Success Advice
How To Overcome The Circumstances Preventing You From Success
It’s no secret we all have circumstances we believe are stopping us from reaching the level of success we deserve. Those circumstances are different for everyone, I for example, have to battle the belief I can’t do big things because I live in a small town or I can’t have the same success men in my industry do only because I’m a young woman. This may only be my head trash and first world problems to have compared to the situations so many other individuals have to go through, however, our unfavorable circumstances are those things we believe are the ceilings keeping us small or the blade that keeps cutting us at the knees as soon as we gain speed.
In order to figure out how to overcome the challenges stopping myself and everyone else from reaching the goals and the vision we have for our life, I went on a mission to find someone who has overcome the worst of the worst and become a beacon of inspiration.
Meet Andrew Griffiths, bestselling author, entrepreneur and global presenter. Andrew has 12 best selling books, published in over 65 countries around the world. He travels globally, presenting to tens of thousands of business owners annually, he was worked one on one with some pretty big names including CBS, every major bank in Australia, Telstra, the Stockland group and he even writes for Inc. (the worlds largest entrepreneurial website).
I had a chat with Andrew and asked him a few question about the challenges he has faced and how he has dealt with them.
1. What challenges did you encounter growing up?
“I grew up as an orphan, my parents abandoned my sister and I when I was six months old. My childhood was very violent, moving in and out of foster care and different institutions, my everyday life was filled with uncertainty and fear.
As I grew older, I become attracted to the more unsavory temptations in life like petty crime, drugs, alcohol and so on – the type of predictable behavior you expect from an individual growing up in difficult circumstances. I didn’t know any different at the time so for me I thought this was normal.”
2. What was the pivotal moment that changed the course of your life?
“Over the years I have had many pivotal moments, however, one of the main ones would be when I was 17 years old and found myself in a situation I knew wouldn’t end well. I was standing at the end of a driveway waiting to go out with some friends and run a muck.
I heard the little voice in my head telling me that I knew what was going to happen that night and I’m at a crossroads. Do I turn right, get in the car with these people and potentially end up in juvenile detention or worse. Or do I turn left, walk back inside and start my life fresh?
It’s during these moments that you get to decide in what direction you want your life to head in. I chose to turn left, go back inside and I started packing my bags. I decided this life was not the life I wanted to live, so I left town and moved to Sydney.”
3. Are you glad you didn’t have an ideal childhood?
“Absolutely! I met my biological father when I was 22 years old. It was not the warm family reunion I had hoped for. This man was an alcoholic and all he wanted from me was money. I thought about that disappointing event and actually became grateful – I realized my childhood wouldn’t have been any better with him in it.
I’m a firm believer in all the unfavorable circumstances I have been through in my childhood has lead me to become the successful man I am today. And to be honest, I am really happy with who I am.”
“Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him.” – Wayne Dwyer
4. Even with your success in business and writing, do you still encounter challenges or unfavorable circumstances in life? How do you deal with these?
“Definitely – everyday in-fact! I think if you’re involved in business or you’re constantly bettering yourself, you will always go through ups and downs – it’s how it works. What I have learnt is to be resilient.
After losing thousands of dollars, having to deal with difficult clients and going through almost every business challenge known to man – resilience has always kept me in the game, coming back stronger and wiser than before.
I can cope with the good times and I can cope with the bad times. It doesn’t matter how successful someone is, everyone has challenges and setbacks rest assured.”
5. What advice would you give to someone who believes their circumstances are holding them back in life?
“To me when someone says that, I believe it’s just a copout. It’s an excuse so many use. When people lead a statement with, “if only I had this or I never got that or my situation is different etc” I stop listening. From my experience, their excuse is rarely the cause for their lack of success.
I have very good friends of mine who grew up with tons of money and every opportunity you could ask for but lead very average and far from perfect lives. The best way to face the circumstances you believe are holding you back is to change your mindset towards them.
You’re in a tough situation? Use that as motivation. Life gives us two choices when it comes to adversity – become bitter or become better.”
6. What steps would you recommend someone take to overcome the circumstances holding them back in life?
“Change! Change! Change! Change the people who are around you. If you’re spending your time with a bunch of ‘no-hopes’ then you’ll become exactly like them – as simple as that.
Change your mindset and change your state. Buy some motivational material and begin studying it. Find mentors who you admire and start mimicking them – what good habits do they have, what habits don’t they have more importantly.
You have to change something. If you want a radical change in your life and your circumstances you need to take radical action. Whatever that looks like for you – identify what it is that’s holding you back from the life you want and start taking radical steps to create change.”
Andrew is an individual who has overcome such adversity and who has become a person not only successful in business and financially but an individual who makes a positive impact in the lives of many daily.
Hopefully you have learnt a few tips to help you overcome your challenges and your setbacks from hearing Andrew’s story.
What would you say is your top takeaways? Leave a comment below.
Here are my key takeaways:
- It doesn’t matter how successful someone is, everyone has challenges and setbacks
- Learn to become resilient
- Blaming your circumstances for not achieving success is just a copout
- Life gives us two choices when it comes to adversity – become bitter or become better
- If you want a radical change in your life and your circumstances you need to take radical action
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.
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.
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
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…)
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
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…)
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
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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