Building Your Reputation

Building a good reputation takes time. It is not something that is achieved overnight. It's the product of  persistent action over time. In order to achieve a good reputation you have to do things that affect people in a good way. Helping an elderly person carry groceries into their home, caring for a sick friend or family member, it doesn't have to be grand gestures, just a continuous string of good deeds will go a long way to building a good reputation. We all know people that have good reputations. Those guys that when you talk about them you always throw in the fact that this guy is a good person. He is the guy that you invite to parties, and to hang out and watch football on Sundays. He is also the guy you will go out of your way to help if he needs your help because you know he will be there for you. All this is possible because that guy has a built a good reputation. That's it, simply having a good reputation makes life so much easier.
One thing to understand about your rep is that it does stick with you. As you start out in life and go about building your reputation, people will label you with a good or bad rep. People with good reputations will have better business dealings, and personal dealings as well.. Not only does your rep affect your personal life but it can also affect your job. Employers are checking the background of individuals before hiring them. They will not hesitate to check your references and ask what type of person you are, and we wouldn't want our friends to have to lie to make us look better than we are. It doesn't matter what type of business you are in, whenever you are dealing with someone you always want to feel comfortable with that person, and if they have a well known reputation as a "shyster" then it is very likely that you would not feel comfortable doing business with this individual.
Your reputation is something that we all should take a lot of pride in. We should guard our rep with our life, because chances are your rep will stick with you for life. Its important for young adults and even children to know that building a good rep starts at a young age. Starting early and continuing throughout adulthood is how you build a stellar reputation.

Make Everyday a Friday!

"Faith is always in the present. Your attitude should be: Im excited to be alive at this moment. Im excited to be breathing today. Im excited about my family, my health, and my opportunities. I have plenty of reasons to be happy right now."
-Joel Osteen

Happiness is defined as inner peace and contentment. It is experienced when there are no worries, fears or obsessing thoughts. When we do something we love to do, or be around people we love to be with, when we win, or achieve a goal we become happy. Although it seems to be the result of positive events, truth is, happiness comes from the person itself, only triggered by positive events. The way we choose to look at things can have a positive or negative impact on our happiness. Always look at the bright side of things and never be too pessimistic. If you break up with your boyfriend or girlfriend look at the positives that this breakup can bring, such as having more time to dedicate to friends or going to gym, or simply relaxing and getting to know yourself better, use this time for self discovery.  Make sure you do not wallow in self pity, your mind can easily fall into the trap of feeling sorry for yourself and that gets you nowhere. We all have setbacks and circumstances may change but do not let that change your mind. Keep your mind set on happiness. It is your choice to be happy. Make up your mind to enjoy this day, to have a blessed and prosperous day.
It's always important that we stay positive, the more positive you are the better the outcome of your day.  So often we approach our work weeks focused on making it to Friday.  Why is it that we look so forward to reaching Friday?  Is it just the appreciation of having an off day?  We should never only enjoy a day by knowing that we have a day off the next day.  We have to treat everyday as if the next day is our day off, lets make sure that we can appreciate everyday to the fullest.  They say time flies when your having fun, so that's why so many people come back to work Monday feeling like they didn't enjoy their weekends.  If we take the time to enjoy everyday like it's a Friday maybe our time wouldn't feel so wasted.  So many people finds reasons to be unhappy, when if they looked at it they could find so many reasons to be joyful.  I've been guilty of this as well, I have a habit of going into my birthday month with the idea that nothing will ruin those days at all.  After getting through that month and realizing that I went through everyday that month with a smile on my face brushing off any negative vibes I may have gotten,  I realized that if I can do it for 31 days out of a year, why couldn't I do it everyday.  Then I thought to myself that it is all mental.  Try to tell yourself everyday will be a great day and 9 out of 10 times it will be.  Positivity is all in our minds, and if you want to treat everyday like a Friday then you could do that with a smile on your face.

Think Before Speaking

In the bible it says that all men should be swift about hearing and slow about speaking. That is so true especially in these days. It is much more beneficial in relationships and in business to be slow to speak and swift not only to hear but to listen. How many of us stop and think before we speak? It is fair to say that most of us decide what point we want to get across and then we proceed to speaking. The thing to realize is that, the most important part of communication is the reaction you get from the person listening. If you tell somebody something very important but you don't say it in a way that the person can understand then you really haven't communicated successfully with that person. You want to make sure that you are communicating in the right tone and with the right words so that your information is received and heard. I recently watched a documentary about Welles Crowther a man who helped save the lives of close to twenty people during the 9/11 tragedy in 2001. One of the survivors who was helped explained that after the plane hit the South Tower she was laying on her back, severely burned thinking she was going to die and then she heard a voice that said "I found the stairs, follow me, only help the ones you can help." She said it was the way he said it, not what he said, but the way he said it that made her gather up the courage to get up and follow him to the stairs. Even in the face of such tragedy Welles was able to remain calm and speak in a matter that helped save lives. We should all take the time to think before we speak. Realizing what point we are trying to make while still focusing on the audience that is receiving the information. Make sure we are saying something that is encouraging and not intended to be hurtful.
This is important lesson to pass on to our youth. In this day and age with social media, 24 hour news, and instant access things you say or tweet or put on Facebook are displayed for the world to see. Words can be taken the wrong way and really offend someone without that being your intention at all. Make sure we stress to our children the need to think before we hit the send button.

Raising Kids in the 21st Century

As parents and soon to be parents we have to make decisions on how to raise our children and how to set them up to be successful in the future.  This past weekend I was speaking to a good friend of mines about baby names since he is soon going to be a father.  He told me about how he wants to name his son something uncommon yet he doesn't won't his sons name to come across as too ethnic.  He was concerned that when his son gets old enough that people would automatically categorize him as something he may not be just because of his name.  Will my son be able to get a job interview because of his name?  Will employers automatically disregard his applications because they know he is a minority because of his name?  It's a shame that still in this day and age as soon to be parents these are things we have to worry about.  Is our society still that shallow that they would discriminate on someone just because of their name?  There are situations such as these that makes it so difficult to become a parent.  It should be no problem for this man to name his son whatever he likes without having to worry about the backlash of what could happen  in the child's future.

There are also situations that we have to deal with as parents that are raising kids.  In this day and age we cannot give our kids the same life lessons that we learned as children because some of them do not apply and others simply could cause more problems than anything.  I asked myself the question of , How do I go about teaching my son to defend himself?  Back when we were growing up it was always if someone hits you, you hit them back.  You get in a fight one person wins and it's over with.  However these days it doesn't work that way.  These days even young teens are carrying guns to school with intent to use it on the first person that steps on their toes.  By teaching my son to fight back I risk the chance of him fighting someone who doesn't want to lose or be embarrassed so his next result would be to shoot someone.  This is the age we live in, so as fathers and parents what do we teach our children to do in these cases?  It comes down to teaching our children to deal with situations without losing their tempers.  We have to teach our children to be able to talk their problems out and be aware of the situations that they could be put in.  Nothing is worth losing your child over, so teach them how to work out situations instead of making bad ones arise.  As parents it's important that we understand that parenting isn't just about taking care of your child, it's about teaching them valuable life lessons that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.  It's about making sure that they can take care of themselves in just about any situation.  Bottom line is when thinking about having kids and raising them think a little more about how their lives could turn out, not just about what they will do to your lives.    

Professionalism

If you want to be successful, you have to get used to being a professional. How you look, talk, write, act and work determines whether you are a professional or an amateur. Society does not emphasize the importance of professionalism, so people tend to believe that amateur work is normal. 
Schools graduate students who cannot read. You can miss 15% of the driving-test answers and still get a driver license. "Just getting by" is an attitude many people accept. But it is the attitude of amateurs? Professional people make sure to be on time for meetings, showing that they value other people's time. If you are going to be late make sure to contact the person you are meeting with to let them know you will be running late. Being a professional is a state of mind, you have to look beyond your immediate needs and think about the long term perception of yourself and your business. I was just speaking to a young black guy who had three job offers this past week, and in this job market that was outstanding. I asked him how he was able to achieve that feat and he said that there are jobs to be had, guys just aren't applying themselves. That was very interesting to hear and absolutely on the money. It takes more than just being qualified for a position, you have to also apply yourself. We need to do our homework on a company before showing up for the interview so that we know something about the company upon arrival for the interview. We also need to include a cover letter with your resume, make sure there aren't any typos, and the information is up to date. These are all aspects of being a professional. Not only do you do what is expected of you, but also going above and beyond those expectations. 
Being a professional is really about having and applying common sense. In these times common sense is becoming a rare commodity. Being able to actually use the common sense that you were taught goes a long way to help in our professionalism. Make sure to give others credit when they deserve credit, be quick to compliment others on a job well done. Show positive body language, and smile whenever possible. This is something that is not easy to accomplish but it's very much worth striving for.  Continue to show that positive and professional attitude and your business prospects will continue to grow.