A man once found a butterfly cocoon. He watched it for days on end waiting for the butterfly to emerge. One day a tiny hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to struggle as it attempted to make its way out into this world.
The butterfly struggled for what seemed like hours but appeared to be making no progress. Concerned that the butterfly might die, the man decided to take action to help the butterfly through the hole.
He snipped the cocoon with a pair of scissors so the butterfly could easily emerge from its tiny home.
Once out, the butterfly didn’t look quite right.
It had a swollen body and small shrivelled wings.
The man watched half expecting the butterfly’s wings to grow and the butterfly to fly off. However, nothing happened.
Sadly, the butterfly spent the remainder of its short life crawling around being unable to fly or support its heavy swollen body with its shrivelled wings.
Unfortunately for the butterfly, the man by helping the butterfly to come out of the cocoon had in fact signed its death warrant.
What the man did not know was that the restricting cocoon and the effort required by the butterfly to eject from that cocoon was what was required to force fluid out of its body and into its wings to enable the butterfly to fly once it left the cocoon.
Sometimes, you may start something and find it very hard to make progress only to give up shortly after.
If everything was easy in life, how strong would we be?
We need struggles and obstacles to grow not just as people but also in our businesses.
If you see an obstacle, don’t head back or try to crawl around it. Instead, stick your chin up and smash that obstacle down.
It’s only when you overcome an obstacle that you will be able to fly.
It’s now 2013 and I wanted my first post to be a positive one. I read this story a while back but didn’t get a chance to post it on here. I didn’t write this myself.
However, it’s a very powerful story and I’d like you to read it and share it using the Social Media icons at the bottom of the post. The moral of the story is never to give up especially when things get tough. Continue to build relationships with positive people and this will help you immensely both in your personal life and in business.
Don’t ever focus on getting or making money so that you can buy fancy things. Instead, focus on giving and helping others – it’s these relationships that are much more important to you than anything else. Money and wealth are just a by product of this, and will come automatically once you’ve managed the first part of the equation.
When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got something to tell you.She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes. Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth.But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly.She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why? I avoided her question.This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage.
But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; I had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her! With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces.
The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release.
The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.
The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing.
I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.
In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible.
Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage. This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy.
Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.
I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.
My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain.
From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.
On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse.
I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was greying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.
On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again.
I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger. She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger.
I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.
Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.
Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway.
Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day. But her much lighter weight made me sad.
On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to the office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore. She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce.
My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart.
Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away.
At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart. That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in bed – dead.
My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we pushed through with the divorce – so that I was at least, in the eyes of our son – a loving husband.
The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves.
So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage! If you don’t share this, nothing will happen to you. If you do, you just might save a marriage or a life. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
Today, a lot of us live our lives online and we believe what we read on the internet. The scary thing is that if you’re currently using Social Media sites, then you already have an Online Identity.
Do you know what your Online Identity is?
As a professional, you need to be building your brand presence online otherwise Google will give you a presence whether good or bad. A healthy online brand presence can massively enhance your career or business. An unhealthy one can destroy you.
Believe it or not, somebody somewhere is searching for you on an almost daily basis. Whether it’s your future employer, a business colleague, a client or even your fiancé’s parents, people are going to judge you on what they see about you on Google.
If someone is searching for you and can’t find anything at all about you, they will assume that you have nothing of value to add or that you are hiding something.
Here’s a few handy tips that you need to follow to ensure a healthy online presence:
1. Ensure you own your own name as a URL and also your own handle on the main Social Media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Your Website can host your Online CV which is an absolute must for anyone with a career or business. Your Social Media sites can link to your website and vice versa. The more you link, the more overall brand presence you will get.
You can also use simple offline marketing strategies to enhance your online branding, by adding your website details to all your marketing material for example your business cards and hence draw people to your website.
2. Keep your online presence professional even when you’re being personal, for example when posting pictures up on Social Media sites. You never know whose Googling you.
3. Clean up all your profiles. This could take a while, but needs to be done. Intimately check all your posts on Social Media sites and untag yourself from those unsavoury photos and videos.
4. Be consistent across all your sites. For example, use the same or similar photos on your website as you have on your Social Media pages purely for branding and recognition purposes.
5. Be careful of what you write on Social Media sites and in forums as everything you do on the internet will be there for life and will point back to you. Your online activities can help the reader build a clear picture of who you are as a person, and you don’t want the wrong signals to be sent out.
6. Update your social media sites at least once a week. This shouldn’t take more than a few minutes and helps to keep your sites ‘alive’. Talk about your interests and achievements to add some depth to who you are as a person.
7. Register with Google Alerts to set up notifications of any mentions of your name on websites and news stories etc. This is a great way to monitor searches of your name online and an indication of what others may see when searching for you.
Of the above, having your own Online CV website is the most powerful way for you to brand yourself. If you don’t yet have an Online CV, you can get one today by visiting this link:
Twitter is a very valuable resource especially when it comes to looking for a job, or a contract if you’re a business owner. Here, I will discuss just a few of the strategies you can use on Twitter to help you to source that ideal job or contract.
· Utilise your Twitter Bio. Here you have only 160 characters to promote yourself. If you’re looking for a job opportunity, you need to mention this here. If you’re looking for clients and contracts, you need to talk about your skills and how you can help others achieve their goals via your skills, all within 160 characters. Finally, your bio should point to a website, ideally your Online CV which will provide much more detail about you and your achievements.
· Make use of your Twitter background. There’s a lot of space here that you could utilise. As a minimum, you could add details of your websites and perhaps key skills and responsibilities, if you’re looking to attract a job or client.
· Be sure to post relevant details on Twitter. For example, if you’re an architect, you may want to talk about, buildings that inspire you. This shows your interest in architecture and would certainly gain you brownie points in the eyes of any future employer.
Head-hunters and recruiters use Twitter to hunt out suitable candidates and you need to ensure that the information you post is relevant to any job or contract that you may be attracted to.
If you don’t yet have a website to include in your bio, you need to get this as a matter of urgency. The best website for job seekers, to have in their bio and to tweet about, is an Online CV.
Today, it’s possible to get yourself an Online CV for less than your weekly food shop. You need to do this today, otherwise you may find your job, contract or client going to somebody else.
Click the clink below to get your Online CV Today:
With almost a Billion users, Facebook is huge and its power and reach can no longer be underestimated. It’s important to understand that Facebook is not just a utility for social interaction. You can also use it to find a job or to gain clients for your business.
Before I talk about the various strategies you can use, I think it might be worthwhile for you to firstly review your privacy settings to ensure that any private information that you post remains private and cannot be seen by current or potential employers.
To be searchable to the outside world, you may want to allow ‘everyone’ to search for you and view your education and work history. This is the kind of information that future employers would be searching for. You will also want to add your website to your profile and make it viewable to everyone. This is where your Online CV can ‘sell’ your experience in much more detail than facebook. Having an additional website to a basic Facebook profile shows your professionalism and creativity and that you are able to harness the latest technology in a fast changing world.
In your settings, you can also ‘privatise’ your wall posts and photos if these are of a sensitive nature.
Through strategic status updates, you can indicate your availability for work and contracts if you are a business owner.
If you haven’t yet got an Online CV, you can do so via this special link:
LinkedIn is an invaluable tool regardless of whether you’re a Business Owner or professional employee. As a Business Owner, you can highlight your products and services and drive prospects to your websites.
However, LinkedIn does have its limitations. There’s only so much that you can put on your profile page. Here’s where your Online CV comes into its own. Your Online CV can act not just as an extension to your LinkedIn profile, but can fill in any gaps in your profile. Your Online CV can go into as much detail as you like or can provide a brief overview of your skills and responsibilities if you so desire. Your Online CV can show photos and videos also.
As a Business Owner, your LinkedIn profile should link back to your Online CV to provide other business owners a deeper insight into how you run your business and the types of clients you have worked with. This is hugely invaluable because as we all know “people do business with people”, and the more your client knows about you, the more they will trust you and want to do business with you.
As a professional, LinkedIn allows you to explore other businesses and job opportunities that may be of interest to you. Your personal LinkedIn profile should link back to your Online CV which will provide more detail of your career history, skills, responsibilities, achievements and personal interests.
Once you have your Online CV set up, you can start publishing your Online CV URL on all your marketing material including for example your business cards, email signatures and newsletters, websites and brochures. Our research has shown this to result in many more business enquiries and job offers for those seeking employment.
If you don’t yet have your Online CV, you can get one via this special link:
