How Positive Self-Talk Boosts Motivation and Productivity

“I’m a born failure. There is no way I can get that job. I can’t carry that dress off – I’m too fat. Why do these things happen to me? Why am I so unlucky?” Are your conversations with yourself along these lines? Do you find yourself reprimanding yourself every time you make a mistake or wallowing in self-pity?

If the answer is yes, you need to pause, breathe and show yourself some love. We spend a lot of time with ourselves and in that span of time, it really matters what we are feeding our brains because your internal dialogue plays a massive role in your motivation and productivity levels.

Why Practice Positive Self-Talk?

Positive self-talk is not just another ‘self-help’ term. It’s real, powerful and it works. When you have positive conversations in your head and treat yourself with compassion, it boosts your physical and mental well-being. It fills you with hope and optimism, encouraging you to set aside your fears and put your best foot forward.

Here are the three key ways positive self-talk can benefit you:

1. Boosts Confidence

Practicing positive self-talk is a surefire way to elevate your confidence. It’s an instant uplifter because it comes from a place of self-love and hope. When you tell yourself with conviction that you can overcome anything, you are bound to get a renewed sense of confidence which enables you to do your best.

2. Improves Mental Health

If you are prone to feeling anxious and depressed, you might just need a shift in the way you talk to yourself. Your mental health matters and a crucial part of taking care of it comes from becoming aware of your thoughts and self-talk.

When you bombard yourself with all sorts of negativity, there is no way you can wake up feeling good about yourself. You need to take control of your thoughts and be kind to yourself. The day you do that, you ought to see an improvement in your mental health. 

3. Enhances Performance

Imagine being nervous about an interview or demotivated to write an essay and not being able to come out of that mindset because the only thing you are telling yourself is how incompetent and useless you are. How can you expect yourself to excel if you don’t believe you can?

When you challenge your negative thoughts and choose to feed your brain with positive affirmations instead, you realize you are much calmer and are able to approach matters more pragmatically. This enhances your motivation and overall performance.

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent Van Gogh

How to Make Self-Talk More Effective?

Positive self-talk is not something that happens overnight. It’s a practice that needs to be developed over time, and it starts with making a shift in your perspective through embracing a positive mindset.

Here’s how you can transform your internal dialogue and uplift your outlook:

1. Be Mindful

Words are powerful – they determine your actions. To eradicate negative self-talk, you need to become aware of the way you talk to yourself. Identify problematic words that disrupt your confidence and damage your self-esteem. Notice if you are being too hard on yourself.

For instance, if you blame yourself for everything that goes wrong or set impossibly high standards for yourself, chances are you are being overly self-critical. While you cannot suddenly put a stop to that, being mindful of your thoughts and words is the first step towards changing that pattern.

2. Replace Negative Thoughts

Negative and self-deprecating thoughts tend to keep getting bigger and ultimately become your default thought process. Try this – every time a negative thought crosses your mind, challenge it and convert it into a positive and encouraging one instead. Make this a practice until it becomes a way of life.

The next time you find yourself saying, “I won’t crack this interview”, ask yourself “why not? The least I can do is give it my best.” It’s simple and gradual changes that can improve the way you talk to yourself and transform your mindset.

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” – Willie Nelson

3. Draw Boundaries

In spite of trying hard to be kind to ourselves, there are instances when people around us don’t let us make that change. From being sarcastic and passing derogatory remarks to being plain discouraging – toxic people exist. Identify such people who affect your mental health and draw boundaries to keep them out. Surround yourself with positive people who you can draw strength and inspiration from.

4. Believe in Yourself

Positive self-talk is more than just saying positive affirmations for the sake of it. It’s way deeper than that. It’s about believing in yourself because when you instil that belief in yourself, nothing can stop you from attaining success and being happy. Believe in your capabilities and you will eventually see the difference it makes in your thoughts, words and actions. 

Practicing positive self-talk is powerful enough to change your life. So, the next time you find yourself being too hard on yourself, stop right away and learn to look at the bright side of things because sometimes, all we need is hope. 

What do you think about engaging in positive self-talk? Does it work or not? Share your thoughts with us below!

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https://addicted2success.com/motivation/how-positive-self-talk-boosts-motivation-and-productivity/

Awakening to Significance: The Reward of Living a Meaningful Life

At the time this article is coming out, I am currently navigating what has been a very tumultuous year for me. This has been a year of great transition and transformation in my life. While I have experienced incredible breakthroughs, this has also been a year where I have had to fight many battles. This has truly been one of the greatest seasons of my life because it has produced growth, development, and maturity.

This season of my life has taught me that I am much stronger, wiser, and more powerful than I thought I could be. As someone that has empowered people around the world to fulfill purpose and maximize their greatest potential, I know what it takes to achieve your vision and manifest your greatest life.

Here are a few insights about manifesting your greatness and living a meaningful life:

1. One of the most miserable feelings in the world is living your life in neutral

While we all have goals and dreams, very few people have the drive to see their dreams become a reality. The world is filled with people that have settled for mediocrity and a second-class life.

Most people want to experience change, but they do not want to be challenged. The majority of the people you meet will be content with living life in neutral.

Neutrality is choosing to live a life of cycles, patterns, and safety. You were not created to live life in neutral. Greatness is when you shift out of neutral and into overdrive. Neutrality offers you the comfort of safety at the cost of significance. 

Living your life in neutral is living with the gnawing feeling that you were made for more but choosing to fit into the mole. Neutrality does not rock the boat or challenge the status quo and it will never produce a memorable life. Living in neutral only produces a miserable life.

“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. You must cultivate the seed of greatness within you

Every human being on this planet contains a seed of greatness. No person just steps into greatness, since we all contain the seed of potential. However, what I have learned over the years is that the seed of potential has to be cultivated. Potential that is never cultivated can never be converted into power. The cultivation of your potential requires development, and development is the one thing that most people avoid.

We do not like development because it challenges our standards and stretches us. If you are not being stretched, then you are not really growing. Without growth, you are barred from the realm of greatness. In other words, there is a seed of potential in you that must be cultivated to embrace the possibilities of your life. Cultivation of the seed of greatness will shatter every ceiling that stands between you and the next dimension in your life. Development is always the doorway into the next dimension.

3. You shift your life by honoring the moments of your life

Within the last nine months, I have experienced incredible success in my life and business such as the death of my grandfather, the transition of my career, and the expansion of my purpose and platform. I have been fortunate to create work that has resonated with people all around the world and earned me respect as a thought leader.

While I am grateful for my journey and everything that has contributed to my success, I know that I have mastered discerning the power of moments. My ability to identify, discern and seize moments of opportunity have positioned me for victory on so many occasions. Furthermore, my ability to discern moments has opened doors for me, connected me with destiny relationships and aligned me with my prophetic destiny. So many people are looking for opportunities in the wrong places.

We waste too much time pursuing interests and plans that are not in alignment with our true assignment and purpose. We do not honor moments because we are often unaware of the significance of the moments in our lives. 

Greatness is the ability to perceive, posture and partner with moments in your life. When you truly honor moments in your life, you will realize that every moment is precious and connecting the pieces of your prophetic puzzle.

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

4. You were made to live a meaningful life

My life looks totally different this year than it did last year. Because it’s much freer, fuller, and fulfilled. I realize that we do not enrich our lives by filling our lives with activities. We enrich our lives when we choose to focus on our assignments. I have yet to meet a human being that does not want more. In fact, you were made for more.

The problem is that we are always looking outside of ourselves for more instead of looking within. If you will dare to look within, you will discover the wisdom and answers you need to manifest the life that you were made for. We only get one time to do this thing called life. You owe it to yourself to defy the odds, define your moments and dare to set the world on fire.

Stop shrinking back, playing small and lowering your standards. Challenge your excuses, choose excellence and create something extraordinary. Your moments shift when you awaken to your significance and dare to live an uncommon life. The world is not suffering from an absence of prosperity, the world is suffering from a lack of purpose. Without purpose, our lives have no pulse.

Finally, I want to challenge you to stop living by assumptions and stop living afraid. I want you to dare to dream, love and live without limits. Live on purpose and live every waking moment of your life with passion and intention. 

How do you make sure you’re making the most out of every single day? Share your ideas and thoughts with us below!

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https://addicted2success.com/life/awakening-to-significance-the-reward-of-living-a-meaningful-life/

4 Quick Tips to Overhaul Your Mindset With Ease

Changing your mindset for the better can be deep work, taking hours of time journaling, meditating, and doing all of the other self-care things that can profoundly change your life forever. But there are also powerful ways to shift your mindset that don’t take a month of chanting in Tibet.

Here are a few quick tips you can use to overhaul and manage your mindset when setting aside an hour or more isn’t an option:

Tip 1: Change Your Perspective

Changing your perspective isn’t always easy, but it’s the most important step in shifting your mindset. Think of it as the decision that creates a turning point in your life. This was the #1 skill of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. Every time something didn’t go her way or someone told her no, she adjusted her perspective on the situation, formulated a plan to reach her goals, believed in herself, and went after it! You can do this too!

While it’s not always easy, choosing to see your situation differently changes everything—which can be exactly what you need to create forward momentum. The best part? It only takes a moment to change your perspective, and once you see the opportunities on the other side of that shift, you can’t un-see them. It’s like those two-in-one pictures where you see an old lady until you see the profile of the beautiful woman. Once you know both options are there, you can choose which one you want to focus on.

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer

Tip 2: Acknowledge Your Wins

Whenever you’re faced with a challenge, it’s easy to feel like a failure or like everything’s going wrong. The biggest reason for that is because you are biologically wired to remember and react to the bad things in life more potently than the good things. It’s a survival mechanism. Now that you don’t have to run from bears and remember not to steal their berries when you’re hungry anymore, your negative emotions are stimulated from a more psychological place.

So to keep you out of an emotional tailspin when you feel one coming on, track and actually look at the wins you’ve had. Whether you keep a file on your computer or you keep a box filled with trinkets to remind you of your successes, it’s important to refocus on what you’ve done well to regain your faith in yourself to move forward when things are hard.

Tip 3: Be Intentional

By being more intentional, you create the mental and emotional space you need to be grounded, clear, and open. It’s the difference between surpassing your goals, like winning a new contract, and finding yourself on the couch bingeing the latest season of The Bachelorette wondering what the hell happened. Your intentions set you up for success, and the more intentional you are, the more you win. Here’s why…

Intentions calm your mind and create a space for you to think through things. You’re able to consider options and outcomes you’d otherwise miss, so you can make the most of them. By inserting more intentional practices in your day, you find seamless ways to win.

For example, on a typical morning, you might wake up after hitting snooze five times, drag your feet to the bathroom, stand in front of your closet for 15 minutes (there’s nothing to wear again!), and then either run out the door late or plop in front of the computer five minutes before your meeting starts (you’re not using video anyway, right?).

But if you were being intentional, your morning would look more like this…you wake up excited for the day on the first alarm because today, you got the sleep you needed and you prepped for the morning. You slip on the clothes you picked out last night, you calmly eat your avocado toast while sipping a coffee, and then, with 20 minutes to spare, you’re ready for your day.

“Every single moment shapes our future. Be intentional. Live on purpose.” – Brian Tracy

Tip 4: Love On Yourself

Sometimes, all you need is a little TLC—but in order to know how to love on yourself, you need to be able to recognize the ways in which you feel the most loved and appreciated. Check out the “Five Love Languages” by Dr. Gary Chapman to discover how you most receive love. The five love languages he acknowledges are acts of service (having nice things done for you), quality time (deep, long talks), tangible gifts, words of affirmation (saying nice things), and physical touch.

Here are some examples for self-loving according to the five love languages:

Acts Of Service: This could look like doing the little things for yourself, like making the bed, keeping the dishes done, or other things that reduce stress on you. It can also look like participating in a charity or doing something nice for someone you care about. If you choose to do an act of service for someone else, remember to take the time to appreciate yourself for having chosen that activity.

Quality Time: This could look like taking time to sit in nature, take a bath, or journal—something that allows your inner voice to come out and be heard. This can also be doing something you love that lights you up, like making art, racing cars, or working out. The idea is to choose an activity or practice that gives you the space to clearly hear and process your own thoughts and emotions.

Tangible Gifts: This could look like getting yourself that pair of shoes you really wanted or the watch that’s been on your wishlist for three years. This is all about allowing yourself to receive and celebrate the experience of receiving.

Words Of Affirmation: This could look like standing in front of the mirror, looking yourself in the eye, and giving yourself 10 honest compliments — or writing out five things you’re proud of this week.

Physical Touch: This could look like choosing fabrics that feel really good against your skin or getting an at-home massager you use on your hands after typing all day. The idea here is to be intentional so you can process any thoughts, emotions, or beliefs that come up so you can strengthen the relationship you have with yourself.

You don’t need to have the next best self-care ritual, all you need is to care for yourself by caring about yourself, your needs, and your desires.

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/4-quick-tips-to-overhaul-your-mindset-with-ease/

Embrace a Growth Mindset to Achieve an Infinite Amount of Success

Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy. On top of all of your responsibilities, you’re also in charge of your own education. You can’t stop learning, or you’re going to fall behind your competition, no matter your industry. All of the pressure on you might make that feel impossible. How do you handle it? By embracing a growth mindset.

What is a growth mindset?

A growth mindset is a term coined by researcher Carol Dweck, that encourages individuals to view failure as a teacher. We’ve shared before that “By developing and altering our mindsets to develop, we are enabling ourselves to make positive changes in our lives, allowing us as individuals to aim high, achieve our goals, and live our dreams.”

A growth mindset is a different approach than a fixed mindset, which dictates that skills, capabilities, and comprehension are all set in stone. A fixed mindset means you take failure personally, don’t try to broaden your horizons, and let your pre-existing skills determine your future success. When it’s laid out like that, it feels like a no brainer for entrepreneurs. Obviously, you want a growth mindset.

Here are a few ways to embrace that mindset for your future success:

1. View weaknesses as opportunities

This is the number one key to developing a growth mindset. If you allow yourself to view failure as a final destination, you’re never going to succeed long term. “Fail fast, fail often” is definitely something you’ve heard before as an entrepreneur. It’s a common mantra for a reason! You need to be able to pick yourself up from failures.

Identify your weaknesses, and be honest with yourself about them. This way, you can start self-educating to make progress, and can avoid pitfalls at the same time. Do you have a tendency to be overly self-critical? Consult with a mentor to get a reality check. Are you a perfectionist to the point of self-destruction? Talk with your community to get a more balanced perspective.

You know yourself better than anyone. Admitting to mistakes and owning your failures is the best thing you can do for your long term success as an entrepreneur. Every failure is a chance to improve. Your next venture won’t make the same mistakes, and your awareness of your faults will only make you stronger. 

2. Become more independent 

Another benefit of cultivating a growth mindset is it increases your independence. Having a fixed mindset means that you rely on others for your confidence. If you’re afraid to take risks, you’re going to be reliant on the option of your peers to develop your opinion of yourself.

This isn’t sustainable for an entrepreneur. Overall, you need to rely on yourself, first and foremost.

Entrepreneurs need a thick skin to survive in the startup world! A growth mindset means you know your own value, and you take the time to invest in your success. As mentioned above, you certainly need a community to support you. However, your first and strongest sense of support needs to come from within. 

3. Keep communication open 

Balance is key when you’re running a startup. You need a solid work/life balance, you need a balance of input and output, and you need a balance of feedback and the independence we just talked about.

“Communication rules so many aspects of your business,” says Nexa. “It needs to move to the top of your priority list as a small business owner. Rather than settling for the status quo, continue to think about the point of view of others.”

Embracing a growth mindset means you need to learn to thrive on feedback. Don’t be afraid to ask your team for their thoughts and possible solutions! Learning from everything means learning from everyone you possibly can.

Move towards success by embracing a growth mindset 

Pursuing a growth mindset is an admirable goal for any business professional, but especially for entrepreneurs. While you don’t have to get there overnight, you can greatly improve your chances of business success by being honest about weakness and balancing independence with communication.

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https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/embrace-a-growth-mindset-to-achieve-an-infinite-amount-of-success/

The Daily Routines of 35 Wildly Successful Women Throughout History

If achieving success was easy or there was a simple blueprint for it, everyone would be successful. However, there’s still a lot to be said for learning from the best and seeing what has worked for them, because adopting good habits can only help you. In that spirit, it’s always interesting to learn about the daily rituals of successful people, because how they live their lives must have an impact on what they have achieved.

This infographic below shows how many of the most famous and successful women in history have planned out their days, whether they were writers, artists, reality TV show stars or athletes and there’s a lot to learn from them. Even comparing their routines is fascinating, like seeing when and how much they all slept on a daily basis, with dancers Josephine Baker and Pina Bausch living almost nocturnal existences while some, like the Marquise du Deffand, seemed to hardly need any sleep at all.

The amount of time spent working is also fascinating, with some spending much of their waking time doing it and others seeming to only need short bursts of activity, like playwright Lillian Hellman and Oprah Winfrey, while the aforementioned Pina Bausch made up for her lack of sleep by working for almost her entire day. Exercise, meanwhile, has only become a regular part of the daily lives of the more recent successful women, no matter whether that’s mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey or homemaking queen Martha Stewart.

One thing notable from all of these women is that they don’t waste much time, with most of them using down time in the mornings to organize their homes and families, deal with their letters (or emails) or indulge in some self-care. Why not check out each of their daily rituals and see which of them looks like the kind of life you could start to try out on your road to success?

Here is the Infographic from BodyLogicMD that shows the daily rituals of famous women throughout history:

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https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/the-daily-routines-of-35-wildly-successful-women-throughout-history/

7 Ways to Make Yourself Better at Managing Your Money

What you know about money management often comes from your experience, advice from your friends, parents, and your wife, or a random search on the Internet. These sources of information are sometimes unreliable and can lead to bad money management skills. In this article, we are going to introduce to you 7 tips on how to manage your money and financial situation effectively and intelligently.

1. Changing the way you think about money

Some people often complicate monetary issues and become stressed about making money, alert to ambition, and feel hatred of material elements while highly appreciate spiritual ones. After all, they often avoid talking about money just because they cannot control it. Saying that they want to give up or they are unconcerned is just a way to hide their pressure and fear when they cannot gain what they want.

To bring your financial situation under control, you have to understand your feelings first. Tana Gildea – the author of “The Graduate’s Guide to Money” – tells you to ask yourself how you feel about money and whether you are good at earning, saving, and managing your money. If you do not feel good, you cannot do it well. Don’t be dependent on money or feel guilty when thinking of it. Instead, believe that you can control your budget and be happy with it.

“It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for.” – Robert Kiyosaki

2. Changing the way you talk about money

People often think that talking about money to others is impolite, so they keep it inside and stress themselves out. Unfortunately, it causes frustration and may lead to many other contradictions. Professor Syble Solomon from the Financial Therapy Association claimed that most couples only talked about money when there was a crisis. Talking about money is challenging but it is a must. Financial clarity is a good way to manage personal finances and create good relationships.

3. Changing the way you spend your money

To live well, try to spend a little below your ability and change your lifestyle to fit your income. This is the key and the most important way to properly manage your money. You should adjust your unreasonable spending to save more money for meaningful goals such as traveling or buying a house. You can also manage your account with the help of a mobile app, a notebook, or a person who is good at money management.

4. Planning your budget

You may equate a budget with strict abstinence, in which you have to sacrifice your comforts and ignore your special pleasures. However, this is not a good way at all, it only makes you a time bomb and you may decide to spend all of your money at once. Instead, you are advised to have a balanced budget, like you are following a balanced diet because money management should be a lifestyle, not an intermediate solution.

5. Spending your money intelligently 

Determine whether one thing is important to you or not before spending a sum of money on it. Make sure you have a plan for it and it is one of your priorities. If you want to rent an apartment with a nice view and create a relaxing space at home, it means that you decide to invest your monthly income in living space. If you travel frequently, spend your money on traveling items instead of expensive furniture. Another smart way is to divide your account into two parts, one for your imperative needs and the other for your outbursts. By the way, you will find it easier to manage your finances after doing this.

6. Saving intelligently

Don’t save as much as possible but set your financial goals based on certain contexts to know how much you should save and how long it should take to achieve it. The clearer you define your goals, the more motivation you have to realize them.

“Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are.” – James W. Frick

7. Saving for retirement

To live well when retiring, you need to save from 15% to 20% of your income (even more than 20% if you can earn a lot of money). Unfortunately, not many people can do so. At first, it may be challenging to save up to 10% or 15% of your income but if this amount of money is subtracted automatically from your salary and transferred into a retirement account, it is much easier.

For instance, with earnings of $50,000/year, you set a goal of saving 10% of it and at the end of each year, you will have $5,000 in your account. But, if you don’t perform this action, what will you do to earn $5,000?

Moreover, this amount of money will bring you profits. With the bank rate of 7%/year, for example, you will have up to $750,000 after 35 years and more than $1 million after 40 years. If you are at the peak of your career and can earn a lot of money, don’t forget to save a part of it for your retirement.

Above, we have introduced to you 7 ways on how to make yourself better at money management. Have you ever tried any of these methods? If yes, please share with us your experience. If no, I hope these methods are useful to you. If you have any questions or comments, you can drop your words below this post. We will respond as soon as possible. 

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https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/7-ways-to-make-yourself-better-at-managing-your-money/

3 Foolproof Ways You Can WIN in the Online Space

Lets take a second and remind ourselves how revolutionary the Internet is… we can buy a $200 plane ticket, fly 18 hours away to a new place, and still have the connection to people back home (and around the world), as if we never left! But to experience this revolution, we first need to show up.

Showing up is 90% of the battle. If we show up, we can connect with others, express ourselves, share information, create memories, and incubate ideas. We can share laughter, spread joy, and transfer energy. If you’re nodding your head in agreement, you are already on your way to understanding how you can WIN in the online space.

In this Influencers Exposed Podcast episode, Joel breaks down three foolproof ways you can win in the online space…ways that aren’t talked about as much but should be.

1. Embrace your vision as unique and authentic: There is only one you

You and your friend can walk into a bar with all variables the same (same outfit, intention, knowledge), but experience something completely different. Why? Because you’re two different people. It’s as simple as that.

The beauty of authenticity (a potentially cliché word that many might not thing they embody) is that your perspectives, your life experiences, and your emotions are the reasons why you and your friend will walk out of that bar having two completely different stories to tell.

Joel elaborates on this concept in the episode, sharing how this perspective has been a huge proponent as to how he gets over impostor syndrome while consistently sharing online. So the next time you want to post about something but already saw someone else talk about it, remember how your delivery and perspective of that information is unique and authentic to YOU. It will resonate with those who will most likely turn into followers and friends.

2. Shift from comparison to curiosity: Find the inspiration and greatness within others

Lets bring ourselves back to our childhood years where we questioned everything, asking, “Why?” so many times that our parents had no choice but to keep coming up with answers until we got tired. Well, fast forward to our adult years, why don’t we approach social media and those that are successful in our areas of interest in the same curious manner?

Instead of looking through your feed and comparing where they are, what they have, what they’re doing, or how happy they look compared to your current situation, Joel shares the question he asks himself to turn the tables.

“Where is the inspiration and greatness within them that I can find in myself? If I learn those things, would I be able to get to my vision sooner?”

I challenge you to ask yourself these questions next time you feel less than or unhappy while consuming someone’s content. You might just evolve from comparison to curiosity. Scarcity mindset to abundant mindset. Unhappy state of being to joyful and empowered state of being. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

3. Zero-structure sharing: Stop forcing it and just do it when it feels right

Oh the beauty and satisfaction in a cohesive feed. You know what I’m talking about… you go to someone’s profile (on Instagram) and the Lightroom presets are on point, every third picture is a quote, followed by a nice picture and vulnerable caption, and then another picture with an informative caption. It’s visually appealing, and your OCD is satisfied. But just like with anything else in this world, after a while, doing the same thing gets old, boring and uninspiring.

Joel shared his experience with this exact social media strategy and how it led to his current  ‘zero-structure sharing’ approach. He realized that his vulnerable captions were becoming a burden because they had to be scheduled, therefore feeling forced and less authentic. Since one of his core values in delivering content to his audience is to remain genuine and transparent, he broke the pattern.

The result? When inspiration or a moment of vulnerability struck, he would post about it. Whether it was three times a week or once every other week, Joel elaborated how much more effective this was through the feedback of his followers. Not only did this zero-structure sharing make Joel feel more in alignment with his message, but his followers and community benefited from it immensely as well!

Posting on a certain topic when it feels right is the most authentic and vulnerable we can get. It’s a bonus that it is most effective for others as well.

Listen to the full episode at the top of this article to hear even more from Joel about how you can kick-start your self-development journey, along with perspectives he never talked about until now.

If you enjoyed this episode and blog post or if you have anything to add, please leave a comment below!

RESOURCES:

Connect with Joel:

Instagram- @iamjoelbrown

Website- iamjoelbrown.com

Monthly Mindset Mentorship Program: mindstrongalliance.com

Connect with Alexis:

Instagram- @alexisquiterio

EPISODE LINK:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/influencers-exposed-podcast/id1469424090?i=1000448471071

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https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/3-foolproof-ways-you-can-win-in-the-online-space/

A Salesman’s Guide to Everyday Conversation With Strangers

One of the most valuable traits a salesperson can possess is the ability to easily strike up conversations with anyone who crosses their path. Whether you’re on a plane or in line at the grocery store, having a method for starting a conversation with random strangers is an asset that sets the best apart from the mediocre. This ability correlates into more sales as every new person you talk to becomes a new prospect for you to pitch your services to.

Since sales is something that all of us do every single day (you do not have to always be bartering or selling something for money to be selling something), the five steps below have proven to help out a lot of people with their sales career and confidence to network when around people they don’t know.

Here are my 5 proven steps to starting a conversation with anyone:

1. Paralleling

This step is super effective and easy. The trick is identifying what the other person cares about. Things like tattoos and jewelry are great examples of personal attributes or items that they cherish and or that mean something to them. 

Ideally, you want to identify something they have that you have yourself. This becomes an easy way to strike up a conversation and build rapport by being “like” them. For example, on a recent trip, I noticed that the guy sitting next to me had Chinese characters in the tattoo on his arm. From here, we can move into…

2. 20 Questions

Here we start asking them questions about the item or attribute that we identified in the paralleling step. Be sure to make eye contact, smile and approach the questions with a relaxed, yet interested energy. If they feel like you are forcing the conversation, it will make them uncomfortable and clam up.

Remember the tattooed guy on the plane? After I asked him what the Chinese characters meant, the door was open to ask further questions, like “That’s really cool, what made you get the tattoo?”

To make it easy, create questions fusing who, what, when, where and how, which allows the person you’re talking to to tell a story about themselves. This creates a bond and builds trust with them quickly because they feel admired and liked. You’d also be amazed at how much you can find out about someone by doing this.

However there is a warning here! There is a way to screw this up! The item or attribute you are paralleling needs to be something you genuinely like and are interested in. This is key. So if you know nothing about tattoos, don’t want a tattoo, or don’t like tattoos, then don’t compliment them on their tattoo, because it will be disingenuous and you won’t be contribute back to the conversation. In other words, you will lose the bond with the person you are communicating with really quickly.

“To be interesting, be interested.” – Dale Carnegie 

3. You’re My Hero

If you have asked enough questions you should have a general idea from the person you are talking to and you now can use that information to connect with them on other levels of common interest.

Find life circumstances that match or stories that you share. Tell them how something in their story moved you emotionally (make sure to be genuine!) or help the person emotionally see and feel how their story connected with you. This will help to initiate the first “bonding moment” that you two share.

We call this step of this process, “you’re my hero” because you have shown excitement around something they do that you wish to do or do yourself. This “likeness” helps strengthen the bond and open up the other person to share more about their life with you.

4. Common Denominators

By now you’ve asked some questions, gotten some information from them, and heightened the bond between the two of you. You can keep the conversation going by mentioning other things that you like and notice that you two might have in common, based either on physical things you see or answers to your questions. 

Each “common denominator” you can find serves to tighten the bond between you and them. The stronger the bond you can develop with them, the more powerful the last step will be!

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” – Dale Carnegie

5. Leave Behind

Here is where you make this conversation stick in their memory. All four others steps lead to this, because it’s where you can leverage the conversation and connection into some sort of transaction. 

This transaction doesn’t always mean a sale, it can occur in a range of ways. You may have a person to introduce them to that can solve their challenge, or you may be able to send them a referral, or it could be as simple as a business card exchange or friending them on social media.

A popular leave behind in 2019 is a mobile app, mainly because someone always has their phone with them. A leave behind is a way for them to have your contact information (and you get theirs) so you can connect with them after the conversation is over. Other great leave behinds are a copy of a book you wrote, your website link, or a sales funnel link.

Sometimes too, when things go really well with the conversation (believe me, you will know) you may be able to immediately schedule a time to talk with them later. The bond needs to be strong enough before you propose this because if it’s not it can ruin this entire opportunity.

If you’re thinking this sounds simple, you’re right! And it still takes practice to perfect. For some seasoned sales people, they can probably think back to a time or two when they did this unconsciously and it worked out great. The thing is, when you practice these steps and allow it to become an unconscious process you can use too, it can be a lethal weapon for you in your professional career and your life as a whole.

Start by practicing the steps consistently. Practice at the gym, at restaurants, anywhere you are where there is a stranger nearby. Over a short period of time you’ll accrue a lot more contacts, have the opportunity to make more sales and you’ll become such a natural that people will think you were born charismatic! 

What part of this salesman’s guide resonated most with you and why? Share your thoughts with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/a-salesmans-guide-to-everyday-conversation-with-strangers/

4 Things You Should Do if Your Drive for Success is Taking a Toll on Your Mental Health

There is no cookie-cutter formula for success. Success can look different depending on who you talk to. Some people pursue wealth while others chase after accolades. Then there are those who define success by the quality of their relationships with family and friends. In addition, others focus on their health and physique as a measure of success or self-worth. 

Often a person’s pursuit of success will depend on factors including what they feel they need to be okay with being who they are, or to get the love and approval they desire, or to meet expectations they believe they should achieve.

Whatever your definition of success, it can be helpful to know what motivates your pursuit for “more”— especially when a drive for success may be taking a toll on your mental health and ruining your quality of life. 

Below you’ll find four recommendations for how to regain a healthier perspective in your quest for success:

1. Be mindful of your daily stress levels and how you’re feeling

There is no point in reaching a goal of success if you wear yourself down day after day in the process. As is often said, happiness is a journey, not a destination. If your pursuit of success has become so stressful that it only feels like drudgery, it may be time to take some self-care measures. 

Poorly managed chronic stress can be as bad for your mental health as post-traumatic stress by negatively affecting your mind, thinking, body, behaviors, and relationships.

Chronic stress also impairs cognitive abilities and is associated with greater impulsiveness. That’s because we humans have a very sophisticated, built-in alarm system of sorts. This highly evolved stress response is designed to warn us of potential danger. 

In the face of a perceived threat, our body releases endorphins like adrenaline and cortisol. These chemicals prepare the body for “fight or flight”— a survival mechanism that can be incredibly handy when you’re staring down a lion on the African savannah. When you’ve got a big presentation tomorrow that you’ve had zero time to prepare for? Less so.

When your body gets accustomed to living in a near-constant state of fight or flight, your sleep is one of the first things to go. You’re then more likely to turn to pills, alcohol, or food to feel better. You also feel tired all the time and more inclined to be short with others or retreat altogether. Consequently, your relationships suffer.

Sleep, health and relationships are helpful barometers of stress levels, among other things. Pay attention to how you’re doing in these areas. Often, just a tweak here or there—to sleep and/or other lifestyle habits—can be a game changer for stress management.

“It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.” – Bruce Lee

2. Strive for balance in all areas of your life, even if that balance seems elusive at times

If you’re regularly hitting home runs in one area of your life (such as in your profession) but keep striking out in every other domain (your relationships, health, etc.), you’d be better served exploring ways to juggle all of the aspects of your life. Don’t just be focused on one area of living.

The ideal is to strike a healthy balance between the physical, emotional, spiritual, career, and relationship spheres of life.

When we over-focus on one area, the other areas can suffer. A case in point: the workaholic who works all the time and soon finds they have nothing else; their health suffers, they are lonely, they don’t take time for their emotional and spiritual self and only keep draining the well until there is little left. This is called “burnout.” When you’re suffering from burnout, you are like a car without gas in the tank, you grind to a halt unexpectedly.

3. Seek greater flexibility, by cultivating an attitude of acceptance

People with a higher quality of life often report they have flexibility. They adjust to situations rather than ask situations to adjust to them. They do not demand their way, ask others to be the way they “should” be (but aren’t now) or set unreasonable expectations regarding outcomes.

We are all just human beings interacting in a vast and complicated world, so there is freedom in accepting the reality that we cannot simply “will” ourselves into success. If you can learn to accept and not fight life on its terms, but to adjust and respond in a healthy way, you’ll find that you’ll be better at dealing with the setbacks and issues you face each day.

Often a regular practice of mindfulness can be helpful at inculcating greater acceptance of oneself and the world around us. With that acceptance comes greater flexibility.

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” – Albert Einstein

4. If fear is motivating your pursuit of success, work on letting it go

If fear were a person, it would only be selfish and self-interested. Fear assumes there are scarce resources and that you have to get yours or else be left out. When fear is operative, you constantly look for the next bad thing to happen; and your thinking, planning and coping skills are compromised because of your fear response.

Fear is not a motivator, it is a de-motivator. It is a hamster wheel that constantly keeps going, making us run for our lives without a break. There is always something else for us to be afraid of.

You would never knowingly instill fear in a child and tell them that is the ticket to success.  Instead, you would try to comfort, inspire, problem-solve and give them a feeling of self-worth and confidence. The same interventions work well for most of us grown-ups. If your success is driven by fears of failure or of not being good enough or of letting others down, it may be time to do some soul searching.

Maybe consider consulting a life coach or seeing a therapist. Not even the greatest fantasy of “having arrived” is worth achieving if that process is driven by what you’re afraid of.

Does your mental health ever take a toll because of your drive towards success? Share your thoughts and beliefs with us below! We’d love to know.

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/4-things-you-should-do-if-your-drive-for-success-is-taking-a-toll-on-your-mental-health/

5 Secrets to Building a Strong and Dominant Sales Team

For the past 10 years, I have been working with this multinational company as the head of the sales department. In my 10 years of experience, I’ve realized that having a strong team of employees is what makes a business stand. If your team is weak and uncooperative, you can never grow your business or reach success.

For every business, the sales team happens to be the backbone. Ask why? Well, that’s where the profits and revenue come from. If you don’t have a strong and dominant sales team at work, things are going to be really difficult.

In this guide, I will share with you the 5 key secrets to building a strong sales team:

1. Selflessness

Ego is one of the elements that lead you to your downfall. If you want cooperation from your team members, you need to be selfless. Having unnecessary ego can make you look bossy, so you need to show selflessness to be a successful leader. Selflessness is one of the most critical elements of building a lasting team.

When you are working for a company, whether big or small, you cannot always take credit for the success that has been achieved with the help of your team. The success you have is because of the joint cooperation of your team. As a good team leader, you need to be selfless and share successes with all your team members.

After all, you alone are not responsible for the success. Everyone contributed equal efforts and therefore, they should be given credit too. Sadly, most team leaders don’t realize the value of their team and try to grab onto the limelight alone. This is where you are betraying your team. Try to be selfless with your team, and you will see the difference in performance.

2. Understanding and appreciating your individual roles

If you want a better outcome from your team you need to first understand and appreciate your individual values. Being a team leader is not easy. Your team looks up to you for guidance and the right advice. When you look at the bigger picture, you should be able to picture yourself in a position where you have sacrificed your time and credit to support your team.

Let’s say, you have a big task to handle. You instruct your team on what needs to be done and then engage yourself in leisure activities. This is not the way to support your team. As a good leader, you should be sacrificing your time too and work with them to achieve success.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

3. Improve communication on priorities

Communication is very important when you are working with your team. I have seen many team leaders who only communicate when there is a need. If that’s how you handle your team, you will never be able to establish a connection. You need to make your team feel more like your friends rather than your employees.

This kind of relationship can be established only when you leave communication open. Your team members should be able to communicate with you whenever it’s needed.

Try to be a part of the team instead of bossing them around. Don’t make your team feel like they are below you. You should treat everyone equally with respect, because only then can you expect productivity and performance from them.

Also, having proper communication can solve problems both big and small. This is why many of the top companies focus so much on improving the communication line between the employees, team leaders, and bosses.

4. Focus on your KPI’s

By KPI, I mean your key performance indicators. Focus more on those who are actually giving their 100%. Appreciate them for their good work. Set them as examples before other members of your team. However, that doesn’t mean you will neglect the rest of your team.

You should appreciate the best performers and encourage others to do the same. That’s how you run your team. You need to maintain a balance between the two categories of performers.

“Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity.” – Reed Markham

5. Hunger to attain success

You need to have the hunger to attain success. However, you alone cannot make everything happen and that’s why you need to encourage your team to be equally passionate about their work. You need to show them the meaning of success so that they put in 100% to be successful.

What you should do is use yourself as a good example before them. When they see their leader dedicated to his work and working for success, they will follow you too. Work together and achieve the impossible. You and your team both need to have the same level of hunger to attain success.

These five elements can help you to build a strong sales team. They are the blood and soul of your company. Therefore, make sure that you are paying full attention to them. If you found this article helpful, share it with your friends and acquaintances. They may also find it useful.

What about this article resonated most with you and why? Share your thoughts with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/5-secrets-to-building-a-strong-and-dominant-sales-team/

5 Key Steps to Becoming a Successful Blogger

Blogging…the great form of getting your thoughts onto the web while being informative or entertaining, or both! If you’re new to the whole blogging scene and want ideas before you start your blogging adventure, keep reading because there’s some simple, yet effective steps.

1. Consistency Is Key

The more consistent the better. Posting content at a minimum of once or twice a week is when Google and other search engines will start to notice your activity and start to rank you. If you are lazy and just publish whenever you want, Google won’t be so sure of that and won’t rank you anywhere near as much if you were to be consistent.

Quick note, to be consistent means to still have great content. Don’t get sloppy because not only will your readers notice but guess who will notice? Yes, Google. This is the first step and one of the most important steps to becoming a good blogger.

2. Links Don’t Always Mean You’ll Rank

Don’t just put in any links because it’s a “source” and fills out your blog more. Linking out can sometimes damage your rank, not improve it, even if it’s relevant, and here’s why! The reasoning is because you need to make sure the website your referring/sourcing back to looks established and professional.

Another reason is that if you go onto a blog and see links left, right, and center, it looks like spam and unprofessional, not to mention it looks like you haven’t put any effort into your own content and just found relevant content and spammed them into your content.

“If you want to continually grow your blog, you need to learn to blog on a consistent basis.” – Neil Patel

3. Spread the Word

In this day and age, with the greatness that is the internet, spreading the word about your blog hasn’t been easier! Pinterest is one of my favorites. Using Pinterest is one effective way to quickly gain a lot of attention, and here’s what I do to increase traffic looking for related blogs and content that I’m putting out.

As Pinterest is considered a search engine and not as much of a social media platform, it generates a lot of organic free traffic. Additionally, it’s super easy to use. The beauty of it is that you can link back to your website from posting great looking pictures/graphics to appeal to an audience searching for relevant content.

To put into perspective how great Pinterest is, I’ve had Pinterest up for around 1 month and have been posting pins back to my website here and there, not putting in as much as I should actually. Want to know how many people I reach organically? 2,600 organic people will see my own pins I have put on Pinterest that link back to the relevant blogs on my website and that’s just after 1 month of putting a few pins on here and there using Canva for the great looking pins. I would advise you to look into some YouTube videos on Pinterest too before it gets too saturated/competitive.

Quora is another one of my favorites. Quora is a Q&A type of website, where people will ask questions they want answered. As long as you have an account, you can answer those questions. So, how does this benefit you? As long as you provide a great answer to someone’s question, you can link back to your website/blog that will be relevant to your content.

For example, let’s say your blog is about photography and there’s a question about which is the best starter DSLR camera for a beginner. Great, you have a blog that is relevant to that question, go in and answer it, give your opinions on a few cameras and then you can mention, “hey, I’ve done a full-blown blog on this topic which would be more informative for you here”. Then, link it in as a hyperlink so it looks cleaner than just posting it as a full link.

Now that you’ve posted the link in your answer, anyone who searches for an answer on Quora about the best beginner DSLR cameras and comes across the original posters question will see your answer in the answers section. There’s a possibility they will click on your link over to your blog, and there you have it, more FREE organic traffic.

4. Guest Posting

Guest posting is where you find a website similar to yours that has more authority and traffic than yours. Check to see if the website you’re interested in accepts guest posts (usually you will find a link in the header or footer for this). Once you know they accept guest posts, write an article that you haven’t already published and if they accept your guest post then you will get their traffic laying eyes on your post.

The beauty of this is that you can link back to your website through the article you submitted on their website or in the Author Bio section and once their traffic reads through your article, if they like it, they will click through to your site to check out the other content on there.

You will have traffic stumbling upon your post that links back to your website, which can lead to more traffic on your website and then you gain more authority through that, which means higher ranking in the long run. 

This means that the website you guest posted for gets good, relatable free content for their visitors and you get free traffic to your article and website. Everyone ends up happy.

“The process for finding, creating, and consuming information has fundamentally changed with the advent of the web and the rise of blogging.” – Ryan Holiday

5. Repeat

This is as important as all the above steps combined. To be consistent, you need to repeatedly keep posting your content. To get your website name and content out there, you need to link out. (although still be cautious as stated above).

You need to be active and repeat what you do on the above-mentioned Pinterest and Quora within your niche. Additionally, you need to get those guest posts out there, even if you get one a week because that’s going to add up to a lot of exposure in the long run. Repeat, repeat and repeat.

This is not a “short cut” guide to become a successful blogger, it is steps to continuously grow your content far and wide, so that all can find and enjoy your content you put out. 

Do you have a blog? If so, share it with us in the comments below! We’d love to look at it!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/5-key-steps-to-becoming-a-successful-blogger/

10 Things You Can Start Doing Today to Succeed With ZERO Talent

Sometimes you see someone great and we say they’re talented and that’s how they got there. We put ourselves in victim mode  when there’s so much we can do to produce results and become successful.

Here are 10 things you can do even if you have no talent at all:

1. Being on Time

Time is the most valuable commodity so it’s disrespectful to yourself and others if you waste it. Being on time is something that is very much in your control. People who are always late underestimate how much time it takes to get ready and go somewhere. It’s a habit which is formed from a lack of discipline. Seriously I would know. I used to be late all the time. These days not so much because I’ve decided to consciously change that and I’m still working on it.

2. Work Ethic

This is a prerequisite to becoming successful. You reap what you sow in life. Think about people like Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Will Smith, Conor McGregor. They all have one thing in common, an insane work ethic. No matter how talented you are, if you don’t have this then you’ll never realise your full potential.

3. Effort

Putting maximum effort into everything you do works in conjunction with your work ethic. If you’re doing this and on the highest leverage tasks, then you will get an insane amount more done than everybody else.

4. Body Language

A lot of the times communication is non-verbal and the way you carry yourself is more important than what you say. Strong body language can literally change your physiology and state which people feel. Two minutes of a simple power pose can increase your testosterone levels by 20 percent. Isn’t that remarkable? Make good eye contact, stand up straight, don’t fidget. Those are signals of a confident person that is comfortable with themselves. Study the greats and see how they communicate non-verbally.

“Talent you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft.” – Will Smith

5. Energy

Energy management is even more important than time management. You will be more successful if you can sustain high energy levels for a long period of time. To manage your energy in the best way possible, think about the thoughts you are having, how you are moving your body and what your nutrition is like.

6. Attitude

Choose a positive attitude as often as you can. No one wants to be around someone who is negative and negativity doesn’t lead to success. No external event can effect you unless you allow it. Always find the silver lining.

7. Passion

Align yourself with what you love. Passion is one of the things that makes life worth living. When you are passionate about something, it constantly excites you. To truly be great at something, you’re going to have to love it. It’s a tough process to mastery and is near impossible if no passion is there.

8. Being Coachable

Being coachable is one of the keys to success. It’s what was reiterated at a recent seminar I went on. If you’re someone who is always arguing with the guy that is where you want to be, you need to stop. You’re wasting your energy. They’re there for a reason. They have produced results and if you want to produce the same results you need to listen. First emulate and then build your own style. Learn from those who came before you.

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants” – Isaac Newton

9. Doing Extra

If you over deliver people will always remember you. You reap what you sow and that’s what remarkable people do. You always have more left in the tank than you think.

10. Being Prepared

Preparation breeds confidence, which is essential. Whether it’s playing a sport, making a presentation or going on a trip, you need to be well prepared for the task at hand. A lot of the times we see success and we don’t see that most of it is due to preparation. The relentless planning, practice and review. As Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. This makes you proactive (planning things before they happen) vs reactive (planning things after they happen) which is a way stronger position.

We can do anything in our lifetimes. Absolutely anything we want to and I’m a strong believer in that. I will not let anyone tell me otherwise. It’s up to us though to cultivate the traits needed to achieve what we want. It’s not about degrees or financial status, it’s about your habits. Make no excuses as all of these are in your control so go now and grab life with both hands and actually make it happen!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/10-things-you-can-start-doing-today-to-succeed-with-zero-talent/

The 3 Meta-Skills You Need to Learn to Achieve Anything in Life

In the world today, the only thing that we are sure of is that it will change. But by the words of Jeff Bezos, we need to focus on the things that won’t change, not on the things that will. And this is where meta-skills come into play. A meta-skill is a higher-order skill that allows other skills to be used and developed. This basically means that in order to master lower level skills, you need to master their common denominator.

So if you can master these 3 meta-skills below, you can achieve almost anything in life:

1. Building Habits

Aristotle used to say “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit,” and Jim Rohn agreed by adding  “Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going.”

We can find strong proof of the importance of habits everywhere in the world, from business to sports to education and most business books tell us to form habits in this or that. But rarely do we learn how to build habits and are presented with a step-by-step process of doing that.

I’ve read so many books about building habits but most of them lack at least a couple of steps which would help you build a habit. Eventually, I managed to build my own system. This system helped me build a reading and a writing habit and currently, I’m building a health habit with it.

I took the time to learn how to build habits – any habits – and it gave me a massive payoff. I can now build any habit if I want to and this meta-skill will be an invaluable tool for the rest of my life and it can be in yours too. Habits train you to do one single action every single day until it becomes a part of who you are and the next meta-skill perfectly compliments this one.

“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.” – Jim Rohn

2. Small Actions

Everyone celebrates Elon Musk’s motivation to work 28 hours a day but, I put my focus on a smaller “celebrity” that has:

• Written 5 bestselling books
• Earned a computer science Ph.D. from MIT
• Became a father of three
• Obtained a tenured professorship at Georgetown

And he did all of this while shutting off work at 5:00 p.m. every single day and keeping the weekend just for his family. Oh and I forgot to mention – he did all of this by the age of 33. His name is Cal Newport.

Cal never runs on 100% of his speed because he understands that life isn’t a 100-meter dash, it’s a never-ending marathon and if you go all in the beginning, you will just burn out a couple of kilometers in the race.

Eric Edmeades said, “I do less every single day to do more in a year” and if you can keep doing small everyday actions, they will lead you to achieve mastery in life. The reading habit I started – doing only 20 pages a day – accumulated into 47 books in a year. That is the power of small actions.

3. Self-Awareness

So many books and articles rave about self-awareness today and hail it as one of the strongest meta-skills you can have. When they asked Gary Vaynerchuk what is the one skill people should master today, his response was “Self-Awareness.”

Self-awareness is the ability to consciously understand and know your own character, personality, and feelings. Self-awareness has a couple of layers but it’s best to only go 2 layers deep. You are on Level 0 when you are so long on autopilot that you forget that you’re on autopilot. Level 0 is a level where you have no self-awareness. On level 1 you have some metacognition (you have thoughts about your thoughts) and you think about the thoughts you have in your head. Level 2 is thinking about your mental models (where your thoughts originate and why).

A good example of this is, a guy who you hate from work just pulled a prank on you in front of the entire office. You became mad and as soon as you came home, you had a fight with your wife. On level 0, you just do it. On Level 1 you think “Maybe I’m not mad at my wife at all- this is just the consequence of the guy from work.”  On Level 2 you realize that you don’t need to answer the prank by hating the guy or being angry, just accept that it was just a prank, smile or laugh, and continue with your day.

Self Awareness will help you get better at anything faster, it will help you professionally, personally, and socially; and as soon as you master it, the sooner you can reap the rewards from it.

“Self awareness is one of the rarest of human commodities. I don’t mean self-consciousness where you’re limiting and evaluating yourself. I mean being aware of your own patterns.” – Tony Robbins

In a world where the only constant is change, we need to find and focus on the skills that won’t change. And with that, we have seen 3 meta-skills that we should learn to achieve mastery in our life.

Building habits, taking small actions and being self-aware are the ones that will help us the best. So what are you waiting for? Take control over your life by becoming the master of these 3 meta-skills.

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/the-3-meta-skills-you-need-to-learn-to-achieve-anything-in-life/

4 Unusual Ways to Identify Your Strengths When You’ve Tried Everything Else

Did you ever find it difficult to identify your strengths in life? Many people identify their strengths and weaknesses during the early stages of their lives however, successful leaders can argue that this may need to be the other way around. In other words, we tend to forget about our strengths and how we can effectively use them; and instead, we desperately try to further improve our weaknesses.

We sometimes tend to focus on the negative things we see around us and in turn, miss out on all the positive energy that other people and nature produce for to us enjoy. This is to be expected – not all days are the same and we are human after all. In some cases though, it may simply be because we are not sure of what our best skill set is.

Regardless of the reason, you may find yourself getting stressed out because you can’t seem to understand the things you are performing the best at – instead, you may be noticing your weaknesses. If you are tired of searching for your best strengths as an individual, note that there are ways you can easily find your strengths and weaknesses, without really putting out too much effort.

Below you will see the 4 ways that can help you identify your strengths when you can’t think of anything else to do:

1. Complete A Personality Test

A personality test will help you figure out up to five main personality traits, in addition to other skills you may possess, considering that you aren’t already aware of them. Even though this may not be the perfect solution in knowing what you’re great at, it will help you come closer to the different aspects of your personality. Knowing what your personality is made up of is an essential element for figuring out the suitable career path you may want to take, the right people to hang out with, and the right objectives you should be following.

“Sometimes you don’t realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness.” – Susan Gale

2. Take An Aptitude Test

An aptitude test is essentially created to determine a person’s ability in a specific skill or field of knowledge. It will help you understand what skills you excel at by asking a series of questions and based on the answers you provide, it will evaluate which skills you are more fitted to outshine. Make sure to have a proper go at the test as it can positively help you decide which career path is more suitable for you.

3. Receive Feedback

Receiving feedback from friends, family and colleagues is a great way to quickly and easily tap into the different strengths and skills you may have displayed around them in the past. This activity may include a series of questions around you passion, hobbies and previously shown successes.

First, start the conversation by telling them your passion and hobbies, or in other words, the task you can enthusiastically work on for many hours. Ask your friend to outline three to five of your strengths that are somehow related to what you just mentioned; this may include direct strengths but also transferable skills.

Following this, take a minute to device a fictional scenario where you can apply those skills getting you closer to your career goals. Let them know of your thoughts and how you can further employ these in the given setting.

4. Use Numerology

This may be a bit of a controversial suggestion as you might not believe in the overall concept; and that’s absolutely fine. Nevertheless, it would be great to be aware of such an option in case you ever want to give it a try.

Numerology essentially refers to the mystical relationship between a number and specific events in someone’s life. You can check it out to understand more about yourself and maybe find new ways on how you can further grow as an individual.

“In most cases, strengths and weaknesses are two sides of the same coin. A strength in one situation is a weakness in another, yet often the person can’t switch gears. It’s a very subtle thing to talk about strengths and weaknesses because almost always they’re the same thing.” – Steve Jobs

Finding new ways to improve our strengths and skills may indeed seem difficult sometimes, however, approaching this from multiple perspectives can prove to deliver great benefits to both our personal and career development.

Focus on always improving yourself in any way possible – that may be by employing traditional methods or even quickly applying a few or all of the above tips. The important thing is to make sure that you continuously use what works best for you and you will soon see the results of your efforts for yourself. You will come to realise that your strengths have greatly increased in both quantity and quality over time.

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/4-unusual-ways-to-identify-your-strengths-when-youve-tried-everything-else/

How to Have More Money: 5 Secrets You Need to Know to Be Wealthy

Why are some people wealthy, while others struggle to survive, living pay check to pay check?  You can take two people from the same background, even the same family, with the same education and opportunity, and they will get different results. One will succeed, and one will fail. Why? Watching members of my own family get different results even though they were given the same information taught me valuable life lessons about building wealth.

My grandparents were hard-working, blue collar immigrants. They openly shared their good money habits with their four children. They all lived under the same roof and received the same information. Three of the four even had the same career, yet, their results were drastically different. I want to share my observations with you so you can learn what works when creating financial freedom.

Here are 5 proven secrets you need to know to be be wealthy:

1. Be Grateful

My grandparents spoke with love and appreciation for the opportunities available in their new homeland. My parents complained about money even though they earned plenty. Their lack of satisfaction led them to fund their lifestyle with money they didn’t have, accumulating a lot of debt. They fought over money and blamed each other for their results. Their constant bickering caused me unbearable stress. When you show appreciation, you get more of what you want. What are you grateful for today?

Here’s an easy way to show gratitude. Start and end each day stating out loud what you appreciate. It can be your health, family, friends, a thriving business. State your gratitude intention in the present tense. Here is an example…”I am so happy and grateful now that…. and you fill in the blank.

“You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you.” – Dave Ramsey

2. Be Generous

My grandparents regularly gave to their favorite charities and helped neighbors in need. Having the courage to be generous when you are struggling shows the Universe you’re confident in your ability to create what you need. Where can you show generosity today? How about donating your time, talent or money to a cause that matters to you? Sharing your passion in a special way often provides a renewed sense of purpose that gets your creative juices flowing.

3. Create A Plan and Take Daily Action Toward Your Goals

Only one of my grandparents children had a plan. My uncle and his wife lived within their means and had a lovely lifestyle. He didn’t earn more money than the others. My uncle made choices that gave him better results. His siblings spent more than they made, all the time. They thought they were living the good life, but the stress of being over extended and not having any savings took its toll financially and emotionally.

Do you set goals? Here’s an easy system to stay on track. First, create a written list of your goals and prioritize them. Write each one on 3 x 5 card that you read aloud daily. This will provide triggers that stimulate action. As you hit your targets, check them off your list. You will feel a rush of satisfaction that inspires you to keep going.

4. Have Honest Money Conversations

Nonnie and Grandpa were comfortable talking about money. This is the secret successful people have in common. Money doesn’t make them uncomfortable. They are comfortable with money. Developing a comfort level with money starts with knowing how to talk about it without getting emotional.

To have a successful money conversation, start small. Think of a money topic that is light, such as planning a vacation. If you have someone that is part of the planning process, make a vacation planning date with them. Start with general questions like where to go, when, and for how long. Once you’ve narrowed down your options, decide on a budget. Once this system becomes second nature, money conversations will be a breeze.

“Never spend your money before you have earned it.” – Thomas Jefferson

5. Live Within Your Means and Include Savings In Your Budget

My grandparents didn’t earn a lot of money in their day. Because they managed well and were consistent savers, they left their children a small inheritance when they passed. In contrast, one of their children died penniless. One lost everything and is living in government housing for the elderly. One had to downsize considerably, barely hanging on financially.

Their one child that copied their money habits retired comfortably. He enjoys financial freedom, experiencing life on his terms. His outcome proves your decisions and behavior create your results, not the size of your pay check.

What money choices will you make? This is essential – know your numbers. Use an online app or a spreadsheet. Include your take-home (net) income and any other income sources (dividends, interest, etc.).

Next list your expenses. Separate them by essential, and discretionary categories. Include savings in your budget. If you want to increase your savings, look for ways to reduce your discretionary expenses. Don’t forget subscription expenses. These are often overlooked and can add up fast. If you have subscriptions to goods or services you’re not using, consider cancelling them to save money.

As you can see, achieving the level of wealth and financial freedom isn’t as difficult as you might think. If you practice these 5 simple habits, you will be on your way to attain your money goals. Remember, live your life by design and not by default.

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/how-to-have-more-money-5-secrets-you-need-to-know-to-be-wealthy/