Jesse Meijers

The one definitive way to get rich

Is it a goal in life to be rich? You bet, but it just isn't the number one goal. For me at least, health and happiness top being rich. It said by some people that you can only be successful at 2 out of 3 of these main goals. People who claim this just haven't been able to pull it off. As long as you set out to achieve all three goals, it is definately possible. Since I am currently both healthy and happy with my life ... I feel the time has come to focus on that number 3 goal: getting rich. Have you ever wondered what it is that rich people have in common? And with rich people I don't mean people who make 100.000,- per year. I mean the really, REALLY rich people. Those who, if they'd want, probably don't have to work another day in their live. Nor would their kids. Or their kids' kids. How many people can you name that you would consider to be amongst that group of really rich people? People like Bill Gates or Richard Branson come to mind. What is it that sets these people apart from the other 99% of people, who will never be that rich? What makes them succeed where others fail?

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How to take control over your work

Recently I was completely fed up with some of the things I was doing. Or bettter yet, I had to do because others were expecting them from me, or even asking me to do them. They asked because I was the person who did these things well, so why go to anyone else? I had to change this, but I had no clue as to how. So I did a very simple exercise with my personal coach, which helped me understand exactly what I had to do in order to only be busy with the things that I liked. I have to warn you, the exercise is easy but the following up is hard. If you do however, the rewards are well worth the effort.

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The key to problem solving

Do you ever have the feeling that you are completely stuck on a problem? That no matter what you try, you just cannot get a grip of the essence of the problem. I have developed many software applications in the last few years. Programming applications usually is pretty straight-forward once you get down to the real programming. However, sometimes there is a problem which you just aren't able to solve. You have read over the code at least ten times, but you still cannot find the problem. This situation can of course be extrapolated to other problems, in different situations. Any situation where you know there is a problem ... you just don't know where...

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Understanding self improvement with Bateson

When I was in highschool, we had this course about society. Pretty boring most of the time, since we had to learn who was in the government, what they did etc. But there was this one day which I'll never forget in my whole life. That day we had a guest teacher. But not just any guest teacher. A former criminal, with a serious history of organized crime. This person had something to tell. He told his story of how he became a criminal and that while he made tons of money, it wasn't worth it in the end. Not because he got busted. But because his life just didn't have any true meaning. Now the big question was, what made him turn around his life? Because he not only gave up crime, he was putting in a big effort to stop others from becoming criminals. This question has fascinated me for a long time. And recently I learned the answer...

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Using your knowledge creatively

I felt like a caveman last week. A friend of mine, let's call him Jack (because well, that's his name), introduced me to this great website called Ted.com. I can't believe I have never seen that before, because they host some very interesting material. There was a specific video in particular, which caught my attention. It is a presentation by Robert Full, who talks about what he calls biomutualism. Knowledge mutualism is the blending together of two fields of science, in this case Biology and Robotics, hence the term Biomutulism. But you can use knowledge mutualism too, on a personal scale.

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The 1-2-3 problem solving guide

A while ago I witnessed two people who were arguing about a certain aspect of a software system. They were arguing about whether the requirment should be implemented in the way that person A was explaining it, or in the way that person B was explaining it. Continually, person A tried to convince person B that his idea was wrong, while person B tried to do the same thing. I was watching this situation unfold and as they gave me more and more insight into the problem by arguing back and forth, it became clear to me that they were actually both right. They were just discussing the matter with different naming applied to the problem. Once I had explained person A that person B was talking about the same thing and vice versa, it took them less than 5 minutes to come to an agreement regarding the matter. What happened was that they both were only addressing the problem from their own perspective. They were both looking at the problem through their own set of glasses. Being impervious to the glasses the other person was wearing. While they were looking at the same thing through those glasses!

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Be more creative in 4 easy steps

Back in the days when Walt Disney started to make animated cartoons, there were a lot hurdles to overcome. Each animated second was made up of 24 hand-drawn images. Each image takes a long time to draw, which makes drawing a minute of animation into a multi-day project. If he wanted to change even the slightest thing, chances were he had to redo all the drawings. One day a reporter asked Disney how he managed to make so many good animations while the process took so much time. Disney explained to him that he used a simple 4 step process before he would even let his pencil touch the paper. This process is where Disney's creativity started and would take form.

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How to become the ultimate entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs are confronted with many different aspects of doing business. It is said that the ultimate entrepreneur has a mix of different personality traits, and lacks none. Most of us are not born with this mix of personality traits, I know I wasn't. We have to work and learn through experience how to handle each situation. The main distinction between the different personality traits is decided by the fact whether you are dominantly working with the right or the left hemisphere of your brain. The right hemisphere is the side of the brain concerned with visualizing. The left hemisphere is concerned with logic and analysis. There are many tests to see which is your dominant hemisphere. A very simple one which can be done in a matter of minutes can be found on Similar Minds (http://similarminds.com/brain.html). Complete the test first, then read on. Or if you're really anxious ... read on and then do the test.

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5 effective tips for beginning entrepreneurs

These tips have been handed to me by different people in the field; successful project managers, entrepreneurs and business men. I have used these tips myself and they have yielded great results, on different occasions. Best of all, they are easy to implement and will boost your business with lightning speed.

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What you need to know about responsibility

I used to be someone who would take on the responsibility for almost anything. If you would let me handle it, it would get done. Done on time, within budget and with great quality. The only result was that I would have too many high priority things to do and could spend too little time on the things that are actually important. I am still experiencing the aftermath of some of these decisions, where I took the responsibility for something, which in the end caused me to have to work really hard to get it done. What I did wrong here was that I would take responsibility, but when I needed others to do things, I would give them responsibility. There is a big difference in taking responsibility and giving it to someone.

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