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When You Start Being Yourself, These 10 Amazing Things Will Happen

When you were a little kid, you had a personality, flaws, endearing qualities and behaviors that defined you as a mini human being. As you grew up, the influences of society, people around you, life experiences and genetic pre-disposition further molded you into who you are today – but with one big caveat.

As an adult, you have developed the mental skills to flex your behaviors and personality to fit what you think others expect and where you want your life to go in the future. While this is a powerful benefit of being a grown-up, it can lead to issues in relationships, personal growth and success. When you fake who you are or cover up your true personality, not only does it lead to short-term challenges, but it can seriously hurt your long-term life goals.

When you own your personal brand, start being yourself and step into your true nature by showing people your strengths, flaws, weirdness and real personality, it can open you up to a whole new world of amazingness!

1. You will attract the right tribe.

When you are fake, you aren’t surrounded by the right people who will support you in your real growth and goals. Sure it may seem smart to pretend you’re a certain way if you want to live a certain way, but if it doesn’t fit with your actual personality, it will only make you appear inauthentic – meaning the people in that group will be unlikely to embrace you anyway. When you behave in ways that are in alignment with your strengths, flaws and deep-down soul goals, the right people will be attracted to you to help you on your journey.

2. You will make more money.

People buy from people. They like to hang out with and spend money when their innermost emotional needs are being met. When you can connect with people on a deeper level as your true self, you can create better relationships with co-workers, bosses, customers and clients. Whether you’re in customer service, sales, healthcare or education, it doesn’t matter. Every job requires human connection for growth. When you truly connect as the true human being that YOU are, the opportunities for personal and financial growth will follow.

3. You will meet the right partner.

Only when you show your true colors will the right love interest come along. Sure you can attract a mate by faking who you are are, but the long-term implications are that you will feel resentful, guilty or regretful when your true self isn’t having your needs met. Be real and the right person will come along to make you happy, and you will feel connected to them on a deeper level – flaws and all!

4. You will be trusted.

When you are really being you, it leads to a consistent experience for people who interact with you. When they feel secure in knowing you are who you say and act like you are, they are more likely to trust you with big and small tasks, decisions and responsibilities. When you are a trusted person, your career success will increase, your personal relationships will flourish and you will feel more confident in your ability to interact with others.

5. You will be more confident.

Being fake can hit your self-confidence in a big way. Why? Because when you are fake it means you are constantly worrying about impressing people by changing who you are in certain scenarios. When you have to change so quickly and so often, it clouds decision-making which leads to bad decisions. When you are constantly making bad decisions it makes you feel bad about yourself leading to low self-esteem and suffering self-confidence.

6. You will be more energized.

It feels good to live authentically. It attracts the right people, opportunities and even money. When you are living in your true flow, you feel happier which boosts endorphins. These endorphins are feel-good chemicals that naturally increase energy, mood and positivity. It is a circular cycle that when you feel good, you look good, you do good, you attract good. All that goodness creates major energy in your life.

7. You will sleep better.

Embracing the true you leads to positive emotions. The better you feel, the less worry you have. The less worry you have, the less time you lay in bed fretting over your decisions, future and actions. This means you have more time to actually sleep, rest and heal and less time tossing and turning with worry over what people think of you or how you can impress others.

8. You will feel less stressed.

It’s so much easier to be yourself than to fake it all the time. When you fake who you are you are constantly having to cover up lies, stress over your appearance and fret over your words. When you are just simply YOU, there is no need to worry over what you said or did in the past, how certain people perceive you or how you need to act in different environments. You have peace in your heart because you can just be you.

9. You will be seen as real.

When you act like your true self, you will be creating a consistent experience for people whether they hang out with you in person, read your social posts online or hear stories about you. This consistency massively boosts your credibility, likability and trustworthiness both personally and professionally.

10. You will be happier.

All the stuff above will lead to increased happiness and peace in your personal and professional lives. Your happiness is based on your own ability to step into your greatness with a peaceful heart. When you embrace your true nature, this peace comes easier and greater joy and happiness will follow.

So you see, living a life that showcases your best and most challenging traits is the best way to move ahead. No matter who or what you’ve tried to be in the past, it’s time to let those false impressions go and step into the amazing life that only YOU can create.

REGARDS

Leading Blog: The Ten Golden Rules of Leadership

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The Ten Golden Rules of Leadership Posted: 19 Nov 2014 04:25 PM PST Michael Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas have reviewed the writings of the Classical philosophers and selected ten ideas that will positively impact our leadership effectiveness in The Ten Golden Rules of Leadership. Not surprisingly, the philosophies of classic figures remain relevant in today's workplace.  Early on the authors suggest that the raw material of leadership is not latent in just about everyone and it “just takes a nudge to trigger its unfolding.” Further, the “special qualities of genuine leadership are remarkably complex and rare.” It is true that good leaders are not as common as they need to be and that we do confuse administration with actual leadership as they suggest, but the potential is there in each one of us. The problem is that it remains latent in many of us. We choose not to do the work necessary and instead assume reading “Leadership Lessons I Learned from My Cat” is enough to unlock our potential.  The authors do expose the real culprit at the end of the book: “Achieving the rank of genuine leader is a daunting task that most will find prohibitively challenging.” In short, “leadership requires a special form of courage: the courage to fashion a code of conduct governed by principled conviction.”  Genuine leadership is not complex but it is difficult because it requires that we do the inner-work on a continual basis. And that is a lot to commit to. It’s lifelong. And what we want to do is to check it off and mark it as good enough. Sustainable leadership requires a radical life-long commitment to rule one of leadership: Know Thyself.  Rule 1: “Know Thyself.” –Thales  This is an intimidating task and one that many leaders never really get around to. It never seems as important as the task at hand. The larger issue though is that we all possess a “powerful tendency to obscure, distort, and fictionalize on behalf of a fabricated reality.” The authors note that “Knowing Thyself means bringing a fresh transparency to our hidden motives and identities.” They suggest that a would-be leader commit to “an agenda of spirited self-indictment.”  Rule 2: “Office Shows the Person.” –Pittacus  Giving a person power reveals their inner qualities. “Specifically, power discloses whether or not a person has disposed f the psychological deficiencies that negate the possibility of real leadership.”  Rule 3: “Nurture Community at the Workplace.” –Plato  Plato insisted that “there is no greater evil than discord and faction and no greater good than the bonds of communal sentiment.” The idea that if one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. “Foster a cultre of cooperation and collaboration by defying the myth of the exceptional individual, and by explaining the corporate gains of working together.”  Rule 4: “Do Not Waste Energy on Things You Cannot Change.” –Aristophanes  The Athenian playwright Aristophanes wrote in his play titled Peace, “Never will you make the crab to walk straight.” Some things we cannot change. “Leaders must assume a posture of flexible response.”  Rule 5: “Always Embrace the Truth.” –Antisthenes  Antisthenes wrote, “There are only two people who will tell you the truth about yourself—an enemy who has lost his temper and a friend who loves you dearly.” “Honest assessment is an essential requirement of effective leadership.” The problem is that the higher up the ladder you go, the less likely you will receive complete and accurate information.” Seek the truth. Hire a heretic.  Rule 6: “Let Competition Reveal Talent.” –Hesiod  Hesiod suggested that competition that releases selfishness is destructive, but competition that releases ingenuity and creative is a constructive use of competition. Strife than is not the byproduct, but inner excellence and personal development.  Rule 7: “Live Life by a Higher Code.” –Aristotle  Aristotle wrote of the “magnanimous man” or the “great-souled” person. He is referring to a person that lives by a higher or more rigorous code than the average person. But not in a vain way. “When it comes to the great-souled individual, personal honor, not ego, is the ultimate priority and concern.”  Rule 8: “Always Evaluate Information with a Critical Eye.” –The Skeptics  “Leaders should never assume that the information they receive is unsoiled by hidden agendas or political agendas.” The problem though is even more personal than that. Socrates reminded us that “we must be vigilant against the conceits of wisdom [and] that we are all strongly inclined to assume we understand things that in truth we fail to genuinely comprehend.”  Rule 9: “Never Underestimate the Power of Personal Integrity.” –Sophocles  In the play Philoctetes by Sophocles, one of the two central characters believes that the ends justify the means; “one should not allow moral concerns to impede the necessities of practical achievement.” In the face of this seductive idea, the other main character, Neoptolemus, responds, “I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating.” It’s easy to rationalize wrong behavior.  Rule 10: “Character Is Destiny.” –Heraclitus  Our character or our moral essence determines the course of our lives. While we can’t control the world around us, “Heraclitus was correct to insist that we are, to a very great extent, the authors of both our own blessings and our own burdens.” “A well formed character,” write the authors, “is the priceless reward paid to those who have done the hard work of coming to know themselves.”  * * * Like us on Facebook for additional leadership and personal development ideas.

Dear All,

Please find below a good article for your reading:

Qualities That All Great Leaders Exhibit

Isn’t it amazing how we can tell when a true leader walks into a room? They command attention. They possess a certain aura that makes them stand out. They have influence and are wonderful communicators. Everyone loves them because of their charisma and their strong display of power. But it’s not only power that makes a leader great, because power can only go so far. Here are six distinct qualities that I believe all great leaders have that makes the organizations they lead exemplary ones.

1. Great leaders have vision.

A leader is a visionary. They can see the big picture long before anyone else can and will move companies along that path strategically. It is said that without vision, the people perish. Companies can’t run successfully on their own. It takes vision and a great leader to carry it effectively. Many people feel that at the end of the day, it’s all about the bottom line. But it’s how you get to that bottom line that is important, and it’s predicated on a strong visionary.

2. Great leaders pave the way for others to succeed.

Strong morale is the by-product of organizations that possess a leader with charisma. Everyone wants to do their job and do it well when they feel they are appreciated. Great leaders reward those who go above and beyond and push the envelope of potential in everyone. They are fair and forthright in delegating tasks to others, making sure apprentices understand their assignments thoroughly, thus allowing them to soar. They don’t mind promoting those they have mentored because they don’t feel threatened by those who follow them. They are willing to raise up others like them, to make their own work easier by giving others the responsibility for the task at hand.

3. Great leaders walk in integrity.

Because the demands are great for these leaders, they have no time for games or to say something and not mean it. Great leaders walk the walk and talk the talk. They expect those around them to do the same in order to be on their team. Integrity is their middle name and they thrive in their roles because others gravitate towards doing business with them, knowing full well that anyone privileged to work with them will benefit from a strong, honest partnership that upholds the highest level of loyalty and solidarity.

4. Great leaders create a sense of purpose to their work.

When you know the reasons for doing what you do, it makes doing that work easy and fun. Many employees want a fun environment to work in, and when they know their work has meaning, an increase in productivity occurs. But not only does the quantity of the work go up, but the quality of it does too. Great leaders add purpose to the workplace.

5. Great leaders are confident.

Great leaders are quick decision-makers and problem solvers. They are confident in their ability to think critically and make sound decisions. Even if the end result lands the company in a bind, they own up to the decision and fix whatever discrepancy has been made to turn the company around. This comes with being assured of themselves and using wise judgment in all of their affairs.

6. Great leaders are servant-leaders.

Above all else, great leaders are humble enough to get down in the trenches with other employees and do the work it takes to meet the demands of the company’s consumers. It’s not all about being demanding. If someone is out, they take up the slack. They make sure if no one else does it, they will do so gladly. They are not too high to do manual labor and actually love to work alongside others. It’s a great teaching tool to lead by example.

regards

aknarayan

Dear All,

Please find below a good article for your reading:

This Is How You Can Develop A Highly Successful Mind

You want to be successful, but you don’t know how.

So you read all about the success of other individuals. You got lost in the world of tips, tricks, and courses for success.

None of them worked for you. At the end of it you were still left wondering, “what is it that I don’t have?”

You’re still looking now.

You’ve exhausted your edition of Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. You’ve been through hours of listening to those motivational coaches say, “never give up, and you’ll get what you want!” You’ve done it all, and nothing is working.

You’re sick of it, right? You want something that you can start doing RIGHT NOW. You don’t want the “never give up” speech again.

So here is the reality.

Success is something within you. It’s your daily habits. Your morning routines. What you spend your time doing. It’s not these tips and tricks that others try to sell you, it’s the way you view the world!

Don’t give up hope. Here’s 10 habits that you can adopt that will form a successful mind.

Start to Accept Changes

Change is the one constant you can rely on in life. When all else fails you, you can bet that change will be lurking around the corner. With this in mind, wouldn’t it be a smart thing to finally squash that fear of change all together?

Successful people are able to adapt to change. They need to be. If one idea fails, which many will, the successful mind can take that and adapt to the changes presented by the situation.

But how do you accept change?

The way you always have, you just get on with it. Know that it’s there, it’s happening all the time, and don’t let it catch you off-guard. Plan for it, expect it, embrace it, and use it to your advantage.

Start to Set Goals

Not just any goals, but achievable goals. You know when you draw up a check-list, and you tick each individual little job off it? Think back to the feeling of each of those ticks. Think about how relieving it is. Think about how empowered and motivated you feel for the next job.

It’s a pretty damn good feeling, right? Then staring at that completed list at the end of the day, knowing that you’ve accomplished everything you wanted to do for that day. Make your goals that size. Reach your goals every day. Allow that momentum to build, and empower you, every single day! (But don’t forget to schedule your empty check-list days too.)

Also, a study done by Gail Matthews, PhD at Dominican University, seems to support the idea that writing goals is scientifically proven to make us more successful!

Start to Commit to Things

Get rid of those commitment fears. If you want to be successful, you haveto commit to things. A new job, a new partner, a new exercise regime, a new magazine subscription, whatever it is — you need to commit!

If you can’t commit when things are going well, you’re going to abandon ship and run a mile the moment you hit some turbulence. This won’t lead you to success. It can’t. You’re not sticking around long enough to reach it.

There’s no real easy way to do this. Though weighing up the cost of the commitment versus the rewards can often be a good start. Regardless, however you decide to face up to it, the end result is the same. You start committing.

Start to Identify Your Purpose

A purpose is the fast-track to success. With your purpose in mind, much like the achievable goals, all that hard work seems a lot more appealing to overcome. When things get rough you can just sit there and say, “Why are you doing this again?” and your purpose will always serve as the motivation you need.

So how do you find your purpose? Answer these simple questions (brutal honesty required):

• Who are you?
• What do you want from life?
• What is it you have that others will benefit from receiving?
• How are you going to get there?

Start to Believe in You and Your Goals

It’s timeless advice really. You’ve heard it a million times before, but this time you need to let it sink in. If you want to be successful, you have to believe in yourself.

Don’t believe in yourself because it’s your destiny to be successful. Don’t believe in yourself because you’ve got a foolproof plan. Don’t believe in yourself because you really want it. These are fairy tales spun to us, with no real serving purpose whatsoever.

Believe in yourself because you know that you’re going to put in the work. Believe in yourself because you know, as long you’re still breathing by tomorrow, that you will continue to work towards where you want to be. Believe in yourself because you know you’ll overcome the next hurdle you’re presented with.

With this level of self-belief, anything is achievable. You just have to keep going until you get there.

Start to Cultivate Patience

Another timeless piece of advice, inexcusable to leave out of anything discussing success. You need to have patience. Yes some things can happen overnight, but these are often the smaller successes.

It doesn’t matter what it is you want to achieve, knowing how to wait will be a part of it. A successful blog doesn’t launch with thousands of subscribers overnight. A powerful novel doesn’t get written in a day. A superstar fitness model doesn’t miraculously gain his or her physique in 24 hours.

Success takes time. You just have to keep taking every step you can towards it.

Start to Identify Your Downfalls (Then Do Something about Them)

No successful mind is successful if it cannot see where it falls short. It is only in the identification of the shortcoming that it could ever have the potential to be addressed. Many people are their own worst critic though, so it’s not hard to see what needs work.

The hard part is putting in the work. Knowing you’re lazy and doing something about the laziness are two very different things. To be successful you would have to identify that laziness, and then adopt a proactive solution to it. Just saying, “yeah I’m lazy,” isn’t going to get the work done.

The last, and maybe the hardest, part to it all is showing yourself compassion. You’re not going to get it absolutely perfect first try. That’s okay. You’ve got a lot of time left. As long as you’re actually doing something about your downfalls, other than complaining, you’re probably ahead of most.

Start to Identify the Growth in ‘Failure’

Do you know what almost every successful person has in common?

They’ve failed.

Dr. Seuss was rejected by 27 publishers. Stephen King threw his career-launching manuscript in the trash, though luckily his wife pulled it out. Walt Disney was told he had no imagination.

Did any of these give up?

Well okay, Stephen King did for a moment, but the point is they failed and didn’t give up. Instead here they are, names known by almost every household. These failures only ever spurred them on to become incredibly successful people. So see your ‘failure,’ learn from it, grow from it, and come back better.

The only thing stopping you from trying again is you.

Start to Practice Emotional Creativity

Emotional creativity, better known as empathy, is the backbone of success. To be able to relate, to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, is what makes you a successful human being.

There’s various reasons why, such as:

• To be able to serve people what it is they want, which is the key to many successful businesses and careers, you have to relate to their situation. If you lack the emotional creativity to empathize with their situation, you won’t connect well with them.
• If you’re on your pursuit for success and you’re going to have to climb over some people’s heads, how are you going to stay human doing that? By relating to them. Are you willing to crush other people to get where you want to be? Can you live with that decision? You’ll only know by empathizing.
• Successful people, at least many of them, are likable. They’re likable because you can relate to them. You can relate because they’re creative enough, emotionally, to appeal to you!

Plus, just as a general benefit, empathy makes you a better human being overall. Putting yourself in someone’s situation is going to lead to better behavior, from you, when it comes to dealing with said people. If you’re not sold on empathy, just read this Psychology Today piece.

Start to Meditate

With the madness of success comes the desperate need for peace. As a successful person, you’ll likely be making stressful decisions every day. If you can’t manage that stress, it’ll dominate you.

Luckily, meditation is here for successful you. With empirically proven health benefits, as outlined in this JAMA article, it’ll help reduce the stress and anxiety of being successful!

So take a couple of minutes out of your day, and really let go. Hit the pause button on everything. It’ll all still be there when you come back, but find time to really just be with yourself. Otherwise that stress could eat you alive.

So there it is. Now all you’ve got to do is put them into practice. Are you ready for success?

Let us know your top tips for the successful mind below.

regards

Dear All,

Please find below a good article for your reading:

6 Ways Your Behavior Is Being Controlled

Do you think you are in control of your decisions? If you’re like most people, the natural answer is, “Of course.  While I may regret some, I definitely decided to make them at the time.” I hate to tell you this, but odds are that you are like the rest of humanity in that your decisions are more determined by your surroundings than by you.

We are bombarded with stimuli and thousands of decisions to make every day. Starting from when we wake up, we decided when to set our alarm, when to actually move out of bed, what to put on, what to eat… the list is nearly infinite. Even when we decide not do something, that’s also a decision. Clearly, it is more efficient for everyday actions to be put on automatic and become routines, but can some of these mental shortcuts carry over to influence bigger decisions? The answer is yes, and here are some of the most common ways how.

1. Power of defaults, also known as the status quo bias

The default bias is a powerful psychological function. Because people tend to exhibit inertia, especially with more complex decisions, the default mode usually prevails. Whether it be the advanced settings on your laptop or iphone, a retirement savings plan, or a trade-off between reliability and rates, people overwhelmingly stick with the default, status quo, options. Some argue that as choices get more complex and people know less about the options, they don’t feel competent enough to switch from the default. However, even with basic tasks such as scrolling to the bottom of an e-mail to click “unsubscribe” to another spam e-mail, people are hesitant to take action, and thus continue to be bombarded by unwanted e-mail blasts. Think: Are you sticking with the default because its the best decision or just because it’s the easiest?

2. Forced functions

Forcing function means things are designed in a way such that people have to take certain actions in order to get what they want. Examples include having to take your card out of an ATM machine before receiving your money, having different sized medical delivery ports for different drugs, or having the car ding until you put your seat belt on. These are usually used to positively influence behavior by ensuring you do something to get the right result. Think: How can you take advantage of this? Maybe putting your phone on the other side of the room so you have to get up to turn the alarm off.

3. N effect

In the journal paper, “The N-Effect: More Competitors, Less Competition,”authors Garcia and Tor found that when the number of competitors increases, people actually perform worse. For example, if you’re entering a race with thousands of other people, you may think there’s no chance of winning and not try as hard as if it were a race with only 50 people. Think: Next time your competing against a large group, remember most people aren’t giving their all, so if you do, you could have an extra advantage.

4. Relativity

Changing peoples’ anchor, or first piece of information, has huge effects on how they view everything else. Dan Ariely, in his book “Predictably Irrational”gives an example with the introduction of the Williams- Sonoma bread machines. When they first introduced them, people were hesitant to pay a premium for these machines; however, when they later introduced a model that was 50% more expensive, the first bread machines seemed like a bargain and sales shot up. Think: Are you actually getting a good deal or did something prior prime you to think that way?

5. Hawthorne effect

The Hawthorne effect suggests that peoples’ productivity changes with environmental changes. While there is a bit of controversy surrounding the suggestion, the original study by Landsberger revealed that changing (whether increasing or decreasing) the lighting in a factory increased workers productivity. This could be because they felt watched when changes occurred, but despite the reason, peoples’ productivity tends to increase with environmental change and novelty. Think: How can you change your work environment in small ways to become more productive?

6. State/ Context dependent memory

Ever had a difficult time with recall? Turns out the state and context in which you learned that information is the most ideal one for recalling it. If you were drunk when you learned somebody’s name, you may have an easier time remembering it when you’re drunk again. Interestingly, but maybe not as applicable, if you learn information underwater, you’re more likely to recall it underwater, and if you learn it on land, you are more likely to recall it on land. Think: What type of environment will I need to recall this information?

Dear All,

Please find below a good article for your reading:

Don’t Work Harder; Work Smarter with These Tips

I imagine that, like me, you say that you never have enough time and that you just cannot cope with 60 dozen things all at once. How on earth do you get out of that spiral? Many people never sit down and look at how to work smarter, rather than harder and even longer hours. Here are 12 tips you should be following:

1. Improve your time management skills

Easier said than done? Well, no actually, because there are a few simple rules that can really help you to manage time better. For example, when setting up a top priority task, you need to switch off the phone and ignore your email first. Then you need to abandon any ideas of multitasking as that will slow you down and ruin your focus. Finally, set a reasonable deadline and do everything in your power to meet it.

“When you’re born, you’re born with 30,000 days. That’s it. The best strategic planning I can give to you is to think about that.” -Sir Ray Avery

2. Speed up your typing and use shortcuts

These days we’re all keyboard slaves. So, why not speed up your typing and try to get rid of the two finger syndrome. This is exactly what I am doing now, so I cannot honestly say I am practicing what I preach! But help is at hand. One of the best sites is Typing.com, which gets you going with free tutorials.

Using shortcuts on the keyboard is another time saver and can speed up your work. For example, press F2 to rename a selected file, while CTRL + Iwill put selected text in italics. There are so many of these; if you make the effort to learn them, they really can be helpful.

3. Learn how to use MACROS

It is well worth downloading this program because when you have to do a long series of boring repetitive tasks (especially with programs like Excel), a MACRO will do it with one click. Now that is really a great way of working smarter, not harder.

4. Use the phone more often

Instead of writing emails, it is often much better to pick up the phone and talk to the person responsible. It saves time. If that colleague works in the same office, it is even better to go and talk to him or her. It gives you a break, you get some exercise and you actually make human contact which is becoming quite rare in this electronic world.

5. Keep a tab on your tabs

If you are like me, you might well find that you have a ton of tabs open at the top of your browser. In order to find the one you want, you have to search for them as they are off screen. Having all these tabs open slows down your browser too. One solution is to use OneTab which can keep a neat list on the screen of all these tabs when you want to quickly get to one of them or you want to remind yourself which ones you have open.

6. Use a “to don’t” list

We all know about to do lists and I find that they are generally great. They give me a great sense of achievement as I cross off the tasks done. But often we find that we are doing nonessential tasks or ones that can easily be postponed. That is why many people recommend the to don’t list. Some people prefer to savagely prune the to do list while others prefer to have two separate lists, to do and to don’t. You just have to work out what works best for you when you are trying to save precious time to become more productive.

7. Expect failure and fight paranoia

When failure rears its ugly head, some people get a bit paranoid and fear that this may become a trend. Projects will go wrong and failure should be expected rather than feared. Learning lessons from failure and analyzing what went wrong is the best way forward.

“Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.” -Richard Branson

8. Be concise

Rambling on at meetings, in emails and even when introducing yourself to new clients can waste a lot of people’s time. One way is to practice and sharpen your “elevator speech,” which tells people in 30 seconds or less why they need your skills and how they can benefit from doing business with you. Just think of the many situations where this could be useful:

• Making new contacts
• Talking about yourself at a job interview
• Meeting people at conferences or parties
• Phone calls to new clients

9. Ask the right questions

“You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.” -Naguib Mahfouz

How do you get feedback? The secret is to ask the right questions at the right time. When you do this, you are gathering the information you need to help in decision making. This will save you time and you will be able to cut meetings to a minimum.

Forbes magazine reports on research that they carried out on asking the right questions. When that happens, the positive effects are increased by 400%. There are also other benefits in staff motivation and a positive impact on the company’s bottom line.

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” -Albert Einstein

10. Learn as much as you can

You should always be on a steep learning curve. Look at your skills profile and determine where you need to fill a gap. Talk to important connections and network in your niche. Keep up to date on trends and developments. It is a fact-changing world. When an opportunity arises, you will be the best equipped to seize it because you have never stopped learning. Just another way of working smarter.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” -Mahatma Gandhi

11. Look after your greatest resource

No, your greatest resource is not time. It is YOU. If you do not get enough sleep, exercise and relaxation, you find that you become less and less productive. You begin to work longer and longer hours, which is the exact opposite of what you want.

What you should be doing is making sure you are in the best shape. It is useful to remember that you need a break of 15 minutes after every one and a half hours of work. Taking breaks and getting fresh air and exercise is one of the best ways of working smarter, not harder.

12. Don’t fall into the trap of working smarter and harder

As a society we are obsessed with doing everything smarter so we are more efficient and we save time all around. Great! The most important thing to remember is to accept when we are ready to switch off that computer and not fill up the time with even more work.

Let us know in the comments how you have managed to work smarter, not harder.

regards

aknarayan

Dear All,

Please find below a good article for your reading:

How To Manage Anxiety (With No Suggestions Of Medication And Meditation!)

It’s a shocking statistic that one in four of us will at some point this year suffer a mental health issue, and amongst those, depression and anxiety are the most common disorders.

In a GB survey, 1 in 6 adults had experiences some form of “neurotic health problem” … in the previous week!  In fact, 1 in 10 of us will develop a specific form of anxiety that will be considered disabling.  According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders are the most common illness in the USA, affecting 18% of the population – that is 40 million adults! What is shocking about these statistics is the fact that this is such a high percentage of the general population. What’s even more shocking is the number of people that do not speak about it or seek the right help to make it better. Sticking a plaster on it will cover the wound from public view, sure. But it doesn’t heal. And unfortunately these social plasters that we are using to mask our anxiety often come in the form of alcohol, smoking, comfort eating and the like. Unfortunately whilst this creates a good façade, putting on a wonderful show to others that everything is fine, it doesn’t stop the worry and the helpless feeling of anxiety.

What is anxiety???

According to Anxiety UK,

“anxiety is a normal response to stress or danger and is often called the ‘flight or fight’ response. This process involves adrenalin being quickly pumped through the body enabling it to cope with whatever catastrophe may come its way. The problems arise when this response is out of proportion to the actual danger of the situation, or indeed is generated when there is no danger present”.

The feeling of anxiety is a distressing one. There is nothing worse that the feeling of helplessness, panic, worry, confusion and uncertainty. The symptoms of anxiety are physical as well as mental, and include a tight chest, nausea, sweating and insomnia. Whilst everyone is different, and what works for one might not work for another, here are my top ten tips for managing anxiety, so that you can come through the other side stronger than ever.

Management tip 1: Know your triggers

This comes with time but once you learn to recognize your triggers, then you will find managing any anxiety or worries a lot easier. What do I mean by a trigger though? Any kind of behavior that might be erratic or out of character that indicates to you that something is not quite right. This might be eating excessively, over exercising or a particular worrying, reoccurring dream. This will be your subconscious, letting you know to take a step back, analyze what is wrong and prepare yourself to deal with it head on.

Management tip 2: Exercise

For me exercise is the key to a stress free mind and a can-do attitude. I am sure I don’t need to bore you about the endless mental and physical benefits of exercise (if you do want to know, read Health24’s article). Even if you are not the sporty type, you’ll find benefit in engaging in light exercise, such as a gentle bike ride or a walk in the park.

In a study reported in the book, “The Happiness Advantage” it was confirmed that exercise is a key to successfully overcoming depression. The study looked into three groups of depressed patients who were treated with medication, exercise, or a combination of the two and their relapse rate. They found that “those who had taken the medication alone, 38 percent had slipped back into depression. Those in the combination group were doing only slightly better, with a 31 percent relapse rate. The biggest shock, though, came from the exercise group: Their relapse rate was only 9 percent!”

Management tip 3: There is nothing to fear but fear itself

If you haven’t already, read Susan Jeffer’s amazing book “Feel the Fear…and do it anyway”. After reading this it suddenly became extremely clear to me that there was in fact nothing to be afraid of in life. After all, if fear was a “real thing” then we would all have the same fear. Be it a fear of failure, loneliess or public speaking, this fear really boils down to the fact that all we really fear is… the unknown. Reminding myself that there is nothing to fear, reminds me to be brave and grab life by both hands.

Management tip 4: Spend time around those that are positive

If you are feeling anxious or unhappy then make sure you surround yourself with positive people. Actually even if you are not feeling symptoms of anxiety but know that you are susceptible to it, then I also recommend this as a tactic (prevention is better than cure after all). When I say positive as well, I don’t mean that you have to be around people that are happy clappy 24/7. This is unrealistic. Surround yourself with people that are positive in the sense that they are confident, have a can-do attitude and will ultimately be an encouraging influence in your life. Those that are pessimistic and play the victim are not welcome in your inner circle, I call these kind of people “toxic people” and you don’t want to feed off that kind of energy.

 Management tip 5: Take time out

If you do find yourself in a situation where it is all getting on top of you, then don’t be afraid to stop, take a breath and take some time out. Whether this is a day off to clear some mind clutter, or a week off to fully get away from it all. This is where tip one comes in handy – spotting and listening to your triggers will mean that you can take a break before it gets all too much for you.

Management tip 6: Have things to look forward to

I have many passions and hobbies and one thing I have learnt over the years is that the key to my motivation is to have regular activities booked in to my diary! I like to schedule regular weekends away to see friends, evenings out to try new restaurants and personal milestones such as kick boxing gradings.  It is extremely important to have things to look forward to in order to remember what is important to you in life and to see the bigger picture.

Management tip 7: See small tasks as achievements

I am not sure where it stems from, but I find a lot of people (and myself included sometimes) don’t stop to congratulate themselves on the small tasks in life and feel that only the larger achievements (work promotion, new baby, new house etc) deserves a pat on the back.

But why?!

We should take pride in the small things in life – when you do, you’ll find that your confidence will grow and in turn help manage your anxiety as you start to take pleasure and pride in yourself. You will start to see, that when you overcome your worries and fears, amazing things can happen! If your cooking is as good as a blind panda in the kitchen with oven gloves sello-tapped on, then take pride in yourself when you manage to bake your kid’s birthday cake from scratch. This may seem like a small achievement but it is little steps of self improvement that eventually add up to the big ones!

Management tip 8: Eat healthy

As with top tip two, this is one that I cannot advocate enough. I truly believe that what you put in, you get out. Pump it full of chemicals, processed foods and sugar then you can’t expect your mind or body to function how it should be. Studies too show there is a strong correlation to depression. It is worth noting here too that whilst a large glass of vino after a stressful anxiety filled day seems like the right antidote, alcohol is actually a depressant.

Management tip 9: Music

I am not a hard core music fanatic (I go to music festivals but have no idea half the time who is on the stage) but I have always found music to be good therapy. Just ten minutes listening to your favourite songs might be enough to perk you up on your drab and dreary commute to the office. If you are feeling down, worried or any other signs of anxiety, pop in your ear phones and take a moment out.

Management tip 10: Set goals and make baby steps

One of methods I found useful for me in containing my worries and stress was to set myself achievable goals, and start making slow baby steps towards them. Following on from tip 7, these don’t have to be massive goals either, they could be something to push you out of your comfort zone to take your mind off things and to help gain confidence. For example, it could be to start a new sport or take up a class at night school. Break down the bigger goal in to bite sized chunk and use these as stepping stones, and remember to reward yourself at each milestone.

If you are feeling any symptoms of anxiety, seek medical help from you GP immediately. Don’t suffer in silence.

For more information visit the Mental Health Foundation and Anxiety UK and Anxiety and Depression Association of America

regards