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Success Advice

Consistency: The Key Ingredient to Your Success

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consistency

It always seems to happen the same way. You start a new habit. It’s a great habit. It’s making your day better. In fact, it seems like it will improve your life. If only you could remain consistent. Consistency is the thing that stands between us and achieving the goals we talk about wanting so much.

There could be any number of reasons why you don’t feel self-motivated enough to remain consistent with new habits. One reason could be the fact that our brains are wired according to our current habits. What is the pattern that you tend to follow? If you are great at starts but then fizzle out after a few weeks (or a few days) then it may be your brain going on auto response.

Below are five ways for you to block your feelings from blocking your goals. I’ve found all of these useful and hopefully you will as well. Our fears can be pretty convincing. Therefore, we have to create ways to work around fear. You can choose to do all of these, instead, I suggest starting by picking the one that would benefit you the most. Once you have one down add another.

1. Schedule

Is your new habit something that you can plan for? Do it. Schedule it into your calendar as if it is a work appointment. Mainly, because it is a work appointment. It is going to likely be something that will help you personally or professional and maybe both. Therefore it is work. Working on yourself is work worth setting time aside for. Your growth is important enough to schedule it into your calendar (with reminders).

We are constantly being asked to look at our calendars to carve out time for things such as other people, professional responsibilities and medical appointments. Do it for yourself, do it for activities you are passionate about, do it for projects you want to finish for your own satisfaction. You would do it for your boss, be the boss of yourself. Plan and schedule the block of time that you will practice your new habit.

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” – Stephen Covey

2. Automate

What if the time comes and you don’t do it? One of the topics I discuss most with clients is the discomfort they have around marketing themselves and their offerings. There are wonderful ways we can automate some of these things. If marketing on social media, for example, is something that you do, you can automate posts.

You can sit down for a few hours one night of the week and plan your marketing posts for the whole week (or beyond if you get on a roll). You will not be able to automate everything but you can automate certain things like, your cell phone bill. Most of us would need our phones no matter life throws us.

You can automate marketing posts. You will know that you are consistently getting your message out without the fear of pushing the button that may stop you.

3. Accountability

You won’t take the time to schedule posts either? What about having someone that you will have to report back to? It is helpful to have an action partner. Having an accountability partner can look however you two choose. Will you do a call weekly? Will you schedule times to work either in person or remotely?

Make sure that is it someone who is also committed to consistency. At the very least, make sure that it is someone who is committed to improving and growing. You may find it more useful to have a human being that you will check in with and keep your progress on track.

4. Pre-prepped Pep Talk

If you are going it alone, know that homeostasis is at work inside of you. This system works without us having to do anything. The majority of the time that’s a good thing. Our body temperatures remain constant, blood sends substances to the right organs for optimal function. However, this function of our bodies is on auto, it does not know whether a change is good or bad. It only knows that it is out of the norm for how you usually function. It is trying to set itself back to what you’ve taught it (through habitual thinking & acting).

It’s best to make this when you are in great spirits! Write on an index card or in a small notebook that you keep with you. Make a list that includes some wins you are proud of: the vision for your life that this new habit gets you closer to, quotes or phrases that inspire you to action, encouraging caring things that you would tell your best friend, etc.

Laminate it if you want to. Keep it with you so you always have a reminder of how you benefit from this new behavior/habit ready to whip out. Write down all of the encouragement you can think of that will be impactful enough to get you started even when you don’t feel like starting.

“Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them, just find a new way to stand.” – Oprah Winfrey

5. Keep Going

Life is a collection of choices and consequences. Neutral until we assign labels of good or bad, positive or negative to it. Once we are adults, we have to choose to be vigilantly active in creating new habits (one at a time even). Choose too many and you will fail. Choose too few and you will improve for sure, perhaps not as fast as you’d prefer though.

Where we want to be is in a place where we are honest with ourselves. There are moments when we absolutely should stop and take care of ourselves. There are other times we have to remind ourselves that consistency is the key to what we desire. We have to commit. There may be setbacks. That’s normal. What’s important is that we don’t view set backs as final verdicts. They are simply opportunities to learn something new.

If you have ever asked yourself how you were going to get to the finish line, here are some tools for your journey. Get support. Let the people around you know that you are working on creating some new habits and their support would be great. How do you define support? Define it for yourself.

Try different things until you find the ones that are most effective for you. Then, keep doing them. Knowing and doing are two different things. We can know an endless amount of facts. What good is it if we aren’t persistent? Consistency is about doing when things are easy and when things are hard. Consistency is acknowledgement that it may take some time to undo the habit because it was learned so slowly over time just by our individual life experiences.

Give and take. Push and pull. One by one. Without consistency you wander. With consistency, you will arrive at your destination (or maybe into something different and better). Commit to doing the work until it no longer feels like work. Commit to doing the work until it’s done.

Image courtesy of Twenty20.com

Essence Revealed is The Self Actualization Strategist for survivors of sexual violence and expert at living life in the #ZeroFZone, founder of the 6 Week S.T.R.I.P. SHIFT, Author of S.T.R.I.P. - A Stripper's 20 Life Winning Lessons. She helps survivors discover how to reclaim their spirit, body & most importantly their minds! When not on stage, Essence is helping women who are sexual violence survivors live their own dream through her writing, programs, panel discussions and workshops at institutions like New York University, University of Colorado, Carleton College, Amherst College and Sarah Lawrence University. Essence has a closed group on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/ZeroFZone/ on Facebook where the self actualization conversation continues. Should we work together? www.rebrand.ly/zerofzone

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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
Image Credit: Midjourney

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
Image Credit: Midjourney

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
Image Credit: Midjourney

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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