1. Discover your strengths (if you don’t know what they are, you need to find out). What are you doing when you are at your best?
This question is deceptively simple but incredibly powerful. The most successful people in the world have discovered the things they are best at and have built their work lives around those strengths.
If you don’t know what your strengths are, you can buy a book that offers the test, which is called STRENGTHS.
2. Make a time diary How do you (really) spend your time?
For one day, write down what you want to accomplish and then use any of the online tools to keep track of everything you do. Do some research to find one that is right for you. At the end of the day, compare your goals with what really happened. You can also do this without the expense of spending funds if you are disciplined enough to do so.
This is an incredibly revealing exercise because it shows you how much time you are wasting on random and useless activities. How much time do you spend checking email? How long on Facebook? How long have you been surfing the news incessantly, feeling productive but not really accomplishing anything?
As an exercise, see if you can identify the 20% of your time that produced 80% of your results. What can you do to have a more productive time like this?
3. Set weekly goals and check progress
What is your number one goal this week? You need to set goals. They help you stay focused. You waste less time and less money.
This personal investment strategy is similar to time management, but it lasts for a whole week. Often times, we are so caught up in the rush of everyday life that we don’t step back and look at the things that are most critical.
It’s the old urgent versus important issue. We spend our time dealing with small, urgent problems, when we should be focusing on important (but not urgent) tasks. This week, fight the chaos by setting a main goal that you want to achieve in seven days. You can also choose two secondary goals if you feel ambitions, but no more than that.
Remember how you did at the end of the week. Did setting goals help you work more purposefully and effectively? If you hadn’t done more than work on your top three goals, what would have happened?
4. Get a mentor
This is a tougher challenge, but the benefits are worth it.
You need to find a mentor.
Make a list of everyone you know who has a lot of experience in your line of business. If you don’t know anyone who meets this criteria, broaden your search to people you know who have been very successful in another field or who you particularly resonate with.
Then, sort your list of potential mentors by preference and start contacting them. Try to establish a regular meeting time and general goals for the relationship when you meet for the first time. I would also recommend setting up a task to work on between each of your meetings, so that you can get feedback and support from your mentor.
Mentoring relationships are a powerful source of knowledge, inspiration, and connections – don’t miss out!
5. Read a great book
Great books are like boxes of prepackaged ideas, carefully crafted by a brilliant author for you to take in. Why not take advantage of this incredible resource?
These are some of my favorite business books. I challenge you to read at least one of them in the next month:
Twenty steps to be more glorious
Rich dad, poor dad, Robert Kiyosaki
Cha-Ching – Jeffrey Gitomer
Get Rich on Main Street – Rick Pierce
Each of these books transformed the way I think about business. Reading these books is like hiring a business coach for just a fraction of the cost.
6. Start a habit that will make you “stretch”
What do you want to do every day?
Here are some ideas:
- Write a blog post
- Learn something
- Exercise
- Get closer to an influence
- Brainstorming
- (think of a productive habit you would like to do)
- Guest post
Take one of the ideas above or create your own. You are about to turn your chosen activity into a habit you do every day, using a simple truth.
You can do anything for 21 days. Make it something you want to incorporate into your life..
7. Build your personal brand
How is your presence online? What happens when someone says your name on Google?
The topic of personal branding is too big to cover here, so I’ll limit myself to one actionable suggestion.
Challenge: Create a “Graphic Information Resume”.
An infographic resume is a visually appealing little web page / business card that provides your bio, contact information, accomplishments, and skills.
The next time you need to introduce yourself to someone online, just direct them to their resume page (it wasn’t that hard!).
8. Being thankful
Being grateful is surprisingly powerful.
As Shawn Achor explains in his TED talk, spending five minutes each day listing three things you are grateful for trains your mind to seek the positive. Surprisingly, maintaining a positive mindset makes you more productive and effective at your job (and happier overall!).
Who knows?
As an aside, I started doing this a few months ago. Within a week of adopting this habit, I had a series of absolutely incredible brainstorming sessions that gave me an insight into the development of Viibrant over the next year.
That week was one of the most productive and creative periods of my life … and I wonder if it had anything to do with my new “thank you” habit. It may have been just a coincidence, but we’ll never know for sure.
9. Find your why
Purpose is a powerful thing. It wakes you up in the morning and keeps you awake at night. Anyone who has accomplished something great was driven by a strong and deeply ingrained belief in what is wrong with the world and how it can be corrected.
What is your purpose? Why do you work?
Take an hour today to sit quietly and reflect on what matters most to you. What kinds of “bigger than you” activities really turn you on or make you feel more satisfied?
Don’t skip this challenge. The benefits of knowing your purpose will last a lifetime.
10. The greatest danger is inaction
Change is always scary, and you may be reluctant to implement these tips for fear of what might happen to your business. But experimenting with these ideas will likely go unnoticed by most of your customers, especially those new to your business. If the changes are not beneficial, you can always go back to your old policies and prices.
Without taking action, you will never know how much money could be added to your bobottom line.
Conclusion: Are you ready to start with these challenges?
No one will do this job for you. How important
