Richard Branson (founder of Virgin empire) shares how he lives life with TED’s Chris Anderson in this TED Video( Video is a little below in this article).
Richard Branson always seems happy and enjoying life.
I guess that is the reason a lot of us adore him so much.
Here are his Top 7 Tips for living a good life… in his own words(mostly).
1.Always be Curious :
“I just love learning and I’m incredibly inquisitive and I love taking on, you know, the status quo and trying to turn it upside down.
So I’ve seen life as one long learning process.”
2. Start businesses from your own problems:
“You know, if I fly on somebody else’s airline and find the experience is not a pleasant one, which it wasn’t, 21 years ago, then I’d think, well, you know, maybe I can create the kind of airline that I’d like to fly on. And so, you know, so got one secondhand 747 from Boeing and gave it a go.”
3. Always be Experimenting :
Richard started a lot of companies which did not do well like Virgin Brides and Virgin Cola , that did not deter him. He continued to start more companies under the virgin brand.
4. Be calm ,composed and think about solutions even in life-threatening situations:
Richard Branson went on a hot-air balloon journey to cross the Atlantic, and during one of these journeys things went bad. They were caught on a huge wind , the wind near the balloon was too fast while the wind near the capsule which was carrying them had almost no wind, Richard Branson says “it was like holding onto a thousand horses. And we were just crossing every finger, praying that the balloon would hold together”.
He adds “I knew I had about half an hour’s fuel left, and I also knew that the chances were that if I jumped, I would only have a couple of minutes of life left. So I climbed back into the capsule and just desperately tried to make sure that I was making the right decision. And wrote some notes to my family. and then climbed back up again, looked down at those clouds again, climbed back into the capsule again. and then finally, just thought, there’s a better way. I’ve got, you know, this enormous balloon above me, it’s the biggest parachute ever, why not use it? And so I managed to fly the balloon down through the clouds, and about 50 feet, before I hit the sea, threw myself over. And the balloon hit the sea and went shooting back up to 10,000 feet without me. But it was a wonderful feeling being in that water ”
if you prefer to watch the video — Here is the full TED Video from which I gleaned these 7 shiny tips.
5.Treat everyone fairly:
“I don’t actually think that the stereotype of a businessperson treading all over people to get to the top, generally speaking, works. I think if you treat people well, people will come back and come back for more. And I think all you have in life is your reputation and it’s a very small world. And I actually think that the best way of becoming a successful business leader is dealing with people fairly and well, and I like to think that’s how we run Virgin.”
6. Be a good parent :
“I also believe that being a father’s incredibly important, so from the time the kids were very young, you know, when they go on holiday, I go on holiday with them. And so we spend a very good sort of three months away together. Yes, I’ll, you know, be in touch. We’re very lucky, we have this tiny little island in the Caribbean and we can — so I can take them there and we can bring friends, and we can play together, but I can also keep in touch with what’s going on.”
7. Enhance People’s lives:
“I think that everybody — people do things for a whole variety of different reasons and I think that, you know, when I’m on my deathbed, I will want to feel that I’ve made a difference to other people’s lives. And that may be a selfish thing to think, but it’s the way I’ve been brought up. I think if I’m in a position to radically change other people’s lives for the better, I should do so. I just want to live life to its full. You know, if I can make a difference, I hope to be able to make a difference.”
Photo Credit: D@LY3D via Wikimedia Commons
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