From the Lose Friends series, here is what Jonar Nader has written about: THAT FIRST INTERVIEW

Whether you like it or not, people do make judgements about you based on what they see and hear in the first sixty seconds of a meeting. This could be by your confidence, articulation, stance, the way you shake hands, how you carry yourself, how well you listen, and where your eyes gaze. Your level of comfort can be easily seen by experienced observers. At the end of such an encounter, people might use an obscure reason as to why you were not selected, when in fact, they might not have been comfortable with your personality. They will not write a letter saying that you were not chosen because you lacked certain social graces. They are more likely to say, ‘We will keep your application on file and let you know if a suitable position comes up.’

For information about Jonar’s books, please visit the official website www.LoseFriends.com

From the Lose Friends series, here is what Jonar Nader has written about: EMBRACING FAILURE

If we understand the importance and value of failure, we begin to realise that it’s an integral part of success. We must snap out of the delusion that failure is an embarrassment or a taboo. Success without failure is not possible for innovators. We must learn to embrace failure as earnestly as we desire success.

Living life to the maximum ought to mean maintaining maximum energy and full speed, not fumbling through life in a drowsy state of intellectual and emotional poverty, hungry for vital resources and fuel that will never come your way until you go out and search for them. Alas, to search for resources and fuel requires resources and fuel. Can you afford to take the risk? Can you afford to stagnate?

For information about Jonar’s books, please visit the official website www.LoseFriends.com

From the Lose Friends series, here is what Jonar Nader has written about: YOUR IMAGE

It is vital to ensure that your image reflects your substance. What you project about yourself must be real. Those whose exterior is not a true reflection of their interior, end up living a lie. They will be able to fool some people, but they cannot fool those who matter most.

For information about Jonar’s books, please visit the official website www.LoseFriends.com

From the Lose Friends series, here is what Jonar Nader has written about: BECOMING BRILLIANT

If you want to be brilliant, you have to do brilliant things. Brilliance is not the sole domain of geniuses. You can be brilliant by polishing your act and putting in a superior performance no matter what you are doing. If you are not brilliant at everything you do now, you cannot be brilliant at anything you do in the next ten minutes. If you fancy yourself as a successful person in the future, your every move needs to contribute to that momentum.

You have to think of your time as a valuable resource. You need to invest it into… your future, education, career, family, and friends. If, with every day that passes, you do not nurture your future, you will get stuck in a rut. Did you learn a new word last week? Think about what you did last month. Did you do anything or learn anything that caused you to say ‘Wow’? If not, then you are a sitting duck, without a plan and without zest.

For information about Jonar’s books, please visit the official website www.LoseFriends.com

From the Lose Friends series, here is what Jonar Nader has written about: HITTING THE RESET BUTTON

Learn to empty your mind, to erase your strategies, to discard the recipes, and to abandon your maxims. Then start again. If you arrive at the same conclusion, well and good. If you draft a new way, so be it. This is just like hitting the reset button. You need to flush the system regularly, or risk burdening yourself with baggage that will weigh you down in the guise of customs and traditions.

For information about Jonar’s books, please visit the official website www.LoseFriends.com

From the Lose Friends series, here is what Jonar Nader has written about: TERTIARY STUDIES

Your studies ought to fuel existing passions, not ignite new passions. You must get out of any system that brainwashes you and lulls you into a false sense of security. If you take action now to terminate wasteful studies, you can put that down to a bad experience and move on, having suffered a little bit of anger. If you pursue your studies without complete and clear objectives, your current seeds of anger will flourish into regret. Quit while you are ahead, and take charge of your life. Only you can nurture your seeds.

For information about Jonar’s books, please visit the official website www.LoseFriends.com

From the Lose Friends series, here is what Jonar Nader has written about: YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR DIRECTION

Don’t ask young people, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ Instead, we should ask, ‘How would you like to live as you grow up?’ We need to encourage young people to decide on a lifestyle and a set of values, instead of forcing them to make a decision about a profession.

My advice to students is: You need to become the best student you can be — not so that you attain good marks, but so that you can start practising what excellence means. Ignore the marks. They do not matter. What matters is your ability to engage in your studies. The day you plough through your assignment merely because you want to pass, is the day you fail the subject.

For information about Jonar’s books, please visit the official website www.LoseFriends.com

From the Lose Friends series, here is what Jonar Nader has written about: FORMING A GOSSIP CLUB

I encourage the formation of Gossip Clubs. Meet colleagues for lunch or dinner and exchange war stories, discuss the industry, its people, and the funny things that have happened. It should be an uplifting experience, but gossip must have limits within the confines of ethics. It is amazing how people seem to think that secrets have an expiry date. Human frailty is something we all contend with, yet we seem to delight in watching others fumble with it. Such a perverse sense of voyeurism is unhealthy. Common decency requires that we give people their space and allow them their errors of judgement. It is not our business to sully our colleagues’ reputations.

For information about Jonar’s books, please visit the official website www.LoseFriends.com

From the Lose Friends series, here is what Jonar Nader has written about: THE GLASS CEILING

Employees who complain that they have hit a glass ceiling ‘based on gender’ are right in that a ceiling does exist. However, it is not always true to say that they have been disadvantaged only because of their gender. Rather, they have been disadvantaged because they have to deal with discriminating, small-minded executives. The problems do not lie within a person’s gender, but within the chauvinists themselves who are discriminators, full stop. Some people say it is gender, the young say it is age, the short say it is height, and the list goes on ⎯ each internalising the problem, yet all the while, the problem exists within the perpetrator, not the victim. The result is just as painful for all the victims ⎯ each one thinking that it is for a different reason when in fact each person was discriminated against for the same reason. That reason is the close-minded manager who does not know any better.

For information about Jonar’s books, please visit the official website www.LoseFriends.com

From the Lose Friends series, here is what Jonar Nader has written about: THE DANGERS OF NETWORKING

The practice of networking is so entrenched in business and in society that formal invitations often say, ‘You are cordially invited to our annual celebration where you will have an opportunity to network …’ Networking is damaging because it sets up expectations that could disarm you. Do not become a victim of networking by placing your confidence in people who could distract you and sap your energy. Do not rely on others to do things for you. If you meet people in positions of power, what you do not know is how they got there, and how long they will be there… When what you desire to obtain depends on others, then you have just surrendered yourself to forces beyond your control.

For information about Jonar’s books, please visit the official website www.LoseFriends.com