How to Defeat Imposter Syndrome and Bring Success Into Your Life

My breath tightened in my chest, my stomach lurched, questions pummelled my entire being, I was about to step on stage. What was nagging at me like my old Yiddish grandmother? I love and believe in the message and I’m a good public speaker, yet the fear that trembled through my body ripped me apart. All I could think about was what if they see me for the fraud that I feel I am.

Now, I was no fraud. Having spent decades working, 1000s of hours training, and even more than that living out the very words I was about to share, I knew that I could stand there and be present articulating the message the audience had come to hear. 

So what was the problem?

Doubt. Doubt and fear were the problem. Those nagging thoughts, “What if I look foolish?” “Who am I to be sharing, anyway?”

How many times have those thoughts or a variation of them coursed through your body? Perhaps during a sales call, an important boardroom meeting, or an interview for your dream job, the echoes of doubt and fear stream across your consciousness creating anxiety and lack of assurance. 

Did you ever dream that the answer to defeating imposter syndrome would come from a child’s tale?

Let me remind you of the emperor who loved new clothes, and the swindlers who took the whole kingdom for a ride. What were the words that they used to reduce even the king’s most trusted counselors? They would say to each one, including the king, “If you don’t see the fabric, you are foolish and unfit for your position.” Each one so terrified of being “found out,” that none of them spoke up.

None of them except a child on the parade route. He was a game changer! I want to be like that kid. That child’s message has reverberated through my life, teaching me many things.

“Be humble – Not knowing something doesn’t make you a fraud, it makes you a student.” – Marie Forleo

What are they and how do they defeat imposter syndrome?

Know yourself

Remember how I began this article? Decades of work, 1000s of hours of training, a lifetime of living the talk, learn how to hold onto the effort and space you have taken to become that which you are. The child had nothing to lose, it wasn’t afraid of being “foolish” and “unfit.” The child just was, the child saw what was true. See what is true about you! 

Speak up

Amidst the crowd, the child raised its voice. I’ve learned to listen and discern the truth of those voices that come with the statements of self-doubt and fear. I have a strategy full of one liners. I say back, “Yup, I am afraid and I’m going to show up anyway.” “Perhaps, some of this confidence is a mask, that is okay, that gets to be here, too.” “I am anxious.” “I do want this job, life won’t end if I don’t get it.” 

Pause

Don’t get caught up in the noise and rucus of what is going on. Everyone of us needs to learn how to pause, take a deep breath, and step forward discerning out what is really happening. Don’t take the proverbial swindlers’ voices as truth. Pause!

“It;s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think you are not.” – Denis Waitley

Beyond the message of the story, my work as a yoga therapist has taught me a few things, mainly getting into your body! What? Yes, get into your body. How? 

From a place of standing: Bring your feet a little bit further than hips distance apart. Press down through the soles of your feet. Not to the point of causing injury, but lock out your legs. Pressing down through the soles of your feet, lift through the top of your head. FEEL your body in space. TAKE a deep breath. Arms are by the side of your body, not just hanging there. Bring intention into your arms. Lower your shoulders away from your ears. Push tips of fingers to the ground. BREATHE! Inhale in from the nose, exhale with the sound of “ha” from your mouth. Repeat that a few times. Notice shift in your body, in your being. Take your meeting, phone call, or interview from that space.

From a place of sitting: Place your feet down on the floor, about hips distance apart. Place your body about half way in the seat, notice your sit bones in the base of the chair. Lift through the crown of your head, lower shoulders away from your ears. Place hands on your knees or thighs. Closing eyes or leaving them open, take some breaths that are longer both in the inhale and even longer upon the exhale. Take your meeting, phone call, or interview from that space.

Learning how to be in your body, showing up authentically, standing in the excellence and the training of you, taking deep and long breaths, being honest, speaking the truth, these are the tools that will defeat imposter syndrome and bring success into your life. 

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/how-to-defeat-imposter-syndrome-and-bring-success-into-your-life/

How the Coronavirus Made Me Into a Teenage Author

I am grateful for quarantine. It forced me to sit my butt down on a chair and think about what I wanted to do with the next two months of my seemingly empty existence. It forced me to list a number of things that I was good at — one of which included writing. It forced me to hatch out a 31,000 word 124 page book in less than three weeks. It made me into a published author… at the age of 15.

STEP ONE: The First Wave

So, a bit of background story to begin with. Since I lived in China, the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit my high school at the end of February. At that time, I was still on a Chinese New Year trip back to my hometown in Taichung, Taiwan. I was safe for the time being… and I was bored out of my mind.

Online classes began almost immediately when the school’s return date was postponed. I can tell you that I slept till noon, spent approximately three hours per day on Instagram, and binge watched every Netflix show available. After a whole month of endless procrastination and moping around the house, I felt incredibly sick with myself. It was then that I changed my entire routine, and set ONE GOAL for myself. I was going to write a book.

STEP TWO: The Ultimate Plan

When I first decided to sit down and write a book, I was determined to actually FINISH the book. I knew myself a little too well. In the past, I have always tried to write a novel, but I could never FINISH writing it. I would write ten pages for the first chapter, read it over, and not be satisfied with it to continue.

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things about all others: read a lot and write a lot.” – Stephen King

To solve this problem, I set up a strict schedule for myself. Here is how I organized this schedule:

What’s Your Daily Word Count?

I forced myself to write 1,000 words per day, AND it didn’t matter if I was uninspired or unmotivated on a particular day — I made myself sit in front of my computer for 1–6 hours per day to write 1,000 words for my book.

I know that everyone writes at their own pace. Some people can only do 200 words per day and others can go up to 3,000. My advice is to be consistent with your daily word count, and don’t stress yourself out by setting an extremely high daily word count.

Eventually, I doubled my word count because I had the time to write more. During my last week of writing my book, I pushed myself to complete 2,000 words per day.

You Cannot Decide The Length of Your Book

I didn’t know how long my book was going to be — a conventional e-book length of 12,000 words, a standard business book length of 80,000 words, or a young adult targeted book of 50,000 words? My book is an e-book targeted at teenagers about business.

Later on, I predicted that my book would be around 35,000 words. After my editor returned my rough draft back to me, it was cut down to 31,000 (she deleted an entire chapter). For a book’s word count, it’s always going to be different. The most important part is not your word count, but YOUR CONTENT.

How To Plan Your Book’s Content

In a OneNote page, I jotted down the main contents of my book TO GUIDE MY WRITING. This included the chapters, subsections, and core ideas, important points and messages.

Why do I say guide my writing? Well, there are a lot of writers that love to be “spontaneous” and they only write when they feel “inspired.” The truth is, this isn’t the most productive way to go about writing a book, especially if your career path is to be a bestselling novelist. Guided writing (or a pre-planning process) can definitely help you write faster and with higher efficiency.

For the writing process, I can only think of one word: consistency. I knew that if I slacked off today, I would lose the motivation to continue writing the next day and the next day. It was like keeping a Snapchat streak — but only having to write 1,000 words a day.

How Are You Going To Publish Your Book?

You’ve probably heard of self-publishing, but you’ve probably never heard about how terribly tiring and frustrating it can be. To begin with, I self-published my book, Business Insider with a Teenager, on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). A little definition time: KDP is a self-publishing service created by Amazon that publishes your book to Amazon and Kindle stores.

First of all, it’s free. Second of all, it was not easy to do. From creating your own cover to formatting your book on Kindle Create, the whole publishing process was not fun to deal with. 

Although KDP provides a lot of helpful tools and tutorial videos, there are still a lot of things that you have to learn along the way. There are so many self publishing services out there (Kobo Books, Apple Books, Google Play Books, Ingram Spark), but the top recommended one is KDP.

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison

Last Word

Bestselling author or not, I WROTE A BOOK. I can slap the title of “author of Business Insider with a Teenager” on my bio, talk about it in my job interviews, and write it into my college applications.

The coronavirus is one of the most traumatic and rare experiences that the world has ever encountered. Industries have changed — some individuals have started their own business, others have gone bankrupt.

Me? I became an author, got a huge opportunity to become a social media marketing manager at a local company, started writing for a local magazine, took on local professional photography and videography gigs, and still manage to get decent grades in my sophomore year at high school.

Quarantine gave me the opportunity to slack off or to do better. In the end, the decision was simple. I chose to get to work.

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/how-the-coronavirus-made-me-into-a-teenage-author/

3 Ways to Overcome the Fear of Business Uncertainty

Life doesn’t have a “pause” button. Even if it did, I’d tell you not to push it. Yes, being an entrepreneur during COVID-19 is scary, but fear of failure in business is simply part of the journey. Ironically, it’s also a great motivator.

When I launched my first business, I was scared to death. I was supposed to be the breadwinner. What would our family do if I failed? I didn’t want to find out, so I became incredibly resourceful, never allowing the risk and uncertainty inherent to business capsize my dreams. My experience showed me how to use fear as a positive springboard rather than as a reason to throw in the towel.

The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t been kind to the startup community. Nevertheless, plenty of entrepreneurs will come out on top when all is said and done. Those business leaders will have something in common: They’ll share an unwillingness to quit in the face of something out of their control.

If you’ve toyed with putting your business on hold or pulling back over the past few months, ask yourself whether you’re allowing fear to take the wheel. I can assure you that fear is not a good navigator because it blinds your perspective. Case in point: Consider all the companies slashing their advertising budgets. They’re afraid of overspending. Undoubtedly, they’ll save upfront — but at what cost? Without advertising, they’ll lessen the likelihood of securing new customers when they need them most.

“If uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. If it is perfectly acceptable, it turns into increased aliveness, alertness, and creativity.” — Eckhart Tolle

How to Overcome Your Business-Related Fears

Now is not the time to hesitate — it’s the time to go the extra mile and do the extraordinary things that entrepreneurs experiencing fear of failure aren’t considering. Recently, a barber told me he was afraid to renovate his shop during quarantine. If I had been his advisor, I would have encouraged him to do it anyway. What better time to spruce up your environment than when you don’t have to worry about displacing customers?

I realize that money might be a sticking point, and economics does come into play. You might be working with the thinnest shoestring budget on earth. But whether you’re facing COVID-19 or not, that’s a common experience for all entrepreneurs and not a reason to bring your operations or desire to innovate to a standstill.

If you’re feeling unsettled because you haven’t figured out how to overcome fear, I understand. But you have more power than you might think. Instead of drowning in negative thoughts, engage in a few strategies to move past your initial fear reactions.

1. Find an anchor in your beliefs

Entrepreneurship and faith go hand in hand. Without faith, you’ll have trouble facing entrepreneurship and failure with a winning attitude.

When I started my career, I tried to sell vacuum cleaners and then life insurance. I couldn’t sell either. Was I a bad salesperson? No — I just had zero faith in my products. Once I realized the core issue, I transitioned to working in fields that aligned with my beliefs. And you know what? I worked harder than ever and spurred tremendous momentum.

Today, I own nine businesses. I believe deeply in their missions. I also trust that they can be successful. Rather than give in to self-doubt, I embrace the idea that the teams we’ve built so carefully will keep us going. Our employees won’t stop plugging away, even with the uncertain business environment brought about by the pandemic. Neither will I.

Remember, entrepreneurship without faith is a recipe for disaster. Longtime entrepreneurs often speak of “miracle” stories when recalling their pasts. Those miracles happened because the founders had the faith to avoid the trap of negative thinking. In other words, they used faith to tackle their fear of failure.

2. Adopt a knowledge-centric lifestyle

If fear is a snake bite, education is the anti-venom. It can be tough to read about COVID-19. Do it anyway. Find out about the incredible steps businesses around the world are taking to disrupt and stay the course despite the coronavirus.

The more you study crisis management in general — and with this crisis in particular — the better your leadership skills will become. Plus, having a wealth of information will help you overcome your fear of failure. You’ll be surprised at how quickly thoughtful reading and contemplation will ease your stress. Fear has no power when you know what you’re up against.

In addition to learning about other leaders’ responses to the coronavirus, use these moments to become more of an industry expert. Expertise helps you envision and create the future, and experts inspire those around them. Help your teams build their collective know-how, too. Set up virtual or on-site trainings, discuss ways to make your operations more efficient, brainstorm customer service upgrades, update your website content, and leverage any downtime to prepare for a major rebound.

“Faith means living with uncertainty – feeling your way through life, letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark.” – Dan Millman

3. Surround yourself with support

As entrepreneurs, we’re going up this twisting, turning, crazy mountain together. I know I want at least a few guides who have been through similar journeys so they can provide advice and encouragement. You should have some, too.

Now isn’t the time to seclude yourself. Get in touch with the guides in your community so they can help you navigate through this period. It can be lonely and isolating if you let it.

Your network of friends and colleagues could include a social organization, Facebook group, formal advisors and mentors, or even investors. Look for ways to counsel one another without judgment; this will help everyone overcome business fear and setbacks.

Make no mistake, I understand the desire to stop in the middle of the road. Don’t give in to negative thinking, though. Instead, chug forward after business setbacks with help from your passion, knowledge, and support team. An oasis could be just around the bend, but you’ll never find it if you’re guided by fear.

from
https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/3-ways-to-overcome-the-fear-of-business-uncertainty/

Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About These 4 Motivation-Boosting Techniques?

If you’d like to learn how to increase your motivation so you can get more done during the day, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

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How many times have you heard the questions: “What drives you” or “What excites you?” These questions may come from well-meaning people but they make one problematic assumption – Our motivation depends on something external. As a result, instead of actively building structures that motivate, we find ourselves aimlessly looking for some outside factors that will motivate us. Instead of asking: “What motivates me?” We should be asking, what am I doing to remain motivated? The answer to this question lies in the doing, not motivation itself.

In the lines that follow I will share three simple techniques to increase motivation. Knowing that one cannot always be motivated, I will share a technique with you that I know you already know to help you get things even when you don’t feel like lifting a feather. However, before I start, two misconceptions need to be kicked out of the way right upfront.

First, we see motivation as a finite goal to be achieved. A lot of us falsely believe our life will be worry-free once we have achieved that goal. Motivation is a dynamic process, not an end-goal. The process of motivation is analogous to eating, sleeping, or drinking water. We don’t become healthy or strong by reaching a state where we needn’t eat, sleep, or drink water. 

Second, amotivation is seen as something negative that needs to be avoided at all costs. Trying to resist those moments when we feel like doing nothing will drag us further down the abyss we’re trying to avoid in the first place. We need to remind ourselves that those moments of amotivation are a part of the human experience. As much as there would be no light without darkness, there would be no period of activity without downtime.

Here are the four actions you can take starting from today to increase your motivation:

1. Know thyself

The first step in helping you build motivation is to know yourself. It’s for a reason that the Temple of Apollo at Delphi carries the inscription “know thyself.” We are all different, the truth of the matter is that motivation varies within and across individuals. For example, to get myself worked up for my writing activities by being alone with music.

Knowing what motivates and distracts me makes it easy for me to get my juices flowing. Study your pattern, learn the time of the day, the day of the week, where, and how long you are likely to be the most productive. It’s highly impractical to lay out all the different scenarios here, but a deep self-reflection, trial-and-error, and constant journaling will help you understand your pattern.

“Where there is a will, there is a way. If there is a chance in a million that you can do something, anything, to keep what you want from ending, do it. Pry the door open or, if need be, wedge your foot in that door and keep it open.” – Pauline Kael

2. Take Responsibility

The second best way I’ve found to help increase motivation is to take personal responsibility for the outcomes of one’s actions. When you know you will be held responsible for the success or failure of a particular project, you are more likely to get motivated, do your best, and get things done. Working with children, I am always amazed at how much they comply to order when they are treated as responsible individuals. 

For example, you will realize that when you know it is your responsibility to pick your kids up from school, you will do everything in your power to reach them on time. This concept is very relevant to the workplace. Managers, employees, and the organization at large may benefit from employees who are taught to take responsibility for their actions. 

By creating structures where people are responsible for the outcome of their actions, they will require less control thereby giving managers more time to do what really matters.

3. Spend time with energy givers

They say birds of a feather flock together. If you’re serious about getting things done, spend more time with like-minded people. Research shows we are likely to consciously or unconsciously pick up the habits of people we spend time with. Spending time with people who procrastinate or complain constantly will take a toll on your personal productivity. 

Psychologist Emma Seppälä, PhD noted, “we are wired for empathy.” Equipped with that knowledge, your next action is to make a list of at least five friends you will spend time with.

“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” – Theodore Roosevelt

4. Just do it!

Going back from the second misconception, even with the above principles, I don’t rule out moments of amotivation. Remember, I said these are part of a healthy human cycle. You may still manage to get things done even when you don’t feel like it.

The best way I found to help me get things done whenever I don’t feel motivated is to do a task completely different than the one I am aiming for. Say, for example, you are trying to finish a report that is due tomorrow. You have tried for 2 hours with no avail. The best thing to do is to get up behind the desk and try something entirely different. It could be walking, running, or watching a video on social media. 

Try to stay away from the main task for at least 30 minutes. You’ll be amazed to realize that all you needed to find your spark was time away from your main task. Remember the best way to motivate yourself is through action. Instead of giving in or resisting procrastination, you walk around it so you get things done.

Remember the old adage: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” Well, this is exactly the same with motivation, a speech can get your adrenaline pumping but they can’t make you take action unless you decide so. So, stop aiming for outside factors to motivate you, get up right now, and do what you have to do! No-one will do it for you!

How do you motivate yourself? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

from
https://addicted2success.com/motivation/why-isnt-anyone-talking-about-these-4-motivation-boosting-techniques/

How to Think About Change and the Lessons It Teaches You

If you’d like to learn how to deal with change in your life so you can constantly adapt, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

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Change – What is it teaching us? Change is hard not just today, but every day. And change has the ability to feel even more difficult when it is “forced” upon us. Many of us are feeling more frustrated than we ever have at any point in our lives due to the daily conditions that now exist – from being forced to “shelter in place” to having to wear a mask to enter stores for essentials to not being able to have access to even the simplest of things that made us feel good – like getting a haircut.

Rewind to just after the New Year – many of us were ready to show our New Year Resolutions who was boss, jet off to the next travel destination on our must-see list and reach new professional goals. Some of us had just recovered from an injury or were finally courageous enough to begin a new venture. And now almost all of us feel blindsided, and quite frankly defeated at times.

But I ask you this – life can be like yoga – so just because a pose is getting hard – will you give up? Or will you channel restraint and resolve to hold the pose and dig deeper? Will you realize you are right where you are at for a reason and be bold enough to seek it?

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” – Henri Bergson

We’re in a space in time where everything feels hard. From going to the grocery store to ordering essentials to navigating complex business deals – it’s hard right now to find the comfort we so desperately are seeking. Our ability to keep pushing forward is feeling diminished and our light within that burned bright is beginning to dwindle.

But consider this – just because where you are today isn’t where you thought you would be, it doesn’t mean you can’t or won’t get to your intended destination. It does mean however that it is time to course correct. The winds of change have blown all of us off course and now it’s time for a new plan. 

In order to do this, we must manage our emotional and mental state with care. It is SO easy to get lost in a barrage of negative news, deeply emotional conversations with others and become overwhelmed by fear that seems to be everywhere we turn. Now is the time to cultivate an active practice of conditioning yourself with healthy perspective. The healthier your mind is and the more thoughtfully your emotions are managed, the better your decision ability will be to help you course correct. 

Here are a couple quick changes you can make:

• Turn to news sources that you trust – get the facts – and then go on with your day. Do not listen to endless hours of media on end. This is a sure fire way to harm your mental state.
• Every morning when you get up – literally say “thank you, thank you, thank you” as the late great Wayne Dyer always did. This simple step literally sets your outlook instantly in a positive direction the moment your feet hit the floor.
• Feed your mind with uplifting podcasts, music, and books. Your mind is a muscle and what you feed it, it will magnify.
• Write three things that were positive in your day at the close of every day. This will help you celebrate even the smallest wins – maybe you washed your hair today for example. Sounds silly but right now even the smallest of things like caring for ourselves seems like a lot.

“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn

So, it brings me back to my initial question – change, what is it teaching us? Maybe it is to understand that nothing ever is or ever was or ever will be permanent (and that is ok). Maybe it is teaching us to understand the beauty of growing through things that are stretching us to our limits. Maybe the lesson is to have more grace and empathy for others and ourselves. Or, maybe we are supposed to understand that there will always be more than one way to get to an intended goal or destination. 

For thousands of years, change has looked much like a foe – an enemy that must be defeated by a resolve to remain the same. But what if, finally, we concede that we’ve had it all wrong. That change is necessary for all of mankind to continue thriving, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. 

What if 2020 with all of its pain points, disappointments, and frustrations has been the shake-up that was essential for all us to achieve new levels of success? It may be time to accept that change is not a foe, but rather a long lost friend that has finally made its way back to us looking to guide, protect and elevate us.

How do you deal with change? Share any strategies or thoughts you have on change below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/how-to-think-about-change-and-the-lessons-it-teaches-you/

How to Lead in a Time of Crisis

If you’d like to learn how to be an effective leader so you can influence people, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

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We have an abundance of information on leadership. We can learn how to inspire, manage, and develop a team; how to change an entire workplace DNA from the top down; how to deal with confrontation. But when it comes to crises, we’re often left in the middle of a winding road without direction. How do we lead in uncharted territories?

By definition, a crisis is unexpected, chaotic, and changes everything. It’s usually unprecedented or has different characteristics from the past, making you the pioneer of something novel. Most leadership has to do with experience and knowledge, but what if we are the first ones?

Imagine the great leaders of WWII and how they had to embark on their personal leadership journey. They had to use the resources they already had to navigate an unknown reality. They understood that to lead in a crisis, they would have to identify their values and core beliefs to create a leadership strategy for success.

When we face a new crisis, we have to depend on our core virtues to decipher the right plan.

1. Understanding The Two Eyes

The Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi teaches us about how we view things in the world. He speaks of the Observing Eye and the Perceiving Eye. The Observing Eye is seeing the reality of a situation, taking a step back, and seeing it for what it is. The Perceiving Eye, considered the weaker view, is when we see something and we invent our perception, opinions, and emotions about the situation.

The Observing Eye gives us the power to objectively study an issue for its reality and take action (we lead in the present). When we see a crisis with the Observing Eye, we equip ourselves to find the best solution without caving into anxiety and pressure.

2. Lead with Character

Talent might elevate us to success, but it is character that sustains us. Our virtues, core beliefs, and identity are what helps us navigate difficult seasons. Our character gives us the power to interpret situations and decide on the right thing to do, even if it might not make sense at the time.

When we face a crisis, we might be tempted to take the easy way out or to do what our peers are pressuring us to do. The right character will assess these variables and filter them through your leadership core views. This is incredibly important, considering you’ll be the one leading your team and need to stand strong on your decisions when times get tough.

Lead with your values. Use empathy, grace, confidence, listening, discipline, and other virtues to lead in an uncharted time.

“A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” – Nelson Mandela

3. Put People First

The most important component of every crisis will be people. Your team is the most vital difference between success and failure when there is a threat to your organization. When everything seems to be falling apart, it’s people that will put it back together. If we value people and put them first, we increase our chances of weathering the storm.

Each decision you make and each word you communicate will be remembered. A crisis is a vulnerable time for people. They are worried about their jobs and family. Everything that seemed secure is now threatened. If a leader makes this season harder through anxious words and toxic interactions, they hurt themselves, their team, and business.

The best way to put people first is by speaking life into their lives. Encourage them every day, not just for their accomplishments, but for who they are as a person. Uplift them in failure and show them how you appreciate what they have done. Listen to them and find out what ideas they have, what they are passionate about, and what concerns them. Listening is the best way to show that we value people.

During a crisis, we should over-communicate. People need to hear double encouragement and vision. Difficult times call for stronger teams and social security.

4. Be Resilient and Flexible

If you’ve ever led through a crisis, you quickly learn how everything moves very fast. You think you’ve found a solution, but it didn’t work or the crisis has evolved, and now it is obsolete. That’s why resilience and flexibility are so important.

Resilience allows us to recover quickly after a setback. Instead of thinking down on ourselves or analyzing it for too long, we brush off the dust and get back up. We keep trying. Flexibility is when we adjust our sails efficiently as we learn and find opportunities. We do not operate hesitantly when we have to change a process or strategy.

When we implement both of these virtues, we develop grit. We are ready to face challenges head-on and find our way through it.

“The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority.” – Kenneth H. Blanchard

5. Take a Step Back

Much like what the Observing Eye does for us, we need to be intentional to stop and breathe. Take a step back and analyze the situation.

I remember working at a fast-food restaurant in college as a new supervisor. When we had the lunch rush and stumbled upon some problems, I felt stressed. My trainer at the time gave me great advice.

He told me to ignore my instinct at the time, which was to jump in and get busy. I couldn’t assess the situation and wouldn’t be of much help if I just grabbed another cash register. He told me to step back and watch. While the front counter was packed, by stepping away, I realized the real problem was that the kitchen was behind on food. I was able to adjust my strategy.

When we stop to observe reality, we can find the best option. Instead of being busy, we can make strategic decisions that create a bigger output than what we could do ourselves.

When we face a crisis, it can be intimidating. We have very little examples in history to look to. But when we depend on our values and experience to develop a new strategy, we can overcome any challenge put before us.

What do you think is the most important characteristic of a leader? Share your thoughts below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/how-to-lead-in-a-time-of-crisis/

25 Quotes About Resilience to Help You Bounce Back in Tough Times

Wondering how to bounce back in tough times? If you’re feeling devastated, defeated, even frightened, you might not see a way out of despair. And though family and friends tell you to stay strong because time heals all wounds, you find just surviving today the greatest struggle of all. So, how do you get back up when life knocks you down? 

When you’re facing challenges, bouncing back to normal life again isn’t easy. Especially if you’re dealing with trauma or even tragedy. I know, I’ve been there. Six years ago my world caved in on me when I discovered I had leukemia. 

Yet, after the initial shock, I found strength in many ways. And, unknowingly at the time, inspirational quotes turned into one of the building blocks in my resilience foundation. In them I found solace, hope, and the determination to carry on. They were my lighthouses in a storm, light in the darkness, truths that cut through the relentless anxiety and kept me focused. 

So, if you’re going through tough times right now, do not give up the fight. You’ve got this. There is hope and there are many ways to carry on. 

To start, here are 25 resilience quotes to keep your fire alive and help you bounce back:

1. “Where you stumble and fall, there you will find gold.”  – Joseph Campbell
2. “Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.” – Fred Rogers
3. “Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.”  – Joseph Campbell
4. “It is in our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” – Taylor Benson
5. “Silence isn’t empty. It’s full of answers.” – Unknown

6. “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

7. “At the center of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.” – Lao Tzu
8. “You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.” – Deepak Chopra
9. “Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Christian D. Larson
10. “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”  – Buddha
11. “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.” – Buddha
12. “Surrender to what is. Let go of what was. Have faith is what will be.” – Sonia Ricotti
13. “Without fear we are able to see more clearly our connection to others. Without fear, we have more room for understanding and compassion. Without fear, we are truly free.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
14. “Don’t be too quick to interpret the moment. Just keep quiet. My encouragement is: never think anything is against you. Everything is a blessing. Why should it be different? Just be quiet, see how it works itself out.” – Mooji
15. “If you figured it all out today, what would be the point of tomorrow? Enjoy the process of being a work in progress.” – Unknown
16. “Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know.” – Pema Chödrön

17. “Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute, or an hour, or a day, or even a year. But eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it will last forever.” – Eric Thomas

18. “When you complain, you make yourself a victim. Leave the situation, change the situation or accept it. All else is madness.“ – Eckhart Tolle
19. “With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.” – Wayne Dyer
20. “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” – Christopher Reeve
21. “Nothing in the world can bother you as much as your own mind, I tell you. In fact, others seem to be bothering you, but it is not others, it is your own mind.” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
22. “Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.” – Desiderius Erasmus 
23. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” – Maya Angelou
24. “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius

25. “You must not make up your mind merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win in spite of a thousand repulses and defeats.” – Theodore Roosevelt

I hope these nuggets of wisdom have infused you with as much clarity, fire, and courage as they did me. So, believe that you can do this. Believe in yourself. And believe in your inner strength to bounce back. Carry on, my friend, because you are resilient.   

from
https://addicted2success.com/quotes/25-quotes-about-resilience-to-help-you-bounce-back-in-tough-times/