PROJA

When your heart is in your work, your work is play. You are highly motivated when you enjoy your work.

Therefore, select activities that are aligned with your motivations, desires and your lifestyle. Otherwise, you won't enjoy what you do.

If your motivations are not aligned with your business, you will do a "so so" job. Whereas business needs 100% of our commitment, dedication and motivation to be successful. As they say: you have to be "all-in" to be successful.

We have to try our best to align our work, life and for that matter all our activities. Lets breakdown ALIGN for better understanding of life alignments:

A - Adapt to your lifestyle. Your life, health, family, and your peace of mind is way more important than any project you launch. So try to align your professional life with your personal lifestyle.

L - Love what you do. Whatever activity you choose to do, you better enjoy what you do. Otherwise, you may give up easily when "hard" times kick in. And more importantly, the work you do will be full of struggles instead of enjoyment.

I - Insist on what you believe in. Don't do something that you are not comfortable with. You may get involved, out of necessity,  but you will not have peace of mind, if you don't believe in what you do.

G - Get closer to your goal. Do not undertake anything and everything. Be selective in what you do. Whatever you choose to do, should get you closer to your final goal, even if one step. Otherwise, you will keep on changing your projects.

N - Narrow your niche. Start with something small. Big undertakings might put too much pressure on you. Launch small but meaningful. Consistency is the key; not size of the project. "Do little but do always"

Hope you ALIGN your personal and professional life with your project purpose and motivation.

See you on the other side... with your PROJECT (www.PROJA.ca)

Failure is part of life. With failures, we become more stronger and to be honest, the secret to success is to fail often. So don't be afraid of failures and take action when an opportunity presents itself to you. 

It is the fear of failure that prevents us from taking big steps in our lives.  We have to build "bravery" by simply shifting our mindset to accept that "failure" is part of our life and in fact failure is "good".  

We have to remind ourselves that there is no step-by-step manual for life. Therefore, we have to JUMP into the "sea of action" and figure it out as we go.  Let's break down the word JUMP for better understanding: 

J - "Just-Do-It" despite all deficiencies. Forget about too much thinking and talking. It is time to do it. There will never be a perfect time to take action. 

U - Undo fear of Failure. From early ages, we have been trained to be scared of taking action. We are scared of people's opinion. We are scared of failure and what people will think about us. We have to let go of our fear of failure once and for all by shifting our mindset to accept that failing is a "good" thing and actually it gets us closer to our goal. 

M - Make a promise to do it. Your chances of success is higher, if you dare to take action and make a promise to yourself that you are going to do it. Because of this promise, you may not give up easily. A promise, to yourself, pushes you to "jump". 

P - Practice what you preach: We have seen people in our lives that they can easily give advice to others but when it comes to themselves, they don't practice what they preach. For example, they try to make others millionaire but they are struggling to make ends meet. It is easier said than done. Once you start practicing, you might soon realize that there are many things that you have not noticed. 

This is not to say that having a theory, behind your action, is a bad thing. It becomes annoying when it elevates to "analysis paralysis". We have to appreciate that awareness is not action. We lead by example and therefore, we become a leader by leading.

Yes, it is possible to see things that may not be visible in ordinary circumstances. All it takes is to practice reflecting on life endeavors. Observe yours and other people's behavior. Question as to why people do what they do... Basically, pay attention to details.

It is an art to take yourself out of the current context and reflect on matters that have long term implications. Why should you bother doing this? Because long term strategies always win over short term mindset. It opens a worldview that could take you to "high" places. You will be able to see the "bigger picture".

Observe the world beyond your current emotions to see the "unseen". Below is a break down of the word OBSERVE for better understanding:

O - Organize your thoughts: With a confused and conflicted mindset, it is hard to reflect and observe.

B - Build an "unbiased" mindset: There is a lot of noise out there and most of them are judged by your personal interest. Try to take yourself out of the "moment".

S - Sort Data: You will collect a ton of reflections and observations in your life. Try your best to only pay attention to what matters to you and more importantly to things that can have realistic and practical results in your life.

E - Envision what others can't see: Everyone can see the obvious. Try to see things that are hidden. And you can do it by reserving specific times in your day to reflect on things that occurred during that day and take a note of it.

R - Read between the lines: Pay particular attention to things that are not said. Or try to understand the signals given to you by others. And this can be accomplished by being sensitive to people's emotions.

V - Validate your data/idea: After coming to conclusions about your own observances, try to share it with close friends and receive their feedback. You will be delighted with their discoveries.

E - Estimate: After observing, sorting, sharing, and validating, it is time to act now. Don't wait for a perfect scenario. An observation is only valuable if you learn from it and implement it in your life. Observation without implementation remains in our imagination only...

You have to fail to succeed. Failure is not fatal. It is not important what happens to you but rather how you handle it. As the saying goes: "Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it".

What is your response in case of a failure? Are you going to give up? Are you going to quit? Or are you going to "REDIRECT" your resources and continue the journey?

Redirecting means you have not lost, but rather continuing your "journey" from a different direction. 

Let's break down the word REDIRECT to better understand our response in case of a "failure": 

R - Repeat: The more you repeat... the more you practice... the "luckier" you will be... So you don't fail, you learn to "repeat" better.

E - Enrich: You are enriched because of your failure. You have learned new lessons to be implemented.

D - Deal: Your failure is a reality and you have to have the guts to deal with it. Face the music. Don't hide.

I - Improve: You have learned so much from this failure that you can improve what you have for better.

R - Refresh: You are going to get up and start as if nothing happened. Thinking about the past won't help you. So start fresh.

E - Experience: You have done it and gained experience. Use this experience and make your "Project" stronger and more resilient.

C - Continue: It is not the end of the world. You are still breathing. So continue the journey because "Journey is the goal".

T - Turn: From day one you have prepared yourself for a worst-case scenario. On one hand, you start your project with full conviction, but at the same time, you are fully prepared to change the course in case of failure. Don't be ashamed to make a "Turn".

We need a good friend to take our life endavors to the next level. A true friend is a confidant who gives us confidence. And we need "confidence" to act with no hesitation. And as a result, materialize our dreams and objectives in life.

We don't need hundreds or even tens of friends to achieve this. We don't need thousands of so-called "facebook friends" to give us confidence. All we need is just one "good" friend. That is it. We don't need the whole world. This one friend can enlighten our dark moments and enhance our achievements. 

For this "ideal" friend, we can prepare a long list of characteristics such as "Prioritizing us over himself/herself" or "some one we can count on", or... but we want to be more realistic and list the least of characteristics to be considered when selecting a "good" PAIR-UP for us:

P for Patience - He/She should have enough patience to listen to us as we might share a lot. Or sometimes we may have difficult conversations...

A for Advisor - This person should be honest when giving us advice. And remain as un-biased as possible. His/Her interests and jealousies should not influence her advice.

I for Intelligence - Being patient and honest is not enough, this person should also be intelligent enough to give us real and relevant advice.

R for Relax - We should feel comfortable with this person and not be intimated otherwise we will not share our true feelings and as a result we will not receive the "right" advice.

U for Understanding - What we share might be embarrassing. For example, for sharing some of the mistakes we have made in the past, this person should not judge us...

P for Protect - And finally this individual should protect our secrets and not share it to others (without our permission). Or even worst, bring it up to our face on a bad day.

If you find a "PAIR" with the above six characteristics, PAIR-UP as soon as possible and you will see the positive results in your life right away (for those of us that already have a "good" friend, appreciate this "gift" - listen to my EPISODE #4 podcast).

Solve life problems one Project at a time...

When an idea presents itself to you, after analyzing and thinking, start taking action right away.

Only by taking action you will know whether your idea is works or not. More importantly, only through taking action, you will learn more and new possibilities and opportunities may present itself to you.

Before launching your Project, keep PROJA in mind:

P - PAIR-UP - You need a supporting "buddy" to be your confidant, sounding board, and support system.

R - RE-DIRECT - Things may not necessarily go according to your plan. So be prepared to redirect what you have learned so far into something else.

O - OBSERVE - You can never understand your target fully. So observe their behavior and feedback and adjust/adapt accordingly.

J - JUMP - Don't wait for a perfect world to launch your Project. Despite all deficiencies jump ("JUST-DO-IT")

A - ALIGN - Align your personal, professional and Project motivations otherwise you might give up easily during challenging times.

If you have a Project and need support (a "Buddy"), we are here to be on your side. Please visit www.Proja.ca to Activate your account (You have to be working on or towards a Project to Join our Exclusive PROJA group).

Why don't we appreciate valuable relationships while we have them?

Once we lose them, we just realize the value of them... and it is too late.

It is just that our existing relationships may not necessarily have the patience for our ignorance forever.

No relationship is perfect. So instead of focusing on negatives, we should give attention to values that a valuable relationship brings to us.

Otherwise, we will soon realize that we have both lost existing valuable relationships and new ones are not as profound as we thought.

Therefore, pursuing new relationships while forgetting old ones is not a good strategy. Constantly looking for New Leads at the cost of existing Clients is like "chasing your tail" continuously.

Maybe the grass is not green on the other side afterall...

We have to learn how to prioritize our relationships accordingly... prioritize relationships that matter to us.

We all have the potential to be a leader. "Leaders are made, not born". We become a leader by leading.

No one is born with leadership skills. You learn as you go. The best way to become a leader is to take action. The process of our leadership starts when we take a responsibility. As our elders used to say: "A seeker is a finder."

Once we initiate something, new doors open for us and opportunities start flowing towards us. We learn about new things that we never imagined. And leadership is a learning process... one lesson at a time.

So if we have a dream we have to start taking action. We can not afford to "dream" forever. If we want to get to our goal, we have to start from somewhere and take one step at a time. As the saying goes: "eat the elephant one bite a time".

Should you want to take a practical step towards your goal, we are here to help you. Visit: www.Proja.ca

Life has its ups and downs and we need a role model to help us navigate through life. A Hero can play a crucial role in our life.

Anyone can be our hero ranging from our family and friends to a complete stranger and even someone who lived many centuries ago.

What matters is that who are we following? and why?

We have to keep in mind a couple of points when selecting someone as our "Hero". First and foremost, our "Hero" can not be self-centered and egoistic personality. We need our "Hero" to have come out of selfishness and be generous in nature.

Having said that, it is not enough to claim that someone is our hero. We need to practice and follow in the footsteps of our hero. In our lonely moments, we hold onto our hero and seek his/her guidance. We can imagine that if she/he was in this particular situation, what will he/she do?

We also need a "Hero" in business. We can select from a long list of successful entrepreneurs. Again, we are not copying their business but rather trying to envision their business model, work ethics, commitment, dedication and sacrifices. 

Bad things happen to all of us all the time. The good news is that in every bad incident in our life, there is always something good. Take CORONA for example:

Before Corona, we were all busy with our lives and had no time for ourselves, our friends, or our families.

Corona gave us the opportunity to spend more time with our loved ones and more importantly we have realized the importance of these relationships. And further, we appreciate and value our relationship more than ever before.

So, we learn that we can find something positive in every negative. All we need to do is pay a little bit more attention. The good thing might be hidden but it is always there. We need to look deeper and find it to hang on it.

Even in business, if we search deeper we can discover some positive opportunities. We are already noticing some businesses are booming even during these hard times while other businesses are working on making their businesses more resilient. In the past we only focused on efficiency of our businesses but we learned in a hard way to also pay attention to resiliency of our businesses… Again this is something positive for our business, in the long run…

(Note: Podcast is in Farsi language)

ZYNDEGII is a weekly podcast, by Jamshid Hussaini, to reflect on Afghan Life.

Each Episode is about 20 minutes as per following:

- First 10 Minutes: Talking about a specific topic

- Then 5 Minutes: Discussing Business Experiences

- Final 5 Minutes: Sharing Audience suggestions and Questions.

Hope you join us every week and please don't forget to share your thoughts and feedback.

Thanks in advance.