing. Every day I try to take some action towards my goals. It may be small, but it’s still an action. Have you taken action towards your goals?

4. Never Stop Learning: Go back to school or read books. Get training & acquire skills.
Becoming a life long learner would benefit us all and is something we should instill in our kids. It’s funny that once you’re out of school you realize how enjoyable learning can be. What have you learned today?

5. Be Persistent and Work Hard: Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Never give up.
I think every story of success I read entails long hard hours of work. There is no getting around this and there is no free lunch. But, if you’re working towards something that you’re passionate about, something you love – then is it really work?

6. Learn to Analyze Details: Get all the facts, all the input. Learn from your mistakes.
I think you have to strike a balance between getting all the facts and making a decision with incomplete data – both are traits of successful people. Spend time gathering details, but don’t catch ‘analysis paralysis’.

7. Focus Your Time And Money: Don’t let other people or things distract you.
Remain laser focused on your goals and surround yourself with positive people that believe in you. Don’t be distracted by the naysayer’s or tasks that are not helping you achieve your goals.

8. Don’t Be Afraid To Innovate: Be different. Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity.
Follow through on that break-out idea you have. Ask yourself “What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?”

9. Deal And Communicate With People Effectively: No person is an island. Learn to understand and motivate others.

Successful people develop and nurture a network and they only do that by treating people openly, fairly and many times firmly. There is nothing wrong about being firm – just don’t cross the a-hole line. How do you deal with people?

10. Be Honest And Dependable: Take responsibility, otherwise numbers 1 – 9 won’t matter.
Enough said

London fashion week kicks off with call to support fashion education

British fashion is a success story of the moment. An estimated £100m worth of orders will be placed by those attending the 58 shows at London fashion week, with £74m of those funds coming from abroad. But the pipeline of creative talent which feeds the industry is in serious danger of drying up as tuition fees prevent talented young British students taking up places at world famous colleges such as Central St Martins.

This was the stark warning given by the British Fashion Council even as the champagne flowed to mark the first of the week's shows, at Somerset House on Friday morning.

"All the greats of modern British fashion – McQueen, Galliano, Kane – have come from working-class families," said Sarah Mower, the BFC's education tsar and a visiting professor at Central St Martins. "That is the story of British fashion." The current crop of successful home-grown names "came through at a time when fees didn't exist, or were affordable," she added.

Such is the level of concern that the BFC has made education the primary message of this LFW. "Our world-famous fashion colleges play a key role in what makes British fashion fantastic," says chief executive Caroline Rush. "When you talk to [star designer] Jonathan Saunders, he is very frank and straightforward that he wouldn't have been able to become a designer if he had been faced with the fees now being charged. We are really concerned that fees, and the cost of living in London where many colleges are based, will prevent the next generation of talented British students from non-privileged backgrounds from coming through."

The British fashion industry is being urged to follow the American model where industry, alumni and philanthropists "give back" by bankrolling bursaries and scholarships to boost the next generation of talent. Marks & Spencer, the first British business to sign up, announced on Friday that it would underwrite an annual BA degree, beginning next year. "Marks & Spencer are the first on board, and we are aiming to get from one to 10 pretty quickly," said BFC chairman Natalie Massenet. "It is paramount that we secure London's reputation for producing the best fashion talent."

New York-based label J Crew is marking the opening of its first London store this autumn by paying for three year-long bursaries to CSM students, covering tuition fees and accommodation. Meanwhile, London mayor Boris Johnson wants to focus on encouraging British-educated fashion students from abroad to start their businesses here, by extending the "fast-track"visa system for candidates of exceptional ability to apply to fashion design. Johnson this week described the plan as "a clear message to … the fashionistas of Beijing that London is the place they should come to develop ideas [and] build new businesses".

But while the loudest rallying cry is to titans of industry, Massenet is also reaching out to London's army of street fashionistas, urging the city to "dress up" for fashion week. "In New York everyone knows when fashion week is on – it feels like fashion week. I want it to be the same here," she told Vogue recently. She has written to all the week's participating designers, encouraging them to use social media to make as much noise as possible about LFW and create an appetite for fashion that extends beyond the show venues. "This is a moment not just to engage the people sitting in your front row, but to engage the people at home who would love to be there," says Rush.

The BFC has scored a coup in signing up Google's Peter Fitzgerald as head of innovation. Fitzgerald has described the role as "a fantastic opportunity. There is so much growth opportunity for fashion brands to harness the power of technology, both for showcasing and e-commerce. Through demystifying the digital landscape, we aim to empower British designers to build their brands on a global stage."

Despite the stark warnings about an industry in imminent danger of being starved of the oxygen of talent, the formidable Massenet also turned the London rain into a positive. "It was such beautiful weather at New York fashion week," she said, "so I'm happy we've one-upped them by giving fashionistas the chance to wear their new autumn fashions."

More info: http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2013/sep/13/london-fashion-week-education

ASUU strike: Melaye gives FG seven-day ultimatum

The on-going face-off between the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is a reflection of bad government and keeping quiet would be like the proverbial adult who, while at home, allowed the she-goat to suffer the pains of parturition on its tether, Executive Secretary, Anti-Corruption Network and former member, House of Representatives, Dino Melaye has said.

Melaye, who stated this in Abuja on Thursday, gave the Federal Government seven-day ultimatum to resolve the crisis or face mass protests.

“Why would the Federal Government enter into an agreement they don’t intend to implement?

“So, we are giving them one week of grace, and if by Friday next week, the Federal Government does not resolve its crisis with ASUU, we will mobilise Nigerians, students and parents from every facet of our life to be on the streets to protest against this reckless and irresponsible government.

“All the Federal Government needed to do is for the President to write the National Assembly and seek for a virement or even take a loan.

“They can spend money on frivolities, they can spend money on very many unreasonable things.

“But the Federal Government cannot source for N92 billion. Above all, the Federal Government has shown that it is not a responsible government.

“The Federal Government as far back as 2009 went into an agreement with ASUU and signed that agreement.

“Why will you agree to what you don’t intend to do? A gentleman will go into an agreement and then carry out the agreement to the letter.

“The agreement was made in 2009; why was there no budgetary provision for that agreement in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013?” he queried.

He lamented that while UNESCO and United Nations have recommended that 24 per cent of the budget of every country that is a member of UN be dedicated to education, “what we have as budget for education in Nigeria is less than three per cent and N92 billion is what the Federal Government cannot provide for ASUU.

“But the same reckless government budgeted N245 billion for subsidy and ended up spending N2.3 trillion, over N2 trillion above the budget.”

“When it is convenient for the Federal Government, they will borrow money. They just went to China to secure a loan of $1.1 billion.

“Why is it difficult for the Federal Government to raise N92 billion to solve the problem of education in this country?

“Education is the bedrock of every development, it is the bedrock of any nation. It is shameful that the Federal Government is showing this lackadaisical posture towards the next generation.

“If the Federal Government is serious, there is something in the parliament that is called virement.”

“There are lots of contracts that have been budgetted for in this dispensation that they have not even started in this month of September,” Melaye stressed.

http://www.dailyindependentnig.com/2013/09/asuu-strike-melaye-gives-fg-seven-day-ultimatum/