Raising resilient children requires a delicate recipe that might be tough for some parents to swallow, but it’s necessary in order to give kids the strength they need to persevere no matter what. Learn how to set your kids up to succeed despite their challenges with these three simple steps.
The path of entrepreneurship can be lonely and stressful but rewarding, if you know the secrets to success. If you’re an entrepreneur – or considering becoming one – you need to know the secrets of how entrepreneurs handle the stress, the solitary days, and how they can work to ensure that their sacrifices will be worth it.
One major entrepreneur secret is that no man is an island. There are, in fact, four types of people entrepreneurs use to bolster their success. Before you go out and track down all four for yourself, though, it can be important to know that studies show people are several times more likely to be able to predict the causes of their failures than they are the causes of their successes. When you seek advice from others, remember that they cannot guarantee you the same success that they have enjoyed, just by telling you their methods.
So who are the four people you need to find to reach success?
The Role Model
Your role model is at the top of his or her game. You may never even meet them, but you admire what they have achieved. To learn from them, try to deconstruct their career trajectory. Don’t just look at where they are now with envy in your eyes; start doing the things they did when they were at the very bottom.
The Mentor
Your mentor is several stages ahead of you on the success ladder. He or she is someone who should be accessible to you, unlike a role model, who doesn’t necessarily need to be someone with whom you have a relationship. The mentor, while successful, is likely to remember what it was like to be in your shoes, because they weren’t there so long ago themselves. Your mentor may make important introductions for you, coach you, and guide you through difficult moments.
The Peer
Many people striving for success spend their time and energy on the people above them on the ladder of success, not next to them. But ignoring your peers leaves you without a support system of people who know what you are facing. Entrepreneurial success often comes from collaboration and conversation among those doing similar work. So don’t just try to hobnob with the top level. Make sure you cultivate a network of people in a similar position, because they’ll provide you with support on your worst days, and get your creative juices flowing on your best days.
The Protégé
There’s a common saying that you don’t truly understand something until you teach it. For that reason, having a protégé can be critical to an entrepreneur’s success. For an idea to take off, you have to be able to explain it to the masses, so start with your student! Having a protégé can also help secure your startup’s sustainability and future growth, which is often a problem for new organizations.
Entrepreneurs who find great success don’t do it by themselves. Surround yourself with these four people, and you’re more likely to have what it takes to reach the finish line.
-Courtney
No one wins when a parent and teenager go head-to-head! But these conflict management techniques will help you fight smart when you have an argument with your teenager.
Stress looks like an overwhelmed executive shouting at her assistant to gather up files before a meeting, a worried salesman trying desperately to make quota, or perhaps a busy mom struggling to get two toddlers out the door. Someone who is stressed is busy, frantic, and racing around. Right?
Wrong.
There are actually several symptoms of stress that don’t LOOK like stress, and because of that – we may ignore them. But untreated stress has a tendency to spiral, so be on the lookout for some of these hidden signals that you’re under too much stress.
Are you extra forgetful lately?
No, it isn’t a result of aging! Stress impairs your working memory, making it difficult to remember what you are doing. Research suggests that if you are feeling more distracted and forgetful than usual, stress could be the culprit.
Forgetting important things can also ADD to your stress, so combat this issue by attempting to fix both the root cause and the effect, simultaneously. Curb your forgetfulness with lists, calendars, and electronic reminders as much as possible. But the forgetfulness is likely to continue if you don’t address the underlying stress, so take steps to reduce your stress level, as well, and your memory will thank you.
Are you extra aggressive lately?
If we shove our stress don’t and fail to acknowledge it, it has a way of cropping up in other areas of our lives. Many people who ignore their stress find themselves behaving with misplaced aggression, acting out on other people who aren’t the cause of the stress. If you’ve ever seen a dog attack its sibling when it can’t reach a squirrel on the other side of the fence, you’ve seen misplaced aggression. We sometimes lash out on others when we can’t show our anger where it’s really warranted.
If you find yourself picking fights with your spouse, snapping at your children, or feeling extra hostile in morning traffic, you might be experiencing misplaced aggression. The people around you didn’t get extra annoying – you just got more sensitive because of your stress. Take 10 deep breaths or whatever technique helps you manager your anger, and then ask yourself, “am I REALLY mad about this, or am I just stressed about something else?”
There are more surprising stress symptoms that you could be ignoring. For my free report, go to www.CourtneyLClark.com and add your email address to the box in the top, or in the box at the bottom right hand corner of the page.
Do you always notice right away when you’re stressed? Or do you only figure it out when you’re cursing at the TV remote control? (Please tell me it’s not just me!) 😉
-Courtney
