How To Set Goals The Right Way

Goals give a direction, energy, power and a purpose, to everything that you do. Without them you are just aimlessly jumping from task to task and that can only lead to overwhelm, dissatisfaction and lack of success.

Be as much Specific as possible

You hear people say, “I want a bigger house. I want a new car. I want to be thinner, I want to be happier, I want my kids to be better.” – That’s not a goal. That’s a desire. How do you transition from a desire to a goal? You make it specific. What car do you want? What make is it? How much does it cost? What house do you want? Where is it? What is it overlooking? Is it overlooking the ocean, is it overlooking a garden? How much do you want to lose in terms of weight? Is it 30 pounds, 50 pounds, 60 pounds? Make it specific. That’s how you go from a desire to a goal: making it very specific.

Set Goals That Motivate You

When you set goals for yourself, it is important that they motivate you: this means making sure that they are important to you, and that there is value in achieving them. If you have little interest in the outcome, or they are irrelevant given the larger picture, then the chances of you putting in the work to make them happen are slim. Motivation is key to achieving goals.

Set goals that relate to the high priorities in your life. Without this type of focus, you can end up with far too many goals, leaving you too little time to devote to each one. Goal achievement requires commitment, so to maximize the likelihood of success, you need to feel a sense of urgency and have an “I must do this” attitude. When you don’t have this, you risk putting off what you need to do to make the goal a reality. This in turn leaves you feeling disappointed and frustrated with yourself, both of which are de-motivating. And you can end up in a very destructive “I can’t do anything or be successful at anything” frame of mind.

Imagine your future

Think about your ideal future. What does it look like? Ask yourself questions that will help you get to a detailed picture. For example, imagine you are trying to decide on a long-term career. Here are some questions you might ask:

• What time do you want to wake up every morning?
• Where do you want to live? The city? A rural area? A foreign country?
• Who will be there when you wake up? If it’s important to you have to have a family? If so, a job that requires a lot of long trips out of town might not be the best choice.
• How much money do you want to make?
• The answers to these questions may not be enough to point you toward a single dream job, by they can certainly help you rule some out.

Consider The Journey

A goal is your destination. The journey is the process that gets you there. Sometimes you might set a goal to achieve something, but then you completely disregard the journey – all the steps that you need to take to get there. These are the actual things that you need to be doing every day, or every week, or every month. These are the habits you need to incorporate into your routine. If the journey is something you don’t enjoy, then chances are, you’re not going to enjoy the achievement of the goal.

Let’s say that you want to start your own business. You have a nice idea and now you want to make it into a business. Your goal is to grow your business to let’s say $100,000 of revenue each year (specific) in 24 months (deadline).

But you hate marketing. You’re not a salesperson and you loathe the “whole marketing thing”. That is a problem, a major one. If your goal is to grow your business, the journey to achieve it involves a lot of marketing. There is simply no way around it. And if you wake up every day and you don’t want to get out of bed because your day is filled with marketing and sales activities, even if you achieve your goal, 24 months from now, you would’ve hated the journey so much that you might not enjoy your achievement at all. It might not be worth it for you. This might be a fake goal.

The journey is something that you’ll be doing every day, week and month. If you don’t enjoy the process, if the dissatisfaction from your daily activities outweighs the satisfaction of achieving your goal, you have a fake goal on your hands.

If you set a goal and you also enjoy the process that you will get your there, you have a real goal. Go get them! Go now!

Thank those sites for inspiration and amazing content they are creating! http://blog.highperformancelifestyle.net, www.mindtools.com and www.wikihow.com

How to find your Passion

1. When You Know It’s Not Working, Quit Fast

Many people hate their jobs and know that they want to do something different, but stay in their hated jobs for a long time nonetheless. Their main reason for not leaving is that they haven’t actually figured out what it is that they want to do. This thinking is flawed because you won’t learn or discover your ideal career or job by sitting around and thinking about it. If the current situation isn’t working, you need to find something else.

 What happens when you leave even without knowing what you will do next is that, suddenly, figuring out your next steps becomes urgent. That urgency may be a bit uncomfortable, but it can also be incredibly powerful because it frees you up to invest all of your energy into finding the next thing. Finding the next thing goes from optional to required.

1. Start With the Right Perspective

If you went into a restaurant with the strong opinion “I’m not hungry. There’ll be nothing here I want to eat. I don’t want to be here” the menu isn’t going to look appealing. You won’t explore it with due time or attention, and it’s unlikely you’ll find food you’ll enjoy eating.

The same principle applies to passion-seeking. If you’re convinced that finding your passion is hard, or that it’s not going to happen for you, you’ll remain closed to possibilities. You’ll block the little nudges, pulls, and signals that guide us all. After all, how can you expect to find fulfilling work if you don’t believe it exists?

Choose to adopt the perspective that you can do what you love with your life. One of the best ways to strengthen this point of view is to surround yourself with people who are living examples. How many of your friends and family are following their passions? If it’s not many, it might be time to expand your circle; associate with and be inspired by men and women who are inspired by their work.

2. Follow Your Curiosity

Even though you may not have a clear vision for your career, you are probably curious about things which may or may not be obvious to you. It’s important to follow your curiosity and uncover your less obvious interests. The reason it’s important is that those interests tap into your unique motivations that separate you from others. Pursuing them sets you on the path of unlocking who you are and your creativity. Frequently, these will be things that do not appear pragmatic and sometimes may seem downright frivolous. A classic example is Steve Jobs’ curiosity for typefaces which led him to attend a seemingly useless class on typography and to develop his design sensibility. Later, this sensibility became an essential part of Apple computers and Apple’s core differentiator in the marketplace. A good way to tune into these interests is to ask yourself what you would do if you had a billion dollars.

3. Look for your ingredients

When you look at all the ingredients that matter to you, they might at first seem entirely disconnected. Let’s say you love French, drinking coffee, playing with words, analyzing and categorizing, and being a leader within a community. How could you construct a career from these? It’d be like peering into your cupboard and seeing cocoa powder, tofu, and carrots and wondering: How could I possibly make something delicious that includes all of these?

Be patient with yourself. Finding your passion means experimenting, and experimenting can take time. You may have to try a several ideas before you find one that “clicks” with you. Many people fail to find their passion because they don’t stick with the search when it gets tough.

Do the thing you’ve always dreamed about. No matter how gutsy, risky, or impractical that thing may be, you should work hard to make your dream a reality. Who knows — maybe you’ll try salsa dancing and will realize it’s not the thing for you, or you’ll travel to the Galapagos Islands and will feel uninspired. However, it is more likely that by being brave and doing the thing you’ve always dreamed about, you’ll be lighting that spark that ignites you.

Try a new sport. You may not know it, but your true passion could be mountain biking or archery. Though you may think you only like to go jogging once in a while, you’ll never know what your true passion is until you try. Trying a new sport will get your adrenaline running, will make you more excited about the world, and will also be a great form of exercise. If you find you really love this sport, you can end up being a teacher, a coach, or even start sharing your love for the sport with devoted followers online.

Explore your artistic side. You may have a wonderful artistic side without even knowing it. To explore your artistic side, you can try painting, writing, acting, singing, or designing clothes, just to name a few things. There are a number of things that you can do to find your inner artist.

Pick up a new hobby. There are a variety of hobbies that may not require any athletic or artistic skill that can still turn into a passion for you. Whether you want to be a coin collector or pick up a new language, any new hobby you pursue can turn into a real passion for you.

Get out of your comfort zone. If you’re having trouble finding your passion, it may be because you’re so used to doing the same old thing that you’ve gotten too comfortable. This is a real psychological phenomenon: being comfortable leads to steady performance, but being too “in the comfort zone” stifles exploration and creativity. If you really want to find your passion, then you’ll have to test yourself and step out of your comfort zone to find the thing that really appeals to you.

3. Don’t Make Money Your Primary Consideration

If you’re looking to spend your life doing something you love, the best way to start is to treat financial concerns as secondary. If the practicality of what you do and how much money you earn are your primary criteria you will instantly limit your options to what’s predictable and getting to do what you love will be tough. On the other hand, if you allow yourself to pursue your curiosity, you will find yourself in the position of power and, eventually, in the position to earn money on your terms.

Connecting to your unique interests and motivations and coming into your own authentic self, gives you power in your chosen discipline that others can’t claim. The reason for this is the unique fit of these interests to who you are. For others, what you choose to do may seem like a huge chore, but for you it won’t even feel like work. When your work fits who you are so well, you stand out as being uniquely capable and uniquely powerful. And the better you get at expressing yourself through your work, the higher your earning potential will be in that capacity.

Volunteer in your community. If you the time to volunteer in your community, you may find that you have a new passion! There are a variety of ways to volunteer in your community: you can help people develop their writing and reading skills at your local library, volunteer at your local soup kitchen, or help clean up a park in your community.

Try new things with the help of others. You may have a friend who is obsessed with archery or creating comic books, or a family member who is the best dessert chef in the country. Let the people you know, or the teachers in your community, help you explore a new talent or passion.

Do your research. Read up on your new passion. Talk with people who have experienced it for themselves. Check out books from the library. Take classes. The more you know about your passion, the better-equipped you’ll be to make the transition.

Never quit trying. Can’t find your passion at first? Give up after a few days and you’re sure to fail. Keep trying, for months on end if necessary, and you’ll find it eventually. Thought you found your passion but you got tired of it? No problem! Start over again and find a new passion. There may be more than one passion in your lifetime, so explore all the possibilities. Found your passion but haven’t been successful making a living at it? Don’t give up. Keep trying, and try again, until you succeed. Success doesn’t come easy, so giving up early is a sure way to fail. Keep trying, and you’ll get there.

I thank a lot those sites for inspiration and amazing work! https://www.forbes.com, https://www.themuse.com, https://www.wikihow.com and http://www.lifehack.org.

21 Quotes about Vision and Visualization

1. “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” Gail Devers

2. “I’ve learned that fear limits you and your vision. It serves as blinders to what may be just a few steps down the road for you. The journey is valuable, but believing in your talents, your abilities, and your self-worth can empower you to walk down an even brighter path. Transforming fear into freedom – how great is that?” Soledad O’Brien

3. “Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!” Bob Marley

4. “In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.” Dalai Lama

   

5. “Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” Jonathan Swift

6. “Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” George Washington Carver

7. “You have to have a big vision and take very small steps to get there. You have to be humble as you execute but visionary and gigantic in terms of your aspiration. In the Internet industry, it’s not about grand innovation, it’s about a lot of little innovations: every day, every week, every month, making something a little bit better.” Jason Calacanis

8. “The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs.” Vance Havner

9. “A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.” Denis Waitley

   

10. “Have a vision. It is the ability to see the invisible. If you can see the invisible, you can achieve the impossible.” Shiv Khera

11. “Vision gets the dreams started. Dreaming employs your God-given imagination to reinforce the vision. Both are part of something I believe is absolutely necessary to building the life of a champion, a winner, a person of high character who is consistently at the top of whatever game he or she is in.” Emmitt Smith 

12. “If you don’t have a vision you’re going to be stuck in what you know.  And the only thing you know is what you’ve already seen.” Iyanla Vanzant

13. “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” Joel A. Barker

14. “A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.” Rosabeth Moss Kanter

15. “Hold the vision, trust the process.” Anonymous

    

16. “We are limited not by our abilities but by our vision.” Anonymous

17. “If you create a vision for your life, doors will open.” Anonymous

18. “When you have a vision that is strong enough and powerful enough, nothing can stand in your way.” Lewis Howes

19. “If you want to turn a vision into reality, you have to give 100% and never stop believing in your dream.” Arnold Schwarzenegger

20. “If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” Steve Jobs

21. Vision without execution is hallucination.” Thomas Edison

How to start your own business (online)

Find a need and fill it.

Most people who are just starting out make the mistake of looking for a product first, and a market second. To boost your chances of success, start with a market. The trick is to find a group of people who are searching for a solution to a problem, but not finding many results. The internet makes this kind of market research easy:

 Visit online forums to see what questions people ask and what problems they’re trying to solve.

• Do keyword research to find keywords that a lot of people are searching, but for which not many sites are competing.
• Check out your potential competitors by visiting their sites and taking note of what they’re doing to fill the demand. Then you can use what you’ve learned and create a product for a market that already exists–and do it better than the competition.

Focus.

When I say focus, the first thought that comes to your mind is probably “niche.” While figuring out a profitable niche is important, it’s not the end all be all. Focus means figuring out who you want to serve and how you will deliver value to that group.

It means you stop following the gurus and focus on what will help you where you are. There is an abundance of free information online, almost too much. Many entrepreneurs fall victim to information overload. I’m guessing that if you applied 10 percent of the knowledge you currently have, you would make progress building your business. Turn off the constant learning and focus on 20 percent strategies.

Design and build your website.

Once you’ve got your market and product, and you’ve nailed down your selling process, now you’re ready for your small-business web design. Remember to keep it simple. You have fewer than five seconds to grab someone’s attention–otherwise they’re gone, never to be seen again. Some important tips to keep in mind:

• Choose one or two plain fonts on a white background.
• Make your navigation clear and simple, and the same on every page.
• Only use graphics, audio or video if they enhance your message.
• Include an opt-in offer so you can collect e-mail addresses.
• Make it easy to buy–no more than two clicks between potential customer and checkout.
• Your website is your online storefront, so make it customer-friendly.

Build an audience.

This is where many businesses miss the mark. You put together a beautiful website with all the right plugins, widgets and opt-in boxes. You follow all the steps, but the money doesn’t come because you have no audience.

There are many ways to build an audience and quickly:

• Guest post on blogs. There are tons of blogs with milions of views. Use them as your advantage.
• Get exposure from large author sites. If you can be interviewed or write for sites like Entrepreneur or the Huffington Post, you get exposure to millions of potential leads and customers. Writing for these websites builds authority, grows your social media presence and leads to sales.

Test and refine.

Once you have a plan and have implemented it, study what works and what doesn’t. There is a lot of advice online, but nothing beats good old fashion testing. Try different offers, bundle various products and services, run sales from time-to-time. Once you have an offering that takes off, run it every 30 days. Refine your process and improve the parts of your plan that aren’t working. This is extremely important, at start you will probably miss some important aspect which you can develop and improve by time.

Be social

Whatever your business, whatever your venue, keeping your name in the the air is key to internet success. Have a business account on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If your business is graphically oriented, have accounts on Flickr and Tumblr as well. Whenever there is news of any kind—a new contract, a new page, a new entry, a new photo—cross-post it to all your social media sites. Also make sure those sites link back to your main website, and that your website has links to all of them.

Add Google AdSense advertisements to your blog or website

Google’s AdSense is a revenue-sharing opportunity for small, medium and large web sites that places ads for goods and services that are relevant to the content of your site, targeted to the people who frequent your pages. In turn, you get paid a small amount when the ad is either displayed on your page, or clicked on. This is important if you have large traffic on your page but you need to think that, it sometimes is not very good and can feel confusing for consumer.

Use search engines to drive targeted buyers to your site.

Pay-per-click advertising is the easiest way to get traffic to a brand-new site. It has two advantages over waiting for the traffic to come to you organically. First, PPC ads show up on the search pages immediately, and second, PPC ads allow you to test different keywords, as well as headlines, prices and selling approaches. Not only do you get immediate traffic, but you can also use PPC ads to discover your best, highest-converting keywords. Then you can distribute the keywords throughout your site in your copy and code, which will help your rankings in the organic search results.

Establish an expert reputation for yourself.

People use the internet to find information. Provide that information for free to other sites, and you’ll see more traffic and better search engine rankings. The secret is to always include a link to your site with each tidbit of information.

• Give away free, expert content. Create articles, videos or any other content that people will find useful. Distribute that content through online article directories or social media sites.
• Include “send to a friend” links on valuable content on your website.
• Become an active expert in industry forums and social networking sites where your target market hangs out.

Use the power of email marketing to turn visitors into buyers.

When you build an opt-in list, you’re creating one of the most valuable assets of your online business. Your customers and subscribers have given you permission to send them email. That means:

• You’re giving them something they’ve asked for.
• You’re developing lifetime relationships with them.
• The response is 100 percent measurable.
• Email marketing is cheaper and more effective than print, TV or radio because it’s highly targeted.

Anyone who visits your site and opts in to your list is a very hot lead. And there’s no better tool than email for following up with those leads.

Thank sites www.entrepreneur.com and www.wikihow.com for inspiration and amazing content they are creating, go on those sites and learn more about almost anything you want to know!

 

How to be really good at what you do

When it comes to excelling at something like sports, running a business, the common advice among experts is to identify your strengths and weaknesses and build on things you’re good at, while finding ways to shore up your weaknesses.

“Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.” – Albert Einstein

Know what actually matters. Be honest with yourself about the actions that truly move the needle in your business and your life. An 80/20 analysis is a great place to start. If you’re stuck, just think of the tasks you fear the most–that give you anxiety just to think about. Those are likely the most important.

Kill multitasking. Stop thinking it’s more efficient. It’s not. No surfing during phone calls, reading during meals, chatting while writing. Do one thing at a time. Simple. Not only is multitasking terribly inefficient but it stresses you out and it’s rude to anyone around you.

Plan more time for each task. This is the easiest way to alleviate the schedule. And things always tend to take longer than we think. If your core task will take you 45 minutes, then block out 90. Actually schedule it on your calendar. If it only takes you 40 minutes then suddenly you have free time–how awesome (and rare) is that!

Take breaks and reward yourself. Most of us can only intensely focus on something for an hour at best. Take at least a few-minute break every 30 or 60 minutes to clear your head. Find a fun way to get you free and clear. Take a walk, meditate, feed the ducks, breathe, get a snack or some water or listen to an inspiring song. You pick.

 

 

Most of the competition are not hard to surpass. They’re dealing with the same existential and practical challenges you are. Their life isn’t structured for optimal creative expression. They are the primary obstacle in the path. Most will quit long before they ever really begin — always remaining mediocre at what they do.

With a few tweaks, you’ll quickly drop through a wormhole placing you in the top 5–10 percent in your field. The challenge then becomes to move from there to the top — which movement is the real contest. Getting to the top 5–10 percent merely requires a change in lifestyle. Getting to the top 1 percent requires a fundamental change in your being.

Get Coaching/Education

Take your dreams seriously. Most people don’t. Take them serious enough to become amazing and move beyond mediocre. Get education and coaching.

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” — Buddha

Stop Living The Broken Rules Everyone Else Is Living

If it’s popular it’s wrong. Most people are mediocre at what they do for a reason. They’re playing by rules that halt optimal performance. They are climbing traditional ladders intended to slow them down and keep them average.

When everyone else is zigging, that’s when you zag. Darren Hardy says you should run “toward the thing everyone else is running from” in order to stand out from the crowd.

As Peter Diamandis says, “The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.” If what you’re doing doesn’t seem slightly crazy to you, and very crazy to other people, you’re probably following the safe path.

Instead of following the rules set by society, create your own rules. Restructure the game to automate your success. Dismiss the haters, convention, and conformity. Follow your heart and the voice inside you encouraging faith and forward movement. In order to be happy, you must build a lifestyle around being true to yourself. If you’re true to yourself, good things will follow.

Be Consistent Until You Have A Break Through

Patience.

If you haven’t had your big break yet, keep going. Consistency is the most fundamental virtue to becoming the person you want to be. Almost everyone can sprint for a while. But most burn-out and quit. Everything meaningful in life is a marathon — meant to test your commitment and will.

If this is what you love doing, you’ll do it regardless of the outcome. In fact, obsession with a particular outcome will keep you from attaining your desired results. Your work will be forced rather than organically lived.

There is a natural law known as the compound effect. If you invest a small amount of money consistently, eventually compound interest takes over and growth becomes exponential. The same holds true for any habit, whether good or bad. If you do something long enough, compounding will take effect, momentum will surge, and you’ll begin to experience exponential results.

If you want it bad enough, you will do whatever it takes to make it happen. If you don’t, you won’t. You’ll be willing to reduce time with friends and hobbies, make big asks, take risks, find a mentor, get educated, and look foolish.

I’m grateful for amazing content and inspiration from www.ducttapemarketing.com, https://liveyourlegend.net and https://journal.thriveglobal.com.

Daily routine of successful people (and how to learn from it)

Regularly exercise

Exercise certainly is a portion of the day-to-day regimen of successful individuals. It’ll make you feel good about yourself, and keep the body healthy, will make the mind alert and teach you discipline. As a matter of fact, a report revealed that 70 percent of successful business individuals discover a way to exercise each day.

If you cannot exercise in the morning, get it in around lunch time or in the early evening. If you are on the ground floor and you are traveling to the fifth floor, take the stairs rather than the elevator–but do not overexert yourself because it may set you back.

Plan Strategically

Every famous/successful person you know got to where they are today by making planning one of their crucial daily habits. Without substantial, strategic, and thought out plans, you are bound to fail. As Benjamin Franklin said, failing to plan equals planning to fail.

As you make your plans, ensure that they are perfectly aligned with your top goals. By so doing, you will be able to prioritize your plans according to what you need to accomplish to actualize your deepest dreams.

Most entrepreneurs actually plan out each day the night before. As a result, they can wake up with a plan and purpose for what they need to achieve during the next 8 to 12 hours. The plan also empowers them to get going with an agenda for the day – one that will be difficult to stall or hide from.

Plan your day ahead

Objectives aren’t as crucial as getting the work done. Not attaining goals may lead to lack of self-worth and depression; however, doing day-to-day tasks which propel you toward the person you wish to become will benefit you a positive way; that is, motion will beget greater motion.

Make Affirmations

Every morning, give yourself a short but impactful positive self-talk. Tell yourself that you’re already successful, sensible, attractive, innovative, intelligent, humble, inspiring, leading, loving, influential, confident, productive, and creative.

This strategy will give you the positive boost you need to get started on the right footing. It will also add that extra confidence that will see you going through anything that comes your way and emerging successful.

Invest in yourself

Network, educate yourself, invest in relationships, spiritually reflect, and take care of your physical and mental health.

Find a Zone of Genius

Successful people can identify the gifts and strengths they are bringing to the table. They are also aware of those tasks will take them out of this zone of genius.

By identifying this zone, you will be able to master the strategies of team building, outsourcing, and delegation. After all, not everyone can do everything all the time. You need a support team of similar geniuses around to take up anything you are not talented in. Pay them well, and the returns on your investment will come back to you in multiples.

All savvy business owners find other people to complete any task that is outside their zone of genius, as well as activities that won’t generate revenue directly for the company.

This daily habit will keep you in tune with your skills, abilities, and unique talents. You will also have enough time to activate these gifts for purposes of meeting the goals/objectives that should be done that day.

Complete your tasks

Whatever the activity is, successful people start and finish the work to the best of their ability.

Plan your day ahead

Objectives aren’t as crucial as getting the work done. Not attaining goals may lead to lack of self-worth and depression; however, doing day-to-day tasks which propel you toward the person you wish to become will benefit you a positive way; that is, motion will beget greater motion.

Learn Persistence and Consistency

By setting up consistent systems and rhythms and sticking to them, you will be able to move forward and grow any project you are working on. Persistence, especially in the face of great loss, adversity, and fear, will also help you stay on track instead of focusing on the problems or giving up.

Don’t Panic When Things Go Slightly Wrong

Many people start to feel stressed and anxious when things don’t go exactly to plan, but these things can happen on a daily basis. Successful people realize they cannot control everything, and anticipate mistakes.

Dealing with problems is a big part of being a successful entrepreneur. Plan for mistakes, and you will deal with them rationally and efficiently as they arise.

They Work When They Don’t Have To

First thing in the morning, the evenings and the weekend are all times that most people are not working. However, you could be wasting your productivity. Many successful entrepreneurs will work whenever inspiration strikes, as they know they will be more productive then than later.

 

If you have a great pitch for work, strike while the iron is hot and get working – even if you’re not in work.

How To Adjust Your Schedule: Plan two hours work you will do during your free time, from replying to emails to making important calls. This will help you to get ahead and stay ahead.

They Do Important Work First

Many people arrive at the office and start their day with the little tasks, like emailing and admin. However, our brains are sharpest earlier in the day, so this is the best time to tackle the more creative work that challenges you.

If you don’t get the opportunity to work on your chosen tasks first thing, take matters into your own hands; do the work from home, or come into work early.

They Understand Teamwork

Many of the most successful companies in the world were started with teamwork; Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Apple was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, and Paypal was started by a team of five.

Being successful is rarely about being completely independent – successful people are able to work with others, able to compromise, and accept other ideas.

Thank those sites for inspiration and for their amazing work! www.inc.com, www.entrepreneur.com and www.lifehack.org

How to simply solve problems

Accept the problem. This is the one I try to do first when I run into a problem and I use it almost every time. When you accept that the problem already exists and stop resisting then you also stop putting more energy into the problem and “feeding it”. Now it just exists (well, more or less, you might still feel a bit down about it). And you can use the energy you previously fed the problem with – the energy that probably made the problem look bigger than it was – to find creative solutions to the challenge.

Ask for help. You can ask people for advice on what to do and what they did in similar situations. But you can also ask for more practical help. You don’t have to solve every problem on your own and sometimes it feels better to have someone by your side, even if it is just for emotional support.

If you just ask you may find that people will often be willing to help you out.

Avoid behaviors that make the problem worse. When you’re having a problem with someone, first try talking to a person you trust; whether it’s a significant other or just a friend, sometimes it’s easy to do things that make the problem worse before you have the chance to make them better.

Break the problem down into smaller pieces. Solving a problem can sometimes seem overwhelming and impossible. To decrease anxiety and think more clearly break the problem down. Identify the different parts it consists of. Then figure out one practical solution you can take for each of those parts. Use those solutions.

They may not solve the whole problem immediately. But those solutions can get you started and might solve a few pieces of the it.

Find the possible solutions. Now that you’ve broken everything down and analyzed the parts and people, it’s time to find the potential solutions to the problem. Don’t rule any out at the start. Think of this as a brainstorming session. Everything is permissible at this stage.

Note the pros and cons and pick your solution. Once you have your list of solutions, consider the pros and cons of each. Be as specific as you can, as you’re now examining the tradeoffs of an option. Every choice will have a price. It may be trivial, like placing a phone call, or might be more substantial–agreeing to a reduction of an owed amount to finally get paid. Know what you can live with and what you’ll have to do to make the solution work.

Be clear about what the problem is. Before trying to argue with someone and come to a solution for whatever the problem is that the two of you are having, make sure you understand what’s really bothering them first. Sometimes people seem mad about one thing but really they’re mad about something else. If you want to really fix the problem, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re working on the right problem first.

Find the opportunity and/or lesson within the problem. I have found that there is almost always a positive side to a problem. Perhaps it alerts us of a great way to improve our business or relationships. Or teaches us how our lives perhaps aren’t as bad as we thought.

Finding this more positive part of the problem reduces its negative emotional impact. You may even start to see the situation as a great opportunity for you.

When you are faced with a problem ask yourself:

What is the good thing about this?
What can I learn from this?
What hidden opportunity can I find within this problem?

Try to see the other perspectives. When you’re fighting with someone it’s easy to feel that you’re right or your way of doing something is best. You’re working with your own brain after all. However, people rarely argue with you just to be contrary. They’re doing the best that they can with what they know and the situation might look very different from their perspective. Try seeing things from their side of the field in order to help you find a way to meet in the middle.

Make sure they feel respected and in control. When people feel disrespected or cornered, they will often become more argumentative and combative, even if they would normally agree with you. If you see a personal situation developing, try taking steps to make that person feel like they have more control and that they are respected. You will find that suddenly they are much more willing to talk.

Take Action And Solve Your Problem. Get busy. Get going. Develop a sense of urgency. The faster you move in the direction of your clearly defined goals, the more creative you will be. The more energy you will have. The more you will learn. And the faster you will develop your capacity to achieve even more in the future.

You can solve any problem, overcome any obstacle or achieve any goal that you can set for yourself by using your wonderful creative mind and then taking action consistently and persistently until you attain your objective. Success is a mark of a creative thinker, and when you use your ability to think creatively, your success can be unlimited.

I’m grateful for inspiration from www.wikihow.com, www.briantracy.com, www.positivityblog.com and www.inc.com. Thank you!

How to enjoy life

Life is hard. Whether it is trouble with family, friends, your workplace, or perhaps, the inability to even find employment, there are many factors that contribute to making our lives that much more difficult to deal with. Life IS stressful. Fortunately, there are small ways to embrace the very precious things in our daily lives that we sometimes forget to enjoy.

Set goals. Even the smallest goals, including paying a bill on time or larger ones such as working to eliminate a debt will make you feel successful when you finally can cross them off. Anything worth having is worth working for, so don’t get discouraged. Write at least 20 you’d like to accomplish in the next Year and work them off. Don’t wait for a New Year’s resolution to change your life. Put forward a little progress toward a goal everyday. Be Happy about what you accomplished, because YOU did it! Treat yourself when they are completed.

Get comfortable with yourself. No amount of anything, be it money or otherwise, will make you happy if you are unhappy with yourself. Even those with large fortunes still manage to get plastic surgery and blow excessive amounts of money to replace the self-esteem which only comes from within.

Accept past mistakes. Allow the knowledge you carried afterwards to make you a stronger & wiser person. It’s only a problem if you keep repeating these mistakes. Accept the past altogether. While it is easier said than done, it must be done. You cannot alter history. As devastating or hurtful as the past can be, it is the future we look toward and can impact. Use tragedy as an outlet to join community efforts that seek to prevent/support that cause. Remember that whatever you are doing should be toward making a better tomorrow. Not rehashing the past. If you find yourself thinking more of the past than your future perhaps you should seek the help of a professional/family member/church member that you can talk to to help to give you the nudge you need to move forward with your beautiful life.

Make time to relax. Making time to relax and reconnect with ourselves leaves us better equipped to deal with more challenging periods.

Meet new people. Community is one of the most important needs we have. Making a consistent effort to meet new people helps us fulfill that need and introduces us to new ideas and perspectives.

Explore new places. New places and cultures offer a different perspective on the world and add a healthy dose of inspiration and possibility to our lives.

Thank http://www.lifehack.org and www.wikihow.com for amazing inspiration and good work!

Tips For Better Time Management

1. Create a daily plan. 

   Plan your day before it unfolds. Do it in the morning or even better, the night before you sleep. The plan gives you a good overview of how the day will pan out. That way, you don’t get caught off guard. Your job for the day is to stick to the plan as best as possible.

2. Set a time limit to each task.

   Be clear that you need to finish task 1 by 10am, task 2 by 3pm, and item 3 by 5:30pm. This prevents your work from dragging on and eating into time reserved for other activities.

3. Learn to say “No”

   Don’t take on more than you can handle. For the distractions that come in when you’re doing other things, give a firm no. Or defer it to a later period.

   

4. Complete most important tasks first.

   This is the golden rule of time management. Each day, identify the two or three tasks that are the most crucial to complete, and do those first.

   Once you’re done, the day has already been a success. You can move on to other things, or you can let them wait until tomorrow. You’ve finished the essential.

5. Get an early start.

   Nearly all of us are plagued by the impulse to procrastinate. It seems so easy, and you always manage to get it done eventually, so why not?

   Take it from a recovering chronic procrastinator — it’s so much nicer and less stressful to get an earlier start on something. It isn’t that difficult either, if you just decide firmly to do it.

6. Don’t allow unimportant details to drag you down.

   We often allow projects to take much, much longer than they could by getting too hung up on small details. I’m guilty of this. I’ve always been a perfectionist.

   What I’ve found, though, is that it is possible to push past the desire to constantly examine what I’ve done so far. I’m much better off pressing onward, getting the bulk completed, and revising things afterward.

7. Be conscientious of amount of TV/Internet/gaming time.

   Time spent browsing Twitter or gaming or watching TV and movies can be one of the biggest drains on productivity.

   I suggest becoming more aware of how much time you spend on these activities. Simply by noticing how they’re sucking up your time you’ll begin to do them less.

8. Exercise and eat healthily.

   

9. Numerous studies have linked a healthy lifestyle with work productivity. Similar to getting enough sleep, exercising and eating healthily boost energy levels, clear your mind, and allow you to focus more easily.

10. Create organizing systems.

    Being organized saves tons of time, and you don’t have to be the most ultra-organized person in the world either. Systems aren’t complicated to implement.

    Create a filing system for documents. Make sure all items have a place to be stored in your dwelling. Unsubscribe from e-mail lists if you don’t want to receive their content. Streamline, streamline, streamline.

11. Delegate

    If there are things that can be better done by others or things that are not so important, consider delegating. This takes a load off and you can focus on the important tasks.

 

Thank lifehack and creativitypost for inspiration and awesome posts!

Get the Right Mindset for Success

Turn mistakes into opportunities – If you make a mistake, the first thing you should do is take ownership. Next, look for the golden opportunity, sometimes hidden, that comes with every mistake.

For example, let’s say you’re working on an email promotion with a client. The offer includes a 25% discount until a certain date. But after you start the campaign, you discover that the day the discount ends is actually a Sunday. Not good. It’s bound to hinder sales because less people are at their computers on weekends.

So you send the subscribers another email on Monday explaining your mistake. You tell them you want to make sure readers have every opportunity to take advantage of the discount, so you’re extending the offer another two days. You’ve turned a potential disastrous mistake into a sales opportunity.

Begin With a Long-term Business Plan

I think this is very important because many businesses fail when there are no goals. The companies possibly got started just because the founders needed some more funds and when challenges arose, there was no motivation to continue the business.

Starting with a long-term business plan will help you focus on your goals. Your business plan will also include the reasons you started this venture in the first place, which will be a motivation to forge ahead even when there are challenges.

Don’t compare yourself to others who are doing better than you – No matter how successful you become, there will be others “above” you. Don’t waste your time and effort focusing on this sort of thing. It creates jealousy and feelings of inadequacy within you. Focus on yourself.

If you read or hear about the success one of your fellow copywriters is having (who started about the same time you did), don’t view it as you falling behind. Use it as inspiration that you too can succeed.

Don’t Wait for The Right Time To Start

You might end up waiting many years thinking it is not the right time to start that business, or make that risky move. This is simply a waste of time. Begin as soon as the basic requirements to start are available and grow your business from there. According to John Morgan, Co-CEO of Stillwater Dwellings, “Time lost is very painful; just think about how far you would have come in all that time that’s been lost; my advice is to start now.”

Focus on what you can change, and don’t worry about the rest – Wasting time worrying yourself silly over the state of the world or political issues only frustrates and hinders your progress. I’m not saying those issues aren’t important, but focus on your own success first.

Never Miss an Opportunity To Develop Yourself

Continuous self-development will go a long way in positioning you to grow your business to a global level. Identify any areas you’re weak in and strive to become better in these areas; (here’s my favorite way to develop weak areas). Many business owners have poor time management skills while others don’t have the slightest idea how to treat their customers. As the business owner, you have to be highly productive.

Good time management and being productive will save you a lot of expense and time. Working with a plan will make it difficult for the business to deviate from your primary goals. Continue developing these skills and your business will surely make the Forbes list. Giving back to the community is a great way to develop yourself further. Nick Lanza Owner of Big Bear Vacations says, “We are constantly active within our community, donating to events, volunteering,  and helping market the Big Bear community. We have a love for our town and believe that giving back plays a huge factor in our business being the largest and  longest standing Vacation Rental Company in Big Bear celebrating 20 years.”

Do Not Waste Your Free Time

Many people look forward to their leisure time, and it’s usually wasted doing zero productive things. This might seem okay for people without a vision but now you have a goal. I’m not advocating skipping all vacations. But your free time can be spent developing yourself in some pretty amazing ways. Instead of looking out the window while commuting you can listen to a good book or send out business emails. Make sure every minute counts for your business.

Evaluate your performance – At the end of each week, ask yourself the following questions: What did you learn this week? What could you have done better? What did you do that brought you closer to your short-term and long-term goals? How could you have increased your productivity?

Have patience – Don’t be discouraged if you’re not currently where you want to be in your career. Focus on taking one step, learning one skill, and making one small improvement at a time.

Don’t Forget To Work Out Regularly

Growing your business will require you to have at least some form of fitness planned to keep your mind and emotional strength consistent. I’ve already written several articles on how this can be achieved by engaging in different physical activities. Working out makes you happy, keeps your mind alert and prevents you from experiencing depression.

Personally, I get the best ideas during my workout sessions.

There will be challenges, and that’s perfectly normal. Do not get discouraged however, because although the business will take some effort to get started, with the right mindset you will succeed.

Thank Melissa Thompson and John Wood for articles and amazing inspiration, also thank Forbes and Awaionline for motivation.