Most people just want more – mostly more money. They think that about 10% more than they are getting will make them happy. That applies to the billionaire and the pauper. Trouble is, it is always 10% more, however much you get. The greed inherent in all of us makes us believe that happiness is a dollar bill. It isn’t.

But not having a dollar bill when you need one does make you poor and can inconvenience your life, make it more uncomfortable, even threaten you very existence. This is especially true when you get old. Old age is not for the intrepid.

Essential to any future plan is knowing what we need when we are no longer of great value to employers or clients. They think we are worth less after about 60 or 65. It isn’t true, of course, but that is a market perception we cannot afford to ignore.

Coupled with the fact that anyone now aged under 50 is likely to live to 100 or more, and the later years will bring high medical costs or medical insurance premiums, we need to plan to have enough for life to continue to be as agreeable as possible.

Taking inflation into account, the figures can become overwhelming and positively frightening. We should not fail to produce them just because they give us a wake-up call. Anyone over the age of 30 who has not done the calculation is risking letting the most productive twenty years of his or her life drift by without a thought for old age. That is dangerous.

The simplest way to work out what you will need to see you reasonably comfortable you should spend fifteen minutes completing the Terrific Mentors International FUTURE FINANCIAL NEEDS exercise.

You can get it free by emailing John Bittleston here. Once completed you may wish to keep it to yourself or you may wish to discuss it with a Terrific Mentor. Discussing it will cost you a small amount of money.

Do it anyway. You have nothing to lose and much to gain.

The basic qualities required to make successful leaders and managers today are intellect, emotional intelligence, ability to handle people, creativity in both commercial and personal operations, wisdom in implementation. Intelligence (IQ) and Emotional Intelligence (EQ) alone do not add up to successful communications, effective persuasion or motivation. It is only by combining these with handling ability, creativity and wisdom that they become fully effective.

IQ + EQ + HQ + CQ + WQ = top leadership and management

To solve any of life’s problems you need..

IQ: INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT is the ‘smarts’ skills It is logical and cognitive, involving abstract thought, understanding, reasoning, communication, learning from past experiences, planning, problem solving.

EQ: EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT underpins your interpersonal skills It handles the underlying emotions of the heart and our response behaviour.

HQ: HANDLING QUOTIENT reads situations presented through IQ and EQ and enables us to give the most effective and appropriate response. It is how you apply your IQ and EQ in different situations and to achieve specific results.

CQ: CREATIVITY QUOTIENT is your associative ‘ah-ha’ moment. Creativity is the ability to perceive relationships. It is how to make good handling memorable and enjoyable, and a source of new ideas, innovation and development.

WQ: WISDOM QUOTIENT applies your practical experience to IQ and EQ. Wisdom is the ability to capitalise on tacit knowledge and intuition to produce the desired results. A situation handled well and imaginatively still requires a blend of practical experience and intuitive philosophy

Click here to download The Three New Quotients Programme description by TerrificMentors International. (PDF, 172kb)

Mentor those with who you are in frequent contact – family, children, friends, workmates and even acquaintances who seek advice from time to time.

Download How to Become a Family Mentor (PDF, 70KB)

As with most things in life being clear about what you want is the most important part of problem solving. It’s as if you are in a jungle. Between you and the longed-for peaceful river are weeds, reptiles and all kinds of traps. There is the folly of personal feelings, the boa-constrictor of power, the nettles of relationships with vested interests, the ground-weed of procedure. Cut through them all, concentrate on reaching the river and your problem will be solved.

Download Problem Solving to read more (PDF, 75KB)

Personal power is measured by your ability to influence others. It doesn’t come from good looks, wealth, brains, brutality. It is created by judgment and confidence – the ability to judge another’s position, predisposition and power and the confidence to stand up to them when necessary. Beauty, money, intelligence, even force, contribute to it, some for good, some for evil. Without underlying confidence none of them will work.

Read more and download Power to Control (PDF, 90KB)

The power to develop depends on the leader having the confidence to move on from his micro-management days — essential at the start of any business — and leave the execution of the business to his colleagues. The bigger the business gets the more time he must spend understanding colleagues and the less time he must devote to taking their decisions for them. In the biggest companies the top man spends most of his time deploying and motivating his troops.

Read mor and download Power to Develop (PDF, 115KB)

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

To some extent almost everyone is a Mentor. Parents, Teachers, Priests, Employers, Politicians – in fact, anyone who has the opportunity to influence the thinking and behaviour of another is a Mentor. It is perfectly possible for a child to mentor an adult, for a labourer to mentor a scholar, for a beggar to mentor an archbishop. All the wise men and great prophets throughout history have been Mentors.

What are the seven attributes that one MUST have in order to become a Terrific Mentor?

Read on and download On becoming a Mentor (PDF, 250KB)

We all know that the bully heads for the person who looks timid and afraid. It’s easy to build on insecurity in someone and make him or her even more uncertain of themselves and their capabilities. But are insecurity and uncertainty the same things?

Read more and download Why are you insecure (PDF, 60KB)

Have you found your tree yet?

Life is a journey. A journey needs a destination. Everyone should know

where they are heading even if they don’t always get there.

Knowing what you want is not easy. Wealth, health, beauty, success are all generic descriptions of what we mostly see as desirable. They have to be earned. The long-distance runner doesn’t succeed unless he is focused and disciplined.

The same is true of a career. About 85% of people can discover what they really want to do. Some 15% cannot. But they can still set up their aim. Once they see the tree on the other side of the field, they will discover that life is about the journey but the journey is only possible if there is a realistic, visible destination.

And destinations change. If you are not clear about where you’re heading, download and read The Tree on the other side of the Field (PDF, 50KB).

It could change your life.

It will surely change your view of how to live it.

Download Mentoring for Coaches (PDF, 471KB)