La crise, quelle crise ?

Auteur/autrice : marc

  • The timeless rules of success

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    https://unsplash.com/flenjoore

    Day 622. Whatever your definition of success, be it personal, spiritual, emotional or physical, there’s one thing that is clear in the modern world is you need money. May be not a ton, surely not billions, but some to be able to achieve whatever level of success in the other plans. The first guy who tells me that money is evil and that seeking financial success is against any spiritual spirit will can go away, this is clear BS. Sorry to be rude, but money rules this world, whether you like it or not, better accept it. The second thing that is clear, is that if money should not be the only goal and only a secondary that allows you to reach the success you want. Money is a means, not an end. If you do not believe me, so be it, it’s your choice, I do not tell you to believe everything I write, we live in a free world. Third and last thing, your definition of success has to stand the mirror test? What is this? Simple, step in front of a mirror, look into your eyes while you provide your own definition of success. If you have a fraction of a hesitation, you are lying to yourself! Go back to your drawing board and be 100^% sincere. Do this until you can stand the mirror test without a single ounce of doubt!

    This said, each one of us has a personal definition of success. However, whatever self-help, spiritual guidance or whatever personal development books, courses and gurus teach, the following rules are the ones that you will find in all those « methods » since the beginning of mankind. Not that you can ditch all those books, methods or gurus – actually you can if you want – because they provide some interesting insights, particularly the ones written based on genuine scientific studies, but because they all can be summarized to the following rules. Let’s go:

    • No action, no reward. Taking action is the number one step of any success. Decide and act. You are scared to act? Good, this indicates this is important to you! Fear is a great indicator. The greatest the fear, the more important the action has to be.
    • Big ambitious vision. The bigger, the better. You want to have a worldwide impact? Great! You want a local impact and feel it’s sufficient? Does this stand the mirror test? Fine! The ultimate point is when you reach your goal is to have no regret. No regret you should have thought bigger, better, wider. And if you have, it’s never too late to build bigger (and please do not tell me you’re too old…).
    • Ask, share, and fail. The worst you can do is seek advice from people who will try to undermine you! Yes, you should find people who succeeded and who can help you, but never ever take their advice too seriously, particularly if they tell you it will never work. Actually, if they tell you this, then go for it!
    • Consistency, persistency, and resiliency. You all heard about the thousands tests that Edison did before inventing the light bulb. Think about it every time you « fail ». You did not fail, you learned a way that does not work. Learn, and continue walking. How do you run a marathon? One step at a time. You « just » need to make something like 42,195 steps and you’ve done it. Believe it, I did it multiple times, and it’s « just » that simple.
    • Celebrate and move on. When you reached the goal, objective, success you wished, celebrate! Throw a party, open a bottle of Champagne, go for a walk in the countryside! In does not need to cost you something, it needs to be meaningful to you!
    • F*ck the world. Hey, this is not rude (I used a * just to ensure you are not shocked), it’s the reality. If you try to comply, you’ll never be successful, you’ll be average, mediocre, just another cog in the machine. Do not F. for the sake of it, F. because you can contribute something different, odd, and meaningful. The purple cow of Seth Godin (if you do not know Seth Godin, you should, he’s my anti-guru).

    There should be tons of other rules, these are the ones I follow. Am I successful? To my standards, yes in some aspect of my life, in others no, or not yet, but working on it. Because at the end of the day, what matters is not what others believe, it’s what you believe and what stands the mirror test. You can now come back to whatever you were doing before reading that blog post and burn it! Good luck and I raise my glass of water to your success!

  • Migrants, réfugiés, jouer avec les mots rend aveugle…

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    https://unsplash.com/clemono2

    Jour 619. La polémique autour des mots utilisés pour décrire ces Kurdes, Syriens, Iraqiens, etc. qui fuient la guerre est une polémique puérile. Autant j’aime les mots, autant cette bataille d’intellectuels est dégradante. Je ne parlerais même pas des points de vue de certains de nos leaders politiques que j’espère l’histoire retiendra comme les révélateurs de la haine, de l’étroitesse d’esprit et du manque criant de générosité. 15 ans que je suis un « immigrants » ayant de mon plein gré quitté mon pays de naissance, non pour fuir un conflit, mais pour connaître autre chose. Je ne comprends pas 1% du drame des personnes qui fuient la guerre, mais appréhende un peu mieux le désarroi ressenti quand on quitte ce que l’on connaît et par à la découverte d’un inconnu.

    Et que trouve-t-il en face? Des pays aveugles qui se demandent si ce sont des réfugiés ou des migrants. Qui se disent que ces pauvres gens vont piquer le travail des honnêtes gens. Qui se disent que non, ils ne peuvent pas accueillir toute la misère du monde. Alors que ce soit la France, la Grande-Bretagne ou la Belgique, chacun de ces pays à rater, un, une occasion de se taire, deux, une occasion de créer les conditions d’une intégration rapide et positive de ces gens.

    Accueillir ces gens est une chance immense pour l’Europe, à court et à moyen terme. Une fois les conflits finis, la plupart rentreront dans leurs pays respectifs. J’en ai ras-le-bol qu’on entretienne la haine sur notre sol et n’ayons pas le courage d’aller la combattre en Syrie, en Iraq ou au Sahara. Il est encore temps de se réveiller, mais malheureusement, nos politiques indigentes ne réveilleront personnes. L’histoire retiendra peut-être que l’Europe a tourné le dos à ces personnes tout en entretenant les conflits qui les ont fait fuir. Le monde ne fait que ce qu’il peut à l’instant où il le fait. Aura-t-on la chance de voir un dirigeant courageux et visionnaire ? Car il semble que cette race aie disparu au profit des couards et hypocrites.

  • 5 little things that will make you smile everyday and contribute to your happiness

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    https://unsplash.com/quanlightwriter

    Day 618. Happiness is a choice. It’s not always an obvious one when life hits hard, but that’s one you can practice every day. Here are 5 little things that may go unnoticed, but will help big time if you celebrate them daily.

    1. You are alive. That may sound weird, but one day, our own life will end. Until that day, celebrate every single day you wake up alive. It’s another wonderful day ahead of us.
    2. Every action you planned and done. Tick! Done! A shot of dopamine, the happiness hormone! Dance, smile, hug you! It’s a tiny victory that compounds over time and makes you happier and happier.
    3. Say hello to a stranger. And smile. Just smiling at someone and saying hello provide a shot of another hormone, oxytocin, also called the hormone of love. It fights cortisol (and therefore stress).
    4. Your morning coffee/tea/juice. Whatever you drink or eat in the morning, just take one minute to savor each second and thank the universe, god or whoever you believe in.
    5. Say I love you to a friend, your spouse or whoever is helping you or has helped in the past. Love is essential to everybody. I love you are the three most powerful words you can use to show gratitude.

    Happiness is not hard. Even if you are at the bottom, stressed, unhappy with your life, practicing those five simple acts will bring magic back into your life. Things do not happen by magic, they come to those who seek them, and sometimes, what is required is just a first simple step!

  • Écouter, ne serait-ce que par respect pour celui qui parle !

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    https://unsplash.com/blazphoto

    J 617. Ecouter quelqu’un parler. Depuis combien de temps ne l’avez-vous pas fait sans regarder votre téléphone, votre portable ou parler vous-même à votre voisin. Je sais, vous allez me dire que parfois, c’est dur d’écouter quelqu’un de barbant, que parfois vous savez déjà de ce dont il s’agit ou que tout simplement, vous avez quelque chose d’urgent sur le feu. Cependant, si vous avez la moindre once de respect pour la personne qui parle, écoutez-la ou allez-vous en !

    Cela peut sembler violent, mais en tant que présentateur, il n’y a rien que je déteste plus que quelqu’un qui fait quelque chose d’autre quand je parle. Quand je suis de l’autre côté de la salle, je me fais donc un devoir d’écouter ou de partir. Certes, vous allez me dire que partir n’est pas montrer du respect au présentateur. Si ! C’est lui signifier (s’il vous voit partir) que le sujet ne vous intéresse pas et que vous préférez le laisser à son audience. Si vous restez, écoutez. Depuis plusieurs années, je pratique l’écoute active : je prends des notes, je conforte mes connaissances, je note des idées et je prépare des questions.

    Écouter est une question de respect pour celui qui parle, et aussi une question de respect pour le temps que vous passez à écouter celui qui parle. Et puis, on ne va pas revenir sur les qualités de ne faire qu’une tâche à la fois ! Malheureusement, le déficit d’attention est en augmentation. Alors si vous voulez apprendre à écouter, ou réapprendre à écouter, coupez toute forme de technologie (oui, éteignez votre téléphone), focalisez-vous sur celui qui parle, au début quelques minutes, puis augmentez petit à petit. Au bout de quelques jours, vous pourrez écouter quelqu’un parler pendant une heure ou plus sans être distrait. La qualité de votre écoute augmentera la qualité de votre compréhension et celle du temps qui passe. Enfin, admettons qu’écouter ne coûte rien, mais peut rapporter gros.

  • 5 common mistakes to avoid to be an accomplished public speaker

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    https://unsplash.com/danielebersole

    Day 616. I’ve been attending presentations yesterday from 8AM until 7PM, with more than 15 different speakers. All of them (but two, and I will tell you who later) did at least one of the below mistakes. By doing them, they diluted their message, minimized their impact and reduce the retention of the key points they presented. It’s sad because public speaking is not rocket science, anybody can become an accomplished speaker, and if you avoid those 5 deadly mistakes, you will have the impact that less than 5% of public speakers have. Let’s go:

    1. Speak to the screen behind you. I wrote a rant on this a couple of weeks. Screens do not hear you, your audience does. Never, never, never speak to the screen behind you. Either you have a monitor (or a prompter) in front of you that shows you what’s projected (this is your crutch) or you know your script. But please, speak to your audience.
    2. Read what’s on the slides that are projected. Any audience can read. If you read, you do not need to present, just show the slide and shut up. Better, send the slides to the participants, they can read them sitting on a couch or wherever they want. Slides with more than 5 lines of text and 8 words by line are bad slides. You may disagree with the numbers I am giving, I just put them here, I could have used 4, 7, or 6, 10, it’s just to say that less is more, actually it introduces the next mistake.
    3. Give facts, only facts. Slides or not slides, empty slides or full slides, facts are boring. If you need to provide facts, send me a document with the facts and the numbers, I can read it sitting on a couch, drinking coffee. Come on! If you want your audience to remember something, you need emotions, and you can provoke emotions only by telling stories. I always remember my area VP telling us during one of our mid-year reviews: « I can read, so don’t waste my time paraphrasing what’s on the slide (and those are not slides, but full pages written in font size 10 with tons of facts), tell me the story behind the facts » Even at that level of business, the story is more important than the facts.
    4. Speak in the dark. If I come to listen to you, I want to see you. You may have a wonderful setup, but if the scene is not correctly lit, you lose 50% of your impact. People cannot read your body language! A theater scene is not lit so you cannot see your audience (if you never set a foot on a theater scene, imagine the lights are so powerful, you cannot see the audience at all), they are lit so that your audience can see you. The side effect of this lighting is you cannot see the audience. A little bit lit the headlight of a car: you see what’s in front of your light, but if a car comes from the opposite direction and has its headlights turned on, you cannot see behind the lights.
    5. Go without rehearsing. If you read what’s on the slide because you are discovering the slide while projecting them, do not insult your audience by coming on stage. Go back to where you come from and come back when you will be prepared to tell me a story that will make me dream and wanting to act.

    Public speaking is an art! Like all form of arts, it require training, rehearsing and « acting ». Acting means a lot of things, from the words you are using, to how to tell those words and to where to tell them. It’s not rocket science. Respect your audience! You may not have the time (or do not want to invest the time) to become a professional public speaker, but at least do not insult your audience by coming unprepared.

    You want to know who were the 2 speakers who all respected the above points: a lawyer and an HR director. Lawyers are trained speakers and HR director’s job is to respect their people (at least good ones), no surprise they knew how to have a real impact.