Jesse Meijers

A lesson in empathy – How to place yourself in someone else’s shoes

Placing yourself in someone else's shoes can be extremely hard. Recently I wrote an article about a lesson we can learn from Abraham Lincoln. Today, I found this fantastic empathy experiment on Ted.com. It is a great experiment and will take you on a journey to understand the world from the perspective of others.

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A lesson in empathy by Abraham Lincoln

One thing that I used to be rather bad at, was empathy. Placing myself in someone else's shoes was hard for me. For an entrepreneur this is very important, it is a lesson worth learning. The story that helped me learn this lesson is about Abraham Lincoln, a very inspiring man. More recently, there was a very interesting TED presentation on the same topic, yet from a completely different perspective. These two sources will help you become more emphatic in no time!

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Beyond proactivity: Accelerating personal development

About 5% of people on the world are proactive by nature. The other 95% are procrastinators. It is no small feat to step through procrastinating and become (more) proactive. Yet this is one of the main things that separates successful people from the rest. But that is just half of the story. Obviously the 95% of people who are not by nature proactive, should aim to become so. But proactivity alone is just the beginning. If it is not combined with thinking, it will lead to nothing.

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The Pygmalion Effect – Using Self Fulfilling Prophecies to your Advantage!

You have probably heard of the Pygmalion effect, usually called a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is used to describe the effect that when you've talked about something bad happening, that it would actually happen. The fact is, this is much closer to the truth than most people realize. And you can use this to your advantage!

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It is good to make mistakes

Most people are affraid to make mistakes. This is only logical. After all, no one likes it when they look bad. Because of this, they will often refrain from doing certain things where they feel the chance of success is small. Or rather: they don't take action. So I wanted to share with you an amazing story that explains how you can increase your success, by not worrying too much about mistakes.

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The secret ingredient for success

There is a secret ingredient that successful people have, and others lack, or don't use. This ingredient is a personality trait. One that you can learn if you are not in posession of it already. And train if it is not yet at the level it should be.

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The simplest, easiest way to have less problems INSTANTLY!

We all have problems from time to time. Without problems, you could even argue that life wouldn't be worth living, since the good times wouldn't feel as good without a reference to problematic times. But let's face it, when it comes down to it, we would all like to reduce our problems... This post is about the simplest, most effective way to reduce your problems ... INSTANTLY!

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How to use the Law of Reciprocity to your advantage

Last week I was driving home from a client during the rush hour. There was a long queue of cars, which I was in the middle of, slowly moving to the traffic light. I would say we were driving about 5 km/h (3 mph). There was a man who wanted to turn left, and join the line of cars... right in front of me. I was about to experience the law of reciprocity in action.

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Identifying Core Qualities, Pitfalls, Challenges and Allergies in Teams with Daniel Ofman

The post on the Daniel Ofman model that I posted recently explains the Core Quality model very clearly. But it only focuses on personal personality traits, not on those of others. The question is; can we use the Daniel Ofman model for teams? The answer is yes... with a little adaptation, this is certainly possible.

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Why every entrepreneur needs a personal coach

In the last year and a half that I have had a coach, I have had amazing things happen to me. Do I think this is coincidence? Not a chance. It has to do with creating a surrounding for yourself in which you can blossom.

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