All posts by Y
5 tips to Asking Good Questions
Today’s post will build on the previous one on The Power of Asking.
Now that you know its a great idea to seek out people you want to model and just ASK them questions. The next question you may be wondering is: “What should I ask them?”
So, here are 5 tips to Asking Good Questions.
1. Identify what you want to find out.
What is your purpose of reaching out to this person/mentor? Do you wish to find out more about his/her story? or Do you want to ask about details and facts about certain processes? or Do you just want an opinion?
Before you reach out and start a conversation, always know your END IN MIND. With this, you can avoid awkward silences, and a bank mind.
Know Your PURPOSE.
2. Ask OPEN questions.
The classic advice that we tend to forget.
Avoid questions that render a ‘YES’ or ‘NO’ answer. This creates a pause after the person answers and can create an awkward silence.
Go for questions that WILL elucidate thoughts and conversation. ‘WHY’ and ‘HOW’ are my personal favorites. You can also try the other 4 Ws; “WHO”, “WHAT”, “WHERE” and “WHEN”.
3. Do NOT interrupt. Listen. and keep listening.
Remember your PURPOSE and once you have ASKED your question, SHUT UP and listen. Surely you have had bad experiences where a friend keeps interrupting you while you were trying to share an awesome experience. RESPECT the person and LISTEN.
Sometimes, there may be silent pauses as your mentor stops to think, or let you process. Stay SILENT. Think through and process what he has shared. Waiting through these pauses may lead to more tips and tricks as your mentor thinks through and decides to share more. (it would be good if you looked interested too.)
4. Think. Analyse. Clarify.
Building on the previous point. Think through what you have heard. Link it back to your PURPOSE.
Was your original question answered? If not, CLARIFY with the speaker when possible (But remember, do not interrupt)
5. Ask more. Ask deep.
This tip is key to keeping the conversation going, and to bring out more information from your mentor. A conversation is a two-way event where both parties must contribute, to allow the conversation to continue. Do not expect your mentor or whoever you are conversing with, to keep talking on and on (except in some exceptional cases).
Listen attentively and capture main points while your mentor is sharing. Think through what he has shared and ask questions to follow up. Try using ‘WHY’ and ‘WHAT’ questions.
Do you have any tips that I may have missed? Share it with us in the comments below.
Power of ASKING
This is something that I have picked up recently.
The Power of ASKING.
Many times, we have people who we look up to, or who we want to model. However, it feels as though those people are in a different world or dimension. And that makes them feel unapproachable.
The secret here is just to REACH OUT to those people DIRECTLY. Get an email, or follow them on social media, and just shoot them your questions.
Many of these people are VERY WILLING to help others. And, if they are very active on social media, there’s a higher chance of them replying. Because they are on social media to REACH OUR to people like US!
I hope you can take this lesson and put it to use! Look for ways to CONNECT with the people whom you wish to MODEL.
All the best to your success!
Yen Yee
penny for your thoughts
Here’s something a mentor shared about taking action;
Doing something wrongly, is better than doing nothing perfectly.
Do you agree?
A timely secret and an honest confession
In today’s post, I will share a secret that I have uncovered recently. Sometimes, life’s secrets are very obvious but we just fail to pick them up unless someone points it out to us. In my case, a situation led me to the discovery of this secret. And now, I am sharing it with you…
Let me start by explaining the situation, for some context.
The situation
Many people were asking me why did I become skinnier and more tan. So here goes, for past 6 months, I was working 7 days a week.
I do not know if I worked purely for the money, or to avoid some other reality, but that will be for another post.
So anyway, I realised that by working everyday for the past few months, that I am allowing all my employers to determine how much my time is worth.
HERE’s the SECRET
And it was then that i realised, i have stumbled onto this little known secret. you actually GET to decide how much your time is actually WORTH!
So back to my story…
I realised that on weekdays, my time is worth about $15 per hour, and on weekends, my time is worth $20 per hour.
Don’t give your power away..
When you give away the power to determine your time value, you lose control over your potential.
..or you will end up limiting yourself
By choosing to play in the system of being an employee for 7 days a week, I had a base time-value (something that many people over value) BUT at the same time, I have a ceiling over the potential of my time value. So in those past 6 months, my time-value varied from $15-20 per hour. And it could only vary within that range.
I was burnt out. falling sick often, feeling tired for the majority of the time that I was awake. And I felt hopeless and totally unable to control my own path and destiny.
Taking action over a decision
So just a few weeks back, I finally made up my mind to cut down on my weekend job. I have successfully cleared off a day! (success starts from a small step, ok!)
Having the power to decide…
is empowering and uplifting to the spirits.
With the extra time that is within my control, I am able to decide how much my time can be worth now. I can choose to spend the day with my family, or spend it building a business that will provide greater upside in the future. Just by re-gaining the power I have over of a single day in a week, I can now decide to work on increasing the ceiling on my time value.
I urge you to think about a few things today…
- What is your time value?
- Who determines your time value?
Is it being determined by someone else, or do you have control over your OWN worth?
If you are looking to build a business and increase the upside to your time-value, connect with me on Facebook.
Remember, whatever the situation you are in currently, you had a hand in it. After all, the initial decision to hand over your power for a limited time value, was made by you. Its time to reclaim your control.
Its time to reclaim your power. Its time Its reclaim your destiny.
If you are looking to build a business and increase your potential worth, connect with me on Facebook.
free for all!
Have you ever compared the environment where you grew up in and the possible environment you have to reside in as an entrepreneur? Today I will talk about the possible differences and how it may affect your success.
Growing up
The environment that i grew up in had a lot of rules. From the fixed timing that I had to report to an institution, to the clothes I could wear at the institution, and what I could do at the institution before they released me for the day. Did you have a similar experience growing up?
Recently, I realised that this environment could lead to the the downfall of new entrepreneurs.
After spending years, maturing in an environment where our schedules and attitudes were guided and governed by rules and regulations, we are now free! We are leaving the structured society and moving into a realm that provides more freedom.
BUT! Do we know how to use and control this freedom?
Discipline and self control
What sets a successful entrepreneur from one who burns out or doesn’t succeed are discipline and self control.
This lesson hit me when an instructor posted a question to the class.
What if for a day, all the traffic lights were out of order, all the traffic police were on holiday, and all road signs where damaged? Would there be chaos on the road, or would our transport system function as per normal?
I believe that the former would occur. What about you?
Translate this to your entrepreneurial journey. The glamorous side of entrepreneurship is often being sold as having the freedom of time, and the freedom to do whatever you decide to.
BUT! remember that entrepreneurship is all that and more. For one to attain a certain level of freedom, the blood and sweat one has to put in is beyond our imagination.
That’s why they say you should Know Your ‘why’…
Would u be able to endure the pain and survive to enjoy the freedom? or Would u self destruct once all the control over u were removed?
Would your life fall into a chaotic mess, with no clear directions and datelines? or Would you be able to function efficiently without external control?
Know the differences!
In my humble opinion, all new entrepreneurs should consider such circumstances.
Are u getting into entrepreneurship, just to ‘slack’ and to escape from reality, or do you have an actual purpose?
Are you on holiday?
If you are just into the enjoyment, money and resources will run out one day. What would u do then? Go back to job-seeking? If so, u are not an entrepreneur. you are merely an employee on a long holiday.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying its bad to take a break. BUT its Bad when this break becomes your illusion of your lifestyle. Its Bad if your lifestyle is filled with non income producing activity.
How clear are you about your goals?
Are you an entrepreneur, or are you simply on a long vacation?
Now, that was a long post.
Hopefully that was useful for you. What would you think would happen if for a day, all the traffic lights were out of order, all the traffic police were on holiday, and all road signs where damaged?
Do you have the discipline to work long and hard at your business without any supervision? Share your thoughts about the importance of self control!
Types of guidance
In today’s post, I’ll talk about the type of guidance you should seek in your journey to success.
On your path to your goals, you will definitely meet many outstanding individuals. However, not all of them will be suitable mentors to seek out.
Here are 4 points to look out:
1. Do they have the success that YOU want for yourself?
This is the key to seeking out mentors and teachers. They have to be individuals who have achieved what you want to achieve.
By seeking out and modeling individuals who have achieved what you want, you’ll be sure that you are going in the right direction. In addition, with the guidance of these individuals, you may be able to avoid the pitfalls that most people fall for.
2. Mentor vs Senior
Once you have sought out the people who have achieved what you’d want to, differentiate between your seniors and your mentors.
According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, an individual draws his motivation from different needs. A person will only seek to fulfill ‘higher needs’ once the ‘lower needs’ have been fulfilled. (based on the diagram above)
Therefore, it will be useful for one to differentiate between a teacher and a senior. It is good to surround yourself with like minded individuals and seniors, and it would be better to always seek out advise from the teacher.
3. Be the kind of person you’d like to mentor
A mentor is there to guide you and advise you, a mentor is not a boss who’d breath down your next if you did not do what they told you to.
Imagine that you are successful and have a hugh team of 100 people whom wants some of your time, one to one. You told this 100 people to come for a training event that is to be carried out by one of your top team member, and only 5 turned up.
Would you concentrate on guiding the 5 who came, or would you spend time chasing the 95 who did not turn up?
No one likes to herd cats, especially if time is important to them. Finding a mentor is not too difficult, making yourself coachable is the KEY.
4. All in
After checking off the first two points, there’s only one thing left to do. Listen to what your mentor says, follow what they do, and carry out their instructions.
You have already spend the time and effort seeking out your mentor, and they have already decided to guide you, so don’t screw anything up at the last step.
Listen, absorb and go all in. Follow their advise and participate fully!
If you are seeking out young and successful mentors who are retired and living life full, connect with me on Facebook!
I wish you success in your journey:)
[Video] Chasing your dream
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Help needed here.
…to change lives today.
WHY?
If you find this meaningful and wish to help more, please share this message with your friends and love ones!:) Together, we can make a change lives!
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Types of Intelligence
The psychologist Howard Gardner pointed out 7 different types of intelligence.
In no order of importance, here are the 7 different types of intelligence:
>Linguistic: These people are inclined towards writing.
>Mathematical
>Spacial: These people are good with their imagination.
>Musical
>Kinesthetic: These people are generally more athletic.
>Sociable
>Inner control: These people are inwardly motivated and are highly self aware.
Different people are inclined to different intelligence. Find out more about your strengths and put it to good use!:)
thesubtlelessons 