The Odyssey

“When an interviewer asks that, they really mean tell me about yourself as it’s relevant to the position you are applying for and this company.” – Tina Wascovich One of the best ways to answer that interview question is to tailor your answer to the role you are applying for as well as the company’s vision or mission statement. In addition, you can incorporate your values with the values of the company you are applying for as way to describe yourself. For instance, I would answer that question by saying, Thank you! My name is Sibongiseni Mgolozeli and I come from Queenstown, in the Eastern Cape. My life revolves around one acronym, which is HEALTH! Health is my core value and all my beliefs, principles and life philosophy stems from it. So what does the acronym HEALTH stands for? H stands for Happiness – “Just like success, happiness cannot be pursued, it must ensue.” Victor Frankl.  I personally believe that both happiness and both success and happiness...

“To be a great leader, first become a great person.” – Robin Sharma The good thing is, everyone can learn to be great my modelling the lifestyle of anyone whom they think is a great person. Zig Ziglar advice that “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” Great people become great by building themselves, firstly by laying a rock hard foundation through well researched and tested values, principles and beliefs that resonates with their core personality and live according to them. Eventually, they become persons of great resolve and character - Individuals who are not shaken easily by other people’s opinions because they fully know who they are and what they stand for.   According to Robin Sharma, there are five basic rules or fundamental requirements that one must heed to, in order to become a great person. They are all summed up in the acronym – SHINE. 1.     S stand for S ee clearly – Learn to use your imagi...

“The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops…until you stand up to speak in public.” (Source: BrainyQuote) Let’s face it, the fear of public speaking is real. Anyone who has delivered a speech in front of an audience has felt the stage fright before. Even experienced TED speakers, Toastmasters and leaders in various disciplines can attest to this fact. Right now, you are reading this article probably you don’t care if your hands shake, your heart beats faster than normal and whether you feel like you are going to die before you even start your presentation, but you want to focus on the positive side – which is to deliver a memorable and inspiring speech. That must always be your goal. When you step in front of an audience to deliver a presentation, forget about yourself (especially your feelings), instead, consider your presentation as a performance rather than just a mere presentation. “Keep this in mind. When you deliver a presentation,...

“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” – Tony Robbins Primarily, we need to have a full understanding of what effective communication is and why it is important. Human beings are social creatures that need a sense and a feeling of belonging in order to live meaningful and happy lives.  Effective communication is a fundamental requirement for building strong and long-lasting connections and/or relationship with others. According to professor Dalton Kehoe “Effective communication means three things: First, we got what we wanted – a moment of positive emotional connection or a tangible result. Second, you have been understood from your point of view (and that was communicated back to us). And third, the other party seems fine with the exchange – there were no indications of uncertainty, frustration, fear, or anger.” When two pa...

                                                     image: DHgate.com “Communication - the human connection - is the key to personal and career success.” -  Paul J. Meyer Do you ever ask yourself, what is my dominant style of communicating? Is it working out for you or not? Most importantly, how is the quality of your relationship with your partner or spouse, your family, friends or coworkers? Well, whether it is bad or good, it all boils down to one thing. Your dominant style of communication. The one thing that most people don't realize is that bad communication skills do not only lead to unnecessary conflicts, frustration, anger or resentment, but most subtly, to death! Some time ago, there were two youngsters, a boy and a girl. Their families hated each other. One-day the girl’s family hosted a party but the boy snuck ...

There are three principles that I have found to be key for one’s success both in personal and professional growth. Success is something that means different things to different people. But for the purpose of this article, let’s adopt the definition by Dr. Scott Peck, who says “success is the ability to solve problems and achieve goals that you have set for yourself.” I guess it’s safe to say that we all want to be successful. We all have dreams that we want to fulfill and goals we desire to accomplish. But the question is. Are you brave enough to go for what you want out of life? The one thing that hinders most people from following their dreams is fear. Fear of being ridiculed, fear of being criticized, and most common of all, the fear of failure! Honestly speaking, failure is not a person. It is just an event! Each and every event has a purpose and every setback its lessons. I have realized that failure, whether personal, professional or even of spiritual kind, is e...