Josh Moore

Through the Looking Glass: See into the future of your life!

Have you ever wanted to look into a magic mirror and see your future? What would you do today if the picture in 5, 10 or 20 years didn't look the way you had anticipated

Following my last post, i discussed how luck is a combination of preparation meeting with opportunity. To head towards the future you would like to achieve I offer a few tips I have learned from other people's insights:

  1. Prepare for Opportunity: Always continue to learn and challenge yourself in new areas. This will allow you to increase your ability and will assist you in creating you own 'luck' later in life.
  2. The People you surround yourself with is the person you become: People we spend our time with tend to influence our opinions and thoughts. Birds of a feather flock together. If you are not happy with the company you keep, consider changing friends so that you do not end up picking up any habits you deem as being undesirable.
  3. Mental and Spiritual well-being: While there is a lot of discussion these days surrounding physical well-being, keeping your mind and your spirit alert and sharp are crucial to ongoing happiness and success. (Physical Health is of major importance also, but the others should not be ignored, look for a balance.)
  4. Take Risks: Trying new things and being willing to take a little risk here and there can create new exciting experiences in your life. Try to find experiences that you would not normally undertake, as you might end up enjoying them and have your mind opened to a new perspective on things.
  5. Plan: You will never know where you will be in the future, unless you plan a direction and begin to take steps along that path. It is important to continue taking steps and adjusting goals as you go. Without a plan, you will not know your desired destination.
Where do you see yourself in the future? What action are you taking towards it?

Getting Your Dream Job

Many people are constantly trying to get a dream job. Most of the time people have no idea what a dream job is and end up settling for just any job, then trying to make that job suit. This is not the right way to go about doing things.

I can say with a mild degree of satisfaction that any job I have had a face to face interview for i have ended up with a job offer from. As a result, I offer my own five personal tips for getting your dream job:

  1. Define your dream job: How will you know your dream job when it appears if you don't know what you are looking for? My ideal job while at uni was a job that would challenge me to learn new skills in my profession, rather than any job on the the weekend. I also wanted a job where I was management, but did not have to be in an office location. I ended up with all criteria in a job opportunity that became available with one of my lecturer's businesses, and have been working ever since.
  2. Determine an Industry/ Position: What industry is your dream job in? This for me is always tough. As an entrepreneur I am less concerned about a specific industry I am in, so my main criteria is that it must be a new and exciting venture. In regards to position, I always look for something where I will learn new skills, rather than just working for the sake of an income.
  3. Prepare for the Dream Job: I met up with a very successful entrepreneur who told me to always look for luck, which he described as preparation meeting with opportunity. Preparation is essential in order to be a successful individual in any undertaking. I have prepared myself as a manager/entrepreneur/ investor through reading books, talking to successful people in these fields, undertaking related courses, trying a little of these on my own and more. Being prepared for a position gives you an advantage over those who are not (and usually more experience).
  4. Capitalize on a Presented Opportunity: When a position that matches your criteria becomes available, act on it. Make sure your resume is up to date (will do a post on my resume tips at a later date), ensure you have researched the company background, write a Cover letter that addresses the Key Selection Criteria, and do anything else that may be of benefit in obtaining the position. If you get the position, make sure you do the best you can to maintain your dream job, which if it is what you were after should be a joy to do.
  5. Continue to Look for Further Opportunities: This requires continual preparation. These opportunities might appear inside or outside of this position (ie: promotion, pay increase, new job offer, starting your own business) but you still need to be on the lookout. Once you have the dream job, I would recommend developing a list for the next dream job, to keep motivated in improving yourself as an individual. Also look for opportunities in your job to challenge your abilities, even if there is no additional incentive to do so (such as pay, etc.). This will help your employer establish that you have both initiative and leadership skills, as well as the desire to do more than you are paid for, making you reliable in further business dealings and promotions.
I wish you the best of luck in getting your dream job.

How to Capitalize on Failure

All of us have failed at one point in time in our life. When we fail, most of us feel like the world has come to an end. The realist is, however, that failure is usually the beginning of new and exciting opportunities that await us.

Failure is never permanent thing. Whenever we fail at something we can choose to learn and grow from the experience, which will help shape and develop our character. I have included a list of examples of my own personal 'failures' (which are really just temporary defeats), and how they have worked out in my benefit:

  1. Dropping out of School: I left school before finishing due to a number of reasons at the end of year 11 having completed 2 year 12 subjects. While this might seem like a failure, I have gone on to learn many skills and had different experiences I would not have been able to comprehend had I not left school.
  2. Education: I currently have a Cert II in Building, a Cert IV and Diploma of Human Resources, and Advanced Diploma of Business Management and am currently undertaking a Bachelor of Business Entrepreneurship. One thing I have learned through education is that you don't really get taught anything, but rather you learn how to manage yourself and your priorities and much more. Education comes from the latin word 'educo' meaning to educe or draw out, and i think education has helped bring out both the best and worst in me over the years.
  3. Relationships: there is much happiness and heartbreak to be experienced in relationships. Some of the things i have learned from my failures in relationships is the importance of communication, trust, honesty and integrity. These character traits that you learn from dating are vital skills to deal with all people in life.
  4. Work: I have undertaken some jobs thinking they would be fantastic only to find out i hate them and would not want to continue in a career of that nature. I have been very blessed in learning this so early rather than spending half my career in an occupation i can't stand, as well as learning skills that can be transferred between careers and businesses irrespective of the particular type of employment.
My question to you is twofold:
  • What 'failures' have you experienced in your life, and what have you learned from them?
  • What opportunities have resulted from the knowledge you learned as a result of your failures?

If you have thought about it.... You'll recognise it.

Recently i was told this statement and saw it this morning in some of my notes.

This basically means that if you think about something, you will be more inclined to recognize what has crossed your thoughts. An example of this is when a person thinks that their spouse is cheating on them, and then starts seeing all these little innocent aspects in a relationship that could imply cheating.

People tend to become focused on what they think about. So the best idea is to focus carefully at various points throughout your day or week about what you are thinking about. Determine if the way you are thinking is the only possible viewpoint on a topic, and then continue to search out the other possibilities. You may find you had the wrong interpretation of things to begin with.

Pushing the barriers and boundaries

Have you ever felt like the pain of going forward is worse than the pain of going back?

I have felt this way in my life many times. Sometimes what we are doing just feels like it is too much and that life was easier before we jumped into the new challenge we are undertaking (ie: uni, a new job, a new venture, sport, etc.). However, while we may have this perception it is not usually the case.

We usually take on a new challenge in life to expand our context. Whether we see this new challenge through to completion or not is irrelevant. Throughout any time undertaken in these projects our context is increased in many ways, especially in our ability to comprehend new thoughts, options, etc.

If an individual leaves the new challenge with an expanded context, they will never find the level of satisfaction in that environment they initially did. This is true for many people who leave uni because they feel it is too hard only to regret it years later, knowing had they pushed through the barriers and boundaries that they would have achieved their goals.

In conclusion, while things might get harder, we learn and adapt and can push through these challenges in life with the right attitude and with patience, perseverance and support. Don't give up on your dreams if the going gets tough.