5 Simple Hacks to Help You Develop the Habit That Will Transform Your Life

It’s excruciating when we know what’s killing us but we can’t do anything about it because as you know, it is not easy to pull the brake on a high way. According to Napoleon Hill, “remember this always – the best (and one might say the only) way in which old habits may be removed is to form new habits to counteract and replace the undesirable ones”.

Meaning the desire to kill a habit is not all we need, rather, we need something to counter it. Therefore, before you think about getting rid of that habit, find another habit to replace it. Because it’s the emptiness we feel when we try to kill a habit that keeps pulling us back to it.

So after making the decision to kill an old habit, and you’ve found a new one to take its place, here’s how you can easily get the new habit to take precedence;

1. Add enthusiasm to it

After defining the new habit that will take you to that place where you wish to be, to that height you wish to reach, that goal you desire to achieve, the next thing to do is to add enthusiasm to it. By adding enthusiasm, we can feel the emotions around having that goal come to pass, and dwell on them.

Write down how it will feel at the end of the day when you’ve finally achieved that thing. Then start expressing the emotions. If you can’t feel and see yourself being happy with the result, chances are, you’re not going to want to do what you have to do.

“Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do.” – Sean Covey

2. Focus all your attention on it

Before anyone can truly focus their mind on anything, they have to remove that thing which is on the way. And the one thing on the way is that old habit. When the thought of doing that thing which you used to do comes, remind yourself that the old habit is not going to take you where you want and this new habit is going to bring you more joy and help you live better. So when the thought of the old habit comes around, remind yourself of this new habit and concentrate all your attention on it.

3. Think about the new habit more often

Similar to the second point, the more you think about the new habit, the more you feel inclined to do what you have to do, or get where you want to go. This is the part where using timed affirmations comes in handy. Write down your new habit and read or remind yourself of it morning, afternoon and night or as much as you can. While reminding yourself about this new habit, think about the end goal, because that’s what will make the new habit seem less stressful.

4. Don’t go looking back

Sometimes, we tell ourselves “we’re just going to take a look, and we won’t do anything”. The more you take a look, the more you realize how much you miss it and more prone to doing it “maybe just once”.

So cut all ties with that old habit. Don’t keep any friends that still engage in that habit. Don’t be in the circle, avoid even talking to them when they’re performing that habit. The more you try the new habit the stronger you become, but the resistance to get back becomes weaker if you still pay attention to it.

“Your habits will determine your future.” – Jack Canfield

5. Have mini goals for the day, week and month

The more visible it seems that we’re moving toward a course, the more determined and motivated they become. And that’s why you should set mini-goals that will help you feel that you’re making progress. Because if you don’t feel you’re making progress, then there’d be more reasons to go back to the old habit.

Let’s say you want to form the habit of reading a book. Set little goals such as, read 2 pages every day, 10 pages at the end of the week and 40 pages at the end of the month. This way if you feel demotivated on the third day, you’d realize you’re 70% there which will force you to do more.

As you repeatedly perform these acts, with time, you won’t have to consciously remind yourself that you have to perform them rather, your body will force you every time to carry them out without stress.

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https://addicted2success.com/life/5-simple-hacks-to-help-you-develop-the-habit-that-will-transform-your-life/

6 Ways Traveling Will Make You A Better Entrepreneur

Twelve years ago, I flew to Turkey to meet with a potential client who had specifically told me not to bother boarding the plane. My boss dropped the trip in my lap just days before I had to show up because he wasn’t able to close the deal himself. Even though the client said he wasn’t going to work with us and I shouldn’t waste my time, I flew to meet him, made a great pitch, created a genuine connection with him—and got him to sign an agreement to work with my company. It ended up being a seven-figure win for my company.

There are plenty of lessons to take from that story, but the biggest one for me is the power of travel. Whether you’re making a personal connection, decompressing on a vacation or getting inspiration from a journey, getting outside of your office and your home town can make all the difference in the world when it comes to your business’ bottom line.

As an international vacation concierge, I not only professionally plan unforgettable vacations for clients but I also have personal knowledge when it comes to the benefits of those getaways. 

Here are 6 ways your next trip can make you a spectacularly successful businessperson:

1. It will enhance your problem-solving skills

Whether you’re in Paris trying to figure out if you can walk from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower or you’re desperate to figure out what’s on the menu at a restaurant in Tokyo, you’ll be flexing parts of your brain that you don’t usually. 

Maybe you have to get creative when you’re trying to speak to locals who don’t speak English or you’ve rented a car and you’re driving on the “wrong” side of the road. You’ll sharpen your problem-solving skills and they’ll translate well when you’re trying to handle tough problems at work once you head back home.

2. You could get some business inspiration

We all know that people live very differently in other parts of the world, but seeing is believing. Traveling abroad might help you notice a product in a store that gives you an idea about something that could be brought to the states. 

You might also believe that your product would be great for another country, but then find out it’s not. This is the story of Melinda and Bill Gates pre-wedding trip to Africa that inspired them for their philanthropic work at their foundation.

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” – Saint Augustine 

3. You’ll get recharged

Research shows that there are extensive emotional, physical, and mental health benefits when it comes to international travel in particular. So settle in for a longer plane ride. 

Despite the bad news you’ve been hearing about the Coronavirus, studies show that travel can actually enhance your immune system by exposing you to new and different environments. Travel also reduces stress and when done right, can help you make friends or even business associates that can last a lifetime. If you’re feeling burnt out at work, it might be time to pack a suitcase.

4. It can improve your networking skills

When you get out of your comfort zone at home, you won’t be able to stick to your daily routines and have a circle of people you know you can lean on. You’ll have to start leaning on others for help. You’ll be asking strangers for directions to the train station, recommendations on good places to eat and even suggestions for fun things to do while you’re in town. 

All of this can enhance your ability to communicate and work with others, particularly if you tend to keep to your desk and leave your office door shut.

5. You’ll rekindle your inner child

So many times, we forget about our passions outside of work as we are tied up in our jobs. We forget about the times we danced through the night at a club, spent an entire afternoon painting or used to completely lose track of time reading French philosophy and Russian literature. 

Jump on the opportunity to learn how to dance the Tango in Buenos Aires, take a language class while you’re visiting Sicily, take a French pastry class in Nice or just read things just for fun while you’re on vacation. You’ll not only feel that excitement again, but you’ll be a more interesting person when you return to the office. You’ll have something more than sightseeing and the strength of the dollar to talk about when you’re at your next client dinner or board meeting.

“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it’s lethal.” – Paulo Coelho 

6. You’ll realign with your priorities

Slowing down allows you to appreciate what matters to you. You might realize that your fancy sports car doesn’t mean as much to you as waking up early for the sunrise and being able to enjoy an amazing cup of coffee before heading out the door. That might mean that the new client you took on isn’t worth all the time and energy that you thought they were or that promotion you’re gunning for is the wrong one. 

I’m not saying that vacations will make you lazy, but they could make you more innovative and help you figure out how to work smarter, not harder. After all, someone’s got to pay for your next trip to Bangkok to try some amazing street food or your next scenic drive on Highway number 1.

Where is your favorite place you’ve traveled too? Share it with us below!

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5 Stress Reduction Tips for the Always-Working Business Professional

Stress, along with taxes, is one of the few guarantees in the life of any business owner, entrepreneur, or executive. With a never ending – and ever growing – to-do list, long hours, and the constant struggle to balance work and life, it’s not hard to let the pressure and stress of being one of your organization’s key decision makers get to you.

With that in mind, the side effects of becoming overly stressed can be dire if allowed to go unchecked. Not only do high stress levels make it difficult to concentrate on the tasks we have at hand, and stifle our productivity, but can actually lead to a number of physical symptoms, ranging from a weakened immune system to long-term and serious cardiovascular issues.

As a result, it’s crucial that any professional consciously takes steps to help alleviate the effects of stress in their lives, not only to enhance their mood, and feel better in general – but to ensure peak job performance, and ultimately, heighten your level of success.

Below are 5 simple stress reductions tips: 

1. Set an “Unplug Yourself” Time – and Stick to It

In a world of e-mail enabled smart phones, tablets that fit on even the smallest of night stands, and easily accessed wireless Internet, it’s growing increasingly difficult to step away from the digital forms of communication that dominate the modern business world. While that can be convenient during the working day, it can also give business responsibilities an avenue to leak into our personal lives, make it difficult to balance work and life, and even lead to late-night email sessions that prevent a good night’s sleep.

By consciously setting a concrete time each evening to step away from your inbox, and shut the laptop down, you can help preserve a solid separation between your professional and personal life, and help ensure that your mind and body have the time to rest and recuperate each night. It might be easier said than done, especially for those of us that work on a global scale, but there are rarely things that absolutely can’t wait until morning.

2. Make a Point to Maintain Healthy Habits

The connection between the mind and the body is often taken for granted by many fast-paced professionals. While it might seem like a difficult time constraint to exercise regularly, and pay attention to nutrition, a healthy and well fueled individual will always be more productive, and feel better, than one who’s hungry and lethargic. 

With as little as 30 minutes of light exercise every other day, you can release an increased level of endorphins (the chemicals that trigger “happiness” in the brain) that can go great lengths in reducing the reactions in the body that cause stressful feelings.

“In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.” – Tony Robbins

3. Learn to Forget Failure Fast, and Instead, Focus on Your Next Success

A bad memory is one of the greatest traits a professional looking to avoid stress can have. No matter how well prepared, intelligent, or talented you are, it’s guaranteed that you’ll have at least a few major failures in your career. It isn’t a comfortable truth, but it’s a truth nonetheless.

However, allowing those failures to linger with you will only cause negative feelings, a lowered overall mood, and an increase in your stress levels. While it’s definitely a talent that requires some practice, one of the best ways to avoid stress is to always keep your mind focused on your next task or opportunity. After all, all it takes is one success to regain your momentum again.

4. Keep Your Friends Close, and Your Family Closer

Our close friends and loved ones typically provide us with support, smiles, and help us feel good about ourselves. Unfortunately, we often allow our work to keep us from them, which can lead to feelings of guilt and strain those valuable relationships as well. For these reasons, maintaining relationships is the most important facet of walking the tight rope that is attempting to balance work and life.

For obvious reasons, failing to invest our time into these relationships, can lead to often-insurmountable levels of stress in our lives. As a result, schedule time with those closest to you with the same diligence as you would with prospective clients or important business associates. It might get difficult sometimes, but the emotional benefits of healthy relationships will always pay dividends when it comes to managing stress levels.

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” – Jane Howard

5. Always Remember to Reward Yourself

Ambition and drive are both great things, and they’re often what cause us to pursue professional success in the first place. However, when they keep us from ever slowing down to enjoy the fruits of our labor – and lead us to push ourselves too hard – they can turn into one of the biggest causes of stress we face.

With that in mind, when the going gets tough, be sure to always reward yourself with some time off for a mental or physical vacation, a purchase that relates to one of your hobbies, or an indulgent treat from time to time. Not only does this practice help enhance your overall mood and reduce stress, but helps you remember why you’re working so hard in the first place, and provide strong positive motivation as well.

How do you monitor your stress levels? Do you have any tips for our readers? If you do, please share them below!

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https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/5-stress-reduction-tips-for-the-always-working-business-professional/

Why Do We Have An Unconscious Bias and How Can We Manage It?

When I hear someone using my name once in a while throughout the conversation we are having, I cannot stop myself thinking “this person must have read Dale Carnegie’s books or must have been influenced by someone who read them…” Have you just recalled a similar moment and it felt nice?

As Dale Carnegie famously said, “Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and the most important sound in any language”. Why did Dale Carnegie highlight the importance of an individual’s name to that person in his “How to Win Friends and Influence People” book published in 1936?

Each and every one of us wants to feel special and unique. I guess he recommends using the person’s name in the conversation because that is one of the easiest ways to grab that person’s attention so that we can enhance the chances of getting our point across. However, I am more interested in this from the other side; hearing our names directly addresses our individuality, our need or desire to feel special and unique.  

Let’s park this one for now and we will come back. 

Categorization is essential to our survival

There is countless scientific research telling us about how our brains recognize similarities and put things into categories, which has been crucial to our survival in evolution and still helps us with a lot of things from learning new things to coping with the continuous influx of massive amounts of information through our senses. 

The continuous influx of information is mostly handled by our subconscious mind rather than conscious. It is estimated that our brains receive about 11 million bits of information every second through our senses, of which only 40-50 bits can be processed by our conscious mind. We process more information than we are aware of. The magic here is the subconscious mind.

An example is when you are at a very loud party where you hear a lot of words flying around without you recognizing each one of them, then suddenly, you immediately catch it when you hear your name. Your subconscious had been processing all of those words, without your awareness, but informed your conscious mind when your name was out there because it was relevant to you.

In order to most effectively process this much information and inform the conscious mind with only the relevant ones, our subconscious employs categorization as one of its strategies.

When our ancestors encountered some deadly predators in the African savanna, their subconscious prompted their conscious mind to immediately fight or flight by categorizing the information gathered through their senses into “predator / life threat / take action”. Most probably we are not descendants of the ones that were frozen rather than fighting or flighting! 

Although it is a completely different situation, the same strategy applied in remembering lists. Let’s look at the below two lists.

1. lion, eagle, shark, leopard, hawk, whale, panther, falcon and dolphin 
2. lion, leopard, panther, eagle, hawk, falcon, shark, whale and dolphin

The second list is easy to remember because it is reordered into relevant groups even though the content of the both lists are identical.

Subconsciousness is the magic and categorization is one of its key strategies. It is essential to our survival, learning new skills and processing information as well as bringing back the information we had processed and stored. 

This amazing skill has its drawbacks

As a result of our brains’ categorization strategy, we also categorize people, especially if we don’t know them as well as our closest ones.

Imagine I am sitting at the table next to yours while you are having your favorite coffee and working on your computer or reading your novel at your neighborhood coffee shop. I stand up, very calmly grab your bag, and start walking away. Your reaction might be quite different depending on my outfit. It could be much more vocal and harsh if I have a dirty T-Shirt and a pair of torn jeans on. However, if I have some navy colored, 3-piece suit and well-pressed white button up shirt on, you might even say something like “Excuse me, you might have picked up my bag by mistake”. (There is an experiment done by social psychologists which reported similar results)

Similarly, I would not be surprised to hear that my co-worker’s spouse is very skilled and knowledgeable in English grammar and literature because he is an English teacher. However, I would not expect it from my co-worker herself because she is an outstanding chemical engineer.  

This is defined as unconscious bias or stereotyping, as a result of our subconscious brain’s categorization strategy. The outfit I have at the coffee shop impacts your response to my action, because it puts me into a different category in your mind depending on my outfit. My co-worker’s and her spouse’s backgrounds make me put them into different categories, which might mislead me sometimes.

Just like we categorize things, it is very natural that we categorize people.  

The key question here for me is; how do we truly treat people as individuals so that they feel unique, just like as they would want, while we know that our brains categorize people? 

We can overcome unconscious bias 

Leonard Mlodinow, in his enlightening book “Subliminal”, suggests that “if we are aware of our bias and motivated to overcome it, we can.” That doesn’t mean that we need to fight our brain’s categorization strategy. We just need to employ our conscious mind more when we are working or dealing with individuals. 

Our unconscious bias might tell us scientists are bunch of technical nerds who cannot understand abstract concepts that marketers are talking about or it might say that marketers are some daydreamers who need to be grounded by scientists to the real world all the time. I am an engineer and I love thinking in abstract terms and I worked with quite a lot of marketers who thought primarily in factual and concrete terms. 

Spending some effort to learn more about individuals will help overcome unconscious bias. Gathering more information and qualities about them will make it easier for us to treat them as individuals rather than a member of the category we put them in our minds. 

The moral of the story here is to recognize the fact that our brains do categorize, and it is essential; but also, to recognize that every individual wants to feel unique. When we appreciate these two and keep reminding them to ourselves, we are one step closer to figuring out our own way to overcome unconscious bias and treat people more like individuals. 

What was the most interesting part of this article for you? Share your thoughts below!

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https://addicted2success.com/life/why-do-we-have-an-unconscious-bias-and-how-can-we-manage-it/

How to Manage Your Bouncebackability

I am spending my time trying to articulate how having an understanding of the Three Principles – Mind, Consciousness and Thought is useful for dealing with any area of challenge in our lives; in doing that I am sticking to only what I know to be true.

The outside world will not change and will throw curveballs at us at times:

•       A breakdown in relationship
•       Losing a job
•       Death
•       Not achieving what we want
•       Somebody’s opinion of us
•       A severe physical illness

Life can suck. It will throw challenges and it can hurt. ‘It’s OK to ‘NOT BE OK’. This is the kind of heartfelt message I’ve seen a lot across social media and I’m not questioning its seriously good intention.

Of course we should not punish ourselves for ‘not feeling ok’ – showing ourselves acceptance – as well as to others, is important as otherwise, there is a danger that our mood spirals downwards with our negative thinking of punishment for feeling a particular way. Our acceptance though is just our feeling in the moment – I don’t wish for that acceptance to be confused with accepting that ‘this is all we’re ever going to have’. That is not the case.

We are all equipped with the tools that we need to bounce back from anything – any curveball that is thrown our way. We can never be psychologically broken. Which means that, whatever we are feeling isn’t ‘our lot’ in life.

With our understanding in the Three Principles, we know that whatever we are feeling, it will pass. So, of course it is ‘OK TO NOT BE OK’, with the caveat, that we know it won’t always be like that.

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford

It is impossible to feel one way all of the time.

I once saw a short video of a man with no legs, literally just using his arms to lift his bottom off the floor every metre of the way, to complete a full length marathon. It just inspired me so much, almost bringing tears to my eyes. I was in awe of him, just mesmerised – it was uplifting for me.

We know that something that is uplifting and inspiring for one person may well work differently in terms of placing pressure on someone else to feel a particular way. That is not the intention here.

What is the same for every human being, however, is that we are creating our own reality in the moment. Our own story. 

What inspires you? Why is that? How do you feel right now thinking about that inspiration? This brings me back to those challenges we mentioned earlier, that we or people we know, have in our lives.

Whilst it may really, really look like it is the event (the outside experience) causing us to feel a particular way inside, this is the illusion and the common misunderstanding that most people have. We’ve seen for ourselves though, by thinking about our uplifting experience, it creates the experience from the inside out. Otherwise, we would all feel the same way about the man who carried himself through a marathon, which is not the case.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison

My experience

There was a period in my life when I spent a lot of time thinking about when I was bullied at work. This was perhaps even 6 months after it had finished. Remembering dates when things happened, were said or done. I must have spent time thinking about those experiences at some point whilst on holiday, whilst with children, when driving or when in the company of best friends.

My share does illuminate a very important point, in the sense that – I thought about my bad experience whilst involved in arguably enjoyable experiences, such as holiday or when with my children. This works the other way around – we can think of extremely good experiences when we find ourselves in not-so-good circumstances. Similar to what we did a short moment ago with our uplifting experience, when perhaps some of us were not in a good space.

For me, when thinking about the bullying, I punished myself for feeling a particular way that wasn’t healthy. However, those feelings should not mean that we punish ourselves for it – it’s most likely to be normal. We can accept it – accept ourselves for it. As long as we know that those clouds will pass as they are transient and it is impossible to always feel like that.

At that moment, just having the understanding is where our ‘bouncing back’ begins. We’re more ‘bouncebackable’ than we think!

We’re creating our own experience of feeling stronger, more resourceful, more able and hopeful. The truth is, we were always strong – all we may have done, is forget.

You may have noticed, but I purposely haven’t mentioned ‘positive thinking’ in any of this article. What I’m speaking about is something else at work; it runs deeper than sheer determination, resilience, willpower and a work ethic to bounce back. Those qualities without doubt, are important to have and we can use them as a good back-up!

However, understanding how we create our experience from moment-to-moment, accepting ourselves in the moment, knowing that we will continue to grow and that we can’t be psychologically broken – this is impossible, then we are already bouncing back. There is no line to say we have ‘bounced back’ as such, only in the parameters that we might set ourselves or what others have set us. And those parameters are all made up.

Trusting ourselves to know what is our next step is all we need to know in bouncing back. 

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

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5 Simple Systems Successful Entrepreneurs Use to Achieve Massive Success

Entrepreneurs are all about the grind, the revenue, and the success. But sometimes, new entrepreneurs get stuck in what they think they “should” do and leave a lot on the table. 

I’ve seen so many people getting burned out of entrepreneurship before even making money. And this is because they are doing what they “think” they have to do instead of what they really have to do. 

If you take a closer look into the routine of different successful entrepreneurs, such as Andy Frisella, Tim Ferris, Gary Vaynerchuk, Joel Marion, Tai Lopez, and others, you will see a common characteristic: they work by systems. They understood the importance of habits early on and they worked their butt off to create systems that allowed them to complete the task that they needed to do every day, without putting their health or their business at risk. 

And this is something actually really simple. Once you create a habit, it isn’t something to think about anymore, it’s just something that you do. Everyone’s journey is different and every business requires their own different set of skills, but there are some systems that are common to every successful entrepreneur. 

Here are the top 5 and how you can use them to set the base of your entrepreneurial career:

1. Power 5

This is a concept that is very common among successful entrepreneurs. Sometimes we get caught up in a lot of different tasks during the day that aren’t getting us any closer to our ultimate goal. 

In order to avoid this, the power 5 method encourages you to write a list every day of the five most important things that you need to complete that day. It needs to be stuff that you wouldn’t normally do if you didn’t propose to do it. For example, writing a sales funnel or making a certain amount of calls.

This method is basically a way to put into perspective what is really important and what is not that important. If you write this information down, you are putting yourself in a situation where you know what you have to do. 

This is something that requires some thought upfront. What are the 5 tasks that you need to do today to move you towards your ultimate goal? Once you figure it out, write them down and try to make them your priority for that day.

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” – Stephen R. Covey

2. Schedule

Many people are entering the entrepreneurship world looking for the freedom to work whenever they want and escape their 9-5 job. Yet, the truth is that if you don’t make a schedule for yourself, chances are that you won’t be as productive as you should be in order to build a successful business. This doesn’t necessarily need to be any specific time period or amount of hours, but it needs to be something you know is going to move you a step closer to your ultimate goal every single day. 

3. Fitness

I haven’t heard a single successful entrepreneur talking about how much time they get out of not exercising or not taking care of their body. As an entrepreneur, you need to understand that you can grind as much as you want, but if your body collapses because you aren’t taking care of it, it will be all for nothing. 

You don’t need to spend two hours per day at the gym or to have a super strict diet, but you do need to take some time to exercise and to eat healthy. 

By having fitness as your top priority, you’ll have more energy, vitality, and a clearer mind when you get back to work. So at the end of the day, taking care of your body is an investment in your own business. 

4. Learn

The best investment you could do is to invest in yourself. Successful entrepreneurs are always learning something new by reading books, going to conferences, applying for courses or masterminds, and listening to podcasts. They care about getting better at their craft. 

Invest time in educating yourself. Make it a priority in your life. It’s true that sometimes we can feel like we don’t have time for stuff like this, but take it as what you are doing that’s differentiating yourself from your competitors. It might not show instant results, but if you make it a daily priority, it will pay huge dividends down the road. 

And if you are just getting started, you don’t even need to spend a lot of money on it. There are tons of really great books on entrepreneurship, finance and personal growth that aren’t that expensive, and dozens of free podcasts and articles that can help you get closer to your ultimate goal. 

“Income seldom exceeds personal development.” – Jim Rohn

5. Tempo

Knowing the tempo of your business is crucial. This can be the difference between a business succeeding and a business falling flat. Every business, in every stage of its life, has a different tempo, and you need to recognize it. 

Some entrepreneurs fail because they think that entrepreneurship is the way to go from a 9-5 to working from the beach in just a couple of months. Others fail because they think that they need to go all-in and pull up 20 hours shifts every day until they consume themselves. 

Entrepreneurship is a long game. And you need to adapt to the different stages of it. Some stages are gonna require you to grind to a level of exhaustion, but you gotta make sure that you are reserving some energy for the rest of the game. Grinding extremely hard for 6 months is worthless if you are going to drain yourself and not be able to stay in the game for 6 more months. 

In entrepreneurship, there’s a time to grind and a time to relax. Even in the stages where grinding is key, make sure that you don’t burn yourself out. Sometimes, taking some time off work can actually help you be more productive and reach your ultimate goal at the end.

Are you already taking care of these? Which are other keys that you think are crucial for entrepreneurs? Share your thoughts with us below!

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https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/5-simple-systems-successful-entrepreneurs-use-to-achieve-massive-success/

3 Ways to Hit the Ground Running This Year

As everyone gets ready for the swing of the New Year, resolutions are promised and plans are made. Regardless of your goals for the year, it’s important to hit the ground running for the first quarter and continue to uplevel your business and your mindset. 

Here are three ways to start the new year on the right foot that can be added as addendums to any of your current resolutions:

1. Get real about what your “One Thing” is

It’s been said time and time again – but those who achieve success do so because they’ve mastered “one thing.” This term is referred to at length by Gary Keller in his book “The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results.” He says, “extraordinary results happen only when you give the best you have to become the best you can be at your most important work.” That means specializing in one niche area of offerings and doing the work to ensure that you’re the very, very best at it. Make this year is the year you double down on whatever this is for you.

Once you’ve identified your ‘One Thing’ that you have a bit of talent in and want to focus on, invest in yourself. Find courses other experts in your space have taken. Read all the books and watch all the videos. Work harder at it than anyone else, and in time, you’ll be the very best at it. And those who are the best in one area are guaranteed to succeed, especially because they can price however they’d like.

Then, take your ‘one thing’ outward. Become the best in one SECTOR. A sector can be more broad: such as Jeff Bezos in the e-commerce space or Warren Buffett in the investing space. Once you’re really good at one element, you can start to master the entire sector and build your empire.

“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.” – Michelangelo Buonarroti

2. Prioritize building a network

Next, make goals for what you want your network to look like. Perhaps it’s full of other entrepreneurs who share a love and passion for your “one thing,” or a group of developers or salespeople who have skillsets that can be complementary to what you’re building. 

Keep in mind that your network is built depending on how much time you spend with each person. University of Chicago professor Ronald Burt says, “networking is the one thing that cannot be outsourced.” 

There’s a practice I like to share with people: assess what your current network looks like by making a list of everyone you had plans with last month and have plans with this month. Then, next to each person, just add a checkmark if your time with them helped you to further your goals. Every single person’s name should have a checkmark. If not, you aren’t taking things seriously enough. 

In addition to managing who you spend time with, start to grow your network by setting standards for yourself, such as three networking calls each week or two coffee chats a week. Reach out to people on Linkedin or in Facebook groups related to your business or passions. Ask everyone you meet to refer you to someone else. 

3. Find ways to outsource projects

Finally, make sure you’re building for efficiency. There are only so many hours in a day, so there’s only so much you can do to make progress on your goals. That means no time wasted on things other people can do for you. If you want to work 10 times the hours, you have to hire 10 times the people. 

That doesn’t mean you have to immediately hire a full time team, but at least consider hiring a virtual assistant to work on some projects for you in the background, which is a great way to go initially. The New York Times listed benefits of outsourcing (as opposed to hiring) such as the ability to start new projects quickly, reduce risks, and control capital costs.

Hand over all busy work to the virtual assistants. A good way to figure out what to outsource is to do a time audit over the course of one week. Time how long it takes you to do certain actions, from responding to emails to building out the week’s content. Then, determine what takes the most time and what can be outsourced. 

“The other part of outsourcing is this: it simply says where the work can be done outside better than it can be done inside, we should do it.” – Alphonso Jackson

These three techniques will ensure that this year tops all of the other years. As always, set benchmarks at the end of each quarter (or even monthly) to assess how these new techniques are working for you. The goal? Enhanced productivity and impact. Happy New Year!

What’s a goal you’d like to accomplish this year? Share it below so we can keep you accountable!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/3-ways-to-hit-the-ground-running-this-year/