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Several months ago I was at a party and found myself seated next to a world famous media personality and star. This person is so famous that I see them on the magazine covers, on television, on billboards in malls, and pretty much everywhere I look.
I’m not in the entertainment business and by no means travel in that crowd; however, the short conversation I had with this person was extremely elucidating.
The person told me that they owed all of their success to listening to and studying the teachings of a certain motivational speaker.
“They made me realize the power I had inside me to do what I have done,” the person told me.
I’m like you and when I hear something like this I am naturally skeptical. However, when you step back and look at most people who end up doing great things, you will almost always find they were influenced by someone, or something, that showed them that they have the capacity for greatness.
- It could be a coach in sports.
- It could be a certain teacher.
- It could be a parent.
- It could be the teachings of a certain writer.
- It could be a priest or other religious figure.
Regardless of who it is, most people who do important things are reminded of the strength, power, and goodness they have inside them by someone else.
For years, I lived next to a home owned by a world famous religious figure, Prem Rawat—also known as Maharaji. This man was brought over from India by his followers in the United States while still a teenager. He has followers all over the world and is a very important man.
He is considered, by perhaps millions of people, to be the incarnation of God of Earth.
Financed by donations from his followers, Maharaji flies around the world on his own $45,000,000 Gulf Stream jet giving speeches, meeting with followers, and staying in his homes. He has significant homes all over the world.
Maharaji preaches one simple message.
Maharaji has lots of critics—as most important people do. Religious figures are always polarizing. Jesus Christ, for example, was famously killed.
Despite all of the critics, though, you need to admit that if people are constantly giving him money, supporting him, and wanting to hear him speak, he must be offering something to people of profound benefit. People simply do not continue to support others at such a high level if they are not being given something in return.
Because I was living next door to one of his many homes and saw his wife all the time, I wanted to know more about this man and read a few books about him. What amazed me most is even his most ardent critics stated that he had opened the door to them feeling the presence of God.
In his presence and in his teaching, the people were somehow transformed.
While I have never studied Maharaji, this sort of ability to show people peace, God, or what have you is profound.
Therefore, despite all of the criticism about him–and regardless of the fact that he has obviously not taken a vow of poverty–I believe there is something profound about this man and what he is doing for people.
Here is a distillation of Prem Rawat’s message from one of his websites:
Prem Rawat, known also by the honorary title Maharaji, has traveled the world for four decades, inspiring people to find peace within.
His message is simple and profound. It is independent of and compatible with any philosophy, religion, or spiritual path. At the UN Conference Centre in Bangkok, he said, “Peace needs to be in everyone’s life. The peace we are looking for is within. It is in the heart, waiting to be felt. It is not the world that needs peace; it is people. When people in the world are at peace within, the world will be at peace.”
From this, I take that there is a certain peace that the Maharaji gives people. He is able to show people that peace is within them. Everything they seek is within them.
In the Book of John in the New Testament, when preparing to leave the world, Jesus tells his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)
I’m not giving you these examples to convince you to become a disciple of Christianity, or the Maharaji. Instead, what I am trying to get you to understand is that people who are able to show us what we are capable of and the good that lies inside of us are hallowed as among the most important people in the world.
People who are able to show us our strengths also make us stronger.
- The famous star that I met believed that all of her success came from someone showing her the skills and potential talent she already had inside of her.
- People follow many religious figures (and religions) because they show people the good and strength they have inside of them.
I love watching sports movies about sports characters overcoming the odds to achieve great victories. In almost all of these movies, it is the influence of a coach showing the person what they are capable of that enables them to achieve what they do.
What is it that you are capable of that you have not yet tapped into? The odds are very good that you have talents within you that are dormant and that you have not yet tapped into. If you can tap into these skills and talents, you will be setting yourself up for greatness.
We all possess intangible qualities and assets that we may not have taken advantage of. If you can take advantage of these assets, it is likely you can experience great windfalls in various areas of your life. It is all about what you decide to demand of yourself. The more you demand of yourself, the better you can ultimately do.
I met a marathon runner recently in his late 40s. He is ranked in the top 20 in the United States for runners in his age bracket. To my astonishment, he told me that he was running faster in his late 40s than he ran when he was in his 30s (when he also ran competitively).
“That’s amazing,” I said. “How have you ended up improving so much despite getting older?”
“It’s been all about asking more of myself,” he said. “I started practicing harder. I’ve been exercising with weights. I’ve been eating better before races.”
I love stories like this. People can do incredibly well when they look within themselves and start demanding even more. Everyone has significant untapped power within them that they may not even realize.
How much of a greater result could you get from your career if you really became aware of your opportunities and strengths? What if you developed your greatest strengths and focused your efforts in the direction of these strengths? The odds are your career and life would drastically improve. Do you really know what is inside you and what you are really capable of?
I recommend that everyone have a cheerleader or mentor on the sidelines. When I read about the careers of the most successful businessmen in biographies, most of the time I find that they have mentors and people they are constantly turning to for advice and inspiration. This person could be a parent, it could be another business person, or it could be an old teacher or boss. Regardless, most of the most successful people out there have people who support and encourage them. You need people like this in your life, too.
People who do not reach their full potential are most often isolated or they are afraid of criticism. If someone is afraid of any form of criticism or becomes defensive when constructive criticism is given, people will avoid critiquing them in the future and the person who is afraid of the criticism may be held back. You need to be open to people who want to take you under their wing and help you grow.
There is a final point here and it is perhaps the most important one. In addition to the importance of going inside yourself to bring out your strengths and allowing people to bring out your strengths, the greatest power and success often comes to people who are able to bring out the strengths in others. We like people who make us feel good about ourselves and bring out our strengths. The lesson of the Maharaji is not only that success lies within ourselves but the true lesson lies in his example: Great power, wealth, and influence accrues to people who are able to show people the best within themselves.
About Harrison Barnes
Harrison Barnes is the Founder of BCG Attorney Search and a successful legal recruiter himself. Harrison is extremely committed to and passionate about the profession of legal placement. His firm BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys. BCG Attorney Search works with attorneys to dramatically improve their careers by leaving no stone unturned in a search and bringing out the very best in them. Harrison has placed the leaders of the nation’s top law firms, and countless associates who have gone on to lead the nation’s top law firms. There are very few firms Harrison has not made placements with. Harrison’s writings about attorney careers and placements attract millions of reads each year. He coaches and consults with law firms about how to dramatically improve their recruiting and retention efforts. His company LawCrossing has been ranked on the Inc. 500 twice. For more information, please visit Harrison Barnes’ bio.
About BCG Attorney Search
BCG Attorney Search matches attorneys and law firms with unparalleled expertise and drive that gets results. Known globally for its success in locating and placing attorneys in law firms of all sizes, BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys in law firms in thousands of different law firms around the country. Unlike other legal placement firms, BCG Attorney Search brings massive resources of over 150 employees to its placement efforts locating positions and opportunities that its competitors simply cannot. Every legal recruiter at BCG Attorney Search is a former successful attorney who attended a top law school, worked in top law firms and brought massive drive and commitment to their work. BCG Attorney Search legal recruiters take your legal career seriously and understand attorneys. For more information, please visit www.BCGSearch.com.
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You need to provide people what they want, otherwise you will not have a job. Although they might not always be the most desirable kinds of jobs, certain jobs always exist because they provide services that people will always require. The only secret to continual employment is to provide a service that people always need; if you do this, and nothing else, you will always find yourself employed. Give people what they want.
Your ability to help people will determine the extent of your success; the more powerful and effective your help, the greater rewards you will receive. One of the rarest and most profound achievements is to follow through on your goals and create a paradigm-shifting idea. The more revolutionary your work, the more people you will affect and the more memorable of a career you will have.
You will greatly benefit your career by helping and promoting your company’s expansion. A common belief is that expansion is fundamentally positive, and a lack of expansion is fundamentally negative. You must be on the side of expansion rather than contraction in every area of your life. All employers seek people who will help them expand, and the more your ability to contribute to this expansion will provide you increased job security and a greater likelihood of being hired.
The ability to fit into your work environment is among the most important parts of obtaining and retaining a job, even more so than your skill level. Fitting in means nothing more than being comfortable in one’s work environment, and making others similarly comfortable. Employers want to hire people who will embrace their approach to business and the world on physical and moral levels, so you must strive to fit in with their worldview.
Focus on what you are doing, not what others around you are doing. There are people to take action towards their goals, and then there people who sit on the sidelines and comment on the first group of people. People who are mostly interested in gossip and watching others usually lack the confidence and determination to take action themselves. The most successful people go account and accomplish things rather than sit back and watch others make things happen.
In this article, Harrison advises you to live the lives you wish to have, do the jobs you want to do, and basically live your dreams to your best possible ability. Life is fleeting and no one knows what tomorrow holds. So Harrison puts forward certain questions – when are you going to start living the life you want and when are you going to take charge of your life. The time to have the career you want is right now, not tomorrow, and not later. You need to take charge of your career and life and no one else is going to do it for you. Your entire life and the quality of it is a product of your decisions. You can have, do, or be anything you want. Do not create alibis for making comprises in life. What separates the best and the happiest people is the ability to stop to making excuses and Harrison wants you to be this person.
Anyone can be up when things are going well, but the real challenge comes when things are not. Do not look at problems, which are inevitable for any person or business, in a negative light; think of them instead as challenges, lessons, or opportunities. There is a silver lining to be found in every problem, and finding that silver lining will enable you to grow.
Understanding what you do for a living is very important for your career. You should understand the generality of your specific profession. You and your career are a product. You need to know where and how to market yourself in the best way possible. You need to be relevant and understand the skills you are offering. Being a relevant product is essential for your success. It’s easy to be relevant when you understand what you are doing and what purpose you serve. Being relevant is more than just getting a job. Being relevant also relates to serving the employers with the skills they need. You need to understand your market and what your customers want. This is the way to stay employed, and it is also the means to continual improvement.
Things will not always go the way that you want them to go, so you must not be discouraged by adversity in your job hunt. When you persist and consistently put forth your best effort, things are much more likely to go in your favor. Also, you must resist others’ efforts to undermine your efforts and potential; focus instead on doing everything in your power to fight on and complete the task at hand.
Having a goal or vision will propel you towards greater career success and happiness. Without a purpose, you will find yourself depressed and ultimately fail to achieve your goals. Do not subscribe to the unrealistic problem that you should never have problems, but instead regard problems as part of your overall growth strategy.
Don’t ever give up, and make the most of the tools at your disposal. Take chances and invest in your best skills, and persist in the face of unfortunate events. Have faith in your considerable work and capabilities, and use them to create value for others.
In this article Harrison discusses what a good hiring manager should look for. Many people who make hiring decisions really do not know what they are doing. In fact, they often make mistakes when hiring. They put too much emphasis on skills and experience. But the single most important aspect of hiring is evaluating the person’s unique outlook on the world. If the person does not have a positive outlook on the world, he/she will bring down the morale of the other workers. The person will harm the company through the negative outlook. The key to success is having the power to stick it out in jobs and finding happiness wherever you are. Hiring people who do good work and are always able to find happiness should be the number one objective of hiring managers.
To reach the goals to which you aspire, you must compare yourself with people superior to you for motivation. Most people prefer to look at life the way they wish it to be, rather than as it truly is. Move out of your comfort zones and face reality. Don’t seek out or compare yourself with the average people around you, as doing so will only mire you in mediocrity rather than push you forward.
You can better market yourself by taking a stand against something. Peoples’ personal beliefs, including the things with which they do not agree, define who they are as people. Standing against something differentiates you from the crowd; when done in the correct manner, without disrespecting others’ opinions, such a stance can help you land your dream job.
Maintaining a routine in both life and work is important to success. Not only do you need to establish a routine, you must make that routine demanding and push yourself to the limit. Budget a certain amount of time each week for networking, applying to jobs, brushing up your interview skills, and following up with employers. Such consistent effort on a daily basis will make a huge difference to your career success.
A recommendation from a powerful person can make a huge difference in your job search; a reference from an influential person makes a tremendous difference to a prospective employer, and thus can be a major advantage for you. When an important person whom the company trusts recommends you, you instantly qualify for positions that may previously have been unattainable. Make the absolute most of your connections with the powerful people in your life, because doing so can instantaneously change your career and life.
You must plant seeds in the minds of others, so that they will be more likely than otherwise to think of you when a future need arises. In planting seeds, you are making people aware of what you have to offer; you must make sure that you are ever present in the minds of your potential employers. Planting seeds is the most effective way to generate top-of-mind awareness, and ensure that the right people remember you at the appropriate time.
Recent immigrants exemplify the benefits of willpower, passion, and excitement in the way that they work so much harder for their goals than the people who have been here for most or all of their lives. Like most Americans, you need to rekindle the spirit of your immigrant ancestors and become hungry for what you want. The entrepreneurial spirit that brought people to America has often faded over time; adopt the fire and work ethic of new immigrants in order to achieve your goals.
Determine whether you are a global or specific person. Most people are either too general or too specific in the way they treat information, and overly detail-oriented people risk losing sight of the bigger picture. General people are more comfortable in managerial positions, while detail-oriented people prefer everything to conform to a logical sequence. Understand which sort of person you are, and seek work that best harnesses your natural inclination.
In this article Harrison talks about releasing the lack that you feel, in order to reach your full potential. If a sense of lack dominates your thinking, it will affect your interaction with the world and how the world sees you. There are many areas of your life where you are coming from a position of lack. Your ability to release this lack and go forward with your life can create a tremendous sense of peace and more natural accomplishments in your world. The amount of lack that people see out there is profound and it has a massive impact on their lives. According to Harrison, the most successful people in the world see the world as a place of opportunity and not lack.
When faced with difficult times, you must develop the ability to transcend the trouble around you instead of giving up or assuming that nothing can be done about your situation. Keep your wits about you and take charge of the situation, and you will find yourself on track for constant improvement and career success.
It is extremely important that you enjoy your job. Most people find themselves in jobs that they resent, and eventually make this resentment known by appearing disinterested and distracted. Success comes from being engaged in and grateful for your work. You can define your job according to your own vision; you can either choose to engage with your work, or avoid and despise what you do. People recognize and appreciate those who are enthusiastic about their work.
Your résumé is an extremely important document. There are entire books written about how to craft them. I have written at least one myself. There are scores of résumé consultants, companies, and others that will work on your résumé for a fee. Hiring one of these services can be useful and can improve your résumé. Nevertheless, most résumés can improve dramatically by following the below advice.
In this article Harrison explains how you can do better in your career by selling. The most successful people are absolute masters at sales. Selling is among the most important career skills you can have. When you know how to sell something you can do exceptionally well wherever you go. Knowing how to sell something is a key to survival, advancement, fame, and fortune. Everything we do is about making a sale. Selling yourself is about showing others the value you can bring them. So package yourself to the best of your ability, always be at your best and sell yourself. Develop your sales skills and do not be afraid to sell anything. Whatever your goal in life, becoming an effective salesman will help you achieve it.
It is absolutely vital to be in control of your life and career. When you fail to control your life, someone else will step in to do so and fit your life into their plans. Understand that it is in others’ interests to establish control over your life and work, and instead exert control yourself over your life and the events around you.
Do not be a dabbler, or someone who turns away in the face of stress; the secret to long-term happiness is to instead confront and push through these stress factors. Do not be discouraged by difficulties, but find ways to persist and deal with the stress. Confronting problems head-on is the key to improvement, and will take you much further than the dabblers who fail to approach their careers with commitment.
In this article Harrison discusses how persistent pursuit of something you believe in, against all obstacles, is one of the most important keys to success. So many of us just decide at some point not to push through and not to keep going even when a little bit of extra effort would push us through. The secret to being incredibly good at everything is pushing through and getting better and better when others around you are quitting. Even while hiring, employers want experts and people who are the best at what they are doing–they do not want dabblers. They want to hire the person who is incredibly committed to a job and has persisted against odds in one direction when others have given up.
In this article Harrison suggests that you actually may be safer getting a job without the help of family or friends. It is exceedingly rare that a friend or family member will ever be able to get you a position. They may not even want to help you get a job for various reasons. Their involvement in your job search may actually hurt you. The organization may actually look upon you negatively if you try to use a friend or family member to get a job. So going through a close contact is often counterproductive to your job search. Even if you get a position through a friend or family member, you could harm your relationship with that person in the process. Your friend or family member’s act of kindness may ultimately unbalance your relationship. The risks involved in this kind of job far outweigh the potential rewards.
A powerful sense of self will make all the difference in your life. You must understand that your sense of yourself and your capabilities come from inside of you, not from the external forces that have brought you to your current place in life. What you feel internally might be completely different from what the world is telling you, and you must learn to focus on the former rather than the latter.
In this article, Harrison explains the importance of making an effort in your job which is way above what is expected of you. When you have been given certain responsibilities, it means that someone is dependent on you for certain things. When you fulfill these duties far more efficiently, put in a lot more time and effort, and even stay back on weekends and holidays to complete or do extra work, your employers get the message that you are sharing their burden of pressures with them and begin to place tremendous trust in you. This is what paves the path to your promotion and growth in the company. Harrison believes that you need to develop the correct attitude and possess an extraordinary work ethic to thrive in the job you do.
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I really appreciate your positive message. You are a very engaging writer. I am glad you decided to develop this talent and that you write regularly. I really appreciate someone who encourages people to develop their strengths. This column was encouraging and building, and I appreciated that. Thank you!!!
Sir Barnes,
All I know is that each article from you is important and makes perfect sense, especially this one. The lesson I get from your article is peace, and that you should have a cheerleader or mentor and accept criticism as part of growing up in this life. These are the great ideas of your article if I’m not mistaken…And if I am mistaken, please forgive me and I beg your pardon. Now I really consider you as my cheerleader or my mentor. I say this because you teach me many things about life and show me the right way to follow. You also show me ways that I can grow up in a sense. It’s true that I love a few stars such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, and Céline Dion. I watch their videos on TV. However, you are the only person who guides me toward something good. Sometimes I read articles about those stars, but the things that you do are wonderful. These things are helpful to me and give me inspiration and courage. I’m always ready to read your articles and get your advice. I need it for my future.
Hope you had a good weekend! Have a good day! Greetings to all your family!
Cordially yours,
Michael Tine