Successful Blog

  • Home
  • Community
  • About
  • Author Guidelines
  • Liz’s Book
  • Stay Tuned

How to Achieve Consumer-Creator Balance

June 17, 2021 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

Do you often find yourself completely overwhelmed with the amount of information that’s coming at you every day?

This article is for you.

Apologies/thanks to Hint Water for the image.

We’re going to go through a step-by-step process that will turn your consumption habits from a firehose to an irrigation system.

Because all of those email newsletter subscriptions, YouTube channels, blogs, and yes, even TikToks, should be adding value to your life.

It’s OK if the value is pure entertainment, but you should be cognizant of the percentage that is pure entertainment vs learning or business growth. Awareness is half the battle in taming the content shock beast.

Step One – What Am I Consuming?

Set aside 15-20 minutes and make a list of your subscriptions.

That should include newsletters, major media outlets you visit a lot, social channels that send you update notifications, etc.

Make sure you specifically focus on content that you receive on a regular schedule. These are sometimes the big time thieves that go unnoticed. Are there newsletters that you routinely delete or archive without reading them?

You may be over-consuming content, and putting your brain on information overload.

Step Two – Sort the Useful from the Non-Useful

Take a moment to look at each item in your list. For each one, ask yourself these questions:

  • What value, if any, is this adding to my life? (I’m learning things, I laugh, I’m gaining business skills…)
  • Do I have a system in place that helps me apply the information I learn from this item? It’s not enough to just read and move on, if the content is something that gives you business lessons. You need to have a process where you can use those tips to grow.
  • After I read/view this content, do I feel better or worse? (yes, some content just brings you down)
  • Am I subscribed to other content in the same niche that is better written, more valuable, more focused? Is this redundant?

One way to manage this evaluation process is to mark each item with a plus, zero/neutral, or minus. That will inform the next and final phase of the digital decluttering.

Step Three – Unsubscribe, Delete, Refocus

Time to pull the plug on any recurring subscriptions or content notifications that are of no value, are detracting from your mindset, or are redundant. Hit the unsubscribe button and be free.

Run through your inboxes and delete anything you haven’t read yet, that’s older than 2 days ago. Grant yourself the grace of an empty notifications icon.

The Internet will go on without you. If it was important, they’ll reach back out again.

For the items you’ve retained, set up a spot to collect notes and tasks that emerge when you’re reading/viewing that content. I use NotePlan 3 as a simple space for notes, inspirations, and ideas to apply to my life and business. There are tons of other note-taking and task-tracking tools out there to suit your work flow.

Post-Cleanup

Once you’ve gone through this process, you might want to follow the one-in, one-out rule. Any time you’re tempted to subscribe to something, force yourself to unsubscribe to another item, especially if they’re in a similar niche.

Share in the comments how you deal with content overload!

___________________________

About the Author: Rosemary O’Neill is co-Founder/CMO of Crowdstack, the best indie space for your groups online.

Filed Under: Personal Development, Productivity

3 Challenges Faced by Women Entrepreneurs

March 19, 2020 by Guest Author Leave a Comment

By Kayla Matthews

two women seated at laptop

 

Entrepreneurs always face a plethora of challenges when they’re trying to make their way in the world, from funding to building a customer base and creating a business that can grow and thrive while thinking outside of the traditional commercial box.

While we’re not discounting any of those challenges, working as a women entrepreneur in today’s world is even more difficult. What are some of the most common challenges faced by women entrepreneurs and what can be done to overcome them?

A Lack of Venture Capital

Starting a new business or an entrepreneurial venture — regardless of industry — requires one major thing — funding. Studies have found that businesses that are run by women see less investment than those run by the opposite sex.  In fact, one study found that between 1997 and 2000, women entrepreneurs only received 6% of venture capital funds invested. You can deduce where the other 94% went.

Sometimes the problem is that these women entrepreneurs are creating products, services, and technology that are designed to make a woman’s life better — and male investors are hesitant to invest in things that make them uncomfortable like organic tampons or other similar improvements.

The recently coined phrase FemTech might start to change that because instead of investing in a female-centric product that makes them uncomfortable, venture capitalists can simply say they have a FemTech company in their investment portfolio.

Creating a Healthy Work/Life Balance

Creating a healthy work/life balance is challenging for everyone.  You need to be able to find that middle ground between working too much and not working enough, and for entrepreneurs who are often throwing everything they have at their new venture to see what will stick, it becomes even more challenging.

Throw in the traditionally female responsibilities of homemaking and child-rearing and you’re left without enough hours in the day to even scratch your nose.

Female entrepreneurs need to take the time to build their work/life balance to ensure that they are thriving alongside their new ventures.  Creating a successful new business doesn’t mean much if you’re too burned out to enjoy your success.  Create distinct boundaries between your work and home life and, outside of an emergency, enforce them.

Fighting Gender Discrimination

Being a woman in a man’s world is a constant fight to be taken seriously, and sometimes it feels like you’re constantly having to play the game to gain an inch at a time.  If you’re polite and quiet, you’re ignored, but if you speak up and demand to be heard your bossy and aggressive — and those are probably the nicest things they’ll call you.

Gender discrimination manifests itself in every aspect of the entrepreneurial process.  You even make less – as of 2016, women made 81.9% of what their male counterparts earned in the same industries and positions.

There is no easy fix for this challenge.  You’ll find yourself having to fight for every accomplishment, but that makes each one mean that much more.  Don’t give up, keep pushing forward.  You’ll find that once you’ve fought and clawed your way up, that they’ll respect you more for it. We won’t sugarcoat it — it’s going to be hard, but it’s something that needs to happen to pave the way so that it will be easier for female entrepreneurs

Looking Toward the Future

Being a woman entrepreneur in today’s world is not an easy task.  If this is the path that you’re thinking of following, be prepared for the challenges that you will face.  It’s a worthy task but not one that should be undertaken lightly. If you decide to start down that path, just remember why you started and don’t give up, no matter what they say. You can do this.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash

Filed Under: Personal Development Tagged With: women entrepreneurs

6 Ways to Slow Down and Really Succeed at Work

September 26, 2019 by Guest Author Leave a Comment

By Liz Bywater, PhD

Today’s workers are constantly faced with too much to do and too little time in which to do it. From employees on the front lines to leaders in the C-Suite, the frenetic pace of business is taking a toll on workers’ productivity and personal health. A recent survey found that an alarming one in four employees feel burned out at work. The resulting psychological and physical problems associated with burned-out employees add up to $125 to $190 billion each year.

In our fast-paced world, everyone is under intense pressure to succeed at work. They face back-to-back meetings, nonstop emails and voice messages, pressing deadlines and the kind of excessive busyness that leads to a sense of overwhelm. And, at the end of a day of rushing, they’re left asking: “What did I actually accomplish?”

When you’re moving at breakneck speed, you’re not thriving — you’re just surviving. Until you learn to hit the brakes at crucial intervals, you’ll have little time to reflect on the hurdles in your way. Often, you go into autopilot without preemptively considering the pros, cons and implications of your decisions.

But when you teach yourself to pause and reflect before acting, you’ll make better decisions, achieve faster results and avert the kind of mistakes that take precious time, energy and political capital to correct. Even building in a modest 15-minute pause into your daily schedule can do wonders for gaining a competitive edge.

If you or your team have a project that requires your urgent attention — a client who needs your immediate help, a regulatory agency demanding rapid response or a sales target that cannot be missed — then your attention must go to those pressing priorities first. On the other hand, if you only attend to the here-and-now but neglect the bigger picture, you may do well enough for a while. But it’s unlikely you or your organization will thrive over time.

Taking a step back in your daily routine to thoughtfully reflect will allow you, your team and your organization to thrive in the following ways:

1. Developing a clear vision. Adjust your focus from near-term activities to the longer-term, more strategic view. This will allow you to become far more proactive than reactive. By taking your foot off the accelerator, you allow yourself time to assess your current situation, analyze challenges and consider opportunities from a variety of angles. For example:

Effectiveness of team – You’re able to take stock of the individual and collective performance of your team and determine whether you have the right people in the right roles.

Competition – You can evaluate whether you’ve gained an advantage over competitors or how to differentiate your business to increase market share.

Challenges – Unless you slow down to ask the question, “What’s holding me back?”, you’ll miss important opportunities for growth.

2. Creating a strategy for moving forward. It’s easy to become bogged down with fielding complaints and non-urgent issues. But it’s important to step out of the details and periodically re-evaluate whether the strategy you’ve developed is still on track to lead to a stellar outcome. Pause to ask yourself these questions:

Strategic priorities – How does a particular challenge or opportunity fit into your strategy?

Milestones – Are these the correct milestones? Are the timelines sound?

Team dynamics – What’s helping or hindering progress? What could mitigate the problem?

3. Better decision-making. On average, you make 3,500 decisions a day. Every one of them, large and small, takes up mental energy that can impact your effectiveness. Hasty decision-making, while moving too quickly, is bound to lead to mistakes. Repeated mistakes. Costly mistakes. Preventable mistakes. Better decision-making begins with refusing to be pulled into fire-fighting mode. Train yourself to slow down and fully assess the situation before deciding. Reflect on any important decision using the CIA framework: Control, Influence, Accept/Adapt.

Control – Ask yourself if this is a situation over which you have direct control. If so, what outcome do you want to achieve?

Influence – If you don’t have direct control, can you influence the decision or outcome? If so, how can you most effectively exert that influence?

Accept/Adapt – If you have neither control nor influence, can you accept the situation? What can you do to make it more palatable and positive? What must you do to adapt?

4. Prioritizing time allotted to stakeholders. With a finite amount of time to attend to everyone’s demands, create a Stakeholder Priority Plan. Think of all the stakeholders relevant to your success and assign each to one of three tiers:

Tier I – These are your most important stakeholders. Their support will help you rapidly progress. Conversely, their opposition will create major headaches. They are the people with whom you must closely align to move your agenda forward. Tier I stakeholders may include your manager, his or her manager and peers, your closest colleagues and leadership team. If you are the CEO, tier one includes members of the board. Important customers and clients are tier one.

Tier II – Tier II stakeholders are a moderately lower priority, but still important. They’re the people you must influence and with whom you must have a trusting relationship — but the urgency to do so is less intense. Tier II stakeholders may include the people who work for your direct reports. They may be colleagues in other areas with whom you need to collaborate. Some of your customers and clients will fall into this category, too.

Tier III – This tier consists of everyone else. Tier I and II get first dibs on your attention, but Tier III shouldn’t be ignored or dismissed. After all, you need to inspire and engage the entire organization. And, you never know when a small client account may turn into something big, so don’t neglect your Tier III customers.

5. Effective delegating. As a leader, you can’t allow yourself to continually get pulled into the details or become bogged down by day-to-day execution. Some things simply must be delegated. Before diving in yourself, ask the following:

Capacity/Interest – Who has the capacity for the work or has an interest in taking on the challenge?

Promising potential – Is a direct report ready for the opportunity to stretch and learn?

Suited for another team – Is this task best directed to a different department or team? (Be careful here: you don’t want to be viewed as someone who passes the buck.)

6. Improving communication. When you’re overly busy day after day, it can be difficult to keep all parties sufficiently informed and updated. But a lack of communication and coordination means mistakes are more easily made and relationships strained. Communication is particularly difficult given the intense reliance on email, with the average manager receiving more than 120 emails each day — and senior executives often facing 500-plus a day. Instead of spending precious hours clearing your inbox, train your staff to start the subject line of any email message with one of three headings:

Action – An immediate action/decision is needed

FYI – No response is required, but the content is something you should know

Talk – Coming to a resolution would be easier through a phone discussion

With this system in place, resolve to check email at specific times each day, rather than continually, to avoid constant distractions.

The consequences of rushing add up in missed opportunities or remaining mired in projects that don’t add real value. Rushing also leads to costly and preventable mistakes. Instead, give yourself the time to slow down and ponder the broader view.

Deliberately pausing to re-evaluate strategy, determine where you want to exert influence, decide where you can delegate, and prioritize where to focus attention will make it much easier to move forward thoughtfully, prevent needless mistakes, and ultimately succeed at work.

*     *     *

Liz Bywater, PhD, works with senior executives and teams across an array of companies, such as Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AmerisourceBergen and Nike. She brings a rapidly actionable framework for success, which is captured in her new book, Slow Down to Speed Up®: Lead, Succeed and Thrive in a 24/7 World. She writes a monthly column for Life Science Leader and provides expert commentary for the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, FierceCEO and other top media outlets. Learn more at lizbywater.com.

Filed Under: Personal Development Tagged With: Productivity

Is the Personal Development Trend Killing Teamwork?

May 30, 2019 by Guest Author Leave a Comment

By Wendy Dessler

In this day and age, it’s all about focusing on your own growth. How can you improve your career outlook? How can you push farther in your personal life? You have to put yourself first, but is this really the best mentality when it comes to success?

At least in the western world, things are increasingly built “for one.” It’s not uncommon to see solo-travelers, solo-workers, solo-diners, and so on. While, in the past, doing things alone might not have been seen as normal, recent trends are skewing in the opposite direction.

It turns out this might not be bad thing. There are a lot of benefits to wanting alone time. This isn’t just personal observations, but actually science-backed evidence. For example, there’s ample evidence supporting the idea that being surrounded by people actually reduces productivity. So is personal development really killing teamwork?

Let’s take a closer look at this trend to see what it means for the workforce today.

man sitting at desk

Image via Pexels

The Rise of Solo-Living

First, let’s take a look at this rise of solo-living culture. What exactly is solo-living culture? Basically, there’s a push for people to take more control of their lives and more control of their future. This spans both professional and personal life. It’s no longer uncommon to see workers cutting ties with their 9-5 and starting their own business. Similarly, you might see people dining alone at a restaurant or just going through lives on their own.

This is seen most acutely in solo travel. While solo travel would have been too expensive and intimidating for most people in the past, the world is smaller than ever. A study from the Solo Traveler Blog reveals that 80% of respondents prefer independent solo travel. Independent travel is empowering, and it might lead people to make more solo-decisions throughout the rest of their lives.

Solo-living is also seen in people choosing to hold off on marriage and other coupling milestones. The average age of married couples is getting older and older, and many people are putting big life decisions on hold until they’re later in life. As you can see, there are a lot of solo-living changes that are affecting the way we live today. These stem from the personal development movement. We all want to live better, but does that mean we have to do things alone?

woman at laptop

Image via Pexels

A New World of Solo-Businesses

One of the biggest professional trends in this solo-living landscape is the new world of solo-businesses. What do we mean by solo-businesses? We mean businesses that are intended to be run by a single person. Usually, these include freelancing and consulting businesses. In the digital age, these are more popular and accessible than ever before.

People are becoming increasingly unhappy in “traditional” office jobs. They want their freedom to set their own hours, work from anywhere, and be their own boss. Basically, people are thriving on their own without the structure of a team.

One potential challenge to this trend is the concern over health insurance, but even that is being overcome. Many people were afraid to leave their employer because it would leave them without health insurance benefits. However, it’s now possible to find full group health insurance for self-employed individuals. While health insurance might still be complicated for the self-employed, new legislation and changes are making it more affordable and accessible.

Ultimately, all of these changes in the professional workforce are making it easier for people to strike out on their own. While a full team might have been needed in the past to run a business successfully, the internet makes tools and networking easier than ever. All of these changes are continuing to impact business as we know it.

The Evolution of Teamwork

To answer the original question: is personal development killing teamwork? In short, no. However, teamwork is changing. On the surface it might seem like teamwork is becoming less and less needed as more people focus on themselves both in their personal and professional lives. While this might be true on some level, teamwork is popping up in new ways.

For instance, more people are working together digitally than ever before. Remote work is on the rise, and while freelancers, contractors, and self-employed professionals might not physically work together in the same office space, they’re still contributing to the same projects, helping others, and working in a cohesive way.

Ultimately, teamwork is evolving to fit our new way of life. Yes, it’s true the work is changing. People are choosing to focus on themselves in different ways than we’ve seen in the past, and some of this is due to the way technology gives us other ways to connect with people from around the world. Only time will tell how this personal development trend affects us as a community. As of now, teamwork is still very much alive and well, though it’s taking a new shape that we’ve never seen before.

 

About the Author: Wendy Dessler frequently writes about the latest advancements in tech and digital marketing. She currently focuses on helping SaaS businesses create a better world for our kids.

Filed Under: Personal Development, Productivity Tagged With: personal-development

Why All Employees Should Take a Sabbatical Leave from Work

May 23, 2019 by Guest Author 1 Comment

By Kayla Matthews

Asking the boss for time off can be tricky. Unless you’re one of the lucky minority who hasn’t spent most of their life reporting to a 9-to-5 type job, you’ve probably tried a few different methods to get some “me time.” You might request a day off ahead of time, or you could take a not-so-sick day.

What if you need more than a day or two, though? What if you need more than a few weeks? You might be surprised at how willing many employers are to allow someone to take a sabbatical leave. Although you will miss work, there are substantial benefits to taking a sabbatical. Here’s why it’s a good idea to give yourself the green light for some time away, and why your employer should, too.

What is a Sabbatical Leave from Work?

The word sabbatical goes back to biblical texts, which refer to farmers allowing their fields to go fallow once every seven years. This ancient idea has, like so many, been modernized. It has taken on a different meaning than it had when a sabbatical was just an opium pipe short of a mystical vision quest.

Not long ago, you really could disconnect by staying out of the office for a little while. These days, things are more complicated. We have smartphones.

Our ever-shrinking sphere of private life has become the motivator for many people to take what we think of as a sabbatical leave in the modern era. In general, it’s six or more weeks of leave that may not be paid, with the intent of fulfilling some life goal or pursuing a great understanding of self. You might consider it an active pursuit of purpose, which can easily become lost in the chaos of the modern workplace.

The Things You’ll Bring Back

Millennials are often over-categorized and talked about prescriptively. Employers obsess over advice the media or their social circle gives about how this new generation values experiences over things — as if that was such a new concept. The value of life experience has never been in question — just consider what you put on your resume. Is work experience not life experience in another form?

You don’t have to have been born after 1986 to get value from a sabbatical. Not every employer is going to see it your way, but if you and your company share the same values, it’s easy to make the connection between the importance of getting some out-of-work time to experience life and performing when you’re in the office.

For many people who take breaks, their trip is a way to purge the mind of noise and cruft that accumulate in the modern workplace. A sabbatical from work eliminates the symptoms of burnout and anxiety that are so widely experienced in our 24/7-connected reality.

Even if you don’t come back with authentic trinkets from a faraway land, you’ll return to the job with a clear head and a renewed vigor for what you do. Taking some time to remind yourself of your purpose and goals will make you a more effective asset for the business, and could even lead you to take the next step forward in your career, within or outside of your current company.

Making the Pitch

Of course, you can’t just get up and leave one day. Proposing to your employer that you want to take a significant amount of time off is difficult. What if they don’t see it your way? Will you still be looked at as a loyal employee after you suggest this?

These are real risks, and ones you should weigh. However, if your sabbatical plans don’t align with your employer’s values, that might be a red flag. A good idea is to organize your reasons for going and present them in an articulate way. Draw parallels for your employer to see where a refreshed version of you will bring new wins to the company and how your time off can inform your further development. Remember, you are a valuable asset. The business wants to send a positive message to its employees in how they treat your request.

You might be surprised at how many employers are willing to endorse a well-planned sabbatical. If you believe this is what’s needed to take your life and your career further, start taking those steps today.

Featured photo by Dino Reichmuth on Unsplash

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

 

Filed Under: Personal Development Tagged With: sabbatical

7 Small Business Resolutions to Achieve in 2019

January 31, 2019 by Guest Author Leave a Comment

By Kayla Matthews

2019 is here, and even if you haven’t made a personal resolution, you can still make a professional one. Whether your small business wants to focus internally or externally, there are plenty of resolutions to make that will help your business grow and accomplish its goals throughout the year. Here are seven small business resolutions you can work to achieve in 2019.

1. Try Automating Certain Business Processes

If 2018 was a year of rapid growth for your small business, you might look to expand into additional coverage areas. Instead of hiring new staff members, try automating some of your business processes to save you time and money. For example, use QuickBooks to manage your books. Digitize whatever you can as well. If you’re still sending out invoices, try encouraging clients to sign up to receive bills electronically to save on postage.

2. Delegate More Tasks

Managers everywhere talk about delegation, but is your small business putting it into practice? Although it can feel challenging to hand off an essential task to someone else, it’s an important choice that frees up your time for other areas. For example, if you’re the CEO of a small business, try delegating invoices to someone else in the company. Then, you have more time to network with employees and clients and build your business.

3. Secure Financing

Small businesses at every stage need cash. Whether your new business needs startup capital or your established company needs some extra cash to cover expenses during slow months, it’s essential to secure financing in the New Year.

Take time to learn what your financial options are, like a traditional bank loan, SBA loan or a line of credit. Your bank can help you secure the funds and make sure you’re in good financial shape for 2019.

4. Communicate More Effectively

Better communication is a broad goal, but you can tailor it to the needs of your specific small business. For example, maybe you want to communicate better with your clients or potential clients in 2019 by responding to their comments on your post. Or, perhaps your goal is to communicate more effectively with your employees. Whatever the case, make a strong communication plan and follow through with it all year.

5. Focus on Professional Development

Running a small business is hard work and takes up a good chunk of your time. With such a busy schedule, it can be a struggle to find time for professional development opportunities. A great resolution for 2019 is to dedicate time to your personal and professional development. If this goal is valuable to you, try implementing it with your employees as well. You can set monthly webinars or have speakers come in to help employees learn.

6. Start a Blog

If the content on your site needs a facelift, 2019 is a great time to make it happen. Try starting a blog to put fresh content on your site daily, weekly or monthly. Engaging content on a blog can give your customers helpful information and further solidify their relationship with your brand. Identify some topics with SEO value at the beginning of the year, and make it a goal to keep the content coming from January to December.

7. Support Other Small Businesses

Chances are, you remember what it was like to build a business from the ground up. Now that you have established your small business, another resolution for 2019 could be to pay it forward to others in your shoes. Shop at other small businesses when you can and talk to fellow business owners in your community about working on a joint marketing campaign. Pooling funds will help other businesses, plus it will get your name out in the community in a new way.

Make 2019 Your Best Year Yet

Take time out of your schedule during January to sit down and outline some goals for your small business. Do you want to communicate with employees more? Delegate more tasks? Partner with other small businesses? Whatever your goals are, following through with them could make 2019 your best year.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured image: Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash

Filed Under: Personal Development, Productivity Tagged With: Productivity, resolutions

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 13
  • Next Page »

Recently Updated Posts

6 Keys to Managing Your Remote Workforce

9 Reasons To Use WordPress

Useful Marketing Tools That Wont Bust Your Budget

Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Successful Blogger?

Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Successful Blogger?

6 Tips for the Serial Side Hustler

How to Make Your Blog Popular



From Liz Strauss & GeniusShared Press

  • What IS an SOB?!
  • SOB A-Z Directory
  • Letting Liz Be

© 2023 ME Strauss & GeniusShared