Tag: tips

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.

Leadership Tips to Up Your Productivity

By Nicole Monturo

On June 3, 2017

In Leadership, Nicole Monturo

Leadership isn’t just about leading your team through the hard times; it’s also about capitalizing on your team’s successes and pushing them to achieve more than they believe possible of themselves. As your team grows together and becomes more comfortable with one another, you want to help them figure out ways that they can all work better in tandem, streamlining processes to help them work ‘smarter not harder.’ Here are a few leadership tips for boosting your team’s — and your own — productivity.

Always be prepared.

Arrive at every meeting, gathering, and call fully prepared and ready to go. As a leader, other people are going to be looking to you for answers and guidance, and if your presentation is scattered all over or if you haven’t prepared to answer the questions people might have, you’re going to waste a lot of time trying to gather your thoughts and pull your information together. Make sure that you’re well-prepared so that you can help your team become well-prepared as well.

Stay organized.

For the same reason you want to be prepared, you want to make sure everything you need is organized and ready to go when you need it. You shouldn’t have to be shuffling through papers and rummaging through your desk to find the most important documents for your day. Staying on top of things will leave you more time to do the things that are important, rather than wasting valuable time on pointless tasks.

Start your day early.

Ben Franklin once said, “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” and it’s easy to see why this simple formula for success works if you break it down and analyze it. If you’re starting every day by rolling out of bed at the last possible moment, you’re not allotting yourself enough time to fully prepare for the day ahead of you. Want to be truly successful? Start out your day early, like 5:00am early, and use those extra hours to reflect on the day and mentally and physically prepare yourself for what you need to do. The extra time allows you to be prepared and organize yourself so that you can increase your productivity.