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Four Powerful Mindset Shifts To Help You Conquer Love, Overcome Death, And Succeed In Business
These four mindset shifts can help you create winning strategies in both your business life and your personal life. Today’s guest post is by Alex Brueckmann, author of Secrets of Next-Level Entrepreneurs (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Sitting on the balcony of our apartment in New Westminster, Canada, I hold my baby boy and reflect on the past few months. After everything that happened, I’m amazed that I made it through without breaking down mentally. I recall founding a new business while my girlfriend navigated a challenging pregnancy, and my father fought terminal cancer. My emotions were erratic, and I felt pulled in different directions, trying to be present for my girlfriend, dad, mom, and clients all at the same time. Things spiraled downward, and my father passed away shortly before the birth of my son. I was overcome by a mix of grief and joy, and at the same time, we relocated from Germany to Canada amidst the start of a global pandemic. This was in the Spring of 2020, and I realized that a few mindset shifts helped me navigate these challenging months. Adjusting your mindset allows you to focus on thinking smarter, more complex, with more ingenuity, and finding multiple paths to success. Let’s explore four mindset shifts that will help you succeed. Embrace JOMO, because YOLO The first shift is from FOMO to JOMO. The fear of missing out is that feeling when everyone around you is raving about a new artist, and you feel like the only one who hasn’t heard of them. But you buy tickets, just in case, because everyone else is doing it, and you don’t want to miss out. If we allow fear to drive our decisions, we waste our biggest asset, our attention, on things that don’t matter. In business, […]
When you have to deliver a tough message, what best describes your approach?
Our reader poll today asks: When you have to deliver a tough message, what best describes your approach? I deliver it directly and without apology or cushioning: 32.15% I strike a balance between tough news and positive news: 62.15% I soft-pedal the message and risk it not being received: 4.28% I avoid delivering the message and hope they’ll figure it out on their own: 1.42% Beware the “But” Sandwich. 62% of you report delivering tough news but trying to balance it with positive news. Another 6% soft-pedal the feedback message or don’t deliver it at all. That’s not fair to the person who needs to get the message. For the 6%, you’ve deprived them of an opportunity to improve. They are likely unaware of the issue (which is why it’s happening) and would probably like to rectify it if they know about it. For those who are balancing a tough message with a positive one, it probably sounds like “You’re great, but… here’s some tough news… but, here’s why you’re great.” The risk is they hear everything before the first but and everything after the second but and the part in the middle that’s the tough message gets minimized or missed. While this approach might make you feel better and make it easier to deliver the tough message, you’re risking them not getting the message and the behavior recurring. Step up. Deliver the tough message and instead of soft-pedaling, talk about how you’ll help them correct the behavior and improve their performance. – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get […]
Do You Set Supporting Goals?
Setting goals for supporting functions helps link people’s roles and the work they do every day to your department’s larger goals. It’s easy to focus on big departmental goals, but not everyone on the team can directly affect those numbers. Setting goals for supporting functions helps link people’s roles and the work they do every day to that broader departmental goal. To do this, it requires you to break those big goals down into component parts. Assess which supporting activities make that big goal possible. With those activities identified, you can proceed to set goals for those supporting groups. That will help them drive departmental alignment around that bigger goal. For example, I know one organization that was trying to reduce their costs by $100 million over a two-year period. Now, not everyone in the organization owned a budget, and they were asking, “How can I contribute to hitting that big number?” Everyone in the organization had to contribute something. They looked at those supporting functions and tried to understand what activities does that function do that drives that higher-level cost number? The supply chain group understood that if they increased their inventory turns and improved their truck fill rate, it would make their operation more efficient, which would then allow the broader organization to take some costs out. The manufacturing team looked at their processes, and they understood that if they cut the line changeover time, it would make their process more efficient, again, contributing to reducing costs. The real estate team even chipped in. They looked at space utilization, and they deferred some new expenses to future years. Every group had a smart goal that linked their work to that higher-level $100 million cost reduction goal. Something I encourage you to do is to take a big goal for your department or your business unit and think about the support […]
Recession Readiness for Small Businesses
Jay Jung explains how small businesses can prepare for a recession by investing in finance and creating a restructuring plan. Today’s guest post is by Jay Jung, Founder and Managing Partner at Embarc Advisors. While Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has recently dismissed fears of a recession, other economists disagree. Whether or not the US is on the verge of a recession today, wise business leaders are always prepared for one. Toward this end, a thorough understanding of your small business’s finances becomes critical. Below, I outline ways small businesses can best prepare to weather the storms of recessions. Mastering your business’s finances For starters, a proactive approach is better than a reactive one, so get a handle on your small business’s finances long before a recession threatens to arrive. Investing in finance gives you the ability to perceive financial difficulties in advance, which positions you best to overcome the challenges that are likely to emerge. To gain control of your business’s finances, track your budget closely on a monthly basis. In addition, measure your cash flow carefully and develop a reliable 13-week cash-flow forecast. Make sure you can generate predictions with 95% accuracy one to two weeks in advance. That way, if your company starts not being profitable, you will understand your runway. In other words, you will know how long your current cash is likely to last. While having a line of credit or revolver can inspire confidence, be aware that banks can change these agreements at any time. They may even “call the loan,” forcing you to unexpectedly repay the debt immediately. Make sure your corporate credit card has sufficient capacity. If your spending increases, the credit card company may request some financial due diligence, so be ready for that. Finally, have a healthy reserve of “safety cash” […]
How willing are you to change your decisions when presented information that could be counter to the original decision you made?
Our reader poll today asks: How willing are you to change your decisions when presented information that could be counter to the original decision you made? Very willing: new information means new decisions even after I’ve made them: 59.24% Somewhat willing: I have strong beliefs and it takes concrete new information to get me to change: 35.54% Not very willing: I have a hard time changing direction even in the face of new information: 3.48% Not at all willing: I want to see my decisions through and not be seen as being “wrong”: 1.74% New information, new decision. Decision making flexibility can be challenging. We make a decision and share it with our teams. We own that decision. It’s hard to say “I was wrong” and change course when new information is presented because no one wants to be seen as “wrong,” especially in front of their team. Here’s a different way to think about it. Instead of saying “I was wrong” or “I made a bad decision,” say “I made the best decision I could with the information that was available at that time. Since then, I’ve received new information that requires me to make a different and better decision.” It’s possible to be right and be right again. This is a mindset you can adopt that will make it easier for the 40% of you who say you have some challenges changing your decisions. – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
How to Deal with Imposter Syndrome at Work
Imposter Syndrome is the belief that we don’t believe we deserve the job we’re in or the success we achieve. To overcome it, become aware of what’s letting you down and allowing these intrusive thoughts into your mind. That awareness enables you to shift your perspective and start being kinder to, and more patient with, yourself. Today’s post is by Ethan Lee of Inspiring Interns. Imposter Syndrome is a term that was coined in the late 1970’s from research carried out by Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes. Their researched showed that many high-achieving women tended to believe they were not intelligent enough and were being over-evaluated by others. Imposter Syndrome has therefore come to describe the feelings of people who, quite simply, don’t believe they deserve their job. Those exhibiting the syndrome believe that deep down they are frauds, and fear that sooner or later they’ll be exposed. It’s thought that most of us will feel like an imposter at some point or another in our careers, with studies suggesting around 70% of us will experience the feeling sooner or later. While it’s not necessarily harmful in and of itself, the dangers arise when these feelings make you apprehensive, and hold you back from fulfilling the upper echelons of your potential. Like all problems in both your personal and professional lives, understanding where they may be stemming from is a great place to start. There are myriad reasons that could be causing your imposter syndrome, but here are just some ideas: You feel inexperienced This is a likely scenario for younger workers, graduates, career changers and generally people who are prone to a weakened sense of self-worth or self-appreciation. The notion that you’re not automatically worthy of something can be a good thing in moderation, keeping you grounded, […]
What kind of challenge do you find the most interesting or exciting?
Our reader poll today asks: What kind of challenge do you find the most interesting or exciting? Taking something that’s been successful and building on that success 9.10% Taking something that’s failing and turning it around 49.67% Building something new that no one has ever built before 41.23% Give me a challenge! 90% of respondents want to take on big challenges – either fixing something that’s broken or building something entirely new. Obviously these approaches carry significant risk with them, but the rewards and satisfaction that come with success are clearly attractive. Be sure to go into these situations fully aware that your chances of failure are high. You might not achieve the impact you want to have. Manage expectations with your stakeholders accordingly. There’s no upside to an aggressive forecast of success. You’ll simply be putting undue pressure upon yourself and set people up for disappointment if you don’t achieve your lofty expectations. These situations are ones where you’re best off underpromising and overdelivering. – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
Setting Different Types of Goals
There are two major types of goals you can set for your business unit: quantitative and qualitative goals. When you set goals, there are commonly two types: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative Goals When you set goals that are quantitative, they’re going to focus on things like financial results, operational metrics, customer dynamics, or quality. You can typically track these types of goals pretty easily. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to be thoughtful about these metrics. A focused set of critical driver metrics is more valuable than a broad set of less relevant metrics that your team can’t affect. Let me share an example. Let’s imagine you have a sales team. The overall goal for the division is to grow revenue. The driver metrics that affect revenue are price and volume. Now, we’re talking about the sales team here. They have no control over product price. If you just give this team a revenue goal for their business unit, it won’t focus their efforts appropriately. It could lead them to argue or complain about pricing policy. That’s just not productive. The business unit also doesn’t control customer service. Using total revenue for this team’s goal isn’t fair because they don’t control all of it. When you go to set the sales team’s goal, focus their goals on what they can control. In this case, it’s new sales volume. Think about that sales team going out and trying to get more customers. The driver metrics, for their ability to acquire customers, are things like the number of prospects they talk to, the number of sales calls they conduct, and the conversion rate from a prospect to a paying customer. By focusing on these driver metrics for this sales team and focusing it on what they can control, you’re going to get better results. When you think through your metrics […]