This is a guest blog post written by Andrea Hewett, Social Media Business Director
for Holt Marketing and Management Services, Inc.
I recently had the good fortune to attend an awards presentation honoring women business leaders. This event included a moderated panel discussion for male and female business professionals including; Executive Directors, CEO’s, Vice Presidents and Principals in a variety of Industries including Science & Technology, Education, Consulting, Healthcare and Non-Profit. The honorees included a Business Executive, Entrepreneur, Career Advocate and Mentor, and an Up-and-Coming Young Professional. It was quite a collection of awe-inspiring individuals!
There was quite a bit of business advice on how to avoid major mistakes in your career and how to accelerate your business success. Some of the comments were inspirational quotes to remember when you feel like you can’t handle it. Some of it I’ve heard, some of it is common sense, and some of it is just resonated with me as things I don’t think about often enough. Then I started wondering: How much of this information that I am aware of is unfamiliar to others and vice-versa? I then decided that I should write about it. If I can share this useful information and you only take away one thing you didn’t know before or one inspiration that puts you toward the path to success, then it will be worth the time it took me to jot it all down!
Key Takeaways:
- Overcome Your Aversion to Risk: Considering risk to be negative only prevents us from becoming better, creating new ideas, and helping others.
- Embrace Your Freedom to Fail: This goes hand-in-hand with overcoming aversion to risk: in the words of Sir Winston Churchill, “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
- Welcome Change: Keeping your processes and operations the status-quo only allows them to become stale and forgotten. Even if things are working now, it doesn’t mean that something different isn’t better.
- Embrace the Future: You should proactively look for new and better things that could make you or your business better. That is what keeps clients and customers excited and loyal.
- Work Together: Whether you are a team player or a solo artist, you should always recognize that each individual has their own strengths and may be able to bring something to the table you would not have thought of…this way of thinking is essential in solving problems.
- Find a Mentor: Look to someone you admire but be selective in what you take away and draw your own conclusions from their approach.
- Take time for Yourself: This may seem counterintuitive but if you spend all of your time trying to please others, you are going to burn out quickly and are therefore no good to anyone. Whether it be a morning workout, meditation time, a lunch break away from the hustle and bustle; give yourself the opportunity to recharge.
- Prioritize: This sounds like common sense, but how many of us put this into practice? Do you check your email every 10 minutes or every time you hear an alert? This interrupts other important work and causes undue stress…Make a list of the most important tasks and then start with the most important or difficult tasks first to get them out of the way before moving on.
- Set Goals and Achieve Them: Most set goals for themselves but how many are actually achieved? Do you give up when you feel like it may be too difficult? Do you do everything you can to find out the steps you need to achieve that goal? Without goals, you aren’t working toward anything and without having something to work toward…you are just working. Where is the joy in that? This doesn’t mean that your goals can’t change. You should be excited about what you do and if you can’t stay excited; evaluate your goals continually and change them accordingly…they should reflect what you want out of life, and your career.
- Love the Life You Live, Live the Life You Love: With vision and passion, you can do anything you set your mind to…if you don’t love what you are doing then find the opportunities that lead you to where you do.
- Surround yourself with the Best of the Best: People who are positive, passionate, hard-working, and successful; but most of all, people who lift you up to be the best that you can be!
- Performance Trumps Style: You can’t dress up a donkey and call it a stallion…eventually the performance is going to show you the truth. Hard work and perseverance will pay off eventually, don’t let the advancement of the undeserving get to you: find your opportunity by asking for unvarnished feedback and working to improve in any way you can, taking time with people to develop a network for advancement, knowing your contributions and thinking outside the box to benefit the Organization (even if it involves working outside of your position).
- Deal with Adversity: Make sure you are working in a way you can justify your actions and that of your Organization’s. Be satisfied in your own skin and be comfortable in stating your case and standing behind it. Stay Calm. Don’t be apologetic for a cause you believe in. Be honest, confront it, and wait it out. However, if it is an error on your part, do everything you can to apologize and make it right!
- Commit to a Lifetime of Learning: This doesn’t mean enroll in classes every year for the rest of your life…it means be open to learning: from others, from books, from classes, seminars, etc.
- Get Involved: Take on leadership roles in the community, volunteer your skills to Organizations in need, find a cause that needs attention; not only will this help to build your network, but will help others and give you a sense of worth.
- Make Decisions: Don’t go back and forth on a subject you are unsure of, make a decision; you can adjust along the way. If you think you want to take a class, take it…if you have to drop it because it isn’t what you need or the right time, drop it. Don’t wonder about it until it is too late.
In addition to all of that information, there were a few words of wisdom I want to leave you with:
* Believe in Yourself
* Build Your Business Acumen and Put Yourself Out There
* If You Want Something You Have Never Had, You Must Do Something You Have Never Done
* Know Where You Want to Be in 5 Years, 10 Years, or 20 Years and Work to Achieve It
* Think about What You Would Attempt to Do if You Knew You Could Never Fail
Do you have anything to add? Please comment below and share… we value your opinions! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us here, connect with us via social media or call us at: 989-791-2475.
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