Jon Cooper: Put some bounce into spring - 8 thoughts to waken you from winter!

This is the time of year when everything starts to awaken, when we start viewing houses, booking holidays, spending money and generally cheering up as the weather moves from ridiculously cold and damp to merely, well, damp.

To help you mark the start of the annual transition from dark and gloomy to bright and booming, I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite pearls of wisdom from the mouths of inspirational leaders past and present.

1 - “If you don’t know every aspect of what you are doing, down to the paper clips, you’re setting yourself up for some unwelcome surprises.” - Donald Trump

(Donald should know; he’s been bust, in-between making Billionaire status twice)

2 - “I don’t consider myself to be lucky. I think luck is preparation meeting a moment of opportunity.” - Oprah Winfrey

(Winfrey is one of the world’s richest broadcasters, worth easily $2.5 Billion and named America’s most powerful woman)

3 - “There is one rule for industrialists and that is: make the best quality goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.” – Henry Ford

(Credited with the invention of mass production, Ford laid the foundations for every manufacturing business since)

4 - “Keep your business affairs in your own hands. It's the only way to be happy.” – Martha Washington

(The first First Lady of the US controlled 15,000 acres of farmland by the time she married George)

5 - "I am always doing things I can’t do. That’s how I get to do them." - Pablo Picasso

(The Spanish child prodigy learnt to paint, draw and sculpt with equal aplomb)

6 - “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have 24-hour days.” - Zig Ziglar

(Legendary business guru Ziglar practically invented the sound-bite, way before it had a name)

7 - "Seventy percent of success in life is showing up." Woody Allen

(Actor, author, director; Allen’s been showing up and succeeding for over half a century)

8 - “To cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.” – Samuel Johnson

(This last thought is from the great Midlands author, whose wise words are as fresh as ever 200 years on)

Jon Cooper is the founder of JupiterDawn.com business consulting, and an Accredited Business Adviser with the IBD group. Exclusive to Blog readers - contact jon@jupiterdawn.com for a free one-hour business mentoring session with Jon, worth £175. Follow Jon @jonnycooper.

Jon Cooper: Jungle frolics to teach us about business

Here is a fabulous little story, both in the sense that it’s a kind of fable, and that it’s quite excellent!

A tiger was stalking through the jungle looking for dinner. He spotted a lone coyote in a clearing and set his sights on it.

As the tiger roared and stomped his way towards his unsuspecting prey, the coyote sensed imminent danger from his feline nemesis and froze for a moment.

Recovering his guile and composure quickly, he trotted over to a nearby pile of bones and exclaimed, “Mmm, what a delicious tiger that was!”

The tiger, shaken by this unexpected revelation, skulked away and vowed to avoid coyote-hunting for evermore.

Meanwhile, a monkey had witnessed the remarkable scene from a tree and skipped off to find the tiger, and offer him a deal.

“Mr Tiger,” he pronounced, “I have some very interesting and valuable information, which I’ll give you in return for a little protection.”

The tiger agreed to watch out for the monkey’s welfare, and was told the whole truth about the coyote and the bones.

Shortly afterwards, the tiger appeared in the clearing with the monkey on his back. (Now there’s a metaphor waiting to happen…)

Mr Coyote, snoozing smugly by the life-saving bones, opened one eye and spotted the peculiar couple, intent as they were on spoiling his afternoon nap. He looked away and declared loudly “I’m starving; why does that lazy monkey take so long to get me another tiger…?”

So what’s the moral in this tale of animal cunning (and, probably, monkey-eating tigers)?

Well, there are several. Firstly, that you can overcome pretty much any obstacle with the right effort. Secondly; in the story, the coyote had to overcome the same challenge not once, but twice. So; never give up, even when a problem refuses to be solved first time around.

He also didn’t exactly work hard to escape a grizzly and macabre death. “Working hard” would have meant running away, and dying exhausted a minute later as the big cat inevitably caught him.

Credit to Mr Coyote; he chose working smart over working hard. Works every time!

Jon Cooper is the founder of JupiterDawn.com business consulting, and an Accredited Business Adviser with the IBD group. Exclusive to Jupiter Dawn Blog readers - contact jon@jupiterdawn.com for a free one-hour business mentoring session with Jon, worth £175. Follow @jonnycooper.