8 Ways to Achieve a Life of Fulfilment Using an Old Japanese Concept

The Japanese philosophy of Ikigai became established in the 8th century on the island territory of Okinawa. When translated, iki means ‘life’ and gai represents ‘hopeful expectation’. Ikigai promotes ‘the individual’s raison d’etre’ or ‘reason to be throughout a long and meaningful life’.

Guided by a simple framework, it encourages each one of us to seek an ideal balance of life’s needs in relation to our personalities. A successfully fulfilling career is not necessarily one that only exists at a high-flying executive level but one that harmonises with the unique qualities of your inner-self. Achieving this balanced contentment is the surest route to a long, worthwhile and healthy life.

Here are 8 tips to help you achieve fulfilment using the Ikigai framework:

1. Discover your Unique Ikigai

On a sheet of paper, draw four circles that overlap in the centre. Each section represents the motives that directly affect your life: what you excel at, what you adore, how you can earn and if your skill is of use to anyone.

The ultimate aim is to adapt your career to ensure your personal fulfilment. When compiling your chart, remember the phrase ‘to your own self be true’. Only by being honest will you find your Ikigai and real purpose in your life and career.

For instance, if your Ikigai chart reveals a love of plants but in reality, you’re stifled by an office environment, a career in horticulture might be of greater benefit to your personal well-being.

2. Spare Time for the Present

Planning for the future is part of building a life that realises ambitions and ensures financial security. However, Ikigai is a reminder that a personal journey through life should also value the present. Time can never be recaptured so pause occasionally to appreciate the unique opportunities of each day. Enrich the quality of today by spontaneously visiting an exhibition, trying a new hobby or relaxing with a favourite book.

3. Harness Energy from Nature

Japanese culture places a great value on the restorative forces of nature. Appreciating an inspiring landscape of majestic forests, hills or lakes restores balance to a stressful life. Its powerful antiquity is reassuring and calming. Admiring the intricate beauty of flowers or listening to birds singing, reminds you of the harmony to be found in nature. The force of the natural world helps put your own existence into perspective renewing your energy and purpose.

4. Learn to Remain Active

Aim to extend the usefulness of your physical life by establishing a routine of regular exercise. As you get older, try adopting gentler activities such as walking, yoga or tai chi. Keeping your muscles and joints supple and flexible is important in maintaining mobility when pursuing a career in your later years.

5. Eat for Health

To achieve a life of worthwhile longevity with the assistance of Ikigai, you need to keep your body balanced with natural, healthy food. There isn’t a diet to follow, simply an awareness of consuming balanced amounts of essential vitamins and minerals through fresh ingredients. It is a Japanese tradition to practise hara hachi bu, a regime where meals leave you feeling around 20% hungry. It accelerates your digestive metabolism which then quickly raises your energy levels.

6. Seek Inspirational Companionship

Balance the energy to be gained during bouts of solitary contemplation with the warmth of good company. Enjoy stimulating conversation to keep your mind sharp. Relaxation and laughter amongst friends are essential for your well-being. However, Ikigai isn’t all about yourself. Maintain an ideal balance by sparing time for relatives and friends who might be in more need of companionship than you are.

7. Avoid a Worthless Retirement

The philosophy of Ikigai is primarily to achieve purpose, energy and fulfilment throughout a long, contented life. The Japanese belief is that total retirement from a useful working life is detrimental to physical and emotional fulfilment. It’s important that every day should still have a worthwhile purpose and motivation, factors that are especially beneficial in old age. When the time is right, followers of Ikigai continue useful employment by simply exchanging high-flying careers for roles that are less demanding.

8. Be Adaptable

Using the philosophy of Ikigai, allows you to regularly reassess whether your career is still suited to the ever-changing circumstances of your life. By honestly reflecting on what you enjoy and accomplish well, then seeking to combine this knowledge with earning a financial reward is a method of retaining motivation and following a useful existence throughout your life.

Ikigai helps you understand how you can achieve and benefit from a fulfilling career that is uniquely tailored to your individual personality.

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3 Strategies for Entrepreneurs to Stand Out Before, During and After Networking

Oftentimes, entrepreneurs spend a good amount of time networking to create leads and fill knowledge gaps. Networking events and conventions offer a high level of excitement and engagement, but how do you keep the momentum going and stay in front of potential leads without spamming? How do you actually have people follow up with you directly?

Below, I have listed 3 strategies to help you stand out before, during and after networking:

1. Be consistent with your brand on social media, or don’t be on it.

Most people have an online presence, and you’d be hard pressed to find someone without a social media account. Especially those with a product or service to sell. Even if the pictures posted to your social media account are only pictures of you and your dog, those images communicate a brand, and that’s what followers come to expect when they interact with your page.

If you connect with someone at an event, and they visit your social media profile, is your most recent post reflective of who you are? Is it a pillar in your brand? Another aspect to consider is that everyone has their go-to platform, therefore, it is important to be active on multiple social media platforms. That being said, if you are not active on a particular platform, your business and networking prospects can be harmed.

You may want to consider doing away with the social media platform you’re not active on. If you live on Instagram, don’t be on another social media platform that you are not going to put effort into, or consider outsourcing it. The key here is post networking, you want people to see you regularly, and consistently with the same message.

2. Publishing your own book is the modern-day business card.

With today’s technology, many entrepreneurs debate on the need for a business card, and in a networking event, you can apply a variety of techniques both with and without one. That being said, when someone asks the proverbial networking question “What is it that you do?”, handing them an autographed book that tells your story and about your area of expertise is hard to forget.

It gives credibility in your field and positions you as an authority. It’s easier than ever to self-publish your knowledge, and being a published author opens doors. It allows others to know and learn more about you, not unlike the podcast and your online presence, but it also helps take your personal brand and business to the next level. With a book, you also become an expert in your industry, and it paves the way if you have the desire to speak at conferences and/or events adding another level to your networking.

3. Having a course or mastermind will allow you to stand out from the crowd.

With the first two mentioned above in place, people want to connect with you before, after and during a networking event. So how do we keep teaching and networking with them? The book you authored can be turned into an online course. Each chapter offers the chance to go deeper into the material, and therefore go deeper into the brand and business.

It serves as a companion piece for those who read your book, and with the completion of the course or mastermind group, they have the necessary tools to accomplish the goals outlined in your book. Your mastermind can be delivered in several ways. You can do a weekly call with a group and almost run it like a book club.

The other option is through a Facebook group where you do a weekly live explaining the topics in each chapter, and answer questions in the comments. The final option for the busy entrepreneur is to create a prerecorded webinar or online course that can be accessed 24/7 by current and potential clients.

Networking is the key to success for any entrepreneur, but the money is in the follow up. These three simple things give you credibility, allow you to connect with more leads in one session and create a consistent and clear personal branding message for you online. Remember, your network is your net worth.

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3 Reasons Why Walking Away Can Bring You Greater Success

Success is something we all love and want. It can also be massively allusive, and often when things seem tough, we feel that we have to persist in order to get the success we desire. If you have read “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, as I have many times, along with various other self-development books, then you will know that persistence is a big key to success. A great many personal development courses help install the knowledge that persistence is a key to success as well. But it can be seriously counterproductive, which very few people will ever tell you.

Why? For a start, being able to see things through is crucial when you are going after a goal or a dream. Ask any coach, or any entrepreneur who has achieved what they set out to. Things often get challenging, and the unexpected usually comes up. So persistence can be good. It can however also bog you down in something you would be better walking away from. And walking away can bring serious benefits in terms of actually achieving goals and dreams faster.

1. Allows you space to learn and adapt from your experiences

One of the 3 incredible reasons why walking away can bring greater success, is that it allows you space to process experience. When you are stuck in events, and they are unfolding around you, they tend to take over in your mind making things challenging from a point of learning. Being able to step back, or remove yourself entirely allows you to gain a far wider view of things.

Unless you are a Zen master, and are able to completely transcend the emotions, doubt and everything else that can fly around when things are going sideways, then creating space so you can gain the learning is crucial.

This is why a lot of coaches create a very different environment for their clients during sessions. It is also why a lot of people have breakthroughs during meditation sessions. Because they have at the very least been able to mentally, and emotionally, step away from situations.

2. Allows you room to process and release negative emotions

Negative emotions, anger, sadness, fear, hurt and guilt being the big 5, seriously cloud effectiveness. Beyond more than just day-to-day work, negative emotions cloud relationships. They bring questions to mind about dreams and goals, and trigger a descent into lower self-esteem, which brings various other issues.

While meditation and other personal development techniques can help with release, the cause of those negative emotions is either removed or negated, which means any release work just keeps you ticking over, rather than allowing you to move forward effectively. Walking away from a negative situation, allows you to process things in a way that can lead to happiness and real success.

3. Sends an unconscious signal to your mind that you deserve better

Perhaps one of the most important of the 3 incredible reasons why walking away can bring greater success, is that you are giving yourself a very solid signal that you deserve better. This is really important. Yes, persistence is important. Though banging your head on a wall does nothing productive for you.

Even when you’re walking away, you never have to give up. Just read that again and let it sink in. When you walk away from something, you have the opportunity to actually go and do things fresh. Sticking to something, just because you feel you have to persist is crazy. If you keep building on quicksand then it doesn’t matter how high you build, it’s always going to sink.

When you walk away from a negative, or unsupportive situation, then you have the opportunity to build in a better location. One where you can create solid, lasting results, that can measure up to your dreams.

And if you have to walk away again? Fine, you are refining that process of getting your location right. You giving your mindset clear indication that’s how things are, is unacceptable. You need to send your mind the message that you will only accept proper definition of your goals and dreams, and that compromise is unacceptable.

While compromise has its time and place, allowing for smoother flow, compromise also indicates to your unconscious mind that you are happy to accept less. Which it will happily continue to deliver for you.

Walking away can help you to achieve your success with far greater strength

When you bring together the way you can pick up learning, release negative emotions and stress more effectively, plus give yourself reinforcement over what you are truly wanting and creating in life, then you give yourself greater ability to create success, in the way you wish it.

Yes, think about whether walking away is going to be good for you in whatever situation is going on. Never be afraid of walking away though. It can empower you to actually create and have the life and success you want, and deserve.

Sometimes that business you started, or that partner you began dating, or that city you moved to, may have seemed right at first. It could well be that those things were just warming you up so you could gain something greater. Giving you a mechanism of feedback in the physical world that things in your mindset needed a tune-up.

With that following mindset change empowering you to actually create your vision fully, walking away never means failure, unless you give up. Walking away means that you are giving yourself the opportunity to start again, and do things better next time.

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5 Ways to Find the Time for Self-Growth While Running a Business

Taking time out for self-growth is by far one of the best things a business owner can do to secure a winning future. You’ll be surprised to know how investing in personal growth can contribute to business success. Self-growth boosts creativity, confidence, and motivation. It persuades us to create systems in our personal and professional lives that lead us to success.

Business owners and entrepreneurs have to wear multiple hats and may not always be able to find time to invest in their personal growth. However, self-growth cannot be achieved at random. It’s a continuous process that requires dedicated efforts and time.

Below are 5 tips that’ll help you focus on self-growth, transform you into a better business professional, and steer you towards success:

1. Be a Ruthless Prioritizer

The power of ruthless prioritization cannot be trivialized. Life as a business owner can get so busy that personal priorities and self-growth goals tend to take a back seat.

Business-related tasks and responsibilities can never disappear, but we can definitely plan ahead and prioritize tasks to get organized and make time for ourselves. I like to use Eisenhower’s Urgent/Important Principle to classify tasks and prioritize like a pro.

Master the art of delegation. Trust your subordinates with smaller tasks and gradually delegate bigger responsibilities to them, thereby maximizing productivity and making time for yourself. I often play to my team’s strengths or train them on managing critical business tasks. This leaves me time to focus on personal growth. Effective delegation not only keeps us sane amidst tight deadlines but also helps us focus on ourselves.

Remember to allocate time to the person who matters most – You! Prioritizing tasks will leave you enough time to invest in your creativity, self-confidence, knowledge, health, and relationships.

2. Learn to Say No. Period.

There’s a lot we can learn from Warren Buffet. The American business magnate puts it across in simple words – “Really Successful People Say No To Almost Everything.” The primary reason why modern business owners and entrepreneurs have less self-time is because of their inability to say no when required.

Resist the urge of being wired to the perpetual yes mode. Say no to unproductive tasks and requests that continuously consume your time and energy. This will help you find the much-needed me-time to define life’s priorities and reflect on your personal growth.

Make it a policy not to take business calls on weekends. Let your stakeholders know and respect the fact that weekends are personal time. Similarly, you can design a policy to eliminate late nights at work by forbidding meetings after 6 pm.

Being consistent with this policy will help you overcome the guilt and anxiety that come along with saying no. You not only create a positive work culture, but also make time for self-development.

Further, getting rid of unproductive tasks will free up your cognitive space, allowing you to pursue self-improvement strategies like enrolling for an online course or attending a workshop for small business owners.

“The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.” – Tony Blair

3. Befriend Technology

Technology has been enabling entrepreneurs and business owners to adapt quickly to the changing business needs, allowing them to make better use of time and resources. For instance, the cloud offers immense flexibility allowing business owners to access data from any location and using different devices. Project management and collaboration tools, such as Trello, Harvest, and GSuite can help you focus on multiple tasks without wasting too much time.

Similarly, email marketing automation tools enable business owners to organize their customers’ email addresses and send targeted emails, deal notifications, and product information in a scheduled manner without having to get into the nitty-gritty.

Besides, modern technology is redefining learning experience for entrepreneurs and business owners. Several online learning platforms are offering immersive educational experience through web and mobile apps. These platforms provide business professionals and busy entrepreneurs learning beyond the classroom by helping them upgrade their skills from any part of the world.

Going tech savvy not only makes life easy but also helps you save time. Using high-tech tools can help you stay on top of your tasks and fuel personal growth.

4. Eliminate Distractions

Many business owners unknowingly waste a huge chunk of their day accomplishing tasks that can be easily delegated or avoided. A study by Inc. reveals that business owners waste a staggering 21.8 hours a week. That’s almost one day lost! Imagine what you could achieve in that time.

Eliminating the common time wasters can significantly increase the amount of time available for self-growth.

Here are a few time-wasters you should avoid to make time for yourself.

Spending Excessive Time Online

A Vertical Response survey reveals that 43 percent of business owners spend 6+ hours per week on social media, surfing websites, emailing, and going through apps. The fear of missing out (FOMO) often compels us to keep checking connected devices, thereby wasting too much time online.

To make time for yourself it’s critical to challenge the dominance of social media in our lives. Block the distraction of the online world using various apps. These apps allow you to block your social accounts and the internet, allowing you to focus on self-development.

Similarly, emails are time-sucking black holes that can cause you to lose focus. Set a specific time of the day to check and respond to emails. Better still, avoid checking emails until you have finished important tasks.

Random Networking

Building relationships is critical for every business owner, however, there’s a fine line that separates networking and wasting time in meaningless socializing. It is easy to lose time in such random networking that does nothing for your personal growth. Therefore, it’s best to avoid such chatty situations. For instance, if you have set time aside to upskill yourself by taking an online course, make sure you wear headphones to focus and keep random schmoozers at bay. Alternatively, don’t shy away from asking the person to get back to you at lunch break or after you have finished the task at hand.

Futile Business Meetings

A business owner is required to keep a bird’s eye view on various business operations. Although meetings help us do just that, it’s important to not waste time on unstructured and pointless meetings. Did you know, American businesses alone waste USD 37 billion per year in unnecessary meetings? Avoid drowning yourself in pointless meetings. If you must attend one, make sure it has a clear agenda, allowing you to reclaim your time for self-improvement activities.

“By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.” – Christopher Columbus

5. Use Idle Time Effectively

Downtime doesn’t always have to be unproductive. Those idle moments when you are traveling or waiting for a customer can be spent doing meaningful activities like recording goals in a bullet journal, social listening, reading a self-development book or a business article, listening to Ted Talks, or learning a new language. Make a conscious effort to pursue value-adding activities during your idle time, thereby fostering personal growth.

Running a business isn’t easy. Most business owners spend so much time and resources in scaling their venture that they are unable to find any personal development time. Use the effective tips shared in this post to make time for self-growth in your jam-packed schedule.

With everything you need to do during the day, how do you find time to get it all done? Share your tips and advice below!

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Top 12 Addicted2Success Podcast Episodes for You to Listen To

6 Things You Should Do if You Want to Live a Successful and Prosperous Life

Not every individual believes in the same definition of success. People live by their own rules and thus, define success uniquely. No matter how distinct all such definitions of success may sound, they certainly have something in common. Plus, they are not limited to just work or business. Being able to lead a happier, healthier personal life also determines social success.

Search for ‘How to Succeed in Life’ online, and you will find numerous blogs and videos defining the same things in different ways. But is that all you really need to succeed in life? Not really.

The first and foremost thing to realize is that success is not just about achievement or the end results. Instead, it is the journey to the end, a goal or vision. No doubt, every individual wants to succeed in life. The mere thought of succeeding can fill the mind with excitement, zeal, and gains.

More than what most of the people commonly know about success, there are lots of unwritten rules that can only be known with experience. Alongside, you might have heard some people saying that not everyone has the right skills to succeed. True, but in this assertion, you need not focus on its negative sense, but on the term ‘Skills.’

Skills can be developed. This simply means you can succeed, no matter how hard the journey. Both in business and life, success can be achieved by focusing more on what needs to be done right away.

To succeed, you should know how to improve your skills and maximize your success potential. The best part is you can make the achievement of success simple for yourself.

Here are 6 things you should do if you want to live a successful life:

1. Prepare A Success-Driven Mindset

Just like seeds which lie at the root of every well-grown tree, optimistic thoughts lie at the root of an individual’s success. Those who succeed in life do not have a magic wand to make wonders happen, but a success-driven mindset. Along with the skills and knowledge they have, their mindsets are hard-wired to not just survive, but thrive.

To have an optimistic spirit forever is what matters when it comes to success. Just keep on reminding yourself that you can learn to lead and succeed in life, while also weeding out every negative thought that says you can’t.

Be determined to work hard towards your goals. Stay away from the naysayers and continue doing your best every single day. Doing this will make it easier for you to achieve even the most difficult dreams you have in mind.

2. Don’t Fear What Others Will Say

Fear of criticism is indeed one of the most critical fears people face in their lives. It robs an individual’s ability to start doing what they should do and destroys their imagination. Some people can even be found losing self-reliance just because they think more about what others will say when they do what they want to.

When it comes to following a dream, you should be ready to take calculated risks without feeling fearful about possible criticism that can happen. Don’t hesitate in trying new things and following new paths. Look at the difficulties you face as opportunities to learn more. This is how you can write a new definition of success for others to follow.

“Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember, the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.” – Zig Ziglar

3. Manage Your Time Instead of Wasting It

A common habit shared by all successful people in this world is that they prefer not to waste time. Instead, they manage their time effectively and utilize it for the valuable things they do.

You might have thought you’d be unable to achieve success because you have less time to do what you really want to. But think of it differently. Everyone has the same twenty-four hours in a day to live and achieve success.

If you feel you do not have much time to follow your dreams, the first thing you need to do is to identify where your time gets wasted. Then avoid wasting time that way. Invest it in doing something fruitful and in the line of success you have envisioned for your life.

4. Break Your Big Dream into Smaller Goals

We all are taught to dream big, and there is nothing wrong with it. But it often happens that some people start to feel lost while envisioning the end-result they are aiming for. They have no plans, just a vision that can be taken forward.

The journey to becoming successful in achieving your dream may seem complicated and full of hurdles now, but these complications will lessen up as you continue to do your part to make it come true.

So, don’t worry or feel frightened about your big dream. Instead, break it down into smaller goals that you can achieve each day or within a specific time period. Just continue doing the required research and learn as you do things. You will be amazed when you get to see that the goals you reached each day have helped you get closer to your ultimate dream.

“The greater danger for most of us isn’t that our aim is too high and miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” – Michelangelo

5. Never Stop Learning

As mentioned above, success is a journey, not the endpoint. Once you achieve one milestone at work or in life, you need to put yourself up for the next. This means you need to continue learning new things with time.

You may be feeling you have learned enough and do not need any more knowledge, but this is not true. The scope of learning is nearly infinite. It is just that our mind is limited to learn and remember things.

Progressive learning is one of the key differences between successful people and those who fail. So, always continue to learn new things in the direction of your ultimate dream in life. Challenge yourself and be better than your current form of being.

6. Step Up from Failures with A Lesson Learnt

You might have thought hard times and hardships don’t exist in the lives of successful people. This is not true because even successful people are humans like you or anyone else. They do make mistakes, face failures, and get knocked down.

What makes successful people different is their ability to bounce back from failures and regain their state of mind. They step up each time they fail with a valuable lesson learned for the time ahead. This ‘Never-Give-Up’ attitude sets them apart from the masses. This is a must have if you want to be successful in life.

If you look closely at all the definitions of success, you will find that they are all based on individual experience. Hardships do not only imply a failure to achieve your dreams but the treasure of lessons for you to succeed.

The next time you feel like you can’t achieve anything in any form, try to look at yourself, analyze what you need to do, and just do it.

What do you think is the biggest characteristic of successful people? Share your thoughts below!

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4 Life-Changing Benefits of Having a Purpose

Do you know where you’re going? And do you have a plan to get there? If you don’t, you’re likely to be forever drifting from one thing to another – without making any genuine progress in your life. A purpose is what you need! It is something for you to aim towards and something for you to be genuinely excited about. Having a definite purpose in your life will bring you some amazing benefits, four of which I’ll talk about right now.

Benefit #1: You’ll Feel Stronger and Braver

One of the biggest causes of fear is not knowing what’s going to happen next in our lives. This fear can be so paralyzing that it can literally stop us in our tracks. This is where having a definite purpose can really help.

Once you’ve worked out what you want, you can plan your route to get there. And not only will this set you up for achievement and success in your life – but it’ll also eliminate the unknown and unleash a hidden strength.

You’ll have drive, you’ll feel confident and you’ll feel brave. These are all traits that you’re unlikely to have if you’re currently drifting through life. You might at this point be wondering…What exactly IS a purpose?

Some people refer to a life purpose as a ‘calling’. But, whatever you choose to name it, your purpose should contribute positively to society in some way, while at the same time bringing satisfaction and a sense of achievement to yourself.

Your purpose will also provide meaning to your life. And, this will give you the mental tools you need to face the ups and downs in life that you’ll inevitably encounter on the way to reaching your goals. When you’re able to find meaning and purpose in your life, your fears will dissipate. That’s the power of knowing where you’re going and what you’re aiming for.

“Activity without purpose is the drain of your life.” – Tony Robbins

Benefit #2: A Purpose Will Boost Your Health

You may be surprised to know that finding and following your purpose will give your physical health and mental well-being a positive boost. This was confirmed in a recent study published in The Lancet, which looked at how our attitude to life affects our happiness, health and longevity.

The eight and a half year study of people with an average age of 65, found that those with the highest well-being were 30% less likely to die over the study period, living on average two years longer than those in the lowest well-being group.

Professor Andrew Steptoe, Director of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, who led the study, said: “We have previously found that happiness is associated with a lower risk of death. These analyses show that the meaningfulness and sense of purpose that older people have in their lives are also related to survival. There are several biological mechanisms that may link well-being to improved health, for example through hormonal changes or reduced blood pressure. Further research is now needed to see if such changes might contribute to the links between well-being and life expectancy in older people.”

The study also found some unexpected health benefits of having a purpose, such as an increase in walking speed over time. This effect was the equivalent to the purpose-driven participants being 2.5 years younger. Imagine that.

While more research is needed, it’s clear that having a sense of meaning and purpose cannot only boost your health – but it might help you live longer too.

Benefit #3: A Purpose Will Improve Your Time Management

Another key benefit of having a purpose is the effect it’ll have on the management of your time. Let me demonstrate this through an example: Imagine for a moment that you’ve discovered your calling – to be a school teacher. You could class this calling as your major goal. But to get there, you’re going to have to accomplish several smaller goals. These would be things such as:

• Finding a college course to enroll in
• Finding the funding to pay for your course
• Ending your current work/study commitments
• Starting your course
• Gaining work experience
• Passing your course
• Looking for work
• Starting your first job

Look at that list again. It’s an ideal roadmap to accomplish your major goal of becoming a teacher. It also naturally breaks down the necessary steps into bite-sized chunks, making it straightforward and time-efficient to achieve each of them. It’s important to remember that time isn’t an infinite resource for us.

Which is why a definite purpose scores highly in this area, as it will drive you to take specific steps at specific times. Compared to someone drifting aimlessly through life, you’ll use time to your advantage and you’ll inevitably reap the rewards of your efforts.

“Clarify your purpose. What is the why behind everything you do? When we know this in life, it is very empowering and the path is clear.” – Jack Canfield

Benefit #4: A Purpose Will Help You Gain a Sense of Accomplishment

Think for a moment about the major things you’ve achieved in your life so far… graduating school, learning a new language, getting promoted, losing weight, becoming a parent, etc. These achievements will have given you a greater sense of purpose in your life, as well as boosting your confidence, health and happiness.

Now imagine that you’ve discovered your major life purpose, and you’ve plotted a route to get there. This will put a rocket booster under your confidence and drive. You’ll feel super-energized to progress towards your goal – as it something that means the world to you.

And, as you travel along the road to your purpose, you’ll begin to understand how failure and mistakes are all part of the road trip! No one is perfect, and no journey in life can be without the occasional hiccups and setbacks. But you don’t need to worry about these. As your inner drive to achieve your purpose will overcome any and all difficulties that you face.

Coming back to gaining a sense of accomplishment, you can magnify this by celebrating the successful achievement of all your minor goals as you work your way to the BIG ONE.

So now you know some of the great benefits of pursuing a purpose, and I hope you feel inspired to find and follow yours.

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https://addicted2success.com/life/4-life-changing-benefits-of-having-a-purpose/

Conquering Inner Battles: Tyson Fury Outside of the Boxing Ring

Tyson Fury was born seven weeks premature. He weighed 1 pound and was born the size of his father’s hand. Doctors gave him little chance of survival, but Tyson’s father, John had other ideas. John predicted that one day Tyson would be Heavyweight World Champion and at the hospital, named his son after boxing legend Mike Tyson.

Growing up in Manchester, England, Tyson Fury doesn’t remember a life before boxing. He started boxing at a young age because of the constant bullying and torment others gave him; the many reasons why individuals take up boxing. As the years progressed, Tyson reached a height of 6 ft 9 and became one of the most dangerous heavyweight boxers in the world.

This article highlights the importance of conquering our inner battles through Tyson Fury’s actions and delves into what it takes to overcome mental battles to find a purpose and achieve what we all strive for; happiness.

“Exterior assets mean nothing if you can’t control what’s going on inside.” – Tyson Fury

The Empty Feeling Of Achievement

In 2015, Tyson was training and preparing for the biggest fight of his career against Wladimir Klitschko. It was revealed after the fight, Tyson had been struggling mentally and didn’t know how to overcome his battles. Even though he won, there was no sense of achievement. The belts, money, and success meant nothing to Tyson. He knew he would feel this way before even stepping into that ring.

Before the fight, Tyson said to his father “If I win this fight, I’ll probably never box again”. Even before the fight, there was no flame and Tyson still didn’t want to box. He had had enough. He expected more in life and wanted boxing to feel different. The value and achievement were gone.

After beating Klitschko, a rematch was on offer and it appeared the two would fight again. In a lead-up media conference, Tyson said, “I can do my best and that’s it. Win, lose or draw I put on my best fight. And if Wladimir beats me then good luck to him and I shake his hand and say he’s the better man. And obviously, if I beat him I’m in the same position. Still as sick as ever, still as depressed as life can be and still don’t really care for dying any second of the moment. That’s the way I live my life.”

Not long after the press conference, Tyson had tested positive to cocaine and had his boxing license suspended, unable to compete. It was from then, Tysons life spiralled and he pushed away everyone close to him. He was out of boxing for 2 and a half years.

Tyson faced confronting battles that could at any moment end his life. He drove his Ferrari 190mph towards a bridge to end his life, tried to drink himself to death and ate and drank his way to obesity, ballooning out to 175kg (385 lbs). His wife and kids were the only thing that saved him before he was able to come to terms with overcoming his mental battles.

Here are 4 Ways To Conquer Our Inner Battles:

1. Reflection & Mindset

What we can all learn is that reflecting on the past and changing your mindset can be a good thing. By building a habit of introspection in our lives, we uncover more about ourselves, our values and our mindset starts to change about what’s important to us. It helps bring control and decision making back to within ourselves. The moment Tyson Fury decided to change his mindset was after being in a dark place, understanding his family was the most important thing to him. It helped him gain back control and his mind started to change.

2. Gratitude

It’s scientifically proven that showing gratitude makes you happier. Gratitude is appreciating something we have as opposed to reaching something new in the hope it will make us happier. When we use gratitude regularly, our mental state grows. Ways to show gratitude can be; write a thank you note, pay it forward, offer support, meditate or share your skills. Tyson shows gratitude by counting his blessings, donating to charity and being thankful. This has helped him become much more of a mentally strong individual. At the end of his fights, he uses his platform to express gratitude to all those who have helped him.

3. Change Your Routine

Routine can have negative connotations to it. We can think of them as tedious, boring and unfulfilled. By changing our mindset, we can establish a routine as a positive force and become happier because of it. If you’re finding yourself unhappy, change up your routine. Try different things. Whether it’s exercising, nurturing relationships or eating healthy, the smallest changes make the biggest difference.

In an interview with GQ magazine, Tyson Fury mentioned he found solace in ‘training, eating, sleeping and repeating’. He said, “I’m fantastic at the moment. I stress this a lot: It’s all got to do with routine, giving yourself short-term goals”. When it comes to your routine, try something you enjoy doing and repeat. You’ll find yourself a happier and more mentally strong person because of it.

4. Have A Purpose

Human beings desire purpose. A Purpose is a fundamental component of living a satisfied life. When you have a purpose, you never wake up wondering what you’re going to do or what’s in store for the day. You become naturally less stressed and life becomes less complicated.

“Instead of consciously thinking about your purpose, you can try an indirect approach. Just realise that your purpose is inside of you, it’s just afraid to expose itself. You must trust that someday it will seemingly appear out of nowhere. When that day comes, make a happy dance, celebrate, whatever, but the next day, wake up and start working on your purpose” – Darius Foroux

After the Klitschko fight, Tyson felt he didn’t have a purpose. He had achieved everything in becoming the heavyweight champion. When the boxing was gone, there was nowhere he felt he could go. He tried golf, clay pigeon shooting, off-road driving but nothing interested him. Tyson also wasn’t training, which was something he had done every day since he was a child.

Eventually, he found purpose In relationships and faith. He turned his life around by understanding what drove him to happiness. Putting his purpose to action was how he became a healthier, more mentally strong person. It’s how he conquered his inner battles.

The Influence On Society

The influence on society is apparent. Tyson receives thousands of messages daily on social media with personal stories of individuals giving thanks on overcoming their inner battles. He’s an official ambassador for mental health in sport, does public speaking and is extremely open about struggles he has faced.

The man who thought he would be dead and the man everyone thought would never box again, has overcome the mental mindset that was derailing him. He is still recognised as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of this generation and uses his struggles to help others.

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/conquering-inner-battles-tyson-fury-outside-of-the-boxing-ring/

19 Success Mantras From Zig Ziglar to Help You Unleash Your True Potential

There’s a good reason why Zig Ziglar is considered by many as the Godfather of motivation. Ziglar did not beat around the bush; he had a clear set of ideas, with easy to implement strategies coupled with powerful tonality and delivery that made him one of the best in the business.

The following is a collection of 19 success mantras from Ziglar that will inspire and motivate you to take the right action and unleash your greatest potential.

1. Create a very specific and detailed goal

“You need a plan to build a house. To build a life, it is even more important to have a plan or goal.” – Zig Ziglar

The first success mantra from Ziglar is to set specific goals, because goals help you focus.

Ziglar wants you to set following types of goals:

• Big goals: Big goals are the type of goals that cause excitement and motivate you. If setbacks happen, focusing on these big goals will help push you forward.
• Long range goals: These can include monthly and yearly goals.
• Daily goals: Daily goals help you work consistently toward your long range goals.

Once your goals are in place, you can develop a plan on how to achieve them. Find out what obstacles you face, the skills you need to learn, and the people you need to meet in order to achieve your goals.

You don’t need to have everything figured out in the beginning. You can alter your goals and plans as you progress and as things become clear.

2. Visualize reaching your goals

“If you want to reach your goal, you must see it, be able to smell, touch and taste it, know how it looks and what it feels like in your own mind.” – Zig Ziglar

Imagination (or seeing things using your mind’s eye) is the most powerful tool at your disposal. You can achieve miracles if you use this tool properly.

So take a few moments daily to relax, clear your mind and actually visualize yourself living the type of life you intend to live. See yourself with the nice things you want in your life such as owning a house or taking a vacation. While you are doing this, bring some emotion into your body to mimic the emotions you would feel when you actually achieve your dreams.

Visualizing this way helps change your attitude, removes limiting beliefs and reprograms your subconscious mind with positive, empowering beliefs, so you can move toward your goals faster.

3. Plan your day first thing in the morning

“Every morning, run through your mind the things you are going to be doing. As you plan the day, as you think of all the things you have got to be excited about, it really does renew your energy.” – Zig Ziglar

A powerful tactic to ensure that you achieve your daily goals is to plan your day first thing in the morning. You can sit in silence and simply visualize all the things you are going to do today and how you are going to do it. As you visualize your day this way, you are filled with positive energy that will motivate you to utilize your time perfectly and take the right action.

4. Develop habits for success

“Motivation gets you going and habit gets you there.” – Zig Ziglar

Ziglar is right in pointing out that, motivation doesn’t last forever, but habits once formed, last forever. As human beings, we are creatures of habit. Habit forming is difficult in the beginning, but it’s formed, you start doing it effortlessly.

In order to reach success, you need to substitute your bad habits with good ones. For instance, a good habit would be getting up early in the morning, planning your day, and working for 1 to 2 hours without giving into distractions. Remember that habits are formed once you repeatedly do something for 21 consecutive days.

5. Believe that you can

“Before you can reach that goals, it is true that whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you are generally right.” – Zig Ziglar

If deep inside, you do not believe that you have what it takes to reach your goals, then you will never reach them. Therefore, it is crucial that you believe in your abilities and back yourself up to reach your goals. Whenever thoughts of self doubt arise, do not pay them any heed and instead shift your focus to empowering and uplifting thoughts of self belief.

6. Optimize your mind

“Remember, you are what you are and where you are because of what’s going on in your mind. And you can change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind.” – Zig Ziglar

As we grow up, we unconsciously imbibe a lot of negative and limiting beliefs from our surroundings. These beliefs unless discarded will hamper your growth, so become conscious of your limiting thoughts. Study these thoughts and figure out from where they arise.

In other words, what beliefs in your subconscious are responsible for them. Once you are aware of these beliefs, stop giving them power by consciously shifting your attention from the negative thoughts to positive and empowering thoughts. Using affirmations and positive self talk is also a great way to reprogram your subconscious mind.

7. Develop a positive self image

“If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.” – Zig Ziglar

How you perceive yourself in your mind’s eye is one of the most important factors that determines whether or not you will succeed.

If you think of yourself as someone who has what it takes to achieve success, you will achieve success, but if you think you are not good enough, you will see your reality reflecting that thought back to you. In-fact, your currently reality is reflective of the self image that you hold within.

Therefore, become conscious of the type of image you hold of yourself in your mind. Ask yourself these questions: How do I view myself? Do I think I am capable of reaching success? Do I believe that I deserve success? Do I see myself as a winner that everyone looks up to?

Simply becoming conscious of your self image can help you alter it from negative to positive.

8. Don’t worry about what others think of you

“Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember ~ the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.” – Zig Ziglar

People will always have something to say and you cannot please everyone. Don’t waste your time and energy worrying about other people’s actions and opinions. Keep your attention focused on your priorities because that’s what matters.

9. Learn from your mistakes

“If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.” – Zig Ziglar

It’s only human to make mistakes. The important thing therefore is to not dwell over your mistakes and instead, ask yourself, what your mistakes are trying to teach you. In doing so, learn from your mistakes, because they are the greatest factors for your personal growth.

10. Always be open to learning

“Life is a classroom – only those who are willing to be lifelong learners will move to the head of the class.” – Zig Ziglar

The moment you think you know everything is the moment you stop growing. In order to succeed, you need to keep growing. Always keep an open mind, and always be open to learning. Do not become a slave to your beliefs, doctrines, and ideologies.

11. Practice delayed gratification

“The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want right now.” –  Zig Ziglar

Studies prove that delayed gratification is a key factor toward achieving success. Make it a habit to not let distractions or short term pleasures take your focus away from achieving your long term pleasures and future rewards. The more you practice doing this, the stronger your self control becomes helping you achieve your long term goals faster.

12. Connect with yourself

“Outside of your relationship with God, the most important relationship you can have is with yourself. We must be healthy internally, emotionally and spiritually – in order to create healthy relationships with others.” – Zig Ziglar

Spend time with yourself. Get to know and understand yourself by practicing self reflection. The more you know yourself, the more you get in touch with your true nature, desires, and goals. Similarly, only by knowing yourself can you begin to know others. Only by loving yourself can you start attracting the right people into your life. All of these characteristics are crucial for success.

13. Spend time in solitude

“If you want to build a winning attitude, you need to take time to be quiet. And you need to do it at-least three to four times a week.” – Zig Ziglar

Ziglar is a major advocate of spending time in solitude. Spending time in solitude helps you reconnect with yourself. It also helps you clear your mind and attract life changing ideas. So make it a habit to spend time alone doing nothing. Spending even a few minutes with your own reflective thoughts can make a huge difference.

14. Surround yourself with uplifting people

“Surround yourself with people who want the best for you and the people you love!” – Zig Ziglar

For the most part, people can be divided into two categories – the lilies and the leeches. The lilies are those who uplift you and leeches are those who drain you.

If you are surrounded by leeches all day long, they will suck your energy dry and you will find yourself feeling a lot less motivated and productive. Instead, when you surround yourself with good people, you will find yourself full of positive energy to take action.

So make a conscious effort to cut out toxic people from your life and surround yourself with people who inspire you to be yourself and who accept you for who you are.

15. Express gratitude

“Of all the “attitudes” we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life changing.” – Zig Ziglar

Expressing gratitude changes your mindset from one of lack to one of abundance. When you feel abundance, you attract abundance into your life. Therefore, every day make it a point to feel gratitude for everything that you have in your life.

16. Value your time and use it effectively

“If you don’t plan your time, someone else will help you waste it.” – Zig Ziglar

Use time as your most valuable resource. This is where planning your day can help you immensely. When you have a set plan in place, you will automatically learn to say no to things that are not productive.

17. Start slow and develop as you go

“Peak performance is dependent on passion, grit, determination, and a willingness to do something poorly until you can do it well.” – Zig Ziglar

You don’t need to have everything figured out from the very beginning. It is also not important that you are an expert in your field of work from the very beginning. You can begin small with whatever you have and develop as you go along. Remember that it is the slow and steady that wins the race.

18. Do not compare yourself to others

“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others.” – Zig Ziglar

In order to reach your goals, it is important that you know your strengths and abilities. Focus on them instead of focusing on your weaknesses. When you compare yourself to others, you automatically start to see things that you lack and lose perspective. Get rid of the habit of comparing yourself to others, and keep your focus on yourself.

19. Be persistent

“If you have the character to hang in there when its tough, you will develop or acquire every other characteristic necessary to WIN in the game of life.” – Zig Ziglar

And finally, the most important of all is to be persistent in your efforts even when the going gets tough.

Ziglar’s book, ‘See You At The Top’, was rejected 39 times before it was published in the year 1975. The book is still in print today and is considered an American classic. Goes to show what persistence can help you achieve. It does not matter how slow you are as long as you are persistent.

Which one of Zig Zaglar’s 19 success mantras resonated most with you and why? Share your thoughts below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/19-success-mantras-from-zig-ziglar-to-help-you-unleash-your-true-potential/

Want to Be an Entrepreneur? It’s Impossible Without These 3 Characteristics

They go by many names: self-employed, 1099 Contractor, Side Hustle, CEO, Business Owner, or Agency Owner, but our favorite term is Entrepreneur. No more working for the “man!” Be your own boss, set your own hours, answer to no one is the cry of everyone that has ever had to punch a clock, ask to take a bathroom break or be elated with a 5% raise. Why would anyone want to work for someone else for 40 years when they can work for themselves and make millions?

If you could only will things into existence by belief, we’d all be the boss. With over 300 Million people living in America today, only 15 million of those are self-employed full time.

We’ve all heard of the Pareto Principle, right?  The 80/20 rule? In sales, business ownership, and entrepreneurship that means only 20% have the right skills, masteries and characteristics to succeed. My personal experience in observing thousands of other entrepreneurs makes me think Pareto might have under-promised and over-delivered. Seems as if only 5% have what it takes.

So what does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? I believe all the books, podcasts, blogs, webinars, and self-help seminars on this subject could be summed up with the following three simple characteristics:

1. Working Smarter and Harder than Mark Zuckerberg presenting before Congress

At the end of the day, a millionaire mindset cannot be paired with a part-time work ethic. I wholeheartedly believe that there are two types of entrepreneurs in the world: the work horses and the lame ducks.

Entrepreneurs put in more hours than anyone else. It’s mandatory to succeed. Yet, they are not empty hours wasted on non-productive activities. You have to be efficient with your time.

The lame duck entrepreneur can be described as continually using their time to do something well, that needs not to be done at all, as Brian Tracy says. They’re busy doing mundane tasks that are not sales generating activities. While a work horse entrepreneur has developed a system that focuses only on the most important sales generating activities and either eliminates everything else or delegates the rest to an assistant.

You have to have an extraordinary work ethic to make it as an entrepreneur these days. There are 1000 other guys right behind you clawing and scraping to win. Do you have the smart, dialed-in, planned out work ethic required to succeed? Do you have that drive to succeed? I hope so.

“When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.” – George Bernard Shaw

2. Downloading more Data than the IBM Watson Artificial Intelligence

“Always be closing” is the mantra at the sales seminar. It should be scrapped and changed to “always be learning.” Closing is easy, but if you stop learning, you won’t have the right product or service for long.

Some studies say that knowledge is doubling every 12 months. Think about that for a second. If you had truly gained mastery in a subject and waited a year or two, you’d now be a dinosaur. It’s been said that most people don’t have 20 years’ experience, but one year of experience repeated 20 times.

You have to continually be learning and staying at the forefront of your niche. Watch the early adopters, test the waters and figure out a way to improve upon what they’ve done. Find someone that has mastered an area that you want to excel in and buy their course, attend their seminar, or read their book.

Experience is a teacher, but it’s a difficult way to learn. Find those that have trail blazed the path before you and implement what they tell you to do. Every successful entrepreneur has had dozens if not hundreds of mentors over their lifetime. It’s been said that your net worth is equal to your network. To succeed you have to continually hit the books.

3. Treat your Finances like you are Warren Buffet’s Hedge Fund Manager

Guess what? You can have the strongest work ethic in the world, you can watch every YouTube video and listen to every podcast created for your niche, but if you’re broke all the time, you’ll never succeed. You have to have some money to make money.

Now what I’m about to tell you used to be common sense because it’s very basic, but balancing a checkbook, creating a budget, spending your money wisely is no longer common knowledge. If you do not have a budget written out, that accounts for every dollar coming in and every dollar going out, then you are doing life wrong! Look up a simple online budget and put it all on paper.

Make a budget for your personal finances. Then start a business checking account. Drop in as much operating capital as you can. Then, create your budget for your business. Write it all down. Take what you’ve learned from your mentors and apply your exemplary work ethic and go make some money.

Pay yourself a meager salary until you have enough money saved in your business account to pay cash for a mid-sized sedan. Then give yourself a raise! Learn what your cost per acquisition is and pull that lever over and over again.

Be willing to invest in your business. Buy the courses and materials needed to grow in your niche. Investing in your business wisely and prudently is the only way to scale up your business and be truly successful.

“Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don’t want..to impress people that they don’t like.” – Will Rogers

There’s a reason that the richest 1% own half the world’s wealth. They have the drive to work harder and smarter than anyone else, they’ve invested in the best mentors and coaches, and are continually learning to stay on the cutting edge in their field. Additionally, they’ve mastered the simple money management skills that are necessary to fund the whole endeavor. Do you have what it takes?

Which one of the above 3 characteristics do you think is the most important to succeed? Share your thoughts below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/want-to-be-an-entrepreneur-its-impossible-without-these-3-characteristics/

4 Ways You Can Master Magnetic Confidence – Ashley Hann

4 Simple Yet Effective Ways to Boost Your Team’s Motivation as a Startup

Many startup leaders are able to grow their organizations quickly, thanks to their off-the-charts motivation and productivity. Unfortunately, when the organization is no longer a one-man show, it becomes very difficult to equip their team members with the same degree of motivation. This can negatively affect the organization’s morale, productivity, and possibly revenue.

Below are the four simple and effective ways to boost your team’s motivation as a startup:

1. Evaluate your own leadership as a leader

Many leaders had their own share of experience with bad leadership. Tim Denning, Addicted2Success contributor, also goes as far as saying, “working with a bad boss is a soul crushing dream killer.” No leaders want to be known as a bad leader. Unfortunately, some startup leaders unintentionally fall into the trap of micromanaging and never listening to the team members because they might not always have an experience as a leader.

If your team is big enough, you can also consider doing an anonymous survey that evaluates your leadership. But if that is not an option, there are tools that allow you to assess your own leadership performance. Go through the assessment, and focus on implementing the changes. Even if the team members’ motivation does not skyrocket overnight, there will be an improvement overtime.

“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” – Jim Rohn

2. Focus more on intrinsic motivation

A study of 200,000 U.S public sector employees by Yoon Jik Cho and James Perry showed that intrinsic motivation, rather than extrinsic motives such as position and salary, makes triple the impact on employee motivation and engagement. This study shows that motivating team members through position and salary is important, yet the biggest transformation will show when you get team members to focus on internal rewards.

For startups and teams with a limited budget, this represents a powerful way to be able to attract and retain the best team members. Though there will be some team members that might be disengaged because they are more motivated by position and salary, there will also be team members that may choose to stay in the organization because of the team’s culture– even if they get other job offers that might be more extrinsically appealing.

Challenge your team members with bigger responsibilities and goals. Encourage them to continue developing their skills or learn new ones. Show them you appreciate their loyalty. The internal rewards and the personal loyalty that your team members develop by working with your team will ensure that they can continue to stay engaged to the work and stay motivated to get the work done.

3. Be specific on HOW their work matters, and how much you care

Most leaders are aware of the importance of great team members and focus on recognizing the team’s efforts. However, when specificity as to how their work makes a difference in the team is added on, it can become extremely powerful. Team members want to know that the business cares about their work and jobs, but also about making a positive impact on the society.

Everytime you remind your team members about how their work makes a difference in the company’s growth, and how the organization makes a difference in the community, your team member will not only feel pride in their work, but they will also be fired up with an extra dose of motivation.

“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” – Henry Ford

4.  Encourage team members to become self leaders

An article by HR Digest shows that 25% of millennial team members are looking for a chance to prove their leadership skills. Although it is highly encouraged for startup leaders to challenge their team members and give them opportunities to showcase their leadership abilities, it can be risky if they do not have a previous leadership experience. That is when self leadership comes in.

Self leadership is a concept developed by Bryant and Kazan and is about having a clear individual identity as a leader. This can mean having a clear understanding of the vision, who they are as a leader and what their capabilities are as a leader. This helps your team members embody an identity of a good leader while developing their leadership skills.

There are many ways of empowering team members to develop self-leadership, such as encouraging them to take on new challenges or allowing them to partake in professional development activities. It can also mean giving them room to innovate and make their own decisions with their authority.

As the team gets bigger and the organization is no longer a one-man show, it can be challenging for leaders to keep their team members motivated. However, with these simple ways, it’ll be easier to equip your team members with the extra dose of motivation to continue doing their best and boost the team’s performance as a whole.

How do you keep your team motivated and excited? Share your ideas and thoughts below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/motivation/4-simple-yet-effective-ways-to-boost-your-teams-motivation-as-a-startup/

This 5 Minute Test Will Instantly Change Your Life

Twelve months is too small for a life plan. The moment you understand this, the new year celebrations become a cliché. Success in life is always a build-up of several years of consistent “little” progress. The new year celebration is for gratitude, not for life planning.

People often overestimate what they can achieve in a year. But they greatly underestimate what they can achieve in 10 years. I discovered a whole new way of making progress in life quite recently. It was from the story of how a friend of mine made her most profound life progress yet. It began with a simple test that can change your life.

My friend was working in a small non-governmental organization that year. She was unsure of how to go forward in life. Life was looking scary and she was getting confused. Then, she attended a conference and took a simple test that helped her change her life.

Here are the 5 questions you must answer in the next 5 minutes:

1. What do you want to be doing (as work) 10 years from now?

Forget about today. Forget about next year. Let us go a bit further into the future. This question is not asking what you think you will be doing in 10 years. The question is asking what you would like to be doing in 10 years.

Saying that you want to be traveling around the world doesn’t count. Even if you plan to retire by then, you still have to be doing something to be responsible. To be doing nothing is to have no reason to be alive. Other people must feel your impact in some way. So, add 10 to your age and write down what you would like to be doing then.

My friend wanted to be working with top international organizations like the UN. She wants to be winning grants and handling big projects in her field. What is yours?

“Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho

2. Who is doing what you want to be doing in 10 years?

Believe it or not, there are people that are already living at least a similar version of your dream today. Do you know them? If you think there aren’t any, I challenge you to get on the internet and find out now.

Try as much as possible to find at least five names. Write only people whose life conforms to your answer in question 1. For my friend, she realized most of those she knew who had this life were in professors in academia. Go out and find your potential mentors today!

3. Identify (from the people you listed) who you need to become to get to your dream

It became clear to my friend that she ought to aim at becoming a university professor. Interestingly, she had always wanted this but never gave it attention. There is a person you’ll need to become to make your dream a reality. Until you identify who you need to be to have the life you want, your life will be without focus or direction. Who have you identified you need to be?

4. What job, work or responsibility will put you on a straight path to becoming who you’ve identified in question 3?

For my friend, she instantly knew she should be seeking a job opportunity at a University. It was the straight path to rise through the ranks to become the person she desired to be. Now, it is not about money or the pressure of getting something worthwhile to do. She had a clear target.

Becoming who you need to be will require that you have some experience credentials. You will get that experience by working somewhere. This is about handling a particular responsibility where you grow and develop. You need that job or responsibility that will put you in line to become who you need to become. So, what is that job for you?

“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah

5. What is the training that will qualify you for the job in question 4?

My friend already had the training and qualifications she needed, so she took off with finding the job she had identified. It took about 3 months of researching job opportunities and taking very bold steps prior to landing the job she wanted at a university.

Most people need some amount of training to land the job they have identified. Work training has become easy today because of the internet. There are myriads of training opportunities that exist in any field you can think of. If you can’t afford the ones you are seeking, I can assure you that there is a free one somewhere that can get you started.

In the professional line, many schools around the world now offer online degrees. In the gig economy also, there are lots of training by experts in various spheres. There is no way you won’t find an online course that is right for you.

Is a particular training coming to mind right now? Take action on it immediately! The training gets you the job. The job makes you into the expert. Search out the training you need and take action immediately!

Conclusion

Once you identify the training and start it, you begin working your way from question number 5 to question 1. From the training, you get the job. From the job, you grow to become an expert or authority in the field. From becoming an expert, you will be free to live the way you want.

For some people, this can indeed take 10 years. But for most, it takes less than that to get to question 1.

My friend is now transitioning from the job to the expert. She made new changes after reevaluating her goals with another test. She recently quit her job at the university to get a more ambitious job in a bigger city. And yes, it is with an international organization.

Now you know what to do, what are you waiting for? Share with us your dream job you’d like to have!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/this-5-minute-test-will-instantly-change-your-life/

9 Reasons Why Attending Networking Events is Crucial for Entrepreneurial Success

No matter how big or small your business is, as an entrepreneur, you must attend as many industry-relevant networking events and conferences as possible. Communicating with other like-minded and motivated people can take your business to the next level and lead to startup success.

Shockingly, 30% of new businesses don’t make it past the first 24 months. By attending networking events and conferences, you can acquire the tools required to ensure your business doesn’t fall into this percentage. Essentially, attending events could save your business. What’s more, most networking events and conferences are free or incredibly low budget.

If you’re still on the fence about attending events, here are 9 of the most notable benefits for your startup:

1. To learn from the best

No entrepreneur, no matter how talented they are, can possibly know everything about everything. Attending networking and conference events is a chance to learn from other entrepreneurs who have been in similar positions and learn from their gains and their loses.

2. To create contacts

In today’s digital world, where most communication happens online, there’s nothing more valuable than face-to-face interaction. Networking events allow for these valuable interactions and to create contacts. The good thing about networking events is that they often allow for speed networking, allowing for multiple interactions in a set period of time. By partaking, you can massively extend your network base.

3. To generate customers

Depending on the type of networking or conference event, and the services you offer, you may find customers. A good way to generate customers at an event is by engaging in discussions about your services and by presenting in front of the crowds.

“Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.” – Bill Nye

4. To learn about the industry

Often, entrepreneurs are too busy growing their business that they forget to see the wider industry and disruption can come as a major surprise. As an entrepreneur, it’s important to be prepared and attending events can shine a light on any industry changes, giving you time to plan and prepare ahead.

5. To find partners

Networking and conference events often have a specific topic and theme. Therefore, the people that attend the event are usually in a similar industry and have much in common. These events are perfect for finding new business partners by finding people that complement the services you offer. It can be useful talking to competitors too as you can potentially work together for an optimised version of a project.

6. To meet investors

The best way to engage the attention of an investor is by speaking directly to them. Face-to-face conversations can build trust and begin the foundation for a future relationship. Investors often attend networking and conference events to get to know the up-and-coming businesses in the industry.

7. To be inspired

Once you start networking with like-minded people it’s easy to find creativity, be inspired and come up with new ways to advance your business. You will come away from the event with new ideas and a new lease of life on your business.

8. To build recognition

Recognition can be one of the biggest obstacles for a start-up. Online marketing may not have the desired outcome if you don’t spread the word effectively. Networking is a great opportunity to meet potential customers and build recognition by engaging on your product or services. Most networking events allow for startups to stand or pitch in front of attendees which is a great opportunity to build recognition around your product or service.

9. Because you’ve got nothing to lose

No matter what industry you’re in, you’re guaranteed to pick up something when attending a networking or conference event. From making valuable connections to finding out what customers think of your product, there are many benefits to events.

“Behind every successful person there are many successful relationships.” – Joe Apfelbaum

From gaining inspiration to learning about the industry, building recognition to generating valuable connections, networking and conference events are crucial for event success. However, turning up to an event is simply not enough. You must put as much effort in as possible by talking to as many people as you can.

When networking, get out of your comfort zone and engage with people of all job levels and all industries. When it comes to business, it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know.

Once the event has ended, always follow up with your new connections via an email, phone call or LinkedIn message. It’s important to get in touch while you’re fresh in the mind of your connection to lay the foundation of future cooperation. Lastly, always remember events are fun and never take them too seriously.

from
https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/9-reasons-why-attending-networking-events-is-crucial-for-entrepreneurial-success/

How 8 Minutes of Meditation Can Give You the Productivity Boost You Need

Of all the productivity hacks I’ve tried over the years, none has had as much of a positive impact relative to the time I put in than meditation. Just 8 minutes per day to be precise. Meditation is a practice that has been around for centuries. Once primarily used by practitioners of Buddhism to reach a higher level of consciousness, science has since shown it has a lot of more earthly benefits as well.

As Healthline reports, meditation improves concentration, reduces fatigue and stress, brings a sense of relaxation and improves sleep patterns, among other benefits. All the above reasons explain why some of the most successful people rely on meditation to thrive in their professions. Jeff Weiner, former Yahoo executive and the current CEO of Linkedin says that meditation has made a huge positive impact on his productivity. Similarly,  Ray Dalio, who is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, attributes a big part of his success to meditation.

5 Ways Meditation Helps with Productivity

Before I get to my own meditation routine that takes just 8 minutes of my time daily, let me first go over in general how meditation can give you a huge leg up in your career and business, backed by studies.

1. Improves Your Attention Span

There are tons of factors that improve productivity, but one that plays a very important role is the ability to focus. Being attentive enough to complete the task at hand means you’ll finish your work with higher accuracy and better efficiency.

According to Pubmed, several studies have shown the efficacy of meditation in reversing parts of the brain that cause mind wandering and the inability to concentrate. Russell Simmons, the CEO of Rush Communications, says that meditation is one of the things that has helped him focus the most.

2. Increases Neuroplasticity

For a long time, scientists believed that brain development only happened during childhood and then ceased. But recent discovery regarding the neuroplastic nature of the brain concludes that our brains actually continue to change and adapt through experiences. In other words, the brain is continually reorganizing itself by creating new neurons and new connections.

Meditation is one practice capable of changing your brain’s structure and functions. In fact, Harvard Researchers at MGH have shown that meditation increases grey matter volume in your brain. What this means is that it causes more neurons to accumulate in one space.

Another theory that explains how meditation boosts neuroplasticity is that it increases cerebral blood flow (CBF). By placing you in a state of relaxation, blood is able to flow more freely leading to better oxygenation and nourishment in your brain. With increased neuroplasticity, your ability to acquire new skills and positive habits increase.

3. Sharpens Your Memory

A major benefit of mediation is that it boosts one’s working memory capacity. The working memory determines how much information the central nervous system can hold and process at any time. It’s like the Random Access Memory in a computer.

A study was done to investigate the effect of active meditation on individuals’ working memory capacities. Researchers had the participants take part in a 45-minute meditation exercise twice per week. After a couple of weeks, they recorded the results and discovered that the respondents’ working memory capacities had increased by more than 30%. Put simply; they could hold and process 30% more information than the average person.

The study proved that meditating increases the working memory capacity. With a larger working memory, you can take on more sophisticated tasks and handle them efficiently.

4. Improves Cognitive Thinking

As you age, your cognitive functioning deteriorates gradually. The resulting deficit weakens your ability to reason, remember and process information. All these are factors that can make you less productive at work and in other areas of your life. Good news is, practising meditation and mindfulness can help with that.

To examine the impact of meditation on cognitive function, researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara conducted a study. They asked 48 undergraduate students to attend one of two classes: a nutrition class or a mindfulness class. The result? Those who attended the mindfulness class saw marked improvements in their exams afterwards, while the nutrition group saw no statistically significant improvements.

One factor that can explain this outcome is that meditation improves the balance of the left and right sides of the brain. Synchronizing both brain hemispheres allows for greater processing power and neural communication.

5. Reduces Stress

Stress is something that people experience on a daily basis, and more so at work. According to the American Institute of Stress, work-induced stress is the most common form of stress. Based on a recent survey they did, at least 80% of Americans experienced stress at work, hampering productivity and leading to mistakes.

Thankfully, having a meditation practice as part of your routine can lower stress and make you more productive. It goes beyond just stress reduction, however. According to the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, meditation has been shown to reduce the symptoms of social anxiety, paranoid thoughts, obsessive-compulsive behaviors and panic attacks.

How 8 Minutes of Meditation Daily Has Changed My Life

My personal journey with meditation has been nothing short of life changing. What if I told you there was a productivity hack that only required 8 minutes of your day, and as a consequence, will double your attention span, mental stamina, and ability to function under stress? What if I told you, thanks to just 8 minutes a day, a once self diagnosed ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) sufferer now frequently loses track of time as he ticks off one item after the next on his daily to-do lists? Yes, that’s what meditation has done for me, and I believe it can do that for anyone.

The meditation routine I follow is based on the best selling book “8 Minute Meditation” by Victor Davich. As a meditation guru, Victor sought out to devise a meditation program that fits in with the ultra busy lifestyles of Westerners while still delivering the main benefits the practice at its fullest provides.

Here is the gist of the “8 minute meditation” that I practice every day right before I go to bed:

• Set a timer for 8 minutes.
• Find a comfortable sitting pose. This could be in a cozy meditation chair or sitting with your legs crossed on a yoga mat
• Close your eyes slowly as if you were planning to sleep. Avoid squeezing them or shutting them involuntarily.
• Next, start taking slow, deep breaths.
• With every inhale, envision that you are breathing in light. Follow the light as it enters your body.
• With every exhale, imagine breathing out all the tension and negativity that you have been harbouring. Relax every muscle from those on your face, chest, back, legs all the way to the tips of your toes.
• As you breathe in and out, your mind will most likely start to wonder. Do not get upset. Just slowly bring your awareness back to your breathing. Imagine catching a fish and just letting it go.
• Continue this until the timer goes off. Then, slowly open your eyes again..

A big part of the magic happens in meditation when you do it consistently. For me, with every day of practice, my ability to stay focused on my breathing and stay present increased during those critical 8 minutes. And as my ability to do those seemingly simple things improved, that’s when I started to notice all the tangible benefits of meditation I mentioned earlier.

Meditation is not a new concept. And it doesn’t require you to invest anything that you don’t already have. This is one of the greatest benefits of meditating; it doesn’t require any special equipment or registration for training. Essentially, you have nothing to lose but so much to gain. To me, meditation dare i say is the greatest productivity hack of all time.

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/how-8-minutes-of-meditation-can-give-you-the-productivity-boost-you-need/

19 Great Peter Jackson Quotes For Creative Success

A highly acclaimed director and screenwriter from New Zealand, Peter Jackson has a very impressive career. He is most popular for his movie adaptation of J.R.R.Tolkien’s novel trilogy Lord of the Rings, which won 17 Academy Award and received 30 nominations. It later became the biggest blockbuster trilogy in cinema history, earning the staggering sum of $2,9 [...]

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https://motivationgrid.com/19-great-peter-jackson-quotes/