Dean Kosage, Anchoring Decisions

Knowing that we want to make a change in our life is the first step to actually becoming a different person. However, the process of redefining who we are is not an easy prospect and there are a multitude of pitfalls that people experience when trying to make lasting changes. The biggest challenge that people face is in sticking to and committing to the decisions that they want to make. Dean Kosage is a professional life coach, entrepreneur, and CEO of Skylab Apps, a California based tech company that creates gamified social learning platforms for business. In his experience, people struggle with what he calls ‘anchoring their decisions’. Rather than committing themselves fully to becoming the person that they want to be, they make compromises and refuse to make the necessary changes to do so.

In a recent interview with the online podcast the Unmistakable Creative, Dean described the process of anchoring decisions that led to the success he has reached today. He tells the story of seeing a group of men walk into a gym, and the impact that they had on his life. He realized straight away that these men were accomplished professionals based on just their image. After speaking with them and discussing his desire to be involved in their entrepreneurial world, he shared this experience with some of his friends. Rather than supporting and affirming this experience, they were really negative about Dean’s desire to pursue his professional career and better himself. In spite of this negative feedback, Dean committed himself to this professional pursuit in as many ways as possible.

Although difficult, he recognized that these relationships he had were holding him back. He describes it like a bus ride: “Say you are on a trip to Canada, and then suddenly you realize that you want to go to Africa. You need to get off the bus and take a different one. It doesn’t mean that the people going to Canada are bad people, but you are simply heading in different directions.” This is what anchoring your decisions is all about. It is about creating the best possible environment for your success, and making the personal decision about your relationships, career, and physical environment in order to do so. “If I came into your house,” he says, “would you have to tell me who you are, or would your house speak so loud that it could tell me for you?” This simple shift in mentality is a huge part of finding success. You have to commit your life fully to the pursuit of your goals and eventually success will find you.

Dean Kosage - 3 Insights into Entrepreneurship

Back in August of 2013, Gary Vaynerchuk posted an article on his Medium.com account titled “13 Thoughts on Being an Entrepreneur”. In his article he focused simply on the mindset and points of view that has worked for him throughout his career. As an entrepreneur myself, I agree with a lot of things that he wrote about in his article and I think that more successful professionals should be sharing their honest and unfiltered thoughts and experiences with their audiences. With a few successful startups under my belt, I humbly offer these three insights into entrepreneurship as a means of inspiring you to finally pursue your ambitions:
 

Compromising is a myth. I hear so many people making every excuse in the book as to why they can’t be entrepreneurs. I’m too old. I don't have the right education. I have too many other responsibilities. I don’t have time. That’s simply not true. Being an entrepreneur is about carving out time for your professional ambitions. If you have other responsibilities, well then get in line. Everyone has other things they need to get done every day but if you don’t take stock of your time and prioritize your entrepreneurship, you’re never going to accomplish anything.

You can be a single parent and an entrepreneur. I’ve heard multiple people claim that they can’t raise children and start a successful business. My only response is this: I did it, and I did it multiple times. It wasn’t easy, but it is certainly possible and if you want it bad enough, your children are going to see a parent that is ambitious and following through on their dreams, not a parent who is somehow neglectful.

Age doesn’t matter. I get it, there are teenagers all over the country who are creating startups in their dorm rooms or in the basement of their parents house. The fact that they’re young creates this myth that it is a young person’s game. Don’t devalue your experience; it’s your greatest asset, regardless of your age. Some of my greatest accomplishments have come later in my life and if I had given up in my twenties I would never have gotten to where I am today.

I feel like a lot of the challenges that entrepreneurs face, especially when first starting out, are put there by themselves. It’s easy to limit yourself and create obstacles because you are afraid of failure. But realizing that these obstacles are self-imposed and setting your mind on your targets is a crucial first step to finding eventual success.

For more entrepreneurial advice, click here: deankosage.info

Dean Kosage, Anchoring to One’s Decisions

Knowing that you want to make a change in your life is the first positive step to redefining yourself. However, the process is not easy and there are a multitude of pitfalls that people experience when trying to make lasting changes. The biggest challenge people face is in committing to the decisions they want to make. Dean Kosage is a professional life coach and entrepreneur. In his experience, people struggle with what he calls “anchoring their decisions”. This entails that instead of committing themselves fully to becoming the person they want to be, they make compromises and refuse to make the necessary changes to do so.

In a recent interview with the online podcast Unmistakable Creative, Dean described the process of anchoring to one’s decisions that led to the success he has reached today. He tells the story of seeing a group of men walk into a gym, and the impact they had on his life. He realized straight away that these men were accomplished professionals based on just their image. After speaking with them and discussing his desire to be involved in their entrepreneurial world, he shared this experience with some of his friends. Rather than supporting and affirming this experience however, they were negative about Dean’s desire to pursue a professional career and better himself. In spite of this negative feedback, Dean committed himself to this pursuit in as many ways as possible.

Although difficult, he recognized that some of these judgemental friends were holding him back. Dean Kosage describes it like a bus ride: “Say you are on a trip to Canada, and then suddenly you realize that you want to go to Africa. You need to get off the bus and take a different one. It doesn’t mean that the people going to Canada are bad people, but you are simply heading in different directions.” This is what anchoring to your decisions is all about; creating the best possible environment for your success and making the executive decision about your relationships, career, and physical environment in order to do so. “If I came into your house,” he says, “would you have to tell me who you are, or would your house speak so loud that it could tell me for you?” This simple shift in mentality is a huge part of finding success according to Dean. You have to commit your life fully to the pursuit of your goals; surround yourself with an environment conducive to them, and eventually success will find you.

Dean Kosage, Tools for Networking

Networking is inarguably one of the most important skillsets in our working world, let alone in our daily lives. Building connections of meaningful relationships with people who will wither benefit your career or personal life is crucial to our overall happiness. There are a number of tools out there for e networking and the rise of technology has luckily made it easier than ever before. Here are just a few of the most important tools out there for making connections.

For your personal life, look no further than social media. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter allow us to stay connected to friends and family in immediate yet albeit impersonal ways. Nothing beats picking up the phone and giving someone a call. For the more career focused individual, social media sights such as LinkedIn are valuable for finding professional connections and resources. There are also books such as Defining Moments of Courage by entrepreneur Dean Kosage, fusing minds and business by explaining how top executives around the world stay connected. And there are even mobile applications such as Aloqa, which lets you meet potential clients by showing you popular events in your area, or Hurricane Party, which lets you design a networking event from the top-down. Whatever your motivation, embrace the technological revolution and start making connections.

Dean Kosage, Networking as a Skillset

Building networks of professional contacts is one of the most important aspects of being in modern business. With networking tools such as social media, business related applications, and even emailing and conferences, in some ways this is easier than ever. However, much of the responsibility for building networks now falls on the shoulders of the individual employee with little guidance from superiors about how exactly to do it. Adding to the problem is that networking is more important than ever before, especially for those in entrepreneurial fields or for those who are self-employed.

For entrepreneurs and publishers such as Dean Kosage, fusing minds and businesses is more than just a necessary professional tool, it is the industry in which they are building their reputation. Dean Kosage published his collection of stories entitle Defining Moments of Courage about various entrepreneurs and professionals who built their professional networks to great success. Others, such as Ivan Misner, have focused on helping explain how to bring a collection of “contacts” into genuine relationships in his book Networking Like a Pro: Turning Contacts into Connections. Other still have focused on meeting the right types of people. For example, Orville Pierson’s book Highly Effective Networking: Meet the Right People and Get a Good Job, takes everything one step further and breaks down how to meet the people who are specifically capable of forwarding your career.