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The Leadership Mindset by @relaxedmale

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by Bryan Goodwin | Featured Contributor 

Think of a great leader you have had the opportunity to be lead by. Do you know someone who didn’t just lead they inspired greatness? We all know one person who is like that. You can’t help but be drawn to them. They can light a fire under your keyster without even raising their voice.

For me, it is Jim Rogers, he runs a trucking company. He is this type of leader. In fact What caused me to realize that Jim was different was the second day I worked for Jim, he pulled a joke on me. It wasn’t a malicious joke. Jim was just joking around, and I had never had a feeling of being accepted in an organization as I did then.

So what is it that makes Jim’s leadership so different? Why does Jim’s leadership skills differ from the other business owners who I had worked for leading up to him? My belief is his mindset. What kind of mindset does a leader need to effectively lead his family or company? That’s what I want to explore today.

Can Do Attitude

Leaders inspire people with a rich and strong can do attitude

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As you were growing up you ever come across a family member or friend who held you back. Everytime you mentioned a dream or desire you wanted to do to this person they produced the statement of, “I don’t know if that is a good idea”. They made a statement of how hard it was going to be. The difficulty was always their main objection. Though We never need easy we just want worth it. Eventually, it was always suggested that whatever project you wanted to do just wouldn’t work for them, it was a bad idea.

Now that type of mentality is like an anchor to creativity and potential to anybody. It starts to hinder and stop the creative process. Especially when it comes from the leader of an organization.

The reason I see is fear. What if that young motivated employee steals all of my clients? If you don’t say no, it could possibly make you look weak or the team will see you as an ineffectual leader. They won’t respect you.

The fear-based mindset will always manifest the desired results. When you starve peoples creativity with fearful restrictions people become restless. They will see that the leader doesn’t want other people in his spotlight. The employees will see that mindset. They will treat it as ineffectual and they will leave. Paying top dollar to get the best employees is one thing. If you don’t let them grow and work to their fullest potential, it is a waste of cash.

Using a can-do attitude is like a breath of fresh air. Allow your team to use their strengths you will find out that their mindset improves. Their attitude is brighter. When your attitude is one of a Can Do mindset, you won’t be mad at your best employee because started their own business. You helped them understand that they can do it. It doesn’t mean it is just always yes but you get out of your teams way. You give the orders and let them find a solution.

Mentor With a Vision

With the Can Do mindset, Jim also is a mentor. Now he didn’t set me down and we have long in-depth conversations about his business practices and philosophies. Yet, if I had a question I could ask him and Jim didn’t treat his thoughts as a super secret.

A good leader mentors his employees. He helps them to understand directs and interestingly enough leads his team. Mentoring and coaching help the team gain clarity as to what they are working towards.

If they don’t know the “why”, your team can’t achieve the how. You will have to pull that team every step of the way often in the very moral defeating method of micromanaging. Therefor communicate with your team and they will grow.

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Calm

enjoy the calming effect of being outdoors

 

I have heard that Jim can and has blown his top before, but I have never seen it. Everything I have heard, I don’t care to see it either. To me, Jim has always been a calm positive person. I have worked under people who exploded at the slightest hiccup. The perceived conception of an inconvenience and poor leaders will become a raging screaming fit throwing toddler.

People didn’t stay long with the angry dude and in fact, he didn’t stay in business very long.  All because he thought that’s what motivated people. People like leaders who are calm and assertive. Yeah, they can get angry at times, yet it isn’t a norm. Often the calm and relaxed leader is also easier to work with.

Find a way to stay calm when something does go according to plan. Your team can find that they will be more productive when they aren’t worrying about your exploding all over their productivity.

A Calm leader can be a port in the storm when it seems like everything is falling apart. Imagine if you had a boss who after a horrible product launch failed he could look and say well I learned something from this did you?

Sense of Humor

One thing all employees and team member like is the ability to relax. Yeah, there are crunch times that are stressful. If you are able to joke with your team it makes those stressful times a lot easier to deal with. The push to complete the launch can be a lot more bearable if people are able to smile from time to time. Now I’m not saying stop and take joke breaks but a good leader can see when things are getting a bit too intense and is able to regulate the pressure with a joke or witty comment.

Leadership is one of those points that can contain a whole lot of philosophical theories. Not everything works for every situation. Yet, a good positive leader will contain several if not all of these mindsets and attitudes. If you find that your leadership style isn’t achieving the results you desire. You might try one of these mentioned here and see how the people in your company react. No one has it all figured out. Yet as long as you are learning and improving then you are an inspiration to us all.

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5 Tips to Get the Important Things Done and Achieve Your Vision by @Midlife_Women

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by Carol Pearson | Featured Contributor

Many entrepreneur clients complain about being pulled in too many directions at once.  Especially in the early stages of a new venture, you are the CEO, COO, CMO, CHR, CTO and more, all rolled into one. You know you need to focus on the big picture, on achieving your business goal, but you just get dragged down into the detail on a daily basis.

Sound familiar…?  Well, here are my top 5 tips to take back control of your day, get your head above water, and get the important stuff done on time.

  • Prioritize and focus on what’s important.

It’s vital to have clear goals and identify what absolutely must happen if you are to deliver your goals.  Prioritize and focus on these essentials above all else. It’s easy to get caught up in minutiae, responding to other people’s requests, losing focus on the work only you can do. If, instead, you focus on the important tasks that relate to your vision and values and deal with them before they become urgent, it’s easier to do them thoughtfully and to a high standard.  If you have more to do than you have time available, you need to feel comfortable that you’ve tackled the priority tasks first.

  • Get in the zone and get it done.

How often do you get “in flow” or “in the zone”? This is the mental state when you’re fully immersed in the task and completely absorbed by what you do, resulting in the loss of your sense of space and time. To get in the flow you need to focus on one challenging task and give it your full attention without interruption for at least 30 minutes. If you allow interruptions or try to multi-task you’ll break your train of thought. Multitasking does not increase efficiency, attempting several tasks at once can result in lost time and productivity.

If you want to get things done, block out some time, find a quiet space, turn off your phone and email notifications, and make a start. Focus on one priority task at a time and do some quality work.

  • Work in your strengths zone and mitigate your weaknesses.

Rather than stressing or procrastinating about tasks you find difficult or routine, delegate to someone who has the skill to do it.  If you delegate or outsource ensure you assign the task to the right person or company, one you trust to have the skills to do the job and get it done on time and on budget.

Use your own time working in your strengths zone, tapping into your natural talents and enthusiasms, and you’ll be more productive, more engaged and happier. Spending extended periods of time doing work in areas outside your strengths zone will be harder, energy draining, demotivating and make you feel disengaged.

  • Do it right the first time.

Often when under pressure, or when things don’t go to plan, it’s easy to rush things, to make make poor decisions and settle for quick fixes.  As we all know, quick fixes don’t solve the root cause of problems. Slow down, take time to think things through, and find a permanent solution. Rework is inefficient. If you don’t have time to do it right the first time, you probably don’t have time to do it over again.

  • Create boundaries.

As an entrepreneur, running your own business, it may feel awkward to say no to requests for help or to decline invitations to meetings and networking. Most meetings are a drain of time, yet we all continue to schedule them, attend them and complain about them. Before attending a meeting, ask yourself if it’s necessary and if you can achieve the same result via email, phone, or a web-based meeting. If your schedule is full, and you can’t squeeze more in, then you must set some boundaries, prioritize and say no to low priority activities. If you don’t, you’ll feel drained, overextended, anxious and in time your productivity will decline and your stress levels increase.

In summary, to be productive, connect to and get energy and motivation from the vision you have for your business. Prioritize the important work you need to do to achieve your vision, and commit to protect your time to work on it.  I’m sure you chose to embark on your journey as an entrepreneur for a reason and this is your time to make it happen. Good luck!

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10 steps to smash your business goals this year! by @alyciaedgar

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by Alycia Edgar | Featured Contributor

We all have grandious ideas about what we want to achieve in our business.  Not the day to day stuff but the projects you’ve had on your agenda for quite a while that get pushed to the side because the day to day just takes over.  There is a way to get those projects done each and every year and throw a big celebration at year end for your accomplishments.

You may have seen how to be more productive tomorrow and how to get the important stuff done each week but lets see how you can be more productive over the entire year.

The little things that make you more productive today and next week go along way to adding up to a year. But how do you tie it all together to make the power of many into the sum of the whole.

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Clarify your Vision. What are you and what are you becoming?
  2. Clarify your mission.  What do you do? What business are you in?
  3. Set some bold goals.  What goals can you set that aren’t comfy but big, hairy, audacious goals?  They make you want to squirm and the prospect of achieving it makes you want to jump up and down with glee, but the thought of the journey involved to get there makes you want to vomit.
  4. Break It Down. Take each bold goal and write down the steps involved in getting there.  Depending on the goal you may have from 2 to 6 steps.  Otherwise known as a milestone.
  5. Break It down again. With each step you’ve arrived at ask yourself what are the tasks involved to achieve that step.  Write them as if you had to explain it to a 5 year old.
  6. Estimate time. How much time will each task take? (and be realistic)  Add up the estimated time to achieve each milestone.
  7. Set a BHAG Date.  Lock It in. When exactly do you want to achieve your BHAG?  Perhaps it’s a completed book, launching a new program, new website launched? Pick a date. If you’d read this post you will already have your business development days and have plotted them onto your wall calendar.  Lock in your BHAG date. Really lock it in. Circle it, highlight it, star it.  This is achievement day!
  8. Plot Your Milestones. Now work backwards, plot in your milestones by assigning dates based on the estimated time to achieve each milestone.
  9. Run out of time to Schedule? No business development days left when plotting out the milestones? Good to know isn’t it.  You have a few choices, push out your BHAG date, schedule in more business development days or get more resources.  Pick one and adjust accordingly.
  10. Record Your Tasks. Take the tasks and put into your task management software, notebook or whatever you use.  Your due dates for these tasks are dependent on their estimated time allocation and when the milestone is due to achieve, write it down, schedule it in, make it happen!

Now get to it.  See you in a year!!!

Like to see how this works with an actual business?  I’ve created a free download of a case study for this formula above. Simply click on this link to access your free download.

Photo Credit: WinterArtwork via Compfight cc

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Alycia Edgar – Leading expert in creating systems for profitable business from Business Performance HQ – Torquay, VIC, Australia

Screen Shot 2013-07-16 at 10.54.45 AMForget about your mental picture of an accountant sitting behind a desk crunching numbers all day, stopping only to peer at you over the top of his or her wire-rimmed glasses.

A trained accountant, yes, but also much more. Alycia Edgar does not fit the picture painted above; instead she is a latte-sipping, beach-loving business owner who happens to be great at numbers and systems.

Alycia is a leading expert in creating systems for profitable business growth for her clients.  Nothing makes her happier than looking at your business numbers and helping you to understand what the numbers are saying, implementing systems to make your business more productive, or processes to make everything happen quicker and smoother.

Alycia is passionate about the idea that the right systems are the key to driving business growth.

She can share clear strategies that can help business owners become more productive and profitable immediately.

Alycia works with business owners to achieve this result through one-on-one mentoring and consulting on how to roll out innovative systems, procedures and processes. And will be launching her revamped Bizfficiency course later in the year.

A lover of social media, you can follow Alycia on twitter @alyciaedgar, Facebook – Alycia Edgar, instagram, Alycia Edgar.

To find out more visit www.businessperformancehq.com.

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