Saturday 13 September 2008

The Third Step: "Shouldn’t Have Club"

As said earlier, this summer I implemented the “Three Step Personal Development Plan”. So far, I described the First and the Second steps of that plan. Because of my holiday, and subsequent departure to London I did not tell the final piece of the story. Well, now, as the summer is coming to an end (21st of September is the last day of summer, theoretically of course - because in practice it has long been over!) I feel that it's about time to do so.

Go for it!

The Third Step then. Join the “I Shouldn’t Have” club says Jeffrey J. Fox, author of the book How to Become CEO: The Rules for Rising to the Top of Any Organization. What does it mean? To cut the story short: “go for it”!

Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, we do not do things we would like to do. Subsequently in these situations we never know what would happen if we actually did something. We often then come to regret what we didn’t do – we join the “I Should Have” club! The author of the book argues to the exact opposite – join the “I Shouldn’t Have” club and not only you will be spared this hopeless feeling but also most of the time you will achieve something.

Really, it is hard for me to illustrate the powerful point that Jeffrey J. Fox makes in his book without quoting the author himself. But because I do not have it at hand I refer you to the book itself and Fox’s excellent explanation of the concept for better understanding.

Ready to go for it in Monaco

A simple question, a plain answer

In the meantime, try to answer a simple question: what would you rather see, a football match with plenty of shots on goal and two actual goals or a one with equal amount of goals but no shots at all besides that? I think the answer is pretty clear! Even if we miss, it is much more exciting to just try!

So this is the concept that I introduced to my life this summer and tried to execute it in as many situations as possible. For example, I talked to people that I met (in the school, in the gym or in a club) that I would not normally talk to. I also did things I would not normally do, such as taking dance classes. Even though for the individual examples I find it hard to see the direct benefit towards my personal development, from the perspective of time, I can see the cumulative benefit it had on me. I became more self-confident (not overconfident!) and can take decisions more easily. I also learnt not to be bothered with failures (which does not mean forgetting about them!), because all in all they are an inevitable part of life, why not simply accept them?

Moral of the story

Moral of the story is that it is much more exciting to give things a try. But if you join the “I Shouldn’t Have” club you will not only have more fun, but also you will increase your odds for success. You will fail at times, but failures happen anyway, so get over it and go for it!

Saturday 6 September 2008

Current Affairs (or maybe not so current;)

I stopped writing… but this time I have an excuse! First, I went on holiday! I went to the South of France and had a really good time. Started with swimming and tanning in Nice and Monaco, moved to eating delicious foods in Montpellier and, finally ended with sightseeing in Paris. Totally love France!

I was surprised to find myself on sale in Paris!

Second, after returning from France I went straight back to London. Here, I faced the first task of finding a place to live, and a second one of finding a job. I found a room after just about 4 days of searching, but haven’t been lucky with finding a job so far. It is not easy, as I am still busy, trying to put my life here back together.


Back in the good ol' London


I am expecting, though, to have some more time to write in the near future. Actually, it has been so long and I have so many new ideas for posts that I simply can’t wait to share it with you (meaning: should write something soon, regardless of how busy I am!). Anyway, right now, got to run!