Normally parents start educating their children by the age of two or three, as it is a common thinking that by this age only a child is going to be in a position of understanding the things. But here lies the problem because we are underestimating the capabilities and skills of a child. There are certain skills which start developing in a child right from his birth but since those skills are not properly nourished, they start decaying and by the time a child attains the age of two, those skills are already on the verge of being vanished.

There are many skills which are very important to be taken care of right from the beginning. Let us discuss a few of them here: Listening and concentration skills. Manipulative skills. Skills of color, texture & time Social skills Now, these skills play a very crucial role in a development of a child. Like most of you must have noticed that a child start operating a TV from a remote control without getting any guidance from any member of the family. This is an example of concentration skill because a child is very imitative by nature and he use to imitate almost each and every action of his closed ones, so just by watching others he also learns how to operate a TV through a remote control. Likewise you must have noticed that children who are brought up in an environment where luxuries of life are available right from the beginning, they use to adopt the environment and start behaving in that manner only, these are only few examples to put, but there are many.

Now if in a home an educational environment persists then the child tend to have a positive attitude for education right from the beginning, because first two years of child are very important, the skills which you can develop in a child by that age are going to be his asset for his lifetime. It is very important to provide the essential educational materials to the kids in that age. Few educational programs are being developed by various companies to meet those requirement of early education of children. Strong foundation is very essential for anything to face all the obstacles, likewise early education is a strong foundation for a child to face all the hardships in life and prepare him to face this competitive world. Like we need food in order to be healthy and maintain our energy levels, likewise the food to the brain of a child in his early years, are books, which works as a proper nourishment to the brain.

Another problem which many parents face is the problem of answering each and every question of children, by nature children are very curious and they use to ask lots of questions in a day, sometimes parents use to answer them accurately, sometime they just pass on the information whatever they have without checking the accuracy and sometimes they totally ignore these questions. Now the end loser in all these circumstances is only the child because if he is not getting proper answer to his questions, his curiosity start decreasing and that leads to the total alienation of child towards studies. The best time to answer the questions asked by children is when they ask them and most important is to answer them accurately. If we will provide them the wrong information it will ruin their prospects of getting the best education.

Now we are not super human beings that we know all the answers to the question put by the children so we have to have the books which contains all the information about everything like encyclopedias or other books which contains the questions which a child normally asks and their answers. These are few steps if we take then believe me we will be able to lay a strong foundation for the best education for our children and it will help them in overcoming each and every problem in their life. These steps will build up their confidence and develop a feeling of staying ahead in each and every sphere of life.

Zartab Haidar

Ten easy steps to developing your leadership skills

 by Sharif Khan

The miracle power that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance, under the promptings of a brave determined spirit.. Many motivational experts like to say that leaders are made, not born. I would argue the exact opposite. I believe we are all natural born leaders, but have been deprogrammed along the way. As children, we were natural leaders – curious and humble, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge, with an incredibly vivid imagination; we knew exactly what we wanted, were persistent and determined in getting what we wanted, and had the ability to motivate, inspire, and influence everyone around us to help us in accomplishing our mission. So why is this so difficult to do as adults? What happened? As children, over time, we got used to hearing, .No,. .Don.t,. and .Can.t.. .No! Don.t do this. Don.t do that. You can.t do this. You can.t do that. No!. Many of our parents told us to keep quiet and not disturb the adults by asking silly questions. This pattern continued into high school with our teachers telling us what we could do and couldn.t do and what was possible. Then many of us got hit with the big one institutionalized formal education known as college or university. Unfortunately, the traditional educational system doesn.t teach students how to become leaders; it teaches students how to become polite order takers for the corporate world. Instead of learning to become creative, independent, self-reliant, and think for themselves, most people learn how to obey and intelligently follow rules to keep the corporate machine humming. Developing the Leader in you to live your highest life, then, requires a process of .unlearning. by self-remembering and self-honoring. Being an effective leader again will require you to be brave and unlock the door to your inner attic, where your childhood dreams lie, going inside to the heart. Based on my over ten years research in the area of human development and leadership, here are ten easy steps you can take to awaken the Leader in you and rekindle your passion for greatness:

1. Humility. first humble yourself like a little child and be willing to serve others. Nobody wants to follow someone who is arrogant. Be humble as a child . always curious, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge. For what is excellence but knowledge plus knowledge plus knowledge – always wanting to better yourself, always improving, always growing. When you are humble, you become genuinely interested in people because you want to learn from them. And because you want to learn and grow, you will be a far more effective are genuinely interested in them, and listening to them, they will naturally be interested in you and listen to what you have to say.  

2. SWOT Yourself. and Threats. Although it.s a strategic management tool taught at Stanford and Harvard Business Schools and used by large multinationals, it can just as effectively be used in your own professional development as a leader. This is a useful key to gain access to selfknowledge, self-remembering, and self-honoring. Start by listing all your Strengths including your accomplishments. Then write down all your Weaknesses and what needs to be improved. Make sure to include any doubts, anxieties, fears, and worries that you may have. These are the demons and dragons guarding the door to your inner attic. By bringing them to conscious awareness you can begin to slay them. Then proceed by listing all the Opportunities you see available to you for using your strengths. Finally, write down all the Threats or obstacles that are currently blocking you or that you think you will encounter along the way to achieving your dreams.  

3. Follow Your Bliss. you love doing. Being an alive and vital person vitalizes others. When you are pursuing your passions, people around you cannot help but feel impassioned by your presence. This will make you a charismatic leader. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, be it writing, acting, painting, drawing, photography, sports, reading, dancing, networking, or working on entrepreneurial ventures, set aside time every week, ideally two or three hours a day, to pursue these activities. Believe me, you.ll find the time. If you were to video tape yourself for a day, you would be shocked to see how much time goes to waste!  

4. Dream Big. life. Small dreams won.t serve you or anyone else. It takes the same amount of time to dream small than it does to dream big. So be Big and be Bold! Write down your One Biggest Dream. The one that excites you the most. Remember, don.t be small and realistic; be bold and unrealistic! Go for the Gold, the Pulitzer, the Nobel, the Oscar, the highest you can possibly achieve in your field. After you.ve written down your dream, list every single reason why you CAN achieve your dream instead of worrying about why you can.t.

5. Vision. feel the tears of triumph streaming down your face, it.s unlikely you will be able to lead yourself or others to victory. Visualize what it would be like accomplishing your dream. See it, smell it, taste it, hear it, feel it in your gut.  

6. Perseverance. Now that you have a dream, make sure you take recommend doing at least 5 things every day that will move you closer to your dream.  

7. Honor Your Word. leaders keep their word and their promises. You can accumulate all the toys and riches in the world, but you only have one reputation in life. Your word is gold. Honor it.

8. Get a Mentor. A high degree of success in your field. Don.t be afraid to ask. You.ve got nothing to lose. Mentors.ca is an excellent mentoring website and a great resource for finding local mentoring programs. They even have a free personal profile you can fill out in order to potentially find you a suitable mentor. In addition to mentors, take time to study autobiographies of great leaders that you admire. Learn everything you can from their lives and model some of their successful behaviors.

9. Be Yourself. Take models or reference points to work from, but never copy or imitate them like a parrot. Everyone has vastly different leadership styles. History books are filled with leaders who are soft-spoken, introverted, and quiet, all the way to the other extreme of being outspoken, extroverted, and loud, and everything in between. A quiet and simple Gandhi or a soft-spoken peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter, who became president of the United States and won a Nobel Peace Prize, have been just as effective world leaders as a loud and flamboyant Churchill, or the tough leadership style employed by .The Iron Lady,. Margaret Thatcher. I admire Hemingway as a writer. But if I copy Hemingway, I.d be a second or third rate Hemingway, at best, instead of a first rate Sharif. Be yourself, your best self, always competing against yourself and bettering yourself, and you will become a first rate YOU instead of a second rate somebody else.  

10. Give. As sound as gravity: .life gives to the giver, and takes from the taker.. The more you give, the more you get. If you want more love, respect, support, and compassion, give love, give respect, give support, and give compassion. Be a mentor to others. Give back to your community. As a leader, the only way to get what you want, is by helping enough people get what they want first. As Sir Winston Churchill once said, .We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.. _________________________________________________________________________ Sharif Khan Hero Soul leadership potential.

July 11, 2009 · amiranzur.com

“Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets” Nido Qubein.

Gaining  and maintaining focus on school, work, or whatever your goal is quite a challenge for most people. Both things however are important if you wish to attain your objectives efficiently and effectively.

1. Know your goals: It’s impossible for you to gain focus and concentration if you don’t know what you want. Be specific when describing your goals to yourself.Remeber smart goals? If you know exactly what you want, the better you’ll be able to focus and concentrate on getting what you want.

2. Multi-Tasking Not really: Don’t expect your mind to be able to work like one at all times. Even Einstein had to concentrate on the apple falling from the tree. If you wish to be able to accomplish your goal, you need to take things one step at a time.

3. Divide tasks into smaller tasks: Dividing a huge task into smaller sections.  can help you focus and concentrate on accomplishing one section after another. If you’ve a project to work on, divide it into sections such as planning, gathering for resources, implementing the changes, and so forth. If you do it that way, the next thing you know you’ve already completed the task way before the time allotted for you.

4. Expect Delays: Be prepared beforehand to encounter delays due to all sorts of issues that can arise. Distraction comes in all shapes and sizes, so it could be anything that would threaten your focus on concentration. Knowing however that there will be an obstacle to overcome will already help you conquer whatever challenge you’re facing and resume your focus and concentration.

5. Getting focused needs Time: Don’t be a fool thinking that you’ll gain  success the first time you try to follow these tips. Sure, it can happen but it’s even more possible that it won’t. If you have trouble gaining focus and concentration, don’t feel worried and give up immediately because what you’re going through is normal. As time passes however, you’ll see that gaining focus and concentration gets easier every time.

6. Focusing on something not for Free: You’ll always have to give up something to make room for something better. In this case, the price of focus and concentration may just be about anything but its most probably the one thing that causes you the most distraction. For some, it could be using the mobile during meetingswhile for some it’s their inner struggle for self-confidence.

7. Do it Dont just think and forget: In simple terms: avoid procrastinating. The earlier you start working on your goals, the better you’ll be able to gain focus and concentration. If you leave things too late, you’ll end up being stressed, pressured, and bothered by the ticking deadline. If you work early on the other hand, you’ll be more able to focus and concentrate because there’s nothing else to worry about except to get the job done. Once you do develop the right habits to be able to gain focus and concentration easily then don’t take your ability for granted. Practice, practice, and practice

The model is here mainly for interest and basic explanation, not to suggest it be applied seriously.

 To achieve a goal or a vision you must plan and do what will enable

and cause it to happen. This is usually several things, in steps.

Plan by first clarifying your aim,then work backwards identifying

the factors which will enable and cause achievement.

Define your aim/goal clearly. Attach measures to prove it is achieved. There should be a timescale.

Then ask yourself and identify: What factors would directly cause the goal to be achieved? Also write factors that can indirectly affect the achievement of goals

 And thats it you are done:)

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss…. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads and the boss drives.” (Theodore Roosevelt)

“The marksman hitteth the target partly by pulling, partly by letting go. The boatsman reacheth the landing partly by pulling, partly by letting go.” (Egyptian proverb)

“No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself.” (William Penn)

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” (President Harry S Truman)

“I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow.” (Woodrow Wilson)

“”A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline.” (Harvey Mackay)

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple, learn how to look after them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” (John Steinbeck)

“I keep six honest serving-men, They taught me all I knew; Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who.” (Rudyard Kipling, from ‘Just So Stories’, 1902.)

“A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than the giant himself.” (Didacus Stella, circa AD60 – and, as a matter of interest, abridged on the edge of an English £2 coin)

“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.” (Samuel Johnson 1709-84)

“The most important thing in life is not to capitalise on your successes – any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your mistakes.” (William Bolitho, from ‘Twelve against the Gods’)

“Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be, For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud: Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody but unbowed . . . . . It matters not how strait the gait, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” (WE Henley, 1849-1903, from ‘Invictus’)

“Everybody can get angry – that’s easy. But getting angry at the right person, with the right intensity, at the right time, for the right reason and in the right way – that’s hard.” (Aristotle)

“Management means helping people to get the best out of themselves, not organising things.” (Lauren Appley)

“It’s not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred with the sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause and who, at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” (Theodore Roosevelt.)

“Behind an able man there are always other able men.” (Chinese Proverb.)

Jack Welch, respected business leader and writer is quoted as proposing these fundamental leadership principles (notably these principles are expanded in his 2001 book ‘Jack: Straight From The Gut’):

1. There is only one way – the straight way. It sets the tone of the organisation.
2. Be open to the best of what everyone, everywhere, has to offer; transfer learning across your organisation.
3. Get the right people in the right jobs – it is more important than developing a strategy.
4. An informal atmosphere is a competitive advantage.
5. Make sure everybody counts and everybody knows they count.
6. Legitimate self-confidence is a winner – the true test of self-confidence is the courage to be open.
7. Business has to be fun – celebrations energise and organisation.
8. Never underestimate the other guy.
9. Understand where real value is added and put your best people there.
10. Know when to meddle and when to let go – this is pure instinct.

As a leader, your main priority is to get the job done, whatever the job is. Leaders make things happen by:

• knowing your objectives and having a plan how to achieve them
• building a team committed to achieving the objectives
• helping each team member to give their best efforts

As a leader you must know yourself. Know your own strengths and weaknesses, so that you can build the best team around you.

Plan carefully, with your people where appropriate, how you will achieve your aims. You may have to redefine or develop your own new aims and priorities. Leadership can be daunting for many people simply because no-one else is issuing the aims – leadership often means you have to create your own from a blank sheet of paper. Set and agree clear standards. Keep the right balance between ‘doing’ yourself and managing others ‘to do’.

Build teams. Ensure you look after people and that communications and relationships are good. Select good people and help them to develop. Develop people via training and experience, particularly by agreeing objectives and responsibilities that will interest and stretch them, and always support people while they strive to improve and take on extra tasks. Follow the rules about delegation closely – this process is crucial. Ensure that your managers are applying the same principles. Good leadership principles must cascade down through the whole organisation. This means that if you are leading a large organisation you must check that the processes for managing, communicating and developing people are in place and working properly.

Communication is critical. Listen, consult, involve, explain why as well as what needs to be done.

Some leaders lead by example and are very ‘hands on’; others are more distanced and let their people do it. Whatever – your example is paramount – the way you work and conduct yourself will be the most you can possibly expect from your people. If you set low standards you are to blame for low standards in your people.

If you seek one singlemost important behaviour that will rapidly earn you respect and trust among your people, this is it: Always give your people the credit for your achievements and successes. Never take the credit yourself – even if it’s all down to you, which would be unlikely anyway. You must however take the blame and accept responsibility for any failings or mistakes that your people make. Never never never publicly blame another person for a failing. Their failing is your responsibility – true leadership offers is no hiding place for a true leader.

Take time to listen to and really understand people. Walk the job. Ask and learn about what people do and think, and how they think improvements can be made.

Have faith in people to do great things – given space and air and time, everyone can achieve more than they hope for. Provide people with relevant interesting opportunities, with proper measures and rewards and they will more than repay your faith.

Take difficult decisions bravely, and be truthful and sensitive when you implement them.

Constantly seek to learn from the people around you – they will teach you more about yourself than anything else. They will also tell you 90% of what you need to know to achieve your business goals.

Embrace change, but not for change’s sake. Begin to plan your own succession as soon as you take up your new post, and in this regard, ensure that the only promises you ever make are those that you can guarantee to deliver.