NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO GET RIGHT, JUST DIFFICULT

"There's no such thing as work-life balance. There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences."

Jack Welch, retired business executive/chemical engineer.

Hopefully mostly good choices but often not.

Never stop trying to get this right.

It's your life, the only one you have, and not only do your choices affect you they affect those you care about as well.

I KNOW I'M NOT WRONG ABOUT THIS

"There are few people who are more often in the wrong than those who cannot endure to be so."

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French writer.

You don't have to assume you're wrong to avoid this fate, just don't automatically assume you're right.

HOPEFULLY THIS WILL MAKE YOU CURIOUS

"Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive."

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) American columnist/lecturer/humanitarian. 

How sad if there is nothing that arouses your curiosity.

But the good news is, there is an endless supply of things that could.

Go find them.

v2.0 YOU

"One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea."

Walter Bagehot (1826-1877) British economist

And not just when it comes to innovation leading to new things.

This applies equally well to personal innovation, and lack thereof.

When was the last time you did something to improve you?

(UN) MAKING AN ASS OF YOURSELF

"If an ass goes traveling it will not come home a horse."

Proverb

True, but unlike the ass who cannot change what he is, we humans can.

(I don't make these up but if I did, this would be near the top.)

WILL YOU DO IT?

"People do not lack strength; they lack will."

Victor Hugo 

19th century French poet, dramatist, novelist

Agreed.

We are all capable of doing much more than we do.

Think how better off you would be if each day you did one thing more (or in the case of bad, less) than you otherwise will (or should) do.

The Complete Package

"Personality is everything in art and poetry."

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Late 18th early 19th century German poet

Another example of a thought that applies equally if not more so to business.

You have your MBA, 10+ years work experience, and still your career isn't going as well as you planned.

There's more to it than you might have understood.

Personal SWOT?

"The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none."

 Thomas Carlyle

19th century Scottish writer

How many of you who have done SWOT analysis on your company, have also done so on yourself?

With emphasis on the "W".

For Sale: What've You Got?

"Everyone lives by selling something."

Robert Louis Stevenson

This is so true.

Most sales people get this but way too many accountants, finance, product development and even some marketers, do not.

Do you know what you sell?

Here's a hint.

It's not your company's product or service.

What You Are, What You Aren't

"Analyzing what you haven't got as well as what you have is a necessary ingredient of a career."

Orison Swett Marden
Early 20th century writer, medical doctor, author

In today's speak, a personal SWOT (strength, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis; taking stock of the assets and lack thereof that you bring to the game.

SWOT is typically associated with business rather than the individuals who work in them, but why wouldn't you want to know this about yourself as well?

Do you?