How to handle criticism at work effectively

05/16/2025 by

How to handle criticism at work? That’s a question most of us ask ourselves, at least occasionally.

Think about it. You’ve been working hard and trying to do your best, but someone still thinks it’s necessary, with a critical tone, to offer you some words of advice about the work you’ve just done.

Not a thank you; no recognition of the effort you’ve put in; just some caustic words about why they think your work is less than perfect.

Naturally, that makes you feel a little unloved, a bit defensive, and probably slightly irritated too.

Perhaps your critic lacks sensitivity?

Perhaps he or she fails to appreciate the value you’ve been adding to whatever you were doing at the time.

And of course, your critic may not have had visibility of the constraints you were working under or the pressures you faced at the time.

Regardless of the circumstances, it’s natural if you feel hurt when all people can do is point to something they believe is wrong, incomplete, or not as good as it could have been. If it doesn’t hurt, certainly it is irritating, in my experience. It can also seem overly harsh at times.

HOW TO HANDLE CRITICISM AT WORK
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The importance of criticism:

The problem when hearing criticism is that our defensive barriers tend to go up immediately. And once we’re on the defensive, we don’t tend to listen to the feedback we’re getting. We just concentrate on how we’ll respond in order to dismiss whatever’s being said.

This is unfortunate because if we did listen and reflect on what is being said, it’s just possible that our critic may have a valid point.

The importance of criticism is that it provides us with valuable feedback.

And how we react to any feedback depends on our attitude and how we choose to look at it.

We can get all hurt and defensive, or we can choose to give our critic the benefit of the doubt and assume that they’re genuinely trying to be constructive.

In other words, we can embrace criticism positively and seek to use it to our advantage. Certainly, this is the mature and grown-up way of dealing with any criticism we receive.

Honing our skills:

We must recognize that none of us is perfect and we’re all prone to making the occasional mistake. That’s human nature.

However, if our aim is to succeed, we have to become masters of our chosen craft or profession. We have to be very good at whatever we’ve chosen to do if we’re going to stand out in the crowd. We have to be the best.

Being the best requires the constant honing of our skills. That means we must learn from our mistakes and any inability that might prevent us from delivering the results required of us.

Learning is a lifelong process, and we should be constantly practising and developing our skills and improving on the results we deliver.

To do that, we must learn from our mistakes.

Some mistakes will be obvious to us, of course, but sometimes we’ll fail to recognize them. Fortunately, others don’t.

Criticism is feedback:

The underlying point here is that criticism is simply feedback, and feedback is essential if we’re to improve our skills and become masters of our craft or profession.

That’s why it’s important to listen. If we know where we fall short, then we can do something about it.

How to handle criticism at work:

If you find yourself on the receiving end of criticism, the first thing to do is to remind yourself that feeling hurt is quite natural. That’s simply an emotional response to a negative situation.

However, don’t take anything personally:

Criticism is rarely groundless, though it’s often exaggerated.

Give your critic the benefit of the doubt and assume their intention is simply to provide you with some valuable feedback.

Welcome that feedback. Don’t interrupt your critic with excuses. That will just make you look defensive. Don’t glower at them either because you might stop them from sharing that crucial insight with you.

The truth may hurt, but the sooner you hear it, the sooner you can fix whatever it is you’re doing wrong, assuming you are doing something wrong.

Listen and focus on hearing everything being said.

When your critic has made his or her point, say thank you.

That will show confidence, dedication, and grace too.

Then ask yourself honestly:

Is the point being made by your critic a fair one?

And you do need to be honest with yourself here.

If you conclude that your critic has a fair point, then you must embrace the lesson. Learn from it; resolve to do better next time, and be determined to improve.

That way you’ll go from strength to strength. You’ll gain the respect of other people, too, for your willingness to listen and learn.

If they are wrong:

However, remember this as well:

Critics are not always right.

If honest reflection leads you to the conclusion that your critic is being unfair or is just plain wrong, then just ignore the criticism.

Smile and move on. Never take it personally, and never let anyone discourage you from the pursuit of your aims.

Conclusion:

Criticism is just feedback.

Feedback is your friend.

Embrace it; learn from it; use it to your advantage, but never take it personally.

And if, following honest reflection, you think they’re wrong, then it’s perfectly reasonable to ignore it and move on.

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5 ways to kill your dreams

05/15/2025 by

Today, I want to explore the 5 ways to kill your dreams if you’re not careful.

I’m sure you must have dreams and goals, dear reader. After all, most people do. However, how often do people fail to realise their dreams? How often do dreams and projects simply never happen? Why is that?

Well, in the thought-provoking TED video included here, Bel Pesce suggests how not to follow your dreams. She gives five reasons why you’ll fail if you adopt the wrong approach.

Bel Pesce’s observations relate to the beliefs people hold about how success is achieved. In her view, those erroneous beliefs are as follows:

5 WAYS TO KILL YOUR DREAMS
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5 ways to kill your dreams:

1. Believe in overnight success

We see someone successful, but we don’t see their backstory. Although they appear to have gained their success overnight, it was due to years of hard work mastering their craft first.

No one succeeds without years of hard work first. Nothing happens by accident. It’s all down to determination, grit, and an insatiable desire for success.

Opportunity may come overnight, but you have to be well-prepared to grab that opportunity when you see it. Being prepared means mastering your craft.

2. Believe someone else has the answers for you

It’s your life, and no one else knows you and your life better than you.

You need to find your own way, in your own time. In finding a way, it must be a way that suits you well and one with which you feel truly comfortable.

No one else has the perfect answers that will be a good fit with your life.

3. Believe you can settle when growth is guaranteed

It can be amazing just how many people will stop and settle once they’ve reached a goal they’d set for themselves. They get to a point where they think, it’s OK now.

And yet, OK is never OK.

When you reach a peak, you must find the next peak if you are to continue to grow and sustain success.

4. Believe the fault is down to someone else

If you have a dream, it’s all down to you to find a way to make it happen. You find a way, or you make a way. And you never accept “No” for an answer, unless, of course, that was the answer you wanted.

The key message is it’s all down to you. If you fail to achieve your dream, then it’s your fault, and no one else is to blame. Simple!

5. Believe the only things that matter are the dreams themselves

Having a goal is important, but life is not just about goals.

Life is a journey with a constant stream of experiences and interactions with other people along the way.

The real fun is in the participation. Achievement is just a bonus.

Achievement is a momentary experience, but life is not. Life goes on beyond the moment.

Dreams and goals in perspective:

If you’re driven by your dreams, then I recommend that you listen to what Bel Pesce has to say. It might just save you some heartache.

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How will your life be measured? Here’s what matters most

05/11/2025 by

How will your life be measured? A philosophical question, perhaps, but an interesting one nevertheless.

Some time ago, I attended the funeral of someone whom I’d known quite well professionally but not at all socially. Someone I liked and respected, but I wouldn’t claim to have known them well overall. Nevertheless, funerals are a time to reflect on someone’s life. A time to consider the impact they’ve had on other people throughout their lives.

The funeral service was held at a large, traditional church in London, and it was crowded.

Listening to the eulogy and associated readings, I began to appreciate how much my late colleague had meant to so many people. It’s fair to say that she meant a lot to many people. The lives of so many people had clearly been blessed by her presence in them.

This experience made me think.

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So in life, what matters most?

As human beings, we’re all driven to achieve and leave our mark on life before we pass on.

However, we do tend to measure our impact on life in terms of careers and money. With those things, it’s fairly easy to keep score, wouldn’t you agree, dear reader?

Careers provide tangible evidence of achievement, or so it seems.

So, climbing the greasy pole and increasing our wealth tend to be the measures we use when we consider the idea of success. Nevertheless, as I sat there listening that day, I had to ask myself, are these things the most appropriate measure of the lives we lead?

Anything we do that only has a long-term payoff, we tend not to measure because there’s no immediate evidence of achievement. We can’t see the immediate impact of the small things we do, so we don’t believe they matter much.

However, I realized that day that they do matter. They matter a great deal.

It’s all in the little things we do:

A random act of kindness might not mean much to us, but to the recipient of our action, it could mean the world. It could have had a profound effect on that individual. And it might prove to be a life-changing experience for that person.

So, how will any of us be remembered?

When our lives have passed, how will they talk about us at our funerals?

People won’t talk about the size of our house or our car, but they will talk about how we made them feel. They won’t talk about the importance of our jobs, but they will mention how we helped them at a difficult time in their lives.

Perhaps they’ll talk about how we mentored them and how they’re a better person because of the impact we had on their lives. Maybe they’ll say they enjoyed our company, and they’ll talk about how they looked forward to seeing us whenever we were around. Perhaps they’ll just mention how we made them smile.

When you think about it, why would we want to be remembered in any other way?

Material possessions are meaningless:

Let’s face it, material possessions are meaningless. Equally successful careers are as much a reflection of good fortune as they are of anything we did to justify them.

That’s not the case when it comes to the impact we have on the lives of others.

The help we give and the kindness we show are all down to us and our actions day-to-day.

So, how many people we’ve helped seems to me like a much better measure of success than the size of the car we drive or the size of the house in which we live.

Real success in life comes down to the difference we make. How we’ve touched the lives of other people.

Certainly, that’s how I think we’ll be remembered by those who knew us, however much we’re focused on careers, money, and material possessions.

How great would it be to be remembered fondly and with respect by all who crossed our paths during our lives?

How will your life be measured?

I remembered my thoughts that day at the funeral when I stumbled upon this video of a presentation given by Clay Christensen at TEDxBoston.

It offers a great perspective on how your life will be measured.

I recommend you watch this video, as it’s well worth a little bit of your time.

And after you’ve watched it, I would suggest you reflect on this question:

Should the measure of our lives be just about money and achievement, or should it be more about the lives we’ve touched and the people whose lives are better for us having been in them?

How do you want to be remembered, dear reader?

For me, life’s measure should be in terms of how I’ve touched the lives of other people and not money, career, and the size of my house.

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35 one-liners about life that will raise a smile

05/01/2025 by

I love one-liners about life. The one I love most has to be the following:

“Life? Don’t talk to me about life!”

Older readers may remember that this was the expression made famous by Marvin the Paranoid Android in Douglas Adams’ classic novel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

I’m sure we’ve all shared Marvin’s sentiment occasionally when we experience life’s more challenging moments.

However positive we are, life can get the better of us sometimes.

So here are some one-liners about life that are guaranteed to raise a smile or two, as I’m sure at least some of them will resonate with readers.

Life can be absurd at times, and it’s difficult on occasions to believe the evidence of our own eyes and ears.

Nevertheless, our aim must be to remain positive, and to do that, we must learn to laugh at life and ourselves.

Don’t take it all too seriously.

Just laugh as much as you can, and that is the perfect counterbalance to life’s absurdities.

Start now by laughing at all these one-liners, which I’ve collected together to amuse and entertain you, dear reader.

ONE-LINERS ABOUT LIFE
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One-liners about life (1-20):

  1. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
  2. Life is a terminal disease.
  3. Youth is wasted on the young.
  4. A clean house is a sign of a misspent life.
  5. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
  6. It is much easier to apologize than to ask permission.
  7. We never really grow up we only learn how to act in public.
  8. Being a hypochondriac could save your life one of these days.
  9. Any room is a panic room if you’ve lost your phone in it.
  10. Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
  11. I didn’t say it was your fault. I said I was blaming you.
  12. He who smiles in a crisis has found someone to blame.
  13. I’m really good at stuff until people watch me do that stuff.
  14. Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
  15. By the time a man realizes that his father was right, he has a son who thinks he’s wrong.
  16. Women might be able to fake orgasms, but men can fake a whole relationship.
  17. Just because a road’s well-trodden doesn’t mean it leads anywhere worth going.
  18. As soon as you’re doing what you wanted to be doing, you want to be doing something else.
  19. Stealing ideas from one person is plagiarism but stealing ideas from many people is research.
  20. How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

One-liners about life (21-35):

  1. We live in a society where pizza gets to your house faster than the police.
  2. You might as well laugh at your problems because everyone else does.
  3. God must love stupid people because he made so many of them.
  4. Dolphins are so smart they can train people to stand at the edge of the pool and throw fish at them.
  5. If I was doin’ any better, I’d have to hire someone to help me enjoy it!
  6. Behind every angry woman is a man who has absolutely no idea what he did wrong.
  7. How is it that I always seem to buy the plants without the will to live?
  8. The shinbone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.
  9. I thought I wanted a career but I realize now that I just wanted a decent income.
  10. Love is telling someone to go to hell and worrying about them getting there safely.
  11. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they’re sexy.
  12. Why is it that most nudists are people you wouldn’t want to see naked?
  13. No one is in charge of your happiness, except you.
  14. Some people will appreciate it others will be irritated by it. Either way, you win.
  15. The pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow.

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So, dear reader, did any of these one-liners about life make you smile?

I hope so.

However, there are plenty more laughs for you if you click on the links below. You’ll find plenty of smiles to amuse you.

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33 short sharp quotes to get you thinking

05/01/2025 by

If short, sharp quotes are what you’re looking for today, here are 33 that I am confident you will like, dear reader.

Enjoy them all, and please feel free to share them.

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Short Sharp Quotes (1-20):

  1. Never complain; never explain.
  2. Troubled waters make skilled sailors.
  3. Mistakes are just lessons to be learned.
  4. You’re never too old to do something stupid.
  5. Yes, I have a sleep disorder. It’s known as children.
  6. We live in the era of smartphones and stupid people.
  7. No response is a response, and a powerful one too.
  8. To understand politics, you must read between the lies.
  9. You can’t change the past, but you can shape the future.
  10. Sometimes you’ve got to be smart enough to play stupid.
  11. If you want to change your life, change the way you think.
  12. Life’s hard for everyone, but it’s even harder if you’re stupid.
  13. Wouldn’t it be great if everything were as easy as getting fat?
  14. One good friend is worth infinitely more than 1,000 fake ones.
  15. Some people serve as examples, whilst others serve as a warning.
  16. Test my patience if you must, but I must warn you, I’m negative.
  17. Don’t waste your words on people who deserve only your silence.
  18. On Spaceship Earth, we’re all crew. We all have a contribution to make.
  19. It’s not who you are that holds you back. It’s who you think you’re not.
  20. If it’s not right, don’t do it. If you can’t be sure it’s true, don’t say it.

Short Sharp Quotes (21-33):

  1. You can’t argue with a closed mind and a fixed point of view. So, don’t try.
  2. If you have a problem with me, then cry me a river and drown yourself in it.
  3. Being wise is not hard. Think of something stupid to say, and then don’t say it.
  4. Knowledge is like underwear. Nice to have, but showing it off is rarely a good idea.
  5. We’re all prisoners of the mobile phone. That’s why they’re known as cell phones.
  6. Watch what they do, not what they say. Talk is cheap. Results are everything.
  7. You’re not the dumbest person on the planet. However, you’d better hope he doesn’t die.
  8. Never confuse the people who are always around you with the people who are always there for you.
  9. We must learn from the mistakes of others. None of us will live long enough to make every mistake ourselves.
  10. Words spoken in anger tell you a lot about what people think. They offer a glimpse behind the mask.
  11. We come from dust, and we return to dust. So it’s probably best not to dust. It might be someone you know.
  12. Some people are only meant to be there for a single chapter of your life. Not everyone will be a constant in your story.
  13. Evaluate the people in your life, then eliminate any that are a negative influence on you. It’s your life, and you decide.
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19 quotes about change and why it’s important

04/22/2025 by

Today I’m exploring quotes about change.

One of the most fundamental human needs is the need for certainty. We all need certainty because we need to feel secure.

As a species, human beings are programmed to ensure we survive. If we don’t feel secure, then we are constantly on our guard, which drains our energy.

That’s why change can be an uncomfortable experience because it makes us feel insecure, and feeling insecure means we can’t relax.

Most of us can feel uncomfortable with change, at least to some degree, and that’s perfectly natural when you think about it.

However, change is important.

Through change comes opportunity, and if we can embrace change, then opportunity can be ours for the taking.

Most people tend to be slow in their response to change because it’s such an uncomfortable experience. However, if we respond quickly, we can grasp those opportunities just waiting for the fleet-footed.

Think about this: everything we take for granted today once didn’t exist.

QUOTES ABOUT CHANGE
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When change is ignored:

A good example of things that once didn’t exist would be computers. Today, most households have several of them in the form of desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

Certainly, this is the situation in my home, and I’m sure that’s true in your home too, dear reader.

However, as recently as 1943, Thomas Watson, then chairman of IBM, said, “I think there’s a world market for maybe five computers.”

Well, there are more than five computers in my home alone, and there will be billions more around the world.

As recently as 1977, Ken Olson, then president, chairman, and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), the leading supplier of minicomputers at the time, said, “There’s no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.”

We’re lucky that neither Bill Gates nor Steve Jobs listened to those gentlemen.

However, in business terms, these examples are even more significant.

Failure to recognize the changing nature of the computer market had almost catastrophic consequences for IBM as a business.

They did manage to adapt eventually, but not before their business went through a major wobble and at one point looked like it might even fold completely.

And where is Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) now? It disappeared long ago and is now nothing more than a footnote in the history of digital technology.

So my message to you today, dear reader, is this:

You ignore change at your peril.

Embrace change:

It’s better to embrace change, however uncomfortable it may feel, and be ready to grab those opportunities as they come along.

The most successful people in business are adept at exploiting opportunities brought about by change.

Change is synonymous with opportunity. It’s that simple.

Here are 19 inspirational quotes about change to help you reflect on what it means and why it’s important. 

Quotes about change (1-10):

  1. Change before you have to. ~Jack Welch
  2. Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. ~Stephen Hawking
  3. To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. ~Winston Churchill
  4. If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. ~Lao Tzu
  5. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. ~Wayne Dyer
  6. The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance. ~Nathaniel Branden
  7. The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. ~Alan Watts
  8. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. ~John F. Kennedy
  9. 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
  10. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. ~Reinhold Niebuhr

Quotes about change (11-19):

  1. There is nothing so stable as change. ~Bob Dylan
  2. There is nothing permanent except change. ~Heraclitus
  3. Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change. ~Confucius
  4. You must be the change you wish to see in the world. ~Mahatma Gandhi
  5. Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. ~Leo Tolstoy
  6. The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change. ~Carl Rogers
  7. They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. ~Andy Warhol
  8. You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. ~Jim Rohn
  9. It is change, continuing change, inevitable change that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account, not only the world as it is but the world as it will be. ~Isaac Asimov

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The importance of making mistakes to achieving success

04/20/2025 by

Today, I want to explore the importance of making mistakes, particularly concerning achieving success

As children, we’re often taught that making mistakes is a bad thing.

For instance, many parents will actively discourage their children from doing anything that might lead to them making what, from the parents’ standpoint, appears to be a serious mistake.

Would this be an experience with which you’re familiar, dear reader? Well, I am, let me tell you.

Making mistakes:

The importance of making mistakes to achieving success

The human experience:

However, I’ve learned that making mistakes is an essential element of the human experience as we progress down life’s highway.

There’s no road map for this journey; you learn as you go along and use what you’ve learned to improve your life as best you can.

As you journey down life’s highway, of course, you face an endless stream of choices at various times in your life.

A decision must be made each time you come to a fork in the road.

Daunting as this may be at times, you must always remember that every decision you make will be a valid one. It may not prove to be the right one, but that doesn’t make it any less valid based on what you knew at the time.

Allow me to explain.

Almost every decision you have to make will have been based on imperfect information. That’s the nature of life in the modern world.

So, all you can do is to use your judgement, weigh up the pros and cons, and act in good faith.

Inevitably, outcomes won’t always be favourable to you, but that doesn’t mean you’ve made a bad choice. It just means life has a lesson you must learn.

That’s the thing about mistakes: they’re just lessons that, over time, provide you with that valuable commodity known as experience.

And never, ever underestimate the importance of experience when it comes to achieving success.

Lessons learned won’t be forgotten:

What you learn from your mistakes is far more important to you than anything anyone can tell you in a classroom. You’ll never forget those things you’ve had to learn the hard way.

Life is not called the ‘School of Hard Knocks’ for nothing.

If you believe in yourself and your ability to use your judgement, and you accept that you’ll make mistakes occasionally, then you can cope with just about everything life throws at you.

Just make decisions to the best of your ability and knowledge, and then, if they don’t work out, just look for the lesson and learn it well.

Never let anyone tell you that making mistakes is a bad thing because it’s not.

Despite anything people will tell you to the contrary, there’s nothing wrong with making mistakes because that’s how you gain experience and that’s how you’ll grow in character.

Once is fine; twice is not:

That said, while making a mistake is perfectly reasonable, making the same mistake frequently is not.

Make a mistake once, and that’s fine; make it twice, and you’re starting to look a little bit careless. Make the same mistake three times, and people will start to have serious doubts about you.

An essential element of success:

No one ever mastered anything without making mistakes.

Whatever you choose to do in life, you start as a complete beginner like everyone else.

If you aim to be a success in your chosen profession, then you must get out there, have a go, make mistakes, learn from them, and keep refining your craft until you’re the best, or at least as good as the very best.

It can be done, and people do. You can too.

However, you must accept that you’ll make mistakes, and as long as you don’t make the same mistakes too often, you’ll be fine.

REMEMBER: There’s no such thing as failure, only outcomes you didn’t want and lessons to be learned. Learn the lessons, and you’ll be better prepared when you have another go.

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3 Essential life lessons learned you should know

04/14/2025 by

Many regular readers will be familiar with the essential life lessons learned that I’ve included here today. However, that won’t be true for everyone, I’m sure. It all comes down to experience, wouldn’t you agree?

Well, dear reader, please don’t feel that you must make every mistake yourself to learn. It’s acceptable to learn from others, too.

These essential life lessons learned can shape our perspectives and guide our decisions.

Learning directly from the mistakes of others is a perfectly valid strategy. You can also listen to and learn from lessons others have learned the hard way.

There’s no finer education than the University of Life, School of Hard Knocks.

So, allow me to offer you three essential life lessons learned that you’d do well to bear in mind.

Life's Lessons Learned
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3 Essential life lessons learned:

1. Money can’t make you happy:

If you’re not happy without money, then having money won’t change how you feel about yourself.

We experience happiness not through the things we purchase but through our philosophy as well as our relationships with other people. Human beings are social animals, and we all need other people.

If you want to be happy, you must never lose sight of the most important people in your life, i.e. family and friends.

Spend time with them and enjoy their company, especially your children. Make the most of every minute you have with your loved ones.

Yes, of course, go out there and make some money. I’m not suggesting money doesn’t matter because it does. It’s up there with oxygen for sustaining a life worth living.

So you must manage your money carefully and invest some of it too.

Enjoy some of your money, of course, and buy nice things occasionally too. Life’s too short not to enjoy at least some of your hard-earned cash from time to time.

However, never focus on money and work to the exclusion of your family and friends. Without them, you have nothing. Money is important, but the people in your life are far more important.

You could have all the money in the world, but without your friends and loved ones, you’d have nothing at all.

2. Life is too short to do a job you hate:

You should never do anything for money alone.

Yes, you need an income, and yes, it’s nice to have plenty of money in your pocket. Let’s face it; we’d all like to have plenty of money, wouldn’t we? That’s human nature.

However, no amount of money will compensate you for the drudgery of doing a job you hate.

If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, you won’t do it well. And if you don’t do it well, eventually you’ll come unstuck. It will all end in tears. Now, is that really what you want, dear reader?

Remember this also: one day, you will die. You’re not going to live forever, nor would you want to.

What a shame it would be if on your deathbed you felt you’d completely wasted your life. Now, how bad would that be?

So find a job you enjoy.

That is important. You’ll spend one-third of your life at work, and that’s a long time to be doing something you hate.

Yes, there will be aspects of every job that you might find tedious or frustrating. However, it’s important to find something that you mostly enjoy.

And if you haven’t found that job you love yet? Then just keep looking until you find something you’d do for free if you couldn’t earn a living at it.

When it comes to a job, money shouldn’t be your primary focus. Find the right job; do it well; add real value, and the money will follow, all in good time.

3. Greed can lead to expensive mistakes:

There’s a classic telephone scam, which never fails to catch some people out.

The way it works is a salesman or woman working in a ‘boiler room’ somewhere offshore calls you with an offer for you to purchase an asset at a price which they’ll tell you will guarantee you an enormous profit.

It might be stocks and shares, or it might be plots of land in some faraway place, but the underlying message is always the same.

Essentially, they’ll tell you that next to no one knows about the availability of this asset just yet, but when they do, the price of the asset will go through the roof and just keep on heading in an upward direction.

They’ll tell you that whatever they have to offer is a steal and that you have the opportunity to get in on the ground floor and make an absolute killing, but you have to buy today or you’ll miss out.

The salespeople always sound friendly and very plausible, and they’ll make it all sound very professional. They’ll even take a little time to make you feel that, really, they’re trustworthy.

This scam plays on our greed and our gullibility.

We believe what we’re being told because we want to believe it. We just love the idea that we might get something for nothing, too.

However, if you part with your money when presented with such an offer, that‘s the last you’ll see of it.

The asset will be worthless or even non-existent. You’ll have been scammed.

Furthermore, if you’re foolish enough to buy, you’ll also be put on a ‘sucker list’ which means you’ll get inundated with similar calls from other high-pressure salespeople offering similar ‘deals‘.

In reality, any deal that sounds too good to be true will always prove to be too good to be true.

There’s no easy money to be had anywhere. Take that from someone who’s spent a lot of time looking.

And anyway, think about it: if it was that good a deal, why would they be telling you?

If there was a killing to be made, they’d simply invest their own money and bag the ‘profit’ for themselves, surely?

Never allow yourself to fall for it.

And never, ever allow yourself to be bounced into buying anything just because they tell you that this deal is only available today.

In sales language, that’s known as a ‘call to action‘. It’s the oldest sales trick in the sales handbook.

The idea is to bounce you into making a purchasing decision before you have time to think it all through properly.

Don’t be a mug, and don’t be foolish enough to line other people’s pockets at your own expense. As the old saying goes:

Invest in haste, repent at leisure.

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Absolutely guaranteed secret to success

04/13/2025 by

Looking for the secret to success, dear reader? You’re not alone. So many people seek the secret, but very few find it.

Well, here’s Barbara Sher with some common-sense observations about life and success.

This is just part of a presentation she gave at the “Big, Cheap Weekend Workshop” in New York in July 2010. So it’s a decade ago now, but her observations are timeless, and they’re just as valid today as they were back then.

This video essentially is a ‘taster,’ but if you’re not familiar with Barbara’s work, then it might inspire you to check out her other videos on YouTube and indeed her public appearances, should she appear at a venue near you.

Secret to Success
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The secret to success:

The Power of Personal Responsibility

Now here are my thoughts on success.

I believe that personal responsibility is the key to success.

If you’re drifting and waiting in the hope that something will happen? Let me tell you, it won’t.

Well, not unless you’re lucky and just happen to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right thing someone needs.

For most of us, that’s never going to happen.

For almost everyone, we must make things happen ourselves.

Let me share a secret with you. The magic ingredient to achieving your dreams isn’t luck or some mystical force. It’s you.

It’s all about you grabbing the ball and running with it.

What do I mean?

I mean, you must embrace the power of personal responsibility.

You are the captain of your ship, sailing through the sea of life. You can steer your ship anywhere you want it to go.

Yes, there will be storms and occasionally calmer waters, but ultimately, you decide which way to steer your ship.

Personal responsibility is about acknowledging that your choices, big and small, are the compass guiding your journey to wherever you’re going.

You must decide what it is you want out of life. You must decide the lifestyle you’d prefer to live. And you must work out how to get it.

Once you know where you’re going, you must set yourself some goals.

And then you must pursue those goals with determination and a willingness to work hard to achieve them.

Nothing worth having ever comes easy.

We all make choices in life, all the time, and we must accept the consequences of those choices.

In short, we must take responsibility for those choices, and if we pursue good choices, they should lead to the best outcomes for us.

If you embrace personal responsibility and stop making excuses, you will start to make progress towards the life you want.

If you become proactive rather than reactive, you will be knowingly steering the good ship “You” in the direction of your desired destination.

Today’s choices shape tomorrow’s outcomes. It’s that simple.

So, are you ready to take the helm?

Are you ready to grasp the personal power you have and own your journey to success?

It won’t always be easy, but at least it will be yours.

Trust me, the feeling of achieving something because you made it happen is amazing, and you won’t regret it.

So, embrace personal responsibility and achieve your full potential.

You can do it! It won’t be easy, but it can be done, and people do. So can you!

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15 quotes about trust that’ll make you think

04/09/2025 by

Today I offer you some quotes about trust, dear reader.

Trust underpins any relationship if it’s to have any longevity. Strong relationships are built on trust. However, trust is something that can take years to establish and only seconds to destroy.

One thoughtless act is all it takes; one moment of weakness. And once destroyed, trust is almost impossible to win back, certainly to anything like the same degree as before, because people can never quite see you in the same way again.

Securing someone’s trust is a privileged position to be in because it means you’re held in the highest regard. To them, you’re someone with integrity, and you’ve won their respect.

So trust is a very special thing, and once established, it should never be abused. Not if you value a relationship and/or your reputation, at least.

If you’re in a relationship and, for you, it’s not all you would like it to be, then it’s perfectly reasonable to be honest with someone, explain the situation, and move on. They may be upset by your actions, but they’ll appreciate your honesty in time.

However, when you truly value a relationship and you’ve won a person’s trust, then think long and hard before you consider doing anything that might destroy that trust. To do otherwise would mean, almost certainly, you’ll regret it.

And remember this: everything you do, however small, honest, or dishonest, says something to the world about your character. So how do you want to be judged: trustworthy or otherwise?

In my opinion, it’s better to be known as someone honest and trustworthy rather than someone people feel they cannot trust.

No amount of personal gain will compensate for having a poor reputation. I don’t think so anyway.

Here are seven inspirational quotes about trust to help you reflect on its significance in relation to your reputation.

QUOTES ABOUT TRUST

Quotes about trust (1-10):

  1. He who does not trust enough, Will not be trusted. ~Lao Tzu
  2. Trust must be earned and should come only after the passage of time. ~Arthur Ashe
  3. You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible. ~Anton Chekhov
  4. A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts. ~Harold Macmillan
  5. Not everyone can be trusted. I think we all must be very selective about the people we trust. ~Shelley Long
  6. You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don’t trust enough. ~Frank Crane
  7. Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships. ~Stephen Covey
  8. To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved. ~George MacDonald
  9. Trust is hard to come by. That’s why my circle is small and tight. I’m kind of funny about making new friends. ~Eminem
  10. Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters. ~Albert Einstein

Quotes about trust (11-15):

  1. A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend, one human soul whom we can trust utterly, who knows the best and worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults. ~Charles Kingsley
  2. I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself. ~Robert E Lee
  3. Most good relationships are built on mutual trust and respect. ~Mona Sutphen
  4. Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him. ~Booker T. Washington
  5. I think a good friend, to me, is all about trust and loyalty. You don’t ever want to second-guess whether you can tell your friend something. ~Lauren Conrad

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So go on, please share this post now. If you do, I’ll be ever so grateful and you’ll be helping a keen blogger reach a wider audience.

Thank you for your support.

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