HOW TO BE A CONFIDENT LEADER IN UNCERTAIN SITUATIONS

One of my students recently asked me, “How can I be a confident leader in uncertain situations? Does it come from your personality or is it learned?”
My simple answer to that is…
Yes. Having certain personality traits does help your self-confidence. But, self-confidence is a habit that can be learned.

Maintaining your self-confidence as a leader in unsure or defensive situations does not have to be difficult. You just have to know how to go about the situation in the right way. What makes a good leader is being confident and the practicing the right habits.

High Self-Esteem is Essential

The first habit you should practice to maintain an unshakeable self-confidence in any situation is having great self-esteem.
The best definition I’ve heard of self-esteem is, “how much you like yourself.”
When you like and respect yourself, you always perform and behave better than if you did not.
The more you like yourself, the more confidence you have. The more you like yourself, and believe in yourself, the more efficient and effective you are in each area of your life.
Self-esteem is the key to handling yourself the best way possible as both an individual and a leader.

Live Life Consistent With Your Values

Living your life consistent with your deepest values is essential for high self-esteem.
People who are clear about what they believe in and value, and who refuse to compromise their values, like and respect themselves. People who are unclear about what is really important to them have a much harder time.
The “Law of Reversibility,” says that feelings and actions interact with each other. If you feel a certain way, you will act in a manner consistent with what you’re feeling. However, the reverse is also true.
If you act in a certain way, your actions will create within you the feelings that are consistent with them.
This means that when you act as if your time is extremely valuable, you feel like a more valuable and important person.

Practice Courageous Leadership

Another way to build up self-confidence for handling any situation is to continuously practice courageous leadership qualities.
All of life is a risk of some kind.
Whenever you engage in any action where the outcome is uncertain, for any reason, you are taking a risk.
You take a small risk when you drive to work or walk across the street. You take a larger risk when you start a business or invest a sum of money.
You take a risk whenever you venture into the unknown. Your possibilities and probabilities cannot be determined to an exact degree.
The issue, then, is not whether you take risks. The issue is how skillful you are in taking them. Being confident and courageous in taking the right risks for the right reasons puts you in pursuit of the right goals or objectives.

Take Intelligent Risks

The goal is to become better at analyzing and assessing risk, and then avoiding as much of the risk as possible. Once you are, the more competent and capable you will become at maintaining your self-confidence in uncertain situations.
One of the very best ways to develop your ability to take intelligent risks is to consciously and deliberately do the things you fear, one step at a time.
You don’t have to leap out of an airplane without a parachute. Simply practice resisting your natural tendency to slip into a comfort zone of complacency and low performance.
Take any fear that you may be experiencing and treat it as a challenge or as an opportunity to grow and to become a better person. Face the fear, control the fear, master the fear, and continue to move forward regardless of the fear.
This is the mark of a confident and fearless leader.

Admit to Your Shortcomings

Lastly, being a self-confident leader doesn’t mean you’re always right or even have to be right in the end.
Leaders need to be courageous, but they also need to be open to the idea that they could be wrong. There are many leaders who eventually fail because they refuse to question their own assumptions or conclusions.
Don’t get caught up in your ego.
It makes you a much more courageous and confident leader when you admit to your shortcomings. If you made a mistake or a bad decision, be honest with yourself and with others to admit your wrong doings.
There’s a difference between being confident and blind.
Maybe you are not wrong. Opening yourself up to that possibility, though, is going to make you a more confident leader. It will open your mind to new ideas or new thinking or new solutions to the uncertain situation.

Grow Through the Insecurities

Remember, new opportunities and experiences can be just as exciting as they are scary. Growing through the insecurities is what shapes you into a confident leader. You just have to continue practicing the right habits.

5 COMMON MYTHS ABOUT SUCCESS

Every single person has the ability to achieve success. Unfortunately, there are success myths out there that define what success should look like.
The truth is, success looks different for each person. Whether it be in life, relationships, career or all of the above, what does it look like for you?
I have identified the 5 most common success myths that may be limiting you from living your dream life.

Myth 1: Being Rich, Thin, & Happy is the Ultimate Goal

The first is believing that being rich, thin, and happy should be your ultimate goal.
These are not goals, they are wishes and fantasies common to all mankind. A goal is like a beautiful home. It is carefully designed, revised continually, upgraded regularly, and worked on constantly.
You need to be specific and have clarity about your goals. Most importantly, if it is not in writing, it is merely a dream or a wish, a vague objective with no energy behind it.

Myth 2: You Must Attend a 4-Year University

The next myth is believing you need to go to a 4-year university.
I understand college is expensive. Especially with the direction our economy and education system is going. As many of you know, Brian Tracy said. "I never attended college and barely graduated from high school. I joke around constantly that I was in the bottom half of the class that made the top half possible".
With the rising cost of a college education, this topic has come into the limelight even more so over the past few years. Many individuals are wondering whether it makes sense to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a college education. Is it really a necessary steps to success?
For some of us, we don’t know what we want to do for our career in the long term, and that’s okay. I worked odd jobs here and there, and plenty of manual labor jobs before I ultimately discovered what I wanted to do for my career.
The best thing you could do for yourself is to not live your life based on what others think you should do. Do what you feel is best for yourself.
Just because one person went to college and is successful does not mean that that is the only path to success. Determine what is best for you and your future goals and then pursue that no matter what the journey looks like.

Myth 3: You Need More Money

Another myth about how to be successful in life is believing you need more money.
We’ve heard these before: “If only I had more money, then I would be happy” or “Money is the root of all evil.”
It’s as if little green pieces of paper somehow have the intrinsic power to erect buildings, create computers, inspire students to read, make people happy, or worse, to corrupt people. The reality is that money has no intrinsic value whatsoever.
People have intrinsic value. Money is nothing but a representation of stored value. The more value you provide for others, the more currency will flow into your life. Focus on serving others, rather than on money, and money will flow to you naturally.

Myth 4: Expect Success and It Will Come

Next, many of us believe that you have to want it to make it happen.
Now, this is partially a myth. It is true that you have to have clarity and a burning desire for what you want in life. Practicing the Law of Attraction is one of the most powerful techniques you can use to become a successful person. You can ensure desirable outcomes and better results in your life.
Your expectations become your own self-fulfilling prophesies.
However, it’s not enough to just want or expect success. The key to success is the willingness to initiate and take action. Don’t wait for someone else to do something. Be action oriented.
Do something. Do anything. But get busy. Get going. Do something every single day that moves you in the direction of your most important goal at the moment.
Develop the discipline of doing something 365 days each year that is moving you forward. You will be absolutely astonished at how much you accomplish when you utilize this formula in your life every single day.

Myth 5: Success is “Having It All”

The last myth is believing success is having it all — the six-figure CEO job, the family, the beach house, etc.
Like I mentioned earlier, many of us think that someone else’s definition of success is valid for us. We often feel a little uneasy if we’re not successful doing something that someone else thinks we should be successful in.
Many people allow their parents to influence their choices of career and find themselves miserable as a result.
The fact is that life and success are very much like a smorgasbord. If 100 people went to a smorgasbord and each put food on their plates in the quantity and mixes that each felt would be most pleasing to himself or herself, every single plate would be different.
Even a husband and wife would go up to a smorgasbord and come back with plates that look completely different.
Success is the same thing.
It is composed of a great variety of ingredients, including physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Each person requires a particular combination of these ingredients in order to feel the very best about himself, or herself and life.

What Does Success Mean to You?

Define what success means to you. Start with a positive and fresh mind, and compile a list. Disregard the 5 myths. They do not always measure up to success and may be limiting you from living your dream life. The key is to believe in yourself.
Before we wrap up, I’d like to leave you with a thought to share with you friends and followers:

“It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from; all that really matters is where you’re going. And where you’re going is only limited by your imagination.”

7 THINGS YOU SHOULDN'T DO AT YOUR WORKPLACE

If you want to be a successful employee, you just have to be careful about not making some annoying mistakes, unless you really don’t care about losing the job. Constant tardiness is a point number one in the top of the most intolerable things to do at your workplace. Moreover, there are many other behaviors that are forbidden to do in the office. If you want to be seen as a serious employee, you should stick to the rules of a workplace etiquette and avoid behaviors that can outrage or annoy your co-workers.

1. Gossips

Socrates once said, “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” By all means, try to be a strong and wise personality. Gossiping is a bad job killing quality, no matter where you are. It is better to avoid chitchats about your co-workers; otherwise you will run the risk of losing authority and job. Don’t forget that you go to your workplace for the one only purpose – to work. You can discuss your colleague’s personal life some other time, if necessary. At work, you are to show your professionalism.

2. Low morale

Problems with low morale in the workplace are more obvious now. Low morale can hurt productivity, decrease cooperation between departments and increase your work errors. You should try to keep your morale on an appropriate level. If you show no enthusiasm for your duties, you will gain the reputation of a downer on the whole department. Your co-workers will lose desire to cooperate with you. Moreover, you should know that the higher authorities usually try to take immediate actions to get rid of bad employees in their companies, because they realize that low morale employees can drain morale faster than anything.

3. Conflicts

People who work together may have differences in opinions and philosophy that usually leads to conflicts. When you face personality clashes you should take some reasonable actions to minimize the frequency of conflicts and the potential damage they can do in the workplace. One of the best and the most effective ways to resolve the conflict is to look for an acceptable compromise. Don’t let you co-workers bully and offend you in no circumstances. You should stay calm and do all possible things to resolve the conflict and maintain privacy at all times. Try to save going to your supervisor at a last resort, but if nothing helps to accomplish the reconciliation, then ask him or her for help.

4. Breaking dress code

Every company requires its personnel to follow the fixed dress code. You are lucky if you are allowed to go to work casually dressed. If not, then you should appear dressed formally, because the rules apply to everyone. You should bear in mind that low-cut, tight fitting and short clothing at work is a bad idea. It can let you down and award you with a negative reputation and poor judgment in the office. It doesn’t matter if your wardrobe is limited, just make sure you always have a neat appearance.

5. “That’s not my responsibility”

While complying with an occasional request from your supervisor to assist with tasks that are not a part of your job description, you can either agree or say, “That’s not my job.” If you want to get a job promotion, you need to do it. If you find this fact extremely unfair, you can refuse to take on someone else’s work load. This way you can say goodbye to your future promotion.

6. Not a team player

If you want to be a successful employee, you should develop the skills to work together with your co-workers and be a valuable part of the team. It will help you build wonderful relationships with workmates and bosses. When you prefer to reduce or avoid communication during the lunch hour with your workmates or don’t bond with them during the free time, you run the risk of not being seen as a team player.

7. “That’s what she said”

Surely, humor and laughter in the office can reduce stress and provide many other benefits. But, for God’s sake, don’t use this annoying joke. Try to keep dirty jokes and some kinds of flirtations out of the office. Sometimes, bad humor can also alienate co-workers and create a more hostile work environment. Don’t be the source of this annoying phrase in your office.
Nowadays, many people have to work in the offices and stick to certain rules. It is desirable to be aware of all possible behaviors, which can lead to personal conflicts and spoil the reputation. What other things and behaviors can affect your reputation and lead to unhappy results?

STRUCTURING A MENTORSHIP PROGRAM TO DEVELOP NEXT GENERATION

As a mentor, it’s likely that there is a heavy demand for your time. You probably have projects to run, people to meet, clients or bosses to appease, subordinates to keep busy, and plenty of meetings. All of this requires one common denominator: time management.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could just think yourself to your next encounter? You probably covet the idea of instantly transporting yourself to just about any location within range of your cell phone signal. It’s the stuff of fantasies and big-budget Sci-Fi movies.
Just think of it—how fabulous to be parsed into a sub-molecular fuzz to instantly land at your desired location, bypassing snarled traffic and avoiding airport hassles. You’d arrive seconds later at your high rise hotel in Dubai or a sun-kissed conference center in the Bahamas. You must admit, it would shave precious time off your commute or your next business trip du jour.
The fact is, billionaires & government scientists around the world are working this problem today. For obvious reasons, they want to move manpower and materiel as swiftly as humanly possible—or even faster. Recent experiments in teleportation have been wildly successful, transporting a single particle of matter into outer space. Other initiatives are under construction to move people from city to city in a fraction of the time it takes today. Can an instantaneous trip to the office be far behind?
Unless you’re a starship captain in a major blockbuster movie, you’re stuck with the realities of time, space, and sequence. This means your mentorship program needs to be structured in a way that is smart, effective, and reality-based.

Communicating with Your Protégé in the Real World

Now that you’re a mentor, you probably feel some sense of excitement about the next generation you’re training up, as well as some concerns about how you come across. It’s important to get it right—to convey your meaning in the simplest, most direct form while keeping up that all-important bond.
This means consistent contact. It also means developing a structure for your program and sticking to it.
Communicating with your protégé can be extensive or limited, and it depends on a number of factors. These can include any or all of the following:
Physical Location: If you can have your protégé come in to your office for meetings, that’s great. Alternatively, you can choose a more relaxed meeting place like a restaurant or coffeehouse. If yours is a virtual mentorship, you can communicate by phone, text, Skype, and e-mail. Proximity is the major factor here.
Scheduling: You and your protégé need to work around your schedules when it comes to setting the best time and frequency for meeting. Either party may be on-call because you work in real estate, medical, or the legal profession. If that’s the case, establish acceptable reasons to break off your meeting and how you will reschedule it, should you lose time.
Home Life: A young single person is likely to have more free time than someone who is married or a parent. Single parents, in particular, have a tough time being flexible. Establish meeting times that are convenient to both of you, taking your home life into consideration. Sometimes it’s tricky, but it can be done.
Outside Obligations: Executives often have responsibilities that extend outside of the typical professional setting. You may have board meetings, conferences or company events that take up extra time. Consider these external obligations as you schedule time with your protégé. Realize that your protégé may have other obligations too. Respect their commitments as you would want them to respect yours.

Making Time for Mentoring

Flexibility is the key when you decide the structure of your mentorship program. Before getting started, you and your protégé need to discuss each area that affects your mutual schedule.
How many factors will impact your routine? What’s your fall back in case your regular schedule is disrupted? Determine the best choices for both of you, and be consistent. This helps avoid misunderstandings, and you can swiftly navigate around any unforeseen pitfalls.
Both you and your protégé should keep a copy of the schedule. If you need to cancel or reschedule a meeting, be clear about how much notice to give each other. With the exception of life-and-death emergencies, last-minute cancellations are not okay. Once again, show the same respect to your protégé as you would expect to receive from them.
Besides creating your schedule, decide on some basic ground rules for your mentorship. Either one of you should be able to end the relationship if things don’t work out. By the same token, there should be an incentive for sticking it out if problems come up. Decide and agree on the structure ahead of time, including:

• Length of time for mentorship
• Hours devoted to the program
• Procedures for allotting more time
• Methods of communication
• Rules about confidentiality
• Dissolving the relationship

There are many ways to find time for mentoring and many compelling reasons to make an effort. Mentoring is a rewarding experience. It’s to your benefit to juggle your schedule and make time to nurture a protégé—guiding the next generation toward an exciting future!

6 TIPS FOR PEOPLE TRYING TO START A NEW LIFE ABROAD

Leaving the home country, wherever that might be, is as scary of a thought as it is enthralling. Though the world has been mapped and adventure comes attached with a GPS, you never truly know what’s out there in the world until you step out into it.
To those seeking a life abroad or to move to another foreign country, here is some advice.

1. Be frugal

Moving is a money wormhole. You pray those dollars will get transported elsewhere, but it just goes poof. You spend loads on the packing, shipping, airfare, renting a new residence and everything else attached to emigration. Those are unavoidable expenses. What you can do to reduce the moving cost, as well as living comfortably thereafter, is to remember frugality.
You will be tempted to fill your new abode with trinkets and appliances you did not have before, get the cutest linens and whatnot. Pace yourself. Embrace minimalism. Treasure the heartfelt belongings that came with you from the home country. Budget for rent, utilities and food – the standard comforts everyone needs. Then slowly look into second-hand items or ethnic goods that will be of lower cost than what you are used to.
If you have a work visa, you will have more money than those on a tourist or student visa, but that does not mean you will be financially stable until after a few months of labor. Pinch those pennies until you do not fret over the days between paychecks. Continue to spend wisely, because you never know what will happen.

2. Crave independence

There is a spike of helplessness that often makes even the strongest of people break down while living abroad. Injecting yourself into the bloodstream of another culture, another world, as like asking to be treated as a foreign substance to that country’s system.

You might not get the best treatment from the locals. You might consider relying heavily on those that do show kindness and concern. Don’t. At least not 100%. Even if you moved with family, do not cling to that familiarity.
Just by taking the leap and going out into this crazy world to start anew, you have achieved something commendable. You have proven you are a strong, independent woman capable of taking on the challenge of emigrating alone.
Keep that in the back of your mind. Do things alone, even if it means getting lost, confused and frustrated. Those moments of sheer solidarity in your life are what will make your grow astronomically.

3. Ask questions

Similar to staying independent, be inquiring. If something does not seem right, it probably isn’t. Women have the incredible ability to read emotions and energy. Should someone or something seem slimy, throw salt on it and walk away. Question your surroundings, question the culture, question the methods of life – and then weigh the answers with your own intuition.

Not only that, question things as a local would:

• Where can I get this item for cheaper? Are there stores made specifically for this grocery/medicine/object? What is the generic brand or the brand everyone here loves?
• Where do the people of my age group hangout? Is that my kind of scene?
• What are the safest regions of the area? The worst?
• What is the best means of transportation here?
• Are there more affordable utility companies?
• How do the locals handle this kind of problem?
• In the event of an emergency, are there safe zones? (For example, in Japan, because of the high occurrence of earthquakes, I wanted to settle in a quiescent zone to avoid a massive shake.)
• What is the local diet like? Is the produce fresh and organic? Are the offerings seasonal, or can I get what I need year round?

4. Mess up

We are human beings. Expect to make huge blunders – cultural and otherwise. The country you emigrate to will undoubtedly have different societal norms than the place you are coming from. Even if you do not experience culture shock, be prepared to run into various barriers.

Should the country use a different language than ones you are fluent in, be prepared to mess up when speaking to the locals. Better yet, mess up on purpose. I am not talking about becoming an ostentatious jitney. I am talking about learning from your mistakes. Observe how the locals react when you hover a finger over a button labeled ‘cultural no-no’ then keep it in the back of your mind.
Other mistakes worth making include getting lost when trying to find your way around, because you never know what treasures you can find in the back alleys; ordering the wrong food item from a menu you did not understand, because nothing says immersion like eating mysterious; dialing the wrong number, because you will learn politeness; and calling someone or something by the wrong name, because you will learn how to deal with awkwardness.

5. Find friends and family

The world you left behind means testing the limits of relationships. There is going to be people who do not accept your decision and cast you off. Do not get discourage by the sudden distance from friends and family, because if there is one thing I learned while living abroad, it is that family does not have to be blood.
By staying independent, putting yourself out there in the world and showing eagerness to assimilate, you will attract a new set of individuals into your life who will be unlike anyone you have ever met before. These will be the people who accept you for who you are and expect you to simply be. Building a life abroad is not easy, but when you have a support, you will do it much easier.

6. Know thyself

Lastly, in order to fulfill your potential in this new land, you need to know who you are. A lot of this comes as a by-product of the move. You will be forced to meet your insecurities face-to-face, often alone, hungry and tired.
You will see yourself for who you truly are – and there is nothing wrong with that. Because you are strong. Before, during and after the move, you will be forged into a hero/heroine who is uniquely you.

Seeking a life outside of the familiar is a challenge. But it is by no means insurmountable. Tackling the issues of moving, dealing with cultural aspects much different from what you are used to, and the expectations of a society you do not know can be tough.
However, if you stay frugal, independent, inquisitive and open-minded, you will not only succeed, you will empower those around you with your triumphs. So go out there, and do not be afraid to get lost along the way. The best paths are the ones less traveled.

SHARING YOUR VISION THROUGH MENTORING

Picture this: It’s early morning in July in Snowbird Utah, not a cloud in the powder blue sky. The air is crisp as it brushes your cheeks, skimming off the vast expanse of crystal white before you. Your lungs drink in the air like a sweet elixir. One gentle push with your poles and your skis are skimming the mountainside. It’s a bracing run, and you feel like you’re on rails. What a great day to be alive!
And then it hits you: “I never thought I’d be celebrating my 100th birthday this way. Where have the years gone? What a gift!”
Sound impossible? Not for George Jedenoff. That’s exactly how he celebrated his century mark—with a downhill run.
But this outing wasn’t a one-time thing for George. He exercises regularly as part of his routine, like it’s his main meal. He refers to skiing as “dessert.”
For me, skiing is an area of passion. I’ve loved it since learning to ski at 13 years old. George, however, took up the sport when he was 43, which some would call late in life. Now he’s been skiing for 57 years, and clearly, he’s still going strong. I’ll bet I could learn a few things from him, both about skiing and about life. We all could.
What George has to say about his longevity amounts to a handful of common sense perspectives about love, health, and professional involvement. As a publisher, I’m sure his sage advice could fill several volumes based on his life experience. What a legacy! That’s a story I’d love to publish.
In the final analysis, that’s what mentoring is all about—offering guidance through perspective based on experience. Teachers instruct; mentors guide.
Mentors offer their protégés the benefit of their wisdom based on the sum total of their wins and losses. It can be a happy scenario, given the right set of circumstances. The key is to find a protégé who is a good match with your desired outcomes.

Aligning Your Goals & Attitudes with the Right Protégé

When it comes to professional guidance, you and your protégé need to have common interests and attitudes. This means finding a match with your temperament and energy level, not just your career goals.For example, if you want to disrupt your industry, you would do well to work with someone who has the same forward-thinking mindset as you—not a traditionalist. If you lead an active lifestyle, it would be prudent to select a protégé who also is reasonably active rather than completely bookish.
The reverse is true as well. If you tend toward the intellectual side of the scale, find a protégé who understands your natural bent. Meet mind with mind, spirit with spirit. Having a personal Vision Statement is a great help in this area.
A Vision Statement is a concise declaration about your objectives. Creating a Vision Statement helps you stay focused on your goals during your mentoring relationship. You’re less likely to get off track. You can tailor the guidance you offer your protégé to align with your vision.
Your personal Vision Statement can be a powerful tool for defining your goals and helping you stay focused. It also helps you get clear about what you hope to accomplish in your career, your life in general, and the legacy you leave through your protégé. When you have clarity here, you can more effectively choose the right protégé to guide toward your common objective.

Sharing Your Window on the World

Your vision includes the things you’d like to gain for yourself as well as the world around you. Finding a protégé who’s a good match for your vision means the two of you can hone your efforts toward a single purpose. A well-defined vision helps you and your protégé determine where best to expend your time and energy during the mentoring process.
Defining your vision takes concentration. Give serious thought to your goals and your desires. Discover for yourself the most crucial qualities to find in a protégé.
Choose a quiet place where you can have uninterrupted time to outline your answers to the following handful of questions.

• Why do you want to share your knowledge and experience with a protégé?
• What’s the main benefit you expect to gain from the experience?
• What benefits do you expect to offer your protégé?
• How much time will you spend with them in a given week?
• What’s your vision for your protégé after mentoring them?

Once you are clear on your own values and intentions, selecting the best protégé is a natural outcome. It sets up the two of you for success like a breezy downhill run on a crystalline morning. Who could ask for more than that?

5 INSPIRING LESSONS TO LEARN FROM ESTEE LAUDER

The only woman on the Time magazine’s list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century, Estee Lauder was a true inspiration to others. She was strong, confident, and persistent. She knew what she wanted and worked hard to achieve her goal. Just like she once said, “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” Her hard work helped her become one of the world’s richest self-made women.
Estee Lauder started her beauty company in 1946, and even now that she is no longer with us, modern women keep using Estée Lauder Cosmetics as well as MAC and Clinique beauty products. Whether you are a new entrepreneur or you are just looking for a role model, here are a few inspirational lessons you can learn from Estee Lauder:

1. Age is just a number

Estee Lauder was a teenager when she learned how to make effective beauty creams (thanks to her uncle, who was a chemist) and sell them at local hair salons. She had her own marketing tricks. She started with giving out free samples to boost her sales. The point is, no matter how old you are – whether you are 14 or 64 – you have all the chances of becoming one of the most successful women in the world. Just work hard and believe in yourself…

2. Work hard, literally

Estee Lauder started her business in the kitchen. Yes, you read that right. You do not have to have famous parents or spouse, tons of money, and a large corporation in order to thrive. Location does not matter. Your hard work matters, most of all. Dive into your goal and do not fear to make sacrifices. Your hard work will definitely pay off. But if you do not believe in what you are doing, you are doomed to fail.

3. Self-belief is everything

“If you have a goal, if you want to be successful, if you really want to do it and become another Estee Lauder, you’ve got to work hard, you’ve got to stick to it and you’ve got to believe in what you’re doing,” Estee Lauder said once. There will always be someone who will want to destroy your self-belief and make you doubt your dreams. Listening to them means giving up on yourself. Estee Lauder believed in herself and she was sure she would become rich and wealthy one day.

4. Rejection is a powerful motivational tool

When Estee Lauder was trying to win the European market, she learned to take advantage of rejection and use it as a powerful motivational tool. When she arranged a meeting with the manager of Europe’s largest department store, Gallery Lafayette, to show and sell her products, the manager rejected her offer.
Whether accidentally or intentionally, she spilled her perfume samples on the floor to draw people to her products. Actually, it worked out. The manager gave her a contract because most store customers started asking how they could purchase the fragrance. This is a great lesson to learn from Estee Lauder. Stay assertive and do not let every ‘no’ stop you from reaching your goal.

5. Being in love with your idea is almost a fulfilled idea

Estee Lauder loved her beauty products. She believed, “A person has to love her harvest if she’s to expect others to love it.” Whatever you do, make sure you love it. There is a true reason why so many entrepreneurs fail – they just do not care what they are doing. Their goal is money. Money is great, but when you make those papers your major priority and goal, you are going to fail faster than you think.
Estee Lauder spent a great part of her life trying to accomplish her biggest dream. She worked hard. She was passionate about what she was doing. However, unlike most modern businesswomen, Estee Lauder gave birth to two children and had a lovely husband. She was successful in all aspects of life. She did many amazing things and lived rather a long life. Isn’t she one of the best role models to look up to?

7 NETWORK MISTAKES YOU MIGHT BE MAKING

Networking is a vital part of business. Whether you are trying to find new customers or make connections with colleagues, it is a component of success that you better get right if you are trying to climb the corporate ladder.
Successful networking is more than handing out your business card and shaking a few hands, though. According to recent studies, chances are you are making some crucial networking mistakes so look through my list and see if you need to make adjustments before your next conference or business after hours.

1. You are not giving it a chance

Many people do not even try to network because they do not consider themselves a “people person.” But chances are you are already making contacts whether through social media or work, so you might as well drop that excuse.

2. You think it is only good for interviews

A lot of people think networking only makes sense when you are looking for a new job at a new company, but that is just not true. Making relationships and contacts help improve your reputation in your industry because the more people that know you, the more people that hear about your work ethic (good or bad!)

3. You believe it is a distraction

It is true that networking takes up both time and money, but that is an investment into your career that you should be more than willing to make when you consider the possible benefits you could reap from making just one solid contact.

4. You say you are too introverted

I get this one, trust me. It can be intimidating to put yourself out there especially at overcrowded conferences. But keep in mind that everyone else is probably feeling the same way but you all come with the same purpose: to make contacts!

5. Your nose is stuck in the air

If you think you should only be networking with the “big dogs”, you are doing it all wrong. There is no such thing as an insignificant contact in business because you have no idea when it may come in extremely handy to know someone. So, do not be a snob.

6. You think you do not know anyone

If you are depressed because you think your Rolodex is lacking, chances are you are dead wrong. Your sphere of influence is much larger than you think. Don’t believe me? Sit down and make a diagram with you in the center, then branch out from there starting with your family and friends and continue making branches to people you know through them. Your list is likely much bigger than you think.

7. You put too much pressure on yourself

If you think you have to perform to be good at networking, take a deep breath. It is not necessary to impress the entire room to make a good contact. Simply being genuine, warm, and friendly makes the biggest impression in a sea of superficial people. Leave them with a smile on their face and they won’t forget you anytime soon.
Networking does not have to be stressful, but it does need to be happening in your business life so make sure that you are not making one of these seven networking mistakes. Happy networking, people.

HOW TO INTERVIEW A MENTORING CANDIDATE

It’s a thrilling moment in any career—the day you decide to mentor someone. You’ve scratched and struggled to get where you are now, taken the good with the bad. You’ve hung in there long after most would have quit. Now you’re ready to foster someone new and share your expertise, leaving your mark for posterity.
But how do you choose just the right person? What criteria do you use in your selection process? How do you know if your favorite has the IT factor?
Interviews are an essential step in choosing a qualified candidate for any position. This is especially true when choosing a protégé. Love it or hate it, you can’t skip the interview process.
After all, if you’re going to invest your time and hard won experience in someone, they’d better be worth it. Remember that when you mentor someone, you are leaving a legacy. This person will be privy to the treasure trove that is your priceless experience. Shouldn’t you at least like them?
Likewise, you don’t want to make a commitment to a protégé who isn’t a good fit with you and your personal culture—letting them into your private world when they’ve virtually got one foot out the door. They can’t just go through the motions with you. The commitment has to be mutual.
And now we find ourselves at the dreaded crossroads: ah, yes, the interview. Some people find this process thrilling, like a brisk downhill run on skis. Others find it as chilling as a snowball down the pants.
Whichever camp you find yourself in, there’s no getting around the interview process. It is a must. With that in mind, here are tips for helping the interview process go smoothly.

Making Sure the Door Swings Both Ways

Interviewing your prospective protégé gives you the chance to interact with a candidate in a dynamic situation, one on one. It lets both of you find out if you’re comfortable with each other and have the same goals for your effort.
So then the question is, how do you want to conduct your interview? Can you get by using electronic media (like phone, Skype or Zoom), or should you meet face to face?
Having a face to face meeting gives you insight into the candidate’s sense of style and methodology—much more than you can glean from documents and reference checks. There’s no substitute for asking a candidate direct questions and getting their answers, sweaty palms and all.
If you have decided to mentor someone long distance, bear in mind that it’s tough to have a true sense of their personality strictly through written communication. Even if you’re planning to keep in touch by email and social media, do an interview by phone or Skype first. A live conversation will help you determine whether you and your protégé are a good match.

Do’s and Don’ts, Ins and Outs

Finding the right protégé takes a combination of research, reference checks, and interview results. Pay attention to gut feelings as well.
Just as you would in a job interview, ask both open and closed questions. Here are some sample questions for your interview.
Mentor Screening Interview – Open-ended questions:

• What would you like to change about this industry?
• In what area do you believe you can make the greatest contribution?
• What is your learning style: hands-on? Observatory? A combination?
• Why are you looking for a mentor?
• What do you expect to accomplish by working with me?
• Name three benefits you would like to enjoy as a protégé.
• What are your greatest strengths?
• Name one of your weaknesses and tell me how you will compensate for it.
• How do you intend to apply what you learn to your career?
• How do you respond to constructive criticism and decide whether or not to apply it?
• How do you respond to working under pressure?
• What do you believe are your most important qualities?
• What qualities impress you the most in others?
• Where do you see your career in five years?

Mentor Screening Interview—Close-ended questions:

• How did you hear about this opportunity?
• What is your availability for the program (days/hours)?
• Do you have a college degree or relevant experience?
• What was your major in school? Your GPA?
• Do you have hobbies or activities that relate to this opportunity?
• What are your qualifications?
• Have you received any awards or commendations?
• Do you have references?
• What are your personal characteristics that will help you in this situation?

During your interview, pay close attention to the way your candidate answers the questions. Are your prospective protégé’s answers clear and logical? Do they align with your goals? Is there any hesitation in revealing certain information? Do you sense that they’re hiding something?
In your interview, avoid asking personal questions that can only be applied to certain groups of people. Don’t ask about race, religion, or social activity. These things might be appropriate to discuss in the course of time, but including them in an interview can get you into trouble. Keep the discussion to professional topics.
Take into account that it’s natural for the interviewee to be nervous. They may stumble at first or take extra time to formulate an answer. If it’s a good match, though, the two of you will have some degree of comfort by the end of the conversation.
Using an organized selection process will allow you to find a base line to evaluate your candidates and make your final decision. It’s a brisk and refreshing feeling when you can confidently reach out your hand and say, “Welcome aboard!”

SMART GOALS: 5 TIPS FOR MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES

SMART goals are absolutely essential to motivating employees for people in management roles. Using them will help you create an environment where they can win, and feel like winners.
The 10/90 rule in smart goal setting says that the first 10% of the time that you spend developing absolute clarity about what is to be done will save you 90% of the time once you begin. It can also save you 90% of the mistakes, the costs, and the time of other people involved.
You’ve heard it said that, “You can’t hit a target that you can’t see.” And the follow-up that is, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”
So without further ado, here are my 5 tips for using SMART goals in management.
Pay close attention to the specific goal-setting techniques designed to encourage and motivate your entire team to hit their targets.

1. Use SMART Goals and Objectives

What is a SMART Goal?

You have most likely heard of the S.M.A.R.T. acronym in setting business or personal goals. It stands for:

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Achievable
R = Relevant
T = Time-bound

SMART Goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Bound

It is perfectly clear to everyone who must be involved in its achievement. A child can tell you how close you are to accomplishing it. It is clear and unambiguous. Most of the problems with goal achieving stem back to a lack of clarity in setting the goal in the first place.

Measurable

It can be defined in numerical or financial terms. It can be broken down into steps, each of which can be measured as well. The more clear the measures, the easier it is to focus and concentrate on achieving those numbers.

Achievable

It can be accomplished within the constraints of time, money, the external environment, the economy, the skills and abilities of the team members and the other constraints contained both inside and outside the company.

Realistic

It is within the bounds of reality and is something that people can develop a high level of confidence in achieving. In goal setting, many goals are “merely aspirational.” They do not reflect reality. They are more wishes and hopes than goals.

Time-Bounded

When you have specific schedules for the attainment of each part of the goal, and the completion of each part of the task, it is much easier for people to achieve the goal on schedule.

2. Break it Down by Tasks and Accomplishments

Defining winning can be a major factor in motivating employees. For a person to win, he has to know where the finish line is. He has to know how you define winning. He has to know exactly what he has to do to complete the task and cross the finish line. This is the first step in creating a smart business.
The smaller and tighter the increments, the easier it is for the other person to feel like a winner. Each time that the staff member achieves a mini-goal, he or she feels like a “mini-winner.” It is the manager’s responsibility to help the employee see that they are using proper goal setting techniques and setting reasonable milestones for them to achieve. Be sure that these small increments add up to big wins that are in line with specific business goals.
When you assign people a large, multitask project, that may take many months to complete, be sure to set up a series of milestones and benchmarks so that people can have short-term targets to aim at, and can continually generate the feeling of winning.

3. Motivate Employees with Successful Experiences

For a person to feel like a winner, he must succeed at the task. He must achieve the goal. He must accomplish the responsibility and get the result that he was tasked for. Not only is it the job of the manager to motivate employees, but they must also help each person experience success.
If a person has been given a job that is too much for him, the job of the manager is to adjust the job, assign parts of it to someone else, and make it more manageable for the employee. The focus is always on making sure that, whatever job the person has, they are capable of doing it successfully sooner or later.
The best way for motivating employees who are new is to give them a series of small jobs that are clearly within their ability.

4. Practice Individual Recognition and Make Goals Attainable

They say, “Children cry for it; grown men die for it.”

Everybody needs to be recognized for their individual accomplishments by the people around them, and especially above them. Since your team members are intrinsically motivated, it is the anticipation of the recognition they will receive for the completion of a task that motivates them internally to “go the extra mile.”
A good tactic for motivating employees is to give positive recognition for an accomplishment, which raises a person’s self-esteem, improves their self-image, and motivates them to do even more and better in the future.

5. Provide Rewards

This is the icing on the cake. You can only get by with praise and recognition for task completion for a limited amount of time. At some point, you must give some kind of reward to acknowledge superior results. Along with motivating employees, if there are no rewards following extra efforts, people lose their enthusiasm and conclude internally, “what’s the use?”
Rewards, however, can be tangible or intangible. A tangible reward is material or financial in some way. It may be a briefcase or a gift certificate. It may be a bonus or a pay increase. These rewards are great for motivating employees and act as a continuous spur to better performance.
Rewards can be intangible as well. An intangible reward can be something as simple as taking the person out to lunch to celebrate their success. It can be a bigger office or desk. It can be a new office chair or a new computer. I learned that the best financial reward for motivating employees is a specific bonus tied to completion of a specific task. It is a one-time affair. It is not a permanent pay increase that goes on month after month.
Short term rewards and bonuses are just as motivating as long-term pay increases. Another intangible reward is time off. When one of my staff members does a great job on a project, I tell them in advance that they need not come in on a Friday. I always give them time to plan their day off in advance, rather than telling them at the last minute.

HOW TO NOT LET OTHERS SIDETRACK YOU FROM YOUR DREAMS

“My dream is lost.” Not only has this thought crossed the minds of many, it might be going through your mind right now. Someone distracted you from your goals, and now, for whatever reason, your hopes and aspirations are distant and untraceable. There are times when dreams must be put on the backburner, but you should never let others sidetrack you permanently from your dreams.

“Do not let the behaviors of others destroy your inner peace”

So once said the wise Dalai Lama. Unfortunately, we live in an age where people do things for various reasons, not all of them nice. Emotions are still inconceivable in many ways. Jealousy, envy, anger, greed, and lust drive people to hurt others for the sake of their own advancement. Sometimes, that is exactly why others try to distract you from reaching your goals. They are angry you have gotten so far. Or they are jealous you are doing better than they are.

Yet, seeing that these outbursts and harmful acts are another individual’s method of self-preservation, as messed up as it may be, you can take the higher road. Stay away from toxic relationships. If you are provoked and look away, remember to reclaim the truth of who you are immediately. First and foremost, never lose sight of your inner light.

Mind your beeswax

Apart from others behaving in ways that disrupt your equanimity, we are all sometimes guilty of sticking our noses in places where it does not belong. When you become overly curious about someone else’s issues, you are opening yourself up to some serious distractions.

For example, you might decide to help out a friend that was kicked out by a significant other and is now horribly depressed. Soon you find yourself wrapped up in responsibilities that do nothing to help your situation, but you feel obligated to help out because of friendship.

When others rely on us too much, we get that dragged down feeling. We start to lose sight of what drives us and instead tune into what drives everyone else. That is why you have to be selfish sometimes. Look after your own wellness first before extending a helping hand to others.

Do what is right by you

Other people like to turn you away from your goals by spouting off what worked for them. Advice is nice once in awhile, but that is all it is. Advice is a wise observation or exchange of gained knowledge from someone with previous experience. But what worked for them might not work for you.

If someone keeps telling you how to live your life according to how they live theirs, only one result is certain. You will end up living a carbon copy of their life. Someone who is not out to sidetrack you from your dreams will always make it clear that they are merely offering an alternative but it might not be for you. Stick with those people, not the ones who say what you should and should not do.

Life is too short

And you will never be able to please everybody. Let me use myself as an example here. When I was in high school, my idea of getting through life was making those I looked up to (for better or worse) proud of my decisions. I set out to please their ideals of the perfect daughter or friend. I tried to be everything they wanted.

However, deep inside my heart, I knew it was not what I wanted. Though my move was rather risky – with me moving halfway across the globe – the separation taught me something. Life is too short to not enjoy every moment living in pursuit of your dreams.

Will it be difficult? Yes. Will there be times when you feel like giving up? Of course. But there is a beauty in living according to the beat of your heart. Do not let others use their opinions to remodel your life as their own, squelch off you, or sidetrack you from accomplishing goals with negativity.

10 UNEXPECTED CHOICES YOU WILL NOT REGRET IN 5 YEARS.

Everyone has experienced regret at some time or another. Hindsight is always 20/20 but one of the best things you can do is to make good choices today for a better tomorrow. If you set yourself up for success now with these ten unexpected yet great choices, you will be in a better place in five years.

1. Commit to a certain lifestyle

Creating a lifestyle that lets you grow physically and mentally is a process that will take time. It can be highly difficult to develop healthy eating habits and exercise routines that fit your individual needs. A healthy lifestyle can lessen your risk for needing medical care, which can be extremely expensive.

2. Figure out your desires

If you have been putting off choices about yourself, you will never get around to becoming the person that you are capable of becoming. If you have been setting your dreams on the sidelines for others, you will always stay where you are. You are meant to become someone and do something. So get out there and go do whatever it is you want to do regardless of what anyone else may think.

3. Stay in respectful relationships

If you have a significant other or are pursuing a relationship, remember that you deserve to be respected just like they do. If you find yourself in a disrespectful relationship or if you are consistently being taken advantage of in any way, cut your ties with them. You deserve to be loved and respected for who you are, always.

4. Ditch toxic ties

If you have friends that constantly drag you down with their overly dramatic lives, or if they use you for this and that, or if they make you feel worthless than you genuinely are, let go of them. These people are not true friends and do not deserve a place in your life.

5. Strengthen your inner circle

Strengthen your inner circle of friends by maintaining relationships with people that are in the same direction as you. A good circle of friends will motivate you to stay on your life path that will lead to who you are supposed to be.

6. Know when to walk away

When you are in situations that make you uncomfortable or that do not accurately represent who you are, walk away. You are not obligated to remain in a situation that gives you negative feelings.

7. Keep finances separate

If you are in a relationship, keep finances separate. It is better to divide finances between theirs, mine, and a joint account than use a joint account. Keeping finances separate leads to fewer fights about money, especially if there is a spending problem. If the relationship goes south, things will be less messy in the end, too.

8. Buy now, pay now

Loans and debt come with interest rates that can hurt you in the long run. If you can, pay for the item when you purchase it. This will keep your debt amounts down. Also, try to pay off any current debt first before accruing more debt.

9. Set long-term savings goals

The sooner you start saving now, the better off you will be in the not so distant future. There are various options for savings plans for college and retirement so you will be able to find one that suits you and your needs.

10. Start using monthly budgets

Monthly budgets can help you determine how much you make in income, how much you need to live each month, and budgets can also help you identify spending problem areas. Remember to make realistic monthly budgets and stick to them.

These choices are not the only decisions you can make to set yourself up for a better future but, they are great choices to start with in the beginning. These choices will help you in your relationships with others, relationships with yourself, and your financial means which will ultimately develop a better you.