Ishrat Pasha

Everyone hates to admit it, but you know it’s true. Time is our most essential asset if used efficiently. We all have 24 hours in our schedules. Thus, no matter what anyone says, we’re equal. It’s how we use our time that makes all the difference.

Isn’t it fascinating how some people can maximize their productivity levels while others can but don’t? I’ve always wondered how someone like Elon Musk runs his businesses, stays sane and functional, and lives a fulfilling life. Then I thought: it’s not that he has time for everything; it’s that he made time for things that matter to him the most.

The myth is, many people believe they don’t have the time to start a side hustle, learn a new skill or language, or read a book. It’s easy to fall into this trap. Think about it, you must have said NO to one of those before. I have. I do it all the time knowing it’s false. The trick to conquering the “I don’t have time” myth is to become aware of it. 

Here are 4 ways to stay on top of your game, catch the excuses in your head, destroy them, and be extra productive.

1. Set 3 big goals for the month

I hate planning. It overwhelms me. Most of the advice out there is that you should sketch out your month, week, or day in advance. That you should make a detailed plan. It sounds like a chore if you ask me. Being able to manage time well and increase productivity shouldn’t involve more work, should it?

The best way to go about this is to have 3 big goals at the beginning of each month. When you have a list of 15 goals, just looking at them will crush your drive. As a result, it will cause inaction and a decrease in motivation. However, when you write 3 goals on a piece of paper or Google doc, it’s light, doable, and manageable, and there’s nothing more empowering than having a can-do attitude when looking at a list of goals.

2. Eat the biggest frog of the day

This is in Brian Tracy’s book “Eat that frog”. In it, he refers to big goals as frogs. When you wake up, you need to identify your hardest, most important task for the day, and go after it first thing in the morning.

It’s essential to eat ONE big frog, preferably a task that demands energy and focus. For me, It’s writing a long piece, article, or email. I head straight to my Mac when I get out of bed because I know I need to be one step ahead of my day before it sweeps me away. You need to preserve an hour or two that is free of distractions to work efficiently and get meaningful results.

Again, the more goals you have, the harder it is to manage time and be more productive. Do this every day and every small step will add up to enormous accomplishments.

“Time is a created thing. To say I don’t have time is to say I don’t want to.” – Lao Tzu

3. Prioritize and protect your time

Like money, it’s important to watch where your time goes. That’s your first step towards effective time management. Choose a suitable time to do your most important tasks and protect that time with your life. By that I mean never say yes to unexpected tasks. Life can easily get away from you.

Also, most people undervalue time. They don’t know if you’re busy or free, and they’ll always ask you to hang out and have fun. Use that lack of knowledge to your advantage. It’s better to look unavailable or active even when you’re not. It makes it easy to say no to things that add nothing of value to your life. By protecting and spending your time how you want, you have more in control.

The worst thing that can happen is when time is controlling you. That’s what makes a person say “I don’t have time”. It just means they’re entangled in their own illusion, and the sad part is they’ve convinced themselves they can’t change their situation. As a result, they lose hope and live the rest of their lives thinking there was no solution to their problems due to “lack of time”.

In a nutshell, be more aware of how your time is spent, and invest it into important habits that’ll move the needle, which will allow you to grow personally and professionally.

4. Hell yeah or no

This concept is based on a book by the same title: “Hell yeah or no: what’s worth doing” by Derek Sivers.

When you’re asked to do something, anything, the answer to it should always be hell yeah or no. If you’re not feeling pumped about going after a goal, question that decision. There should be nothing between hell yeah and no. 

Therefore, we have to be picky about where our time goes. Before taking on new projects, I think long and hard about how much time I’ll have to invest. I ask myself these questions:

What am I going to get out of this once it’s complete?
Is it genuinely going to be worth my time?
How much time will I have to invest every day and week?

For example, I’ve always wanted to learn how to code. Even though it’s boring — a clear red flag — I knew it’s necessary for my writing business. Given that I’m not a techie person, I find coding ridiculously time-consuming and unenjoyable. It’ll take me weeks, if not more, to become decent at it, so it won’t be worth my time. Instead, I can use that time to do other exciting things for myself.

Read more: addicted2success.com

Have you watched Suits yet? Anyone who has watched this fascinating and intriguing American TV series is obsessed with the character of Harvey Specter. His enchanting personality, witty outlook, and intrepid attitude, leave a gravitating influence on the audience. If there is a fictional character people would want to impersonate, it would be Harvey Specter. Suits is an acclaimed TV series with an IMDb rating of 8.5, which is stellar. A larger part of the show’s profound success can be attributed to the impression Harvey Specter leaves on every mind.

Here are 7 lessons on success we can learn from Harvey Specter:

1. It all starts with appearance 

It may seem like an unpopular opinion, but dressing sense has a lot to do with success. The way you dress defines your confidence and your zeal to win. In Suits, Harvey is always seen in the finest tailored suits. Of course, that is where the name of the TV series comes from. Harvey is always dressed as an accomplished gentleman. Also, he has excellent people skills to make the perfect first impression. 

How you present yourself and conduct yourself in front of others is critical to their perception of you. So, Harvey teaches us that dressing exquisitely while meeting people is no less than a success mantra. Hence, have your best outfits always ready to facilitate your pursuit of success. Because Harvey often tells Michael Ross that the first impression is the last!

2. No detail is too small 

There is one thing that remains common in every episode of Suits. Harvey always stays one step ahead of his competitors. This is because Harvey does not like to ignore any detail, no matter massive or menial. He inspires us not to be complacent and to not be over the top flamboyant. Of course, he has a lot of flamboyance and vanity, but that does not make him ignorant. He pays attention to all details and new facts to scrutinize every aspect. He believes in staying informed on the ins and outs of people trying to outsmart him. Therefore, you should not have that ‘I know it all’ attitude in life. If you have to be successful, you have to be aware and vigilant.

3. The romanticization of risks is paramount

In a famous dialogue from the show, Harvey Says, “That’s the difference between you and me, you wanna lose small, and I wanna win big.” This has a deep life lesson inscribed in it. The crux is that you cannot enlarge your victories until you limit yourself to minimizing the losses. Success does not start with an idea. The pursuit of success begins when you decide to take risks associated with an idea. It is Harvey’s risk-taking ability that defines his winning attitude. Harvey knows how to win the unwinnable because he rewrites the rules. You have to make your own fortune and do whatever it takes. Conviction to risk it is the key! Harvey is the prodigy of what top performers do to win.

4. Staying poised in crisis is a winning strategy 

Throughout the series, you will never see Harvey Specter freaking out. This is because he has profuse self-belief to face every challenge. Besides, he always has a plan B, and he prepares well for all vulnerabilities. He charmingly keeps all causes of stress at bay. People often tend to get nervous in situations that test their character. Out of this nervousness, they cripple their own abilities and potential. 

But Harvey Specter shows us how to have the best attitude amid the odds. He is always chilled out and smiling no matter how hard it gets. This is a character trait of someone who backs his ability a lot. Do you back yourself to overcome insurmountable odds? Explore yourself, realize your strengths and develop a temperament like him. Harvey shows us how to maintain the perfect relationship between money and mental health. Poise can be a competitive advantage, after all!

“Win a no win situation by rewriting the rules.” – Harvey Specter

5. Dreams demand action 

Of course, you would have dreams but do you have goals? Or do you make an effort to translate your dreams into goals? In one of the arguments in the show, Harvey says, “I do not have dreams; I have goals.” Now you see how influential the power of goals is. We might forget our dreams someday, but we do not forget our goals. 

Having said that, unless your dreams turn into goals, they may be useless. This is the simple reason why every dreamer is not an achiever. Harvey has a staunch belief in aims and objectives, and that is what makes him so successful. The lawyer in him and the person in him are exemplary, given how they prioritize their ambitions.

6. Win the battle and not the battleground 

Harvey knows how to win a no-win situation, and that is a rare trait to have. People who have watched Suits will already know that Harvey likes to settle most of his lawsuits outside the court. He believes in winning the battle even before it goes to the battleground. It is obvious that it saves a lot of time and effort. So, for all those who are big fans of procrastination, this is a lesson for them to learn. To attain success and recognition, you need to act in time and eliminate escalations. If you do it the Harvey way, you can make victory a beloved friend. Managing time and resources in an effective way is crucial to success.

7. Fixing problems is far better than complaining about them 

If you are working on something, your job is to complete it and fix the loose ends. You cannot keep cribbing about the problems you are facing to complete the task. You volunteered for the task, or you self-assigned a task to yourself because you are capable enough. Others do not have the time to listen to your complaints, and you do not have much time to waste. 

This is where a lot of people miss the bus. They keep waiting for miracles to fix things. In this large amount of time they waste, others take the lead. But you have to fend for yourself and fix your own problems. If you are going to enjoy the credit of the achievement all by yourself, why not fix the issues on your own? 

To wrap up, first, you need to start watching Suits if you have not watched it yet. Once you do, you will, by default, feel the urge to learn from Harvey’s cunning and positive character. Besides, if you are an aspiring lawyer, Harvey can be a perfect epitome for you. The charm with which he expresses meaningful learnings of life and success is astonishing. He keeps it simple, uncomplicated and pays more heed to triumphs than fearing losses. He may be a fictional character at the end of the day, but we can always learn a few tricks from his illustrious aura. Living life the Harvey Specter way can be a way to success!

Read more: addicted2success.com

Everyone is screaming to live a meaningful life and do something that matters. You look on all the bookshelves and at social media influencers, it’s a common message to find your passion. It begs the question though, are those same people living the life they desire? I am sure many are living a life fulfilled but there are so many that aren’t.

If that was the case, we would not be fighting against an identity crisis. The majority of the world would not be living in stress, anxiety and wake up every morning fighting to get out of society’s imposed rat race. We know at a basic level that life is meant to be filled with excitement and that we desire to have an impact. 

The problem is that most individuals do not understand this, otherwise people would not continue to open up the same doors to life. Those doors include going to school, getting a degree, finding a job, getting married, having kids and then crossing your fingers that you work hard enough for 40-50 years in order to actually start enjoying your life!

The New Door of Opportunity

Yes, we do have an identity crisis and are struggling to win the battle against stress but the underlying issue is a lack of clarity. Clarity about who we are as individuals. Clarity about the type of life we want to live.

Clarity is not comparison! Comparison is confusion. Clarity is the first new door of opportunity you can give yourself today. The reality is that if you want more out of your life then you must change. You must change the image you hold of yourself. Do not be scared of change because with no clarity, no change and with no change comes no growth.

Here are the 3 Steps For Greater Clarity
Step 1: Vision

First, you must define and create a vivid vision of your future. Most people are sucked into the rat race of life because they have no mental image of what it is they desire. People are conforming to others beliefs, lifestyles and even the way they dress because they have not taken the time to decide what they want out of life.

When you form a clear picture of your future, it’s a boost in your own self-confidence. The confidence to walk away from people, places or opportunities that do not align with your future. On the flip side, it also gives you the confidence to reach out to people or opportunities that move you closer to who you want to become.

Many people never take the time to actually sit down and think about their future. They are stuck inside their fixed mindset and think that this is just as good as life is going to get. You are the creator of your future.

Take time today to define what you want your life to look like so that you can begin becoming that person. You do not become a millionaire after you make a million dollars. You become a millionaire in the years, months and days leading up to that moment.

“Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure.” – Tony Robbins

Step 2: Thoughts and Feelings

Once you have created the picture of your future self, what feelings will that bring to your life? Does your future self bring you more peace? Maybe joy and happiness? Even a greater sense of purpose and meaning?

Now you can begin writing down the feelings you want to experience everyday. Like so many people today, they crave more peace and less stress. You can not wake up everyday and stay addicted to your stressful thoughts and expect to gain peace of mind. What thoughts can you start thinking of today that will bring a greater feeling of relaxation.

Begin living as your future self. How would that person walk and talk? What would they eat? How would they experience life? As you start practicing those feelings everyday, it becomes a new excitement and energy booster. Just like you can become addicted to the feelings of stress. You can also become addicted to joy and excitement.

Step 3: Living Meaningful

The all important piece of life, we crave to live a meaningful life. This is determined by the actions and behaviors you take each day. What areas of your life are most meaningful? For some people, that might be giving back to charity or the local community. This could mean a multitude of things.

It can be in the form of a donation to a charity that impacted you or someone you love. It can also be volunteering to coach a little league baseball team because that ballpark had such an influence on you growing up. Here again, you must decide what is meaningful to you. Because as human beings, we all crave connection. In a world where we are virtually connected during all hours of the day, what we really crave is meaningful relationships.

Who could you reach out to today to strengthen a relationship with in your life? Not just a phone call or text but to go sit down and enjoy the human experience again. This might mean leaving your phone in the car during a night out and focusing on the people around you. That is a huge part of living meaningfully.

The greatest part about our lives is that we have the power of choice. We get to choose the lives we want to live. We have the power to become very clear about what we want to experience. You do not have to wait for anyone or anything. Do not wait until tomorrow to begin. Decide today what your life will look like a month from now, one year or five years. Your list and picture will change over time because you will grow as a person and greater clarity means greater growth. With new growth comes outstanding life experiences.

Read more: addicted2success.com

Have you ever felt inadequate? It turns out we’re not alone. Studies show that seventy percent of us suffer from Imposter Syndrome. The tendency to doubt our abilities and feel like a fraud was first observed by Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1970. These two clinical psychologists found to their surprise that imposterism was most common in high performers.

Maya Angelou, the legendary poet, admitted, “I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.” Albert Einstein, whose name is synonymous with genius, confessed, “I am an involuntary swindler.”But why is this? Achievers tend to set loftier goals than the average person. As a result, they experience a disproportionate amount of failure, forcing them to face their shortcomings.

Thus if you feel “I’m Not Enough” voice in your head, you’re stepping up to a challenge. Use the techniques below to overcome your doubt: 

Recognize If You Have It

The first step is to consider if you suffer from imposter syndrome or a short-term lack of confidence. The former is chronic; the latter is temporary. When starting a new career or endeavor where you lack knowledge or expertise, it’s normal to lack confidence. That humility can be valuable if it prompts you to get the help you need. But if you feel persistent inadequacy, even in areas where you’ve found success, it’s a problem. It’s diffuclt to objectively self-diagnose, so I recommend taking an online Impostor Syndrome Test to see if you’re at risk.

Personify Your Critical Inner Voice 

Your inner critic is the subpersonality that judges and demeans you. Everyone has self-doubt, but this voice shouldn’t be ongoing and debilitating. It shouldn’t contradict facts and objective reality. The trouble is that most of the time, the voice sneaks under our radar. It manifests in a subtle hesitation to speak up or to introduce ourselves. Our critic can be so faint that we might question if it even exists.Don’t let it hide – personify your inner critic. How does it look and sound? What are the insidious ways that it tries to undermine you?

Consider the Impact on Your Life

Real change occurs when “should” turns to “must.” If you think you “ought” to get in shape, shore up your finances, or start dating again, you won’t. The work seems more painful than the consequences. But what if you flipped it around and started recognizing the pain of doing what you’ve always done? Consider how the imposter experience has held you back and kept you from the life you desire. What opportunities have you neglected? What experiences have you missed because you felt unworthy? What regrets might you have in the future if your life continues this way? The purpose of this reflection is to build an ironclad will to overcome impostorism.

 “We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” – Jim Rohn

Ask Yourself This Question

Once you’ve identified your inner critic, call it out. Let’s say it whispers in your ear, “You don’t know enough to get started.” Start by asking yourself: is this self-criticism genuine, and does it matter? Often, ignorance can be helpful when it’s paired with humility. It can lead to better questions, more listening, less preconceived notions. You also can typically learn things as you go. When I started my blog, I knew nothing about creating a website, marketing, or editing. If I had taken a course beforehand, I probably would have forgotten most of it. See how I reframed that weakness as a strength? The next step is to ask yourself: are my inner doubts productive? Even if the suspicions are valid, are they getting you any closer to your goals, or are they just noise? 

Avoid the Perfectionism Trap

Impostorism is closely related to perfectionism. The perfectionist sets a near-impossible standard for themselves in most activities. It’s essential to do your best, but recognize that you’ll never be or do perfect work. If you can never pass your bar, you’ll look at every effort as a failure, creating a negative feedback loop. Your inner critic will chide, “I told you so. You’re not cut out for this.” Give yourself a break; allow yourself room to fail. Do that, and you’ll find that your fear of failure will start to subside. The excitement of learning and growth will take its place. Another technique is to focus on the process instead of obsessing on the product of your efforts. You can control your habits more than the end product.

“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”  – John Steinbeck

Strengthen your Mind

If you wanted to get stronger, you would go to the gym and lift weights regularly. The same type of strength training works for our minds. Take time daily to visualize your success in the future as vividly as possible. It can also be valuable to cherish your past victories. Most of us reflect on what didn’t work out in the past; the tough breaks, the losses. Instead, think about the times you accomplished something hard for you at the time. It doesn’t have to be grandiose – it could be the first time you rode a bike or drove a car. Or perhaps you aced a difficult test, graduated from a challenging program, or got a promotion. The point is that you proved to yourself you could stretch beyond your limits, and so you can do it again. 

Don’t Go it Alone

Remember earlier when I mentioned that 7 out of 10 people suffer from imposter syndrome? If you’re honest with yourself and others about this issue, they’ll likely empathize because they’re going through it too. They probably could use your help! Don’t hesitate to ask for help, and don’t wait to give it to others. Build a team around you that can support you and uplift you. There are plenty of places to find support: online communities, mastermind groups, mentoring circles. If you prefer 1:1 help, seek out coaches, mentors, and close friends. Hollywood glamorizes the lone wolf, a rags-to-riches hero that does it all themselves. It sounds cool, but no one succeeds alone. Every high achiever had a team that have helped them along the way,  build yours.

Read more: addicted2success.com

Everyone’s always talking about their GOALS. They want to make it seem like they’re making some great big strides toward some region of perfection that they’re going to nail like a bullseye with their focus, intention, manifestation, whatever. And the framework they apply to this?

SMART Goals!

Yup. That vestigial acronymous pulp of industrial-age gaslighting. “Whoa!” I can hear you saying. “Pulp? Gaslighting? But…this is the most important and effective way to structure your goals so you know what you’re looking for in life!!”

Really? OK, SMART guy. Let’s dig in…

S = Specific. Cool. How specific do you want to get? Do you want X dollars in the bank? What if you end up with more? Less? Is that a failed goal? What if your ACTUAL goal is to feel great about what you do every day? How specific is that? Specificity is a moving goalpost, folks. 

M = Measurable. I’m good with this, to an extent. What gets measured gets managed, right? Unless, of course, the goal is something that can’t be measured. Like a feeling. Or a place. Or a condition. 

A = Achievable (or attainable). Here’s where the baron class rears its head on this one. Achievable for whom, exactly? For the person telling you it’s not? Or for you? Or for someone else who’s done it? Think of anything you’d like to do in life. If even ONE person in history has done it, it’s achievable. Any reason not to is a limitation.

R = Realistic (or relevant). I don’t like the “relevant” version, because obviously if you have something you want to do it’s relevant to you, and that’s all the relevance you need. But…realistic? I picture a maudlin old filme noir with a guy at desk saying, “some day, you’ll all be workin’ for me,” and big boss man with a fat cigar and oiled back hair laughing, “be serious…you’re a desk jockey, and that’s all you’ll ever be! Just be happy you have a job with a good pension!” Everything that surrounds you in life, from your shoes to your computer to the paint on your walls to the device in your hand that can access ALL of human knowledge in milliseconds–all of it– was created by people no smarter or more talented than you. Except, to them, “realistic” was a fluid concept.

T = Time-based. Another one. A deadline. Make it happen by [DATE] or you failed to achieve your goal (ergo: it’s not Achievable). Except…what happens if you reach it a year later? Or earlier? Or never, but you still feel amazing? The time-based structure is another system-based marker to determine the validity of a goal, and it’s simply not right. Not for lifetime goals.

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” —Pablo Picasso

SMART is old news. SMART keeps people average, but gives them the illusion of doing something extraordinary. SMART is comfort, pretending to push you out of your comfort zone.

SMART actually works really well for business projects: We need to get X results (specific) up to Y level (measurable), on Z budget (achievable) with A deviations (realistic), by the end B months (time-based). 

Your life is not a company project. So don’t confuse SMART goals with feeling or intuitive goals. Of course plan for what you want, but pay attention to the two actual types of goals you’re pursuing:

Process goals. These are the goals that take you toward the thing you actually want. Funny enough, they’re not goals in themselves, but steps along the path. “I got into graduate school!” isn’t a goal. It’s a process goal. Why are you going to graduate school?

Ends goals. These are the goals you’re actually seeking. The thing you want, to give you the feeling you want, based on the intuition you have about your path.

How do you know? Think about the next thing on your list. The next milestone. Is that a goal? If you think it is, say the thing out loud. Then add “so that” to the end of it, and complete the sentence.

“I want to lose 20 lbs by summer.” so that…
“I can feel better about myself.” so that…
“I can spend more time with my family.” so that…
“I will be able to enjoy them as long as possible.” so that…
“They will remember me at my best.”

You see? The goal isn’t the 20 lbs. It’s the idea of making an impact, of FEELING like they’re going to be remembered at their best.

This is only an example. You can do “so thats” all the way down, and probably go on forever for some goals. But the point is, know when your goal is a process goal, and when it’s an end goal. And don’t worry if you’re not SMART about it…you’ll know when you’re on the right track when you can feel, intuitively, that you’re doing what you need to be doing, and you feel comfortable with it.

Read more: addicted2success.com

The quality that separates success from failure is the ability to keep moving forward in the face of failure — or even many failures. We speak from experience when it comes from overcoming failure. For every success we’ve had in our business, there are probably 10 failures to go with it. We’re not ashamed of that in the least. We’ve come to understand that the failures are an essential part of our growth.

We’ve created a multimillion-dollar company and brought an industry perceived as dark, disreputable and dirty more into the mainstream. Our company, Club Tattoo, is a chain of luxury tattoo and piercing studios. This success did not come easy. 

Still, quitting has never been an option, even in those times when it seemed we were backed into a corner. If we quit, not only would we lose everything we’d worked so hard for, but we have a passion — even an obsession — for what we’re establishing. Success happens through hard work, endless enthusiasm and moving forward despite the fear. We also believe that in a business context, luck is just being ready when an opportunity comes along.

Other entrepreneurs experiencing bumps in their road to success can learn from the challenges we’ve faced and overcome. Here are a few tips to navigating the tough times.

1. Understand what makes a partner tick

Most people enter a partnership out of fear. They’re scared to take on the risk of whatever business they’re starting alone. Throughout our careers, we’ve had business partnerships and learned from some early ones that went south. Partnering with band members in a rock band and with friends in a recording studio taught us some tough lessons. The biggest contributing causes to the failures involved the lack of a foundation of solid communication, cohesive goals and strategies to reach those goals. Learning to trust in your partner is an essential ingredient in a successful partnership. Stay in your lane and honor your partner’s roles. Make sure those roles are well-defined so that conflicts over boundaries are kept to a minimum.

2. Harness the power of mentorship

We’ve both had mentors that weren’t experts in any one field per se, yet they had more life experience, and their guidance was invaluable. The people we truly feel grateful for are the ones who encouraged us to keep going when we felt like quitting. As busy business owners, we know it’s hard to dedicate the time needed to engage regularly with a mentor. But it’s crucial for small business owners to have one who can get them through the tough times.

“Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.”- Napoleon Hill

3. Communicate a consistent message to your customers

For a business to take hold within a given market, it must communicate a consistent message to its target audience over time. The consistency of your message will reinforce the dependability of your company, build trust from your clients and eventually develop brand loyalty from the consumer. Our message is that we are an upscale “studio” rather than a “parlor,” and our clients can see that we’re different. Pinpoint and focus on the one thing you do better than your competitors. Perfect it, call attention to it and make it “your thing.” When your customers routinely travel past your competitors to get to your business, you have a brand that people are seeking.

4. Realize that challenges are the times in which you learn

Most of us have hit low spots or been overcome with failures that at the time didn’t seem like they could be overcome. It’s the passion and desire of the true entrepreneur that will get them through the rough times. If you’d asked us in 2019 whether we thought we’d ever go out of business, we’d have answered with a resounding “Not a chance.” Then came COVID. When we were forced to close our Club Tattoo studios, we began to understand the economic impact was going to be severe and we needed to formulate a strategy to survive.

Receiving PPP funding from the government was pivotal and enabled us to keep our staff on payroll. We knew from past experience that we had to trust our instincts. We used most of our savings to remodel our studios to make a better and safer work environment. We kept our company’s mission of creating an atmosphere that made people feel safe and comfortable in mind, while focusing on our core concepts: art and expression.

It’s those rough times and failures that are the driving forces that cause successful entrepreneurs to rise above and, over time, become great success stories.

Read more: addicted2success.com

I’ve been flipping through the menu for several minutes now, fighting my indecision. Each dish was attractive in its own way. It looks like you’ll have to order everything. Do you think this stupid decision is not even worth considering? Quite possible. Nevertheless, I bet that you yourself have faced similar difficulties, if not with the choice of the dish, then with something else.

Every day we spend an inordinate amount of time and energy choosing between equally attractive options. However, despite the fact that they seem to us to be of equal importance, each of them attracts us in its own way, which forces us to compromise, even if we are only making a choice between cabbage salad (easy and healthy), salmon (harder to digest protein) and ravioli (tasty, but high in carbohydrates).

Even if such mundane decisions take so much time and energy from us, what can we say about the more serious situations that we face every day in our organizations? Which product should you continue to release and which one should you discontinue? Who to hire and who to fire? Should I start this difficult conversation?

How can we learn to cope more effectively with all kinds of difficult decisions? To do this, I use three methods, and the third I discovered as recently as last week.

First Method – Reduce Associations

The first method is to use the power of habit to significantly reduce the fatigue associated with routine matters. The bottom line is that if you make it a habit, for example, to always have a salad for lunch, then you no longer have to make decisions on this issue at all. This way, you will save energy for other activities. It is a powerful method when it comes to predictable and routine decisions. But what about non-standard situations?

Second Method – If/Then Algorithm

The second method involves the use of an if / then algorithm to simplify spontaneous decisions. For example, imagine a situation where someone constantly interrupts you and you do not know how to react to it. In this case, my rule would sound like this: if a person interrupts me twice in a conversation, then I will reprimand him. However, there remains the problem of large, strategic decisions that cannot be predicted or made into a habit.

“You cannot make progress without making decisions.” – Jim Rohn

Third Method – Use a Timer

Last week I was at a retreat with the management of a high-tech company. It was in this meeting that I found an easy way to deal effectively with difficult choices. The firm faced challenges the consequences of which were impossible to predict.

On the agenda were questions of this kind: In the production of which products to invest more funds, how to respond to threats from competitors, how best to merge with a recently acquired company, where to cut the budget, how to organize an accountability system, and so on.

It is such decisions that can drag on for weeks, months, or even years, hindering the development of the organization as a whole. They cannot be turned into a habit or resolved with an if / then algorithm. And most importantly, these are questions to which there are no clear and deliberately correct answers.

The management of companies tends to hesitate in making decisions of this kind, collecting more and more data, repeatedly weighing the pros and cons, attracting additional consultants – in general, postponing the decision in the hope that later there will be a clear answer.

But what if we take as a basis the fact that such an answer simply does not exist? Perhaps this will speed up the decision-making process?

So I was thinking, sitting at this meeting, where again, for the umpteenth time, they discussed a painful question – what to do with a certain business, when suddenly the CEO interrupted the debate, loudly declaring: “It’s quarter past three. We have to work out a solution within the next fifteen minutes. “

“Wait a minute,” said the CFO, “this isn’t an easy question. Maybe we can return to discuss it at dinner or at the next meeting? “

The CEO was determined, “No, we’ll make a decision in fifteen minutes.”

And you know what? We did it.

This is how I found my third decision-making method: use a timer. If the challenges you face have been explored enough, the choices are equally attractive and the answer has not been found, admit that it is impossible to determine the right course and just make a decision

Of course, it would be nice to first check its effectiveness – for example, create a trial version with a minimum investment in it. But even if you cannot do this, a decision must still be made. The time you save by cutting back on fruitless evaluations and discussions will be of immense benefit to you in terms of productivity.

Wait a minute, you argue, if you spend more time on it, sooner or later there will still be a correct answer. It may very well be. But, firstly, you will lose a bunch of precious hours, days, and weeks waiting for “enlightenment”. Secondly, the correctness of this one and the only decision will teach you in many other cases to hesitate in empty hopes for a clear answer.

Make a Decision and Move On

Try this method now. Pick a decision you’ve been putting off for a long time, give yourself three minutes and you will succeed. If you are inundated with unresolved questions, take a piece of paper and make a list of them. Set a time in advance for yourself and in order, one by one, make the best possible decision at the moment. Making decisions – any decisions – will give you a sigh of relief and move on.

As for my lunch, I opted for the coleslaw. Is this the best option? I do not know. But at least I no longer sit over the menu trying to place an order.

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Before a pilot jumps in the cockpit, he or she will always conduct pre-flight planning. It takes between one and ten hours to plan a single mission in the fighter pilot world, depending on its complexity. Pre-flight planning includes researching the target or destination, route of flight, weather, aircraft maintenance records, fuel, and so on.

Imagine what would happen if a pilot said, “We don’t need to do our pre-flight planning; we’re just going to wing it today!” In the fighter pilot world, that would result in chaos, misalignment, confusion, and botched goals – not good!

How many times do people go into their week without a plan and expect a different result than pilots would get without doing their pre-flight planning? Just as pre-flight planning is critical for a pilot, pre-week planning is just as essential when people want to take control of their lives and make sure that they do what matters most.

Pre-week planning is far more than just penciling in your important to-do items throughout the week. This focused planning activity is the key to proactively scheduling your priorities rather than prioritizing your schedule.

In the spirit of good-better-best, take whatever planning approach you are using today and see how pre-week planning can enhance it and lead to better results.

Here are the four key steps to effectively do pre-week planning.

Step 1 – Review your vision and long-range goals

Take a few minutes to review your overall vision and goals, then ask yourself what you can do this week towards accomplishing your goals. By first reviewing your vision and goals, you are looking at them and taking in the 30,000-foot view of where things stand at least one time each week. This puts you in an elite statistical number of people — only 1 percent of people regularly revisit their vision and goals.

Step 2 – List your roles

Identify the five to seven roles that matter most to you (personal, manager, parent, spouse, etc.). This approach helps you plan your week through the lens of what matters most in each role, rather than just thinking about your professional role. It also empowers a person to have a balance of success stories across each area of their lives.

“By Failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

Step 3 – Set action items for each role

Whether you call them action items or weekly goals, the bottom line is that you have a personal brainstorm with yourself to determine what actions matter most in the coming week for each role. Imagine how powerful that is to sit down each weekend for a few minutes and identify specific actions that matter most in each of your important roles! Completing step three of pre-week planning can enhance almost anything you might already be doing when planning. It could be as simple as planning a date night, sending a note to your son or daughter, scheduling an important client interaction, and so on.

Step 4 – Schedule a time for each action item

Whether you use a weekly planner or an electronic calendar, this step is when you assign a time on your calendar for the coming week for each action item.

These four simple steps allow you to schedule your priorities rather than prioritize your schedule. That is what differentiates it from every other planning process out there.

What’s the impact?

A person who does pre-week planning accomplishes an average of 20 to 30 more activities/tasks during the week (with less stress) than someone who doesn’t. Over a month, that equates to an additional 80–120 activities. In a year, that equates to an additional 900–1,200 items that are important to you!

On paper, those are numbers. Yet, every one of those numbers represents a meaningful activity that you’ve accomplished in your life. It could represent exercise, a gesture of kindness to your spouse, an important activity related to your job, taking care of a client or team member, or spending quality time with a son or daughter.

Imagine the cumulative impact of maintaining the habit of pre-week planning for the rest of your life. By making pre-week planning a habit, you empower yourself to consistently do the things that matter most in your life while finding time that you didn’t know you had.

Read more: addicted2success.com

Extreme sports athletes are known to have nerves of steel. From daring moves among the rocks to 2 and 3 flips and rotations on rock hard snow, professional skiers face what seem to be insurmountable obstacles on a daily basis. They are among a small group of elite performing humans who face danger and death on the regular. Having interviewed 30+ professional skiers and their coaches over the last 3 years, I’ve come to find some common threads among their adaptations to danger and how powerful their minds are.

No matter what kind of success you are pursuing, mindset is going to be a crucial factor in it. Sometimes the normal “routine” mindset strategies don’t work for certain people. I’m not someone who gets into a regular meditation routine quickly but for some people that’s their little slice of heaven. I’ve had to look at what creates success for the “normal” people out there and adapt my own from it.

Here you’ll find 3 strategies adopted from interviewing over 30+ professional athletes and their coaches that will help you create a mindset habit that works but is “different” than what most people would recommend.

1. Moving Meditation

Many mindset coaches will first steer towards the observation of the mind. Most often this is done through drawing attention to the breath, which is a proven method of directed focus that helps the practitioner gain perspective on their thoughts. Oftentimes people will report a greater peace and ease because of a feeling of non-attachment to things that might have previously caused disruption. 

As I stated earlier, meditation is a hard habit for me to form no matter how hard I try. So I have to adapt, and I’ve noticed that many of these athletes do the same. Meditation is not just sitting with your legs crossed trying to empty your mind. Meditation is about channeling your focus on one thing and returning your focus to that one thing as it drifts. 

Our attention is designed to drift and to look for stimulation when we’re awake. Any type of meditation helps us practice refining the skill of directing our attention to one place. Since attention is a flexible and directable bandwidth that gets pulled on through our days by relationships, daily routines, work… you name it, there are people who are in competition for our attention, so we must refine our focus.

Most of these athletes describe themselves doing a type of meditation, but oftentimes I heard that they struggled to be sitting still while practicing meditation. They leveraged moving meditation to help channel their focus and appease their hyperactive bodies. We’re designed to move and yet we find ourselves sitting in office chairs for 8+ hours a day just to hop in a car and sit on the way home.

By combining movement and meditation, these athletes are able to do two powerful things for their mindset;

Build the muscle of focus
Create momentum from their routines 

For many athletes and entrepreneurs, walking and yoga become super powerful forms of moving meditation that allow for decompression, channeled focus and allow them to build their routines around their personal needs. If you’re struggling to see any results with the standard mindfulness and meditation strategies, try what extreme sports athletes do, combine it with movement. Not everyone is the same, allow yourself to adapt the standard strategies to make them work for you.

“If you can see it here and you have the courage enough to speak it, it will happen. People believe in certain things but they keep to themselves, they don’t put it out there. If you truly believe in it, if you become vocal with it, you’re creating that law of attraction and it will become reality.” – Conor McGregor

2. Directed Curiosity/Peripheral Logic

Sometimes we need peripheral thinking. Extreme sports athletes demonstrate an exceptional form of peripheral logic and directed curiosity. What is ‘directed curiosity’ you may ask? Directed curiosity is an extension skill that gets developed as you passionately dive into subject matter. One example would be that skiers became obsessed with different ways to rotate in the air over obstacles. This is an example of directed attention and curiosity at a single obstacle and it has created an almost unlimited variation of ways to perform tricks off of the obstacles. 

As skiers hit failure, they receive a lot of negative feedback in the form of pain and yet they let their directed curiosity bring them back to the obstacle in order to figure out how to achieve success. That moment can be celebrated by anyone who is in the hard work of achieving a big goal. 

It’s the act of resilience made easier by curiosity. We don’t always see success immediately. Directed curiosity can help you return your focus to the subject matter and ask questions like;

What happened?
Why did it go wrong?
What could have allowed for it to go right?

These questions that are asked consciously and subconsciously from extreme sports athletes should be a lesson in the achievement of success and resilience. Don’t give up, ask how it can be different and better.

Ok, now what about peripheral logic? Peripheral logic is just an extension of directed curiosity. In terms of the experience of a skier, it’s the answer to the question of, ‘what do I have to do to make this successful?’ 

Oftentimes the answer to this question is right next to where we’re looking. Sometimes we have to approach an obstacle from a completely different angle but all too often a small tweak will change the trajectory and success rate in a big way. Think about these as “mini-pivots,” the small changes in orientation to your obstacle that allow you a new and fresh perspective and trajectory.

“You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan

3. Focused Unattachment

Mindfulness is a great way to create space for yourself, but what happens when you absolutely cannot get past the attached feeling you have? For extreme sports athletes, this manifests in their risk-taking. How an extreme sports athlete deals with fear is different for every athlete but each tends to have some form of focused unattachment.  

Their ability to bypass their autonomic nervous system and create a channel for focusing on the task at hand is second to none. It’s the ultimate form of mindfulness and meditation, and it comes from this focused unattachment.

I interviewed x-games medalists, Julian Carr who’s known for 100+ foot front flips off of massive cliffs. He talked in that interview about complete surrender to the mountain and the forces. For him, he’s got to be completely relaxed or the impact could actually cause him a lot more harm. His focused unattachment allows his safety and the ability to continue to perform jumps like he does season after season without incident. 

Focused unattachment comes when you know you’ve done everything to prepare. For Julian, he’s looked at the landing of every jump he sees. He makes sure the snow conditions are exactly what they need to be. He’ll even look at the slope in the summers to identify where the rocks might be lurking under the snow. 

He has worked his way up and has built his confidence over time through repeated systems. He’s been skiing his whole life and he understands his limitations. So at the moment he can completely release from the outcome and let it come to him.

For most of us, it’s hard to trust even when we’re fully prepared. Julian doesn’t land every jump, but he’s safe. When attempting anything great and we’ve focused enough on the preparation, we should be able to have a focused unattachment about the end goal. We know what we’re going for, we know what we want and we show up to give it our all. Whatever happens after that is out of our control. When you can find peace at that moment, you’ll find your best performances. 

Success is attainable if we’re willing to adapt ourselves to the world around us and the world around us to our needs and wants. Leverage these 3 strategies to create success for yourself by modeling what extreme sports athletes do. It’s an extreme world out there and there’s a lot to be learned by those that overcome it on a daily basis.

Read more: addicted2success.com

I recently checked in with a few colleagues to ask, “How are you doing… really?” While I had hoped they’d found a new, better groove amidst pandemic living, I was surprised by how many were either exactly where they were a year ago, mentally and emotionally speaking, and some even worse.

One accentuated this latter point by sharing:“I’m still exhausted. It’s going on 14 months. I’m worried about… everything. And I still don’t feel secure with my job.”

My friend is a high-performing leader who’s survived multiple rounds of layoffs in the oil and gas industry. Her husband was laid off at the beginning of the crisis; her kids have suffered from lack of connection in their virtual learning environment. Her story, sadly, isn’t unique in this COVID world. Neither is the cumulative stress she’s acquired throughout this process.

Allostatic overload is the term being used to describe our pandemic existence. In short, it’s the price our body pays for existing in high-stress environments for extended periods. Our stress, too, can be exacerbated by consistent negative feelings and thoughts about unsuccessful outcomes. The impact can feel like burnout and can have long-term implications on our overall health.

Signs of burnout can include forgetfulness, feeling unmotivated, difficulty with focusing, feeling dispassionate about things you used to care about.  And, like my colleague, complete exhaustion. We don’t have to succumb to this level of burnout, though. There are still actions we can take to lead ourselves to a better place so our day-to-day existence can be enhanced, and we can be more present in our own lives, as well as the lives of others. How are you doing… really?

“Burnout is nature’s way of telling you, you’ve been going through the motions your soul has departed.” – Sam Keen

Here are five strategies you can deploy to help manage any level of burnout you might be experiencing:

Stop kidding yourself. Many of us have a hard time admitting when things aren’t exactly okay. High performers, especially, tend to see hard work as the best cure to see themselves through a rough patch. This just isn’t the case. If you’re feeling any signs of burnout, get real with yourself: confront it. Be okay with not being okay.

Get comfortable with No… fast. When we’re feeling burnout, we need time. The only way to reclaim it is to start saying “no” and finding the space you need to get back to center. To help you, start by getting clear on your priorities and activities that must get done. Anything else, start saying “no.” No doesn’t mean never; it often means just not right now. Use your “no” to control the volume of opportunities and requests that come your way so you can find the time you need to recover.

Disconnect digitally. We’ve all heard about the dreaded blue screen and its impact on our sleep quality, let alone quality of time we try to invest with others. Technology can be a great administrative tool; too much, though, and it can be an additional source of stress as it reminds us far too often of what’s not getting done. When we disconnect from technology, we reconnect with ourselves. Right now is a perfect time to re-establish a healthy relationship with technology and create boundaries with it. We’ll all want this during our post-pandemic lives, so putting some disciplines in place today can also help create a better tomorrow.

Schedule your walks. We would never blow off an important appointment with a colleague; when something is on our calendar, we honor it with our best effort. Take this spirit and apply it to yourself.  Schedule several walks during your work week on your calendar and don’t reschedule. Treat yourself as a high-priority item. Walking has profound benefits on our mental health; its meditative-like qualities can calm our minds and help create a much-needed perspective that reminds us of what’s most important right now in our lives. 

Get it write. Start and end your day by journaling. When you wake up, before you do anything, write down your intentions for the day.  This way, you’re setting your agenda – not email, not social media.  You’ll always have others either telling you or recommending to you what’s important; by leading your life intentionally, you’re reminding yourself what you deem as valuable to you. Then, at the end of the day, reflect on your gratitude by identifying three things you’re most appreciative for during your day. These simple practices allow you to reflect on the good and refocus on the opportunities to help you get to a place where you’re feeling rested and recharged.

There is no real, quick fix to the burnout we feel. And while these five strategies can set you on the right course, there’s also the opportunity for you to connect with your employer to renegotiate your schedule and/or talk to a mental health provider to get additional support for what you’re experiencing. 

We can’t control the world around us. We can always, though, control our response to the world. When you focus on what you can control, you’ll find yourself in a better place of leading yourself, your team, and your family to a better future. 

Read more: addicted2success.com

The hot and cold approach doesn’t work long-term, but it’s familiar. Someone has a revelation and gets committed to changing their life — they commit to working hard. After a few months, the shine and excitement wear off, and the real growth work begins. It’s at this point that a lot of success-seekers stop doing the work.

If you’re going to experience exponential growth in your life, you’ll need a sustainable path to success. There is no finish line, and becoming an elite leader means you set goals that feel impossible. If you’re hitting every one of your goals, you’re not swinging hard enough. Becoming an elite 1% action-taking leader means employing and implementing optimization strategies that lead to growth and success. Here are three techniques elite leaders use to do the work and develop lasting success.

1. They make their personal growth a primary priority

The call of the world and the things on your to-do list can easily dominate your time. It’s not uncommon to go throughout your entire day and realize you haven’t worked on any of your goals. You’ve spent a whole day doing things for others. Elite leaders understand that to have enough energy and capacity to help others, they must first be complete. They become elite by making their goals, desires, and ambitions the primary priority each day. 

Elite leaders start their days working on the personal habits that help them get closer to their goals. They start each day focused on themselves so that they can fill up their self-care gas tank. It’s from this whole place that they can be better for others in their life. 

Stop letting clients, family, friends, and strangers on the Internet drain you. If it’s been weeks since you spent any time working on what lights you up, it’s time to make a shift. The journey to creating success should be filled with many fun YOU moments. Other people’s priorities and demands of your time and energy don’t have to be something you follow if you don’t want to. Be sure to take care of your needs and goals first, and then think about helping others.

“The swiftest way to triple your success is to double your investment in personal development.” – Robin Sharma

2. They cultivate self-motivation and use it to do the work consistently. 

Life would be fantastic if things magically worked out as planned as soon as we started pursuing our goals. Often, challenging circumstances arise, and it’s at that point, we need the motivation to stay focused on the path to success.

Elite leaders understand that motivation has to come from within. While there can be a catalyst of motivation in your life — the long-term driving motivation comes from a commitment to doing the work no matter what. Don’t put your motivation in the hands of other people or external circumstances. Success requires that you stay hungry, you do the work even when you don’t feel like it, and you use each experience along the way to fuel your fire. 

If you can’t learn how to tap into your internal sources of self-motivation, you’ll get stuck when your eternal motivation sources aren’t available. Become an elite leader by being your motivation source and consistently doing the work even when you’re not feeling one hundred percent. 

3. They use progress as a measuring stick of success and confirmation of their path.

When you think about what success means, your mind defaults to the end result. You think about the weight loss, better relationships, more sales, a better job, and all of the fun accomplishments you can achieve. However, if you measure success simply by the end result, you’ll end up frustrated because major goals take time to accomplish. As you do the work and don’t get to the results soon enough, you’ll get tempted to quit. 

You should consider measuring success by the progress you make as you put in the work. Have you lost ten pounds of your forty-pound goal? Celebrate! Have you gotten three new clients in your business? Cheer. Progress is what our subconscious craves more than the result. It shows us that we’re getting closer to those significant goals. Elite leaders celebrate the process and use it to build up their self-motivation. 

“Failure is success in progress.” – Albert Einstein

It’s a great time to pursue success and become an elite leader at what you do and want to accomplish. The path to success starts with your mindset. Optimizing your mind gives you all the fuel you’ll need to take action. Don’t settle for a good enough life. Shatter the barriers in your mind and claim the wonderful life that you deserve.

Read more: addicted2success.com

Didier Drogba is a former professional football player from Ivory Coast and is considered one of the greatest ever from Africa. He came to prominence during his time with English Premier League football club, Chelsea FC. Some of his achievements include winning African Footballer of the Year twice and being the all-time leading scorer for his national team.

Winning the Champions League, European football’s most coveted club trophy is probably the most memorable of all his accolades. He was the kind of player that even rival fans respected for the impact he had on the game. Such players are not easily forgotten, and the following are some of the characteristics that made him great.

1. Man for the big moment

Didier has an enviable record of scoring important goals in big games, which became a personal trademark of his. In 10 cup finals, he scored 10 goals that haven’t been matched by many other players. 4 of those came in 4 FA Cup final games, a record he still holds for most goals by a player in a final.

As mentioned earlier, the most memorable of those 10 goals came in the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich. What made it so special was that it was his final game as a Chelsea player during his first stint.  With two minutes remaining and Chelsea trailing 1-0, he scored a powerful header to level the score.

This forced extra time and Chelsea went on to win on penalties, with Drogba scoring the winning spot-kick. Some of his teammates used to say that he would be a different animal in preparation for big games. It goes to show that he had extra motivation to shine on the big stage.

“When I was young there were a lot of players more talented than me. They had pure talent. But my desire was stronger than their talent” – Didier Drogba

2. Competitive spirit

He certainly wouldn’t have excelled at the level he did without the competitive spirit of a fighter. His upbringing also wasn’t very rosy, and he could have missed out on his great career. Most professional footballers go through an academy in their early years to nurture their talent and potential, which he didn’t.

This was because he never settled in one place in his younger years. The family struggles he had as a young person forced him to move around a lot. By the time he got to his 20s, he had to make his mark otherwise he would never have the chance to be a professional.

He got that opportunity with the French football club, Le Mans with whom he signed his first professional contract. Sometimes in life, you just have to fight for what you believe in, even if it looks improbable.

3. Tenacity

Like any successful person, Didier Drogba had his fair share of disappointments throughout his career. One of the most notable was his sending off in the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final against Manchester United. With Chelsea having the upper hand and three minutes remaining, Drogba received a red card for slapping an opponent.

Had he stayed on, Chelsea would have won because he was going to take the final spot-kick that would win the trophy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be yet they were so close. The following season they had a chance at playing in the final again, but those hopes were snuffed out by Barcelona in the semis.

However three years later in what was, for the most part, a poor season, they again made it to the final. Through an almost bizarre set of circumstances, Chelsea somehow made it past a Barcelona team that was in its prime. In some ways, luck was on their side as they beat Barcelona in the semis before facing Bayern Munich.

This time, Drogba redeemed himself for what happened four years earlier by scoring the winning penalty. That level of persistence to keep trying after several failed attempts was impressive. It goes to show that persistence pays off eventually.

“I have won many trophies in my time, but nothing will ever top helping win the battle for peace in my country” – Didier Drogba

4. Highly influential

Beyond football, Drogba played a significant role in helping to bring an end to the civil war in Ivory Coast. That incident coincided with the Ivorian national team qualifying for their first-ever World Cup tournament in 2006. After their final qualifying game, he made a heartfelt speech on camera to his homeland calling for a cease-fire. It served to unite the war-torn nation and to rally around the national team to make its mark on the world stage.

For his efforts, he was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme. He continues to speak out about humanitarian prejudices in sports and being a voice for the voiceless. His heart for the people of Africa made him a popular figure with many people around the world. He invests a lot in his homeland to give younger generations opportunities to excel in life as he has. Real influence is measured by the lives you touch and leave in a better state than when you found them.

What are some of your fondest memories of Didier Drogba? Comment below!

Read more: addicted2success.com