how to be successful

12 Signs that you need to grow up and stop ruining your opportunities for success

If you want to know if you’re still acting like a child and that is the reason you cannot achieve the maximum levels of success then read this.

Quite often in my profession, I encounter a grown child. It’s typically a person who thinks and behaves like they never matured past junior high. It’s a sad reality, because as I process through strategies for them to achieve personal success, the recurring theme is simple: if they can’t shake off the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs of childhood, they cannot succeed.

If you want to know if you’re still acting like a child and that is the reason you cannot achieve the maximum levels of success then read below:

1. You believe popularity is more important than integrity

Popularity is child’s play, but so many adults treat social status as a key to personal validity. In the process, they often sacrifice honesty, loyalty, and basic manners. The moment you place a value on popularity, you’ve distanced yourself from success. Popularity can get you more likes on social media, but it won’t bring you success. If you want to be validated, be known for having integrity. Like it or not, people will respect you and you will attract success.

2. You act like you know everything

The older I become, the more I realize I have so much more to learn. That’s the way it should be, but if you find yourself feeling like you already know enough, you’re stagnant or dying, because at this point, growth becomes impossible meaning success becomes impossible.

The average CEO reads over 50 books per year, and that’s only one piece of knowledge ingestion. If you want to be successful, recognize you don’t know enough, and never stop learning.

3. You would rather nap than work

There’s a Proverb that says, “if a man doesn’t work, he shouldn’t eat.” Hard work brings about success, but avoiding the work will hamper your ability to achieve. If you want to continue an upward track, embrace everything it takes to get there. Work now, rest later.

4. You don’t respect authority

We’re not talking about respecting abusive authority, but when it comes to achieving your goals, you need to understand that how you treat those in authority over you has a significant impact on your future. Children may be insolent, but winners show respect.

Related Post: Bringing out the innovator within you

5. You excuse all your mistakes

Mistakes and failures are an inevitable part of your journey towards success. While excusing your mistakes might have seemed like a good idea when you were 12, doing so as an adult prevents you from learning and growing.

“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” – Bruce Lee

6. You are arrogant

Most successful people in life will tell you that humility is a requisite attitude. Arrogance, after all, usually precedes some form of stupidity. Arrogance may have scored the prom king his throne, but it won’t give you the upper hand in real life. If you want to succeed, lose the attitude.

7. You don’t listen

As a kid, I remember my mom telling me not to ride my bike without a helmet, and my first boss telling me not to mix chemicals when I was cleaning the equipment. I ignored both of them, and suffered the consequences. As an adult, if you don’t listen, people notice. Ignoring others may not put you in the hospital, but it will send a message that you don’t value them, and value is a two-way street.

8. You blame

Blaming your siblings or classmates may have helped you avoid discipline as a child, but when it comes to being an adult, personal responsibility is a key to growth. Don’t pass the blame, but instead look for ways you can take responsibility for your own actions. Personal responsibility is a hallmark of leadership.

Related Post: 7 easy ways to become a people’s person

9. You can’t admit being afraid

If you’re not a little afraid each day, you’re not pushing yourself far enough. Success requires that you step outside of the humdrum of routine and push yourself to the edge. The drop off, however, is scary, so don’t hesitate to admit your fear. When you identify it, you can master it.

10. You think you can do it on your own

Very few well-known leaders believe they have achieved success alone. Even fewer people actually achieve success going solo. If you want to reach the furthest limits of success, learn the value of teams – mentors, supporters, and everyone in between. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but when it comes to opportunity, a “village” can get you further than you can do yourself.

11. You can’t work well with others

The arrogance and autonomy of immaturity often impedes our ability to effectively participate in teams. Yet, aside from helping push us further, teamwork highlights our strengths and weaknesses. If you can’t work well with others, it shows the world you’re insecure, and when you’re insecure, success avoids you like the plague.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” – Michael Jordan

12. You alienate those not like you

I was an athlete and a skater in high school. The two groups would not mix, but I was content to spend time with both groups without feeling ousted by either. Group dynamics for jocks, nerds, headbangers, and goths may work well when you’re a kid because they help establish identity and social norms.

As an adult, they can undermine your ability to succeed. More importantly, when you alienate those who are not like you, you send a clear message that you have no value for them. Successful people show value for others; losers alienate them.

You have a shot to be all that you were meant to be, but you can’t get to new places using old tools. Let go of the childhood antics and step into success today.

What is the hardest thing about being an adult for you? Please comment below and let us know!

Author: Brock Shinen

Brock Shinen has been guiding entrepreneurs, business owners, executives, and creators for more than 13 years as an attorney, trainer, and strategic advisor. His passion is to see people and businesses transform by implementing smart, adaptable thinking leading towards economic and personal success. He is also the author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller, “Crush The Stops: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Finishing Things.” You can also visit his website.

6 ways in which performers actually focus

If you want to be successful and be labelled as a performer, all you need to do is follow these tips.

The difference between performers and non performers is the way they focus on their job and what they want to achieve. If you want to be successful and be labelled as a performer, all you need to do is follow the tips mentioned below:

i. Take some time out to think

Don’t storm into a conference room and start addressing people without any preparation. Performers know the importance of slowing down and gathering their thoughts before doing something as it helps them gather their thoughts and focus better on it.

ii. Practice makes a wo/man perfect

It is wrong to think that you can deliver and conquer everything without preparation. Most good performers are aware of the importance of practice and prefer rehearsing things before delivering as this helps them focus and deliver better when required.

iii. Physical workout

Physical workout for half an hour daily is very important because it keeps your body fit and refreshes your mind as well. The mental strength depends on a lot on how you treat your body because engaging in any form of exercise releases good hormones which make you feel more confident about yourself and help you focus on tasks better.

iv. Find solidarity

Once a while, seclude yourself from the people you meet and interact with daily to find yourself and refresh your mind. Treat this seclusion as a refreshing break and you will find that when you go back to work, you will feel more motivated and focused to achieve targets.

v. Increase your confidence

Before an important meeting or a decision, it is necessary for your to be confident while delivering. To gain this confidence and focus on making the decision better, do something that you really love to make your soul and body more happy.

vi. Bring yourself to focus

There will always be distractions of sorts surrounding you but your ability to focus greatly depends on how well you are able to chuck out the noise around you and streamline your thoughts around what you really want to achieve. This requires excessive mental strength.

That one essential thing your start-up depends on

One needs to be absolutely sure that the idea is feasible and has chances of gaining success

It is very important to take into consideration one aspect before you start up and that is validation of your idea.
Validating the idea you want your start-up to be based around means verifying, ratifying and substantiating you idea before actually taking putting your idea into action.

Validation is necessary because entrepreneurship and development of an idea requires immense amount of time and effort because something could actually materialise. So, if one is investing so much into an idea, one needs to be absolutely sure that the idea is feasible and has chances of gaining success without which the whole venture will head to a failure. Also, validation of the idea is crucial for you to plan for the future.

You can gain a clear idea about the demand for the product or the service, your target audience and also your future expansion plans.

Sample batch:

It is always better to do a thorough market research about your product is going to be received in the market. If the response is more on the positive end, you can be assured that it’s a great idea and will work out well where as if the idea fails with 4 out 5 people from your sample, it is doomed to be a failure with most of them. For this, you need to be careful about selecting your target group and presenting the idea to them as well.

Your friends or colleagues can also serve as great sources of validation. If you look up to someone or are being mentored by someone, they can also serve as validation.

This sample test will also give you much needed insights about your product and help you understand what customers demand thereby giving you a chance to make your product better.

Related post: Strategic marketing tips for startups

Self-validation:

For an entrepreneurial success, it is essential that the entrepreneur believes in his/her product and is able to stand up for it because if the maker is not confident, s/he is not in a position to convince others.

Hence, as an entrepreneur, you need to be cent percent sure about your product entirely.

6 ways in which your personal life affects your professional life

An entrepreneur is expected to work so hard that his personal life is almost non-existent.

An entrepreneur is expected to work so hard that his personal life is almost non-existent. However, this practice in reality isn’t a very good thing as a person’s personal and professional lives aren’t as different as black and white. They are interdependent and the enhancement of personal life is crucial for some aspects of professional success.

Here are 6 ways in which your personal life affects your professional life:

1. The way you communicate

The way you communicate is largely dependent on your personal life. Through the way one is speaking, the listener can make out a lot of things about the speaker. If something is bothering you, one tends to not be very jovial and the communication is professional. One might also tend to snap back or give curt replies if something in his personal life is affecting him.

2. Problems in your personal life could distract you

This is a no-brainer because if a person is facing issues in his personal life, it is bound to show up in their work as well. Problems between couples or family issues might demotivate the employee and that affects the productivity of the company as well.

3. Social media profiles

Social media profiles are no longer personal to a human being. Profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn are out there for everyone to see. If your LinkedIn profile features you in a crisp shirt looking professional and your Instagram pictures reveal a different story altogether, you might be in a dilemma.

The human resource managers these days are supposed to monitor social media profiles and are expected to find out what a person is up to.

4. People to fall back on

An entrepreneur’s life is very tough as we all know. Taking risks and challenges constitutes to a major part of his life and some risks might not work out as one expects them to. this might lead in depression and dejection and during such moments of despair, one needs people to fall back on more than ever. The person you trust the most could act as your cushion and motivate you to do better.

Along with sharing dejections, it is necessary to have someone to share successes with as well. The people you fall back on could be anybody- parents, siblings, spouse, friends, mentors etc.

5. Tragedies or losses in personal life

This point is pretty explanatory as a loss or tragedy one faces in their personal life does affect one’s professional abilities as well. One loses motivation to work on drab days and tends to slack off which affects productivity majorly. Prolonged days of depression affects to emotional burnout which can hamper the company gravely.

Hence, when one’s facing something so intense, they should take a break and deal with their sorrows instead of not being able to focus clearly thereby affecting output at their profession.

6. Time crunches

Personal life can also pose a threat to the time one devotes to their profession. Balancing time between a family and a full-time job isn’t easy and a lot of people fail in maintaining this delicate balance and end up doing everything half heartedly.

For instance, a co-employee left office by 5pm each day and on the day of an important meeting; he said he had to take his son for a vaccine. This affected the meeting as he had a major role in the presentation.

Image credit: blog.convolounge.com

3 Ways to keep the self-confidence alive

As human beings, we constantly doubt our next move and seek validation from other people or the universe in form of a sign

As human beings, we constantly doubt our next move and seek validation from other people or the universe in form of a sign. When one is low on self-confidence, all s/he needs is motivation from the common things around for a morale boost.

For an entrepreneur, dampened spirits seems like a recurring phase. An entrepreneur is constantly under a lot of stress and most of it is distress. Long hours spent on strategising, marketing and pitching to VCs summarises an entrepreneur’s life. Risk-taking can be physically and mentally taxing which is why an entrepreneur needs more inspiration than anyone else. There are many points in one’s career where self-doubt takes over self-confidence. In those points, one needs energize internally and keep going. It may be tough but it is absolutely necessary.

Here are three ways in which an entrepreneur can believe in himself when the world ceases to:

1. Trust the prospects

The world might believe your idea is stupid, but you think you can work it out, you probably can. All you need is faith and confidence in your skills and potential to make it happen. If big and successful entrepreneurs doubted themselves, no innovation would have ever taken place. We would be living in a world without technology or scientific advancements. The successful ones always go out there and make it happen. All successful entrepreneurs were avant-garde and vanguard which is why they could actually achieve what they wanted to.

Similarly, you need to be clear about what you want and test all the available resources that you’ll require to achieve it. Once you actually start working on it with a clear mind, you’ll realise you’re closer to achieving it than you thought.

2. Don’t doubt your potential

What you want to achieve might seem far-fetched and unconventional, sometimes even impossible, but not even for a moment should you doubt your capabilities. Trust your brain to work out a creative way to make your idea work and strategise around the idea with complete focus. Your innate talent and potential are the only things that’ll bail you out of gloomy days.

Albert Einstein failed 1000 ways before making the light bulb. If he doubted his capabilities or his idea, we’d be sitting in the dark. Instead, he chose to not give up until he reached his end goal.

3. Place confidence in your job

This might seem like a difficult thing to do but unless you’re completely focused and in love with what you do, success will not knock your door. Your core belief in yourself and the job you’re doing is crucial for achieving the target. As an entrepreneur, you should be aware that your job requires you to clock in long hours, undertake risks and take up responsibility of your venture and employees and be completely prepared for it.

Great entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Dhirubhai Ambani, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg loved what they did and believe that their efforts would change the world.

Don’t let anybody or anything dampen your spirits because you know you’re capable of achieving whatever you want to. Try and be positive and confident always and you’ll succeed.

4 action tips which will help you be triumphant in life

An entrepreneur knows the actions needed to take in order to be a more successful person

Reaching the end goal isn’t comprised of a few big leaps, instead, it is journey of several small steps which help you get there. You might think a big marketing idea might double your profits, but if the basics aren’t clear and set, your whole venture could result in failure. An entrepreneur knows the actions s/he needs to take in order to be a more successful person.

4 Motivational action tips to become successful are:

1. Clear vision and a reasonable purpose of action

An entrepreneur should have a vision for his innovative idea and a goal for his/her business. If there are no targets or aims to fulfill, what is the point of your venture? Without a target, you can’t be productive or measure your productivity levels.

Hence, one should have an articulated vision and a defined goal which needs to be communicated to the whole team properly so that everyone’s on the same page. This enables unity and coordination amongst the team as everyone works to towards a set and defined goal.

2. Drive and momentum

Drive and momentum are two most difficult things to achieve but they’re absolutely crucial for your business. You need to constantly keep going as the markets are dynamic and your static business won’t really gain you anything. Start taking small but confident steps towards you goal and you will find the process to be much easier than you expected it to be.

Also, if you feel demotivated or feel things aren’t going in your favour, take a small break from work and do things you like. This will help clear your mind and refresh the drive. Once, you have gained the much required momentum, nothing can stop you from achieving what you want to. Also, it is very important to keep this drive alive in your team as well.

3. Motivation

An entrepreneur constantly needs motivation in life to keep pushing forward and achieving his end goal. However, this might be very difficult when one is clocking long hours and is bogged down by work.

But, one can aspire to and find motivation in simple things. Reading a great book or watching an inspirational movie like the Pursuit of Happiness or Rocket Singh will motivate him to achieve his goals and focus on them better.

Stop being pessimistic and focusing only on the negatives, instead, you should be focused on the happier and more successful elements that’ll help you succeed in life. Yoga and meditation can help you greatly with being optimistic.

4. Be intrepid and spunky

The worst thing an entrepreneur can do is be afraid- to take risks, lead a team, expand a venture or anything else. Your decisions are either going to work or fail. If they work, you are going to benefit greatly from them and if they don’t, you need to pull yourself and start again. At least, you’ll be aware of the mistakes you shouldn’t be making for the second time.

The markets are constantly evolving and it is essential for an entrepreneur to be innovative and spunky because you can’t keep revamping an old idea and living your life on it. New innovations are appreciated and will help you become more successful.

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