This week’s blog concludes a 3-weekseries for New Managers.

It is designed to helpentrepreneurs or freshly promoted new managers who need to start building andmanaging a team from scratch. In less than 10 mins, this read will save youfrom making some rookie mistakes and show you alternative ways.

As a reminder in the past couple ofweeks we covered the following topics:

Week 1. You already have some leadership experience, and by moving to a new role in a different department or company, you start leading an existing team. Click here for more.

Week 2. You are a Star A-player in your team and get promoted to a leadership position within it. Click here for more.

Let's get started then! Here are the 3 best ways to avoid a rookie manager's mistakes.

1. Take Time to Focus on the Big Picture

As you start growing your business,hire people and become a manager, your role is no longer only tactical. Yes,you will still need to do some fire fighting here and there, but you also needto take time and focus on the big picture. Which translates into beingstrategic about your business.

Depending on your role and size ofthe organization, in the beginning, the strategy portion might be 10% of yourtime. However, as the business grows, or you climb the corporate ladder, thisratio will start going up significantly. Therefore, starting to build your strategicmuscle early will help you progress into it with ease.

Being strategic means knowing whatis truly important, not just urgent. It means ensuring that you take time towork on the important and not letting the urgent overshadow it. Yes, I knowthat you are getting a “better” sense of accomplishment from responding to 100e-mails a day or helping employees with their tasks. But as necessary as itmight be for you sometimes to jump and fight in the trenches, it cannot consume100% of your time.

Don’t focus just on activities, setgoals and focus on accomplishing them. Being strategic ensures that yourbusiness grows and stays competitive as opposed to just spinning like a hamsterwheel.

2. Delegate Smartly

So far you have been either doingit all in your business or doing specific tasks as an individual contributor.It's all natural then that at the beginning of your management journey you wantto do it all alone.

Beware though as it’s an old habitfrom the past you need to get rid of as fast as you can. Not only because youwon't have time to be strategic, but also you will become one of those annoyingmicro-managers that no one wants to work for. You need to show confidence andtrust your people to do things right.

So how to delegate smartly? Here are some ideas:

1. Treat delegation as a way to develop andgrow your team members. It’s not a dump and run tactic. Delegation takes timein the beginning. It teaches you strategy, requires planning and patience.

2. Match the delegation’s tasks with the strengthsof the employees to whom you will assign them.

3. Clearly define the goals – an outcome ofthe functions you are passing on.

4. If required, train your employees of anyaspects of the task performance. Show them anything that is important to you,but don’t constrain them to one way of reaching the goal. Just give them ideas.Ensure they know they can put their own spin to it. Remember, many roads leadto Rome. Let your employees pick one of them; you might enable innovation thisway :)

5. Trust your employees not only withresponsibility but also the authority to make some decisions along the way.Clearly define for them, which decisions they can make, on which they need toconsult with you, and which you need to make.

6. Don’t forget about feedback – praise your employees for a job well done and if there is anything they need to improve on, tell them about it candidly and constructively.

3. Focus on Your People

"Nothing we do is moreimportant than hiring and developing people. You bet on people, not onstrategies.”- Lawrence Bossidy

Many great and successful leaderstalk about it all the time, but somehow it's not a common practice yet. At theend of the day, your people are your success. As a Boss, your main job ishiring great talent and developing them by coaching and feedback.

It’s not easy to do, especially inthe beginning. It is why people management skill development is so important.Don’t just learn on the job. Big mistakes can cost you not only your job orloss of business but also affect your employees, real people with families whomthey support.

Of course that no one is perfect,everyone makes mistakes me included, and you will make them too. It is why youneed not to be afraid to acknowledge you do not know it all and get support. Ifyou are a new manager in a company, reach out to your boss, HR partner or moresenior colleagues for advice. Maybe you can find a mentor. If you are asolopreneur, connect with those who have large teams and are killing it.

Also, invest in yourself - for you and your team.

Throughout my career, I have developed my skills through many different channels: on the job, in-person training, online courses, formal education, as well as mentors and senior colleagues. Although I made many mistakes along the way, I know that all that investment paid off. It prevented me from causing significant damages to the teams I managed and the businesses I run and also speed up my growth as a leader.

Since building a team, starts with recruitment, I prepared a free guide with 6 hiring strategies to help you start on the learning journey. It’s a quick read, a token of appreciation for those who want to learn for them and their people. Click here to receive my e-guide: ABC of Hiring.

To sum up, business is oftencompared to team sports: there are goals to hit, and people are in it to win.As per Michael Jordan: “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence winchampionships.”

As a Boss are your team’s main coach. It’s on you to hire talent, develop and coach the talent and above all ensure that all the individual talents become a high-performing Team. I compare a great team to a puzzle: every piece is different, but with a great leader when put together, they create a beautiful & cohesive picture.

We all understand what optimism and pessimism mean. However, for this blog to bring everyone on the same page, I chose the definition by Martin Seligman, Ph.D., the founder of Positive Psychology. He defines optimism as reacting to issues with a sense of confidence and high personal ability. Specifically, optimistic people believe that adverse events are temporary, limited in scope (as opposed to present in every aspect of a person’s life), and manageable.

Winston Churchill explains it best in his famous quote: "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Even if you don’t consider yourself an optimist you surely must know one. For me, it was my grandfather. No matter what life threw at him: war, communist regime prosecution or other hardships, he had always remained positive and believed that things would get better. Looking back at my childhood now, I know that it was he who taught me how to see the glass half full.

There is a multitude of benefits of being an optimist. Let’sexplore the ones that are a crucial part of your success in business.

Superior Health

In a study of 99 Harvard University students, those who wereoptimists at age 25 were significantly healthier at ages 45 and 60 than thosewho were pessimists.

In turns out that optimistic people have better mental andphysical health because:

• They look atdifficulties in their lives as external things that happen and will pass.Optimists experience less distress than pessimists when dealing with them. Thatis why they suffer much less anxiety and depression;

• They also adapt betterto negative events, which allows them to recover quicker from common sicknessesor even more severe ones, for example, coronary artery bypass surgery;

• Optimists report havingmore health-promoting habits like eating a healthy diet, being active or havingregular medical check-ups;

• It comes as no surprisethen than optimists tend to live longer as well.

And as evident as it is, I will still say it. Our health is themost important gift we have. It’s hard to lead any business if we arephysically or mentally unable to do it.

Greater achievement

Optimistic people tend to be more productive as they set goals,make plans to achieve them and are not scared to put them into action. Combinethat with the fact that they do not to give up easily, hoping that thesituation can be handled successfully in one way or another, no wonder theyachieve more than pessimists.

Moreover, optimists are more resilient in the face of adversity.They treat failure as part of life, the opportunity for improvement, which inturn helps them to learn and keep moving closer to achieving their goals.

Optimists take Benjamin Franklin's words to heart: “Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”

Better Leadership

Another benefit of being optimistic is that your positive outlookmakes you a better leader. Why?

Because people are naturally drawn to leaders that are upbeat andhave a positive attitude a see the world as a glass half full; on top, moodsare contagious, so no surprise that no one wants to hang out with downers,especially at work.

Imagine having to work for a boss that always complains and thinksthat nothing will ever get better. How demotivating is that? Or a CEO who doesnot have faith in the success of the business they lead … How can they inspirepeople to follow their vision with such attitude? Ridiculous right?

Still not convinced?

What about analyzing the results of presidential elections then?It turns out that 85% of the US presidential elections over the past centurywere won by the more optimistic candidate.

That’s is why, if you re a leader or aspire to be one, optimism isessential to your success.

Now that hopefully, you are excited about the benefits of optimism, you will ask me: OK, but what if I am more of “a glass-half-empty: type of person? What do I do?

Can Optimism can be learned?

Research and literature published by Martin Seligman prove that itcan. If you want to take on the challenge, read his book “Learned Optimism. Howto Change Your Mind and Your Life”.

Additionally, since we are talking business here, I’d like you toconsider optimism as one of your strategies to achieve business success.

“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.”―Noam Chomsky

Convinced now but do not want to read an entire book? That’s OK,let me then share with you the below five quick tips on how to improve yourpositive outlook:

• Practice gratitudedaily;

• Practice acts ofkindness, doing good to people and expecting nothing in return;

• Develop a positivemindset by using your imagination to rehearse success (Michael Jordantechnique) and treating setbacks as the beginning of growth, opportunities forimprovement that jumpstart you to success;

• Grow your leadership skills; don’t know how? I can help! Click here and let’s chat 😊

• Set goals, find ways to achieve them and then just do it! Don’t know where to start? Here is a read that can help you, just click.

Following these strategies will give you hope (a key component of optimism) but also show your brain what to look for. It’s hard to drive a car to a destination if you don’t know the directions. By the same token, your brain needs guidance to bring you to success; otherwise, it will wander allowing your life to be taken over by other people’s agendas and priorities.

“One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.”―Lucille Ball

In summary, if you are a natural optimist – that’s great, keepgoing and never lose it! If you are not, don’t worry it’s not yet alllost. Learning how to practice optimismwill help you improve your health, become a better leader and achieve greatersuccess in business…

(..and pssst don’t tell anyone but in personal life as well!)

Todays’ post starts week 2 of theNew Manager Series.

This week I am talking about how toget promoted within your organization to a manager role. But also, once you getthere how to turn it into success.

So if you are working in a positionthat you feel you have outgrown and want to move up, get comfortable and readthese tips.

1. Become a STAR employee

Doing your job well but “just doingyour job” is not enough to be considered an A player - promotion candidate.That’s why you are getting paid – to do your job well.

You need to be excellent at whatyou do. Better than anyone else. Be so good, that you can train others tobecome as good as you are.

Like with everything, if you wantto be a star you need to be hungry and have a desire for doing more than what'sexpected of you. You should also be looking proactively for additionalresponsibilities within your current role. Don't wait for them to be presentedto you on a silver platter.

At the same time, you need to accomplish all this with humility.

What is humility you ask?

It’s the opposite of arrogance and insecurities that lay underneath it. Being humble means having self-confidence in your abilities without having to show it to anyone blatantly to prove your self-worth. It means understanding that no one is perfect and having an open mind for feedback and self-development. You need to be objective about your strengths and opportunities for growth and development.

2. LEAD by EXAMPLE

What makes you a manager materialis becoming a leader before you have the title.

Here a few ideas what it means to bea leader in a peer group:

- Be engaged – care about the business, learn as much as you can to understand not only your role but also those of your peers and manager; understand how all these tie with a larger operation of your company;

- Take ownership – acknowledge your imperfections and admit your mistakes. That makes you real. Being defensive when your manager gives you feedback does not help you get better and derails you from the promotion path;

- Implement the learnings – being open to feedback is only the first step to being a leader. Nothing will get better if the teaching you were given is not actioned upon. Having a growth mindset needs to be tied together with action – this is the only way you will improve;

- Put others first - when your team succeeds, you succeed.
Following Zig Ziglar’s advice “You can have everything in life that you want if you just give enough other people what they want.” will help you build a good relationship with your peers. When your peers trust that you have their best interest in mind, they will also trust you to do the same when you become their manager.

- Don’t complain about things that do not work – provide solutions instead. Find better ways of doing things, improving your day to day tasks and recommend them to your manager in a constructive way.

3. Be engaged and foster your peer’sengagement

An engaged team works much bettertogether and make the work environment fun. You want to be at the forefront offostering such behavior. Positivity, good energy and fun while getting thingsdone makes for an attractive workplace.

Negativity, complaining withoutproposing solutions and gossip are demotivating for all. They demoralize theteam, lower productivity and make the best people run away screaming. If youmake yourself part of such environment or worse create it – what are you goingto do when you are the one who has to manage it and take responsibility for theresults?

To sum up the first three points inone sentence: be an employee you would want to have on your Team as a Manager.

Do you want to check if you are there? Fill in my self-assessment that will tell you if you are ready for a promotion. Click here to have it sent to you.

OK, so now you got the dreampromotion, you are a manager, and you will realize that even though all theabove still applies, there are several new skills you need to hone to besuccessful in the new role.

Below is the overview of 3 mainones that put you on the right track:

A. Focusing on a big picture

Junior managers often have a hardtime understanding that the urgent cannot overshadow the important. Fightingfires and solving small daily issues is what you have been successfully doingso far. It is probably something you feel comfortable with, and that gives youa feeling of accomplishment. As important as those tasks still are, they cannotovershadow important initiatives you will need to work on as a manager.

Understanding the big picture, developing strategic thinking and planning skills is indispensable in your ability to lead your new team to success.

B. Delegating and asking for help from yourBoss

Note that as a manager, yourprimary job is to lead a team not to do it all alone. Learning how to delegateproperly will allow you to grow your people, avoid the feeling of “dumping” thework on them you do not want to do, and make you effective in your role.

Additionally, remember that your relationship with your manager is a partnership, not a “servitude.” Make it a positive one then. Understand your role and expectations of you. You can read more details on this topic in last week’s blog here.

Asking for advice and help when youneed it is part of your job. Raise issues early enough before they become adisaster. No one likes to be blindsided by problems, especially in the worstpossible moment. The pain you have to go through when this happens is muchworse than the pain of admitting one’s mistake and raising the smaller issuethe moment it happens.

C. Giving constructive feedback to your teammembers

As humans we tend to avoidconfrontations. It’s a natural behaviour for most of us. That is why givingfeedback and coaching your team members on unwanted behaviors is something mostmanagers are not comfortable with, especially new ones. However, avoiding toaddress essential issues with the staff deprives them of the opportunity to getbetter. If left “unattended” for too long, the problems will escalate and canbecome personal. It is a selfish behavior i.e.; you are not doing a favor toyour employee choosing to ignore the issue because you want to avoid feelinguncomfortable having a difficult conversation. Giving constructive feedback isnot about asking people to change their personalities, it’s about helping themto improve their behavior.

To sum up, managing people is realwork. It requires skills that must be developed and improved on throughout yourentire career. Good managers always make it seem natural and effortless. That iswhy very often people have these perceptions that being a leader is easy. It isvery rewarding but not easy.

I was asked lately to describe in30 seconds what leadership means to me.

For me, leadership is a lifelongjourney of self-discovery and commitment to the growth of ourselves and thepeople we lead. Focusing outward on our people, making it all about them,forces us to look at ourselves. When we identify what we need to do to improve,our team will trust us enough to believe in the vision and mission we want toaccomplish.

If you enjoyed this post and it has inspired you to invest in yourself and develop the skills you need to get promoted or rock your existing management role, let’s connect! To set up a free coaching session with me, click here😊

Have you heard of complacency and its pitfalls? I’msure you have seen it around you whether in businesses as a customer or peopleyou knew.

Think of a time when you went to a new restaurantthat started with fantastic food and customer service. How excited you were todiscover the place, go to and celebrate important moments of your life, hangout with friends, or go on dates. And then after some time, the restaurantbecame a victim of their success and slid into mediocrity with dull orovercooked food and barely acceptable customer service. How did you react?After the first bad experience you never showed up there again …

This story is a prime example of complacency.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, complacency is a feeling of calm satisfaction with your own abilities or situation that prevents you from trying harder.

And the Merriam Webster dictionary describes it as self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.

Here are 5 ways complacency can quickly sabotageyour success in any aspect of your life and how to avoid falling into theirtraps.

1. Taking Your Success for Granted

Whether you have a business or a corporate career,if you take your success for granted (just like the restaurant in the abovestory), it will slip away from between your fingers fast.

Why? Because the quality of work you deliver,services or products you sell will quickly deteriorate if you don’t appreciateor treat your customers the same way you did when you started your business ornew role.

That’s why being clear on what you stand for, whatare the values of your personal or business brand is so critical. Keeping yourvalues & brand image at the forefront of your mind will help you avoidsliding into self-content and its dangers.

If you haven’t thought of your values yet and don’t know how to even go about it, click here and let’s set up a FREE strategy session where I can help you get started.

2. Letting Go of Networking and Marketing

Unless you are an unapologetic extrovert who lovesschmoozing or a marketing enthusiast, business or career networking andmarketing is hard work for a lot of us. No wonder then we will find any excuseor opportunity to avoid it.

However, staying connected to your friends,professional and business network will help you in times of trouble, presentopportunities you never thought would exist, or allow you to test those ideasyou have been mulling over in your head for a long time.

We shall have no better conditions in the future if we are satisfied with all those which we have at present. Thomas Edison

3. Letting New Opportunities Slip Away Right From Under the Front of Your Nose

With complacency you lose your curiosity. You fallinto the trap of thinking that you know it all, seen it all, and you have somuch experience that no one can teach you anything new.

Don’t be that person! We can learn everywhere,anytime, from anyone; not only from people with more experience than us. We canlearn as much from those with less experience than us our even kids; the mainreason being - that they have a different perspective.

It is nice to be around people who think differently than you. They challenge your ideas and keep you from being complacent. Tucker Carlson

I can’t count the times when people much younger orless experienced than me, including my 4-year old son, thought me somethingvaluable or inspired me to have courage to do something I was afraid of doing.

Without curiosity and an open mind, you will also lose on a great opportunity that might be laying right in front of feet and all you need to do it look down to notice and bend down to pick it up.

4. Not Staying Up to Date With Your Industry

What is the last time you read a book or magazinerelevant to the industry you are in? Do you ever attend the industryconferences?

The world we live in today is going throughexponential growth and crazy changes. What it means is that the progress is notlinear anymore, it's cumulative. It compounds like interest on yourinvestments; that why the financial planners always say to start investingyoung.

80% of the technology that we will be using in thenext 10-15 years have not been invented yet. Everything we know is obsolete almost the moment we learn about it.

Staying up to date with advancements in your industry will allow you identify the gaps in your skills that you will want to bridge or become aware of what your business needs to improve on or invest in to stay competitive on the market.

You can never get complacent because a loss is always around the corner. Venus Williams

5. Stop Investing In Your Self-Development

The content with your abilities, for sure will notmotivate you to invest in your self-development. However, in order to grow, toachieve the big audacious goals you have, you need to relentlessly invest inyou, your self-development.

As Jim Rohn said: Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.

And please don’t let your complacency convince you that you are too busy to find time for investing in yourself. You do have time, we all do. All it takes is having clarity of your goals and discipline in planning and organization of everything you do around these goals. If you don’t take charge of your time and life, others will run it for you, and you won't even notice. Don’t let it happen. You are a LEADER of your own destiny. Take action today! And if you don’t know where start, click here for help and schedule a FREE consultation.

Do you see one of the complacency symptoms in your own life? Are you in danger of sabotaging your business or career this way? Beware. We are living in times of unprecedented growth and marketplace competition. In such a world, the necessity of learning new skills, new technologies and continuous improvement is critical not only to moving ahead but even to maintaining your current status. Taking a strategic approach to your career, business and life, allow you to stay ahead of the game. And if you need a friend to brainstorm, I am here for you one click away.

Never be complacent about the current steps; don't agree and follow the status quo. Be determined that you are making an indelible impact with great change. Now, dress up and go to make it happen!

Israelmore Ayivor

What is your opinion on the below?

Is a success inbusiness or anything else based on a bit of luck and IQ of the person? Or doesit come from hard work and consistent effort?

The most recent research has shown that we overestimate theeffect of more luck-based characteristics such as IQ and underestimate theimportance of dedication and perseverance. Grit is the better indicator of aperson's overall success than their IQ, social environment they come from,their education or connections they have.

So what exactly is grit, you'll ask?

Angela Duckworth, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, who conducted the research, defines

grit as passion and perseverance to achieve long-term andmeaningful goals.

In other words, it is the ability to persist in somethingyou feel passionate about and not give up when you face obstacles or experienceutter failure. This kind of passion about having direction and stayingcommitted to tasks that may be difficult or boring.

If you'd like to read more details on the research itself, I highly recommend Angela Duckworth's book "Grit. The Power of Passion and Perseverance"

However, here to illustrate how grit can propel you in life, I'm going to tell you a story that is not in there. It's the story I discovered through reading "Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls" to my 7-year-old daughter.

Story of Misty Copeland

Misty Copeland discovered her passion for ballet at the age of 13, which is quite late for anyone to become a professional athlete. Her family was homeless at the time living in a motel. Her newly discovered passion for this dance and perseverance in grueling ballet practice brought her to win multiple awards, scholarships and perform significant ballet roles.

Then, at the age of 29, she suffered a severe tibia injurythat nearly brought her career to an end. The most inspiring and fascinatingpart about it is how it became so severe.

Misty suffered the injury right before her first-everperformance as a soloist in the Metropolitan Opera House. She was to performthe female main character in the "Firebird" ballet. It was ahistorical night, not only was the performance first for Misty but also she wasthe first African American ballerina ever to do that.

Despite the injury, she decided to perform and hide it. Shedidn't want to let down her community who came out that night to support her.

Her performance was magnificent and acclaimed by thecritics, but her injury became so severe that shortly after it she needed toundergo serious surgery on her tibia.

What's most inspiring is that she didn't give up danceafterward. On the contrary, she treated her recovery time as the opportunity tobecome even a better dancer. And she proved that in the end when in 2015 shebecame the first African American prima ballerina ever for the American BalletTheatre.

Why is grit important?

I'm sure the story I shared above answers this question quite well. However, to summarize, grit is vital because it's a driver of achievement and success. Being naturally smart and talented are great, but to truly thrive, we need the ability to persevere. No-one's path to success is strewn with rose petals. We all encounter some setbacks or failures. It's the way we handle them that determines how successful we are in any given area of our lives. That's why without grit, talent may be nothing more than unmet potential.

So now you're probably thinking, can grit be learned?

Or if I already have some, can I boost it?

Even though the research on this subject is young and there is still much to be discovered, the answer is yes!

Here are the 3 things you can do to boost your grit.

1. Develop a Growth Mindset

The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.

C. JoyBell C.

Developing a love of learning and continuous improvementwill challenge you to always look for new ways of doing things. As humans, weare wired to grow, and our brains have limitless potential. Nurturing thatpotential and using it for self-development will also lead to us influencingour outside world to grow with us.

2. Treat Setbacks as Opportunities to Improve

You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it's important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.

Michelle Obama

Just like Misty Copeland treated her injury to become abetter dancer, we can also learn to treat setbacks, not as failures butopportunities to get better. And I get it, it's tough. That's why we sometimesneed support from others: our friends, family, community, or professionals. Andthere's no shame in this. No can do it all alone. The important part is to recognize the needand ask for it.

The need for support is the reason why I have started an on-line community Businesswomen with Passion 4 Life. My vision for it is to create a community for women where we can share our passions, collaborate, and grow together. Where we can support each other when we experience setbacks and have fun together at the same time!

I'd love for you to be part of this community :). Join now by clicking here!

3. Create Habits that Will Help You Stick with Your Long-Term Goals

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.

Jim Rohn

Since the definition of grit above talks about long term goals and achieving them, building other habits that will help you do that makes the perseverance part easier. Here, I'm talking about anything that will allow you to be healthier, more creative, knowledgeable or disciplined, etc.

And if you need help with defining long-term goals for your business or career; or identifying and building new habits to help you achieve them, I'm always happy to help. Are you open-minded for a leadership accelerator session? Yes? Then click here to schedule it.

As shown above, having grit is a potent indicator of achieving success in life, in whatever way you define it. Grit is not only passion, but also perseverance to pursue and achieve your long-term goals. We also know that grit can be thought to children and definitely boosted in adults. And the best thing is that like with any habit, the more we practice grit, the more ingrained it becomes. I challenge you then to start today by identifying the ways you can do it in your life or business.

Before we conclude, if you are a Businesswoman With Passion 4 Life as a whole and would enjoy the support of other amazing ladies in doing it, join my online community today, by clicking here!

Creativity is an indispensable ingredient not only for artbut also for any successful business. It’s the mother of innovation, thecornerstone of your R&D. That’s why, whether you’re a solopreneur or abusiness leader with employees, nurturing creativity in yourself and your teamis an excellent strategy for staying competitive on the market.

In reality, finding new ways to market your business,interact with customers, or improve your products & services will nothappen without someone coming up with a new idea, capturing it and takingaction.

And the good news is that despite the common belief, creativity is not a gene that some of us have and some don’t. We all have it expressing is in many different ways. Just as we talked about it in last week’s post.
Better yet, according to Robert Epstein, American psychologist, professor, author, creativity is something that can be nurtured and cultivated by anyone.

For this reason this week, I’d like to share with you 5 Tips to Boost Your Creativity and Capture the Next Big Idea.

1. Take Time toThink

We covered the 4 Ts mantra last week. However, I’d like to add a bit to this point.

When our days are packed with meetings, e-mails, and othertasks heavy with mental demands, they overload prefrontal cortex part of thebrain. All these drain and distract us cognitively. On the contrary, most ofour “A-HA’s” moments come during a quiet break. Why? Because when we go for awalk, take a shower or even stare at a piece of art, the prefrontal cortexquiets down, and our default imagination mode gets turned on.

Additionally, by "Time To Think," I also meantaking time to rest during vacation, weekends, as well as getting enough sleep.No million-dollar idea will come to us if we are overworked, stressed and onthe verge of burn out.

Moreover, spending some this rest time in nature awakens our sense of awe and fascination with its beauty. And when our brain is in such a beautiful state, our creativity flourishes even more. If you're interested to learn more about this research, click here.

2. Spend Time withDiverse Interesting People

Meeting regularly with a diverse and exciting network ofpeople can open your horizons and help you come up with new inspiring ideas.Couple that with going together to exciting places such as art gallery, museum,or opera, and such experiences will stimulate your creative thinking in waysyou couldn’t have imagined.

Furthermore, being around people and feeling connected getsrid of the number one killer of creativity, i.e., stress. It's also fun and makes us feel happy. And asmuch as sadness can be a fuel in artistic creativity, in business, it’s aninhibitor to novel ideas as well.

So, don’t wait, go out there and spend some time with your friends and the broader network. And if you don’t have one yet and not sure how to go about it, click here for some tips.

3. Take OnChallenging Projects

Challenging projects that don’t have an easy solution getour brains thinking and looking at things from different perspectives. For thisreason, don’t dismiss any of the ideas you had as not possible to put intopractice. Try to work on them instead. Better yet, brainstorm such projectswith other people. Tapping into theirexperience, a different outlook on things can consequently generate morefantastic ideas. And since you are going to take my advice from point 2 above,finding great partners for brainstorming shouldn’t pose any problems to youanymore 😊.

4. Broaden YourKnowledge

Expanding horizons past your area of expertise will alsostimulate your brain for creative thinking. Taking a course to learn a newskill, reading books or magazines from unrelated domains will broaden yourknowledge and allow for the brain to “interconnect” all this newknowledge. Such interconnections are thebasis of all creative thought i.e., new ideas emerging from bits and pieces ofeach discipline you dive into.

5. Always Be Readyto Capture Your Ideas

Once you get your creative juices going, you need to be ready to capture everything you come up with so that it doesn't escape your memory. My favorite method is writing my thoughts down. Hence, carrying a journal with you is one but not the only way to do it. Note app on your phone, typing ideas on your laptop, or even a proverbial napkin will work as well.

To summarize, boosting our creativity is not only good for business. It's also good for us.

If you look at all the above tips and think about it, implementing them will also help you improve the overall quality of life and happiness. And isn’t it how it should be in the first place? Our professional and personal life are our life as a whole? Isn’t it when one overshadows the other then somehow we don’t feel fully satisfied?

At least this is what I believe. Our "personal and professionalselves," with everything that goes into us, make us full wholeheartedpeople who can be creative and make a positive difference in the world. For thisreason, my mission is to inspire and enable you as a business leader to buildmission-driven, people-oriented, and healthy organization that brings value toyour customers and helps you lead a holistic fulfilled life.

So, if you need anyone to brainstorm your next innovative idea, I’m here to help. Click here to schedule a free Brainstorming Session with Maggie 😊.

My inspiration for today’s topic came last week. I was part of an audience subjected to a quite interesting public speaking style of a person trying to pitch a business collaboration idea.

Before I tell you this story, first let me share a definitionof confidence by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“Confidence… thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them, it cannot live.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Story

I volunteer on the Board for Directors of a local charitysupporting women in need. Last week we had our monthly board meeting, and ourExecutive Director announced that there would be two people coming to presentand pitch a collaboration idea between their business and our organization.

From the very beginning, the CEO of the company who’dpotentially be our partner talked to the board members in a very condescendingand rude tone of voice, boasting about their accomplishments. They also made itsound like we needed their help more than they required ours, implying thatwe’d be fools not partnering with them.

The way conversation was going; it would have finishedwithin the first 10 mins if it wasn’t for the CEO’s partner who read the roomwell and started seeing that the audience was closing off fast.

As the pitch continued, and we listened to the idea, whichwas quite viable and potentially beneficial to both parties, the tension in theroom eased off a little bit. In the end, as we started discussing next steps,the CEO gave us a short timeline for final decision and in a non-direct manner,tried to scare us. They said they’d report back to a local politician on theoutcome of the conversation implying we’d lose the politician's support wecurrently have if we declined.

The Moral

I am going to ask you a question – if you were to bet on the gender of both the CEO and their partner – would you say they were both men? Both women? Or one of each?

In a way it doesn't really matter but why am I asking? Because in general, the studies found that we women are less confident than men. We are as skilled and as competent (if not more) as men, but it takes us a longer time to grow our confidence to the same levels as men. Because of this, sometimes we lose on great opportunities in our business endeavors.

There is an excellent book on this subject titled The Confidence Code by Kathy Kay and Claire Shipman that I highly recommend reading. I loved it.
In the meantime, if you’d like a taste of it, please click here to read an article that both authors wrote in the Atlantic magazine “The Confidence Gap.”

So now let me reveal the genders of both presenters: the CEO was a woman, and her partner was a man. Shocking right? It was to me.
In my corporate career I got used to dealing with strong and confident A-type personalities that can be harsh. And yet, I’ve never seen such an unprofessional behavior since I came to Canada.

The CEO was confident, but because she took that to an extreme, she lost her audience and the whole pitch in the first 10 mins of the presentation.

“A fit body gives you confidence. And there’s nothing more impressive than a great attitude, which you can wear on your sleeve. But you’ll have to remember the difference between being rude and being confident.”

Virat Kohli

The thing is that there is a happy medium between a lack of confidence on the one hand and cockiness on the other.

Here are five tips on how to do it and keep your audienceengaged.

1. Be self-aware

If you aren’t sure how your communication style affects youraudiences, especially when you are passionate about the subject, ask others.

Does your passion come through enough? Maybe it doesn't, andyou need to work on adding more emotions into your speaking. Or perhaps toomuch comes through, which can be received as intimidating or rude and youshould tone it down.

2. Think before youspeak

Before you present, pitch anything or talk to your employees, think first. Know your audience, prepare adequately to the meeting and rehearse as required.

Think of any questions or anticipate objections they mighthave.

Have respect for your audience, never assume what they know ordon't know.

3. Body language

Maintain the open posture by being conscious of the gesturesyou are making with your hands. Crossed hands or hands in your pockets meanbeing closed off. Have your hands in an open position, more or less at yourbetween your wait and chest with your palms up.

If you are standing, maintain balance by keeping your legsaligned with your shoulders with feet approx. 4-6 inches apart

If you are sitting, one way to show confidence is to claspboth hands together in a relaxed pyramid.

And don't forget to smile :).

4. Maintain eyecontact

Being present and maintaining good eye contact serves twoprimary purposes:

- It creates aconnection between you and your audience making them feel important and valued;

- It also allowsyou to read the room; I get that the bigger the audience, the harder it is tokeep all participants equally engaged. However, if you are seeing that you arelosing all participants either getting bored and drifting away in theirthoughts or phones; or worse getting closed off an upset; it’s a signal toadjust your speaking approach radically.

5. Tone of voice

With your voice, you have a few tools that will help keepthe speech interesting; the audience engaged and convey the mastery of yoursubject. For example, voice register(deep vs. high), timbre (rich, smooth, warm), tempo, pitch, and volume.

Julian Treasure shares some great advice on this subject in this TED talk on How to speak so that people want to listen. Below I am sharing with you the link to his great talk in case you'd like to know more.

Conclusion

To conclude, there is no doubt that confidence is a crucial factor of our business success. And it’s also definitely better to have more of it than none. However, as our confidence grows, we need to watch ourselves not to swing the pendulum to the other side of the extreme.

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.”

Norman Vincent Peale

Additionally, your business growth and ability to lead depends on effective communication where your confidence shines. Communication is a learned skill that everyone can improve.

Can you always get your message across in a way that inspires action and outcomes you expect?

Have you ever experienced issues with outcomes due tomiscommunication?

Are you nervous about public speaking and presenting?

If yes, don't worry! I can help you overcome those challenges so you'll become a confident (yet humble) effective communicator :).

If you are open-minded to connecting with me, click here and let's talk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIho2S0ZahI

All my kids are telling me this week is what costumes theyare going to wear, how much candy they can get from 'trick or treating,' andhow fun it will be to get scared a little. Yes, you guessed it, Halloween iscoming.

And with that, lots of us adults will watch scary movies anddress up ourselves to have fun with the kids. It's the day when we not onlycelebrate the loved ones that passed away but also face our fears about death.

That's why I thought that's is probably one of the bestmoments to write about fears we face in businesses. Fears put us on a roller-coasterof emotions. Fears that are quite often not real and fears that, if not dealtwith head-on, can paralyze and completely derail us from a fantastic journey.

As I was researching this article, I found thisdecomposition of the word (source unknown).

FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real

In other words, very often, the things that you fear in business don't exist and most likely won't materialize ever. Because as an entrepreneur, especially in the beginning, you're faced with lots of novelty, your primitive brain is sending all those 'STOP n' RUN' alerts before your neocortex can logically process the information. This reaction works in some situations, like reacting to a ball coming your way to protect yourself from being hit but not so much when you're trying to do your first Facebook Live or IGTV video.

Taking Marie Curie's advice, I've decided then to writeabout the five most common fears that entrepreneurs often face daily. On top ofdescribing them to you, I'm also sharing a 7-step framework on how to trickthem. In other words, first, I'm helping you to understand the destructivefeelings so that next, you can apply the framework and conquer those fears asthey appear on your entrepreneurial path.

Fear of Not Deserving

Frequently when I speak with entrepreneurs, especiallywomen, they tell me that they feel like they don't deserve the resultshappening in their business. Or even that they don't deserve the happiness,they're feeling when creating the business of their passion. And these are onlytwo of many examples.

But let me tell you this. Who said that business couldn't befun? Where is it written that instead of enjoying yourself while making a goodincome, you need to feel stressed or unhappy? As a matter of fact, the only way we can achieve our full potential andcontribute the most to the world is when we are happy, feel fulfilled, and atpeace.

We're all born equal, i.e., we equally deserve the samethings. Your need and drive for happiness, financial safety, and fulfillmentaren't less deserving than anyone else's in this world. They're EQUAL to thoseof others.

Imposter Syndrome

This one is the fear of not being good enough, feeling likea fraud. For one thing, if you're experiencing this, you're in great company.Maya Angelou, Jennifer Lopez, and many other successful people talked aboutexperiencing this feeling regularly, even after their incredible successes.

At the same time, think about it, you are unique. Yourbackground, past experiences, the way of thinking, etc. have shaped you into abeautiful human being that needs to share her gifts with the world. So embraceit. I'm sure you don't want to be 2nd Jennifer Lopez or J.K. Rowling.Therefore, no need to feel like an imposter. You are you, beautifully unique,who deserves the life you dream off.

Fear of Failure

In my conversation and coaching to business owners, I seethis fear as the one that holds you back the most. One of the reasons is that once peopleachieve a certain level of comfort, even if only minimal, the mentality ofplaying safe kicks in. Unfortunately,what this does to you is capping your potential.

The second one is perfectionism. When the scripts you run through your mind tell you that everything you create needs to be flawless and perfect, the fear of being criticized or making a mistake is just a natural thought that follows. This one also prevents you from growing.

Sadly, the more you fear failure and hold yourself back, the more of other fears kick in: lack of trust, scarcity mindset, and with that lack of belief that your business can grow or that you can achieve your full potential.

It looks like somehow, after we learn how to walk and run astoddlers, throughout our life, we forget that it was persistence, standing upafter each fall with a smile on our faces, and relentless trials were whattaught us those skills in the first place.

Fear of Success

OK, fear of success, although I know entrepreneurs feel it,especially right when they start their business, in my opinion, is the lamestexcuse to start up. Why? Because 99% of us don't and won't experience instantsuccess. It hardly ever happens. It's less likely than winning a lottery.

Moreover, if you read the stories of the most successful businesspeopleout there, you'll learn that it took them years to get to the level of successthat you might be satisfied with. Those of them who openly share their journeyhave plenty of examples of setbacks they experienced. That's why chances of youbecoming super-rich and famous day 1 of your entrepreneurs' life are superslim.

Then again, take it as a good thing. The hard work you'llput in to grow your business and weathering off challenges humbles you andprepares you for success. So, when it comes, you'll be ready. Let's go back tomy baby example. None of us was able to run super fast right away. First, weneeded to learn how to sit, then how to crawl. Afterward, we stood up, startedwalking in a wobbly manner, then more confident, and only after the runningbegan. The natural law that guided youthrough this journey isn't different from the one that guides you as you'regrowing your business.

Fear of Missing Out - FOMO

This one is a shiny object syndrome. Trying to be presenteverywhere, do everything, be everything is a fast way to exhaustion. Moreover,it's a way that's taking you in a direction opposite to your success. Quiteoften, this lack of focus happens when you don't have a definite end in mind.Lack of clarity on your goals results in a lack of planning. With that, it'shard to know what to do day in and day out, which of course, is very conduciveto FOMO. This syndrome, however, can be easily eliminated with the right timemanagement structure in your business life, which is one of the things I helpmy clients with.

OK, so now it's time for the best part of this blog. Theframework that will help you move past all those fears as they come, takeaction, and keep growing.

7-Step Framework to Help You Conquer Fear in Business.

1. Know yourself

So you can understand not only the fear but also the cause. Take time to stop and truly feel your reaction. Why the thing I want to do in my biz is scaring me? What are the real underlying reasons?

2. Talk It Through with Someone

If you cannot do it alone, then talk it through with someone. For example, during my FREE brainstorming sessions, lots of women talk through their fears with me. They start scared, but after we talk and I share some advice, they have more clarity about what to do next, the fears are smaller if not gone, and they have simple actions they can take to move forward.

3. Write it Down

Now it's time to put your thoughts on paper and let your logical brain analyze them. You can even read them out loud. Here's what I do: "Maggie, the thing you're scared of is unreasonable. So many people have done it before you, and you're as capable as them. What's the worst that can happen?" As you're reading on, cross out anything irrational, and for the rational fears, write up a quick action plan in case they materialize. IT will put your mind at ease and allow you to move forward. Then, pick a couple of simple actions you could do right away to move you towards the direction you want to take.

4. Decide

The next step is to DECIDE. Indecision creates lots of agonies. Once you make the decision, your brain gets unstuck and can move forward. You start thinking about what to do next to get you closer to your goal. That's how you get the courage to execute. And to help you decide, here's an exercise that Marie Forleo recommends: Ask yourself: 'Does the thought of doing this make me super excited?' If the answer is yes and you feel expanded - then go for it no matter the fear. If it's something that contracts you totally that it makes you feel sick, then maybe it's not the right thing or time to do it. Perhaps you need to grow more to be able to do this. And that's OK, as at least you know what to do next.

5. Action

Once you decide, then make a plan and focus on the task at hand. Don't look too far ahead at that moment as it can get overwhelming; just take one step at a time. As Dale Carnegie said: "An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing."

6. Practice

Train yourself to face fear step into it. Practice daily to overcome even the smallest fears, which will make you more resilient. It only takes 20 sec of courage to step into your fear and act. What're 20 secs in the grand scheme of things?

7. Plan

Plan be proactive and create a system in your life that supports that. Knowing your long term goals and what you're doing next week that aligns with them makes it easier to start, finish, and then move on to the next. And if you haven't started planning for 2020 yet and need guidance, let's connect! I can help you create an amazing system not only for 2020 but beyond that.

In a quick summary, I wanted to ask you a question. Have you ever thought that fear and courage actually go hand in hand? Could courage exist without fear? Personally, I don't think so because how can we be brave, courageous, and audacious if we don't fear something first? The antidote is not needed when the trigger doesn't exist.

PS: If you need more motivation and encouragement, I invite you to join my online community Businesswomen with Passion 4 Life and watch the video, in which I help the ladies trick those fears ;).

So looking at the quote below, which option do you choose?

When you search the internet to ask a simple question on“how to find a niche in your business?”, there are articles on articles you canread and scroll through, and a lot of them even contradict each other. Someexperts tell you: you must have a niche to be successful, the others say no,you don’t as there are alternatives. So who to listen, what to do?

First, just imagine trying to sell apples to someone whoreally wants oranges. It would be hard, right?

That’s why you need to have clarity on who are your clients.

Without it, no matter what marketing efforts you put out there into the world, if you're confused, your audience will be confused too. In other words, if your potential clients cannot find you, how can they ever know you, like you and trust you, not to mention buy from you.

Additionally, I want to share with you a few other benefits to knowing and understanding exactly who you’re helping.

1. It will be easier to stand out from the crowd and be unique and innovative.

I get it, we are all unique, and when your business is aligned with your passions, you’ll stand out. However, you can amplify this, be more creative and innovative in it when you understand not only demographics but specific pain-points of your potential clients.

When you can tune in to your audience, listen and talk to them, these conversations will provide you with many inspirations and new ideas. You'll use these ideas on how to improve your offering and/ or create something new. This, then combined with your passions and uniqueness, will give you a massive advantage over your competition.

2. Your content and marketing messaging will be more effective.

Being on point with your marketing messaging is key to attracting the right audience and converting them to your current or future clients. You can achieve it when understanding who your clients are, what are they thinking, feeling, and what are they looking for. If you cater to the entire world, of course, it’s hard to do that

3. You’ll become an expert and have the ability to charge more.

This point is not about you telling everyone you’re anexpert. It’s about your audience learning about who you are and what you standfor on their own terms, and then believing deep down that indeed you are theexpert. And the only way they will get there is if they feel you understandthem and can help them with their problems. How else can you do that other thanreally getting to know them?

So given all these points, you’ll probably want to know now how you actually determine who your clients are.

How do I define my niche?

There are a few ways to get there, and some are not mutuallyexcluding but more of a process. It depends on you, where you are in yourbusiness, what offering you have, and even how you deliver it.

Because I don’t want this blog post to turn into a too longof a story, I’ll pick one way for those who maybe are just starting, haven’tfigured it out anything yet, and are totally confused not knowing where toturn.

Here are a few first steps you can take and questions you can ask yourself.

1. What is your story? Why have you started your business?
2. After really digging deep - what is it that you love doing? What are the things that make you feel growing, expanded as opposed to the ones that contract you?
3. Out of the list from point 2., what are the things you are fantastic at?
4. What problems are you solving? Have you solved them before for yourself or someone close? If you are not sure, move to point 5 and first start with this question.
5. Based on your answers 1-3, and potentially market research, decide on your offering. Don’t think you need to set it in stone. No, just jot down some ideas, and you'll refine everything as you go through step 5.

Now hit the pavement and start talking to people about your ideas. Who is responding to it? Are they excited about the solution you have for their problems? Is yes, would they pay for it? This step is nothing more than some market research and will help you determine not only if your offering is viable but also who would be your potential ideal client.

Final Thoughts

To sum up, knowing and understanding your potential clients is key to finding and attracting them. And that's what I call knowing your niche. Such knowledge can bring you a few other benefits listed above. There is more than one way to ‘define your niche.’ You can use the one I described above, find some others through all-knowing, wise Google or just hop on a brainstorming session with me. If you go for the session, I’ll help you do that free of charge 😊. All you need to do is click here and schedule it.

A few months ago, I wrote about why teams require vision, mission, and values to be cohesive and high-performing. And how as a team leader, you need to live and breathe them so that the team follows you.

The same principlesapply when you are a solopreneur running or just starting your business.

As a business owner, I’m sure that just like the rest of us, you’d like your business to last and be healthy. Your dream lifestyle and family well being depend on it.

To achieve that, your business needs a core, a spine that will always be there no matter the changes that happen to the rest of the “body.”

This core should help you persevere in times of doubt, say “Yes” to the right opportunities and “No” to the wrong ones, even if they seem like “once in a lifetime” at the moment.

In my blog series on change we talked about the the anatomy of change, what is needed to embrace it, and how to lead your business through it. It’s because in today's changing markets driven by light-speed evolution of technology, as business leaders, not only we need to adapt it but also rive it in our organizations.

However, there are things in your business that should stay fixed.
Things that shouldn’t change at all or not for a long time, even if the strategies, products, or services you deliver change and adapt to your customers' needs.

Those main three things are:

• Core Purpose = the ‘why’;
• Values; and
• Vision

Let’s talk more about the them then.

1. Core Purpose – why?

You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things so that all the small things go in the right direction.

Alvin Toffler

When we start abusiness, the truth is that the main reason for it is hardly ever solely money.Yes, I get it that we want to make a living while running the biz, but pauseand think back why did you start it in the first place?

Was it because youwanted to be independent, have total control of your time? Or maybe to be ableto lead a balanced life where you can spend time with your kids? Or you want tohelp people become healthier, feel more beautiful or be more successful becausehelping others makes you happy?

The answer to thisquestion is your business’s core purpose. Now, it can create a mission, astatement that will embody it. The statement needs to be idealistic. If youthink it’s not idealistic enough once you have your first draft, ask, “why dowe do that?” and refine your answer. Repeat this exercise up to magic 7 timesuntil you get to a statement that you are happy with and is short of “makingthe world a better place”.

This way, you’ll define your core purpose as something you’ll always strive for that will never achieve 100. Something close to “make the world a better place.” Why? Because it will keep your business going and help you persist. Whenever you have any doubts about why you should continue to work on your business or feel discourages, the core purpose will give you the answer.

2. Core values – how do we behave?

When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.

Roy E. Disney

When you take timeand think of core values for your business, they will act as guiding principlesthat will help you navigate your entrepreneurship journey. It’s because theycan assist you in making the most critical decisions when presented withopportunities. Saying “No” to opportunities that look promising but can hurtyour business, in the long run, isn’t easy. It can be easier though if you knowthat such an opportunity doesn’t align with your core values. To putdifferently, having values gives your business its soul.

How do you determine your business’ core values then?

If you are asolopreneur, look at what’s important to you as a person and align them withyour values.

If you already haveemployees, look not only at your values but also at who is your best teammembers. The ones that you’d pick to recreateyour business if you had to do that in another country. How do they behave whenat work, what do they value?

Once you pickseveral them, put them through a time laps prism. Would you be living by themin 100 years? If yes, keep them. If not, scratch them off.

This way, you canget down to 3 – 5 core values. Your business doesn’t need more. Then, insteadof keeping them as one-word principles, try describing them a bit more byanswering a question – how do we behave? What do we stand for?

As a reference to help you, here is Disney’s example that will clearly show you how values can guide a business:

• No cynicism
• Nurturing and spreading of “wholesome American values"
• Creativity, dreams, and imagination
• Fanatical attention to consistency and detail
• Preservation and control of Disney magic

3. A Long-Lasting Vision – where are we going?

Vision is a destination – a fixed point to which we focus all effort. Strategy is a route – an adaptable path to get us where we want to go.

Simon Sinek

As a business owner,you should create a far-reaching vision on what you’d like to achieve in 10-20years from now. It needs to be audacious, BIG, and also needs to be achievable,even if the probability at this point is 60%.

To do that you canwrite it down or if you like visuals, creating a vision board will work aswell.

In short, yourVision or Big Hairy Audacious Goals, as Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras calledthem in “Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies,” need to beachievable and will change, unlike your core purpose. Because once you reachthem, you’ll need replace them with the new ones for the business to havesomething to strive for and not become complacent.

Now, after you have done all this great and hard work, you can start developing different strategies that will help you achieve your vision. These strategies will change and adapt to customers' needs and market shifts.

So WHY should I do all that?

To conclude, all I covered above will allow your business to be healthy and last. WHY?

Because, it will help you see what are the important things to focus on as opposed to the urgent ones.

When you don’t have such clarity, here's what happens:

• you don't have enough time to accomplish your business goals;
• you feel overwhelmed and paralyzed;
• you procrastinate;
• you don’t accomplish much although you are busy all the time;
• you don’t see the progress in your business that you were hoping for.

Looks familiar? Yes, if you see some or all those symptoms in your day to day operations, maybe it’s time to stop and regroup.
And if you need help, I’d like to offer you FREE training CLARITY & FOCUS that will walk you step-by-step on how to do it. Yout can download it by clicking here.

Need more help or have questions? Then click here and let’s connect.

A lot of people have a hard time saying "No." They say "Yes" to favors, asks for help, additional services, etc. even though everything inside them then screams "no – don't agree to that!" No wonder they end up having hard time managing their time. Have you ever been in this situation? Saying "yes" to something you really wanted to say "no" to?

Why do you have such a hard time saying "NO"?

It's because people aren't loners, we live in groups. And thus,we want to be approved by our environment. Included, not excluded.Consequently, we act in ways that favor social approval; one of them is saying"Yes" to other people's requests.

Such a need for social approval fosters our feelings of wantingto:

• be part of the group (socially accepted),
• be a team player (cooperation),
• do what we can to avoid ostracism, criticism, and exclusion,
• care about other people's opinion of us,
• improve our self-esteem by popularity (reputation).

As you can see, it's easy to go overboard with "yes." The need for social acceptance, being liked or well thought of by others could take over your life. The trap, though here is that if you overcommit with "Yes's" too much, you end up saying "No" to personal priorities and can miss out on opportunities as well. You can end up stressed, anxious, and develop regrets over having to compromise to honor all your commitments. And what good such feelings bring on you or others?

So, what can you do then to start saying "No" moreoften, gain more time to work on achieving your goals, and improve yourbusiness? Here are five strategies to help you do that.

1. Be clear on your priorities.

When you clearly define priorities and goals and take action on them, you set boundaries for yourself and start utilizing your time more effectively. That's why you'll be able to assess if the request coming from the other person aligns with your goals or not. As such it's more natural to decline: "Your idea sounds great politely! It's just that it doesn't align with my priorities this month. Maybe X can help (you can refer then to a person to someone whose priorities might be aligned with the request)?"

2. Stop & listen first

Instead of just saying "Yes" to all incoming requests,partner with requesters to fully understand the ask, and maybe you decidetogether what makes sense for you to do, and in what time frame. For example,if your client is asking for a "small favor" right away, understandfirst if indeed it's small and you can fit it into your current schedule. Ifit's Big Work on the other hand then politely mention that this wasn't part ofthe original agreement and that you can quote the job. Then upon approval agreeon a timeframe that will work for both.

3. Understand & change your beliefs if needed

There is a reason behind every action. Identify the beliefs thatlead you to say "yes" often. Perhaps you believe that saying"no" makes you look bad or that you'll be rejected by the personasking. Then write down all the consequences saying "yes" all thetime would have on your life, business and well-being. Next, create morepowerful beliefs. For example, excellent quality is more important thanquantity. Saying "no" is respectable when it comes from the rightplace. People respect others who respect themselves.

4. Balance "Yes" & "No"

When you say "yes" to what is in front of you, you'resaying "no" to something else that might be more important but lessvisible. For a few days, try assessing what you'd be giving up and if it isworth it. Improving your services or products? Speaking engagement? Potentialclient meeting? Your family? The exercise? If it's worth the loss, then go forit with your arms wide open. When you continually make such consciousdecisions, you can balance what you're saying "yes" and"no" to overtime.

5. Throw the guilt out the window

Guilt is often the culprit that causes us to say "yes"more often than "no." We don't want to disappoint people. If you areguilty of feeling bad when you say "no," recognize this. Write theword on a sticky note and stick somewhere you can see often. Such visual onwhat's driving your decisions to say "yes" can help rewire your brainto say "no" more often.

And if you can't quit saying "yes" cold turkey, trychanging your habit through baby steps. For example, by offering thealternative to the ask: "I'm not able to help you with the move the entireweekend but can come over on Saturday for a couple of hours and help you pack."

All in all, learning to say "no" when it aligns with your goals and values can be liberating and eye-opening.

You'll have more time to devote to activities that are important to you (your business and life). You'll end up with less stress, anger, or resentment. You'll have more energy, optimism, and a greater sense of control over your time and life.

Remember, we only have a finite number of years to live.Therefore, don't be afraid to take control of your time so you can live yourlife to the fullest.

And if you need help in practicing how to say no politely and professionally without sounding rude, I have prepared for you a list with 39 Ways to Respectfully Say "NO." Click here to download it so you can start practicing now!

Google says that we live on the planet that has beenevolving over 4.543 billion years.

From slow evolutionary changes, through faster seasonal, toeven faster human-driven ones (industrial, technology, medicine & othersciences, or social movements); change is all around us.

"Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." — John F. Kennedy

And yet as individuals, most of us have a hard time adoptingchange. At work, in personal life, self-driven, and especially imposed, it’snever as easy as just merely deciding or accepting it to make it happen.

Why is this? If the universe is thriving because of change,why for us, humans, change does not just come instantly and naturally? Why doesit scare us?

With the spring finally breaking through in Canada and nature fully transforming with the help of sun and rain, for the next 3 weeks, I decided to explore change. Today, I am trying to find answers to the why’s above. Next week, I’ll be writing about managing change at the individual level. What can we do as individuals to embrace change and make it easier for us to adopt it? The 3rd and last part of the series will explore leading other people through change.

Are you interested in the topic? I hope you are!

Join me then, and start our change journey now…

To understand why we react to change the way we do, we needto start by understating our own brain and especially how it evolved over time.

In a McGill University publication, the authors explain the evolution of 3 main brains that humans have: the reptilian brain, the limbic brain and, neo-cortex. They have shown up and evolved in different times of our evolutionary history but interact with each other in everything we do.

The first one: the reptilian brain

It first appeared in fish over 500 mln years ago and yes youguessed it, it's the oldest part. It controls our body’s most vital functionslike breathing, heart rate, etc. It is very reliable (no thinking involved) buttends to be somewhat rigid and compulsive. Doesn’t it remind you of an older person stuck in their ways ;).

But let’s be serious, imagine having to think to breathe allthe time? It’s a great relaxation technique and during yoga class, but if wehad to do it all the time? Yes, you got it, not only we couldn't do anythingelse, we'd not be able to survive at all!

Second: the limbic brain

This fellow emerged first in small mammals about 150 mlnyears ago and is responsible for our emotions. That explains why we are not theonly emotional creatures on Earth. Our beloved pets and other mammals can alsofeel happy, angry, scared, or excited.

Our values that guide our behaviors sit in the limbic brain.That's why more often than we realize, we make decisions emotionally and only‘explain’ them logically after that.

The third one: the neo-cortex

It began its reign in primates "only" 2-3 mlnyears ago. It evolved the best in us, humans, with two large cerebralhemispheres that make us so unique as species. Here is were our languages sit,executive thinking functions, abstract thoughts, imagination, creativity, andself-consciousness.

And BAM! Here is what’s so impressive: the neocortex is flexible, and that’s why it has almost infinite learning abilities. And it’s in all of us, every single human being! That means we can learn any skills we want (even leadership skills) if we can only get past our natural resistance to change.

So why does change scare us, you ask?

It's because the thought of it starts in the animal limbicbrain that is hard-wired to look for danger, to keep us safe and alive. Asneuroscientists discovered, the mere thought of change puts it on “threatalert.” That's why we feel uneasy about any notion of change; that's why, evennot entirely consciously, we fear it. And because our brain needs and thereforefocuses enormous amounts of energy on keeping us alive while on “danger alert,”it's challenging for us to move the thought from the limbic brain to theneo-cortex. Only when we succeeded in doing that our reasoning kicks in, andfrom there, we can analyze the change calmly and let our creativity andimagination take it to the whole new level.

What’s the moral of this scientific lesson of mine then?

My goal with this post was to make you aware that our fearof change is irrational. It’s irrational because it starts in our emotionalbrain and is a result of archaic hardwiring that kept us alive as species forquite some time. Whenever we face or want to embark on a change journey, weneed to allow our thinking brain to kick in so it can convince our emotionalbrain that change isn't a threat but an entrance door to something bigger andbetter 😊.

“We can't be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don't have something better.”

C. JoyBell C.

And how do we embrace and manage change for ourselves?

That’s a theme of the next week’s blog so stay tuned!

However, I don’t want to leave you empty-handed, so here isone small tip.

Always carry a journal with you. And whenever you come upwith even the smallest new idea, write it down right away. It’s beenscientifically proven that by a mere act of writing down the idea on paper, youare more likely to act on it. Why? Because you are giving precious time foryour neo-cortex to kick in and feel excited about it. And at the same time, youare preventing the emotional brain from overtaking your thinking and trying to“protect you from dying” by finding reasons why you shouldn't act on yourmillion-dollar idea 😊.

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” ― Albert Einstein

Thank you and see you here next week!