Jan 232013
 

GoalsI watched Brian Tracy’s “Mindsets of the Wealthy & Mistakes Made by the Poor” video and following is a summary of Brian Tracy’s 12 Step Method to Setting and Achieving Your Goals:

  1. Decide exactly what you want in each key area of your life (income, family, health, net worth) – Clarity of focus
  2. Write it down - goals take on a power of their own when they are written down. Goals must be clear specific and measurable – only 3% of people have written goals (people with written goals are generally worth ten times more than people who don’t)
  3. Set a deadline – break your goals down into sub-deadlines
  4. Identify the obstacles that you will have to overcome to achieve your goal. Why aren’t you already achieving your goals?  Theory of Constraints – there is always one limiting factor or constraint that sets the speed at which you can achieve your goal. Identify what it is. The 80/20 Rule applies – 80% of the reasons that are holding you back are inside yourself.
  5. Identify the knowledge, information and skills you will need to achieve your goal. If you want to achieve new goals you will need to acquire new knowledge and skills. Your weakest key skill, sets the height of your income and your success. Improving the one weak skill will enable you to make the biggest progress. What one key skill if  developed further will have the greatest positive impact in your life?
  6. Identify the people whose help and cooperation you will require to achieve your goal. To be successful you need the help of a number of people. Make a list of the people you need to help you achieve your goal. This may include your customers and collaborators. The most successful people are those who build and maintain the largest networks of other people whom they can help and who can help them in return.
  7. Make a list of everything you will have to do to achieve your goal. Writing out a list transforms your thinking in a positive way. Determine the amount of time, money and resources needed to achieve your goals. Writing out a checklist of all the things you need to do from the beginning to the end to achieve a goal increases the likelihood of achieving your goal. Anything can be accomplished if you break it down into enough small steps. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
  8. Organize your list into a plan. Firstly, organize your list by sequence – What do you have to do before you can do something else? Next organize your list by priority – What is more important and what is less important?
  9. Make a plan. Organize your list into a series of steps from the start to the end of completing your goal. Think on paper and plan each day, week and month in advance.
  10. Select your number 1 most important task for each day. This is the key to time management. Set priorities on your list using the 80/20 Rule. What is the number one priority I need to do first that will be the most valuable use of my time? Identify the top seven tasks organized by sequence and priorities. Focus and concentrations are the keys to success. Focus means that you are clear on exactly what you wish to accomplish and concentration requires that you dedicate yourself to doing those things that move you towards your most important goal.
  11. Develop the habit of self-discipline. There seems to be a direct correlation between self-discipline and success in every part of life. The number one reason that people do not succeed is that they can’t discipline themselves to do the planning and preparation, and then the hard work necessary. To discipline yourself, you make a list of everything you have to do during the day, you set priorities on your list and start on your most important task first thing. You also need to discipline yourself to keep working. Once you have decided on your most important task, resolve to concentrate single-mindedly on that one task until it is 100% complete. Single handling can increase your productivity as much as 500%. Once you have developed the habit of completing your tasks, you will earn between two to five times as much as other people. Self-esteem comes from task completion which motivates you to complete even bigger tasks.
  12. Practise visualization on your goals. Create clear, vivid, exciting, emotional pictures of your goals as if they were already a reality. Get the feeling of what you have achieved. A mental picture combined with an emotion has enormous impact on your subconscious mind. It activates the Law of Attraction to attract everything you need (ideas, people, resources etc) to make the picture a reality.

Dr John Kapeleris

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Jan 092013
 

Effective Execution“Success comes from transforming thoughts, ideas and opportunities into action”. John Kapeleris

Despite the emphasis on taking massive action and getting things done as the cornerstone of success, we continue to make new year’s resolutions that dissipate within a few weeks of starting the new year. Individuals and corporations find it difficult to effectively execute personal and strategic initiatives. Although we have clear goals and objectives, detailed plans and the commitment to achieve the results we want, we continue to struggle with effective implementation. Therefore, what can we do to implement effective execution in our personal and business lives?

Gilbert, Buchel and Davidson in their book “Smarter Execution: Seven Steps to Getting Results” identify seven steps to achieving effective execution:

  1. Focus first – Focus can provide clarity and at the same time magnification of the tasks we want to achieve. If we focus on the high value tasks that will make the difference in our work and personal lives, then we can easily execute our plans.
  2. Pick the best possible team (resources) – You need to have the right skills and capabilities for effective execution. If you are assembling a team of people ensure that you have the correct alignment of skills with the tasks required. If the skill set is not available internally then it should be outsourced.
  3. Set the course – You need to set a clear direction of where we want to go and develop clear execution steps that remove confusion.
  4. Play to win – The team and its members need to possess a winning spirit. Strong personal motives can drive projects and tasks to successful completion.
  5. Think it through – You need to think through the foreseeable future steps and have in place alternative courses of action. Mental rehearsal provides a clear pathway but at the same time can anticipate potential impediments that can be overcome in advance. It is important to think through the resources required, reviewing the key success factors and being prepared for any risks for the upcoming execution steps.
  6. Get all aboard – Every team member must be committed to the vision and direction of the project. Communication will be an important factor to ensure the team is informed of the progress against the agreed vision and direction. Any deviation should be evaluated, agreed and communicated to the team.
  7. Follow through – One of the critical steps in achieving effective execution is the follow through. The lack of follow through could certainly guarantee failure.

Wishing you a happy, prosperous and successful New Year 2013!

Dr John Kapeleris

 

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Dec 112012
 

Entrepreneurship is defined as the process by which a new venture is created when an entrepreneur identifies a new opportunity in the market to create economic products and services. An entrepreneur is therefore someone who is willing and able to convert a new idea or invention into a successful innovation in the market. The innovation could be in the form of a product, a service, or a novel business concept or model.

The typical characteristics of an entrepreneur include:

  1. An enthusiastic person with a vision
  2. The ability to identify new opportunities
  3. Calculated risk-taking
  4. Responsible in decision-making
  5. Overwhelming urge to succeed
  6. Discipline and persistence
  7. Confident and persuasive communicators
  8. Driven by the sense of accomplishment
  9. The ability to coordinate and manage scarce resources (time, money and people)

Studies according to Arthur Cole (1959) have identified four types of entrepreneurs:

  1. The innovator
  2. The calculating inventor
  3. The over optimistic promoter
  4. The organisation builder

Entrepreneurship is a very difficult undertaking, where many new businesses fail. Only a very small percentage (approximately 1%) of people who go into business succeed. Entrepreneurial activities range from solo businesses, many now being created online, to establishing large businesses, such as mining, employing large numbers of people. Entrepreneurs can also exist within existing organisations who identify new opportunities able to grow the existing organisation or alternatively are involved in spinning out new businesses. These entrepreneurs are referred to as intrapreneurs. An innovative high performing organisation should nurture and support the development of intrapreneurs as this activity can create significant growth for the organisation, either through the internal development and commercialisation of new ideas or through the creation of subsidiary businesses. If organisations do not identify, nurture and support intrapreneurs then many will leave the organisation and create their own businesses.

Entrepreneurship has been identified by many economists, including Joseph Shumpeter, as a driving factor that creates value in the economy through the following benefits:

  • Creating new jobs
  • Expanding new markets
  • New products and services
  • Satisfying domestic consumption
  • Developing new and existing industries
  • Income generation and economic growth
  • Healthy competition creating higher quality products
  • Supporting the existence of government and their budgets

Dr John Kapeleris

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Dec 062012
 

You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want”.  Zig Ziglar

On the 28th November 2012 a great man passed away. His name was Zig Ziglar, and he had left a lasting impression on me as a result of his knowledge in sales, his wisdom on success and his inspiration in life.

It was 1996 when I first met Zig Ziglar at a Jim Rohn event in Brisbane, Australia. I was a fledgling in sales just having acquired the role of Business Development Manager for a Medical Diagnostics company where I was responsible for establishing international markets in Europe, Asia and North America. Since Zig Ziglar had an excellent reputation in sales knowledge and experience I was looking forward to learning some of the skills that would differentiate me in the market.

After listening to one of the most inspiring and influential presentations from Jim Rohn, including a number of goal-setting and personal development activities that changed my life, it was time for Zig Ziglar’s presentation. His unique southern US drawl with a preaching style voice hit my senses immediately. The words and ideas that were delivered captured the attention of everyone in the room and became influential and motivational for me in decades to come.

Following ia a summary of the notes I took on how to be a top performer:

  1. Regardless of the past, tomorrow is a clean start
  2. The choices you make today will determine what you will be, do and have in the tomorrows of your life
  3. Top performers learn to make the right choices – There is something you can do right now to change your future and it is your choice!
  4. Don’t waste time blaming others; fix the causes – You are the only one who can solve your problems
  5. You can change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind – It is what happens inside of you that matters.
  6. Top performers learn every day by seeking new ideas – Establish an “automobile university” and listen to audio CDs on the road
  7. The most important conversation you will ever have is with yourself
  8. Develop a wall of gratitude that highlights the people who have made a difference in your life
  9. What you send out is what you get back – Improve your conversations and your attitude
  10. Serving others is the foundation for relationships

Dr John Kapeleris

 

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Oct 112012
 

While I was reading Brian Tracy’s book, “No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline” I came across an interesting section, which in summary stated that if you want to join ”The Top 20 Percent” in a given field or profession then you need to achieve personal excellence in the specific skills required for that field or profession. You need to identify the key leaders or dominant players in the given field or profession and emulate their skills and behaviours. Brian Tracy also mentions that if you want to be successful identify a successful person and find out what they do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. You need to know what they do when they wake up in the morning, their exercise program, what they eat and drink, their daily routine, what they read and write, what they are thinking, and what they do in the evening before they go to sleep.

For example, to become a football (soccer) superstar you need to identify the skills and behaviours of the leading players and develop those skills and behaviours through learning and significant practice to achieve personal excellence in the game. If we take the example of the football star then the key skills required to achieve excellence include: fitness/endurance, ball skills (passing, receiving, dribbling, defensive, attacking, kicking, finishing), running speed, awareness and anticipation (position), decision-making, and most importantly, discipline, attitude and mindset.

The same approach applies to business and personal life. If you truly desire to be the best in your given field or profession (that is, the top 20 percent) you need to identify the skills and behaviours of the top performers, and develop and practice those skills and behaviours. For example, in my current role as General Manager, what I need to do is focus on leadership skills. As a summary from a previous blog, “A New Profile for Future Leaders“, the key skills and attributes of a future leader include:

  • Key leadership skills
  • Ability to create and articulate a vision for the future
  • Define and establish clear goals and objectives
  • Mentor and develop staff
  • Team dynamics
  • Ability to solve problems
  • Ability to generate new ideas and identify new opportunities
  • A high level of written and verbal communication skills
  • Negotiation and persuasive selling skills
  • Operational and project management skills
  • Financial management
  • Change management

Once you have identified these specific skills you then need to evaluate your level of competency for each skill by developing a Personal Skills Matrix. A skills matrix consists of a list of the required skills for your field or profession and a rating for each skill against the level of competency required.  The skills matrix will determine the gaps that exist and this will provide the basis for your personal development action plan that will encourage you to focus on the specific skills required for your development.

Dr John Kapeleris

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Sep 252012
 

“Knowledge is only potential power” Napoleon Hill

One of the keys to success is attaining the knowledge that can be applied in a given situation or in our daily lives, and to convert that knowledge into value for ourselves or the organisation in which we work. Knowledge is attained through a number of avenues, including formal education and schooling, through parents and mentors, on-the-job training, and through self-education and personal experience.

The unfortunate situation is that our schooling system, although it provides general knowledge for many topics, it fails to provide specialized knowledge for developing life skills. Specialised knowledge for developing life skills usually comes from our parents and mentors, on-the-job training and through self-education and personal experience. More importantly educational institutes do not specifically teach people how to organise and use the knowledge after it is acquired. Knowledge becomes power when it is organised and intelligently directed through practical plans of action and to a definite end. In other words, practically applying the knowledge to develop skills in a particular activity, business or profession.

To successfully run a business or undertake a specific profession you need to acquire specialized knowledge. The first step is to determine the sort of specialized knowledge you require, and the purpose for which it is needed. To a large extent your major purpose in life and the goals toward which you are working, will help determine what knowledge you need. Once you have achieved the first step, the next step will involve identifying dependable sources of specialized knowledge, including the following:

  • Formal education and training e.g. universities and colleges
  • On-the-job training
  • Using a mentor and/or mastermind group
  • Self-education courses e.g. seminars, books, DVDs/CDs, online courses

I have found that self-education courses through books, DVDs/CDs and online courses have provided me with the best specialised knowledge to develop life skills and specialized business skills. Reading books at least one hour per day in a specific topic can provide a significant source of specialized knowledge. Furthermore, I try to listen to CDs in the car when I drive to work or visit clients taking advantage of the time available. As Zig Ziglar states, “Turn your car into an automobile university of success“.

Once the specialized knowledge is attained, the final step is to put the knowledge into use through plans of action. The translation of knowledge into practical application will achieve successful outcomes (John Kapeleris). Many people make the mistake of continually sourcing and accessing knowledge but they do not apply the knowledge to their definite purpose, business or profession. It is important to develop practical action plans that have a defined objective, and to work towards the objective on a daily basis.

Dr John Kapeleris

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Sep 102012
 

Having grown up in Australia and being exposed to its unique culture and beautiful environment one of the disappointing aspects has been the “fair go” mentality. From a legal and human rights perspective giving people a fair and safe environment to live in is extremely relevant and important. However, when we as Australians use the “fair go” or the “she’ll be right mate” mentality it unfortunately reduces our competitiveness to a playing field that is well below some international standards, thereby negatively influencing our attitudes and productivity. We begin to blame the system or someone else, instead of taking responsibility and massive action to change the current situation.

When one of my children states, “It isn’t fair Dad!”, I reply with, “Yes you are right, because life and business is not fair, but highly competitive”. If our sporting heroes and teams adopted a “fair go” or “she’ll be right mate” mentality, Australia would not have been so successful in many of its sporting achievements. Business and work life is no different, therefore we need to have the passion and the desire to succeed in a very competitive global arena.

One of the drivers of productivity is innovation and I don’t mean just research and development, although this is a very important component of the innovation ecosystem. Innovation in the sense of the practical application of new and creative ideas to generate value in the market, either through, new products and services, processes, organisational systems or novel business models, can provide competitive advantage for an organisation and stimulate increased productivity. A good example is reflected in traditional manufacturing firms that adopt innovative practices through design integration, business model transformation or simply adopting advanced manufacturing concepts, such as additive manufacturing or systems integration, that can differentiate themselves in the market place, increase productivity and transform into a high performance organisation.

Australia’s recent productivity metrics have been well below international levels, continuing to deteriorate despite the mining boom. The deteriorating trends can be confirmed in the recent article “Australia’s Productivity Performance and Real Incomes“. Many sectors, in particular retail and manufacturing have been suffering in the current economic environment.

It is important to note that the majority of productivity improvements can only be made as a result of management decisions and strategies implemented in firms. Public policy can also play an important role in improving Australia’s productivity, particularly in areas of regulation reform, taxation reform, public spending and skills development. Australia is already the third highest cost environment for businesses in the world and with diminishing productivity this can only get worse for Australian businesses.

I believe innovation is the key to improving productivity in Australia. Innovation can create higher value products and services, improve production process efficiency, design new business models, and differentiate firms in the global market. There is no doubt we have to work harder, but more importantly work smarter to improve productivity efficiency. Having a “fair go” or a ”she’ll be right mate” attitude is not going to help Australian businesses become more competitive on the global arena.

Dr John Kapeleris

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Jun 042012
 

Productivity in our work and personal lives involves focusing on the key goals and objectives, developing a project plan, identifying the key value-adding tasks, and executing the plan by taking action. It may come as a surprise that many people struggle with this basic approach to achieving personal productivity. Many reasons can be identified for losing focus and not taking the appropriate action to achieve the desired outcomes.

The first issue lies within our minds. The human brain, although powerful and complex, if not trained appropriately can only handle a limited number of tasks at any one time (the literature generally states about seven tasks or pieces of information). As the brain becomes overwhelmed and stretched to perform, it begins to forget important items in the process. The brain does not generally think sequentially or in a linear manner. It thinks more in a random or radial manner.

The second issue involves interruptions from colleagues, unscheduled meetings, the telephone, email or the influence of external people. Interruptions should be avoided and removed from your daily work environment. This can be done by closing the office door, finding a quiet place to concentrate, checking emails at specific periods of the day (morning, midday and late afternoon), making all your calls in the morning and late afternoon, and delegating as many tasks as possible.

The last issue involves lack of clarity and focus. Focus can be achieved through concentration and structured thinking. The mind has to be reinforced that focus and action are the key drivers to achieving successful outcomes from a project. In addition, clarity can be achieved by removing the clutter and blocks that exist in our minds.

Following are the key steps that will increase your personal productivity:

  1. Use structured thinking to provide clarity and focus
  2. Focus on the key goals and objectives
  3. Develop a project plan and identify the key value-adding tasks
  4. Assign time limits on each of the tasks
  5. Take immediate action
  6. Maintain the self-discipline

We all struggle to remain productive and achieve optimal outcomes. The key to success involves focus and action.

Dr John Kapeleris

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Feb 152012
 

I am going to stop putting things off starting tomorrow.” - Sam Levenson

Procrastination is defined as the act of replacing high priority and important tasks with tasks of a lower importance, or delaying the actioning of important tasks to a later time. Procrastination may occur for a number of reasons, including the fear of failure, anxiety in starting or completing tasks, the need for an adrenalin hit as a result of self-imposed working under pressure, ineffective decision-making, perfectionism and ‘planning fallacy’, which means underestimating the amount of time required to complete a set of tasks.

Procrastination is very common amongst the population with many people procrastinating to some extent. Humans generally have a tendency to replace important tasks with tasks that are more familiar or fun to perform. Chronic procrastination is a more severe form that can be very damaging to a person’s life or career.

A number of steps can be implemented to manage or deal with procrastination:

  1. Recognising that you are procrastinating – You need to be honest with yourself in order to recognise that you are procrastinating. Characteristics of procrastination include: focusing on low value tasks and actions, being engulfed by your emails throughout the day, getting ready to begin an important task and becoming immediately distracted, waiting for the perfect conditions to begin a project, and keeping tasks on your To Do list for some time even though they were marked as ‘important’.
  2. Understanding the reason why you procrastinate – The mind has a tendency to convince yourself that a valid reason exists to procrastinate, often involving subconsciously lying to yourself. The reasons why you procrastinate could be due to either the type of work involved or your beliefs and behaviour. One of the reasons why people procrastinate may involve the work not being interesting, or a feeling of being overwhelmed by the tasks. Other reasons can include being disorganised which can result in anxiety in starting or completing tasks, or having a fear of failure/success stopping you from engaging the work. Being a perfectionist will also result in procrastination because perfectionists wait for the right conditions before they begin a task, or they try to achieve  the most perfect outcome thereby never actually completing the task. The final reason for procrastination relates to ‘planning fallacy’, which means underestimating the amount of time required to complete a set of tasks resulting in a delayed or slow start to actioning tasks, thereby escalating the required effort towards the end of the deadline. This is common with many university students who undertake assignments and examination preparation, and is often labelled as ‘Student Syndrome”. No matter how much time is provided for the student to complete their assignment they will take all the available time and end up cramming all the work just before the due date for the assignment.
  3. Implementing strategies to deal with procrastination – A number of strategies can be employed to deal with procrastination:
  • Keep a To Do list and ensure that you complete the required tasks quickly and efficiently
  • Break down the activities into manageable tasks in the form of an action plan that can be tackled quickly and easily
  • Utilise an Urgent/Important Matrix to identify high value tasks

  • Implement a reward system that is linked to the completion of important tasks
  • Start some easy tasks every day to fuel your momentum, which then allows you to tackle the larger more important tasks
  • Focus on goal setting, scheduling and planning to streamline your project management skills
  • Employ a mentor or coach to help you overcome procrastination or to encourage you to maintain your momentum on a particular project
  • Tackle the worst task in the whole To Do list first thing in the morning (e.g. Brian Tracy says ‘Eat the Frog’ – since this is the worst thing you could do everything else should be easy to undertake)
  • Repeat the cycle for 20 days so that it becomes a new habit

The longer you spend time without procrastination the better chance of breaking the habit.

Dr John Kapeleris

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Sep 062011
 

A personal development plan is an important tool that can help you achieve the life that you desire. It is amazing to find that the majority of people I meet do not have a personal development plan, yet many complain that they are not satisfied in life and that their life is meandering without progress or achievement.  A successful personal development plan can take you from where you are now to where you want to be by filling the gaps in your journey. To develop a successful personal development plan you need the following:

  • A vision
  • A positive attitude
  • Commitment
  • Self-discipline

I have used a simple three-step process in developing my personal development plan that I would like to share with you:

  1. Identify where you are now. What have been your significant achievements? What have been your disappointments? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Do you know what is holding you back in grasping new opportunities in life?
  2. Determine where you want to be. What do you need to do to get to the next level i.e. your purpose, goals and objectives in your personal and working life? What are the weaknesses you need to address and the priority areas to focus?
  3. Develop a personal development plan. What are the actions you will need to take, when are you going to achieve them, and how will you achieve them? What resources and assistance will you require?

A personal development plan can include a number of different elements based on your specific needs. It can be a specific plan focusing on the important goals and objectives you want to achieve, or it could be a more detailed life plan that includes the following elements:

  • Your life purpose or vision
  • Your dreams and desires
  • Your values and beliefs
  • Your achievements and disappointments
  • Your short, medium and long-term goals and objectives
  • Your personal education plan
  • Your action plan

To develop your personal development plan the following steps provide a good framework:

Step 1 Brainstorm your life purpose and your goals and objectives

  • Take a sheet of paper or use a journal determine your life purpose or vision. List all your goals and objectives. They could also include your dreams and desires in life and a vision of the “Ideal You”.
  • Some people have suggested you list 100 goals for this step, but if you can’t get to 100 don’t worry
  • Once you have your list then prioritize and label each as follows: 1 = goals to be achieved in one year or less, 3 = goals that are two to three years out, 5 = goals that will take about five years to achieve, and 10 = your ten-year goals and dreams.

Step 2 Focus on your One Year goals

  • Ensure your goals satisfy the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-based) criteria and rewrite if required.
  • Group your goals under the following categories:
    • Financial/Material Goals
    • Business/Career Goals
    • Personal Relationship/Social Goals
    • Health & Recreational Goals
    • Personal Development & Growth Goals
  • Further prioritize your goals under each category. I usually have 4 – 5 goals for each category and I prioritize further by asking what are the more important goals that will have the biggest impact in my life.

Step 3 Develop Action Plans for each goal

  • Write each goal at the top of a fresh page and develop the details of your plan.
  • Break down the plan into workable individual tasks. Assign a completion date for each task.
  • Some goals may require the assistance of other people. You will need to assign specific tasks to the individual people identified who can assist you with your plan.

Step 4 Repeat Steps 2 and 3 above for your 3, 5 and 10 year goals

  • Some of your longer term goals may be dreams or desires. You will need to convert these dreams and desires into specific and defined individual goals with timeframes. The individual goals together with their specific tasks and actions, collectively will achieve your overall dreams.
  • Long term goals require periodic review to ensure you are on track to achieving the outcomes that you have documented in your plan.
  • You may need to revise your plans if you discover that you are not progressing as originally planned.

Step 5 Take Action

  • You now have the winning combination of a goal with a plan.
  • Take action immediately with the highest priority goals.
  • Commitment and self-discipline will be needed to work on your goals and plans every day. Do something every day, no matter how small, to move towards achieving your goals.
  • Document your progress in a journal or diary and make any adjustments, if required.
  • Celebrate your success and achievements by rewarding yourself.

You can use the attached Personal Development Plan Template as a guide to assist you in starting and further developing your own plan.

Dr John Kapeleris

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