Sherif Morgan

Welcome to SherifMorgan.com

Archives for July 2009

Steps to Forgive Yourself

By Leave a Comment

So many people forgive others, but for some reason, cannot seem to forgive themselves for things they have done in the past. If you find yourself in this position, I would like to share with you 4 simple steps that, I hope, will help you get started on forgiving yourself today.

Step 1: Accept
Are you still blaming yourself for what happened years or months ago? To be able to forgive yourself, you must first accept whatever happened and acknowledge you made a mistake, a slip up, a mess up… that’s all it is.  Everyone makes mistakes, right?  Of course, you wish you could take it back, but you cannot, so no reason to dwell on it.  The real mistake is to allow it to burden you.

Step 2: Move Forward
If something reminds you of your mistake, do you get that funny feeling in your stomach?  If so, STOP it! 🙂  How? As soon as you start to feel guilty, force yourself to immediately change your thought process.  Convince yourself there is absolutely no benefit from reminding yourself of the pain that you messed up. Sure you can always remember the lessons you learned, but feeling guilt is not productive one bit.

Step 3: Learn From It
If you haven’t already done this, take a few minutes to figure out the lessons you need to learn from your mistake. Why did you make the mistake? What led to it? How could it have been prevented? How can you prevent making the same/similar mistakes? Remember the reason you ask these questions is to identify a lesson and not as another opportunity to beat yourself up.

Step 4: Allow Room for Future Mistakes
Nobody is perfect. We’re prone to making mistakes. To think that you’ll never make another mistake is unrealistic. If you are paranoid, you may allow your past mistakes to hinder you from reaching your potential in life today. Remind yourself that mistakes are learning experiences, so it’s not the end of the world if you make another mistake.

In my opinion, one of the biggest differences between successful and unsuccessful people is how they deal with their mistakes and failures.  Unsuccessful people get stuck and never get past their mistake or failures.  Successful people view mistakes as learning opportunities.

Do you want to be successful?  Life is a learning process, Grow with it. Do you need more help? We recommend How to Forgive Yourself.

A Clear Vision for Success

By Leave a Comment

The lack of a clear vision of success prevents many people from accomplishing the success they desire.

Most people have vague ideas of what success means to them; a few perks they would like to achieve, such as more money or a bigger house, but they do not list specific goals or dreams.  If an individual has a vague definition to success, he/she may lose interest when “success” is not quickly accomplished.

Specific goals keep people focused and determined to continue to pursue their dream of success. Do you have a clear vision and plan for success? If not, here are 5 simple steps to help you get started.

1. Determine exactly what you want to accomplish.
Rather than listing general benefits, focus on conceiving a PURPOSE.  What and Why is important to you and What do you want to accomplish? Think about the qualities and skills you need to develop. List milestones that could help you along the way. Be very honest and specific… and make sure to write them down.

2. Plan an approximate time-line for completion.
Realistically, how long should it take to succeed?  You should have a general idea of when you should reach your goals.  This is crucial, because it can help you keep your eyes focused on the next step/goal. Of course, most times things do not happen at the time frame we anticipate, so be prepared to be flexible.

3. List clear action steps.
Besides knowing exactly what you want to achieve, knowing how to get there is also critical. Think about the desired end result, then consider exactly what you would need to do in order to get there. Write each step in order, and make notes of possible obstacles you may face. Also include action steps you could take to overcome these obstacles.

4. Develop a solid plan for implementing your steps into action.
Will all start on all of your action steps at the same time? Or is there a staggering progression that needs to be carefully planned out and implemented? If an obstacle comes up, would that change the order of your action steps? Prepare and plan ahead. However, do not stall and over analyze.

5. Re-evaluate and re-adjust as necessary.
Once you are moving forward, since circumstances always change, you might want to set aside some regular time to re-evaluate and re-adjust your plans. You can do this as frequently as needed in order to ensure you are on a track that will help you accomplish your goals.

With a clear vision of purpose, a strong desire to achieve it, specific plans to get there, and continuous productive action you will soon find yourself are on the fast track to success.

Relationship between Failure and Success

By Leave a Comment

What is the relationship between failure and success?

Paradoxically, failure has a lot to do with being successful. Failure is inevitable and almost required to achieve success. Ask any successful person about his/her failures, and prepare for a long conversation.

In your quest to success, you will undoubtedly experience failure. One of the keys to success is how you choose to respond to failure. How you manage failures will directly determine your ability to succeed.

When faced with failure, most people quit. Obviously, quitting does not lead to success. If, however, after you experience failure, you decide to re-group, dust the dirt off your shoulder, learn from your mistakes, and charge ahead, then you’ve capitalized on your failure as a learning experience.

It’s a simple and inherent truth about failure, but so many neglect it: Failures give us the opportunity to start with a fresh and a smarter approach.

Just remember what Colonel George Armstrong Custer said,

It’s not how many times you get knocked down; It’s how many times you get back up.

In the “Failure” section of Success-Starts-Today.com, we will feature articles that can help you gracefully accept, learn from, and capitalize on your failures and allow them to propel you onto your journey to success.

Tomorrow’s Success Starts Today

By 1 Comment

Regardless of your definition of success, there are two common truths:

  • Success requires conscious effort.  i.e. it is not automatic and does not happen by accident.
  • Success is a dynamic journey that requires time and consistency.

Therefore, if you want to succeed, you must start a journey to success, and it must start today!

Why today? Because today is the foundation for tomorrow’s success. Benjamin Franklin captured the importance of today when he said:

One today is worth two tomorrows; what I am to be, I am now becoming.

Tomorrow’s success depends on what you’re doing today.  In Today Matters, John Maxwell (one of my favorite leadership authors) firmly demonstrates that an individual’s daily agenda and activities almost always determine his or her success.

Does your daily agenda and activities today reflect a small step or task that would help you accomplish your future goals? If not, then it is time to pause, reflect, analyze your daily schedule, and make changes accordingly.

What is Good Leadership?

By Leave a Comment

Most employed individuals have a “boss”, which by definition is a a positional leader… that’s to say, people follow what he/she says, because they have to, otherwise, there would be undesired consequences.

At Success-Starts-Today.com, when we talk about leadership, we are not referring to positional leaders. Instead, we are referring to a different kind of leader… the kind of leadership that influences people, guides them, motivates them, and keeps them focused… which, in reality, is the most important kind of leadership.

If you are “the boss”, do employees get their jobs done, because you remind them that you’re the boss and they must follow what you say? Or do they feel they are part of a team, they believe in you, your mission, and the common goals and objectives?

In other words, are they influenced by you because they have to or because they choose to?

Good leadership skills are highly desirable, but are unfortunately rare to find. As a result, even if you are not a positional leader and think of yourself as just an employee, having good leadership skills will help you influence others and make you shine.