Secrets of Success from the Story of Bill Gates - Part 1

This is an very inspiring and motivational book: Secrets of Success from the Story of Bill Gates.

Bill Gates is a person that always inspired me and continue to inspired me. 

Bill Gates built Microsoft from scratch – he created the single most influential technology company of our modern age, and it made him so wealthy that he is now able to focus on the eradication of poverty and disease through the work of his charity foundation.

In 1994, Gates and his wife Melinda founded a charitable organisation called the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which supports initiatives in global health and education. The aim of the foundation is to eradicate poverty, disease and illiteracy from the world.

Bill Gates has received numerous international and national accolades, and honorary doctorates from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden in 2002, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan in 2005, Harvard University in June 2007, and other universities. He was also made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) from Queen Elizabeth II in 2005.

The book describes the key elements of  the history of the Bill Gates but he also introduce a lot of examples from other great people who are equally inspiring.

Clear Vision 

Over the last 20 years of working with effective leaders, has being found they all possessed one common element – they had a clear vision of what they want to accomplish.

Vision can be defined as a mental picture or image of a possible and desirable future state of an individual or organisation.

You can always adjust your vision to be in line with the realities of the situation and time. As you lead, you should be communicating your vision all the time.

You have to think about the implications of your actions before you act. Get in the habit of looking at the big picture. Are your actions worth it? Form the big picture in your mind and let your life be directed by it. You’ll discover that the people who don’t think in terms of the future don’t have the big picture in their mind. They have no idea of who they want to become and don’t know where they want to go, and what they want to achieve. The big picture in your mind is the compass that guides you in the journey of life when you face obstacles. Allow the big picture to be your anchor.

Passion and Enthusiasm

The more you are passionate, enthusiastic, relentless, showing great confidence and clear about where you are going, the more likely people will follow your lead.

Don't underestimate the power of your ideas and words.

Do what you are Passionate about, the rest will follow.

Making millions through programming was not his set goal; Gates was just following his heart, his passion. Programming was his obsession and it gave him happiness. Passion, intensity and tenacity that is one way to describe Bill Gates. Bill Gates was so passionate about programming to the extent that it kept him motivated about it. Bill Gates found programming software to be extremely interesting and it kept him motivated to go the extra mile. When you follow your passion it will eventually lead you to success.

When you make pursuing money your priority you may end up losing focus. 

Don’t be motivated by money but to meet people’s needs and eventually life will reward you for your efforts – money is not the real motivator.

You only have one life, so don’t waste your time working on a career that you hate just because of the money. Are you passionate about the work that you do? There is nothing worse than having to wake up every morning going to a job that you don’t enjoy doing.

If you work just for money, you'll never make it, but if you love what you're doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.

Follow your passion. Nothing – not wealth, success, accolades or fame – is worth spending a lifetime doing things you don’t enjoy. Jonathan Sacks

When you really enjoy what you do, nothing will stop you from getting your work done. Because you are passionate about what you do, you feel unstoppable and nothing can obstruct you from achieving greatness.

Believe

Success starts in the mind. You have to believe, desire and expect to be successful before you can achieve success.

You have to be hungry for whatever you are doing if you are going to succeed.

It will be very difficult to achieve success until you have seen it with the power of your imagination or mind.

Think big, think different and put in all your effort to execute the vision. Don't limit your imagination; you may be the next creator of life-changing invention.

The thinking initiates the dream, but faith causes you to take that first, uncertain step.

As a leader, you have to help people to embrace your vision and make it their own.

The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance; it is in yourself alone. Orison Swett Marden

Open Mind

Maintain an open mind viewing challenges as opportunities and believing that success is possible.

Be flexible in trying new ideas and ways of doing things.

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. Albert Einstein

Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage, Niccolò Machiavelli

The exceptional quality of Bill Gates is that he’s a visionary who always looked continually towards the future, spotting opportunities and avoiding problems before they happened – spotting opportunities is an art that Bill Gates excels in.