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Success Advice

12 Ways to Take More Initiative in Your Life and Business

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Midjourney

Each of us is responsible for our own lives, our futures and everything in between. It’s not enough to simply sit back and wait for success to find us. We need to take initiative to seek out and create that success for ourselves, whether it’s in our daily lives or in business.

While there’s nothing you can do to control the things that happen around you, every aspect of how your life develops is the sole responsibility of you and you alone. It begins by taking the initiative to do something, to take action and to make things happen.

Here are a dozen ways you can start taking action to find success in every aspect of your life:

1. Ask lots of questions

We can’t learn if we aren’t asking questions. In addition to helping us gather information, being inquisitive shows others that we have a genuine interest. This means, whether it’s in a workplace setting or in day to day life, those around us will be more willing to teach and guide us, because we’ve shown them we are interested.

2. Make a list and get it done

It’s easy to put things off or forget what needs to get done when you don’t have a concrete list to follow. Even if it’s something as simple as household chores or errands that need to be done, having a list in front of you helps keep you on track to get things done. It also feels great to visually see things being checked off of your list, and keeps you motivated to do more.

3. Recognize your mistakes

There’s another list you can make – that’s a list of your biggest mistakes. It’s not a matter of dwelling on those things we did wrong in our past, but rather examining them and drawing lessons that we can carry forward. If we’ve made bad financial decisions in our lives, writing down and recognizing these mistakes, then learning from them can help you avoid making those same mistakes again.

4. Own those mistakes

It does take a lot of courage to not only admit you’ve made a mistake, but completely own it as your own. Trying to put the blame on anyone but yourself means you’re not able to accept the responsibility for those mistakes.

“Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something.” – Morihei Ueshiba

5. Let your voice be heard

It can be intimidating sometimes to speak up, especially when we’re in a new situation or still learning something. But, putting your ideas out there can show great initiative in a meeting, where you can share your opinions and present your ideas. Not all of your ideas will hit the mark, but you have to take a shot in order to score.

6. Set goals

Milestones, both small and large, are great motivators for success. They set us up for successes and give us targets to keep in our sight. The small or short term goals keep us moving towards our larger goals. Whether it’s a scholarship you’re aiming to get in order to help propel your education or completing that education and walking across stage to collect your diploma, setting goals help build the steps along the way to the ultimate success you’re seeking.

7. Actively participate

No matter if it’s work related or in everyday life, don’t just be a wallflower. Participate actively and get involved in what you’re doing. Taking part in discussions and activities helps make your presence known and shows that you’ve got enthusiasm for what you’re doing.

8. Embrace new opportunity

New opportunities will always present themselves to you, in different situations throughout your life. It can sometimes be unnerving to consider change and new opportunities, but remember that progress can’t be made without change happening. A willingness to embrace new opportunities shows that you’ve got the initiative to accept new challenges and changes in order to find success.

9. Stick to your values

Think about the values that are most important to you, and hold them high. Upholding these values demonstrates that you are willing to work for the success you want, without ever having to compromise what you believe in.

10. Inform yourself

The greatest service you can do to yourself, while seeking out success, is making a well informed decision. It shows that you’re not just making flippant decisions or taking a shot in the dark, and that you’re actually taking the initiative to educate yourself in order to properly decide what moves you want to make.

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

11. Ask an expert

A great way to learn is to ask someone who’s already been there. If you’ve got goals of working for yourself as a freelance writer, it’s a good idea to sit down with someone who’s found success doing that, in order to pick their brain.

12. Make a plan

You can’t get anywhere if you don’t know where you’re going. Laying out your plan creates a vision of your future as you see it, and gives you a road map to follow in order to get there.

Which one of these things are you going to focus on immediately? Please leave your thoughts below!

Gloria Kopp is a web content writer and an elearning consultant from Manville City. She works as a content writer at Write My Paper and as a part-time editor at Brisbane Australian essay writing service. She is also a regular contributor to such websites as UK assignment, Studydemic, Huffington Post, Engadget, and others.

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Success Advice

How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements

Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

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altering business approach
Image Credit: Midjourney

Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.  

Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses. 

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased. 

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information. 

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place. 

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

  • Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds. 
  • Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
  • Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
  • Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them. 
  • Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

  • Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
  • Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
  • Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.

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Success Advice

Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success

These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds

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Creating legal boundaries
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The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)

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Motivation

From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone

By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality

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How to be motivated
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Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)

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Success Advice

10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind

The World Economic Forum still reports that half of U.S. adults lack financial literacy

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micro financial habits
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You’ve heard about developing financial habits, but what about micro-financial habits? Micro habits are the tiny things you can do every day with minimal effort that, together, transform your future. (more…)

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