[VIDEO] Duncan Nugget® #307: Devastated, But Not Defeated

I was recently saw someone’s status on Facebook: “Feeling a little bit defeated.”

I immediately responded with Duncan Nugget #307:

You are too strong to be defeated. Are you experiencing a temporary setback? Maybe. Can you feel the frustration? Sure.

But defeated? Never.

Life may leave you devastated, but you are never defeated.

Million-Dollar Question:
Isn’t it time for a comeback?

[VIDEO] Duncan Nugget® #223: Under Your Control?

After a setback, many people spend too much time agonizing over things they have little or no control over. So, when you are preparing for your next opportunity, do a little inventory.

Identify what is and isn’t under your control.

Make a list of everything that must happen in order for your opportunity to be a successful endeavor. Next, label each item on your list as “under your control” or “not under your control.”

Now, take action on what’s under your control.

For example, being well prepared for an interview is under your control. Being the most qualified and experienced person for the job isn’t under your control. Chances are, you cannot do anything about who else is being interviewed for the position.

WARNING: Be careful of passing the buck or playing the blame game.

[VIDEO] Duncan Nugget® #53: Soft Skills Make All The Difference

Hard skills—technical skills—might get you an interview. They could land you a job. They might even get you some business.

But hard skills combined with great soft skills such as: communication skills, leadership skills, teamwork, Emotional Intelligence, self-motivation, customer service, and conflict resolution—will put you in an entirely different league.

Soft skills will get you the job and the promotion. Soft skills will get you the business and a relationship that keeps them coming back.

So, read a book, take a class (like public speaking), or join an organization. Better yet do all three.

Work on your soft skills. They make all the difference.

[VIDEO] Duncan Nugget® #221: Never Convict An Innocent Person

Setbacks and failure can leave a person wallowing in the mud of past misery. Unless you are a cute, little piggy you have no business splashing around in the mud!

Humans are the only creatures on this planet that willingly live the same misery over and over again.

You imagine it. You experience it. You remember it.

Too many people continuously convict themselves for past mistakes and mishaps. It makes no sense to constantly punish yourself in the present for an honest mistake you made in the past

“I made an honest mistake. Now I know better, so I’ll do better.”

If that statement is true for you, then you need to give yourself a pardon. Otherwise, you’re convicting the new and improved you (an innocent person) for something that the old you did.

Never convict an innocent person.

Blame It On Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, And Nobody

Someone recently reminded me about this story. You’ve probably read it before because it’s easy to find. Nevertheless, it’s a cool little story about blame.

[VIDEO] Duncan Nugget® #108: Smarter than the Average Bear

“I’m smarter than the average bear!”

For weeks, every since he saw the Yogi Bear movie, my son, Mekhi, has been running around saying that quote. It makes him LOL. And he’s making me LOL. But he also brought to mind a nugget I wrote a few years ago:

You can’t build an extraordinary life with ordinary effort.

Think about it.

Yogi was talking about more than brains. He was talking about effort. In order to get what he wanted, Yogi put in waaaaay more effort than your average bear.

In order to have more than the average bear…uh…person has, you must DO more than the average person does. (But keep it legal!)

High achievement and lasting fulfillment are the results of extraordinary effort. So, be smart enough and disciplined enough to put forth extraordinary effort. The pay-off is huge.

Million-Dollar Question:
Are you smarter than the average bear?

 

Work Ethic and The Magic Number 10,000

Keep in mind that work ethic is a vital key to goal achievement. Whatever you do requires a great deal of effort to master. In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell writes about research that shows that it takes 10,000 hours to master something. In that case, you better love what you want to master. It’s a lot of work, but it shouldn’t be too much work.

Million-Dollar Question:
What do you love to do so much, you would do it free, but you do it so well that they will pay you?

(Adapted from Get ALL Fired Up! About Living Your Dreams – Excuse #19)