Tag: success

Imposter Syndrome

On June 29, 2017

Disbelief is our natural response to most situations. From “Should I get a pet?” to “Can I run this business?”, doubts come in every form and are probably more diverse than the entire insect species. In fact, we have also learned to give a person the benefit of the doubt that we’re having!

Doubt Isn’t Out – How It Affect Entrepreneurs

Naturally enough, as leaders are only humans, they can get as doubtful as anyone. So much so that they become uncertain of the success they have achieved. Entrepreneurs have been known to suffer from conditions such as “imposter syndrome”, in which they believe to have conned people into thinking that they’re deserving of the accomplishment of their businesses.

As the imposter syndrome isn’t restricted to the sharks of the business world, it can also affect you. Want to learn how to build the confidence that’s infectious? Read on.

Stay Away From The Imposter Syndrome

Here are a few points to keep in mind if you know that you suffer from the imposter syndrome, for a while:

Acceptance: You just found out that you’re suffering from imposter syndrome. Fine — own it. Now that you know having negative thoughts is only a symptom of your condition, you should be prepared to fight against them. Let the feeling of inadequacy become an inspiration for you to work harder and achieve more.

Introspection: It’s the success that’s making you doubt your position, isn’t it? So, take some time to retrace your path to becoming a sensation from your start as a garage business. When you remember all the struggles and the way you navigated your business through the tough times, you’d be a lot easier on yourself.

Keep updating your CV: Making a list is always helpful. When you’ve written down all your accomplishments, it’s becomes more believable. Update your resume whenever possible to keep a tab of how you led your startup to stardom.

Let go: Competitiveness is desirable but not a necessity. Stop trying to fit into other entrepreneurs’ shoes. It’s not healthy to keep a track of what every other business is doing. Also, try not to beat yourself down for a few mistakes. You can’t always win, relentlessly!

Don’t try to time-travel: Don’t keep looking back over your shoulder; it’s going to affect your leadership qualities. Missed opportunities won’t return; maybe it’s good to learn from your mistakes by analyzing past situations in a new light, but don’t obsess about your shortcomings.

Doubt is only a feeling; it isn’t reality or a hallucination. It’s like an omen; since we’ve progressed from believing in superstitions, let’s get over doubt (and subsequently the imposter syndrome) in the same way.

To Achieve Success: Avoid These Common Mistakes

By Nicole Monturo

On June 25, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

It’s great to be chosen as leader. There’s probably nothing more exciting than guiding your team through the thick and thins of a task. But as a cliché as it may sound, we know that power is always accompanied by responsibilities galore.

So, let’s find out what makes a great leader.

What Should You Be Worried About

Generally, when you work in a business, it’s idealistic to think that everyone will get along. So, you might face a little friction initially after getting chosen as the leader.

Moreover, as the chores pile up, the group members get more tense. This is the time when you need to take charge. Other than motivating your group members, you have to also divide tasks shrewdly.

Authenticity is key. Disrespecting other people shouldn’t be your intention, but you need to show that you are endowed with leadership qualities, and people need to abide by the rules you set forth.

Mistakes Made By Most Aspiring Leaders

It’s a well-known fact that history is one of the best teachers. So, learn from the failures of your predecessors. Here are some of the common blunders made by people trying to succeed in the lead role:

Change is constant, so accept it: Sometimes they may be in conflict with your long term goals, but changes are inevitable. You need to go with the flow and not stick firmly to your initial target because the situation isn’t the same anymore. But, you may argue that in some cases, stubborn leaders have come out as winners since they did not conform to suit the circumstances. To judge which of the aforementioned choices would be apt for your team, you must have a group of trusted and experienced people. You can consult other executives and administrators at the business for some sage advice.

Take charge and take the blame: When you don’t meet deadlines, and your objective seems far away, it’s mostly because you get busy with your daily tasks as an entrepreneur. A way to avoid such a situation is by setting a schedule on your calendar that you follow diligently. Another is by using features such as snooze on Gmail that’ll allow you to set up emails that will be delivered at a scheduled time. You should also be willing and ready to accept blame when plans you make or ideas you have don’t pan out the way you’d hoped. Like I said, authenticity is key, so taking charge and owning up to any mistakes — whether they’re yours or your team’s — is an important part of being a leader.

Be curious about your mistakes: Ask yourself why you failed. If you don’t identify where you went wrong, you won’t be able to rectify it. Troubleshooting helps; it’s not always requisite of you to change the entire business model after one setback. The only real mistakes in life are the ones you don’t learn from.

Don’t be too quick: Try to slow down your pace. It’s true that businesses need to be run quickly and time crunches aren’t a new issue plaguing startups, but you need to allot some time to look back on your decisions and analyze your future moves. Take the time necessary for self-reflection and be honest with your assessment of yourself and your performance.

Performance over achievement: Don’t gloat about how much you’ve succeeded but rather think about your business’ performance. When achievements take the toll on you, shortcuts seem tempting that may clash with your long term goals.

So, there you go. Avoid these common erroneous methods, and you will come out the better in every sticky situation you may face as an entrepreneur. But, do you know what’s best? Trust in yourself, because no one knows your business better than you.

The Best TED Talks on Leadership

By Nicole Monturo

On May 25, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

If you’re a frequent internet user, especially on social media, you’ve likely seen videos posted and shared of conferences called TED Talks. Maybe you’ve watched one here or there on various subjects — TED Talks have a lot more to offer than purely entertainment — think of them more as edutainment.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and was incepted in 1984 by Richard Saul Wurman; although the conferences initially only addressed topics in the areas of technology, entertainment, and design, they now cover a wide variety of topics. These conferences host influential leaders from different industries around the world to speak on their knowledge and inform others.

One subject of TED Talks that I find to be particularly insightful and inspiring are the ones that cover matters of leadership. I watch them for knowledge, inspiration, and self-development so I can lean how to better lead others on a day-to-day basis. Although I really can’t limit my favorites to a single list without rambling for a million words, there are a few that have particularly struck me. Here are a few of my (carefully selected) favorite TED Talks on leadership.

How to Make Work-Life Balance Work – Nigel Marsh
- Nigel Marsh is a well-known author, giving us titles like Overworked and Underlaid and Fat, Forty, and Fired that explore the interaction between work and personal life. In this talk he discusses the importance of having a healthy balance between your work and personal lives and offers some advice on how to reach that balance.
The Key to Success? Grit. – Angela Lee Duckworth
- Angela Duckworth worked for years in a high-pressure consulting job until one day when she left it to take a job teaching mathematics to seventh graders in the New York public school system. It was at this job where she realized that textbook intelligence isn’t the only thing that sets the successful students apart from those had a difficult time; that other ‘secret’ ingredient was grit, which she explores in her talk.

8 Secrets of Success – Richard St. John
- If you want a strong shot of inspiration but don’t have the time to sit through an entire lecture series, marketer and analyst Richard St. John’s presentation is exactly what you need. The talk condenses years’ worth of interviews and a two-hour lecture into a three-and-a-half minute talk that gets real about what exactly it takes to succeed.

How to Lead Unwilling Followers to Success

By Nicole Monturo

On May 16, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

There are many ways to lead followers to success. Depending on your line of work or the reason you are leading a group of followers, will determine what type of leadership style you are going to take on. Some consider there to be good leadership styles and some consider other styles to be bad and not beneficial for anyone involved. Regardless of style, how do you make someone follow you when they are not willing to?

One of the first things that needs to be done is to get down to the level of the follower and determine why they are unwilling in the first place. Does the follower not agree with the way you are leading them? Are there other external factors that are taking them in a different direction than you would like?

According to Dr. Karen Keller, a clinical psychologist, there are about five common reasons for your employees to not follow you: being frustrated with how they are being treated, feeling rejected, unsupported or misunderstood, feeling scared, angry, or powerless, possibly they are experiencing personal problems, and lastly that they are impatient.

How do you combat these issues from happening or continuing to happen? Everyone has a different way of connecting with their followers and getting them to trust you; this guide will show you some of the more common and effective ways to take control of your followers.

Lead with passion.

Followers want to be lead in the right direction. But they aren’t just going to follow anyone that comes through the door. They want to be certain that their leader understands and is passionate about the work that they are doing. If a leader shows passion for their work, it will in turn rub off on the followers, who will hopefully become passionate about the work as well.

Take a stand.

While it is important to be mindful of the your followers and hear their requests and their ideas for improval. Followers don’t want a leader who is going to fold under pressure or have their mind changed all of the time. They want and need a leader who is going to hear them out, but ultimately take a stand and make the decision that is best for them.

Lead by doing.

The worst thing a leader can do is bark orders at their followers, without either showing them what they are doing or doing the task with them. Unwilling followers need to be shown why they need to do something rather than just being told to do it in the first place. A common saying is that a boss will shout orders from the back, while a leader will be at the front showing the followers the way to success.

Be Trustworthy.

Lastly, and one of the more important ways to get a reluctant to follower to be on your side, is to be trustworthy. It’s possible that the reason they are resisting your leadership in the first place is because they have experienced leaders who were dishonest with them in the past. Being trustworthy and following your word is the best way to gain your followers trust, which will in turn have them follow you willingly and passionately.