JUST TO SHARE

Salam to alz!

Just to share this with you. Happy reading!

Dear Everyone,

Hi! And how are you all? March was a good and ‘not so good’ month. Good in relation to business as I was busy, but ‘not so good’ because I think Arsenal has just lost out on the English Premier League title after drawing with Birmingham. I was gutted when I saw Kevin Phillips score the last minute equalizer. I was hoping for a great finale to the title race with three teams in it. Unfortunately, only two are realistically in it now. I know I will not make Arsenal fans happy, but I am just being realistic. However I must admit that I do believe in miracles, especially at the end of the season!!!

I subscribe to a lot of on line mail i.e. motivational ones and I received one just two days ago which I thought was awesome. It was a quote from a guy called Paul Sims (I do not know who he is and an internet search did not reveal much either). Whatever, his quote was brilliant.

The quote was, “The responsibility for maintaining good performance is the employee's, not the manager's. The manager's job is to point out the discrepancy – the employee's job is to fix it.” - Paul Sims

I cannot but agree wholeheartedly with the above quote. Many people think that it is the responsibility of their superior to manage their performance. Yes, it is to a certain extent, like coaching you, advising you, counseling you etc. Always treat this as a bonus. At the end of the day, the onus of developing and improving is the full responsibility of the employee, full stop. This is especially so when we have between 6-10 superiors in our career span who may all think differently about our development. In that context, I must admit that I always get annoyed when people come up to me and say things like:

“I have not developed at all because my manager is doing nothing about it”

“My manager has no development plan for me”.

My view on the above statements is that these people are just taking the easy way out. They are trying to justify their lack of career success by simply putting the blame on their superiors. My stand on this matter is very simple. Why put something as important as your career success and fate in other people’s hands. Why can’t you take personal development as your primary career responsibility? I assure you that once you have decided to adopt this philosophy, you will get the opportunity to see and watch your career progress and grow beyond your own expectations, which will be very, very fulfilling indeed!!

Some simple ways to develop yourself are as follows:

a. Set career goals for yourself. You will be pleasantly surprised at what written goals can do for you in terms of motivation and direction.

b. Make it a personal goal to go for as many training courses as possible. Training allows you to see things from different perspectives and will most certainly give you added skills.

c. Mix with high performers. Their attitudes and know how will definitely cascade on to you.

d. Read and listen to motivational books and tapes. What better way to start the day than to listen to a Jack Canfield or Anthony Robbins motivational tape, as you drive to work.

e. Most important - Inculcate an attitude that you and only you are responsible for your career success.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I do hope I have in a small way motivated you to take action to become a better person.