John Maxwell says, “Leadership is influence. People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.” But what does that mean exactly? That means taking your business seriously.

So, let’s talk about how seriously you take your business – do you make sure to use your influence to improve other people’s lives? Do you spend time developing leadership strengths in other people personally and professionally?

Do you focus on the personal and spiritual growth alongside the professional growth of those you’re leading? If you strive to become a leader that people buy into, I’d say you’re pretty serious about your business!

People see that you are serious about your business and they see the successful results.  If you are successful, people are drawn to you and want what you want. They begin to take you seriously and listen when you talk to them about a business opportunity. It is then, and only then, they buy into the vision.

Do you want people to take your business opportunity seriously?  Then you MUST take your business seriously! You cannot treat it like a hobby or a pastime and you must develop others while you develop your business.

Begin using your influence now and become a leader people buy into. Success follows.

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We Have All Failed At Something Before.

Whether it has been a small or big failure, it is never a pleasant feeling to realize that you have not succeeded at something. However, failure is not final.

Just because you do not accomplish a task the first time does not mean that you will never find success in that area. You simply have not accomplished it yet, but given another opportunity you might be able to achieve what you set out to do. Failure is something to learn from; it is simply a stepping-stone to move you onto your path of success. Even if you fail at something, you have learned from that attempt, allowing you to take what you have learned and apply it to your next try. The important thing is not to give up.

Even famous people who we see today as being geniuses whose every discovery came easily to them failed at some point. Thomas Edison famously tried thousands of time before he was able to make the light bulb work. When asked about this failure, he would simply tell people that he had come up with thousands of not to make a light bulb. He kept trying and eventually was successful in creating the light bulb and is now remembered throughout all of history for this achievement. He believed in what he was doing and knew that eventually he could be successful.

Later on, Edison remarked, “Many of life’s failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” He truly believed, as do I, that you should never give up trying to achieve your goal. You never know how close you are to accomplishing what you set out to do, and if you give up once you hit a roadblock you will never know. All you need is some positivity and a change of outlook in order to continue pursuing your end goal. Always remember, if at first you don’t succeed, try try again!

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The Top Key to Success that Applies to EVERY Situation and Person

The value of repeated action.

Consistency is one of the most underutilized keys to success.  When you have a “never-give-up” attitude about your work and your goals, you tend to achieve daily successes and ultimately big successes.  That never-give-up mindset is what consistency is really all about.  I am continually amazed at what people accomplish simply by sticking to a course of action and performing the same actions over and over again!

Consistent action creates consistent results.  Let us use a very simple example.  Suppose you have a habit of misplacing your car keys.  You decide one day that this is never again going to be a problem for you because you are going to take action to always know where your car keys are.  You decide that you will install a hook by the door and every single time you walk in, your keys will be hung on that hook. Now this may not sound like much, but think about the hours of frustration and wasted time you just saved!  However, this system only works if you hang your keys on the hook each and every time you enter the house.  If you do not do it even one time, you are on your way to inconsistent results.

“Consistency is not perfection; it is simply refusing to give up,” as some anonymous, wise person said.  When you refuse to stop doing the same thing over and over, you are going to get a result.  If the action is negative, you will get a negative result.  However, if the action moves you closer to your goal, you will eventually receive positive results.

Consistency is not easy.  If it was, everyone would be successful!  Sometimes you have to force yourself to do things the same way over and over.  However, your success will largely depend on your decision to never give up and remain consistent in all your actions.  When you make that choice and take those steps, you will be amazed at how much you accomplish and how quickly your level of success rises!

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It Can Be Easy To Find Yourself Discouraged When You Are Faced With Dissatisfaction In Your Life.

You might find yourself discontented with something going on in your life and be tempted to simply give up on it or continue on in the same manner, unhappy with the world around you. I promise, this is not the only solution to discontentment.

Passion can almost always be birthed out of dissatisfaction in your current state. Let discontentment be an indication for the need for change. Whenever you feel disgruntled in your life, take time and examine exactly what it is that is causing you to feel that way. Analyze the situation, and decide if there is anything that you can do to improve the situation. You just might find that working on the situation leads you to realize that you are passionate about making change.

Nelson Mandela once said, “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” He was a proponent of people not settling for just whatever they were given, but wanted everyone to step up and take action. I think this is absolutely true and relevant to every person. When you find yourself discontented, do something about it. Let it fuel your passion, inspire you to make a change, and head towards success.

We should never simply accept discontentment in our lives, nor should we let it be a reason to give up. Instead we should view it as something transformative. It could lead us on a path to something new and exciting that we could never have even imagined before. In order to do this we need to be ready to take action and seek change when something is not going the way we would like in our lives. A new outlook can do wonders to improve a situation, and if we start seeing discontentment as the first step to positive experiences in our lives, we can change our own circumstances with greater ease and optimism.

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When people complain about work/life balance, their major gripe is that they work too many hours and have too little free time. In other words, they almost always see it as a quantity issue.  But is it really?

Like most working professionals, I’ve spent a good part of my life thinking about how to best achieve a healthy work/life balance. Clearly, there is enough research to convince us all that doing so will certainly lead to a happier, healthier life.

Over the years, though, what I have noticed is that this elusive “balance” actually has very little to do with quantity. Instead, it has more to do with quality, with how your time is spent when you are either working or playing.

In my mind, balance is determined by how energized and engaged we are, regardless of whether we’re at our desks or in our dens. There is no hard-and-fast formula for how much time you should spend at work and at home to be happy.

Think about it: if you’re on a roll and accomplishing a lot, a 60 or even 70-hour workweek can be exhilarating. On the other hand, if you’re bored, apathetic, or discouraged, a 40-hour workweek can drag on…and on…and on as you become progressively more exhausted.

For most high achievers, I think the real reason why we feel a lack of balance isn’t that we don’t have enough free time; it’s that we spend the free time we do have feeling frustrated and angry. And when our “life” time is stressful and draining, we bring that misery with us to the office, which decreases professional satisfaction…and creates a vicious cycle.

So, what’s to be done? Here are some ideas to incorporate into your personal time that might help you find some of that elusive balance you’ve been chasing for years:

Stop treating your loved ones like employees… If you’re an ambitious high achiever at work, you have a certain personality type. Plus, you’re used to everyone on your team pulling their weight, acting with initiative, meeting deadlines, etc. So you carry these “professional” expectations home with you. You expect your spouse and your kids to be high performers too. And when they aren’t, you spend all your time explaining, convincing and nagging—in essence, giving them bad performance reviews. Not only does this hurt your relationships and create a tense environment at home; it also means that in some ways, you’re never off the clock.

…and adjust your expectations of others. Accept the fact that in your personal life, you can’t force your friends, neighbors, spouse, and even kids to have the priorities you think they should. You can’t force them to complete tasks in the way you would complete them. You can’t even ensure that others will fulfill (what you see as) their full potentials. I’m not saying that you should accept failure or condone mediocrity, but do realize that it’s not your “job” to micromanage how others live their lives. You might be surprised by how much weight this mental shift lifts from your shoulders!

Instead, focus on preserving and nurturing relationships. The next time you find yourself focusing on getting things done at home or fixating on how they’re getting done, ask yourself: Is what I’m doing right now helping or hurting my relationships? Is it pushing me closer or farther away from my loved ones? Is it energizing or draining me? If the answer isn’t positive, follow up with: How important is this task or action, really? Is it more or less important than my relationship?

Keep your family in the loop. When you’re busy or stressed at work, the tension tends to mount at home, too. And if it feels like your family is uncaring or oblivious, you’ll be that much more frustrated. Help your family help you by putting them on notice whenever possible. If you know the Friday before vacation will be stressful and you’ll probably have to work late, make sure they know they shouldn’t expect you to do all of the packing. If you’re on deadline for a big project and you’ll have to do some work at home, explain that it’s important for you to have peace and quiet. Often what goes “wrong” (and disrupts your balancing act) is that your loved ones get a surprise and aren’t prepared to help you guard your sanity.

Unplug as much as possible when you’re at home. Yes, you’ve heard this one before, but be honest: are you really unplugging? Thanks to laptops and smartphones, most of us are only a scroll, click, or swipe away from the office. Even if you “only” check your email after the kids are in bed or send “just a few” texts to a colleague, for instance, you’re still bringing work home. Instead of focusing on all of the activities you want to accomplish in your free time, you’re forcing your brain to think on two different tracks at once, which depletes your mental, emotional, and even physical bandwidth. Of course you’re stressed and irritated! Use this rule of thumb: if it can wait until the next workday, let it.

Don’t forget to nurture yourself. Think back over the last few weeks or months. Is there a recurring thought of, I didn’t get to do this enough? (I’m not talking about chores; but about activities you enjoy.) Whether it’s journaling, reading for pleasure, playing with your kids, or indulging in a hobby, it really is important to do things that make you happy on a regular basis. For me, that activity is working out. I need to be active to feel healthy and balanced. Don’t buy into the notion that your needs and wants can wait. If you want a healthy work-life balance, they really can’t!

Develop a spiritual awareness. I’m not talking about religion, per se, but about doing something for your soul. Serve others, attend church services, meditate, take a solitary walk in nature—whatever is most meaningful to you. In a world that’s full of noise, distractions, and responsibilities that are constantly competing for our attention, it is so easy to be sucked dry. (And often, you don’t even notice that it’s happening until you’re completely burned out.)

Staying connected to yourself, to other people, to your values, and (if you so choose) a Higher Power will help you to live with more balance.

One more thing: don’t forget that your balanced life won’t look like mine or anyone else’s, because the root of balance is centered in what fuels, energizes, and revitalizes you.

If you’re not sure exactly what that is, well, you’ve just hit upon one of the biggest benefits of embarking on the journey to work/life balance.  You get to learn something new about yourself. If you’ve been too you’re busy trying to control and shape everyone around you, you’ve probably been too busy to discover what brings you joy. It’s time to change that. Enjoy the ride!

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