The guy with the new idea is a nut until the new idea succeeds.

Of all the Bad habits I believe this one is the biggest hindrance to success, “never do today what you can put off for tomorrow”. Better yet, “never put off ’til tomorrow what you can avoid altogether!”
I don’t know who coined these phrases, but they must have been a depressive. The symptoms that we face, such as fatigue and hopelessness, make it so easy to say to ourselves, “I’ll just put this off until tomorrow when I feel better”.

Before we know it, that deadline is creeping up on us and we’re starting to panic. What’s the best way to deal with panic? Hide your head in the sand and hope it goes away! Not really, but procrastination is an easy habit to fall into and as the panic mounts, so does the depression. The more depressed we get, the more we avoid reality.

Why We Procrastinate:

Why do we fall into the procrastination trap time after time? Because procrastination becomes a way, no matter how maladaptive, of coping with the emotions and physical symptoms that accompanies depression. It may bring some temporary relief, but we eventually wake up the following day and find that no brownies have dropped in overnight and done our work for us.

Which style of procrastination fits you?
• Organizing thoughts and actions and keeping on track with plans is difficult. (People with ADD/ADHD may fall into this category.)
• Tasks seem overwhelming so it’s futile to even try.
• Hostile feelings towards someone cause you to want to punish them by putting things off.
• Routine and schedule causes you to feel rebellious.
• You fear disapproval.

These procrastination styles can overlap in one of four themes:
1. Self-Doubt – These people feel there are rigid standards about how thing ought to be done and they fear they will fail. They second-guess themselves and delay taking action.

2. Discomfort Dodging – This person avoids activities that will cause them distress, discomfort or anxiety. Rather ironically, the act of dodging the activity doesn’t make it go away so tensions mount because of this avoidance.

3. Guilt-Driven – The person feels guilt over tasks undone, but rather than correct the original lack of action continues to procrastinate in order to not face up to the guilt feelings.

4. Habitual – The person has procrastinated so many times, it becomes an ingrained response. The person no longer thinks about why they do it, they feel it’s just a part of them. It becomes an automatic response to say, “This is too hard”, “I’m too tired”, or to laugh it off as a character flaw.
Once you recognize your style of procrastination, you can take steps to stop it.

Time Management Tips to Beat Procrastination

• One of the most important things you can do for yourself is to get organized. Make lists, take a class in organization, or purchase an organizer. Do whatever works for you. One word of advice: follow the KISS principle (Keep it Simple, Stupid). If your organization system is too complicated, it will become just another task to avoid. Here’s my own system. You are welcome to use it if it works for you.

• Make a list of what needs to get done. This can be listed in no particular order and will give you a handle on just what you need to accomplish.
• Prioritize these. My way of doing this is by deadlines. I arrange them in order of when they are due. You may also choose to rank them by how important it is to get them done. For example, paying your bills on time may be more important to you than cleaning out your closets. Do that first.

Now it’s time to assess the list, consider these 6 simple points:
1) Do you need to do all the work yourself?
2) Do you need to provide something to someone in order that they can do their part of the job?
3) Do you need to have a proper work plan before you start?
4) Try and calm any immediate fears about the standard of the work, and concentrate on what needs to be done, and how it is to be done.
5) identify what bits of the job seem to be frightening, and ask yourself why.
6) Ask yourself if you would benefit by talking about these aspects of the job with someone else – someone you think would find that job straightforward.

• Get yourself a calendar with room to write notes in. I personally use a bound notebook and write in dates as I go. I make pages with dates for long-term planning and also keep a separate list that I transfer my short-term goals to, let’s not forget Microsoft outlook.

• Take what’s at the top of your priority list and determine how long it will take to accomplish it. If it’s a quick task, put that down to be done the current day. If it will take a longer time, divide it into smaller tasks to be spread out over several days.

• Write this in your calendar with specific dates for accomplishing each. Include your deadline for completion of this task on your calendar as well.

• Keep filling your calendar until you have a time set aside to do each item while still meeting your deadlines. Be careful to not overbook yourself and allow plenty of time for delays. This will allow you to feel confident that you can accomplish all you need to in the time you have. Now you can relax and work on one item at a time without feeling you have to do it all at once.

• Another time management technique is to break down tasks into time chunks.
• In the office or at home, you might find that filing papers is one of those put off tasks that you leave and leave and leave.

• Allocate an hour for filing. Find as many of the bank statements as possible and file those in date order. Don’t worry that you won’t file all of them. You can allocate another hour for another day to finish it off. You will be gradually dealing with this task and it will be less of a problem.
  Or, allocate an hour for working out how much money you are paying out each month and each year.

• Another day, allocate an hour for working out what expenditure is essential and what is not.
  Just divide each job into a time chunk. This is called time boxing.

• These are methods of planning time and tasks to make them appear, and to actually be, more manageable. These work for people who just need to get themselves more organized. These work for very busy people who are very successful, as well as for the rest of us who still just always have things we don’t want to do but know we have to do them.

“Success is only a word, but achieving it is a lifestyle.”

People often behave in a similar way. Habit patterns and ways of thinking become deeply established, and it seems easier and more comforting to follow them than to cope with change, even when that change may represent freedom, achievement, and success.

• Habits are routines of behaviour that are repeated regularly, they tend to occur subconsciously, and some Habitual behaviour go unnoticed in persons exhibiting them, because it is often unnecessary to engage in self-analysis when undertaking in routine tasks.

Habits, good or bad, make you who you are.

• The key is controlling them. If you know how to change your habits, then even a small effort can create big changes. In particular bad habits don’t necessarily make you feel good, but you can’t help doing them. Many of our bad habits come down to curiosity or a deep-rooted grooming instinct. Be warned that giving up one bad habit could mean that you just replace it with another.

1. Phrases like y’know, sorta, like, knowarramean at the end of every sentence can be heard in television interviews and in the office. They’re used by supposedly intelligent people, but all they do is fill the air with meaninglessness. Try and avoid overusing phrases such as right and innit.

2. Being Contradictory
A friend of mine argues with everything, this is most definitely a habit, as it seems he just does it without even thinking about it, I often agree when I get bored of arguing.

3. Procrastination
Procrastination is something that a lot of people do: putting off things until the last minute, or just not doing them at all. As a consequence you can spend a lot of time rushing to meet deadlines and/or making excuses. This creates a lot of stress that you could have avoided by just doing things as soon as they come across your desk. It’s a very self-destructive thing that can cause you to really lose control of your life, and can sometimes even affect those around you.

4. Smoking
Sobering thoughts sometimes do the trick – here’s the wise words of one Researcher:
I tried to give up smoking for 20 years before I hit a method that worked for me.
I had a heart attack. Luckily I recognised the symptoms and called an ambulance, thus when I had the second heart attack, which would have been fatal without medical assistance, I was already in hospital. Shame I didn’t listen to my wife and children who’d been nagging me for 15 years.

5. Pulling Out Hair
I’m a guy and I know a thing or two about this little habit, this compulsive condition is called trichotillomania. Unfortunately, it seems that it might be in some way related to OCD and depression.
I have no idea why I did it or what finally changed that caused me to stop, though I remember the first time I pulled my hair out, the fascination I had with the twinge of pain/pleasure that came every time I plucked a hair. I’d also feel for the odd-textured hairs and go after them first. I’d pull them singly and always inspect the root.

• A researcher now keeps tweezers handy and plucks hair out of her legs instead. Even though she says that she starts to feel nervous and edgy when she can’t find her tweezers, at least it is an area that she would remove hair from anyway so it’s less destructive than hair on her head. It is however, embarrassing, so she can only do it when there is no one around, which means she does it a lot less.

6. Swearing
It wasn’t so long ago that I was in Sixth form in North London and swearing was just part of my everyday language. In fact, everyone swore so much that I didn’t realise how many expletives I used. Anyway, I left home and eventually joined a church, I ended up swearing while having a conversation with a friend IN CHURCH, luckily enough for me everybody heard me. I was obviously horrified and suddenly became acutely aware of how much bad language I was using so I used this awareness to cure myself; every time I swore I wrote it down, carrying a notebook and pen wherever I went. I had to ask friends and family for help but I soon began to use less and less bad language and am pleased to say I am now completely cured.

7. Nose Picking
Perhaps the worst bad habit, picking your nose is horrid, yet every day it happens and just a few centimetres below your eyes. Lost in thought, bored with nothing to do many people find there’s nothing like having a good nose pick.

• Time to Make a Choice!
  It’s no longer an involuntary act because each time you start to do whatever the bad habit is now you have to actively choose.

• Substituting Better Behaviours
  The whole reason you formed your habits in the first place is that they filled a need. As you break the old patterns you still need a way to fulfil these needs. You will be not only making an active choice to not do the old action you will also be making a choice to perform a better, alternative action in its place. Instead of letting dirty dishes pile up you may decide to use paper plates when you are eating alone. What the new habit is that you substitute isn’t as important as whether you feel good about the choices you have made. After all, the reason you consider it a bad habit is because it leaves you feeling bad about yourself.

• It’s Up to You
  By now you should realize that the only way to continue with a bad habit for very long is to sink back into denial of why you are doing it in the first place.

• One easy way is to announce it to the world – tell your friends, especially those who see you the most, what habit you’re trying to kick and give them free rein to give you grief if they catch you in the act.

So what are your bad habits and how are you planning to stop them?

Regards

Emmanuel Ajilore

So many people “miss the boat” because it’s easier and more comforting to follow – to follow without questioning the qualifications of the people just ahead – than to do some independent thinking and checking.

It’s a good idea to step out of the line every once in a while and look around to see if the line is going where we want it to go. If it is not, it might be time for a new leader and a new direction.

On Today Interview on “YHP”, I have been Privileged enough to interview the Founders of the Fast growing clothing line, Known as “The Teddy Bear Club”.
As they say on their facebook page,

The line is a new funky, soft, retro…. No scrap that it is what you make it, colourful designs made to suit every individual!!

I think I need to get myself one of them jumpers as soon as possible, I’m jealous that I still haven’t got one.

I’m not just saying it because I am interviewing you guys, but the sky is your limit, and you guys have got some unique brand right here and I believe it’s staying.
I just want you guys to know that you both are an huge influence to young and aspiring entrepreneurs out there, and I want you to keep doing your thing.
Anyways enough of the Chit-Chat, let’s jump straight into it.

How are you both today?
Very well, just been working on the designs for our official launch, due later this year

You need to understand that i’m a very big fan of your clothing line and I have been following it for quite a while now, and I have to say that for a long time, I haven’t seen such a unique brand as this before. I think it is simple, elegant, and classy with the simple touch of youth?

We appreciate the love, everyone have been good to us and we are working hard every day to bring in new ideas and still stay loyal to our self and the people that have supported our simplicity, my Dad always says that simplicity is genius, and that has stuck with me ever since, I personally studied graphics design (Yomi) and as a designer we are taught to keep our designs easy on the eye, there’s a word that my lecturer used to use all the time when he didn’t like something “that’s visually busy, change it” so to avoid him saying that about my work, I tried to make everything simple, but effective

Before we proceed – can you give us a little background information about yourself – your names? Where you live? How old you are?

Name: Yomi Akosile
Age: 23
Location: East London
Background: Graduated 2007 in Graphics Design & Photography, was working freelance for about a year, then God inspired the TBC design, and now working part – time on the clothing line, also working full time for a management company, Starmix Management, check us out @ www.starmixmgt.com, that’s our family there, we organise events and also running a record company, check out the site, but yeah i design all the flyers, logos and anything that we need for our events or our artist, also in charge of the music department, finding new talents etc, and also play football for Newham united, so my weeks are very packed lol

Name: Akin Cole
Age: 23
Location: East London
Background: Graduated 2008 in Business studies, working for Starmix Management as the P.R and also organising different event

When did you start?

Akin rang me about 2 years ago and said, since you do graphics and i do business, i think we should start our own clothing line, we are practically family so i didn’t give it a second thought, we played about with different designs, playing with words, just doing lots of research, different ideas and designs was coming through, but something didn’t click

Then in October 2007 i broke my ankle playing football for my team and was in hospital for 9 days, Akin bought me a sketch pad and pencil and told me to see what i can come up with, but i was more worried about my operation than anything else, to God be the glory the operation went well and i was dis-charged, over the Christmas period i wanted to treat myself, so i got myself a new laptop and started designing and one day i was looking at a teddy bear that a female friend got and decided to try and use that concept to design a logo that everyone can relate to, and since everyone had a teddy bear growing it, that was the click that we was looking for, loaded the logo on to myspace, the comments just kept on rushing in and we decided to print them on a tee, took a few pics in my studio and loaded it up online, and next thing you know people started placing their orders, and this was the black & white logo, then we started adding colours to it, and people started asking to get their bear personalised, and it just blew from there, the amount of people wearing our design is wonderful, and i am like a lil kid when i see someone with the top on, because out of my adversity came a beautiful design that everyone can relate to, and to see the support we are getting, just makes all the hard work pay off

What I want to know is what inspired you to start this business, not to mention the amount of clothing line out there today? Wasn’t there a bit of pressure to succeed?

In everything you do in life you have to believe in your product, we knew that there was nothing like this in the uk and all the other clothing lines out there only played with words, but we had graphics and colour, and that was the prime time when everyone was into their funky colours, and our generation actually take more care about their appearance, we both like to look good and every time you see us, we are always on point, and as you can see that shows in our design.

And the main thing that kept us going was the amount of people messaging us asking how to join the club, and pressure is a useful tool if used in the appropriate way, we didn’t have no pressure because we felt like we had a league of our own

How confident where you when you started, did you think the brand will get so popular so fast?
We know it was going to blow, but the rate in which it did was a surprise; we talk about it all the time and feel very blessed to be in the position and have this opportunity to make a difference in the fashion world

You know what let’s go back into the past a little bit, How did both of you meet each other, even then start a company together?

LOL!! We met in secondary school (Royal Docks Community School) Akin came and sat next to me in year 7 and said, Yomi what’s going on, and i am thinking how did this boy know my name lol, but we are both easy going people and that’s why we have worked so well together and people think that we are family because of how close we are, and we both see each other as family and we are there for each other no matter what, a partnership made from heaven lol
NO HOMO

How did the name TBC comes about, who formed the name?

(Yomi) After the logo was designed, i was thinking of a name to match and thought that if we call it with something to do with a group, people will be more interesting in asking about it, and i saw the Chris Browns breakfast club thing, so i decided to call it The Teddy Bear Club, and it got people asking what this club was all about, and the more they ask, the more people knew about the range and the more interest we got and people started calling it TBC and we just decided to go with that as well

I heard friends should not do business together; more or less young adults how do both of you cope?
Like we both stated before, we both came from a hard working background, and loyalty is a big part of our culture (Nigeria) like i said before, we are like brothers and our personality is different which makes it work because we never clash over anything, we both have the same goal and if we ever fall out, our family will get us talking again, so i don’t think there’s any way of us falling out, unless he sleeps with my wife lol.

Young adults can work together, only if success and not money that drives them

How are you coping with the popularity at this moment? Hope you are not encountering too much Paparazzi?

LOOOL, we wish
The popularity is good for the growth of the clothing line and everywhere we go, we get mad love, facebook has done a lot for us and i am surprised about the amount of people that knows about the clothing line, but i wouldn’t mind the paps following me around for a day tho, as long as i got my TBC top on, then i am blessed lol

So have you got any up-coming events and shows that you’re organising or par-taking in, so consumers are able to follow you?

We are currently working on our launch party, set for summer 09, just getting all our collections done, for example Jeans, Polo, Shorts etc
But they can join the group on facebook, type in the group search : The Teddy Bear Club and join the group where we send regular updates about what we are getting up to.

How can people get in touch with you, most importantly, how can they purchase their own pair of TBC.

We have got a temporary shopping cart running, and that can be found @ www.TBCClothing.com or you can e-mail us: teddybc2008@aol.com or info@tbcclothing.com

So at the moment, what you do is just hoodies and shirts right? Are you going to diverse into other designs?

Yes, we are very excited about the collection we have got coming out and that’s going to take us to another level, that’s why you haven’t seen us at no fashion shows because we don’t feel like we have got a collection with just Tee’s, Sweats and Hoody, but with Jeans, Dresses, shorts, Varsity Jackets, Fitted caps, shirts etc coming out, if you love the range we have got out now, you are going to fall in love with our range

I mean it must be intense, you guys must be really busy, and how do you do it?

We both work for the same company, which makes it easier for us to get things done, we both ask for different days off to get what we need doing, and we are getting managed by Starmix that we both work for, so things run really smooth and very professional, its not easy and our social life has gone down the drain, hard work pays off and we know where we are going.
We both go gym twice a week, Akin is my personal trainer and that gives us time to release the stress and talk about our plans for the future

Have you encountered any setbacks or negative experience so far and how did you cope with it?
If you’re not doing something Wright, no one talks about you, and you get negative vibe with everything that you do, us black people find it hard to support each other which is a shame, that’s why we don’t grow as a group because there’s no trust or support, we had a few people bad mouthing our design when things started picking up, and the same people are now wearing our clothes lol, sometimes you just have to ignore any bad vibe you get and prove them wrong, now when i see them i just laugh

What do you do in your spare time? When you’re not in the TBC site?
Pro evolution soccer is an addiction, and we are both Christians so we go to church every Sunday, also play power league football during the week, and Yomi plays for his team on Saturday
I do freelance graphics design and photography (Yomi)

Who are your Role Models/ Influences?

(Yomi) 2pac, and when i say Pac i am not talking about all his gangster west coast thing he was hiding behind, the real Pac, the intelligent Pac, if you read more about his early life you will understand how brilliant this guy is
Kanye West, Nas, Will Smith – Just people that have achieve something out of nothing and still stayed true, Pac drifted abit but he was still a big role model in my life
I can say that music is my main influence because that’s all gets me through any situation in my life
(Akin) My mum really, she taught me the value of life and money from an early age and i have taken that into the business world
Music plays a big part in my life aswell

What are the most important lessons you have learnt so far?

Friendship, and to treat people how you want to be treated and our people skills have improved alot
What has been the best advices you both been given so far?
Don’t think about money, that will always come after the work is done

What has been your greatest achievement so far?

JLS wearing out tee on the X-Factor finals, that was one of the proudest days for our business, and we hope there’s still more to come

What are your advices for Aspiring young entrepreneurs looking to break in the clothing industries or other industries?

Take time to study the market that you are going into, it took us 2 years to come out, you might that’s too long, but look how long we set to be out for, the quicker you rush into things, the quicker people forget about your product

So what’s next for TBC?
The Launch party, get TBC known worldwide and hopefully by this time next year you will see our range in shops all across the UK (Choice, Topshop, Size etc)

So finally, before I leave you both, I need to ask for your secret, come on, why have you been so successful, what’s your secret weapon?

Just having fun with what we do, what i always ask anyone that asks for advice, if they will buy for their own product if it wasn’t them doing it, would they pay for it? If the real answer is yes, then you’re on your way, we are fans of our own product, that’s why we are putting so much time and effort into it.
Our secret weapon is God, with his all things are possible

Thank you very much for your time today, I wish you the Very best in the upcoming future, hopefully on the TV with other top clothing lines in the world.
We would like to thank you for the interest in our clothing, and taking the time to set all this up, which you all the best in the future and God Bless

Yomi Akosile
Akin Cole
C.E.O TBC Clothing

Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blue prints of your ultimate achievements.

• Studies show that children whose parents are involved show greater social and emotional development (Allen & Daly, 2002), including more resilience to stress, greater life satisfaction, greater self-direction and self-control, greater social adjustment, greater mental health, more supportive relationships, greater social competence, more positive peer relations, more tolerance, more successful marriages, and less delinquent behaviours (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003).

• Powerful stuff, if you ask me and we should never take for granted the impact our parental upbringing has on us. It is important that parents and carers are aware of the significant contribution they can make to their children’s learning by providing a stimulating environment. I have an aunt who recently started a new business, because of this business she found herself spending less time with her family, in the end her son dropped two grades down!

• Families, parents and guardians in particular, play a significant role in the occupational aspirations and career goal development of children. Without parental approval or support, a student is often reluctant to pursue, let alone explore diverse career possibilities even now I find it difficult to shake of some off the oddities “train up your child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it”.

• My Point: If you are a parent, young, old or even new to the world of parenting, spending time to develop your child’s mental should be your paramount objective. If you’re young and are thinking of having children, don’t rush into it, better to wait and get it right than to rush and make damaging mistakes while bringing up your children.

• Still on the topic of parental influence on our mind, to really become aware of how much impact our upbringing has on you, what you need to do is begin to draw parallels between your parents and yourself. From this moment on start paying attention to the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour of your parents, especially the things that you don’t like and those things that “annoy” you the most about them. Write them down and look to see if they are evident in yourself, you might not see them at first but in most cases we are a reflection of our upbringing.

Regards

Emmanuel Ajilore