Watch your time.....

There is no greater waste of time than regret.

If you want to manage your time better, the first step as suggested by Time Management Consultant Alan Lakein, is to ask yourself this question: “Exactly what are my goals?”

Take a blank sheet of paper. List your personal lifetime goals. Now, analyze your lists. 

They probably include more things than your reasonably can expect to do, so assign priorities.

Besides being specific, goals should be attainable and authentic, in other words, things you really want and are willing to work for.

Good time management involves an awareness that today is all we ever have to work with. The past is irretrievably gone; the future is only a concept. Everything that is accomplished in the world is the result of someone’s realization that today is the only time to act.

If it seems rather elementary to you, be assured that the vast majority of your fellow human beings seldom fully grasp that self-evident truth.

Thomas Carlyle put it this way: “ our main task is not to see what lies dimly perceived in the future, but to do the thing which lies immediately at hand”

John Ruskin had the word “Today” carved into a small marble block that he kept on his desk as a constant reminder to “Do it now”.

But my favorite quotation is this one by an anonymous philosopher:

Yesterday is a cancelled check,

Tomorrow is a promissory note,

Today is ready cash. Use it.

Upon all the time-saving techniques ever developed, perhaps the most effective of all is frequent use of the word “No”

………….to be continued

Simon Cobbina

Digital Marketing Strategist & Entrepreneur
sibecks09@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/sibecks09/

Leading the Ship - Leadership

No matter what direction you tilt the compass, it would always point to the north, when at its restful stage. Without a direction, it would be difficult to locate your destination.

At any given time, the arrows on a compass always point to a direction, but it takes the captain and the team in a ship to read the directions to the destination. As a leader, you must have a destination of where you are leading your team.

In our day to day activities, we often come across and hear words such as Leadership. What does leadership mean to you? What comes to mind? wait a minute. What is it to you?

Leadership means different things to different people around the word. It can also mean different things in different situations. For example, it could relate to community leadership, religious leadership, and leadership of a campaign group.

According to the idea of transformational leadership, an effective leader is a person who does the following:

• Creates an inspiring vision of the future
• Motivates and inspires people to engage with that vision
• Manages delivery of the vision
• Coaches and builds a team, so that it is more effective at achieving the vision

Therefore, leadership is proactive in solving problems, looking ahead and not being satisfied with things as they are. To create a vision, leaders focus on an organization's strengths by using the following tools:

• Porter's Five Forces
• PEST Analysis
• USP Analysis
• Core Competence and 
• SWOT Analysis

Leaders think about how their industry is likely to evolve and how their competitors are likely to behave. Our visions as leaders can be tested with appropriate market research and by assessing key risks using techniques such as scenario analysis. Persistently, leaders must innovate to shape their businesses, communities, families with strategies to succeed.

I am always happy to share my thoughts whenever the opportunity beckons. I am sharing this piece with you because I find it of great importance to share. I have a firm belief that as I continue to share and exhibit my intellectual prowess, it edifies me and whoever takes the time to read for knowledge.

We must first consider ourselves as leaders before we can lead a team, captain a ship or even a football team, steer the affairs of the family as head or lead a community activity.

In your opinion, what are some of the attitudes or attributes of a leader? The point is if you don't step forward to lead, who would lead? If there is a problem in your family, community, or country and you don't organize one or two people with like minds to solve it, it would in the long run become an albatross. In life, nobody will solve your problems, unless you do it by yourself. 

The onus lies on all of us to take the opportunity of leadership. That is the only way we can make the difference, the change and the transformation.

In my view , the following ten (10) qualities must be looked out for in a leader:

• Positivity - Looking at the favorable way
• Purpose - Place to lead
• Empathy - Walk a mile in the other person's shoes
• Humility - Better team than yourself
• Will - Wanting to get there, somehow, someway.
• Relentless - Your positive tone, message, vision, values and expectation.
• Persistence - The bar can always be raised
• Curiosity - You don't know everything
• Trust - Sacred bond between you and your team
• Love - Love to lead your team and not be afraid.

 To be continued.....

Simon Cobbina

Digital Marketing Strategist & Entrepreneur
sibecks09@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/sibecks09/

Speak Up

Every day, we are all looking for positive opportunities.

Opportunities for growth in business, personal growth, carving a niche, leveraging, building a network, advocating for change, seeking for information to reform and transform. According to Warren Buffet, the one skill you must learn is public speaking.

In my observation, research and practice, you flourish when you develop the art of public speaking. It makes you grow beyond leaps and bounds.

Mastering the art of public speaking is the single greatest skill to boost your career as a small business owner. Enhancing your public speaking skill could go a long way towards building communication with your customers, partners and prospective investors.

According to TED curator Chris Anderson, public speaking matters more than ever. In his book TED Talk, Anderson writes “As a leader or an advocate, public speaking is the key to unlocking empathy, stirring excitement, sharing knowledge, insights, and promoting a shared dream”

Look within to see where you fall short.

Ask for help, my doors are wide open to show you the way.

Simon Cobbina

Digital Marketing Strategist & Entrepreneur
sibecks09@gmail.com