Book Summary Preview : You Inc.

The Big Idea

It’s an exciting time for business people. There have never been so many opportunities in the world of business as there are today. We can all achieve more than ever before and in a much shorter timeframe than we previously could have imagined.

“You Inc.” by John McGrath shows you how you can take advantage of these opportunities by creating the business of your dreams. This book offers major strategies and practical, easy-to-do tips on how to turn your current business – into a world-class success.

I. Building A Foundation For Success

To succeed in life and business, you need a solid foundation for success. This means cultivating a positive attitude, letting go of self doubt, taking care of your health, setting your goals, finding your passion, and doing the hard, persistent work to change and get ahead.

Anyone Can Succeed
The biggest obstacle to achieving success is your own negative self-belief. So the first foundation of success is to believe that you can, and deserve, to succeed. Dare to dream and take risks. If you don’t, you may never experience positive change in your life. Think positive thoughts at every moment.

Define Success For Yourself
Define what success means for you. You can’t get there if you don’t know where you are going. Look at the various areas of your life – family, relationships, career, business, health, personal development and finances – and think about what you expect for yourself in these areas.

Set goals– short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. Review them regularly, even daily, because this is the best way to stay focused and motivated.

Change Yourself
If you find yourself underperforming in any or all of these areas, you need to realize that you can change, and quickly. Rapid change is possible. You can turn yourself around a lot quicker than you think. All it takes is an attitude change. Let go of all the negative self belief and doubt that tell you “you can’t do it.” Ask yourself what it is that holds you back and let go of it.

Focus on how other people have turned their lives around and become successes. If you’re just starting a business, for example, don’t think about the fact that 90% of businesses fail in the first five years; read about the 10% that succeed.

Analyze yourself honestly
Are your current skills, habits and actions what you need to achieve your goals? Do you need to adjust or refine your methods, time management or workspace? Do you have the right team? Is there anything you need to leave behind?

Find out what you need to change within yourself to make yourself fit for success and do it. This includes managing your health. You need to manage your food intake, exercise regularly, get the right amount of sleep, manage your stress, and maintain balance in your life.
Nine Strategies To Move Ahead Fast

1. Be totally clear about what you want
2. Know that anything is possible
3. Surround yourself with great people and BIG thinkers
4. Always do what you promise to do
5. Set high standards for yourself and others and don’t accept anything else
6. Focus on what matters and what you can control
7. Put in place systems that deliver every time
8. Take action now – momentum leads to greatness
9. Keep doing whatever it takes until you achieve your outcome – this entails passion, energy and persistence

II. You + Business

One good way to achieve success is to study successful people and businesses, and then adapt their strategies to suit your life and business.

The Five Worst Business Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

1. Lack of clarity – or not knowing where you’re headed
2. Fighting fires rather than building firebreaks - or getting mired in the details instead of putting systems that do the work so you can concentrate on the big picture
3. No plan
4. No accountability
5. Poor time management

How do you avoid these mistakes? Be clear about what you want to achieve for your business, design a business plan, ensure accountability, and manage your time well. The key to a good business plan is brevity, so make sure your business plan is short and to the point, can be easily understood by the rest of your team, something that can fit into a powerpoint slide and can be easily learned by heart. Put in place mechanisms that would hold people accountable.

Learn to prioritize and do the most important tasks first-- these are keys to good time management. Set up a time management system. Giorgio Armani does only eight things a day. If one doesn’t get done in an hour, he moves it to the next day. He only works on eight projects at a time. Designer Phillipe Starck’s office only takes calls from 1PM onwards. The answering machine takes calls before then, with the message, “The morning is for thinking, the after is for doing. We’re thinking at the moment, please leave a message.”

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